Glenbrooke News

The following is my summary of the Glenbrooke Community Association Board Meeting held on July 21, 2010.   This summary is NOT the official minutes but rather a summary of my notes of the meeting.  I invite anyone that attended to add their impressions below in the comment section.

The meeting started shortly after 2:00PM.     Roll call was taken and while two board members were absent (Leo Plumley and John Jarecki) there was still a quorum with the remaining three.    Proof of notice was certified and both the agenda and the minutes the last Board meeting on April 21, 2010 were approved.

The president reported that   298 houses  have closed escrow and a  total of 340 have been sold.      Mr. VanDam also reported on problems with cracking of the concrete around the pool.   The contractor that poured the cement will return to correct the problems.   They have agreed to wait until the beginning of October to fix the cracks to have a minimum impact on owners during swimming season.

The Treasurer reported that the finances were in good standing.   Mr. McCargo stated that while some line items were over budget, others were under budget and the bottom line was after Pulte contributed their subsidy we were in “good shape.”

Next on the agenda was the Design Review Committee Report.  Peter Gaffney reported that during the last period, the committee received 54 applications for landscape improvements with 52 approvals and 2 denials.

The committee will be working on updating the Design review Guidelines to address a lack of specifics on some areas and other issues that are not addressed in current guidelines.

Peter Gaffney also reported on the nominating committee citing their numerous meetings culminating in the successful Candidates forum night.  The committee has received many positive responses regarding the nomination process and Forum event.

Harold Wheeler reported on the communication committee.    Mr. Wheeler pointed out that they view communication as a three-fold process.   First is factual information, second is the communication method and lastly the response to the message.

Thanks to Bill Elliott and a group of volunteers, the Gazette was delivered to all homes.  Less than 4% of homeowners ‘opted out’ of the delivery service.   The committee will report back to the board in October after  several more deliveries.    This method does not cost the Association any additional expense.

The next issue to be addressed by the Communication committee is an informal “Town hall” type meeting.  In order to investigate this further, the committee needs to communicate with the Board and Riverside Management.   Due to the upcoming Board elections, the committee will wait until the new board members are in place to explore this option further.

Mina LaCuesta provided the Lifestyle director’s report highlighting the association activities in the last month and the planned activities for the next two months.     Staff recommended the approval of the Pickleball group.

The board approved this group and agreed to fund the purchase of equipment and the striping of the tennis courts to allow multiuse of the court facilities.

The " Management Violation Report" is a report that is prepared by Riverside management and summarizes the violation activity  (such as letters regarding trash cans left out, etc) and is  provided to the board.  The Board does not share this information with the members – just notes the receipt of the report in the agenda and minutes of the meeting.

The Board opened the meeting to public comment.  Every homeowner has the right to speak to the Board. This period is devoted to comments by owners and discussion of those comments.

Various owners expressed opinions on several topics including:

The budget and concern that spending on some line items exceeds the budgeted amount.  Concern that we stay within the budget, as we will not have Pulte to provide a subsidy in the future leaving special assessments the only option if we are over budget.

Question regarding the advertising insert in the Gazette and having volunteers deliver it door to door.   Mina stated the insert was a paid advertisement for three months.

Clarification that the communication committee was waiting until new board members were seated to address the possibility of having a monthly town hall meeting.

While supportive of the Pickleball group, the inconsistencies of the association paying only some groups start up costs was a concern.

Again the issue of having a Finance Committee that included residents to help develop the budget and set priorities was raised.

The appropriateness of the Board continuing to meet quarterly instead of monthly was questioned.

Under UNFINISHED BUSINESS, Mina LaCuesta gave an update of the website.   Training and content entry will be completed in the next month with the new website to go online September 1, 2010.   She reminded all members that there will no longer be an email component and encouraged owners to arrange for other email providers.

Under NEW BUSINESS, there was approval to release two bonds.  There was a typo in the agenda so please refer to the official minutes for the exact bond numbers.

Since the election ballots are to be opened during the next Annual Meeting of the Members on August 18^th, the motion was made and carried to have the ballots opened at 5:00PM instead of start the counting at 6:00PM, the previous published meeting time.   The reasoning being that the board did not want to waste time ‘watching a bunch of envelopes opened.’

Resolution 2010.007 – Appointment of Jennifer Jensen, CPA as Inspector of Elections was approved.

NEXT MEETING – Annual Meeting of Members August 18, 2010 – at 5:00 PM

ADJOURNMENT