Draft Minutes: 2019 Autumn Walk HOA Annual Meeting 10/28/19

The 2019 Autumn Walk HOA Annual Meeting and Elections were held on Monday, October 28, 2019 at 7 PM in the Emerson Clubhouse. Fred Leong took the minutes as he did for 2018 as well.

·        Attendance:

o   Present (4): (9811) Dharmesh, (9832) Allie, (9854) Fred; (9836) Tammy

o   Proxies (13): 9807; 9810; 9812; 9814; 9830; 9837; 9840; 9844; 9846; 9847; 9848; 9853; 9858

o   Management: April Day, CAS Inc.

·        Agenda

o   Quorum Established (17 accounted for, 12 needed)

o   Call to Order and Introductions

o   Adopt 2018 Minutes

o   Financial Review

§  2020 Budget

o   Presidents Report

§  Yearly Overview

§  Community Gatherings/Events

§  Landscape Beautification

§  Snow Removal

§  Misc

o   Proposals

o   Elections (2 open positions)

o   Residents Forum

Highlights:

1.     Board proposes Picnic for Sunday, May 17

a.     Pizza party with drinks, rest is potluck

b.     Will check that location is available, and that residents can attend

2.     Landscaping

a.     Please remember to keep your yards accessible for the landscaping contract, and avoid having anything breakable in your yards

b.     Will remove dead bushes on traffic islands (both large and small), just replace with mulch

c.     Board will add removing weeds in sidewalk cracks to Landscaping contract; will get a price on full weeding

d.     Authorized up to $5000 for an improvement project (does not have to be in those locations), resident proposals requested

e.     Board votes to ask if the sub-HOAs will jointly formally request that Emerson cover tree trimming and snow removal on major roads throughout Emerson

                                               i.     Affects appearance of entire community and budget has cashflow

3.     Emerson Election

a.     Need 169 houses to reach quorum, will have proxy forms at Halloween Block Party

4.     Home Maintenance: Emerson Violations

a.     Many houses received violations for fences, but confusion as to which fences belong to which house, especially when there are two dividers – is it the property line, or the side facing your house that matters?

                                               i.     Who cleans, paints, replaces fence?

                                             ii.     Will get clarification from Emerson

b.     Board will need to inspect Autumn Walk in late May

                                               i.     Yards should replace landscaping with something if everything has been removed

                                             ii.     Also some yards typically need cleanup, usually weeding

5.     2020 Budget adopted

a.     One-time deficit for landscaping improvement project

b.     Want to avoid raising fees as long as possible

6.     Elections

a.     Dharmesh Patel, Fred Leong reappointed to 2-year terms (no other applications received)

Details:

2019 Halloween Block Party, Pumpkin Carving, and Chili Cook-Off

Be sure to stop by Allie's house (9832 Garden Ranges) on Halloween (Thursday, October 31st) for the annual Autumn Walk Halloween Block Party!

Please let Allie know at amehok01@yahoo.com if you want to enter the Chili Cook-Off. She has three meat entries and two vegetarian at the moment.

The schedule of events:

• Sunday, October 26 at 2:30 PM: Pumpkin carving in Allie's garage (9832 Garden Ranges)
• Thursday, October 31 (6 PM - 8 PM)
• Chili Cook-Off (please bring your entries between 5 PM and 6 PM)
• Halloween Block Party

2019 Autumn Walk HOA Annual Meeting and Elections

The 2019 Autumn Walk HOA Annual Meeting and Elections will be held on Monday, October 28, 2019 at 7 PM in the Emerson Clubhouse.

Expected Topics:

• Elections for 2 Board Positions (2-year terms for Dharmesh Patel and Fred Leong expire this year)
• 2020 Budget
• Landscaping initiatives
• Removal of dead bushes
• Improvements
• Setting a Spring/Summer date for the 2020 Picnic
• Adopt the Draft Minutes from the 2018 Annual Meeting

In particular, the Board will consider whether to combine unspent funds from 2019 with 2020's budget, and potentially solicit proposals from residents for landscaping improvement projects for around $5,000.

We have enough proxies for quorum (12 houses) but we welcome your participation and ideas!

Fall Mulching in Autumn Walk

This year we switched landscaping contractors to Johnson Landscaping, which has kept the street in good shape all year.

Because the new contract was cheaper, we added a Fall mulching that started today and will run through Friday.

This isn’t a major cleanup and trimming like we get in Spring, just more of a refresh to replace the mulch that washed away during the year. But right now the entire neighborhood looks clean and tidy!

Howard County Charter Review Commission

Although the Howard County Charter seems like a dry topic, there are a number of important items being considered for possible inclusion on the ballot in 2020, including:

• Changing the number of Howard County Council Districts (for example, from 5 to 7)
• Giving the Council the ability to delete, or increase or decrease, line items in the Executive's budget
• Requiring that the County either limit future proposed projects to the funding projects for future years (such as schools and swimming pools), or at least state what the expected revenue will be in those years

Input can be provided directly to the Charter Review Commission at any time via email:

• charterreviewcommission@howardcountymd.gov

The meetings are also open to the public and there may be an additional 4th Public Hearing later this year.

Just a sampling of the topics that have been considered this year are listed below:

Water Meter Replacement Program

Howard County is expecting to replace 45,000 meters located inside homes to upgrade them to a new technology over the next 3 years.

• Howard County has contracted with Keystone Utility Systems which will mail residents and businesses to schedule an appointment to access the meters.
• Keystone's meter replacement personnel will have uniforms and Howard County-issued photo IDs.

When you receive your notice:

• Call 1-877-587-2279 to schedule an appointment.
• Appointments are available Monday - Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.
• Saturday appointments are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
• Ensure that the meter is accessible by clearing obstructions around the water meter area.
• Have someone 18 years old or older present to admit the water meter installer.

For more information, visit the Bureau of Utilities' water meter replacement page:

• http://bit.ly/HoCoWaterMeterReplacement

Stop Sign Repair: Tell HoCo

Howard County has a service called Tell HoCo that lets residents track and report issues that require the County's attention.

You can quickly report an item needing repair or some other County action, without needing to know the specific department or office to route the request to.

A dispatcher will log in the request and assign it to the appropriate group, and you can then track the issue on the web site (as well as see what other items have been submitted in your area).

When someone hit a stop sign on our street in the middle of the night this summer, it was propped back up but not replaced.

We finally submitted a Tell HoCo ticket over 2 months later - and it was replaced within 3 days.