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NEWTOWN CROSSING COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
November 14, 2006

The regular monthly meeting of the NCCA Board of Directors was held on Tuesday, November 14, 2006 in the Spring House. The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by Jim Downey with the following Board members, officers and committee heads present: Pete Ancona, Bruce Collier, Stuart Graff, Barbara Jankowski, Bob Donatelli, Joanne Urquhart, Rich Lawlor, Marie Dempsey, and Mike Gallagher. Thirteen other residents were also in attendance.

General Business

The minutes of the October meeting were approved as submitted.

Mr. Donatelli distributed and reviewed the Profit and Loss Statement for September 2006, The Profit and Loss TYD Comparison January 1 to September 30, 2006 and the Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2006. Income for the month of September totaled $5,362 and expenses for the month totaled $16,044. Total revenue for the YTD January 1 to September 30, totaled $128,830 and expenses totaled $130,411. Total Assets and Liabilities/Equity as of September 30, 2006 were $171,167.

Mr. Donatelli reported that a 12-month CD matured on November 3 in the amount of $20,275 and was renewed for an additional year at a rate of 4.25%. A second CD will mature on November 22 in the amount of $15,484.

In October, final notices were sent to five residents. One was paid in full. The remaining four accounts will be turned over for collection action.

Mr. Donatelli distributed and reviewed the 2007 Budget Proposal prepared based upon the budget meeting held after the last meeting. One proposal was based upon a $21 assessment and reinstating an $80 pool tag fee. The second proposal was based upon a $23 assessment with no pool tag fee. The 2006 assessment was comprised of an $18 assessment for the general fund and a $2 assessment for the Storm Water Management Reserve. Both proposed budgets for 2007 include the storm water a management assessment of $2 per month: and, at the budget meeting, it was discussed adding $1 a month for storm damage cleanup and tree maintenance, which would yield $7,500. Any tree maintenance that is done next year will be taken out of the $7,500 specifically earmarked for this area. Any balance would go into reserves at the end of the year. After his review of both proposed budgets, Mr.Donatelli indicated that he was comfortable with either of the two proposed budgets.

No one in attendance questioned the necessity of increasing revenue, since $5,500 was included in the budget for Manor House painting, $2,000 was included for the tot lot repairs, and $2,000 was included for retaining wall repairs, all of which were legitimate inclusions in the budget. Debate ensued, however, as to how the funds should be derived. Some residents and Board members did not feel that it was fair to derive the extra needed revenue from the people who use the pool by reinstating a pool membership fee.
If the increase in expenditures was due to increased costs of the pool operations, then some felt it would be legitimate to have the $80 pool fee passed along to those who primarily use the pool. But since the increase in expenditures was for various items throughout the development, most residents in attendance felt it was only fair to raise the assessments to $23 and let everyone in the community share the cost. A counter argument was that part of the reason the reserves have been depleted was because of major expenditures to the pool over the past several years. Mr. Collier made a motion to accept the proposal for a $23 per month assessment with a zero pool tag fee. The motion was not seconded and therefore the motion died.

Lengthy discussion continued regarding increases in assessments and pool fees. Again, residents in attendance agreed that there did seem to be a necessity for an increase in assessment, but to what degree was questionable. One resident suggested a $24 monthly assessment and also adding a pool fee but at a lower rate than the $80 suggested, which would then go into the reserve account for major expenditures. Many of the residents in attendance did not want to see the pool fee reinstated. Continued discussion included building up reserves for future major expenditures, and how quickly we wanted to build up those reserves. The Board has always taken the position of maintaining the assets of the community while minimizing the impact on the residents by keeping the assessments as low as possible. Alternative means of increasing revenues were also suggested by residents, including increasing the cost to rent the Manor House and increasing the rent for the Carriage House. Mr. Downey felt that, while we are mandated to maintain the assets of the community, he did not consider the pool as maintenance, but as a recreational facility that should be self sufficient and supported by the individuals who use that recreational facility and not by the entire community. Mr. Ancona also contended that while a portion of everyone’s assessments do go toward subsidizing the pool, he felt the individuals who actually use the pool should be subsidizing more of the pool expenses than those who do not use it. Mr. Collier and Mrs. Jankowski did not feel we should go back to implementing a pool fee. Discussion also touched upon the depletion of reserves and having sufficient monies to pay for not only the anticipated repair work, but unexpected work instead of having to defer unexpected work until a following year.

After lengthy discussion, Mr. Graff made a motion to raise the assessments to $24 in order to really start building up the reserves so we have sufficient monies to pay for all of our expenses by the end of the year. He felt we should leave the pool like it was (included in the assessments) and put the assessments up to a reasonable number in order to start building up the reserves so that we do not have to defer doing things within the community because the money is not there. Mrs. Jankowski seconded the motion. The motion was called and the vote was as follows:

Mr. Ancona – no
Mr. Collier - yes
Mr. Downey – no
Mr. Graff – yes
Mrs. Jankowski – yes

The motion carried, three in favor, two against.

A resident who lives on Princess Lane expressed concerns about repeated vandalism to her property which backs up to the playground. Some of the damages have been done by older juveniles at the playground. The Board advised the resident to call the police and keep calling the police. Similar situations have occurred within the community and after repeatedly calling the police, the vandals are eventually caught or they eventually stop.

Mr. Graff read an email complaint regarding debris from an oak tree on Chesapeake Drive. The Board pointed out that the tree in question is on private property and the responsibility of the homeowner.

Maintenance

Jim’s Tree Service had been asked to identify trees at risk and we received a breakdown of a number of dead trees in the community that should be removed. Four of these dead trees were on the common ground along Mill Pond behind Commonwealth Drive and another tree on Union should be elevated by removing the dead bottom branches. The estimate for this work totals $1,200. Mr. Collier made a motion to accept the proposal from Jim’s Tree Service. Mrs. Jankowski seconded the motion and the motion carried unanimously. Also added to the list of work for Jim’s Tree are downed tree/limbs on common ground behind 49 Franklin Court.

Manor House

There were four rentals in October, one rental in November and three scheduled for December.

Ben Franklin Plumbers came and fixed two clogged sinks. The sink under the stairs is temporarily repaired but the sink is broken and leaking and will need to be replaced. The gutters will be scheduled for cleaning in December. Electrical repairs were done in late October by George Hepp who fixed the lighting under walkway between the Manor House and Spring House.

Pool Committee

The pool committee has scheduled a Bingo night on November 18 at the Manor House. This event will be publicized on the website.

Publicity

Mrs. Dempsey and Mr. Lawlor have been trying to set up an email address for the newsletter on the website which would be newsletter@newtowncrossing.org but they have been having difficulty getting this done through the webmaster. Mr. Ancona suggested the publicity committee lay out what they want to do in a proposal format, give it to Mr. Downey to present to the webmaster.

The publicity committee would like to email the newsletter to those residents who are signed up on the website and hand deliver hard copies to those residents who do not have internet access. Several residents indicated that the current webmaster did not have the capability to send certain files and may not be able to send “bulk mail” emails to the residents. It was suggested that Mr. Gallagher, Mrs. Dempsey, and Mr. Lawlor meet to itemize specifications that will be needed for the website in order to accommodate what we are trying to accomplish in the area of communication with the community.

Mr. and Mrs. Ehman, who live in NCCA, expressed an interest in maintaining the Newtown Crossing website and submitted a preliminary proposal. The Board requested that they submit a detailed breakdown of services, including any fees for additional services and it would be discussed further at the next Board meeting.

With no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m. The next meeting will be scheduled for Tuesday, December 5, 2006.