WPA MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES
June 21, 2022
Call to Order –Gary Dreher
Attendance – Gary Dreher, Stan Earnhart, Peggy Phillips, Bob Ramsey, Joe Myers, Stan Earnhart, Tom Cobb, Jonathan Rutstein,
Absent– Ken Gaspari, Dave DeCreny
Quorum – Yes
Approval – Motion to approve May Minutes made by Joe Myers. Motion seconded by Tom Cobb. All in favor. Motion carried.
Resident Speaker– Bob McMahan says he is concerned about the way some money was spent where a board member wanted to pay for something from categories that didn’t belong to them. Capital investments should come out of operating. The members put you in charge, to be responsible for. He also thinks it is a mistake to take out the public comment section.
Gary Dreher says that the speed bumps are made out of road material so it would not be considered a new project. He also stated that we will not allow projects to use funds from other reserves without Board approval.
Gary says that he is trying to encourage people to submit their complaints, in writing so as to not have people come to the meetings and venting.
Officer Reports
Presidents Report – Gary Dreher reports, Summer is here and with the warmer weather there will be increased foot, bicycle, and golf cart traffic on our roads. Please stay below the posted speed limit of 25 mph and keep our roads safe. School is out and the neighborhood kids will be using the roads visiting friends and riding bikes. Slowing down will help keep them safe. We will be doing some minor road projects this summer and part of that will be to add a few more speed humps to help slow down car and truck traffic in the community.
With the summer season in full swing, it’s a great time to get out on the golf course if you’re a golfer and enjoy the improvements that are taking place on the course. There have been many changes made there with the goal of making the course a focal point in Georgetown and beyond. Stop in to see the newly added Brickhouse Pub and have a cool drink and a sandwich and stay for the live music they feature on Thursday and Friday nights.
It’s also a great time to get out on a boat if you have one and use our neighborhood marina to access the Black River and the other nearby waterways that make boating a fun pastime. If you intend to use the marina facility you will need to get an access card from the WPA office. There is a $25 fee to cover the cost of the card.
Vice Presidents Report – No report
Secretary’s Report– Stan Earnhart reports, We believe that the audio problems we had with Zoom last month have been corrected. Members and Absent Trustees have the ability to watch the meetings from anywhere with internet connection. The WPA office will post the meeting invitation on the WPA website for each meeting. A meeting invitation can also be obtained by sending an email request to the WPA office. We will not accept any late requests to join the meeting. All members should mute their connection during the meeting unless the Presiding Officer requests otherwise. The meeting will be recorded. The Board hopes this will enable more members to watch and gain a better understanding of how the Association operates.
We have not received the contract with Winyah Auditorium for the Annual Meeting on November 19. It will process as soon as it is received. All Policy Change recommendations and agenda requests must be received by August 1. This date allows all changes to be in the Annual Meeting Packet Mailing.
Treasurer’s Report– Peggy Phillips reports, As of May 31, 2022, our Operating Account with South State had a balance of $220,358.86. The Debit Card account with South Atlantic had a balance of $1,949.35. This reflected debit card payments to Zoom for $158.89 and to Intuit for QuickBooks for $331.77. The ARC refundable Deposit Account with South Atlantic had a balance of $90,835.64. The Reserve Account balances were: South Atlantic – $197,299.08 which reflected a payment of $231.00 for Georgetown County Water and Sewer for drainage cleanout, Anderson Brothers- $100,050.00, Edward Jones- $272,852.04, TD Bank- $223,758 for a total of $793,959.43.
Committee Reports
ARC– Bob Ramsey reports, Ken will be on vacation starting June 14 until July 12. Bob will be away between June 22 and September 13. He will continue working remotely. Michelle will know how to contact him. Bob’s objective will be to be on vacation, but he will continue participating remotely.
We have incomplete applications, waiting on them to submit missing items. We have asked one owner to change a tree plan. One home is ready for final inspection. We had one owner cut down a tree without a permit and a fine invoice has been sent to him. We have 2 pending fence applications.
We are reviewing fines for two lots that were in violation. Lot V40 has posted a valid ARC permit. The county retains jurisdiction on the cutting down of the heritage live oak tree. A fine was sent to one builder for clear cutting a lot. We are in process of reviewing the fines when a new tree plan is submitted.
We have met with Century managers where ARC expectations were made clear. Their permit coordinator, asked how long 11 HOA permits were valid for. We sent them a report that 6 had expired and 2 are rescinded because of Stop Work orders and 2 remain valid with permits posted and active construction underway. They will resubmit on the expired applications. Their previous fees will be carried forward.
Legal– Stan Earnhart reports, The legal committee did not meet this month. In both cases we had pending last month, the attorneys have not responded to Joe Crosby’s last letter.
Stan attempted to install the ARC policy changes that were approved into the Board Manual. I discovered that several other parts of the existing ARC policy needed to be rewritten to properly reflect the new policy. Bob has been working on this and will present this to the board when finished. In the future, we will need to correct these conflicts prior to approval.
Finance– Peggy Phillips reports, Peggy plans to call a Finance Committee Meeting on June 28, 2022. At that time, we will review our year-to-date actual expenditures versus the projected budget. We will make recommendations to the Board for any changes in 2023.
Some residents may be confused about out Financials concerning Operating vs Reserve Accounts. These are the guidelines the Board must use for the distribution of Association funds:
The Board is responsible to contribute to the preparation and approval of the annual budget and for the appropriate and accountable expenditure of the Association’s membership dues. Budgets are created, using actual expenses and Reserve Study guidelines, so the association does not find itself overextended or otherwise unable to meet its obligations to the members. Membership dues for the payment of recurring expenses, as well as eventual major repairs and replacements are separated into two specific accounts, by law.
Operating Budget: the dues collected, first pay the items in the Operating Budget. These are used for the day-to-day expenses of the community. Each year’s “actual” expenses help to establish the next year’s proposed budget.
Any additional funds collected may be moved to the Reserve Accounts, at the discretion of the board. The Reserve Account funds are kept in separate bank accounts, and are only used for replacing and maintaining specified existing assets. The Reserve Funds have strict criteria governing their use as well as rules of accountability. The suggested contributions each year are based upon a professional Reserve Study which determines the estimated timeline and replacement costs. Once funds are moved to Reserves, they cannot be moved back into Operating and can only be used for the established categories; Roads, Drainage, Marina, Emergency, Canal, Landscape. The percentages allocated to each of these items can be changed by the Board at the recommendation of the Finance Committee.
Communications/Website– Michelle is working on putting the Wragg together for July.
Condo Liaison– No Report
Community Liaison– No report
Welcome Committee-No report
Drainage- Joe Myers reports, We successfully cleared all known clogged under street drainage pipes and several drainage grates utilizing a HydroVac truck earlier this month.
We have since learned of additional clogged drainage pipes thanks to the 3.2-inch microburst rain storm. We had 8 front yards and driveways underwater at the Gov Johnston/ Wedgefield Dr. intersection. Very complex drainage system involved with 3 under street pipes and a 5-foot culvert. A grate is buried but can be found by high pressure from known opening. We have 3 more under street clogs.
WE have received a concerned resident letter ref the infamous ditch beside the old golf cart behind 3 lots on Possum Trot. We have reviewed the situation and the ditch needs cleaning. The microburst and the irrigation pipe malfunction on Golf Hole 16 on June 4th have washed debris, dirt, sand, et al to the wattle at the culvert. This truckload of debris needs to be vacuumed out as soon as possible and before the resident’s hurricane forecast comes true. The Golf Course has yet to finish repairing Hole 16 though.
Joe makes a motion to approve up to $7400 from drainage, to continue with previously approved drainage projects using the HydroVac truck to address the Governor Johnston and Possum Trot ditch drainage. Motion seconded by Bob Ramsey. All in favor. Motion carried.
Water Amenities– Joe Myers reports, They finished defoliating of the 12 acre Spoil Site Island via drone. The dead foliage will be burned off shortly. Then the Government Agencies’ required Surveying can be scheduled and accomplished for the permitting requirements. We have taken only a few short steps in the multi-year canal depth maintenance project scheduled for 2025-2026 completion.
Work continues on replacing the dock to the Spoil Site. The dangerous old dock has been dismantled with one volunteer falling thru the old planking—only some scrapes thankfully.
Marina road was repaved from the gate to the ramps. The white markers for gate clearance and for the end of ramp have been repainted. A few loose boards were reattached on the floats. We will need to replace a couple floatation blocks, reattach the walkway hand rail, and fill in with rock some bulkhead erosion spots. No cost estimate yet.
We will program additional marina gate pass cards this week with Morgan Fowlers help.
Roads– Tom Cobb reports, The contractor has been rationed for materials to do the cul-de-sacs. This project will be put on hold until October 1st.
We have one quote to repair the road on Francis Parker for $94,000. We are still looking for quotes.
Grounds– Gary Dreher reports, Our landscaping company has completed the spreading of pine straw in the neighborhood common areas along with maintaining the grounds through mowing and trimming bushes and trees. Their next project will be the semi-annual cleaning of the top of the dike but with the burning and herbicide treatment we won’t need them to go out.
Our sprinkler system for the front entrance area is currently not functioning properly and in need of repair. We will be getting estimates to repair the system so that we can get it working properly to keep our plantings and grasses watered and growing. We will also be looking at cutting down or trimming any dead trees or tree limbs that are visible in the common areas.
Compliance– Stan Earnhart reports, The compliance committee met once since last month’s Board Meeting.
The committee received one complaint this month. All previous complaints have been resolved. This new complaint covered several issues and contained 12 photographs of alleged compliance violations. Initial inspection by the committee determined that there was only one valid compliance issue with an unregistered truck parked on the property. A phone call was made to the property owner and the truck was removed. This was the third complaint this property has received this year. Investigating the first two complaints the committee found no violations.
We received a “not mowing” complaint last week. This will be addressed at our next meeting.
Residents are reminded that compliance complaints must be submitted in writing. The WPA does not disclose the names of residents who submit complaints.
Old Business- Gary reports, We he received a proposal from Spectrum. We should be sending something out soon on this after we review it with the legal committee.
New Business-
Next Monthly Board Meeting– July 19, 2022
Adjourn – Gary Dreher