Minutes: MPCA BOARD MEETING
Monday,
November 8th, 2004
7:00 PM
The Board of Directors of the MPCA met on Monday, November 8th, 2004 at the Fitzpatrick’s home. Present were Judi Carr, Jeanne Ormrod, Val Shelton, Darby Johnson, Fern Bouthot, Russ Simon and Jim Fitzpatrick, presiding. Guests included MJ Searfoorce of Great North Property Management.
.
The meeting was called to order at 7:10 PM.
1. Minutes of the October 12, 2004 MPCA Board meeting:
·
Approved by a vote of 5 to 0, with 2 abstentions from Board
members not present at the 10/12 meeting..
·
Thanks to Darby Johnson for preparing the minutes.
2. Treasurer’s Report :
· Report provided by Jim Fitzpatrick
· Overall Financials are in good shape year to date. Revenue collections are on target and expenses are under budget due to seasonal under spending of general maintenance items.
· Motion made by Russ Simon, seconded by Judi Carr to add an Operating Reserve line item to the MPCA financials. The motion was unanimously approved. Though the Operating Reserve was not a budgeted item for this fiscal year (and would be currently remain unfunded), the purpose was to recognize the importance of establishing and funding an MPCA Operating Reserve going forward to improve our financial stability. Strategically the Operating Reserve should be built over time to a goal amount of three months operating expenses.
· There were two follow-up items to be further investigated and reviewed at the next Board meeting:
· Why was the cost of the Culvert study, which was completed late last year, charged to this year’s expenses? Was this appropriately reserved for last year or part of this year’s budget?
· Admin expenses are running over budget year to date. Is this due to seasonal reasons (the cost of the annual meeting notices and material distribution during the first fiscal quarter) or other reasons?
· Motion made by Russ Simon, seconded by Jim Fitzpatrick to ask Great North to add an additional column to the financial report identifying the prior year’s year-to-date revenues and expenses and comparing them to current year-to-date results, to improve our tracking of financial changes. The motion was unanimously approved.
· The first quarter financials will be distributed to the membership this month.
3. Committee Reports:
Water Systems
Committee:
·
Report provided by Jim Fitzpatrick
· The chlorination of our water supply has been completed and testing has confirmed that the minor water quality problem has been resolved. Results have been provided to the State and they have concurred. This minor contamination is considered a one-time event and should not require additional chlorination on a regular basis.
· The installation of the water monitoring system has been successfully completed and is now operating effectively.
· The company that was hired to manage our water system has informed the Water Systems Committee that they are exiting the water system management business. The WSC is in the process of identifying replacement candidates and will make a recommendation to the Board.
· The preliminary report from the WSC’s consultant on water capacity planning and options is expected to be ready in December.
Environmental
Committee:
· Report provided by Fern Bouthot
· Roz Moore has retired as the Chair of the Environmental Committee. The Board thanks Roz for the tremendous contributions she has made in leading this committee and for the excellent documentation she provided to the EC going forward.
· Lynn Raeburn has been elected the new Chair of the EC.
· The Board thanks Debby Grubbs for organizing the annual fall waterfront cleanup on 11/6/04. And a big thank you to the many volunteers who made it happen. It was a great success!!!
· Val Shelton noted that we might be able to coordinate our fall cleanup next year with the fall NH Coastal Cleanup. Val will investigate this.
Community Life
Committee:
· Report provided by Jeanne Ormrod
· The next Community Life event is scheduled for 12/4/04 at the Bouthot’s, starting at 5PM. Announcements will be sent out shortly.
· Peg Goddard agreed to coordinate the “Timely Topics” education/discussion program.
· The Board has asked the CLC to review the current policies related to the use of the Screen House and to make policy change recommendations, if any, and identify requirements to potentially expand the use of the screen house for the Moody Point Community and its members.
4. MPCA Managers Report:
· Report provided by MJ Searfoorce.
· No new issues. Things are proceeding as planned.
5. Culverts / Drainage / Lot#4
·
The Board discussed all these issues, both individually
and collectively, recognizing that any actions and decisions on any specific
item needed to be coordinated not only with the other issues, but also with a
longer term vision and plan. The
following are the decisions and follow-ups that were agreed to.
·
Dumpster Area
& Related Culvert. As part of
our long-term capital planning, we need to develop a plan to improve the
drainage, access and level ground conditions in the Lot 11 Dumpster area. There are not sufficient operating or
capital reserves or budget this year to implement a complete solution. As an interim step to improve current
conditions for the winter, the following motion was made by Jeanne Ormrod and
seconded by Darby Johnson:
·
To authorize Great North to spend up to $500 on the
acquisition and spreading of gravel to smooth out the ruts in the Dumpster area
ASAP. The motion was unanimously
approved.
·
Drainage Issues
and Cooperating with AMB (Amos Blanchard) to Improve Drainage. The Board previously authorized Jim
Fitzpatrick to begin discussions with AMB on how we can best cooperate to
resolve various drainage issues around Moody Point. The basic issue is that in order to resolve any of the drainage
issues, the solution would require work to be done and coordinated on both
individual association land as well as common area land (Lot’s 4, 11 and
6). The results of these discussions to
date have been favorable with all parties willing to cooperate. The Board was willing to test this
cooperative problem solving on two specific drainage issues. As a result, the following motion was made
by Val Shelton and seconded by Jeanne Ormrod:
·
The MPCA Board approves AMB access to Lot 4 to correct
two specific drainage problems related to Culvert #26 (behind the Meadow -
East) and Culvert #15 and the associated Berm (between the two Waterfront Condo
buildings leading to the Fire Pond), subject to the following conditions:
·
that the MPCA
shall obtain any required permits and will pay for the cost of Culvert
materials and trail gravel required
·
and that AMB
will arrange and pay for the labor and machinery required to correct the
drainage ASAP.
The motion was unanimously approved.
·
The Board will continue to monitor these two immediate
projects as well continue to develop plans and priorities for the other drainage
issues.
·
The discussions with Amos have also provided some
needed background on the history and potential use of the fire pond, berms,
drainage & culverts. This information will be coordinated with the WSC’s
study on water capacity.
6. MPCA Priorities Questionnaire
· An Ad Hoc Task Force has been appointed by the Board to develop a survey for Moody Point members to help the Board set priorities for the MPCA. The members are Ray Steventon, Peter Roy, Russ Simon, Jim Fitzpatrick and MJ Searfoorce.
· The Task Force has met and is in the process of drafting a survey that will be presented to the Board and the Association Presidents for comments and approval in December. Once approved, it will be distributed to all members for completion. A process to tabulate and share the results with the Board, Associations and membership will also be developed.
7. Other Business
· A Board approved, Ad Hoc Task Force will be formed by Val Shelton to review the MPCA By-Laws for recommended changes. This review will include, but not be limited to, defining the common land under the supervision of the MPCA (Lot’s 4, 11, 6 and possibly parts of Lot 9).
· The Board had asked Micky Lightfoot to study and make recommendations to the Board on how best to deal with the Kayak/Canoe racks & launch area. Micky has surveyed the members and developed recommendations that were presented to the Board at this meeting. Many thanks to Micky for completing this task – great work. As a result of the recommendations, the Board has made the following decisions:
·
Approved the building of up to three additional racks
to hold kayaks & canoes and repair existing racks as required. The placement of the existing and new racks
will be coordinated with the Environmental Committee. The cost of the new racks and repairs will be covered by
donations of materials and time from members.
No MPCA funds will be used.
·
The Screen House can be used for Kayak & Canoe
storage between November 1, 2004 and May 1, 2005. The boats should be stored as far away from
the combination door entrance as possible and should in no case be stored
within 10 feet of the door entrance.
The hope would be to still have a portion of the Screen House space to
be open/useable by members.
·
Jim Fitzpatrick will check with the State Waterfront
Protection Agency to see if we would be allowed to launch boats from a small,
clearly marked section of the shoreline, near the rack area (in addition to the
current dock area) to give our members an alternative to dock launching.
Leash Law &
Related Violations
·
The Board has continued to get calls complaining of
some dogs running loose on the trails, common grounds and various association
lands. In addition, it appears that some
people are not picking up and removing their pets deposits (perhaps because
their animals are running loose???).
This is not only against the Warranty Deed of the MPCA and the
laws/regulations of Newmarket, but is also discourteous and potentially dangerous
to our members and their guests.
Though we are researching what actions the MPCA can take against the offenders (fines, etc.), this is not any easy issue to enforce for a variety of reasons (is there proof, is there a resolution process, do we apply the rules consistently…). The related text in the Warranty Deed is:
· the deed to Lot 4/11 covers the regulation mandating that dogs and cats be leashed under Section 6, Paragraph O. "Pets are not allowed within parking areas and within the pier and dock area, trail areas marked by signage prohibiting pets on those portions, and must be kept on a leash at all times that they are within Lots 4 and 11". Furthermore, under Paragraph R, the deed requires "the MPCA to enforce the provisions of the warranty deed and shall in accordance with the Condominium Declaration and By-Laws restrict, prohibit, or terminate the use of said lots by any unit or lot owner who violates said provisions. Said Association may also establish penalty assessments to be assessed against unit or lot owners for such violations in keeping with the provisions of the Moody Point Condominium Declaration. A lien for unpaid penalty assessments provided for under the provisions of NH RSA 356-B:46 may be placed upon a unit owned by any person who does not pay such penalty assessment."
The easiest resolution is, of course, for the pet owners to take responsibility for their pets, to abide by the rules and regulations of the MPCA and Newmarket and to care enough about their friends and neighbors to control their pets.
We have also
asked Great North to write letters to offenders on behalf of the Board, not
only reminding them of the rules/regulations and potential fines, but also
reminding them that people who see violations can not only complain to the
Moody Point Board, but can also complain to the appropriate Newmarket
authorities. The Town of Newmarket does
not have an Animal Control Officer. If
the police are called they will try to capture the animal and to locate and
speak to the owners. The number to call
is 659-6636.
The Meeting was adjourned at 9:35PM.
The Next Board Meeting will be on 12/13/04 at Darby Johnson’s home.
Respectfully submitted,
Russ Simon
Secretary