Meeting April 11, 2010

Blue Ridge Forest Subdivision
Meeting for Trustee’s and
Property Owner
4/11/10 Minutes of the Meeting
Meeting held at Tony & Charlie Tysver’s home, located at 132 South Park Trail at 4:00 pm
Property Owners in attendance:
Barbara Byers, Kevin Cosgrove, Ron (trustee) and Janet Dick, Michael Gummo (trustee), Yvonne Lamb, Kelly Mays, John and Marjorie McLaughlin, Laura Ottinger, David and Edie Rider, Art Ross (trustee), Charlie Tysver, James Reynolds
Opening:
Charlie Tysver called the meeting to order on Art Ross’ behalf as he was running late. Charlie introduced Jim Reynolds who proceeded with a power point presentation on the following Subjects:
What is a Trustee:
A trustee is a volunteer from your community, they are not compensated by pay or trade. They still have to pay their assessment (road) fees.
A member of a board, elected or appointed; responsible to direct funds and make policy of an institution.
Our Covenant states: Trustee’s shall elect from among homeowners, successors to any trustee who resigns, removes from the state, dies or declines to act, so that there shall be four (4) trustee’s, 2 each for sections 1 & 2 of the development. This means we can never have less than 4 trustees ever.
Additional trustee’s can be elected or appointed by the current board of trustees. Our trustee’s have done so in the past by adding a secretary trustee and a treasurer trustee back in1986
It has been largely assumed that the trustees are responsible for fixing the pot holes and to fix the roads. It needs to be understood that the trustee’s position is to make decisions and policies to better the development roads and common areas. Some of the trustees have volunteered to work on the roads in the past (and we appreciate that). However, we believe this has caused many homeowners to assume that physically fixing the roads is the sole responsibility of the trustees. Which is not true.
When a situation occurs regarding the roads, a meeting is called to find options. Based on availability of volunteers and equipment and time along with the appropriate funds we proceed with a plan. More often these days volunteers, equipment and funds have run significantly short, cause us to look to outside of the development for hired help.
When can we use a majority vote:
A majority vote by property owners is to be used for the sole purpose of increasing the assessment (road) fees and needs to be by signing, acknowledging and recording said vote.
Our Goal Regarding Communication: No one should be able to say I didn’t know!
We now have a variety of ways to have better communication between the property owners and your trustees.
Community Notification Board – located at the entrance to the development and will be the main source of communicating to the property owners who currently live in the development year round. Meeting notices, fundraising events, volunteer request, assessment (road) fee notification and upcoming events will be posted here.
Blog site: This will be an information site only. It will provide the some of the information contained on the community board along with history notes, pictures of the development and current projects being worked on. Volunteers will be acknowledged here as well. This will be a great tool for our out of town property owners, family and friends to use as well. (Thanks to Jim Reynolds for setting this up – it looks beautiful)
www.blueridgeforestsubdivision.blogspot.com
E-Mail: For those who have internet access, Jim Reynolds (our IT guy) has volunteered to review all e-mails and bring this information to your trustees. Feel free to send suggestions, concerns, safety issues and complaints, however remember to be civil in manner. All issues will be addressed.
blueridgeforestsubdivision@gmail.com
Community Secretaries: These are a group of 9 Great volunteer property owners who have been assigned a group of about 4 local property owners to help inform you of "what’s going on". They are also helping with the recruitment of volunteers, donations, whatever the community might need to get a project completed.
Out of Town Property Owners: One of the trustees will communicate with you through regular mail or E-mail to inform you of upcoming meetings in which a majority vote is needed, meeting notes, and upcoming events in which you can help.
What Happened To Our Roads:
Trustees did what they were supposed to do!
Made the best decision based on funds that were available
1st estimates were in ’08 for around $13,000 to $24,000 based on materials and cost of gas heading for over $4 a gallon for gas and diesel.
Additional funds were needed to reach this goal, so they waited one more year for additional assessment fees to come in.
In 2009 the estimate amounts went over $22,000. Blue Ridge account had $11,000 to $14,000 for the project which included early payments and donations.
Trustees called a meeting in which a handful of property owners showed, decisions were made because they couldn’t wait any longer.
Communication broke down between the trustees, volunteers, and property owners
$11,000 was spent on hill #1 for culverts, ditch digging, and rock, "preparing" it for surface treatment when we did get the funds to proceed.
The 20 year storm hit us hard. Amherst County Schools were closed for 18 days. The roads in our development were impassable unless you had a big 4 wheel drive, trucks could not deliver gas or oil.
The community pulled together and VOLUNTEERS saved our roads. For less than $4,000 we cleared the roads of snow, put down multiple loads of ballast, dug out ditches and made the roads passable.
Still there is much to be done and we can do it cheaper if we pull our personal resources together and work together as a community with a common problem rather than out sourcing the work.
There have been a few reports of damage while driving over the large stone that was placed down. You must drive according to conditions, so please SLOW DOWN.
Volunteers, Fundraising and Road Work….OH MY!
Current Fundraising Project: Community Yard Sale will be held on May 15th at THE STORE in Madison Heights on Rt. 29 (it’s the A framed building next to Seminole Plaza)
Donations are now being accepted
Storage of the items will be at Laura and Eddie Ottinger’s Barn. Please call her for appropriate drop off times 922-7508 or call Charlie Tysver 922-7779 to arrange a pick up date. We will pick up outside of the development as well.
Pricing and Sorting of donations are scheduled for May 2nd and May 10th. Call Charlie Tysver 922-7779 if you can volunteer and we will try to work with your schedule.
Tables and Tents are needed – call Charlie Tysver 922-7779
Workers needed for the day of the sale: 8-2pm is what we are looking at
Baked Goods needed: Please avoid things that might melt – cookies, brownies, desert bars, pound cakes, breads, jams and jellies – Call Charlie 922-7779
Delivery of Items to sale location – trucks and trailers needed
Delivery of left over items to Good Will needed day of sale
Road Warriors Needed
Clean up crews will generally work on Sat. or Sun. This may include ditch digging with hand shovels, raking rock/dirt, tree cutting and removal, refreshments for the crew
We are planning a cleanup day some time after the yard sale….more to follow
Observation of hired contractors – must be able to stay with crews while they perform work on the roads
All property owner need to keep their culverts and ditches clean and free flowing – if you need assistance let us know
Who Knows Who – we are looking for great deals on items like culvert pipes, an uncle with a backhoe or grader or bobcat, rock dump truck, etc.
Anyone in the development can grab a shovel and rake and fill pot holes. However, any heavy equipment work needs to be approved by the trustees prior to work starting.
We are currently looking for bids on digging out the culvert pipe at the bottom of Circle Brook and Country Haven Rd. and replacing it with a larger one. Can include and strongly suggested to include time and equipment volunteered or the use of rented equipment and volunteered time. Please include a time line for completion.
Meetings
The trustees will meet as needed to discuss current and future projects brought to them.
It has been suggested that more general meetings be held monthly so as to keep property owners abreast of all the happenings and needs of this great community.
Laura and Eddie Ottinger have graciously volunteered to host the next meeting.
Who wishes to host the next? (you do not need to be a trustee to host a meeting)
Suggestions and Discussions
The trustees need to hear about your thoughts on how to maintain and improve the Blue Ridge Subdivision
Remember that everything suggested is not possible with our limited funds
If and when you do have a problem and feel the need to call one of the trustees please do so, but being rude or ugly is not going to help get the issue resolved.
Trustees Meeting Following General Open Meeting
Art Ross Brought the Trustees meeting to order
Trustees present were Art Ross, Michael Gummo and Ron Dick
Trustees absent were Eddie Ottinger, Cliff Salvia and Gilbert Byers
Treasurers report was read and approved
Treasurer reported that we currently have $1,471.10 in our account. We also have approximately $3,915.00 in outstanding assessment fees. There was a short discussion on how these payments could be collected. It was brought to the members that assessment fees needed to be paid within 90 days of the 1st of January each year. The covenant says due on the 1st of January. The trustees agree to the 90 days to give us time to settle in after the December bills and county property taxes. There was a suggestion we consider payment plans to help with the fee payment. A message will be placed on the Community Notification Board at the front entrance regarding assessment (road) fees.
Old Business: None
New Business: as follows
The meeting next took up the question of adding trustees to become part of the Board of Trustees. After much discussion the following were nominated and approved or stayed in their current positions.
Laura Ottinger, treasurer
Janet Dick, secretary
Andrea Payne, secretary
Justin Hayman, secretary
Barbara Byers, secretary
Kelly Mays, trustee & secretary
Edie Rider, trustee
Linda Martin, secretary
Yvonne Lamb, trustee
Cliff Salvia, trustee (current)
Eddie Ottinger, trustee (current)
Ron Dick, trustee (current)
Mike Gummo, trustee (current)
Art Ross, trustee (current)
Gilbert Byers, trustee (current)
Charlene (Charlie) Tysver, trustee & secretary
Jim Reynolds, trustee & IT (web master)
Kevin Cosgrove, trustee
Kevin Lamb to be asked to be a trustee at next trustees meeting
We also talked about the use of ATV’s on our roads and were happy that there were less and the ones riding the roads were going slower and not doing donuts on our roads. It was suggested that we have a person from the Department of Forestry to come and talk with us at a meeting to let us know what the Forest rules/laws are on ATV’s and hunting as there is access to the Blue Ridge Forest from our lake and other properties.
"Visitors to the Development" was the next topic. It was suggested that the trustees develop a business type card or card decal that is a pass from the owners for visitors to have while using the lake and picnic area. Barbara Byers send Jim a copy of an old PERMISSION TO FISH CARD. We will look at using this card at the next meeting.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday the 27th of April at Laura and Eddie Ottinger's home located at 182 North Park Trail.