St. Albans Square Homeowners Associationfountain

Home
September Newsletter
Previous Page
Next Page

 

 

ST. ALBAN’S SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION 2005 MEMBERSHIP MEETING

AUGUST 9, 2005

The Neighborhood Association Membership Meeting is held annually in August. The main purpose of the meeting is to elect new members to the Council of Stewards and to present committee reports of the past year’s activities. Neighborhood issues and questions are also discussed and official actions taken or referred to the Council of Stewards (COS).

Tom Fisher, Association President, called the meeting to order at 7:10 P.M. Norm Reid, Secretary, verified that the required quorum of 66 homeowners was represented and that proper proof of notice of the annual meeting had been received by Association members.

The Nominating Committee presented the candidates for the two expired terms on the COS – Bob Ashton and Stephen Baker. There were no nominations from the floor and no other nominations had been submitted in advance to Abbott Enterprises. Bob and Steve were elected by acclamation to a three-year term on the Council of Stewards.

A summary of the committee reports is submitted below. If there are any questions regarding these reports, please call the committee chairperson or a committee member as listed on pages 11 and 12 of the print newsletter or the list in the members' area of the website.

Finance Committee

Ed Riley, Treasurer, presented a balance sheet and statement of revenues and expenses from January 2005 through June 2005. The balance sheet reflected current assets of $327,609 including cash, accounts receivable, and CDs. Association reserves are invested in several six-month CDs that are earning interest at a rate of around 4%. A large portion of the accounts receivable can be attributed to approximately fifteen delinquent assessment fees. Increased effort will be made to collect these past due amounts. Expenses for the year are higher than budgeted and can be attributed to cost of collecting delinquent fees, unanticipated expenses from 2004, landscaping expenses for purchase of mulch, and the cost incurred to perform catch-up maintenance and repairs to townhomes. Reserve contributions are satisfactory.

Architectural Review Committee

This committee meets monthly to consider requests to make architectural changes. The committee has recently developed two standards for common changes: (1) style and type of name plaques, and (2) exterior storm doors. The ARC is currently developing a standard for relocation of A/C units in townhome courtyards. This standard will be presented for approval at the regular August meeting of the Council of Stewards. Changes that conform to an approved standard will not require submittal of a change request to the ARC. However, any architectural changes that do not conform to published standards must be submitted for review. Copies of the standards and change request forms are available on a hallway table outside Doug Boone’s office (St. Alban’s Lane). Copies are also available on the Association website.

Covenant Committee

Work is being completed on development of a document covering Enforcement Policies and Procedures. Pending completion of legal review by the Association attorney, this policy will be available for final review by the Council of Stewards at the August meeting. The Covenant Committee is also planning to distribute this information to residents in the form of a handbook.

Landscape & Grounds Committee

All landscaping changes (excluding common areas) are now subject to review by the Architectural Review Committee and should be initiated by submitting the appropriate change request form. During the past year, the committee addressed a variety of issues, including a bee infestation, dead shrubbery and tree replacement, and various maintenance problems with fountains and common areas. All townhome planting beds, with the exception of units on O. Henry, were mulched with pine bark mulch. The committee is planning to submit a budget request for mulching to be done on an annual basis. A question was raised regarding the maintenance of park areas by the Town of Davidson, particularly in areas between sidewalks and roads. These issues will be reviewed by the committee.

Townhome & Workplace Building Maintenance Committee

Repair and maintenance of townhomes that are no longer under warranty are underway. The project to repair, clean, and paint the oldest townhomes is on schedule and will be completed soon. Because of cost, the work on other townhomes will be completed in sections, based on age of the units, over a period of three years. This will permit application of two coats of higher quality paint which should prolong the need to repaint. Next spring, the second group of townhomes will be repaired and painted. Cunnane Group has volunteered to pressure wash remaining buildings once the current road patching job is completed. Regular light bulbs in the byway light fixtures were replaced with fluorescent bulbs, reducing replacement and energy costs. A Reserve Study is being performed and will be completed by mid-September.

Newsletter Committee

Many residents in our neighborhood have contributed to the writing, production, and delivery of the newsletter and their volunteer efforts are greatly appreciated. Since the newsletter is a primary means of communication to all residents and owners, everyone is urged to read neighborhood articles and review meeting summaries each month.

Neighborhood Website (www.stalbanssq.org)

Steve Lee, website creator, reported that the directory on the website is a list provided by Abbott and access is limited to residents in the “Member’s Area.” Residents are requested to make any changes or corrections by logging into the “Member’s Area” and requesting a temporary password. At the first opportunity, residents should change this password to one they personally create. Community news, rules and regulations, and Association forms are available to anyone visiting the site. This is expected to be helpful to both local realtors and prospective buyers.

Following committee reports, the floor was opened to new business and comments:

It was reported that a number of TV cables on Clemens Place have not been buried and Adelphia has failed to respond to requests to do so. As this is a potential safety issue, the Council of Stewards will monitor the situation. Residents were encouraged to report the problem specifically to the Adelphia office in Mooresville since it has responded better to other work requests.

A question was raised regarding the completion of the audit report of Association financial records. The report was just completed the week of the Membership Meeting and should be available for review at the regular August meeting of the COS.

A motion to request the Council of Stewards to take the lead in addressing road paving issues with Mecklenburg County was approved.

Concerns were expressed regarding the traffic congestion around St. Alban’s Square during the day, especially from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. It was thought that the problem was exacerbated by parents dropping-off and picking-up children at St Alban’s Church pre-school. Child drop-off and pick-up is required at the back of the building. However, the pre-school director will be informed of this concern so additional emphasis can be given to the proper policy. Further discussion led to the conclusion that much of the congestion is due to daily business by the workplace units on the Square.

A resident requested that the newsletter print another reminder regarding observance of STOP signs throughout the neighborhood. [See Living section of this newsletter.]

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 P.M.