At the October 28th Board meeting Director Gagen brought up an idea of key cards to be used to access entry into our Park, pool facility, exercise room, billiards room, boat ramp, and tennis court.

This is not the first time that this topic has been brought up, but since there have been fantastic improvements in this field in the past five years; it is well worth another look.

We as a park could monitor the use of each amenity and know the number of owners, renters, visitors, and others who made use of them. Our future cameras when installed would let Security be able to monitor each card holder to verify their identity when using the amenity without leaving the guard house.

Security at the front gate can verify the people entering our Park for a change instead of a car that just happens to have a Park sticker. It would virtually guarantee that no one could just drive in and use our amenities undetected.

It would enhance our security, make amenity analysis more accurate, and be a great selling point. It doesn't get any better that non owners paying a small fee for their temporary cards to make this item self sufficient and a constant revenue provider with no money out of the owner's pockets.
I for one think it is a great idea. Git er done.

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OCTOBER 28, 2009 BOARD MEETING

Pledge of Allegiance

Owners Speaking on Agenda Issues – NONE

President Remarks – P. Burke asked for a moment of silence to honor and pray for those who are ill and who have recently passed away. She mentioned Warren Lee’s funeral this coming Wednesday. She talked at length about her Port Isabel pirate cruise outing where she represented LIV and took pictures of our GM dressed up as a pirate.

Managers Report – GM said there were 9 building permits, 97 work orders, and 3 violation letters sent. There are 79 lots 15 days late, 4 lots at 60 days late, and 6 lots at 90 days late on Condo fees. He talked about major improvement projects in the works, the picking up of dead fish from the red tide, and said 80 % of the common area palm trees are cut. He said the current plan is to open the restaurant on Nov. 7th. Matt Wilson is our new Hospitality/Housekeeping Supervisor, and not a manager as I first expressed. I apologize for that error.

Approval of Minutes for September - Treas. Steffensen made a correction in the minutes and made the comment that Aramark was billing LIV too late in the month to administrate corrections within that month. She will bring that up during the contract talks with Aramark. Minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report – Treas. Steffensen read the report. Nothing stood out as being out of line. On the Financial Profit & Loss had all revenue areas year to date were a loser except for the rental dept.

Committee Reports
a. D&E – Dir. White said it was a wonderful time this last Saturday and that next Saturday from 4-8 pm will be a Halloween cocktail party. Nov. 6th there will be Levi and the Good Times Band.
b. Golf – Dir. Pelletier N/A
c. Pool – Treas. Steffensen said the remaining 12 old pool chairs will be sold at the Trash and Treasure. She said the cost of the pool chemicals this year has been tremendous and wanted to look to see what if anything can be done in this area to save money.
d. Finance – Treas. Steffensen wanted to remind our Directors the 2010 Major Improvement projection lists she gave to them needs to be returned by Nov. 11th, in time for the that month's workshop. She said if any owner has any ideas to get with their director.
e. Other – Dir. Pelletier said he wanted a spokesperson from the stain glass group to get with him and Reta Priest to discuss what they wish to do as improvements in the Arts & Crafts room.

Unfinished Business
a. Paving Contract – Dir. Pelletier - Armando said there were two additional contractors who have yet turned in a bid, He said the Board might want to consider waiting until next year with the Winter Texans returning. P. Burke said there are spots that need immediate attention. Armando also questioned if there is enough money for this project and was told by the Board that since there will be no increase in this year's bridge assessments, the Park will be in good shape. Dir. Bergsma wanted action started now on the Sea Cottage roads and asked to get a contractor out to at least find out what the cost might be. P.Burke gave him her permission.
b. Arts & Crafts Room Counters – P. Burke said this was already talked about.
c. Other – P. Burke said she felt the Village belonging to the Better Business Bureau would not be a cost effective benefit. Action towards this cancelled.

New Business
a. Saturday Meetings – Burke proposed to change meetings back to Wednesday. Motion made that starting in Jan. 2010, Board meetings will be on Wednesday. Motion approved. Dir. Bergsma wanted to talk about having informational meetings somewhere in the Valley for the Valley owners. P. Burke said they will discuss the different ways to provide this. P. Burke proposed having a memorial gathering at the end of the year for all owners who have passed away within that year. She wanted a committee to be organized for this.
b. Building Code Committee – P. Burke directed the building code committee members to consolidate this years changes into a onetime affair to save filing cost.
c. Common Area Palm Trees – Dir. Gagen proposed replacing every Washingtonian Palm Tree that dies with a Royal palm because of its beauty and easy maintenance. This ended with Dir. Gagen and former director Ed McBride looking further into the matter.
d. Proposal and Presentation for Card Entry Security System – Dir. Gagen had Roger Rea from Superior Alarms give a presentation about key card entry systems. So far ten different accesses to certain amenities were being looked to possibly use this. The bottom-line was that this would self sufficient to the owners cost wise with the funds coming out of the renters, contractors, and etc pockets.
e. Dredging LIV Canals – Dir. Bergsma discussed the dredging our canals. It ended with P. Burke saying she has already had our Village attorney start to find out how the easement reads exactly before our Park should make plans on dredging.
Other

Break to an Executive Meeting
a. Legal strategies for pending cases
b. Strategies for other legal issues.

Adjournment





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OCTOBER 21, 2009 COFFEE WITH THE DIRECTORS

Pledge of Allegiance

To Note: Our prayers to Dir. Pelletier’s daughter who is to have open heart surgery.

From the Directors
Dir. White thanked our GM for the pelican sign on the main entry road. There is a cocktail party with Angie from 4-6pm this Saturday and a Halloween Party with the Wranglers next Saturday from 4-8pm.
P. Burke and others welcomed everyone back.

From the Suggestion Box
Lot 359 the head of the A&C committee said since there are inadequate funds to update the Arts & Crafts room the way they want, they choose to wait.
Lot 828 said please do not consider the spending of $7000+ for these Sunday television commercials.
Lot 284 wanted to thank the GM for cleaning up the dumpster area nearest to her residence. She also asked if the fence around the dumpsters could get a fresh coat of stain.
Lot 475 said when she arrived back from up north her grass and foliage around her home was dead. It appeared it was not watered even though they made sure the sprinkler system was working properly when they left. She asked why didn’t lawn maintenance notice this happening and report it.
Lot 288 wanted to thank the Board for hiring a GM who has started to maintain the many different items within our Park.

From the Audience
Selba Campbell announced she is signing up LIV owners to vote.
Lot 744 made the comment to the Board about making a good decision putting the pelican sign up.
Because someone asked about a new assessment on our swing bridge from Txdot, it gave way to a lengthy orientation by P. Burke on the different possible ways our Bridge may be taken over, replaced, intercoastal rerouting and so forth. The bottom line was this assessment is to update the 2004 assessment rating that will help our Park in the cost of our swing bridge. This was confused with the $2500 given to Mr. Freeland for the new survey to reroute our intercoastal waterway. This later led to a long discussion on the dredging our canals.
The Village Grille will try to open on Oct. 30th. There will be new ideas on menu, chicken night, and carryout with stressing that this is your restaurant and needs your input.
Lot? An owner asked P. Burke for her short version update on LIV’s current lawsuits. P.Burke explained;
1. Smith vs.LIV & L is in the discovery stage and hopefully will be resolved soon.
2. Hamlinck vs LIV Armstrong etc, court date is in November.
3. Cowen is in discovery.
4. Arroyo Cablevision court date is Nov. 10th.
Tom Cain said all owners need to register with Mrs. Campbell to increase our capacity to sway the city and county on our bridge needs.
Lot 251 said propositions 2, 8, 9, and 11 need to be voted yes by owners. P. Burke then took it upon herself to read word for word each proposition along with her comments for each.

Workshop / Agendas
This opened with the announcement that Welcome Center employees have come down with the H1N1 flu virus.
Dir. Montalva-none
Dir. Gagan-none
Dir. Bergsma wants to include Sea Cottage roads to the patchwork and start the ball rolling on getting the Cowen Group involved on dredging certain canals.
Dir. White asked about the video conferencing. It seems that there were only 12 responses to the article put in the newsletter, but it will be brought back up in January. It was also asked about what exactly was done to correct the outdoor pool problems. Tres. Steffensen and Burke said a valve was opened and a leak was repaired. There was a debate as to if there was any suction happening in the middle skimmers. There was a discussion about how to handle the differences between owners in remodeling Arts and Crafts room.
Dir. Guerra-none
Dir. Pelletier said he is still working on the street repairs which led to a twenty minute discussion on different streets in need of repair.
VP Halback-none
Tres. Steffensen started with wanting the Board to categorize by importance the list of major improvement projects, work on projecting their accurate costs, and turn them back in by November 9th. There was a broad range of reserve fund items discussed. P. Burke made the comment that if an owner wants any input on these projects, they need to talk to their Director.
P. Burke said there will be an executive meeting after the next regular meeting to discuss the continuing litigation issues. She mentioned that Saturday meetings will probably change back to Wednesday.

Adjourned

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A TIDBIT

At the September’s Board meeting it was asked why the new Webinar system was not in operation with telecasting our Board meetings via the internet. Last April the Board told owners this was to start in August when Director Bergsma returned. I don’t recall it later being openly discussed at any meeting but understand now that our Board has decided to cancell this because there was so little response from owners.

This invaluable service would cost less a year than our Village pays a month for th inept service from Berry Pools. Might it be possible that only a few owners read this one and only Webinar system article posted in our June’s newsletter? After all, this was when the LIV’s new website was first initiated with all kinds of technical problems unresolved until the following month.. In addition the article really didn’t indicate it wanted any immediate response. It just asked if owners had some kind of input to share.

The Board might find that there may be many more owners wanting this service more than the Rental Department and Berry Pools combined. Shouldn't the Board give the Webinar system a chance? Maybe at least a year’s worth of service before making a decision?

Director Bergsma, we need you.

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Concern- Compliment- Comment

Will owners question the spending of their money for two managers acting as GM for three and a half months? Can any owner argue that these two salaried managers don’t deserve receiving a bonus for their 105 days worth of additional obligations when after last year’s hurricane, salaried management were awarded over $11,000 for their 5 day additional effort?

If they do ask questions, will it include if this generous bonus of undisclosed proportions is for what these managers did or was it a cost for what our ex Gm and Aramark didn’t do.

Will anyone add an inquiry if two day notices of retirement from Aramark employees holding the most important management positions are long enough to find a replacement? Does Aramark condone these notices in believing that it is in the best interest to their clients? One would think not but then again one might also think Aramark should have policies they enforce not to allow two day notices like this to happen at all?

Why on earth with ARAMARK having in their words approximately 260,000 employees serving clients in this field, did it take over 60 days to find a minuscule number (4) of GM candidates to choose from?

Should the question be raise of why our Board didn’t feel it necessary to demand his stay until the replacement was found?

One wonders when will this Park start to hold Aramark and their $100,000+ annual fee for managerial support a wee bit more accountable for actions or non-actions.

Owners wish to know if they paid Aramark for any GM services or related expenses (e.g. vacation, sick, bonus, or severance days) from May through August 2009? Did Park owners contribute to the new manager’s relocation costs or is it Aramark’s responsibility since it was their employee who decided to retire attached with their blessing? Concerned owners feel they deserve to know all expenses they pay for and what has been the total price tag to replace this retired GM starting from when he gave his two day notice.

Should not all Park expenditures using Villager’s money have total transparency?

You make the call!



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OCTOBER SUGGESTIONS

We would love your suggestion that will improve our Village. Suggestions may be viewed by those visiting. We will renew the display each month. Anonymous are welcomed. So throw one in the box.
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BOARD MEETING 9/30/2009

Pledge of Allegiance

Owners Speaking
Lot 744 talked about the manner in how the Board is acquiring sealed bids

from contractors. Example given was the sealed bid assumed opened for the first time at the last Coffee Meeting was actually sent to LIV and an Aramark employee put it in an envelope and sealed it before the meeting. Also discussed was the lack of getting the necessary three bids. Example given was the five step asphalt repair.

Presidents Remarks-Burke
Had nothing but small talk


Manager Report-Horner
All work orders completed, seven building permits, condo fees late, problem letters sent to owners, 4 returned. Armando was sick and missed the meeting.

Directors Speaking
P.Burke made comments about the letter sent to an owner about their grill on top of their shed for about ten minutes. Also Dir. Guerra and P. Burke talked back and forth about code violations on this undisclosed lot number.

Approval of Minutes July
Motion made and past.

Treasurer’s Report-Steffensen
Treas. Stefffensen went through the report line by line. Profit and loss-net income and every center was a higher loss than last year except the news letter. She talked about the various bonds that LIV has.There was questions of why we are keeping the restaurant open if it keeps losing money along with if it is a true amenity, why isn’t it open year round?

Committee’s Reports

a. D&E-White said there will be two events in October, a cocktail party on the 24th w/Angie, and a Halloween party on the 31st w/ Mangling Wranglers

b. Golf-Pelletier-N/A

c. Pool-Steffensen said old wrist bands will not be allowed to be exchanged.

d. Finance-Steffensen N/A

e. Other-Burke said there is an opening for the Security Committee. Anyone interested is to put a letter in her box. There was mentioned about a Securitas score card.

Unfinished Business

a. Paving Contract-Pelletier discussed the patching and the receiving of only one bid. Made a motion to approve $16,989 to repair rated items 1 and 2 on his list. After some discussion the motion was removed and tabled due to discovering no warranty and that the contractor having less than a year background. Owner SC 57 asked Dir. Pelletier if he rated East and West Scallop for any repairs. Dir. Pelletier replied no. Owner said there were several large pot holes he would like to show him.

b. Refrigeration Bids-Steffensen discussed three bids for one refrigerator to replace two in the restaurant. A Village owner helped the Board understand the energy efficiency differences between the three and favored going with the cheapest bid. Motion made to approve $3589 plus tax for new refrigerator. Motion approved. There was a longer discussion on what to do with the old regrigerators.

c. Rental Hall Rates & Forms-Burke spent twenty minutes going through all the rates and logic behind the rates. Rates were too numerous to mention. P.Burke verbally motioned for one of the director to make a motion to approve the changes. Motion made and passed.

d. Arts & Crafts-Burke said she couldn’t discuss this topic since Armando was not present. Then there was some orientation by our ex-gm and his wife on what changes they wanted to have in the room.

New Business

a. Pool Tables-Halbach made a motion to approve $3400 to recover the pool tables. Motion passed.

b. Better Business Bureau-Burke said she didn’t have the time to get to it yet. Moved to table.
c. Dog Issue-Burke said an owner wanted permission to keep puppies after breeding. P.Burke had questions about if this is a business along with receiving complaints about controlling her existing dogs. P. Burke asked the Board if we want to encourage or discourage this owner.

d. Clarification of 6.3 Policy-Use of Owners Lounge-Burke discussed the wording and it was decided that owners only can use the lounge, no owner sponsoring for renters or others. Not included here was P.Burke 15 minute reading word for word of the rules along with her comments? Also said the $50 charge is a refundable deposit and not a non refundable fee.

e. Lot 795 & 796 Owner Wanting Hearing-Montalvo-P.Burke spoke on this saying this will be talked about in executive session.

f. Ole Television Presentation Eddie and Sandy gave a sales pitch to have our Village sponsor a show or have commercial spots. These people cater the high income audience market in the Valley and Mexico. Costs start at around $7500.

Other Some small talk and broke to go to an executive session.

Adjournment


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