2023 Autumn Walk HOA Minutes

The Minutes from the 2023 Autumn Walk HOA (AWHOA) Annual Meeting and Elections are below.

The key results are: 

1. The Board voted to adopt the proposed budget with a $10/month increase that both gets us out of operational deficit, and funds the large mandatory increase in Reserve requirements after the new Reserve Study in 2023 doubled the expected replacement cost of the retaining wall at the end of the street.
2. If you pay through your bank you must change the payment amount. Auto-debit through CAS will withdraw the correct amount. New coupon books for those who pay by check are expected in late December.
3. The Board and CAS Management will look into the cost of a forensic engineering analysis of this retaining wall since it dominates our Reserve requirements and the projected expense more than doubled.
4. Dharmesh Patel was re-elected to the Board, with his term expiring in 2026.
5.  Fred will update the Contact information on the web site sent to him by April of CAS Management, to ensure everyone knows how to set up payments, especially with the increase.

2023 Autumn Walk HOA Annual Meeting 

Date: November 13, 2023

Location: Via Zoom

Attendees:

1.     Board & Management Team:

a.     Dharmesh Patel (President), 9811

b.     Fred Leong (Vice President, Communications), 9854

c.      Allie Stegner (Member-at-Large), 9832

d.     April Day, Community Manager, Community Association Services, Inc. (CAS)

2.     Residents

a.     Attending (2): Oge (9806), AJ (9838); partway through meeting Issy (9809)

b.     Proxies (12): 9804, 9810, 9814, 9819, 9838, 9843, 9846, 9848, 9851, 9852, 9853, 9860

Agenda:

·       2022 Minutes

·       Report on Past Year

·       Landscaping, Reserve Study

·       Discussion

·       Resident’s Forum

·       Elections

·       Budget, Fees

 

2023 Meeting Notes:

1.     Meeting Called to Order by Dharmesh at 7:07 PM

a.     Fred will take minutes

2.     Establishing Quorum

a.     12 of 45 houses (25%) required by Bylaws

b.     2 in attendance + 12 proxies = 14 homes 

c.     Quorum is established

3.     2022 Minutes were distributed and read

a.     Minutes approved (Motion: Dharmesh, Second: Allie, Vote 3-0)

4.     Report on past year:

a.     Dharmesh: Going smoothly

                                               i.     Johnson Landscaping:

1.     Remulch private yards in mid-November; also will remove leaves

2.     New Resident asks how this landscaping contract works? 

a.     Her house had been on the do not maintain list per previous owner, but this has been changed. 

b.     You can see what services to expect under the "Landscaping" header of the web site, but in short: residents must weed their yards and keep them in good repair, and remove snow. 

3.     Contract will perform mowing, trimming, and leaf removal, and provide a Spring Clean Up and a Fall mulching.

b.     Social 

                                               i.     Chili Cook-Off this year (by Allie), no Ice Cream Social this year

                                             ii.     Allie suggests Social before school out in May or June

1.     Ice cream social was just a response to pandemic (replacing Picnic), but Board thinks ice cream pulls people in (HOA provides small budget for it) and is much less work than a full Picnic

2.     Initial idea is to stick with ice cream, but Oge and AJ want to do a potluck

3.     Board can set budget, and put out an interest email to find someone willing to plan: Allie, Oge, AJ, and Bindu will form a team

                                            iii.     Motion for $200 budget for Spring/Fall Social [Motion: Fred, Second:Allie, 3-0]

c.     Landscaping Maintenance contract

                                               i.     Went up 4% on a 2-year contract, with 2024 price increase built in; most other contracts went up 8%

                                             ii.     Will need new contract next year. Landscaping represents roughly half of our budget.

                                   (a.) On a similar note, the Management Contract also expires next year and will need a new contract.

                                            iii.     Resident (9806) requested landscaping contract from CAS

5.     Resident Forum/Questions:

a.      All Resident questions were asked during the course of the meeting; Emerson Clubhouse questions should be directed to Emerson Master HOA

6.     Election

a.     Dharmesh was only candidate for his expiring term, other candidates: None

b.     Elections are held, then the new Board decides the positions after the meeting; President has some additional legal duties in signing documents such as tax returns, contracts, maintaining paperwork.

                                               i.     Bylaws: list the responsibilities, ours say can have up to five Board members

                                             ii.     Resident (9806): requests bylaws, and contract for landscaping from CAS

c.     Motion to reappoint Dharmesh to Board for 3-year term expiring 2026 [Motion: Fred, Allie, unanimous among all present]

d.     Board Terms (expiration):

                                               i.     Dharmesh (2023)

                                             ii.     Allie (2024)

                                            iii.     Fred (2025)

7.     Budget Discussion

a.     2023 Budget (current year) corrected because accidentally billed twice for a landscaping task in 2023; reduced line item 06180-0000 to $3270. [April will check that we have received a refund.]

b.     FY24 Budget raises monthly fees by $10/month, effective January 1, 2024; new coupons will go out.

                                               i.     No way to tell who wants the coupon books and who does not. Expect new coupon books in late December. Contact CAS Community Manager (see Contact) if not received by 1/10/24, but will have a 30 day grace period.

                                             ii.     Auto-debit will automatically make the change to the increased amount; if you pay through your bank, you will need to contact them to make the changes to the amount.

                                            iii.     Autumn Walk web site will be updated by the end of evening; you can find payment/auto-debit information under "Contacts" header.

c.     Overall Proposed Budget: 

                                               i.     Retained earnings are equal to the Operating Fund for expenses throughout the year. 

                                             ii.     Expect to get a refund of a double billing, but will also owe the November and December fees for Landscape contract. 

                                            iii.     All residents are paid up through November, will still collect December dues.

d.     With the $10/month increase in dues, no longer operating at a deficit.

                                               i.     FY24 Budget also does not make a contribution to Reserves in 2024 as we believe we are about 3 years ahead. 

                                             ii.     However, plan to make a contribution on the schedule if we have excess Retained Earnings (typically occurring if we do not spend on budgeted items such as insurance deductibles and snow removal).

                                            iii.     But there is no real way to predict snow removal costs, and some forecasts are that there will be a lot of snow this winter after virtually none the past two years.

e.     Motion to solicit proposals for an engineering analysis of retaining wall [Motion: Fred; Second: Allie; 3-0]

                                               i.     Fred will work with April to develop an RFP, with a requirement for criteria for evaluating the condition of the wall. 

1.     Concern expressed that it's not clear how often this analysis will need to be done; whether it will have to be done periodically (e.g., every 5 years) for possible changed conditions or damage; and that the expected remaining lifetime of the wall is 25 years.

2.     But issues include: reserve studies have often severely underestimated costs in the past in other communities (sometimes as much as 3X), even prior to pandemic-driven inflation; the civil engineer who did the Reserve Study stated that he could only review external conditions and an expert in failure analysis would need to do a real assessment; and this wall dominates our reserve requirements (perhaps 70%).

3.     We would have had a severe shortfall if we had not been ahead on our Reserve contributions, even operating at a technical deficit in recent years.

                                             ii.     Fred will post Reserve Study to Facebook Forum, other residents can request a copy.

                                            iii.     If Board feels the RFP will generate a useful response, then will vote on whether to proceed with soliciting (three) bids.

                                            iv.     If we proceed with the study, will likely vote via email and then must ratify the decision in the next public meeting.

f.      Adopted Budget [Motion: Dharmesh, Second: Fred, Pass 3-0]

8.     Summary of Actions and Votes:

a.     2022 Meeting Minutes Approved [Pass, 3-0]

b.     CAS Management (April) will send to 9806: Copy of landscaping contract; copy of bylaws

c.     Board approved $200 budget for a Social Event between May and September. Allie will organize with Oge, AJ, and Bindu and send out a call for volunteers. (Residents can volunteer now as well by contacting them or AWHOA.)

d.     Election: Dharmesh elected to Board until 2026

e.     April of CAS Management will ensure we have the final corrected version of the 2023 Reserve Study; then Fred will post.

f.      Board will initiate process to solicit proposals for engineering analysis of retaining wall. Fred will work with April on RFP after reviewing answers by engineer who conducted the 2023 Reserve Study.

g.     FY24 Budget Adopted (FY23 statement also corrected to reflect a refund of a bill in error, April will check status of refund)

h.     Monthly dues raised by $10 to $85/month effective 1/1/24. New coupon books will be sent by late December, contact CAS if not received by 1/10/24. Instructions for Auto-Debit will be updated on web site under "Contact" header: http://www.autumnwalk.com/p/contact.html

Auto-debit through CAS will automatically deduct the correct amount. But residents who pay through their banks will need to initiate a change or else their payments will be $10/month short.

9.     Meeting Adjourned at 8:58 pm.