MOODY POINT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION

 

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

September 10th, 2005

 

The Annual Meeting of the Moody Point Community Association (MPCA) was held at the Newmarket Town Hall, Newmarket, NH on Saturday, September 10th, 2005. Jim Fitzpatrick, President of the MPCA, chaired the meeting. It was certified that there was a quorum was present at 9 AM by Russ Simon, MPCA Secretary and M.J. Searfoorce, representative of Great North, the MPCA’s Management Company.

 

A motion was made and seconded to suspend the By-Laws requirement of starting the annual meeting at 10 AM and to allow the annual meeting to start at 9 AM. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was called to order at 9:05 AM.

 

Jim Fitzpatrick introduced the guest speaker, Al Dixon, Newmarket Town Administrator who asked to speak on the state of the town of Newmarket to the MPCA Membership.

 

1. Al Dixon Presentation

 

·      He spoke on:

 

• The progress to date of the three-phase plan to redevelop the Newmarket downtown. Phase 1 is completed.
• The Town’s potable water capacity shortage issue (phase 4 emergency), which also limits sewer capacity, combined with a current ban on using outside water has limited growth in the town.
• A solution to the water supply problem is planned to be on the ballot in May, 2006.
• The financial side of the town continues to need work, but the Capital Improvement Program funds have grown from $152,000 to $1,000,000, primarily due to administrative restructuring and the working capital has grown from $100,000 to $1,800,000. Still not sufficient, but good progress.
• The Town’s administrative portion of the property taxes has remained fairly stable and growth has been targeted to stay within the growth of the market value of property (i.e. - the mil rate on property has not gone up due to administrative costs). This may change somewhat going forward due to the increased cost of energy we are all experiencing.
• The cost of schools and education is another matter and not the responsibility of the Town’s Administration. Increased education costs will likely drive up property taxes.

 

• Al Dixon took questions and answered on the following:

 

• Smutty Nose Brewery and Restaurant possible move to downtown Newmarket. Smutty Nose is still interested, but does not want to be the developer of the downtown, just a renter. Progress will hopefully be made once a developer is on board.
• Development of downtown will increase traffic and increase need for parking. Al considers parking to be a bigger issue than traffic. There are plans for a parking garage behind the Library, but the town is in need of more space closer in to town and is speaking to property owners there.
• Al is concerned with response time of Fire and EMS units that are all volunteer. Today the response time is good if the event happens between 5 PM and 7 AM, but is questionable during daylight hours due to volunteers having full time jobs. Perhaps there is a need for some full time Fire & EMS staff.
• Having the Town return to Mosquito Spraying. Though there is an increasing concern in Town, it was eliminated a couple of years ago due to budget constraints. Moody Pointers could help if they attended Budget & Town Council meetings and highlighted the importance of this issue at the meetings. They could also write letters to the Town Council, Budget Committee & Town Administrator.

 

Jim thanked Al for his time and presentation.

 

The Business section of the Annual Meeting began.

 

2.     Quorum & Proxy Determination

 

• Russ Simon, Secretary, certified that proper notice was given and that 65 voting members and proxies were present at the meeting. This satisfied the quorum requirement of 25% of our 90 members (23 was the requirement) and that there were over 2/3^rd’s of our members present. If a By-Laws change needed to be effected, it could be done with a favorable vote of 60 members.

 

3. Minutes of the Previous Annual Meeting

• A motion was made by Jim Fitzpatrick and seconded to waive the reading of last year’s Annual Meeting Minutes and to approve them as written. The motion was passed unanimously.

 

 

4. Introduction of the MPCA Board of Directors

 

 

• Jim Fitzpatrick introduced the Board Members and had them stand to be recognized.
• The Board Members included Fern Bouthot, Judi Carr, Darby Johnson, Jeanne Ormrod, Val Shelton, Russ Simon and Jim Fitzpatrick. Don MacKinnon, the MPCA’s Treasurer was also introduced.
• A special thanks was extended to M.J. Searfoorce of Great North Property Management for her outstanding support of the Board

 

 

5. President Summary of the Year

 

• Water System Progress: Installed water monitoring system, upgraded the pump house used for the sewer and implemented an operating guide for the lift station and water system. The project plan to expand irrigation water capacity was not ready just yet to present to the membership. A special meeting may be required to review this later this year.
• Financially we came in under budget, built our operating reserves to $25,000 and began building our Capital Reserves, which now stand at $31,000. Great progress, but still more to do to achieve the financial stability we want.
• Regular View Maintenance and clearing of Invasives from Lot #4 was implemented as planned.
• A Sanitary Protection Zone was implemented around our water wells and signed off by the new developer who owns the remaining lots on the Hill.
• AMB helped with some improved drainage behind some sections of the Meadow-East and the Waterfront.
• The MPCA Board is working with the Town of Newmarket on drainage concerns around our roads and within the development.
• A survey of all our Membership was taken early in 2005 and the results were shared with the membership. The top five priorities and issues that that the members wanted addressed were: View maintenance and enhancement, Adequacy of our Capital Reserves, Upgrading culverts and improving drainage, Adequacy of our Operating Reserves and Inter-association cooperation on service contracts. The 6^th priority was expanding water capacity. These community priorities have driven much of the Board work over the past year and will continue to do so.
• The By-Laws were re-drafted by the By-Laws committee and were presented to the Board for review in August. The revisions still need a careful review of the Board and a legal review before they are presented to the membership. More to follow in the coming months.
• The community dumpster area has been partially paved for the first time to improve access and drainage. We will evaluate how well this works over the coming year.

 

 

6. Committee Reports & Recognition

 

• Water Systems Committee: Presented by Chuck Dennehy. Not much additional to mention beyond the President’s report other than leaks in the system have been identified and the most significant, in the Waterfront area is scheduled to be fixed on 9/13. Also, Great North is the coordination point for members to report any irrigation system problems to. Members were introduced. A question was asked whether there was sufficient supply of water for now from our wells.
• While there is adequate potable water for all our household needs, the irrigation months put a stress on the potable water system since it is used also for most of the irrigation at Moody Point. Creating a separate irrigation supply from underground springs and ground water in the Fire Pond area will provide an additional, non-potable water supply for irrigation, thereby reducing the use of potable water for irrigation.
• A question was asked whether this new irrigation ground well located by the fire pond would impact the fire pond water supply and that the fire pond may need to be dredged to remove silt captured over the years. These questions will be answered as we proceed with the testing of the planned ground well.
• A question was asked whether the membership would be voting on the new irrigation supply project. Jim answered that though the Board had the authority to make the decision, he was personally in favor of bringing the project to the members for a vote.

 

 

 

• MPCA By-Laws Revision Committee: Presented by Val Shelton. Objectives of the committee and process used were reviewed. A new By-Laws draft is now with the MPCA Board for review. Members were introduced.

 

 

• Community Life Committee: Jeanne Ormrod presented. Objectives and results were briefly reviewed. Members were introduced.

 

 

• Environmental Committee: Presented by Lynn Raeburn. Objectives and results were briefly reviewed. Members were introduced.

 

• Budget Committee: Presented by Jim Fitzpatrick. Composition of the committee is MPCA and Association Treasurers and the responsible to provide a recommended budget to the Board.

 

7. Bijl By-Law Amendment

 

 

• The only By-Laws change recommended by the Board for this meeting was to vote on a request by the Bijl’s allowing the Bijl home & lot to be removed from membership in the MPCA due to its unique location (outside the Moody Point property on Smith-Garrison Road) and reason for membership in the MPCA (their lot was to be used to build an access road to Moody Point, which was superseded by the building of the Cushing Road access).
• Jim Fitzpatrick explained that there was a more recent, legally reviewed draft of the proposed By-Laws amendment that was available to vote on vs. the one that was proposed in the Annual Meeting notification package that was sent out prior to the meeting. A motion was made by Jeanne Ormrod, seconded by Peyton Carr to agree to vote on the new, legally reviewed version. The motion carried unanimously.
• A motion was made by Val Shelton, seconded by Judi Carr to amend the legally reviewed version to correct the association name to the MPCA Vs the MPHA, as written. The motion passed unanimously.
• A motion was made by Les Regenbogen, seconded by Doris Dennehy to amend the legally reviewed version to include language to have the Bijl’s pay all out of pocket costs incurred by the MPCA on this By-Laws revision, in addition to the requirement to pay all MPCA fees due and owing, that was already part of the legally reviewed version. After discussion which clarified that the Bijl’s had fully paid MPCA fees for years, only using dumpster services, the amendment to the motion was voted on and defeated by a vote of 60 against and 5 for.
• The vote was called for the legally reviewed version, amended for the MPCA name correction. The By-Laws amendment was approved by a unanimous vote.

 

 

8. Adoption of the 2005-2006 Budget

 

• Russ Simon presented the Budget to the membership and reviewed the Operating and Reserve Balances and growth. The only budget changes from the meeting announcement package is that the fees per member would be reduced slightly from the original recommendations as a result of the newly revised and verified general and water user membership counts. General Members were now 90, up from 89 and Water Users were now 78, up from 74. A motion was made by Harvard Sitkoff and seconded by Win Lange, to approve the budget as presented with the updated membership counts and fees. The motion to adopt the budget passed unanimously.

 

 

 

9. Election of one Director-at-Large for the MPCA Board.

 

 

• Jim Fitzpatrick opened the nominations to fill the open 1 year seat for a Director-at-Large, open due to the resignation of Fern Bouthot, current Director-at-Large, after serving 2 of his 3 year term. Jim thanked Fern for his significant contributions, work and leadership representing the entire community over the past 2 years.
• A motion was made by Walt Cheney to nominate himself for Director-at-Large, seconded by June Barry, of the Moody Point Company. A motion was made by Herb Campbell, seconded by Dick Mills to nominate Peter Roy for Director-at large.
• A motion was made by Dick Mills, seconded by John Waalewyn to close the nominations. The vote to close the nominations was approved unanimously.
• Jim Fitzpatrick asked the two nominees to leave the meeting room for the duration of the discussion and the vote.

 

• Once the nominees had left the room, Trish Simon asked who was in the back of the room video taping the meeting. Jim Fitzpatrick said that he had been remiss in not asking that question earlier in the meeting and asked the person who they were and why they were video taping. The person said they were there video taping at the request of June Barry, from the Moody Point Company, who was not at the meeting due to the illness of her husband. June Barry then identified herself as present at the meeting. The person then said they were video taping the meeting at the request of Walter Cheney. Both Jim Fitzpatrick and Russ Simon asked that the videotaping stop immediately. After a few minutes, the videotape was successfully secured.
• The vote was then called on the election of the new Member-at-Large. There were 8 votes cast for Walt Cheney and 57 votes were cast for Peter Roy. Peter Roy was duly elected as the new Director-at-Large.

 

 

10. Other Business

• ·      Herb Campbell announced that his boat, stored in the lot #11 dumpster area, had been broken into and items stolen. He was mentioning it for information purposes only as he assumed the risks of storing his boat there.
• ·      Doris Dennehy asked that the weeds around the Community Bulletin Board be removed. Jim Fitzpatrick said that was part of our landscaping contract and M.J. Searfoorce would talk with the landscaper to get this done ASAP.
• ·      Jim Fitzpatrick reminded the membership of the rules for dumpster use.
• ·      Jim Fitzpatrick notified everyone the new leash law for dogs in Newmarket, that supersedes our less strict leash policies, was to have all dogs leashed when outside with leashes of 8 feet or less. He said the law required dogs owners to also pick up and properly dispose of their dog’s waste. He stated that failure to comply were finable offences in Newmarket and Moody Point.
• ·      Walter Cheney then asked to address the membership, and was recognized by the Chair:

He discussed his concerns over issues including pruning and removing some trees from his property behind the Lubberland Association, a declaration by the state that at least two of his lots had been classified as statutory wetlands, that the MPCA was complaining to the Town of Newmarket about drainage conditions at Moody Point without speaking to him first, that the MPCA had hired an attorney, that he would be forced to take legal action if Building Permits were stopped at Moody Point.

 

The recent location of the construction dumpster on Osprey Circle and the newly declared wetlands in front of Jim Fitzpatrick’s house were discussed.

 

The issue of Walt’s rental business, where he was building duplexes on his remaining Meadow’s lots, selling one of the units, and retaining the other for rental, was discussed.

 

 

 

 

At this point in the meeting, Jim Fitzpatrick said we could continue with listening to Walt as part of the meeting or we could close the meeting and continue to have Walt address those who were interested in staying to listen.

A motion to call the meeting to a close was made from the floor and duly seconded. Jim Fitzpatrick called the vote on the motion to call the meeting. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of closing the meeting.

The annual meeting was then officially ended by Jim Fitzpatrick at 11:35 AM, based on the vote.

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

 

 

Russ Simon

MPCA Secretary

 

 

 

 

After the Annual Meeting on September 10^th, 2005 closed, Walter Cheney, as authorized representative of the Moody Point Company, removed Jim Fitzpatrick as Meadow President and Meadow representative to the MPCA and replaced him with Ann Adams, his daughter and authorized agent of the Moody Point Company. The act of removing Jim Fitzpatrick as Meadow President and MPCA representative had the additional impact of removing Jim as the current President of the MPCA Board. Mr. Cheney appeared to have the legal right to do so, as the Meadow residents do not yet own 75% of the lots required for self-determination. The appropriate legal documents supporting these actions by the Moody Point Company were provided to the Board.

 

It is the Board’s practice to meet after the close of the Annual Meeting to welcome new Board members and to elect officers. Since only four members of the Board were present after the Moody Point Company exercised its rights and notified the Board of its decision after the close of the Annual Meeting, the MPCA Board decided to postpone the scheduled meeting to elect officers until all MPCA Board members could be present.