Special Meeting – May 31, 2007

Woodard’s Crestlake Homeowners’ Association
Special Meeting
May 31, 2007 – 7:00 PM
St. Joseph Middle School

Introduction

• Spokesperson – Jim Page
• Reorganization Committee:

In the last few years, the Homeowners’ Association has basically fallen apart. Only two guys were soldering on – Dave Fritz and Cody Evans. Our thanks go to them for keeping the torch lit – but a lot needs to be done to bring the Association back up to where it needs to be to protect and benefit the neighborhood.

History

• How did we get here?
  • The Homeowners’ Association was started in the late 90’s when the subdivision was first created.
  • When each of you closed on your house, the dded work has Restrictions and Covenants attached to them which legally created the Woodard’s Crestlake Homeowners’ Association.
  • The Association owns 6 common areas, retention ponds and easements.
    • The Association does NOT plow snow – that is the responsibility of the Village.
    • The Association DOES maintain and insure the common areas and enforce the rules.
  • The Association was incorporated as a non-profit corporation until 2000 when it was dissolved by the State for failure to file annual reports.
  • Cody Evans and Dave Fritz were the last Board members and officers to exist form the most recent version of the Association – they paid bills and kept it alive.
  • A meeting was held on April 19th and about 50 residents of Crestlake attended.
  • At that meeting, the 9 people listed above volunteered to try to reorganize the Association.
  • This group has met four times since, spent hundreds of dollars of their own money and quite a bit of their time, trying to assess what needs to be done to get the organization up and running. They have:
    • met with an attorney & obtained bids from accountants
    • re-established a mailing address & sent out mailings
    • collected all the old documents and gathered existing financial reports
    • obtained copies of deeds – tax records, and property assessments
    • worked to get a more accurate insurance policy
• We met with an attorney to get advice on how to reorganize the Association, The mailings and this meeting are the result of his suggestions.

Legal Issues

• There are 360 lots in 8 phases of the subdivision. The Association exists – whether we want it to or not.
• We have no protection for lawsuits – we are woefully underinsured and the corporation no longer exists. If a lawsuit occurs – for example a drowning in a pond – we would all be liable for the judgement.
• This group of volunteers has no legal authority to execute anything. At this point, we are just trying to get our arms around what needs to be done.
• We need your help to lawfully reorganize the Association
• What We Need You To Do – A Board of Directors needs to be selected at this meeting. Once elected the Board will:
  • adopt by-laws – select Officers
  • adopts any rules and policies that are necessary to operate
  • file Articles of Incorporation with the State and obtain insurance

Ponds

• The maintenance of the retention ponds are our first and largest priority as an Association
• So that we know which ponds we are talking about, we named them – see the map.
• The retention ponds are for storm runoff and drainage.
• They need to be maintained so they do not become swamps and attractive nuisances.
• They are available to any Association member for recreation, fishing, picnicking, walking, jogging, etc.
• Residents who border the lakes get a nice view but it comes with an increased flooding potential as well
• They need constant care due to erosion and runoff.
• The first two ponds – Park and Grand – were built with sidewalks, benches, nice rip rap, etc.
• The last 4 – Magnolia, Hawthorne (2) and Glover – were not.

Assessment

• The Association has the authority to collect Association assessments. The assessment is presently $120 and has been for several years.
• Given that there are 360 properties in Crestlake and IF everyone paid, the Association would collect $43,200 annually.
• The costs that the Association has in the first year are estimated at $66,500. There are leftover funds from previous years that will get us by… however, there will not be enough at $120 to cover all the expected costs.
• We want to hear your input on raising the rate to $150 per year – an additional $2.50 per month. That will raise $54,000 – much closer to what we need each year.
• As a comparison – Wiltshire Homeowners’ Association residents pay $250 and they have only one pond to maintain.

Board of Directors

• The Board of Directors consists of 7 members.
• Are there volunteers? Nominations?

Committees

• We want to get volunteers to sit on committees:
  • Membership
  • Web & Communications
  • Social
  • Pond and Common Areas

Woodard’s Crestlake Homeowners’ Association Expenditures
Legal  $2,000
Insurance  $2,500
Mowing  $5,000
Accounting  $5,000
Pond treatments  $7,000
Erosion control/capital improvements  $45,000