WPA MONTHLY MEETING MINUTES
July 21, 2020
Call to Order – Bob McMahan
Attendance – Bob McMahan, Adam Anderson, Peggy Phillips, Larry McMillin, Tom Macedo, Jonathan Rutstein, Gary Dreher, Butch Williams
Absent– Quorum – Yes
Approval – Motion to approve June 16, 2020 Minutes made by Adam Anderson. Motion seconded by Butch Williams. All in favor. Motion Carried.
Officer Reports
Presidents Report – Robert McMahan reports, He is glad to see everyone come out tonight with the pandemic ongoing. He asks the community at the suggestion of Carolyn McBride if we should make the community wear masks at the meetings. There was a split show of hands. This will continue to be discussed by the Board before a final decision is made by the next Board Meeting.
Vice Presidents Report – No Report
Secretary’s Report– Larry McMillin reports, The preparations for the Annual Meeting are underway. Since we are losing the services of the Georgetown Times to do our printing, an alternative has been found. The UPS store has offered pricing to print and supply the large and small envelopes for the packets. We will be basing our needs on a figure of 484 packets, which is the number mailed last year. There is a schedule in the policy manual for tasks for the annual meeting, and all those involved should become familiar with the entire process. Larry will soon be contacting those interested in serving on the Election Committee. Last year’s election and annual meeting ran very smoothly, and it is hoped this one will also.
Treasurer’s Report– Peggy Phillips reports, On June 30, 2020, our Operating Account with South State had a balance of $207,958.84. The South Atlantic Debit Account had a balance of $1,204.21. The ARC Escrow Account with South Atlantic had a balance of $10,083.50.
The Reserve Account balances were: South Atlantic, $87,800.60, Edward Jones, $272,603.24, and TD Bank $58,284.88 for a total reserve of $418,688.72.
The South Atlantic balance reflects payments to JC Landscaping in the amount of $26,480 from the Drainage Reserve and $21,750 to Live Oak Excavation from the Canal Reserve.
Based on the approved 2020 budget and anticipated expenses until year end 2020, Peggy Phillips makes a motion to move $50,000 from the South State Operating Account to the South Atlantic Bank Reserve Account. Motion second by Adam Anderson. All in favor. Motion carried.
Peggy Phillips also makes a motion to change the percentage allocations for each reserve category to: Roads 67%, Drainage 10%, Marina 5%, Emergency 3%, Canals 15%, Landscape 0%. This is increasing Canals back to 15% from 10% and decreasing Emergency from 8% to 3%. Due to bulkhead projects, we had decreased the Canal Reserve by $51,425. Motion seconded by Adam Anderson. All in favor. Motion carried.
Committee Reports
ARC– Tom Macedo reports, We have had a slowdown in ARC applications. We will have an ARC meeting to approve two new houses after this meeting. We have a couple of fence projects and roofing projects ongoing at this time.
Legal– Adam Anderson reports, We have had two legal committee meetings this past month.
In the first meeting, we had Board attorney Joe Crosby come in and answer questions about prior year delinquents and ARC violations. He walked us through some of our options on how we can more effectively deal with these things. He suggested we try to run a few through the magistrates’ court and see what kind of results we get.
The second meeting we met to go through the list of multi-year delinquents and identified two we want to pursue in the magistrates’ court. Joe wants $1,500 per case to handle these so we are going to try to pursue these on our own.
The deadline for any bylaw changes to be submitted to the office is August 3rd.
Finance– Peggy Phillips reports, We have 7 accounts delinquent for 2020. Previous year delinquencies were 5 accounts plus the 23 by one owner. Liens will be filed on the 2020 accounts before the end of July. We intend to pursue collection of these accounts by every legal avenue available to us.
Peggy needs all Board Members input in the preparation of next year’s budget. A meeting of the Finance Committee will be called soon with the Board invited. Please have your thoughts and suggestions ready. Any capital improvement items will need to be included in the Operating Budget.
Communications– No report.
Community Liaison– Adam Anderson reports, This month we have had the following letters: Two different residents with questions about ARC. They were directed to the ARC committee. A drainage question about Jericho Ct. This was directed to the drainage committee.
A letter responding to a rumor about the WPA giving funds to the golf course. The resident was told there was no such plan.
A resident following up on a previous letter from last month about a resident parking a truck at his home that has signage on the door. This had already been answered.
Welcome Committee– Butch Williams reports, So far in 2020 six new residents have moved in.
Drainage–Gary Dreher reported, He Will be meeting with Brad Davis to discuss some drainage issues and getting quotes.
Water Amenities– Adam Anderson reports, He has gotten prices on two different systems for the gate access at the landing. They are very expensive. He is working to trim prices down. The price for three HD camera’s is $3,083.
Condo Liaison– No report.
Roads– Gary Dreher reports, He hasn’t heard of any issues right now concerning the roads. He will be getting the committee together about putting speed bumps in. Coastal Asphalt put four in at Georgetown High School. You can go look at them and see if we like them. He will be calling a roads meeting.
Grounds-Larry McMillin reports, On July 18, someone once again damaged the Landing gate. It was pushed from the outgoing side until it sheared a large pin on the lower hinge. With little work, the pin was replaced and the gate reinstalled. Thanks to Steve Vasey and his friend Vinnie Daly, a new resident, for helping reinstall the heavy gate. We need to keep that gate closed so that anyone not having a gate card does not get trapped inside.
The fountain in the pond has not run since the heavy rains in the past filled the jet with debris. This will be addressed shortly and the fountain will again be functioning properly. A treatment for algae and water weeds will also be applied in the next several days.
The exterior of the office is in need of maintenance. The shutters are badly faded and the walls are stained from the irrigation system. Larry proposed we remove the shutter, have the bricks treated and power washed, and either paint or replace the shutters with new ones. Larry McMillin makes a motion we approve up to $750 to perform these tasks. The costs will be less if we are able to reuse the shutters by painting them. Motion seconded by Jonathan Rutstein. All in favor. Motion Carried.
Compliance– Butch Williams reports, We will be having a meeting with the Board attorney to discuss what we can do about the issues presented to us.
Website Committee– No Report
Old Business– No Report
New Business–
Public Comments– Mike Downs told Gary that on the Wedgefield & Johnston road project the pipe that is coming out of the box is causing more erosion. Gary Dreher said he was planning on trying to use some bricks to build that area up.
Ed Wozniak thanked Adam for looking into a system at the landing gate.
Jacky Walton asked Jonathan Rutstein why there is no report for the Condo Liaison. There was a big upset recently in the condos. Jonathan said no one had contacted him.
Jim Bennett said a good placement for speed bumps would be the long stretches of road where a lot of children walk. There are greater issues of speeding there.
Carolyn McBride that the structure on the canals looks broken down and makes the plantation look bad. Larry McMillin said it is a hard area to access and you would have to have a barge. It wouldn’t last from the tidal water. It would be nice if we could bulkhead that south end, but Earthworks said it wouldn’t be worthwhile. It would be better to just have it taken out.
Bob Buice says that trees are growing out onto John Waites and Francis Parker. The ditch behind his house is full and backed up. Larry said he would look into this.
Mike Downs wanted to know if we could get Brad Davis to push out the pile of concrete at the landing and have him grind up the 2 big chunks that are out there.
Bob Buice asked about by-law deadlines. He was told the deadline was August 3rd. He also wanted to know if there was anything about giving money to the golf course being proposed. Adam said that giving money to the golf course is going to be tricky because it is a for profit business and we are a nonprofit. Larry McMillin let him know that when you talk about charging people and raising their assessments, that half the lot owners do not live in the plantation or are condo owners and they don’t care about the golf course. A lot of people will quit paying the assessments.
Jonathan Rutstein said the Wedgefield Recreation Club LLC had raised close to $235,000 to start negotiations with Harry on buying the Golf Course.
Jonathan Rutstein said 70 people have invested.
Bob Garrison said that the money that was invested into the canal we had a vested interest and we got a good service. We have a bylaw that permits the money to only go to goods & services.
Bob Garrison says for people to be coerced to pay for it would be a monumental mistake. Harry is not going to let the golf course fail because he has a lot to lose.
Carl Gettman said the golf course and the canals are what make this a desirable place to live. They are the most important aspect of Wedgefield. These are the jewels to those who live here.
Ken Gaspari said that Gene Baker donated some equipment to help trim some trees. He said we should thank him.
Golf Course Update– Butch Williams reports, Golfers are coming to play golf with us. The Manor House is serving dinner Friday night. The pool is open and is now serving soft serve ice cream. Come on out and support the Golf Course and Manor House.
Next Monthly Board Meeting– August 18, 2020
Adjourn – Robert McMahan