FHA Board Minutes for March 6, 2007

Meeting was called to order by President Ackerman at 7:05 PM. Those in attendance were Gillian Cell, Lowell Kennedy, Walter Jernigan, Carol-Ann Greenslade, Bill Stempfle, Mary Lou Einloth, and Leonard Kreisman. Absent: Jim Bond.

In addition the following residents were in attendance: Joyce Kennedy, Richard Bird, John Deupree, Stephen Bodner, Ed Beach, Joe Devan, Maureen Devan, George Strong, Barry Reece, Richard Mazzone, Carla Mazzone, Charles Riddle, Bob Oram, Aud Ackerman, Ray Alberz, Morley Fenson, Bob Watkins, Jacqueline Stempfle, Joanne Flower, Bob Flower, Ann Deupree, Janet Jorgenson, Ruth Kreisman, Margaret George, Patsy LaFoe, Guy Baird, Michael Gapin, Larry Owen, Bob Hoogstoel, Donald George, Peter Thomas and Paul Niederer. In addition, Captain Allen and Lt. Birchett represented the Sheriff’s Office.

On a motion made by the Secretary, duly seconded the minutes of the January 2nd, 2007 meeting were unanimously accepted.

Walter then delivered the Treasurer’s Report. He indicated that for the 2006 year income exceeded expenses. There were three reasons why this was true. FHA received $10,000 from the DOT for work on Beaver Pond. In addition, expenses in two major categories legal expenses and Community affairs were $6255 less than projected and investment income totaled $8226. This additional income allowed us to set up a checking account at RBC Centura to assist CAS in bill paying for the FHA. In addition, a new CD with Sun Trust was also established because of the surplus income.

Expenditures served to reduce the Vanguard Reserve fund by over $13,000 to cover the costs of such projects as the sidewalks, the flagpole, the irrigation system and air conditioning for the Gathering Place. Walter also noted that the FHA was not a tax exempt organization and the appropriate Federal and State tax forms for 2006 had been filed.

Walter did point out that 2007 would be a challenge. While we did increase dues per lot by $4.00 it is expected that the income this year will only yield a surplus of about $6000 and there are a number of Gathering Place projects which will need to be funded and some of that surplus, plus funds in the Vanguard Reserve account will be required to fund those projects. One should also note that sometimes there are emergency expenses and that explains some of the expenditures for the Beaver Pond.

Walter pointed out that one of the calls that he had recently involved a resident who had moved out and the bank still deducted his dues for the year. Walter asked him, if he had notified the FHA or the bank about the move and he said no but Walter has taken action to see that the dues for this year will be refunded. That concluded Walter’s report.

Jim indicated that there has been a flawless transition to CAS and he commended the good work done by Bob Flower in assisting Walter with the transition.

Gillian reported for herself and also for Jim Bond. She indicated that the President had established a Strategic Planning Committee Chaired by Jim Bond. The other members are Gillian Cell, Evy Barrow and Mike Cotter, representing the Long Range Planning Committee and Bob Cherniak as an at-large member. The Committee has only met once and is still identifying issues. Once the Committee has identified issues the Survey Committee will be asked to poll residents to see if they agree and also to see if there are some other issues that they think the Committee should address.

Gillian reported that she is also working with an ad hoc committee on the office copier. Presently we have a large machine which is expensive and also expensive to maintain. It is used to produce the monthly Newsletter, which requires a large number of copies and this is a major effort by the Newsletter team. The Committee is exploring the possibility of outsourcing the Newsletter and renting a less expensive copier as an attempt to reduce copying expenses.

We have also reconfigured the office space and created what we believe to be a more welcoming environment for what we are now calling the Hospitality Service Center. We have also created a separate office across the hall for our office Administrator. We expect these spaces to be even more attractive because of contributions by the Palateers. We encourage all residents to come and see the redesigned facilities. Gillian also pointed out that Gary Simpson, the new office Administrator has been responsible for many of these changes and residents were encouraged to meet Gary.

Carol-Ann indicated that part of the budget surplus is due to the fact that the cost for the maintenance of the grounds has not increased over the last two years even though some additional money was budgeted to cover that possibility. She also indicated that she has been tying red ribbons around to indicate to the landscape crews areas that may need some additional attention.

Carol-Ann also reported that she had delivered a petition from Millcroft residents about the need for a walking path, but as yet, no response had been received from RB. However, there appears to be some attention to the possibility of creating some off road walking paths. Jim indicated that RB is working on an overall plan but no details are as yet available.

The Beaver Pond project is almost completed. Seeding and mulching needs to be done before RB will release the funds that he promised. In addition, Carol-Ann expects some suggestions from the company that did the work on the pond about water plants that they feel would help prevent erosion of the banks. Carol-Ann hopes that the Garden Club might assist with that project.

Robert Flynn has indicated that he will see to it that the old benches on the Playground are picked up and the hope is that new benches will be available by the time of the Easter egg hunt.

Cleanup week is set for March 26-30 and there will be only one pass per neighborhood and information has been posted in the mail kiosks. There is a reminder in the Newsletter and another reminder will be posted on the Bulletin Board.

The cost of signs and posts for the Road Safety Committee will be paid out of the Ground and Facilities budget and Carol-Ann indicated that her assignment as liaison to the Road Safety Committee was coming to an end.

Lowell then reported on the progress of the changes that are planned for the Gathering Place. Plans and specifications for the renovation have been approved by the Chatham County Building Department and bids are going out to potential contractors. A 25 cu.ft. Maytag refrigerator has already been installed and Lowell hopes that by the end of summer the renovations to the kitchen area in the Gathering Place will have been accomplished. He also reported that he and Lee Caldwell had conducted an informational meeting on the operation of the Audio-Visual equipment and that representatives from 8 groups had attended. If there is additional interest another session will be scheduled in the fall.

Since Bill Stempfle was away he did not report on covenant isues.

Jim then reported on what be called Civics 101. He pointed out that the FHA Board consisted of 10 positions, five of which, the President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and Financial Officer were specified. Ingram Austin was the Financial Officer and he suggested that since the Board had now hired CAS the Financial Officer position appeared to be no longer necessary. At the same time a number of groups were involved in what was also a major charge to the FHA which was to provide for the Health, Safety and Security of residents. Based on this a Steering Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Jim Granger which had representatives of CERT, Fearrington Cares, the Road Safety Committee and Community Watch as well as a representative of RB. It seemed logical for the Board to request a bylaws change to eliminate the Financial Officer position and replace it with a Director for Health, Safety and Security (HSS) who could serve to empower these groups realizing that preserving their autonomy was important. Right now this is being done on an informal basis and Mary Lou Einloth will be acting as the liaison. It is the Board’s intention to formalize the HSS position at the annual meeting in November.

Mary Lou then reported that the Newcomers Fair had 52 group leaders and that about 40 newcomers attended the session. Those who participated deemed it a success. A recommendation was made to hold the Newcomers Fair annually in late September or early October when most groups are planning their year-long activities.

The Easter Egg Hunt for children 8 years and younger is set for Sunday April 8 at 1:30PM at the Playground. If it rains it will be moved to The Barn. There are about 600 plastic eggs that will need to be filled. Mary Lou has scheduled a meeting of the Area and Block Captains for March 19th at the Gathering Place.

At that point Mary Lou turned the meeting over to Art DeLuca who did a presentation for the Road Safety Committee. He reported that from January 29 through February 7 sensors were placed at various spots in the Village to gather information about speed. The speed of some 7,700 vehicles was captured. It demonstrated that some 75% of the vehicles surveyed were going over the posted 25 mile an hour speed limit. Some 37 vehicles were clocked as going over 55 miles an hour and 15 over 75 miles an hour. The basic objective of the Road Safety Committee was to make Fearrington Village a safe place to walk, drive, jog, and cycle for both adults and children. Based on this information the RSC believes that speed monitors would calm traffic and would alert residents about the need to obey the posted speed limit.

Art presented the history of the Committee going back some 10 months. He pointed out that much investigation had been done prior to the decision to recommend the speed monitoring device. In addition, the NC DOT has approved the use of such a device and there will be 4 locations that will be monitored both for ingress and egress. The monitor is portable and can be moved. Each location will have a pole which will be 10 feet off the roadway. The device is tamper proof and it has been agreed that RB will share half the cost of the device. After Art’s presentation the floor was open to comments and questions.

Jacqueline Stempfle 251Fox Ridge suggested that when individuals come off 15/501 they put their cruise control on 25MPH and she also suggested that such a suggestion be placed in the Newsletter.

Paul Niederer of 913 Woodham thought that monitoring was an excellent idea since he walks on the road with his dog and is concerned about speeding cars.

Another resident expressed concern about the fact that people are not obeying stop signs.

A question was asked about location and the monitor will be moved around to a spot on Beechmast, Village Way, Weathersfield and Millcroft. It is expected that the monitor will be in use soon but as yet there is no definite date. The posts and appropriate signs have to go up first. It was also pointed out that there are no photos taken and no license plates are recorded. What are recorded are the date, time and speed.

Jim also indicated that he was impressed with the work of the Committee and this was also true of RB. Jim then asked Captain Allen for any comments that he wanted to make. Captain Allen indicated that he had been involved from the beginning and that the Sheriff’s Department was working on a grant to secure such a device for itself. He pointed out that it would be useful for the Sheriff’s Department to know that at a certain time and at a certain place there appeared to be significant speeding and that would provide them with an opportunity to use their staff in a more productive way.

He also pointed out that this device was very cost effective and he supported the Committee’s efforts.

A motion was made by Mary Lou and seconded by Carol-Ann “To formalize the expenditure of no more than $2500 (approximately 1/2 the cost) for a speed monitor. (The remaining half to be paid by RB Fitch.) The motion was unanimously approved.

Jim then reported that RB is working on an alternative inland paths from Millcroft with the understanding that the paths after construction will be maintained by the FHA.

Jim also reported that RB’s attorney is reviewing the assignment of authority agreement in regard to covenants that the Board’s attorney had prepared.

Other resident input involved concern about recycling problems. A number of residents are working on the issue to see if there are some alternative solutions to the current problem.

Barbara Harris suggested that the Board might want to consider beginning an art collection as a way of decorating the Gathering Place. This gave Jim an opportunity to introduce Gary Simpson and to indicate that he was working on the Palateers to help decorate the Hospitality suite and his office.

There being no further business Jim entertained a motion to adjourn and the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Leonard T. Kreisman, Secretary