Ridge Condo Association Board Meeting

February 15, 2005

Attending: Linda Edwards, Tom Treece, Judi Carr, Harvard Sitkoff,

Guests: Robert Ducharme, and Dana Buffum.

Legal: The Board discussed collection issues with Robert Ducharme, the attorney working on these issues. It was moved, seconded and passed that the Board authorize Mr. Ducharme to proceed with collection in the manner outlined. Mr. Ducharme also reviewed a letter he had prepared responding to questions about the Ridge bylaws.

Minutes: The minutes of December 12, 2004 were approved.

Financials: Tom Treece informed the Board that as of the midpoint of the fiscal year we are more or less on target, overall, on expenses. Because Blanchette’s contract has payment at the beginning of the month but we pay our condo fees closer to the middle of the month, we have had some ‘cash flow’ issues. Tom will work with Evergreen to determine precisely why this is happening.

MPCA: No report.

President’s Report: Our current snow removal contract has snow removal first for driveways, then closer to the end of the storm sidewalks are cleared. This has been modified, via conversation with Blanchette, in one instance: Unit 217 is the only Ridge unit with a detached garage. It is therefore necessary that the sidewalk to the garage be passable before the end of long storms, closer to the time when the drives are cleared. Linda has asked Evergreen to be sure this point is incorporated in future snow removal contracts.

Property Manager’s report: Dana Buffum, the new Evergreen property manager for the Ridge, was introduced.

Update on Maintenance planning. In order to refine the maintenance plan, Dana had the Ridge units assessed by New England Painting. Dana provided a letter to the board from them which indicates that there were no units currently in need of painting. The paint work was done well initially and even on the Bay side of units has held up well. New England Painting recommends that the Ridge institute a 5 year cycle of painting. The board questioned the 5 year cycle, as it seemed more frequent that necessary, given current experience. The units will be inspected again in the spring. And Dana will seek information, though not necessarily firm estimates for painting various size units on the Ridge.

New Business:

Landscape Maintenance Service (Lawn-mowing, mulching, etc): The board reviewed the details of the most recent draft of the Landscape Maintenance Service contract that Dana prepared. This contract will cover primarily lawn mowing, mulching, and clean up. The board concurred with Dana’s recommendation that we separate out pruning from this contract and have bidding done separately for that work. The number of lawn mowings was returned to 20, as that has been our practice in recent years and has seemed adequate.

In addition, in order to know more accurately the cost of alternatives, the contract will ask that each ‘mowing’ (cutting back) be priced separately for the area on the Bay side of the Ridge beyond the wall. Further action on how to treat that area in the long run was deferred until we have a recommendation from the Landscape Planning contractor.

Regarding weeding, the board’s initial recommendation is that we get a price for weeding all beds and a separate price for weeding that excludes the “foundation beds” (those beds which come up to the foundation of the units.) The time of the month in which the weeding is to be done should also be specified (e.g., between the first and the fifth day of the month).

Dana will make the recommended revisions to the contract and email to the board, for final authorization so that this can “go to bid.”

Old Business

Problem with signage for unit 234. As reported earlier, the sign at the northeast ‘end’ of the Ridge reads 231 to 233, but that driveway is also the entryway for unit 234. Linda has received a map of the Ridge drives and units, that was prepared at the time that the signs at the ends of our driveways were prepared.. The work on signs was done by the Architecture Review Committee. Peg Goddard, who was on the Architecture Review Committee at the time, located the map .The map clearly indicates that the driveway at the northeast end of the Ridge would be for units 231 to 233, and that the driveway for 234 would further south on the east end (with the drive for 235 and 236.) Linda will discuss this with AMB, as there are costs involved in correcting the sign.

Landscape planning. We anticipate the Maritime landscape planning proposal to be ready in March. A special meeting with Maritime and the Landscape Task Group plus interested board members will be scheduled, for a preliminary presentation.

Next meeting May 10 , 2005. Place to be determined

Annual meeting Planning session date to be scheduled

Annual meeting June 7, 2005

Respectfully submitted,

Harvard Sitkoff