A TIDBIT

The candidates for the nine Director positions are as follows.

Richard Hansen, Virginia Martin, Annita White , Don Halback , Eddie Montalva, Joe Long, Jose Guerra, Martha Nell Dodson, Don Pelletier, Bill Gagan, Ed McBride, Tom Bergsma, Ted Burns, Shirley Ritten, Mary Steffensen, Pat Burke, and Robert Wilson.

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JANUARY 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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WATER MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT

The Board is debating on whether to continue with Berry Pools maintaining control of our pool and spas water chemistry. It’s who you talk to as to whether it has been worth the expense. Although the water has not turned cloudy and green as many times as before, there have been some new problems with body hair loss and garment color change.

Our last Board thought this service might serve better and lessen the many complaints. Management seemed unable to master the pool operation, especially in the water chemistry area. This was taken out of their hands with using this system that monitors and adjusts automatically.

When this service was originally presented I got the impression that if the water system had any problem; Berry Pools would see to it immediately. They instead appear to rely on our Village to identify chemical or mechanical problems and wait to be contacted.

Management initially said that this system would save our Village 30% towards the chemical costs. That has never been shown to have happened.

At first I thought this was a good idea since having unknowable pool operators being trained by management with questionable experience. Now after seeing we have some of the same problems with a few new ones, I have grown somewhat reluctant.

What we will receive for $17,940 a year.
1. Our Village gets to use 4 controllers, 2 power base chlorinators, and 3 suction feeders that will regulate the chemicals in the water for both pools and each spa. This equipment will be owned and maintained solely by Berry Pools.
2. This system should have a “call out alarm conditions” to 4 pager numbers or e-mail addresses. If it does Berry Pool’s contract says it still depends upon on verbal notification from the customer of mechanical or chemical problems.
3. The monthly fee apparently does not include chemicals used and the Village will have to pay market price for them. That seems to mean our Village pays full retail price and not wholesale.
4. Berry Pools makes the decision on how frequently they need to visit our Village for the proper operation of their equipment. They are supposed to keep the chemical feeders filled.
5. The BP contract makes our Village agree to let them add 18% finance charge if Aramark pays our bill late.
6. Berry Pools will receive chemical data at two hours intervals for 30 days so LIV may have a copy at month’s end.
That’s pretty much it.

Overall we get the use of their equipment to keep the chemicals in our water stabilized and recorded. If called, they will fix or adjust any problem with said equipment at no charge, unless it was cause from property negligence, vandalism, pool draining, faulty electric, inadequate circulations, or an Act of God. This does not include such things as our pumps, heaters, filters, and everything else. This for only $17,940 a year plus market price for their chemicals.

What’s interesting is this $17,940 Berry Pools receives as a service charge, is more than what Aramark has paid any previous pool operator to maintain the entire operation of the facilities. Add in the current pool operator's wages and you are well over $30,000 a year.

Aramark’s contract says they are to provide us with personnel and management to
1. Check and maintain pool water quality-pH and chlorine.
2. Check water temperature of spas and indoor and adjust as needed keep Berry Pools and
3. Check and adjust the pool equipment.

If the Board decides to spend this extra $17,940 a year to do management’s job for them, shouldn’t our Village get reimbursed? If our Board elects to do away with Berry Pools, shouldn't we demand that management and their staff perform to their contractual duties?

This was approved to apparently help a bad situation and get this pool monkey off the backs of management and the old Board at the cost of the owners. It would be interesting to compare last year’s chemical cost to that of three years ago.
Should we keep them?



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January 21, 2009 COFFEE W/ DIRECTORS

Pledge of Allegiance

VP Young reading from the suggestion box

SC 85 asked about cluster mail boxes with the numbers corresponding to the lots. Director Burke commented that there is also a possibility of a rural route for our Village. Director Hansen commented on our current problems. Someone from the audience mentioned there was a certified post office person that resides in our park. An owner complained about all the problems she has gone through and said please don’t change a thing or it will be all messed up again.

Lot 288 commented on the non participation of our management with helping with the Time Warner installation. Director Burke was quick to say management didn’t receive a copy of the contract until nine days ago and then asked if the construction plans was done as it requested in the TW contract. She asked if Director Dodson had followed up with this since she was handling the contract. Director Dodson said she only helped to negotiate the contract and nothing beyond that except take calls. Director Dodson also said she put a copy of the contract on our GM’s desk personally. The GM denies ever receiving one. The GM did interrupt to say he verbally gave the layout of the Village to the TW engineer. He inferred that he did get all the location of the lines flagged. He mentioned that it was not in his contract to do that. He said he worked with them day and night. Director Dodson said she had a problem when our GM had told owners he had nothing to do with TW and if you have a problem her. She expects management to address problem calls. She also said once policy is approved, management is suppose to follow up with it and that has not happened. There was a back and forth about what Aramark’s contract with this and questions of who is responsible for the follow through with a TW situation.. Our GM gave our owners a history lesson of how he many times went outside the scope of the contract to do things. He took twenty minutes talking about how he has helped doing this and that. He then yelled at Jim Peterson for saying something which started this back and forth verbage.
Lot 28 thanked Director Dodson for her effort with TW and wanted people to look at this positively. He said things should be more documented. He said if this is done it would make people more accountable.
Lot ? Asked when TW is going to connect the TV in the exercise room. Answer was it is to be the last connection.
Lot 380 said that certain Board members are supposed to represent owners and not Aramark. It was asked for the ones doing this to quit it.
Lot 333 said their trailer was taken on a different day than scheduled and the appliances that were to be removed, wasn’t. The GM gave the permission to remove the trailer on a weekend after the office supposedly told the owner it had wait until Monday. The owner said he had rescheduled the appliance removal and cleanup for Monday. Owner also had a complaint about a neighbor using his electricity from his outdoor box when they stayed.
Lot R Owner said please consider some new park benches around the Village. Bud Sherry said you buy them and I’ll put them together. One Owner who I didn’t get his name said he would donate one.
Lot 171 said he had concerns about TW installations not being completed with various other questions. Director Dodson answered the questions one at a time.
Lot 617 had a problem with TW finding him as a customer in their system. The Rep. said that until they are completely done and does a final system test, it will not show up as an acct.
There was a short discussion about reclaimed water.
From the audience a man asked if the Board is keeping up with the various lawsuits and if so, how?
Lot 597 asks a question about having the State take over our swing bridge. Still working towards it was the short version answer.
Lot ? Someone asked about a parking lot for the boat trailers. The reply was that is a previous issue if ever done, has to have enough room for all 1024 lots.
There were questions about running for the Board and using teleconferencing.
Lot 853 told everyone to go to the Bridge Board meetings.
Lot 249 made a comment about the President’s statements in January’s newsletter saying they were one way communications, negative, selective, expressing a personal agenda, and seemed to be straight out of this blog.
Lot 28 asked if the manager Les Heier was related in any way to our GM. Our GM said no.
Lot? Someone made the comment to have someone working at the activity office 8 hrs a day.
Lot 525 thanked Annita White at the activity office for being so friendly to everyone. She has moved to another job.
Lot 120 complained that new $20 bills used in our laundry’s coin machine doesn’t work.
Lot 679 announce the Blood mobile will be here Feb. 10th from 8am-12
Annita White thanked everyone and explained her future job as a music director.
It was announced that on the 28th at 7pm Hello Dolly speaker forum will be held.

Work Shop
Agenda about LIV’s contribution towards paying half of a certified survey to reroute the intercostals waterway costing approximately $2000 was made. This was discussed at length.
Agenda for bench sites was made.
Agenda for three new Board Meeting microphones
Director Steffensen wishes to have on the agenda I believe the Revenue and expense projections for our legal and major improvement fund.
GM said he obtained a consultant by the name of Bob Hendricks from a company called Zebra International to layout our pool facility problems. It was asked how much will he cost. The GM didn’t know.
Director Hansen wanted on the agenda to talk about having various committees such as finance, Insurance, building and grounds.
Director Hansen wanted Aramark’s contract to have more clarification on management’s responsibility towards utilities. He also wanted to keep to a one year contract.
There was a question about a counter suit against Arroyo Cable for the removal of their equipment.
Director Peterson wanted on the agenda to talk about ways to make our Restaurant and Rental dept. from losing so much money or possibly eliminating both of them. Director Burke’s reply was ambiguous but definitely argumentative toward him when she wanted to include all the amenities.
Director Hansen wanted the Berry Pool contract on the agenda. The cost is now up to $1495 a month plus supplies.



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THE MANAGER’S REPORT

Below we have the general manager’s fire hydrant report taken from our Village Newsletter for January. It seems to read that change orders and one of three bids supposedly reviewed for this fire hydrant relocation were approved by the Board before this work was ever started. It implies that Director Dodson voided the check to pay the contractor because she had misunderstood this.

(Manager’s report)
The Fire Hydrant is complete. Landscaped around it. Did excavation and meets standards of fire plugs. Larry continued to give history of how he had received three bids, the Board voted for the $6,000 bid, which was the low bid. The bid was for moving the fire plug and adding a new plug valve. Bid was made on what bidder could see. If something comes up that is unforeseen then that has to be added. To meet standards of fireplugs, risers had to be ordered and labor was additional. That was an additional$1,000 (labor included). So a check was made for $7,000 which Dir. Young signed without question and then the check was sent to Dir. Dodson who voided the check because the Board had only voted on paying $6,000, the original price. Now GM is asking for the Board’s approval to pay for the extra materials and labor to bring the fire plug up to standard.

This summation appears dissimilar in the way this chain of events actually unfolded and left out some important elements which should be mentioned. The following is a more accurate synopsis.
During our 9/4/2008 rescheduled Regular Board meeting, Director McBride said he thought there may be a safety issue on a recent relocation of a fire hydrant. He also asked why this fire hydrant was out of commission for 10 months when it only had to be relocated across the street from its old spot. It was decided to discuss this further at the next Board Workshop.

Due to the lawsuit, this next Workshop didn’t happen until 10/15/2008 where Director McBride reiterated his concerns about the hydrant height and relocation cost. Our GM explained that the Port Isabel’s Fire Marshall didn’t have a problem with the hydrant, but this being out of his jurisdiction; he of course wouldn’t approve it. The GM said many of Port Isabel’s fire hydrants are as low as this one. The only action our GM wanted to do about this was to dig around it some more. Director McBride insisted that our Village is paying for a correct installation, not an improper one. The GM said he did not see how he would be able to get this contractor back in without information about the required Fire Department’s height standards in which to prove to him that he improperly installed it.

At first this seemed to make a lot of sense until the minutes for the June 28th, 2006 Regular Board Meeting revealed that our GM reported “#12. Fire Hydrants at Sea Cottages have been brought to the Fire Departments required height.” One would think if he knew then the requirements, should not he know them now? If one of the GM’s responsibilities is to oversee work done in our Village, should he not have known this hydrant was not at its proper height immediately and made the contractor aware to do it right?

At the 10/22/2008 Board meeting Director McBride provided the national and local fire hydrant height requirements off the internet, with pictures. The GM seemed to ignore this to say he had just talked to the contractor and he is coming out to correct this situation at no charge to LIV what-so-ever.

(Manager’s report)
Dir. Dodson said that the Board had been told at the last board meeting that the company would honor the $6,000 amount. Then she was presented with a check in the amount of $7,000 for signature ($1,000 more) so she voided the check in the interest of the resort.

After the fire hydrant was finally installed correctly, the contractor’s check was made out by the management staff and apparently delivered to Directors Young and Dodson by mistake for signatures. It had two invoices with one thought to showing the exact opposite of what our GM had stated. Director Dodson voided this check to insure it was not paid until she, the Board, and owners had an explanation.
This explanation came at the following 11/19/2008 Director’s meeting when our GM gave everyone in attendance a long lesson about how contractors only bid on what they see and their use of change orders. He said there was a change order to raise this fire hydrant to its proper height and this of course added to the cost.

To my knowledge, this was the first time change orders have ever been mentioned in a Board meeting. He made no endeavor to explain his previous proclamation that the contractor was to do this at no charge.

(Manager’s report)
Now GM is asking for the Board's approval to pay for the extra materials and labor to bring the fire plug up to standard. Dir.
McBride reported that the company had overcharged. South Padre Island company charges under $4,000. He said that if Larry had asked for people who do this in the Port Isabel, South Padre Island area, it would have been for a considerable less amount of money. Larry replied that the 6" valve was moved across the street and the Board did approve the bid.

Or did they?
The only mention in the minutes about this hydrant was found on November 21st, 2007. Armando said “Water leak at Lot 27. Fixed. Fire hydrant not working.” That’s it.
If our previous Board did approve this $6000 open end bid to put in a new valve and relocate this fire hydrant, they would have made a motion and given an approval for such at a scheduled board meeting. Without question this would have been recorded in the minutes.
To this date, there is no other record found in the minutes to indicate three bids were ever reviewed as our GM claims, much less having one bid receiving a motion for approval. To my knowledge no previous LIV Boards have ever approved an open ended bid without the maximum amount of overage at least being specified.

(Manager’s report)
Dir. McBride mentioned that he could not find a motion on item anywhere in the minutes.
Dir. Hansen commented, as a follow up, that he was unable to find a bid. Could GM provide before this board. Pres. Sullivan requested that Sec. Mulch provide minutes that will show that $6,000 was approved by Board.

Wouldn’t owner’s best interests be served with the assurance that this expenditure had a Board approval? Should we be fools in believing it was approved but nobody knows just exactly when or where, along with it somehow was not recorded in the minutes? Directors on the Board have requested documentation showing when it was approved. Are they going to be ignored?
Owners are also deserving of a very good explanation as to why our GM so clearly said in a board meeting right to their faces that there would be no charge to LIV what so ever while quietly slapping our Village with a $1000 invoice and having to eventually force feed us with this ridiculous change order story after this money took notice, check stopped, and required some answers?

Are owners once again being told one thing only to find out it’s another? Is this to become a permanent reoccurring theme within our Village? Is this happening because accountability cannot be effectively enforced?
This summer six of our Board members had tried to promote accountability and were frequently taunted by a small group of owners with moans, verbal abuses, heckling, smear tactics, and let's not forget an invalid director recall. It was topped off by these currently pending lawsuits against these same directors which have all but tied their hands on enforcing what little management accountability there was.

Which brings me to this last concern? If management wanted our Village to pay $1000 for work which ended up being negotiated for 35% less, why wasn’t it negotiated from the start? Is this the procedure for all Village transactions? This makes one wonder just how wisely our Village money is really being spent and if the Village’s best interest are being served?

A person cannot help but feel that they’ve been hosed about this hydrant relocation venture?

When is all this crap going to end and management accountability really begin?

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A TIDBIT

Good news!
The new Hayward WGX1048E VGB drain covers have been installed for the indoor pool and hot tubs. I hope our management has figured out what
to install for the second level of entrapment protection for the pool. The hot tubs may need the second also.

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO BECOME COMPLIANT
• On all drains, install a NEW ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 performance standard anti-vortex or anti-entrapment cover (currently being developed)
• On all pools or spas that have single drains that are not unblockable OR two main drains measuring less than 36” apart (three-feet from center to center ) per pump must have at least one additional level of entrapment protection (See above)




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TIME WARNER MEETING

We had our Time Warner sales rep. here Tuesday answering questions. He started out on the wrong foot by being an hour late. He didn’t have any bundling prices to hand out because there seems to be none since we already have the $49.99 Standard Service (Basic and Expanded Basic Service) being taken out of our condo fees at under $11. Don’t take this wrong because as you can see our Standard Service being paid in our condo fees is so low, any item at its price below which makes up a bundle still appears lower that their packaged bundle special prices for this area.


Services

Analog Cable Packages Cost Per Month
Basic Service $22.00
Standard Service (Basic and Expanded Basic Service) $49.99
It is my understanding that this is what we pay in our condo fees

Digital Cable Package (HD) Cost Per Month
Standard Service, Digital Basic, 48 CD-Quality Music
Choice Channels, Free on Demand, access to Video On
Demand, access to Pay-Per-View & the On-Screen
Interactive Program Guide
$51.99
This was said to be available to us for $15 a month.

The rest below seems to be the price for what you want to add.
Digital Premium Services Cost Per Month
Digital HBO Multiplex (15 screens)* $14.99
Digital Cinemax Multiplex (12 screens) $9.99
Digital Showtime Multiplex (14 screens)* $14.99
Digital TMC Multiplex (4 screens) $9.99
Digital Starz! Multiplex (10 screens)¨ $12.95
Double Feature -Choice of 2 Premiums $24.99
(Excludes Cinemax and TMC together)
Movie Mogul (All Premiums) $39.99
*Includes screens of HDTV, which require High Definition
Receiver, available from Time Warner Cable
¨Starz! On Demand not yet available

Below is the site to show what programs you get for what package or service

http://www.timewarnercable.com/MediaLibrary/4/53/Content%20Management/Products%20And%20Services/documents/RGV%20FINAL.pdf

Digital Services Cost Per Month
Navigator (Includes on-screen guide, Music Choice) $4.00
Digital Cable $6.99
Movie Service $6.99
Mas Canales $6.99
Sports Service $6.99
High Definition Service* $6.99
Sports/HD* Package $11.99
Family Choice $12.99
All Access TV Tier (Includes Movie Service, Sports Service
and HD* Service)
$17.99
Digital Video Recorder Service (DVR) $9.99
High Definition DVR Recorder Service (HD DVR)* $9.99
Digital Additional Outlet Fee $1.50
*Includes screens of HDTV, which require High Definition
Receiver, available from Time Warner Cable

Video On Demand Cost
Premiums On Demand* $6.95
New Releases $4.99 each
New Releases in HD $5.99 each
Library Title $1.99 each & up
Adult Programming $11.99 each & up
*Must subscribe to matching premium multiplex to receive
Premiums On Demand

Equipment Cost Per Month
Addressable Receiver $7.68
Non-addressable Converter $.55
Remote $.31
CableCard $2.99

High-Speed Online Services Cost Per Month
High-Speed Online Service $44.99
Wireless Home Networking* $9.99
Road Runner Turbo (Add-on)* $9.95
*Price is additional to regular High Speed Online monthly rate.

Digital Home Phone Services Cost Per Month
Unlimited local and long distance throughout Texas, across the U.S.,
Canada, Puerto Rico and most U.S. territories; Caller ID, Call Waiting, Call
Waiting ID and Call Forwarding
Digital Home Phone Service $44.99
Digital In State Phone Texas $39.99
Digital Local Phone $34.99
Digital Home Phone Service Voice Mail $3.95
Unpublished Phone Number $5.50
International OnePrice Calling Plan* (Add-On) $19.95
*International OnePrice Calling plan is available to customers who
subscribe to any Digital Phone calling plan and Digital Cable
and/or Road Runner High Speed Online. Up to 1,000 minutes
allowed per month on calling Plan to over 100 countries.

Service Protection Plan Cost Per Month
Total Home SPP (Video/HSD/Digital Home Phone) $4.95

Installation One-time Charge
Video Installation $39.99
High Speed Online Installation $39.99
Digital Phone Installation $39.99
Truck Roll $39.99
Installation of Unwired Homes (New Unwired Homes) $59.99
Port Number Fee $20.00
Activate and certify existing wired outlet – same trip $15.99
Additional Outlet (at install) $19.99
Additional Outlet (separate trip) $39.99
Addressable Change of Service $1.99
Transfer within serviceable area $19.99
Wireless Home Networking Installation $49.99
Additional Computer Wireless Home Networking
Installation
$49.99
Wall Fish $49.99

Fees One-time Charge
Field Collection Fee $15.00
NSF Fee $30.00
PPV Movie or Event Convenience Fee $5.00
Late Payment Fee (30 days) $2.95
Late Payment Fee (45 days) additional $2.00
Early Equipment Return Fee $15.00
In Person Transaction Fee $2.00
Call Center Payment Fee $2.00

Unreturned Equipment Fees One-time Charge
Non-Addressable Converter $100.00
Addressable Analog Converter $200.00
Digital Receiver $200.00
DVR-Enabled Receiver $350.00
HD DVR-Enabled Receiver $450.00
High Definition Receiver $450.00
Remote Control $20.00
Cable Modem $100.00
Phone Modem $200.00
CableCARDTM $100.00
Wireless USB Adapter/NIC Card $35.00
Dongle $50.00
USB Cord/Ethernet Card/Component Wires $50.00
Modem’s Power Pack $15.00




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HOT TUB RUB



For three weeks I’ve wanted to use the outdoor hot tub. As a precaution on Christmas Eve I tested the water before using it and was glad I did. I found the PH level way too low and didn't risk it. On New Year’s Eve I was back only to right away notice the outdoor hot tub water was starting to turn green. The water was not hot, read zero on chlorine/bromine with a PH reading off the scale low. I tested the indoor hot tub and found both the chlorine/bromine and PH levels also off the scale high. I didn’t dare use either. Yesterday I once again tried the outdoor hot tub and guess what? It again read zero on chlorine/bromine with the PH level way too low. The indoor hot tub read high but usable. A Village couple who said they had lost their body hair using the pool and hot tubs asked me to test the indoor pool. I did and it tested OK.
I find it alarming that we pay over a thousand dollars a month for Berry Pool to do our management’s job to keep what I experience these last three weeks from happening. I noticed one of the drain covers totally missing in the outdoor hot tub along one broken in each the indoor hot tub and pool. We were told by our GM the pool facility was in Federal Law compliance to the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. Obviously it is not. With these drain covers broken and missing, we aren’t even in the easy compliance of the Texas state codes. To make things worse there seems to be no one here who you can really address this problem to? These years of consistent pool problems make management appear inept to solve anything and the answer I get from a senior director is that’s why we have insurance.

Texas Administrative Code

TITLE 25
HEALTH SERVICES
PART 1
DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
CHAPTER 265
GENERAL SANITATION
SUBCHAPTER L
STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC POOLS AND SPAS
RULE §265.190
Suction Outlets and Return Inlets at Post-10/01/99 and Pre-10/01/99 Pools and Spas

(a) Suction outlets for post-10/01/99 and pre-10/01/99 pools and spas. Any suction outlet system for a post-10/01/99 or pre-10/01/99 pool or spa circulation or filtration system, booster system, automatic cleaning system, solar system, water feature, etc., must be designed to protect against a suction entrapment, evisceration or hair entrapment/entanglement hazard and must comply with this section. Drain covers and grates do not need to be flush with the floor. For the purpose of this section, skimmers are not considered to be suction outlets.
(b) Closure of post-10/01/99 and pre-10/01/99 pools and spas if the suction outlet is defective. If the owner or operator of a post-10/01/99 or pre-10/01/99 pool or spa knows or should have known in the exercise of ordinary care that a cover or grate of a suction outlet (including a vacuum outlet) is missing, broken, or loose, the pool or spa must be closed immediately and the pump(s) must be shut off. The pool or spa must remain closed until a proper repair or replacement has been accomplished. The pool or spa shall not be opened unless all covers or grates are securely installed according to subsection (c)(5) of this section and subsection (g) of this section. Suction outlets must have cover(s) complying with subsection (c)(1) of this section or grate(s) complying with subsection (c)(2) of this section, as well as covers for vacuum outlets complying with subsection (g) of this section.


This situation needs to be addressed before someone becomes ill or injured. The Federal Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act and as this Texas state code above call for closure of the pools and hot tubs until the time that they are in compliance. This seems to be a poor position to put our Village in for someone who might be looking to sue somebody.


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COMPLIANCE

At December’s Director’s meeting our general manager stated the pool facility was in compliance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. The deadline to comply with this year old Federal act designed to lower the needless drowning deaths of children was December 19, 2008.

Our GM said our pools and hot tubs were in compliance.

Under current law, the maximum penalty for one or more related violations is $1.825 million. Congress is considering legislation that would increase this penalty to $10 million plus.

Our GM said our pools and hot tubs were in compliance.

By December 20, 2008, all pools, whether it has single or multiple drains, needs new anti-entrapment drain covers that must comply with ASME/ANSI A112.19.8 performance standard. Your public pool or spa that has a single drain must have at least one additional level of entrapment protection.

Our GM said our pools and hot tubs were in compliance.
Are they really?
The above photographs taken on December 30, 2008 would beg to differ that anything is in compliance. Shown are what appears to be the same Hayward Circular 8”x8” drain covers our pool facility has had for years, including the broken cover in our indoor pool that is not in compliance to even the current Texas codes. Apparently no additional anti-entrapment devices have been installed either.
Is this yet another reason as to why our Board has tried so diligently to make our GM more accountable? Should not Aramark be made aware of such events so as to help towards this GM’s accountability? How much longer is our Village to tolerate not being given accurate information?
Something needs to be done before our facility becomes a statistic along with hundreds of others in having a child drown from entrapment. Let’s help to save a child’s life.
A concerned Villager has graciously provided several websites about this important Federal Law.

http://www.pooloperationmanagement.com/vgbact.htm

http://www.attorneyatlaw.com/tag/virginia-graeme-baker-pool-and-spa-safety-act/

http://www.idph.state.ia.us/eh/common/pdf/env/cpsc_interpretations.pdf

http://www.cpsc.gov/pssa.pdf

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DECEMBER SUGGESTIONS Part II. 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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DECEMBER 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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December 17, 2008 Board of Directors Meeting

No owners spoke on today’s agendas.

GM Report
The GM gave a rundown on late fees, permits, and the usual. Our GM had concerns about Arroyo not repairing their cable. He showed printouts of the pool chemicals and said Berry’s system is doing what it’s supposed to do. Mary Steffensen asked about a new Federal law on the drains. The GM said the outdoor pool has no drain; we have to pump the water out. He said the indoor pool and all the hot tub covers meets these requirements. Director Dodson said Armando gets these readings every Friday if anyone wants to see them. The impeller on our big brass pump was replaced for over $600. He talked about the bath house construction and drains for lots 40-50. Our GM wanted everyone to thank Randy Morrin at lot 349 for his donation to make new no wake signs. Someone in the audience said this man’s last name was Morris. I would have to believe Morrin is correct since our GM went to the effort to spell it for everyone. Our GM said he got the new TV for the Rec. Hall and ordered the wind screens for the tennis courts.

Armando’s Report
Routine verbiage about work orders but did say he had all the stuff removed around the basketball court area. He also said he had ordered the signs for the activity and restaurant. Our Village is blessed with a new regional manager taking over Bob Polo position.
Approval of November 19 Minutes
A delay has happened due to the transition of the filling of a new Secretary. Director Burke wanted the August minutes approved. These Minutes had been delayed so as to verify the true answers of an owner from the direct questioning of our directors. (The Board took a short 15 minute recess after the Safety Agenda later in the meeting to review the August minutes one more time for its revised authenticity. When the recess was over there still was a lengthy back and forth dialogue. The corrected August minutes were then approved)

Treasurer’s Report
Director Steffensen’s monthly report had more information showing area’s that have been of interest lately. For example account totals at each bank were all under 250K and fully protected. The profit and loss was the usual. Our Gm said our $144,000 hurricane insurance check was made out wrong and had to be sent back. Director Hansen expressed concern about the Nov. treasurer’s report given and put into the minutes are different than what are actual month ends and thought the figures should be the same.

Audit Committee
Mary Steffensen said they were auditing the Village Grill and should have their recommendations finished soon.

D&E
Director Dodson talked about the New Year’s Eve dinner/dance on the 31st. The Gm said I’m having a dinner for my employees in the owners lounge at 1pm Friday.

Golf report
President Sullivan said all but a $1000 of the donated funds are spent on the concrete and construction.

Time Warner
Director Dodson said the bundles should be out shortly. Other items were said in which I can’t say due to a continued request. Our channel 2 will be changed to another number TBA. A man from the audience tried to argue the current actions of Time Warner and was told it was not up for discussion.

Pool Committee
Director Steffensen said 30 new chairs are to be ordered in three colors. They said the old chairs will be sold to repair the tables.

Safety
Director McBride wished to look into alternate evacuation routes for hurricanes or chemical spills.

A 15 MINUTES RECESS

(August minutes were approved as stated above)

Unfinished business
1. Microphones: lapel microphones will be tried again
2. Computers: still being researched to find someone who can even do the LIV website the way we want. The price for new computers and which ones to buy are still in question.
3. A motion from Director Burke was made to accept the $30846.00 bid to plaster the bottom of our outdoor pool from All Valley Plaster Pools and was seconded. It was approved.

Other
There was a question on the where abouts of the recall ballots. President said this issue is null and void.
Bathhouses were said of being misused by contract workers and there was a discussion of what was to be done. It was decided to be further reviewed.

New Business
1. Interest for bank accounts: Director Hansen asked to have a goal of raising the interest income from the minuscule $2000 to $25,000.
2. Major Improvements: Director Steffensen asked the Board to keep the 2009 major improvement fund at or lower the projection. This was discussed at some length ( at least one hour) covering all the items in the report. There was a motion to pour new concrete around the shuffle board area when the helicopter pad sidewalk is being done to save on cost . It was seconded and approved by verbal vote.
3. Election committee: Director McBride and Director Burke will make up this committee. No other names were said yet. They touched on certain subjects that each wanted. A motion was made and seconded that this process is acceptable. It was verbally approved.
4. Owner questionnaire: A five page questionnaire was asked to be reviewed and corrected if need be by the Board. It is planned at this point to be sent out with the annual owners meeting packet.
5. Pass for entry: A motion was made and seconded for a multi time pass will be given to non owners who wish to use our Restaurant. It was approved.
6. Motion was made to reimburse the $10,000 deductible and $500 worth of expenses the six sued directors had to pay out of their pockets. This was argued repeatedly over and over again by Director Burke expense reimbursement should wait until the lawsuit is over. Motion was seconded and approved.
7. Wheel chair ramp: Variance for Mrs. Boling’s ramp was approved.
8. There were various announcements of scheduled activities and the meeting was called adjourn. Read more on this article...

December 10th Coffee with the Directors

President opened with a warning to the audience towards the use of bad conduct
Director Hansen wanted to address the audience and was recognized by our VP. He apologized for his actions at the town hall meeting.
From the suggestion box
Lot 249 asked that an independent party collect the ballots and proxies at the annual meeting. VP Young said this has already been arranged and will be done that way.
Lot 158 asked if the Board operates under Condominium Act section 82. We felt the board is in violation and want the owners to stay after to request funds for legal counsel to clarify this manner. VP Young said he assume were while looking at the members of the Board. Director Burke spoke right up and said in an apparent snide tone, don’t look at me, I’m not your attorney. Director McBride said we do and the last meeting to which this is addressing was done proper. We had our attorney there to make sure it was done proper. That meeting was one that the Board had asked Director Mulch to step down as Secretary.
Lot 107 complained of a lot which has not been touched since the hurricane. It was said it smells and looks terrible. Armando, who subs for our GM taking a stress test, said contacts are still being made and everyone still has until February’s cutoff date to verify the start of repairs.
Lot R complained about the use of the basketball court area to dump loads of dirt and park equipment. After a short discussion Armando said he would take care of it.
Lot 155 complained that the Board was not listening to the people and are not following the court order. The President made a comment on this and nicely said this person is entitled to his own opinion.

Owners Speaking
Our President Sullivan talked about wanting to use the parking area next to the welcome center for boat trailers. A man asked him to include car trailers. This continued for quite a while with Director Burke giving everyone a history on Mr. Freeland actions towards LIV residents parking on his land. This was to continue at the workshop.
Lot 161 asked a question about the current lawsuit court order. The president answered it. Director Burke corrected our President on a minor subject and continued with saying that the Board was acting according to the court order but not toward the spirit of the order. She stated her opinions on what she said were four reasons in which the Board Secretary was replaced. Her rendition of this meeting lasted for over twenty minutes. When she was done Director Hansen said that the majority simply lost confidence in Director Mulch. The President said he considered this matter done and wanted to move on. There was some vocal opposition to that from a few of the same people who have been previously disruptive.
Don Pelletier explained a previous Board tried to make that same area a boat trailer parking lot and the reasons they why they couldn’t. He also thanked everyone at the cocktail party for all the children’s gifts and money.
Lot 285 brought up by-laws pertaining to first term eligibilities of Directors. The Board President cleared any questions as to appointing first year Director McBride to replace Director Mulch. He stated the by-laws say a first term Director cannot hold the President’s or Vice President’s position. Director Burke intervened with saying that the board added to this by-law at some point back to include the Secretary’s position. It was ask politely for her to provide proof of her statement and was left at that.
Lot 129 asked for Time Warner information. Director Dodson said that Jan 1st is still the start time and the bundle pricing will be available near this start time. There were many other minor questions throughout the entire meeting by owners who didn’t identify themselves or their residence number.
Lot 556 asked if there can be an easier way for outside people who participate with regular owner group activities to get into the park to dine at the Village Grill. This issue was discussed in great length and asked to continue at the workshop.
A man who didn’t give his lot number questioned our Time Warner contract and had a problem with the restaurant constantly losing money. Several Directors commented about the amenities and losses. This lasted for a while with no apparent outcome.
Lot 28 recommended that our Board should negotiate harder with Time Warner. He said the new Board members will have to run this place as a business and hard negotiations are a part of that..
Lot? Said we need more restaurant signs to guide people as to where it’s located.
Lot 638 wanted to congratulate Director Dodson for her fine job towards Time Warner.
Lot 96 said several times in a row the restaurant’s Sunday buffet food was cold and her husband will not return. She complained about the water being turned off and the lack of communication from management of when it is to be resolved.
Reta Priest did not give her name or lot number. She seemed to intentionally ignored addresssing her question to President Sullivan with pointedly asking Director Burke where our Village stood with the Arroyo Cable lawsuit. After the President gave Director Burke the go ahead and to shorten up Directors Burkes answers, she said we feel we are in a good position and it’s currently in an answer and discovery stage.
Lot 617 said the restaurant is great, everyone should try it.
Lot SC95 said 6 or 7 years ago when there was a $50 grand loss, he offered to take over the restaurant for $1 so owners wouldn’t have such high losses and was told that they just make the books look like there are losses. They said no.
Director Mulch reminded everyone of the employees Christmas Party Friday Dec.12th .
There were various short notifications of other parties and acknowledgements and the meeting ended.

The Workshop
There was a lengthy discussion of making it easier to enter the park to use the Village Grill.
It was announced the no wake signs were paid for from an anonymous owner.
The Board talked about new restaurant signs and their locations.
The Board members talked about giving away this and that to try to drum up more restaurant business when Director Peterson said he thought before we start giving away anything, we should find out what our food costs are. He said no one has yet been able to tell him what it cost us to make a simple hamburger, fries and drink. He said no one knows. This stirred up the board and the owners in the audience.
Director Hansen said he would like to provide a questionnaire to the owners with the annual meeting packet.
The parking lot for boat trailers was discussed at great length but rendered to further review due to the legality of charging owners for common ground use and or not being able to provide all the owners the use for free..
Director Peterson to the table the pool bottom issue with a bid of $3500 to patch the outdoor pool instead of re-plastering for $31,000 to $60,000. He said they would acid wash it for a little more. It was discussed and appeared not well accepted. Read more on this article...

What to do?
Our Village’s first two re-plastering bids for the outdoor pool were pretty high at being around $60,000. It was somewhat interesting that Berry Pools was using LIV as a reference last spring saying they were picked to do this re-plastering. When our Village finally received a third bid at $30,846, everyone got skeptical. It never crossed my mind to just patch the bottom one more time as Director Peterson had proposed. He received a bid of only $3500. It struck me as a grand idea and a means for our Village to get by for the next several years?
This bottom sitting for over six years and with the history of inconsistent water chemistry, one would think that most of the defective bottom has occurred. South Texas Pools, who originally did the work, gave our Director the same after warranty patchwork price of $3500 that they quoted almost three years ago to our GM, but now will be doing a much bigger patchwork job. It appears they felt a little committed after doing such a poor job. The only concerned I heard told by the Board of why we want to redo the pool bottom was to keep people from cutting their feet.
One might ask do we need to make this pool bottom perfect to correct this problem.
Currently our Village has an unknown amount owed for lawyer fees due to numerous pending litigations. A few of these lawsuits make us now pay tens of thousands of dollars more a year to provide a high risk insurance coverage for our swing bridge. If it's available at all, these insurance premiums will continue to quickly rise. Our problemed economy has cause large increases in our Village’s COGS, utilities, and employee wages. We are to pay more for a dearly needed licensed security. We have thrown thousands away for a silly sidewalk to nowhere and the relocation of one fire hydrant. Our Village is paying through the nose for a constant overbilling of our trash pickup to which our management appears unable or unwilling to correct.
Is it smart for us to now spend ten to twenty times more money to make the pool bottom look perfect for a year or so?
Wouldn’t just fixing the bottom areas of the pool at this time be far wiser? Think about it, for $3500, our Village could patch our outdoor pool for eight years in a row and the total cost would still be thousands less than the lowest re-plastering bid. Most pool professionals will tell you the life expectancy for re-plastering is from 4-8 years. This new plaster will be considerably more susceptible to stains and damage caused from poor water chemistry than our current diamond bright pool bottom.
For years our management has known and has not corrected the circulation problem which stabilizes the outdoor pool’s water chemistry. Now who’s to say if we did re-plaster our pool today that in a few years we wouldn’t be in the same or different mess as today. Does our pool bottom have to look perfect?
By using a small amount of the thousands saved with area bottom repairs, we could correct the outdoor pool circulation problem and finally, for the first time, meet the minimum Texas State code requirements for water filtration turnover. Our outdoor pool bottom may not have to be perfect but our pool water should be.
Should we think hard about just doing only these pool bottom area repairs, pool lights, along with correcting our circulation problem and save over tens of thousands of dollars, or instead, re-plaster our outdoor pool bottom and take our chances?

From David Cooke Pool Plaster Co. LLC
PLASTER IS LONG LASTING: The secret to long life of any pool surface is properly maintained water balance. Improper water balance will destroy any pool surface and in many cases, void the warranty of that surface.

From Ultraguard Inc
Pool contractors today have no compassion for their customers. They know, what is being offered for pool interior restorations are a perpetual chronic application. UltraGuard has been the best kept secret in the pool industry because plastering and painting pools have always been a high volume, high profit business, with a life expectancy of only 2-6 years with no real warranties

PLASTER & PAINT
Plastering- Renewing the interior surface of a pool to a beautiful smooth finish & then applying a number of coats of either, Epoxy of Chlorinated Rubber Paint , has been the choice of thousands of pool owners. The system is very efficient but does not last as long. The repaint will need to be done each 4-5 years. Paint can be used to give some brilliant effects in pools using many different colors. Read more on this article...

Town Hall Meeting 12/06/2008

Larry Schroeder was the moderator of this town hall meeting. He said purpose of this meeting was not to vilify anything; it is not to tear down anybody’s reputation. It is to simply give the people of this association a chance to air their perceptions, their assumptions, of why we are here and why there has been such a problem. Moderator Schroeder gave his opinions of our Village’s current situation from attending one meeting. He gave us the long history of Outdoor Resorts that evolved into Long Island Village. He explained that the Dec. 3rd, 2008 by invitation only Wednesday meeting was not about putting up a slate to run for the board as a political party but was an informal get together to discuss their concerns of not having enough candidates to run for the board this March. He said his group would help anyone who wants to run. He proposed that they will support meetings so candidates can voice their opinions and discouraged what he called “sound bites”. He said owners elect directors from their agendas and it appeared to him that agendas of the new directors is what got us in the position we are in today. He explained the position was that we have more lawsuits against us than we ever had in our lives. He said it didn’t bode well while trying to sell his home and having somebody a few days ago rescind an offer based on that. He said twice that this upsets me.
Moderator Schroeder said since the original meeting was canceled, his group decided to have this meeting. He said Bill Zerbe took it upon himself to just schedule the hall and is not his meeting. Mr. Schroeder said this meeting has the same agenda as what the original meeting would have had before it was cancelled. Larry Schroeder talked about the Declaration and bylaws, their importance, and proceeded to say in his opinion the use in executive session for the purpose of business not normally covered in executive sessions, is a violation of the Texas open meetings act. He then went on to state that if a board member takes action in an executive session that he is not allowed to, they waive their right to director officers liability insurance. The said this board has had more executive meetings than the three previous boards combined and that amounts to someone making decisions when I don’t get to hear the discussion. He said twice that’s not right.
Moderator Schroeder discussed their agenda items. The first was to be about the conduct of the directors. He said they, the directors, will get an opportunity to address that. He said the second item was by court order this board was to remain status quo and the directors are not following this. This court order was imposed after one director, Leroy Mulch and Reta Priest, recall leader and previous board candidate who lost; suing six directors of our Board The third agenda item was a board code of ethics in which moderator Schroeder thought we didn’t need it. The fourth item the people supposedly wanted to discuss was in Mr. Schroeder’s opinion the cause for all of this; the discussion of what created the problem with management and the current board’s explicit desire to terminate the manager. He gave the audience his rendition of the hierarchy of board and management with a lengthy synopsis of his perceptions about board procedures in which should result in blaming the prior board instead of management themselves for any unacceptable performance.
Moderator Schroeder said what we hear today may be hearsay and assumptions, and in some cases false hearsay and false assumptions. If someone says something incorrect, just get up and correct them. He said if it gets into a shouting match, I’m going to just walk out.
The Board President Dennis Sullivan said this was exactly what he had intended as a meeting. He mentioned the lawsuit and its cost. He felt that the dissention could have been mended without this lawsuit to which you could hear the start of the ahs and moans start from the crowd. He thanked everyone for coming to the meeting
Owner Bill Zerbe began asking why the board President didn’t let the owners know in the meeting cancellation letter, that there will be a member’s town hall meeting. He said he did things that he shouldn’t have out of frustration. He criticized the seating arrangements of the directors. He brought up issues that had not been accomplished in a timely manner. He asked why discussions could not be done on a personal basis between the directors instead of at the meeting where it appears I’m going to nail you on something. He thought this all started with the firing of current director Jim Peterson and gave his reasons why. He said current director Ed McBride mentioned at a party he wanted to get rid of our GM. Mr. Zerbe said if they were unhappy with things they should have express that before being elected. He gave his version of this summer’s history from the replacement attempt of the GM up to this Town Hall meeting. He said this lawsuit came about when certain people in the park were unhappy about what was going on. We started with a recall and gave the number of responses that were received. His opinion is that these directors were not representing persons in the park and needed to step down. He said people had a problem with these directors not being present at a 9 am board meeting. He had a problem with our Village lawyer’s actions towards the recall, but agreed with her that instead of suing they should have compromised. He said the Board President left us no choice but to sue when he wouldn’t change anything we wanted. He said it’s time for everyone to start changing and get along. Mr. Zerbe said a minimum three times that we filed the lawsuit.
Lot #677 said he was confused. He said the directors didn’t follow their agendas stated in March. He called the new directors puppets. He complained about executive meetings. He said there are rumors that the new directors were going to take over and run this park. He complained about the new security company. He talked about other stuff I am not sure of.
Lot 354 & 391 said they’re here during the summer and announce he and eight others will run for the board. He said he would like to personally like to see where we have to go to get it back to the way this place was before. He mentioned the problems the swimming pool wrist band enforcement was causing and the increased perception in vandalism from the renters the past year. He wants to bring the summer and winter owners together.
Lot 306 complained about the lawns not being mowed. She said management should not be part of our board in meetings. She referred to everyone as being a stock holder and to put a pencil to the issues. She talked positive about our Village lawyer and said right now our security is a joke. She said the previous board was at fault that many things have not been done correctly. She said the board lawsuit was pure craziness. This received loud ahs and moans from apparently the same group who disrespect our board meetings.
Moderator Larry Schroeder corrected her metaphor of being stockholders. He said this is run like a business but it is not a corporation. He described in length his security background and made the statement that a license security officer was no more than someone who went to the quickest 40 hour class to get certified. His impression was our Village will not gain from it.
SC27 said he was asked what side he was on when he came back. He said the people here are acting like kids. He said the Board should make policies and management should manage. He referred to our management as experts. He said if a person has an agenda, they should not run for the board. He said our GM was great during the Hurricane. He said to the board, don’t get on an agenda to fire our GM.
Lot 779 said he wanted the new elected board to hire a professional to come in and teach the board what their roles are and do the same with management.
Lot 28 said he has never seen this kind of hatred. He said the only horse he has in this race was his investment in buying here. Whoever runs for the board please keep in mind that these properties are an investment?
Lot 759 said she liked the idea of Sat. meetings. She said the newsletters say nothing and asked for a little more information. She said she would not blindly sign her proxy anymore. She said she had both types of experiences with the GM. She questioned the evaluation of him. She asked what his duties are. She asked for someone to answer.
Moderator Larry Schroeder gave his take on how our board meetings schedule came about. He commented about the size of this current crowd. He talked lengthy about the minutes and complained that the Village attorney is here way too often and inferred that the board is using an attorney to make every business decision. He said we should have a court reporter instead of an attorney if there is a problem in taking of the minutes.
President Sullivan addressed the evaluation procedure of the manager and the current proxy. Moderator Schroeder said they did not have an evaluation of the manager when he served on the Board. Someone from the crowd said that there should be something available to the owners to evaluate the management.
Director Hansen said the prior board did not evaluate the GM. He said he felt that all nine board members have the park at heart. This brought out the disrespectful moans and ahs. He went on to explain the history about our LIV funds not being evenly distributed for them to be insured after numerous times being told by management it was to be taken care of. He explained the history of our Village consistently being overbill on trash pickup. He said he made our GM aware of it and requested the GM to come up with a solution. He said our GM did nothing. He said that three board members sitting to the President’s right have voted the same on every issue while the five on his left haven’t. This received a loud chorus of boos from the same people as before. He corrected the history given on the number of meetings before the GM’s April replacement attempt. He then commented on the number of times he received the finger from Bill Zerbe and started to walk towards him. The crowd came unglued and Moderator Schroeder started yelling at Hansen and Hansen was yelling at Zerbe and Schroeder. The lady from Lot 759 came up to the mike and said excuse me but you are all out of order.
The people in the meeting started to disband with moderator Schroeder started pleading for people to stay.
Director McBride came up to explain the different attacks, rumors, and lies that were let loose on him from certain people. He said it was sad that people are having to make decisions on such conjecture. He said he just simply does not think our GM is doing a good enough job for our Park.
It had appeared that about a third of the people left this meeting. It continued with:
Lot 213 said good things about our GM and didn’t want him to be called hired help. She said the upside is that it seems now more people will be more involved. She said be happy with what we have.
Moderator Schroeder summarized what he thought that we, the owners think. He seemed to validate the totally invalid recalled with saying it was invalid because the I’s were not doted and the T’s were not crossed, then brought up Reta Priest’s tabulation as a somewhat valid number that people weren’t happy with what was going on and said that’s a wakeup call twice.
Lot#? I couldn’t hear what lot this lady lived at but she was upset that she was laugh at by the board last March when she asked a question about breaking laws and then received death threats afterward over the phone saying we are watching you.
Lot 96 complained that people don’t obey the stop signs. Let’s have the Christmas spirit year round.
Lot 97 said when the board speaks, it speaks for me and I don’t speak to people like they speak to people. He said we need to have more respect and get the President a very large gavel.
Moderator Schroeder said this is a record for the number of people who spoke and again talked about this has affected home values and sales. A person in the crowd asked who would like to run for the board.
Moderator Schroeder brought up that the bylaws in which we live by here were done solely drawn up by the outdoor resort developers. He said they wanted to make it impossible for the owner’s to have ratification rights to the changes to our common grounds in making the bylaw to require 75% of the owner approval
Lot 499 asked with the technology today why we can’t have board members who stay here only six months out of the year serve?
Director Burke explained the evaluation form. She explained also that she got too busy the year before to evaluate the manager. She explained the procedure she said she laid out on the GM’s 90 day evaluation prior to Sept. She said in her opinion the evaluation of our GM is done. Ms. Burke explained that in 2002, her mother transferred the ownership of the property of where she lives to her six children. She rambled for fifteen more minutes about herself. She spent ten more minutes explaining the different lawsuits we have. She made a point at saying she made a living as a criminal prosecutor. She wishes to have everyone get along until the elections.
Director McBride said Leroy Mulch has not held up his end in any of this with suing the six of us and should not be in his appointed authoritative Secretarial position.
Moderator Schroeder said I’m not an attorney, but said to Director McBride and the audience if you make that decision in an executive session; you are in violation of Texas open meetings act.
Lot? An owner asked the question about if the board is following the court order. President Sullivan responded that all have not.
Lot 79 spoke about the letter her sister drafted and basically wish for everyone to get along.
Our GM spoke about having just not having one evaluation but three a year. He spoke highly of himself and said that many people have asked him why you don’t retire be on the board. He said his reply after talking with his beloved wife was that he could better serve the park as your general manager. Read more on this article...

SATISFY the RATIFY

For years our board has been asked to follow our Village by-laws in allowing the owners their right to ratify the many alterations and substantial additions that have occurred in our park. The response from our Director Burke and others has been the babble of one lame excuse after another. Excuses such as we aren’t able to define the word “substantial”, or you need 75% of the owners to approve it. Other excuses were if owners ratify everything, you don’t need us as a Board, or it’s why we were voted in as directors, to make these kinds of decisions for the owners. This latest excuse from Director Burke was you haven’t ratified the concrete cartpaths on the golf course, so why the need to ratify our new sidewalk to nowhere, leaving a person thinking the theory that two wrongs will make a right.
Many of us believe that this by-law was not put there just to fill up space. We believe it was to ensure that the power of changing the appearance within our Village will always be in the hands of concerned owners and not a majority of nine directors. The previous Boards, from which several senior directors are still serving us, have led Village owners to believe this task is virtually impossible because they say this by-law requires at least 75% of the owners to ratify (768 owners out of 1024).
We believe their assessment of Article VII is wrong We believe these very concerned people who painstakingly wrote our by-laws, would not have expressed Article VII if they meant to tie the owners hands on input towards our Park's appearance. If that was their intention, we feel they would have simply said the directors shall have sole authority instead.
Please read this phrase of the by-law and tell me if we are interpreting it correctly.

ARTICLE VII. SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONS OR ALTERATIONS

There shall be no substantial additions or alterations to the Common Elements or Limited Common Elements by the Association unless the same are authorized by the Board of Directors and ratified by the affirmative vote of the Voting members casting not less than 75% of the total votes of the Unit Owners present at any regular or special meeting of the Unit Owners called for that purpose.

We read at any regular or special meeting at least 75% of the owners present must cast a vote, and of these votes, 51% must say yes to ratify the subject item.
E.g. There are 100 owners at the meeting, 75 wish to and do vote (75%) and 38 of those vote were yes (50.7%), the item is ratified. Otherwise it is not approved and the board finds out the reasons why so they can compromise towards ratification.
So far we have had a new parking lot, gazebo, new concrete area between the pools, doubled the restaurant’s patio area, altered the locations of the activity office and mail boxes just to name a few.
We feel we are reading this By-Law correctly and that this is a check and balance right to all the concerned owners of our Village. We feel owner’s ratification rights have been ignored far too long.
How do you read Article VII ? Read more on this article...

November 19 Directors Meeting
Owner’s request to speak that pertained to the agenda.
Bob Hall Lot #170 asked for a special owners meeting so owners can have their say about making this park go back to way it was years ago.. Director Burke gave her orientation of the by-laws pertaining to special meetings of members. Our President said it would be addressed after board meeting business.
Selba Campbell voiced a thank you to everyone for voting.
GM report
After the fines and building code revenues, the fire hydrant was addressed again. Our GM said there was a change order done to raise the fire hydrant to the proper height and this added to the cost. He was bringing it up to the Board since Director Dodson voided the check to pay for the work when was presented to her to sign. Director Dodson said she voided the check because our GM said this work that was to correct the installation would be done at no cost to our Park what-so-ever.
Director McBride said he has found no record that the board approved this. He said he had called around and was given a figure of $4000 to install a brand new hydrant. Our Gm said that the board reviewed the bids, approved it, and then insisted to get this job done immediately.
Director Hansen asked Director Mulch to provide them with where in the minutes was this approved. Director Burke said she remembered it coming up before the board. Director Young said he thought it was brought up last January, but didn’t remember voting on it. Director Mulch said it was done before you, referring to the new directors. Director Burke said it may not be in the minutes. Director Hansen said if there is a contract made for $6000 that was approved by the board; it would be in the minutes. Our President said he remembered this subject coming up also but didn’t recall voting on it. He requested Director Mulch to provide these minutes.
Our GM said the problem with the indoor pool and hot tubs was that his pool employee had over reacted when he saw dirt in the pool and shocked it. He let people in right afterward and that was the reason why these problems occurred. Our GM said he would take the blame for this employee who tried to do what was right and correct this problem. He said equipment failure was not the cause.
The rental dept, bathhouse repair, exercise room repair, and restaurant were discussed.
Approval of the minutes
Director Burke immediately expressed that the August 28th minutes were tabled so the President could review the tape of the meeting. Director Burke said since you haven’t reviewed them, she wants the board should approve the minutes as is. This went on for 30 minutes about this tape with Directors Burke and Mulch wanting the minutes approved without further review. I believe it was determined that the tape is to be reviewed so the minutes would reflect what actually happened. I say that because it was hard to understand what was being said with all the interruptions from the audience when the new directors or the president said something. There was very little respect shown by certain people.
The 10/22/08 minutes were approved after a few corrections asked for by Director Dodson. Director Dodson was told that a certain correction was uncalled for by Director Mulch’s wife who was at that time in charge of writing the minutes.
Treasurers Report
Director Steffensen went through the usual fund balances, expenditures, profit and losses. Director Steffensen also broke down the five revenue centers like they use to do four years ago. A review of what the balances were in LIV’s different accounts. Director Hansen asked if we could look into higher interest bearing accounts. Our hurricane insurance claim amount brought up certain questions about what was included.
The Audit Committee
This committee was doing the revenue centers now and there were recommendations for the Pro shop from Director Steffensen. It was to raise green fees, beverages, replace valves for the sprinklers and use a different herbicide for weeds. The board approved the audit committee’s recommendations.
There was a breakdown on the numerous activities from Thanksgiving through the New Year.
Golf Report
President Sullivan gave the update the different projects they were finishing up and on concrete golf cart paths. Our GM provided us with an education on the reasons why and when they cut the grass on the greens and tees boxes.
Time Warner
Director Dodson said it's still on schedule to be done by Jan.1. She will try to have bundle pricing advailable shortly.
There was an subject under other that was brought up about the golf course. The misuse of having golf carts too close to the greens was the subject. The golf committee came up with measures to enforce this misuse and our president asked the board to approve those measures. Director Burke questioned as to when this committee met and if people were informed of such a meeting? The Board approved the measures.
Unfinished business
Director Burke made a motion that Feb. 15th 2009 be the deadline that at least a permit is to be obtained by owners to show that their damaged home from Hurricane Dolly is starting to be fixed. Motion was approved.
Director Mulch made the motion that all the sidewalks be approved. Our President brought up an easement issue about the sidewalk to the guardhouse. Director Burke and our GM said this was not an issue. The total cost for these sidewalks will be $18428. It was asked to separate the sidewalk to the guardhouse from the others and Director Mulch said no, I want them all. Director Hansen questioned if we even owned the property. Director Burke, Mulch, and the GM said LIV did. Director McBride asked again if we could look at this sidewalk separate. Our GM started raising his voice with Director McBride talking the reasons for all the sidewalks, then yell, what’s your point? Director McBride said he was questioning the need for it. Burke argued on the side of the GM. Then the crowd started commenting and Director Burke catered to that by saying let's ask the audience. President Sullivan abruptly stopped this. Our GM then gave everyone a nice story about a sidewalk where he lives up north. I had to say that there are at least ten times more people walking the Letter Lots than on this road, and what about the people’s right to ratify this. Director Burke said here’s my take on that. How many people actually got to vote on the cart paths for the golf course? She said it would need 75% of the people to ratify. She said this is the same thing. The Board approved it.
Outdoor pool bids showed that Valley Plastering of Pools was the lowest. It was left tabled with checking the references and why they were way lower.
The fire hydrant was on the agenda, but our GM decided to address it while he had the floor. He was asked if it was ever tested and that seemed to upset our GM saying the fire marshal won’t test it because it was out of his jurisdiction. He went on and on until Director McBride said never mind.
The question was asked by Director Hansen about when are we going to do the GM’s updated evaluation. It was said to be at Year’s end. He said it was near that time and requested an executive session towards it.
The President said there will be an executive meeting for the discussion of the Secretarial position on the Board on Saturday, Dec. 6th at noon. Bob Hall spoke up and asked if we could have the meeting he asked for on that day. It was at that point Director Burke who steered this meeting to be prior to the executive meeting so, in her words, if they feel it is necessary thereafter. She said it may affect the people more than the board. Director McBride said he thought Director Hansen’s request for this executive meeting for the manager’s evaluation was not an arbitrary one. Director Burke said that the evaluation had been forestalled and saw no need to have an executive session for it. She then added it should be done in front of the membership so they can give their feelings on the management and on the board. It was asked from the audience, what about the current court agreement? Director Burke said she wasn’t any party to that court agreement at any time, I didn’t sign it, I wasn’t sued, I wasn’t part of the action, and I am not bound by it. She then made an innuendo about the board having mini meetings to circumvent these open meetings. Then this same small crowd got boisterous again as it had the entire meeting with one man complaining of the childish bickering. Our President approved to have an open meeting of the membership from 9am to 11 am and is to be followed by this executive session.
Director Dodson expressed her feelings about the small crowd calling her names and showing such disrespect to all the members of this Board and said she always has the park interests first.
New Business
Tom Cain, our Bridge Board Chairman, was asked by our President to talk to the audience. He spoke about the increase in our insurance cost because of the two lawsuits. He feels the cost to operate the bridge will go from $369K to 507K. In easy terms it, it will cost each member at least $10 more a month.
There was a short recess
Bids
Director Burke wrote up the bid proposal she wanted. It said that $7500 and above will require the manager give out specifications in writing and require a minimum of three sealed bids within 20 days. It wanted to be tabled for review because of the waiver of 3 bids wording.It read you can waiver the three bids because of sole source, prior contract, extension of contract, or lack of bids, which allows a broad interpretation for reasons in not pursuing bids vigorously to give our Village a chance for the best pricing. This motion to table failed. Director Hansen pointed out other flaws in the wording and said that we should take our time on this. These flaws were corrected and the Board approved it.
LIV new website quote was $3630. The person creating this bid and site may appear at the December’s workshop. More bids are to come. The new computer price was $16,000 for Dell and are working on a gateway quote.
Privacy and security
A policy about the information on our owners is being discussed said Director Dodson. Questions were asked and not really answered as to who in the office has access to owner info. Our GM was asked what about the hacker who ruined LIV's email. He said the server is going to look into it. He said he had words with the FBI twice about this and they told him they won’t pursue this unless it was a terrorist act. There was no new info about our new security.
Computer and copy usage
This is being brought up when an owner noticed the unsigned non company approved letter she received, which had been sent to all the owners criticizing our attorney and this new board, was apparently done on Village stationary and having LIV owner address labels. This owner wondered why and how this could happen and gave recommendations on how to stop it. Director McBride explained these recommendations and said this could stop any potential problems of misuse in the future. Director Burke started in on what are the reasons for this in the first place and where was there a problem. She wanted proof that there was misuse before thinking of doing something to prevent it. Director Mulch said the labels for this letter in question were bought from the office. Director Hansen asked how you were able to buy these owner address labels from our Park.
Our GM said he has our Newsletter mailing list available for $25 to anyone who wants it. Director Burke changed the subject back to the proof of misuse of the copy machine and argued that this policy is not required.
Director McBride asked that our manager isolate the problem with the smell near the manhole cover at Lot #870 and #820. GM said he was waiting for the owner to call him when the smell happens. It was left at that.
Other
The projection TV is broken for the exercise group in the Rec. Hall. The Board approved to replace it for under $1000. Read more on this article...

NOVEMBER 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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There was a correction made in the Status Quo article. Don Hall was corrected to Bob Hall. Thankyou. Read more on this article...