Briarwood HOA meeting
May 14, 2024
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm
The meeting was held on-line via Microsoft Teams.
ROLL CALL
Present: Kayla Daniels, Pat Daniels, Mike Karagoulis, Lynne Page, Chrislyn Particka, George Plastis, Jim Rypkema, Jean Zwier (quorum met)
Guests: Gus Breymann, Ray Poirier
APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE 4/9/2024 MEETING
Jim made a motion to approve the minutes from the 4/9/2024. Pat and Mike seconded. The vote was unanimous, and the motion carried.
OFFICER REPORTS
Announcements/President’s Report
Pat reviewed the agenda, noted that we have two old business items to cover and that he would rotate the order of the officer and committee reports from meeting to meeting.
Vice-President’s Report
No report.
Treasurer’s Report
Lynne gave a report of the current bank balances.
Lynne reported that she has been conducting a thorough review of the HOA’s finances. Items of note are:
Some homeowners have not paid dues for 2023 and/or 2024.
She has prepared a draft budget for 2024 and has tentatively allocated funds for each committee; committees need to submit a wish list of items.
Maintenance is the biggest expenditure each year.
There was discussion of when residents pay for dues, etc., via credit card and who is paying (the resident vs. the HOA) the credit card fee. The board determined that this issue needed to be investigated and resolved.
Secretary’s Report
Chrislyn reported that the level of detail that was included in the March and April minutes made it difficult to both participate fully during the meeting and difficult to properly prepare the minutes. The HOA determined that moving forward, the secretary will capture details such as who made and seconded motions and the outcome of votes. The outcome of discussions will be noted and will include notes related to differing opinions of the board.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
ACCE Report
Jim reported that there have been several new requests since the last meeting.
Two new requests were approved; one for a roof on New Salem and one for a fence on Binghampton.
Several requests are on hold due to incomplete applications.
Audit Committee Report
Lynne reported that she has a copy of the form that was used in prior years and will recruit an external committee to perform a financial review at the end of the 2024 fiscal year.
Communications Committee Report
Pat reported that the communications committee met at Chrislyn’s house to discuss plans for the year regarding the survey for a neighborhood improvement project and newsletters.
The board discussed the best way to communicate with neighbors, e.g., via US mail or email.
Events Committee Report
Kayla reported that the neighborhood garage sale, trash to treasure, and special trash pickup are coming in early June.
The garage sale is June 7th and 8th , trash to treasure is the evening of the 8th into the 9th , and the special trash pick up is June 11th (small items) and 12th (large items).
There was discussion of potential problems with the website related to these events that need to be corrected.
Pat reported that he has been working on scheduling food trucks and that Elizabeth Pahl has been talking to Shove It Pizza about National Night Out.
Maintenance Committee Report
Mike reported the street light at the recreation park has been fixed and is aimed so that it shines farther out into the park.
Mike reported that he and Chrislyn had looked at some potentially unhealthy trees in the nature park that may need to be removed. There was some discussion about the potential cost and if all trees should be removed at the same time or not.
Jean stated that one of the non-residents garden plot holders is Steven Thomas, who is an environmentalist working with some wooded areas in Meridian Township. Mike, Chrislyn, Jean, and Lynne planned to meet with Steven prior in the nature park to the next meeting.
Mike reported that he and three other board members have looked at areas where homeowners have encroached on HOA outlots, as it affected mowing and maintenance. The board discussed the issue and Mike will make a map that shows where it is occurring.
Mike reported that the pump to prevent algae growth in the pond has been non-functional for approximately one year. The pump was installed by the drain commission and communication related to fixing it was stalled. Jim spoke the deputy drain commissioner today; he will investigate and communicate his findings to Mike.
Nominations and Elections Committee Report
No report
Welcoming Committee Report
Jean reported that eight new neighbors were welcomed in the past month; backlog is cleared. She is aware of some houses that will be closing soon, and the committee will welcome them as appropriate.
The committee is collecting contact information, including email addresses when they welcome new neighbors.
There are still several copies of the handout remaining from the last printing.
There was some discussion about updates to make when more need to be printed; details will be discussed in committee.
OLD BUSINESS
Lawn care (insecticide and herbicide applications) contract
Chrislyn gave a summary of the contract proposal from Lawn Tech, providing justification for hiring them, even though they are priced higher than the previous contractor.
Mike made a motion to move forward with the contract with Lawn Tech. Kayla seconded. The vote was unanimous, and the motion carried.
Neighborhood improvement project survey
Pat gave a brief overview of the development of the survey.
There was some discussion about whether or not to allow neighbors to vote online due to security reasons and a discussion of how the process could be made secure via the use of unique codes, and that it would likely increase response rates.
There was discussion about tallying the votes; Chrislyn volunteered to do so.
There was discussion about the potential for speedbumps, and how it would require approval from homeowners on that road, and that more information related to this option would need to be included on the survey.
NEW BUSINESS
Treasurer Legacy Items
Lynne raised the question of whether or not the board should continue to use Quickbooks.
There was discussion about why a previous board moved to using Quickbooks in the recent past. A previous board determined that it was the best way to bring order to the finances, especially as none of the board members at that time were accountants.
There was discussion about the issues Lynne, an CPA, has found with Briarwood’s Quickbooks records.
There was discussion about the value Quickbook brings when it comes to accepting online payments from homeowners.
ACCE/Online Request Form
Lynne reported that the ACCE is receiving a lot of incomplete forms that were submitted through the website.
There was discussion about potentially requiring written paper forms as some board members think it will result in better completion.
There was discussion about increasing/changing the amount of information that homeowners are required to submit.
There was discussion about making sure that the board stays within the constraints of the covenants and not allowing personal aesthetics to influence approval or rejection of ACCE requests.
There was discussion about requiring homeowners to talk to neighbors before submitting an ACCE request; some board members feel it may give a false sense of authority over the project to the neighbors.
ADJOURNMENT
George made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:42 PM. Chrislyn seconded. The vote was unanimous, and the motion carried.
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