OUR CEMENT POND

It seems like every six months or so, we get the privilege to hear another sales pitch from Steve, the Berry Pool guy. I believe most owners know why. At the last Coffee Meeting he showed up to tell owners what made our water again turned green and why we need to use his services. Let’s review some of what Steve said.

The Backwash Blame

This last batch of cloudy green water which tested having no chlorine was in Steve's words “a little incident.” The culpability for creating such pond scum did not fall on his faulty solenoid valve that he had trouble replacing or his company’s ineptness towards this every second monitoring system. No sir, Mr. pointing finger almost pierced the body of our pool employee who was accused of removing all the water’s stabilizer (cyanuric acid) while backwashing the water out of the pool for an accidental forty five minutes. On the surface this seemed plausible. So let’s review his rationale.
In swimming pool water, cyanuric acid does not float on the top but partially surrounds the chlorine on a molecular level, to protect the chlorine and prevent it from being quickly burned off and used up by the sun.

Most owners may not realize that our outdoor pool can be backwash forty five minutes, two hours, or all day and will drain close to the same amount of water. The water loss stays near the same because once you drained below the skimmer line; you start pumping air instead of water, along with ruining the pump’s seals and eventually the pump. This employee could have only lowered the outdoor pool water level by inches with this accidental draining.

Records show if one wishes to reduce their stabilizer, they must replace approximately 25% of their pool water with fresh water. This figures to be about 22,500 gallons when talking about our outdoor pool and that’s just to reduce the stabilizer, not eliminate it.

The proper way to drain our outdoor pool water is to close the skimmer valve located in the big filter room and use only the bottom drain. Forty five minutes worth of doing that would drain about 13,000 gallons (14% of the pool water).
This accidental backwash did not create our pool facility’s water problem and someone owes this employee an apology. It appears the culprit is once again having a long duration of no chlorine being dispensed into the pool water, which turns that pointing finger around.

On top of their exorbitant monthly charge, our Board is now paying Berry Pools a very tidy sum to try to control this newly developed algae growth which had seemed to flourish in our latest high quality lagoon water.

Berry Pools is supposed to provide our Pool facility with water that’s balanced. That means the pool water’s chlorine; pH, alkalinity, and acidity are kept in line to make the water quality good for both people and equipment. It seems far too often though, our Park has been getting inconsistent water quality and periodic slick talking lip service.


Chemical Cost Higher?

At the Board meeting both Ms. Burke and Steve emphasize an increase in chemical usage. Common sense would tell most owners that more sun, more heat, more people, would mean more chemicals. Why mention it at all unless preparing the owners for chemical costs that are going through the roof. Is our Park still paying less for chemicals since hiring Berry Pools as Ms. Burke had claimed? Last year’s cost was a little difficult to compare with because of hurricane Dolly.

When Ms. Burke did say we are using more chemicals, she also said the Park is now being charged less per item/gallon. That may actually translate into our Park is not paying Berry Pools the full “Market Price” for a change. Has anyone read a word like “wholesale” in Berry Pool’s contract?

Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act

Steve threw this fear into everyone’s hearts about how the Federal Government is fining any organization up to $1.8 million who are not in compliance with the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. He also said there is this attorney frenzy happening as a result.
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act started on December 2008, and stated that each public pool and spa in the United States must be equipped with anti-entrapment devices or systems that comply with the ASME/ANSI 112.19.8 performance standard. That’s it, entrapment devices.
Please note though that our indoor pool may still not be in compliance since it appears each of the bottom drains seem to operate individually with its own pump.

Certified Pool Operator?

Steve was adamant about staff members who manually maintain our pool facility have to be licensed and certified technicians to be in compliance. Then Steve tells the audience he’s certified and proud to say his whole staff was.
The next thing we will to be hearing is the Board wanting to pay Berry Pools for some certification training.

Even though it is a good idea to have a certified pool operator in charge of you facility, it doesn’t guarantee that person knows what they are doing. (Case in point, see ex-gm)
It seems the Texas State Codes do not mandate a CPO or the equivalent towards organizations like our Village. Please read below.

The Texas Administrating Code

Subchapter L

Standards for Public Pools and Spas

265.203

(a) Required operator certification for certain types of post-10/01/99 and pre-10/01/99 pools and spas. Post-10/01/99 and pre-10/01/99 Class A or B pools and Class D pools operated in conjunction with a Class A or B pool shall be maintained under the supervision and direction of a properly trained and certified operator who is responsible for the sanitation, safety, and proper maintenance of the pool or spa, and for maintaining all physical and mechanical equipment and records. Training and certification can be obtained by completion of one of the following courses or their equivalent:

(1) the NRPA, "Aquatic Facility Operator" (A.F.O.);

(2) the NSPF, "Certified Pool-Spa Operator" (C.P.O.);

(3) YMCA, "Pool Operator on Location" (P.O.O.L.);

(4) the NSPI, "Professional Pool & Spa Operator" (P.P.S.O.); or

(5) the ASPSA, "Licensed Aquatic Facility Technician" (L.A.F.T.).

(Please notice that a Class C pool does not have this requirement.)

Definitions of pool classes

265.182

(A) Class A pool--Any pool used, with or without a fee, for accredited competitive aquatic events such as Federation Internationale De Natation Amateur (FINA), United States Swimming, United States Diving, National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Federation of State High School Associations (NFSHSA), events. A Class A pool may also be used for recreation.

B) Class B pool--Any pool used for public recreation and open to the general public with or without a fee.

(C) Class C pool--Any pool operated for and in conjunction with:

(i) lodging such as hotels, motels, apartments, condominiums, or mobile home parks;

(ii) property owner associations, private organizations, or clubs; or

(iii) a school, college or university while being operated for academic or continuing education classes. The use of such a pool would be open to occupants, members or students, etc., and their guests but not open to the general public.

.

(D) Class D pool--A wading pool with a maximum water depth of 24 inches at any point.

My Opinion

For the past two years Berry Pools has cost far more and has done considerably less than a qualified pool attendant. It has not provided the expected assurance that the water chemistry in this pool facility is always satisfactory. The problems of the past have not been improved upon from this costly service. Steve was correct in saying that water chemistry is a science, but it sure doesn’t take a missile scientist to realize we have a dud here.

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SEPTEMBER 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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AUGUST 29, 2009 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Pledge of Allegiance

Roll Call
Dir. Halbach not present

Owners Speaking On Agenda Items
Lot 828 had questions of the GM on the checking account. It came to light that any amount over $1000 has to be sign by Board Members.

Lot 834 had issues on the appearanceof of certain rental property, wants it maintained.

Lot 280 had parking lot suggestions for our Welcome center.

Lot 828 commented on the $1000 GM limit. He said he has had the experience of receiving multiple checks to pay for a single item.

Lot 461 had a concern on security and was introduced to the head of Securitas who was at the meeting.

President’s Remarks (Follow up from the Coffee with the Directors.)
Letter was sent to owner who had their grill on top of a box.
The sprinklers were fixed around the miniature golf.
Palm trimming is being done.
Lot 267 still is working through the attorney.
Lot 549 boat trailer has been removed.
Golf course pump house door was fixed.
Ordered signs for the Welcome center parking area along with no dog allowed signs for the pool.
Pool rails are still waiting to be installed.
Pool will be closed from Monday the 31st through Saturday the 5th for getting the black algae in our pool under control.
Lot 82 was sent a letter about their shed damage.
Letters were sent to the owners who have left their Recreation Vehicles too long without applying skirting and tie downs.
Publishing reports in our Newsletter of owners in arrears was not recommended by our Village Attorney. P.Burke said it was her own opinion not to publicize and recommended someone to make a motion to keep policy the same. Motion was made and passed.

Managers Reports
Armando had his usual report
Rick Horner, the GM, said he was trying to address as many of the issues as possible and anyone having a problem to please call him.

Approval of Minutes
Motion made and passed

Treasury Reports
The report figures were read. It was mentioned that our Board has spent out of our major improvement fund $138,301.00, which is almost double from last year.
Revenue Center have the Village Grill -$ 9,379, Golf Course -$ 4,731, Rental Office $ 24,061, Laundry -$ 607, Newsletter $ 421.
Treas. Steffensen said the Golf Course water and wage cost have increased this year. The rental increase was due to a $ 38,712 insurance check from last year, so the Rental Department actually lost -$14651 so far this year. There was no good reason given for why our Park lost money in the laundry other than not enough revenue was generated.

Committee Reports
D&E (Dir.White) mentioned the $593 July 4th cook off donation from David and Arlene Garcia. Cocktail party was mentioned along with the Karaoke Party.
Golf (Dir. Pelltier) Nothing
Pool and Finance (Treas. Steffensen) Wrist bands revenue is $9,624 and band color will change in May of each year. The new auditor will be Juan Rivera until the end of this year at the same cost. There is a need to review late fee policies that seem to being followed correctly. There was a motion passed to pay the $22,473 sinkhole repairs by the Rubio Brothers out of the allocations saved for the outdoor pool.
Other

Unfinished Business
Litigation: Arroyo cable lawsuit court date has been set for Jan. 25, 2010. Smith case had nothing new. Hamlinck case is set for November 6. The Cowen case is still in discovery mode.

Steffensen: Rental Check in Procedures. After further review of the by-laws, we would be in violation of our rules by making a new form that the owner has to sign giving permission to rent.

There was a short intermission so the President could use the bathroom.

Guerra: Cameron County Chief Appraiser to address to LIV owners Jan 2010. P.Burke asked our GM to contact the appraiser office.

Pelletier Lot 88 Persons living under deck (below flood level.) Owner will be notified that this is in violation of Village and possibly county codes.

Hot Dog Day September 5th 11-2pm Motion made and was passedf or the Benefit for the habitat of humanity called hot dog day.

Burke
1. Resolution to put new GM on checking account. Motion made and passed.
2. Review of Rec. Hall rental policy. After a lengthy back and forth, this was tabled.
3. Canal Silting. P.Burke gave the same speech as in the Coffee Meeting about her point of view. GM to contact Army Corp of Engineers.
4. Welcome Center parking limits. Signs ordered. 30 minute check in approved
5. Check in fees & procedure was discussed earlier.
6. Builder permit application- owner signature. P.Burke asked for a motion that owner sign form in office or have a notarized copy in hand. Motion made and passed.

Other. Talk about getting bids and their procedure. Talk about Berry Pools training our employees.


Adjournment. The Board went into an executive meeting. There was no announcement of the general reason for the executive meeting. Read more on this article...

August 22, 2009 Coffee with the Directors

Pledge of Allegiance (Dir. Pelletier hosting the meeting for VP Halbach)

From the Suggestion Box
Lot 340 feels lot 335 has a fire hazard. It will be looked into by the Board.
Lot “everybody” asked if the Park still had a lawn crew working. Dir. Pelletier said he will give this to Armando.
Lot 289 said they found the tennis court was trashed and the net was knocked down. Owner asked that the Park go back to its original setup.
Lot 281 had a similar problem regarding the tennis court with the addition in finding beer bottles, broken glass, and scuff marks made from street shoes.
Lot ”?” Asked for the Park to get another ping pong table.
Lot 828 said the rental office does not checked to see how many passes are given to each lot or how many people are staying at each rental unit. Owner would like to see the 2 pass max and 8 persons per unit rule enforced.
Dir. Pelletier said many people don’t obtain a pass; instead they park overnight in the Welcome center parking lot and walk in or are brought in by the renter.
Owner has issues with the upkeep of units in the park and wants those unit owners to be notified when the property is not kept up?
In addition the owner wants is to put all the owners names with unpaid fines and condo fees in our newsletter.
Owner believes we should have a scissor lift used instead of ladders to cut the common ground palm trees.
Owner feels the uncared properties affect the values of the neighboring properties. Owner wanted to know why our by-laws are not enforced. P. Burke said she had talked to our Village Attorney on that particular reference and felt it was considered a vague term.
Owner said there's items left unsecured at these units that don't meet the hurricane policy and the Board said they are going to start their tie down notifications earlier this next year. Owner said numerous other lots that have been in violation for quite some time.
Lot 288 gave the Board a two page report along with three pictorial pages attached. It describes the lack of attention to detail of those in charge along with the absence of insisting that violators adhere to the rules and regulations. Owner said this has brought the Park’s appearance status down tremendously.
This report under “Hurricane Dolly Clean Up” has lots 82 (siding missing), 411 (skirting missing and other damage), 267 (cleanup / repair). Under rules violation, lots 642 (broken down equipment laying around, scattered debris, skirting missing). Lots 473-543-847 have recreational vehicles used as permanent structures with no tie downs or skirting. Golf course pump station building’s door been broken off providing full access to anyone, was filed under “attention to detail”. Owner said this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Lot 689 wished to thank Armando for his help in restoring the butterfly garden by the Park’s security gate. Also thanked Judy Voss for keeping the Marquee flower area looking so nice.

From the Directors
P. Burke said she had a long meeting with Steve from the Berry Pools, which included the audience of Dir. Steffensen, Armando, and the new GM Rick. P. Burke said there was a sensor that went bad and Berry Pools didn’t have a replacement on hand. She said the replacement went bad and Berry Pools changed distributors etc. P. Burke went on to say the amount of chemicals being used has increased but the price has gone down. P. Burke said she just wanted to let everyone know that.
Dir. White wanted to remind everyone about 10 o’clock Karaoke. She mentioned the handicap rails and asked for some additional signs.
Director Guerra asked about signs at the Welcome Center and broken glass. (didn’t use the mike so it was hard to hear.)

From the Audience
Lot 828 talked about the raccoons and possums he caught in our Village. Also mentioned there was a caged dog the renters had left in the elements all day.
Several people stood up and talked that didn’t give their names of lot numbers
Lot I said the handicap rail won’t work because the pool steps are too high.
The Director’s discussed shortly between themselves about towing unauthorized parked vehicles.
Lot 759 wanted more clarification on the owner use vs. owner sponsor on renting the Recreation Hall. P. Burke took over and said the only waiver of fees are for owner’s birthday and anniversary, owners $500 fee is for weddings, quinceañera, birthdays, anniversary, memorials, and funerals. Owner sponsor parties are $1200. There was still confusion as to what is to be charge to this owner for having their daughter’s wedding reception here. The Board is to review the rules and owner definitions as it applies to the charge.
Lot 349 said that when the one hour parking signs were posted around the Welcome Center, everyone started to park in the middle. It was mentioned by this owner to put a 15-30 minute check-in parking area.

Mr. Salazar of Securitas was introduced as the new person in charge of the Securitas operation. He went through a brief background of himself and pledged his future efforts to LIV.

Steve from Berry pools was introduced and started by saying how he felt like he was part of the LIV family and will continue to do everything he can to keep the pool facility water clean and safe. He went on to explain about all his new customers his company is now doing business with. He explained how everyone is certified in his company and that there is a need now for pool safety since our Government passed a new Federal law and if facilities are not in compliance, they can be fined 1.825 million dollars. He said safety is priority one. He said the incident with the outdoor pool was a little one. He said he never had a problem like this. He said we had an electronic relay part failure, but that was not a big problem. All they had to do was just put some chlorine tabs in the skimmer until it was fixed. He said when our employee accidently backwashed the water out of our pool for forty five minutes, it took the entire stabilizer out of the pool, and that’s what caused the problem. He said he will now keep parts in stock for our system. He said he appreciated you all for trusting him. He said also this problem went on for three days without him being informed.

Workshop
P. Burke started off the workshop saying the date that was scheduled for an owner's hearing is being cancelled and all communication will now be through the Village attorney. She would not elaborate on the party, but it was apparent who the owner was when he asked for a point in question and P. Burke said no. The owner had questions about an e-mail received and P. Burke told the owner that you brought it to this level. Owner responded with, only after you started all of it.
Dir. White – asked if there is a need for a board approval to hold small lunch fund raiser on Sept 5th at the pool. She had questions about the maintenance of the tennis courts along with if there was something in the works with training the pool people. Armando said the district manager was looking into the training. Director White mentioned something about a weather proof display case.
Dir. Guerra asked to have the chief Cameron County appraiser come and visit with the owners sometime in January so owners can understand why our Village property is appraised the way it is.
Dir. Pelletier wants on the agenda to discuss lot 88.
Dir. Gagan gave an apology for something and wishes to discuss the cost to move the Marquee closer to the road. Armando said it was around $2800. P. Burke said it needs to be put on 2010 budget.
Sect. Steffensen first agenda item was to discuss the fixing of four sinkholes that will have to be budgeted this year for around $5000 each. She wanted to review the late charge policy and auditor info with the Finance Committee. She said there is a problem with the Park not getting the owner’s permission on the rental form for renters to rent in LIV, leaving open whose responsible for the renter. She said it also adds to the Park’s liability, which our Park can ill afford new litigation. The previous lawsuits had cause the old insurance company to drop coverage and our Park had to go with a high risk company that raised the deductible to a whopping $50,000. After an eight minute orientation from P. Burke on the different ways of renting, she made the suggestion to have a notarized letter from the owner and quickly formed a committee to handle that.
P. Burke said she had an owner e-mail from lot 92 explaining the depth problems in the canals. P. Burke told everyone about the problems of dredging on the property that LIV doesn’t own and wants on the agenda to talk about building contractors signing owner permits. P. Burke wants to have a review of the Rec. Hall policy. She went on at length as to what the Rec. Hall policy currently contains. There were ownership definition questions that P. Burke said needs to be address. As an example she emphasized ownership along with her five siblings in her Mother’s life estate that could be different than Dir. Montalva’s trust that his property is under. So she is going review ownership definitions as they apply for use of our Rec. Hall.
P. Burke said there were youngsters caught breaking into a Park residence and how security handled the situation.
The ex GM told the owners his stories of problem experiences with children.




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OUR CEMENT POND

Well guess what was green again? Last Wednesday I walked the golf course paths on my way to the billiard Room to shoot pool and happened to notice the Indoor pool was cloudy with that greenish goo look.

Thursday morning I took these pictures. I never saw a pool close sign.

This seems to have gotten to the point of being reckless. It does not take a missile scientist to keep the pool’s water chemistry adequate. It just takes someone with a little experience who pays attention and cares. That’s it. You can have all the mechanical breakdowns in the world, but if someone pays attention, they will notice the starting affects of water change or the failure itself and fix it before becomes a major problem. Management should have at least closed the pool so no one has the possibility of becomes ill.
I thought Aramark’s first item of order is “safety First”, or are LIV owners not as important as the Aramark employees they pay for?
Make no mistake; no one other than LIV is responsible for its pool’s safety. Berry Pools apparently owns no legal responsibility.
It takes at least a couple of days for the water of this volume to turn this way.
When is this going to change?

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A TIDBIT

On August the fourth there was a massive puddle of water adjacent to Mr. Freeland’s property at the intersection of Garcia and our Village only exit. Our workers took quite a while to fix a water line that feeds his home. My understanding is that our Village provides Village water to him at no charge. I feel that’s very generous for a person who has had issues with our Village in the past.

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AUGUST 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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OUR OTHER CEMENT POND

Today is July 21, 2009. There was no chlorine detected in the outdoor pool's test reading and the water is currently a cloudy pond scum green.
I was told the Berry Pool boys were out yesterday to correct this. That’s fine and dandy, but is not our Village paying Berry Pools thousands of dollars to monitor this pool’s water chemistry every two hours so things of this nature are not suppose to happen?

It’s understandable that equipment may break down now and then, but it was sold to us that this system is supposed to sense the effects of these failures and relay those problems immediately to Berry Pools. The water chemistry in a 1000 gallon hot tub can possibly change in a day, but a pool that originally held nearly 100,000 gallons of balanced H2O takes a considerable amount of time to change. We’re talking maybe a week of chlorine not being added, with sun, heat, and high traffic to change this from clear to a cloudy green. Our Village is paying through the nose for this system that doesn’t seem to be effective.

One should always give the benefit of a doubt, but no one should just sit back and ignore this silly spending of thousands of LIV dollars for something that takes just one qualified person usually less than an hour a day to do. There have been way too many times our hot tubs and pools have had water quality issues. For the tens of thousands of dollars spent so far, we should have had at least consistent water quality instead of the constant lame excuses.

This year Berry Pools resold everyone in our Park on a system that would alert them immediately if there was something wrong with the water chemistry so that the situation can be corrected before it becomes a problem. This whole deal seems to be a croc and should be rendered totally unacceptable. In my opinion a monkey could do a better job.

More important than the tremendous cost and never ending inconvenience, is the potential liability this erratic service poses to our Village. This Park does need another lawsuit from this “accident waiting to happen” scenario. The Board may want to take a hard look at this along with some action because there was no excuse for this last outdoor pool problem.



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JULY 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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June 27, 2009 Regular Board Meeting

Pledge of Allegiance


Owners Speaking on Agenda Issues


Lot 145 had an issue of the north parking area of the Welcome Center charging owners. P. Burke explained the reasons why it was established. It was argued back and forth between these two for twenty minutes with no resolve. Will talk more about this at the end of the meeting.


SC 79 As a new owner, she feels there’s a problem in receiving hurricane procedural information. She said there was nothing in her owner’s packet of a plan procedures or where to obtain them. At the last Coffee with the Directors meeting was when she first heard the need for hurricane stickers. She questioned current procedures for transporting owners and dealing with the renters are adequate. She also questioned the reasoning why the President wanted to replaced last year’s hurricane committee and wished the board to reconsider the reinstatment of the old committee. P. Burke said everything is in the library and added that we formed a new committee this year, as we do every year, to update it. She said you need to go to the library. It was noted that the updated 2009 plan was not in the library. P. Burke said it is currently being updated with new phone numbers, etc. She said it is the same plan as last year except for the phone numbers. This owner said her main problem is not being informed initially. There was another owner P. Burke allowed to speak who said he had no problem with being uninformed and inferred that this owner was causing a problem. SC 79 owner’s response to that was cut off with P. Burke saying the magical “your two minutes are up." Dir. Pelletier said there were ten pages in the Brownsville paper pertaining to hurricane procedures. The owner looking perplexed said that doesn’t deal with our Village. P. Burke became louder and talked about never providing transportation, channel 18, the marquee, announcement of updates, giving time lines, and finalized with 211 information. Dir. Pelletier and P. Burke both explained that last year’s hurricane procedure stays in effect until the new one comes out.


Lot 704 asked if the 2009 hurricane plan could be posted on our LIV web site. Treas. Steffensen said no problem.


Pres. Remarks- P. Burke said she, Mr. Hall, and Trea. Steffensen had a meeting with Security to go over how long they will stay during a hurricane event. They said they will be the last ones to leave. P. Burke tone seemed rude towards Dir. White for supposedly interrupting her while talking. P. Burke then lectured everyone on what she does as President. She said she doesn’t run the Coffee meetings, but during the regular Board meetings, we have the Roberts Rules to go by. She reiterated that this includes Board members speaking out of turn as well, referring to Dir. White. She mentioned to sign up to 211 if you do not have transport off the island during a hurricane ahead of time.


Manager Report- Armando said he had 65 work requests, 5 building permits, 3 violation letters sent. Condo fees late 13(60) 6(90). Bath house #1 completed. Volley ball court needs sand to be completed and are getting different bids for the expansion of the walk in cooler. A new cable conduit line has been laid from the maintenance office to the Rec. Hall for an internet hard line.
P. Burke said there were still problems with Time Warner completing their installation. Cable Ventures said they thought they had finished their job until Time Warner showed them pictures of work unfinished. Action then came from Cable Ventures that very day. E-mail communication problems were caused from Time Warner personnel changes.
Armando said he has done individual lot hurricane inspections and violation letters are forthcoming. For about four weeks now he has been inspecting the Village roadways with Dir. Pelletier and made copies of areas that need to be addressed (1-5) according to importance. It seems that current funds can address 1 and 2 this year.


May 27th Approval of the Minutes - Motion made and approved. P. Burke said they will in executive meeting interview three GM candidates, review executive session minutes, and other board issues.


Treasurer’s Report / Profit and Loss - Treas. Steffensen gave the usual report. She then outlined the breakdown of where the hurricane insurance money was being applied. Administration received 2.87%. ($1,198) Pro Shop received 4.19% ($1750) Rental Dept. received 92.61% ($38,712) Laundry received .33% ($138). These monies were applied in April. P&L for April 2009 shows the rental office improved by $31,553 over last year, when in reality it lost $7159 more than last year.


Committees Reports


D&E Committee – Dir. White spoke well about last Saturday’s ice cream social and the big doings for the Fourth of July cook off.


Golf Committee – Dir. Pelletier had nothing.


Pool Committee – Treas. Steffensen said maintenance installed a yellow box to communicate with Security. Director Guerra said he tried it and had Security there in four minutes. Treas. Steffensen said last month our Park appears to have had 1113 renters/guests using our pools. She used the wrist band sales as the indicator.


Security – P. Burke talked about allowing shorts for Security and found the procedure to implement it was complex. She had a meeting on the 22nd with Security and says they have been enforcing the children under 14 rule for the spas. Discussed with Security were the visitor and guest procedures, Fourth of July additional security personnel and procedures, change in procedure with the boat ramp gate keys, to which the audience had to listen to P.Burke reliving her experience about someone calling her complaining their key doesn’t work. What a treat.


Other Welcome Center will be open until 6pm from now on.


Unfinished Business


Website Security – Treas. Steffensen said the web site was checked. It appears that this only happens with McAfee security systems. McAfee will be contacted and there will be more items checked.


Donations –Treas. Steffensen is still researching on who our Village use to donate to.


Waiver of Cook off permit – P. Burke- motion approved waiving parking permits for vehicles associated with the cook off and allowed them to park overnight in the rear tennis court parking lot


Cook off Sponsor Board – P. Burke-Motion approve for sponsor signs at the cook off.


Boat Ramp Keys –P. Burke talked about having new card keys for the boat ramp.


Welcome Center Parking Lot – P. Burke-This was talked about for fifteen minutes. Motion

approved for the Welcome Center South side parking lot having a one hour limit without a parking pass.


The meeting was stopped for a schedule 10:45 am meeting with the owners of lot 58. This pertained to an unattached free standing deck being in violation. Owner wished any information as to why his next door Lot 59 neighbor with a similar free standing deck is not in violation. It was said by P.Burke that it was grandfathered in. Owner wished proof that such a circumstance exists. Owner feels he is being treated differently rule wise. P. Burke talked about zoning law, case law, commercial applications, and more. After twenty minutes of mumble jumble, it was suggested to give owner 30 days to attach, shirt, and have required inspection done. Owner asked for 60 days because of the inspection and P. Burke viewed that as totally unacceptable. Motion past with giving them 30 days.


Building Code Changes – Pelletier motion passed that owners are responsible to add their lot numbers in the concrete when it's over poured. Motion approve for all lots having permanent living structure to be required to have 5” or larger lot numbers displayed on a street side building area. Motion approved to require rear lot numbers for residences on the water.


Pool Handicap Railing – Dir. White – motion approved to spend a max of $700 for the handicap railing to both pools.


New Business


Lot Numbering – Gagan see building code changes.


Other - There was a lengthy discussion toward the boat trailer parking at the north side of the

Welcome Center. Motion was past to rescind the original motion which charged a fee for parking. Motion was made for cars and trucks only having a maximum of 24 hour parking on the north side parking lot. Before there was a second, a motion was made to table it. For over fifteen minutes there seemed to be one director interrupting another on this topic. No director had the floor. Owner from lot 145 made a rude comment to P. Burke and objected to now not allowing boat trailers to park in that area. Treas. Steffensen questions the need for providing any area at all for boat trailers. After another twenty minutes, the 24 hr parking motion was approved.


Recess for an Executive Meeting to the interview three GM candidates, review executive session minutes, and other board issues.


Return to order at around 2:30pm no motions made.


Adjournment
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JUNE COFFEE with the DIRECTORS

Pledge of Allegiance

Suggestion Box

Lot 756 wanted an update on the safety handicap bars progress for the outdoor pool. It was said they are working on getting info.


Lot 689 asked if maintenance would start cleaning the gutters and trim the Palms on Sea Shell Dr.
This was given to Armando who said he take care of it.

Lot 288 asked talked about the Hurricane Preparedness Committee and why there were no longer any of the previous owners whose last year’s hard work has been discarded and not asked to continue. It was asked when and where the new committees meet? Where is the contact for information?
P. Burke response to the first question was that after the elections it was clear to her that what the people wanted was a fresh start. So that’s what we had. Open meetings, I announced them and then she rambled saying something about Securitas, then Armando, Mr. Hall, Mary at the pool, and then said etc. She said when we meet with them (Securitas?) we discuss specific issues and at the coffee meeting I ask for input on what needs are to be discussed. She said we have had several hurricane meetings. We had a meeting with the county and the city. We are in the process of re-opting our hurricane evacuation plan, and that is an ongoing process. We had some good luck meeting with the county. They have inspected our helicopter pad to use for emergency landings if necessary. We have cooperation with Port Isabel and the hurricane sticker problem has been rectified. She repeated that after the election the people wanted a new start.
An owner asked P. Burke how these committees are formed. She added, I haven’t heard anyone ask for volunteers? P.Burke said they are on record. The owner asked if she had asked anyone if they would like to volunteer. She said no, I appoint them. She then said I had asked for some volunteers and they said no. Dir. White said she did not recall P.Burke asking anyone about volunteering at any meeting. P. Burke said Mr. Hall. She then went on to say no matter, the committees are formed. The original owner who brought up the subject asked were the committees formed by the Board or just selected by you. Dir. White and P. Burke traded a few comments with P.Burke ending it with I’m not going to do a complete discussion about this.

Lot 759 asked if the committees take recommendations from the membership. P. Burke said the security issues are brought up at the coffee meetings so we can take them back to discuss. That why we have a coffee. Every committee discusses what they are doing said P. Burke. The owner asked since we can’t attend many of the meetings, is there anywhere where we can find out the current status of committees? The answer was yes, in the minutes.

Lot 288 had a concern that when visiting the LIV website, she was informed by her spyware and virus protection, that there was possible malicious content within the site. It was said it could be from the drag and drop software use to create the site that was removed. Dir. Steffensen said it will be looked into further but emphasized it is clean and safe.

Around to each Director

Dir. White mentioned the ice cream social is today, from 2-4pm, and the upcoming fourth of July cook-off.

Dir. Guerra discussed once again the ongoing parking problems around the boat ramp and the key issue problem.

Dir. Pelletier had nothing.

VP Halbach said we are still working the Restaurant restoration.

P. Burke said our insurance company who decided not cover our bridge in a lawsuit lost in court that decision and is now having to cover it.

Dir. Gagan had nothing.

Dir. Steffensen said we have a yellow box in the pool area so people are able to contact security when needed.

From The Audience

Lot 288 wanted an update from Armando when the owners of lot 267 are going to do repairs caused by the hurricane. Armando said it should start as soon as next week.

Lot 759 asked about the volley ball court. Armando said they are getting the border timber and a load of special sand to complete it. She asked permission from the board on many issues pertaining to the Fourth of July cook-off that her and her husband have volunteered to be in charge of. Some of the requests need a motion and approval at the regular board meeting.
Note.This event sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun.

Lot 744 requested that our Park should provide a cover to protect the generator that was loaned to our Park from the elements when not in use. He thought it was the right thing to do. The Board is to look into it.

SC 57 mentioned seeing a big boat having problems swinging in to the dock and was blocking traffic for a while. She also wanted to thank Leo for the good job he’s doing at the pool.

Lot 632 said she was told security didn’t check some people who came in the exit (the wrong way). It was said they did stop them.
P.Burke said there’s to be a meeting with Securitas Monday at 9am.

Lot 831 asked the board to do more about the boat trailers on Mr. Freeland’s property. P. Burke maintained its not our property.

Lot 284 asked if maintenance can power wash the trash areas.

There was a long discussion about the key for the boat ramp gate and then recessed

WORKSHOP (agenda’s for the upcoming board meeting)

Dir. White wants to have the info at the meeting to discuss the additional hand rails to help people get in and out of the outdoor pool.

Dir. Pelletier wants to start a program of a one thru five checklist for our road conditions and eventual patchwork.

VP Halbach will give an update about the Grille.

D. Steffensen will provide further LIV website updates and also will discuss charity donations.

P.Burke said the Board will have at 10:45am meeting with the owners of lot 58 about their deck.

P. Burke said there was a company that can install 24 security cameras for LIV under $17,000. She said it was a $53,000 savings.

P. Burke again mentioned that there is a possibility that in the distant future the county will take over our Swing Bridge. This was not associated with the intercoastal re-routing issue for the barges has to happen first. This is by itself.


The lawsuit appeal was turned down and stayed in LIV’s favor of having no liability towards the accident. Their next step of appeal is to the Supreme Court if they so choose.

Dir. Pelletier complained that the welcome center parking lot being full overnight and thought most of the vehicles should not have parked there. Wants to discuss actions to resolve this problem.



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Since this was such an important matter I thought it odd that there was nothing purposely mentioned about the general manager’s recent retirement at our last Coffee with the Directors. Afterwards I reckoned they were just saving this for the Regular Board Meeting so certain Directors could have an opportunity to point out some of our GM’s fine points, accomplishments, and say how such an asset he was to our community. Wrong, there was nary a word.
Why was that?


Was the GM’s retirement not mentioned because it might stir the pot a little with questions from the audience? Possibly a question like why was the highest paid and most important appointed overseer to Village operations be allow to drop everything, pack it up, and leave our Park high and dry in giving everybody just a two day notice?


Could another stirring questions be why our Board is apparently so content about it? Shouldn’t they be troubled with having our Village be put in such a potentially compromising position?

By per chance the most stirrable question the Board might have had to hear in bringing up this retirement subject was somebody asking if this tale about he either had to retire or be fired was true. The GM has since given every indication the retirement was his idea and anything other than that is false. So now we all know that story was false and couldn’t be the real reason for this short notice.

Virtually every legitimate business seems to have a standard notice requirement of two to four weeks. That’s for even the most menial laborers, but everyone knows we aren't talking about a Whataburger worker here; this is the head guy in charge of maintaining and running a multi-million dollar corporation, your Long Island Village.


To my knowledge the GM has never disclosed to the owners any pertinent reasons as to why his retirement couldn’t have started after thirty to sixty days. Why didn't our Board ask him to stay or have Aramark tell him to stay until he was replaced instead of both allowing what seems to be a worthless two day notice. A timely notice is something that most people do consider to be a common courtesy and a good business practice? Why was this left to be allowed?


Isn't there something written in Aramark’s rules spelling out just how an employee should give them a notice? Isn’t there something in Aramark’s contract with our Park that indicates Aramark will provide a notice with a reasonable amount of time for any managerial changes?


It also seems that since his retirement, our Park has afforded him every courtesy, from advertising for his retirement party on channel 18 to displaying it on the marquee for over a week. He was also given all the ample space needed to write his sparkling green farewell speech in new LIV newsletter?


One might think it would have been appropriate to at least make it an official mention into the Village minutes, as they did with our previous general manager (Dave Fletcher) when his managerial services with LIV was being terminated. That’s right, Dave was canned by the Board and Aramark found it prudent to provide candidates for the Board in time to have a replacement waiting in the wings to take over.
So one must ask, what’s wrong with this picture?


Should not our Board be all over Aramark like a wet suit about this instead of thanking them for taking only four weeks to bring them a whole one person to interview? Aramark’s incredulous decision in allowing this notice go uncensored and then showing this somewhat cavalier attitude afterwards with replacement makes one really need to ask if they are doing all they can in looking after Long Island Village’s best interests.

Our new Board will hopefully do what we all wish Directors to do, and that’s to make our park a better place by their thought-out actions and error free decisions. It would be extremely beneficial to our Village if every candidate that’s being considered would be required to hold a C.M.C.A. qualification. The feeling is that it would be a mistake in hiring someone without this certification because it encompasses a pro active twenty first century managerial education in running every operational aspect efficiently within a condominium association type structured community. In other words, he/she is more qualified and familiar in how to do this job.


One should believe that it would be so irresponsible for our Board to let this end up being a one and done interview affair. Most owners though feel this Board will support the owner’s best interests and methodically interview a group of candidates before making their decision.


I can’t wait to see who fills this most important void in our Park and hear the reasons of why he/she was selected over all the other candidates. I would hope that this replacement will be held accountable for their actions.

Any comments?






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JUNE 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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Update on LIV website

To login for the first time click “Owners login”
(All small caps)
User name put in your address exactly with the same spacing.
Temporary password is villager.
Once in, click on the top right corner where you see your address. That will go to the page where you can change your password and update owner info.
They are still having some problem with the Sea Cottage addresses and should be totally done by Friday. Read more on this article...

MAY 27, 2009 BOARD MEETING

Pledge of Allegiance / Roll Call

Owners speaking on issues pertaining to items on the agenda.
There were none.

President’s Remarks
Announced Dir. White’s resignation as Asst. Sect. and that Dir. Gagan will take that position.

Manager Report
Armando explained the violations, late condo fees, golf course pump, sprinklers installation on hole 17 and 18 of the golf course. He said they put in lights at the tennis court and restored the volley ball court.
They replaced the tennis net, still working on Bath house one, and are repairing the blacktop damaged while removing the old sidewalk concrete. Replacement of the skid steer’s engine is on hold until John Deer sends the repair shop money. Eight Building permits, 74 work orders and all completed.

P. Burke ran down the list of last week’s Coffee w/ Directors comments and indicating what has been accomplished to date.

The April 29, 2009 Regular and Executive Minutes were approved after some minor changes.

Treasurer Report and Profit/Loss-Dir. Steffensen read off her report. Items of note in the P&L up to March were that net income was $61,000 less than the previous year. This year the Village Grill has lost $21,748 in the first three months and an $8400 bigger loss than during the same time the previous year. The first three months this year the rental office has lost $6349. It was in the black at +$995 the previous year. The newsletter made $130 the first three months. The previous year reported a $246 loss.

Committee Reports
D&E- Dir White said there will be an ice cream social on June 20th and a Fourth of July cook off.

Golf Committee – Dir. Pelletier gave a brief summary about cart path completion.

Pool Committee-Dir. Steffensen said they are starting with 6000 new swim wristbands and explained some concerns. One being security was not making adequate rounds. Another having a direct line to call security. A third was about signage corrections and additions. There was a discussion in buying custom made float rope that would say keep off.

Unfinished Business
Litigation - P. Burke said on May 28th she is to give a deposition for the Arroyo case as a representative of LIV. The Cowan and Smith case are still in discovery mode. She mentioned she has met with the attorney several times and has recently received her e-mails in regard with discovery request. She stated if any Director wishes to read these attorney’s emails, they must set up a time to come to her residence. They will not be forwarded to the eight directors due to in her words losing Attorney-client privilege if the info got out and was made public.

Management Contract – P. Burke basically said the reviewed of Aramark’s new contract containing the new changes will be reviewed by her committee, board, and then the owners.

Owner’s responsibility for repairs – Dir. Gagan discussed items about owners repairing and maintaining their property.

Village Grill-VP. Halbach said this was a short week and they were doing some physical stuff to the Restaurant and wished to table this.

New Business
Hurricane Preparedness –P. Burke said they met with the Cameron County emergency manager who spent time looking at our swing bridge. It was mentioned this bridge has an impact not only on our Village but also on Brownsville’s commerce since close to 50% of all fuel passes through the bridge on barges. It is also used by the coast guard and because of all this P.Burke says they are trying to come up with some funds out of Homeland Security based on the bridges impact to the municipalities. Our helicopter pad may be of use to Port Isabel and the county during a hurricane as a drop off point. She talked about the hurricane stickers and the misinformation that occurred during Dolly that will be straightened out.
She then appointed Larry DeMalade to serve on the hurricane recovery team because of his previous service. This team will consist of P.Burke, DeMalade, and unnamed members of the Board. After answering some questions as to who exacting is on the team that was not really answered, she asked Larry Demalade if he had a problem with serving on the recovery team. He said no problem.

Security, ie; Courtesy Passes-Dir. Gagan said the system with courtesy passes need to be changed because there is no control. P. Burke suggested that the Board make a motion to stop courtesy passes until next meeting and that our Hospitality Manager, Dir. Gagan, and others come up with a solution. It was decided that $20, copy of the driver’s license, proof of insurance, and license plate number on the pass would do.

Boat Ramp Keys-Dir. Guerra had a problem with people keeping the boat ramp keys for long periods at a time. He said after the ten keys to the gate are given out, what’s next? This was tabled for further review.

Comments & Suggestions-Dir. Halbach said he thinks comments from the suggestion box that seems to not address Village issues and attacks another owner has no business being read. P. Burke made another motion suggestion to the board that such comments be review and voted on by the board. This ended with an approved motion that any comment that attacks a non-board members will not be read.

Summer Meetings-Dir.Pelletier wanted to change the June Board meeting from Saturday back to Wednesday. Motion was made and declined.

Bath houses-Dir. Pelletier wants our bath houses more energy efficient and their A/C thermostats kept under control. Armando is on it.

Technology (computers, copy/scanner)-Dir. Steffensen made the motion that was approved to purchase a workstation for $2018. She said the Village website will start on Monday. She mentioned a LIV old advertizing we sponsor in an international magazine that needs updated.

Reallocation of MIF- Dir. Steffensen-motion approved to pay for the $25322 (expenditures approved by the Board last month) from the $50,000 Major Improvement Fund.

Other
Dir. White requested an additional Top hand rail piece to help assist somewhat handicapped people get out of the outdoor pool. Armando said he would see what’s available.
Lot 48 is in need of some critter traps
P. Burke asked people without transportation to register for the 211 evacuation help program.

Meeting Adjourned Read more on this article...

A TIDBIT

Director Steffensen said LIV’s new web site will be operational on Monday. Word is that you will need a password to fully access it. Your lot# with your street name will be your temporary password example being (640starfish). After entering tou can change it to a permanent one. Be sure not to forget your changed password.





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MAY 20TH COFFEE WITH THE DIRECTORS

After the Pledge of Allegiance Director Halbach read items from the suggestion box.

Lot 121 complained about people using the exercise room in the dark. He said it made things difficult and has to be a safety issue.
Lot 779 complained that people were still illegally parking making it difficult for traffic. President Burke said they will forward this to Securitas.
Lot 285 stated to let the manager run the Park and not the board. He said he wished Director White would quit being an M.C. and stop singing. It was also requested that only authorized personnel be allowed test the pool and spa water. Dir. White rebuff the comment about her saying she's not sure what he's referring to.
Lot 288 said there are still owner lots that have not been attended to from the hurricane and wanted to know why? Lots in question were 267, 592, and 602. After a few questions and answers Armando said we have been going through the procedures of notifying these owners, some to no avail. P. Burke said since she has to meet with the Park’s attorney today about the Cowen and Arrayal litigation, she will also discuss this topic.
S.C. 120 asked that the palm stems that shed seed flowers into our pool facility be cut.
Lot 155 asked that the items for sale posted in the Activity Center have a better update system.
Lot 207 complained about a forwarded e-mail he received. This comment was allowed to read to the audience further which chastised Ed and Jennie McBride who never sent it to him.

FROM THE AUDIENCE
S.C. 70 questioned the lengths of time vehicles were allowed to park on common grounds with a pass.
Lot 571 asked who had land lines to call for help when the electricity goes off. It was said
maintenance did but were only being answered during work hours. Security was also mentioned. Lot 97 said it does no good for anyone and with the Park’s owners being in the healing state, requested that these suggestions which attack another owner not be read.
S.C. 2 said that she appreciates these types of comments and thinks they should be read so the truth is said.
Lot 329 asked when the summer rules and new wristbands will begin. Answer was this Friday.

There were several other short questions and comments from owners who never gave their name or lot number.

Director Guerra asked Armando if he was notified by Aramark to take over the additional GM responsibilities. The answer was no, they haven’t contacted me. P. Burke intervened stating that she had talked to Mr. Halstead from Aramark yesterday and on May 29th, he is bringing down a GM candidate for the board to interview. D. Guerra continued with Armando asking him if Aramark is compensating him for this additional work. Answer was no. Armando said he is trying to perform this additional work as if the GM was on vacation and is filling in when needed.
Director Guerra asked if there's to be any action taken for an informational leak at the last executive meeting. (To note:April’s regular board meeting recessed for this Executive Meeting and P. Burke said to the audience upon her return that there was no action taken at that meeting executive meeting.)

S.C. 57 asked if the temperature for the indoor pool could be kept constant. She said today it was too hot at over 87 degrees.

WORKSHOP

Dir. Steffensen said we have new wristbands that will be worn by Villagers four years and older. Four free to owners with an additional four available for a small fee. Max number per lot allowed is eight. All renters and visitors will pay for their wristbands.
Dir. Steffensen said we have received our new scanner but we now need to purchase a new workstation for this new scanner that will cost the Village an additional $2015.
Dir. Steffensen said there were unforeseen increases to the amounts approved at last month’s board meeting totaling a whopping $25,332. The unforseen items include sales tax on the $10,095 replacement engine for the five year old skid steer, money to remove the old Activity Center's sidewalk and the new need for additional money to fix the damaged pavement when the old sidewalks were removed. It's noted that the company paid to remove the sidewalks that did the damage is one of the two bidders to fix it.
Dir. Steffensen said she would like to use part of the $50,000 allotted in the budget for new pool filters and pumps to pay for these items because this $50,000 may not have to be used for the filters and pumps. She said counsel one of our pool system believe there is a flow problem involving a pipe problem with the outdoor pool and that the current filters may need to have the sand replaced or stirred more often, but overall were capable to do the job. She wants on the agenda to hire someone to consult them further and to take the $25,332 out of the $50,000 budgeted for the filters and pumps.
Dir. White said she had distributed to the board the info and bid from Sundance Solar for solar heating of our pools.

Dir. Halbach went over the restaurant improvements which include a new ceiling, paint, a remodeling of the bar area, enlarging the walk-in cooler by four feet, the lowering of labor cost, the lowering of the percentage of food cost by 15%, and the buying of a new deep fryer. He believes that from ten to fifteen thousand dollars in food is stolen from the Grille each year. He said he will have on the agenda a request of $10,000 for this remodeling upgrade.

Dir. Pelletier said the bath houses are dripping condensation water from the ceilings and fear damage. He noticed the A/C’s were set as low as 70 degrees and asked if they could be set at 85 degrees with a way to make them unable to be changed? Aramando said yes and will take care of it. The light switch at bath house three was discussed about being on all the time.
Dir. Pelletier wanted the board to further look at banning people other than authorized personnel to test the Park’s pool and spa water. Dir. Halbach said that he would want to test the water before using it and that it would not be advisable to have such a rule. It was asked who was unauthorized that's testing the pools and my name was brought up by President Burke who added that she thought I had ulterior motives in doing so.

Dir. Guerra asked about the status of the new motor for the skid steer? Armando said it should be finished by the end of the month.

Dir. Gagan asked about having no parking signs on Mr. Freeland’s property.

Dir. Steffensen said the current approval that's pending on whether the Board could find the money to pay for the 65% Berry Pool service increase said she has found it. It will come from the wristband sales.
It was also announced that the new servers are in place for the office.

P. Burke said Aramark’s new contract will have the alcohol portion as a separate contract. Aramark’s Halstead is to discuss these two contracts with the Board on Wednesday when he brings the GM candidate. P. Burke gave a strong warning to the directors that questions and comments will be limited to the contract only. The Bio of this GM candidate has yet to be seen by any of our directors.
P. Burke said that she had arranged the meeting they had recently with the Port Isabel’s hurricane authority. P. Burke said they discussed many things at this meeting. She said don’t get your hopes up but there might be a very small possibility there may be some government assistance advailable for our bridge. Also discussed was the 211 setup for evacuees, making the Village helicopter pad big enough to make our Park into a possible hurricane distribution point, and clearing the confusion on where to get hurricane stickers.
P. Burke said they are to meet with the attorney to discuss the status of the Cowen Group and Arroyo Cable lawsuits.

Dir. Pelletier wanted to change the board meeting schedule for June. It would be discussed at the regular meeting.

Dir. White said that bath house two has a constant puddle of water in front of the ladies bathroom door. She asked if there was any way to fix that. Armando said it’s probably a result from the sprinklers and he would take care of it.

Dir. Halbach said he felt real uncomfortable reading two letters this morning from the suggestion box and asked for some guidelines towards the reading of comments that appear to be personal attacks. He said in the future he will not read them, but pass them on to the president to read. P. Burke said no problem.

End of Meeting



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MAY 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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Post Corrections

I wish to post a correction to the last paragraph of the April Board Meeting that said "There was a letter sent from Mayor Vega saying they would like to have a meeting to improve relations with our Village." It should have read that there was a letter sent from Mayor Vega's office saying they would like to have a meeting to discuss,understand, and improve hurricane related protocols between Port Isabel and our Village.
The meeting was to have been scheduled after May 16th but took place last Monday at 5:30 PM. It was thought that the meeting went very well and left good impressions to all. Read more on this article...

A TIDBIT

It appears that Director Bergsma has provided a wonderful solution for Village owners who wish to stay abreast to the events occurring at our Board meetings.

He has researched different downloads for web conferencing and feels “GoToMeeting.com” is the best. Besides his time, he has spent money out of his own pocket and for awhile let our Park use his own personal computer and video hardware.
There are two features that will be provided. The first is the ability for any Board member to actively participate at any called meeting via the internet. The second is the ability to let up to 1000 owners view a Board meeting live or review it later from an archive. This may be featured at the August Board meeting if not before. If so, I am sure it will be highly appreciated by those owners concerned with our community. This would start our Village towards stepping into the 21st century, thanks to Director Bergsma.


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APRIL 2009 BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

Pledge of Allegiance

Owners Speaking on Agendas
There were none

Presidents Remarks-P. Burke
She discussed weather, Armando at the doctors, and her upcoming trip to the North.

General Manager Report-DeMalade
He discussed violations, late fees, bath house #1 near completed, starting work on Arts & Crafts room, what to do about old Arroyo cable, and keys for the Arts & Crafts storage lockers. P. Burke said organizations like the Quilters will have priority over locker room use. Personal use will be last.
DeMalade said he wanted to correct a statement about our hospitality manager. He said the previous week someone said Les did not have experience to run a restaurant. He said that was false. He said his experience came when he ran food service for an assisted Health/Home Care facility. D. White asked to discuss this a bit further but P. Burke would not allow any comment towards DeMalade’s statement. She said something to the effect of nope, no, we are not going there Approval of Minutes
Motion made and approved for March 25th minutes.

Treasurer’s Report-Treasurer Steffensen P&L for February
This Feb. net income was $48,696 less than last Feb. 2008
Losses; Village Grill $12,415, Rental Dept $747, Laundry $177.
Profits; Golf course $10314, Newsletter $23

Committee Reports
A. D&E committee-D. White
Summer events include an Ice Cream Social on June 20th, LIV Cook Off July 4th, and Cocktail Party August 1st.
B. Golf Committee-D. Pelletier
Wish to report non-golfing people are now allowed to walk the golf course sidewalks at anytime and told P. Burke that you can now take your pictures.
C. Pool Committee-D. Steffensen
Motion made and passed to make wrist bands include everyone using the pool 365 days a year.
D. Management Committee-P. Burke
She said it appears Aramark is the cheapest of other (?) companies, have negotiated changes in the new contract and will have this new contract available for review soon.

The Board recessed to an Executive session to discuss a problem with an owner.

Unfinished Business

A. Litigation-P. Burke
The Arroyo, Cowen, and Smith lawsuits are still under discovery.

B. Other-P.Burke gave the floor to DeMalade to speak on non scheduled agenda items. Items he addressed were
1. He said the five year old skid steer engine will cost the Village $10,095 to replace. Board made a motion and approved it.
2. Indoor pool heater will cost $2358 to fix or $2980 to replace. Motion made and approved to replace at $2980. After the approval the GM said the heater was for the hot tubs instead.
3. Lift station #1 new pump will cost $2377 to replace. He said he needs one also as a spare. He said we’ve been replacing one or two pumps every year because they get clogged and motor runs dry and burns up. Motion made and passed to purchase two motors for $4754.

New business

A. Web Conferencing-D. Bergsma
Go to meetings software can handle up to 1000 users. D. Bergsma said wireless signal unstable and requested a hard line be routed to the Rec. Hall. P. Burke requested something in the news letter to see owner’s response to this on line meetings. This will not happen until August.
B. Village Grille-D. Halbach
The committee is still in review but D. Halbach requested the physical changes to the grille get started. P. Burke said Treasurer Steffensen needs the costs figures. Example of change is installing a new sound deadening ceiling tile to make the restaurant quieter.
C. Review of Amenities-P. Burke
DeMalade said the basketball court cement pour over from one bid was $8200. Supposedly two more bids are coming. P. Burke wished further review on this while she is gone.
D. Tennis Court Usage to Non Owners-P. Burke
The motion was made to have all people playing must have a wrist band.
E. Sidewalk Replacement-D. Pelletier
The bid approved by the previous Board for the sidewalk replacement in front of the activity center did not have the removal of the existing sidewalk. D. Pelletier made a motion not to exceed an additional $3000 for this. This was approved.
F. Summer Meetings-D. Pelletier
Motion was made to not have a board meeting in July and passed
G. Welcome Center Parking Lot-D. Pelletier
It was requested to get bids for applying a seal coating for the asphalt around the Welcome Center. DeMalade said he is looking at Pave Shield and with $18000 he said was in the budget, we might do both the Rec. Hall and Welcome Center areas.
H. Technology ( computer, copy/scanner)-D. Steffensen
The copy machine is down continuously. D. Steffensen wanted scanners for both the office and document recording archives. Copy Graphics have an extra copy machine with a scanner for less a month than what is being paid now. Lease cost is $540 a month. The term of the old and new lease was not disclosed. She said this is just a replacement for the office. There is still the need for another scanner for documents records.
Computer prices have come down. $10,400 was budgeted for computers and scanners in 2008. A company can supply LIV with seven Dell computers ($715 ea.) and a 1.25 Terabyte four drive Dell server, all for $7496.31. DeMalade said his maintenance computer was not mentioned and his has had problems. It’s for time keeping and schedules. D. Steffensen said we are looking to give maintenance the office managers computer as your replacement. He said he doesn’t recommend that. He didn’t want a laptop. They went back and forth for awhile. He said he didn’t know why you are replacing our office manager’s computer because it’s brand new. P. Burke stopped it right there.
I. Solar Panels for Pool/Hot Tubs-D. White
Sundance Solar came and left info for the Board to review. Pay back is in two years with this system. A committee is to be formed with D. White to head it up.
J. Summer Events-D. Montalvo
Canceled

Other

G. Guerra had a complaint about someone’s truck parked near the Bridge and wanted signage.

D. Steffensen said we are sitting here with this unsigned Berry Pool contract which was reduced $200 to $1295 each month. DeMalade was asked if LIV can pick and choose two which of the four units to keep, suggesting having automatic chemical injection units for the the pools only. A lot was said after this question by our GM but he never did answered her question. He did say Berry Pools carried us for eighteen months now and they will take their injectors out or not, it's up to you all. Motion was made and approved to pay Berry Pools $1295 each month . That's $15540 a year plus we have to pay market price (retail+) for chemicals plus any service fees beyond the contract. D. White brought up the current problem of no chlorine in the outdoor pool. DeMalade said we been working on that since Monday (4/27) said the chlorine cylinder (chlorinator) was clogged. He said Berry Pools discovered this problem on their scanner and solved the problem Monday. (4/47). Asked if they were aware this was happening the week before that Monday and DeMalade said first was aware of this problem that Monday when he saw Berry Pools here at the Village fixing it.
P. Burke asked D. Steffensen if this amount can be dealt with in our budget. D. Steffensen's answer was I can’t say yes or no. P. Burke then said let’s approved this Berry Pool contract contingent that we can find the money in our budget. P.Burke said this last year was less expensive for LIV before when we had a pool person. Motion was then made and approved.

D. Halbach said the pool players did a fund raiser for the tables and raised $737.
Pelletier made a motion to make May’s meeting on Wed. and June’s meeting on Sat. It was approved. The first variance was for lot “A” to put up an 8’x24’ screen to stop errant golf balls. Motion made and approved. The second variance was for lot 685 wanting stucco trim around the windows was denied.

There was a letter sent from Mayor Vega saying they would like to have a meeting to improve relations with our Village. P. Burke, D. Steffensen, and D. White will attend this meeting sometime after May 16th.

Meeting Adjourned.



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OUR CEMENT POND

A week ago Tuesday I visited our pool facility as usual to bask in the sun, read, and use our Park’s water works. With these continuing water tribulations to which management along with Berry Pools seem inept to solve, I find myself testing the water before going in.

The outdoor hot tub this day tested well enough to use, but the outdoor pool tested zero for chlorine. I tested it twice. A friend of mine said he notified the manager in charge later that afternoon and was told there was an equipment problem and Berry Pools was coming out to fix it. Wednesday after our coffee meeting, I tested the water and again it read zero. I surely thought that management and especially Berry Pools would not let this chlorine problem continue into the weekend, but they did without closing the pool. I tested the water on Friday, Sunday, and Monday with the same results.
Tuesday, the 28th, I tested all the pools and hot tubs. The indoor pool tested fine but nothing else did. I went to maintenance and found only Gino to tell this to. He said he had heard of no problems with the pool but said he would pass this on. I told one of the pool monitors and she promptly made some calls. Within twenty minutes Leo and Oscar who work in the pool area said they solved the problem. They explained that they unclogged the chlorinator. I told them it may be a good idea to check all the hot tubs for the same problem since they didn’t register chlorine this morning. They said they would. Les came out and tested the outdoor pool and spa water and then left.
When asked about the problem at today’s Board meeting, our general manager said that he learned about this on Monday when supposedly Berry Pool’s system detected the problem and was out here fixing it. Strange that this fixed job on Monday was the same problem fixed by Leo and Oscar on Tuesday. Stranger is that Berry’s system didn’t detect that our outdoor pool was unhygienic for at least nine days. This was Berry Pool’s big selling point for having their expensive services. Are we once again being given the usual what sounds good fabrications from management?
Does someone have to die from catching some opportunistic pathogen before we demand some accountability? Does management even stop to think of what sickness or infections may result from fecal contaminations having little to no sanitation in our pool/spa water? What about an ensuing lawsuit, something this Park can ill afford?
Our Village pays through the nose for the care of our pool facility. Apparently what our Village receives in return is a fat nosebleed of questionable water quality, excuses, and lies. This is not an isolated incident but a continuous one. Adding to this atrocious problem is our general manager repeatedly saying the pool facility is in total compliance with State codes when they are STILL NOT. It seems outlandish that our Board President stated our park pays less now for this care than before. A lone person making $8 an hour was doing the same work as what we now have a manager, one and a half pool personnel, two housekeepers, plus the $1295 a month paid to Berry Pools do. It appears our Park is just throwing $1295 a month away for a newly approved Berry Pools service contract.
A better job needs to be done for our Village and soon.


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COFFEE WITH THE DIRECTORS

After the Pledge of Allegiance, VP Halback started with the suggestions and comments from the BOX.
Lot 229 Reta Priest wanted limits set for comments.
Lot 819 wished to have the lights that have been out since the hurricane repaired on the tennis courts. Owner gave a compliment about the newsletter along with the reported $1300 savings. Owner gave an overwhelming compliment on how good our new security guard was to them.
Lot 819 gave a compliment about the newsletter.
Lot 371 Jo Ann Sipp gave a compliment about the newsletter.
Lot 696 Shirley Ritten gave a compliment about the newsletter.
Lot 638 Wanted the can receptacle that helps to pay for our library to be removed because it attracts ants and bees.
SC 2 Catherine DeMalade gave a compliment to the newsletter.
Lot 749 made a request that management start taking care of the volleyball and basketball courts and provides the necessary repairs to make them safe.

Comments made from the FLOOR.
Lot 870 asked our GM when the fire hydrants were last flushed. Our GM would not answer and told this owner to ask the directors and not him. Second thing was the foul sewer type smell he said he still has on his lot and if this problem will ever be solved.
Lot 831 gave a compliment about the coffee comments being left in the library for later reading.
Lot 696 Shirley Ritten complained about paying more for security and that the new security isn’t able to have their own TV, microwave, and refrigerator. She said they aren’t allowed to take breaks nor have lunch hours. She asked the board to save us some money and change companies. A director asked where she acquired her information about they were not allowed to take breaks and received “from the source” as an answer.
Lot 170 said there was an article in a newspaper that the government may provide assistance to solar heating and we should take a look into it.
Lot 406 asked management to clean the front of the Rec. Hall better. She said it looked terrible.

The Board made individual comments on the comments.
The VP gave thanks and said to stay for the workshop.
P. Burke wanted to say a few things and after five minutes a Director Guerra gave a compliment to the golf committee for the flower boxes on hole #15.
Director White talked about the three events scheduled for D&E.
Selba Campbell said to see her if you wish to register to vote.

WORK SHOP
Director White questioned if she needed Board approval for the Park’s upcoming three events. She explained also that the windows in the indoor pool have never been clean all year along with the weeds that need to be taken care of and that the border tile in the pool needs to keep clean.
Director Steffensen talked about the pool committee putting together a list of recommendation for an identification program. She said this is a need because in 2007 they sold 3300 wrist bands to non owners that used our facility. Things discussed were having at hand year round pool monitors, security, and more.
Negative things were said about Securitas by P. Burke and it was to be one of the issues discussed when they have a meeting. P. Burke gave her lengthy summation about people in general, their culture, children and so forth. There were stories told about children be rowdy in and around the park. This went on for over thirty minutes.
Our gm brought up his solution to hire life guards to monitor and take chemical reading. He rambled on for ten minutes about this until he made another suggestion to find money in the budget or the take out of the insurance money to hire certified life guards. He said we are going to have to have paid positions for this. Director Pelletier was not in favor of that. P. Burke wanted the pool committee to put together solid directives and regulations for owners and non owners to go by.
P. Burke announced there will be a meeting at 11:30 with Securitas.
Director Halback along with owner Jerry Fleckinger have analyzed the Village Grille records-procedures and have come up with their take on what may help the restaurant from continuing the tens of thousands of dollars in losses. They brought up many examples of what would improve the restaurant, two being some remodeling and adding a full time restaurant manager while open. P. Burke asked to have an action plan started which would include Dir. Halback, Karen Pelletier, our gm and hospitality manager. Our gm said we could use some of our insurance money for this. P. Burke said the budget can be amended.
Director Bergsma explained he has found a system to best meet our Park’s web conferencing means. This system would include parties having e-mail notifications of upcoming meetings along with any absent directors being able to interact, and owners being now able to view meetings live or review from an archive at a later date. It was expressed these not be available to the general public such as U-tube. Cost for this service was determined to be less than hundred dollars a month. The gm’s wife said this would solve a lot of the gossip issues and that people would be on their best behavior if they were on camera. After discussions about possible director absentee abuse it was decided to administrate the free trial run available to see it functionality.
Director Gagan expressed the need to have a patrol boat manned by Aramark employees to go around our canals with the goal to clean up the water ways and cut down on damages to boats from its debris. He also wants identifying stickers that match up trailers to boats entering and leaving our Park.
Our GM said he got a verbal $2000 discount on a new motor for the Park’s 5 year old $30,000+ skid loader that will only cost LIV now around$9000 instead of $12,000.
Repair work is to begin in the arts and crafts room next month.
Our GM said that no one has complained before and gave the reason why for nine months the tennis court lights were not put up. He said they have to use this skid loader to do it or pay Rubio brothers $50-$100 to do it. The Board said to get Rubio Brothers to do it for them.
Our GM said he never kept the volleyball or basketball up because nobody has come to us in the five years he’s been manager to complain about it. He said he rarely sees people use these amenities. He added if he is going to do this, why aren’t they moved where they belong, in another area.
The shuffle board and horse shoe pits were said in need of attention.
He was asked by P. Burke to provide the board with info on all this and the re-location sites so they can make a decision.
After this owner our GM didn’t want to talk to earlier from lot 870 had left the meeting, our Gm now wanted to make a correction and give his side of the issue pertaining to the smell. He basically said this owner wouldn’t call him when he had this smell and he could do no more for this owner. P. Burke told our GM get someone outside the Park to come in and see what they can find.
Our gm said the solar panels comment today was brought up by him to the Board three years ago and told the board then the payback would start after three years.
The GM criticized security for not making a report when it was said they caught some kids who didn’t know their lot number and supposedly damaged a pool table. He said he wants to see the report on this. He went on to criticize security on what they don’t do.
Our Gm said our insurance agent said the current insurance company insuring the Directors and Officers will no longer do business with our Park after June and that our insurance agent is currently trying to find a company that will replace them.
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PAYING FOR CRAZY?

Rick May, our Village insurance agent of twenty plus years made an appearance at our March Coffee with the Directors. He came there to plant the seed of an insurance premium increase in July.

In wondering how the insurance company feels about insuring our Village, one might envision them shaking of their heads and catching that glimpse of awe and bewilderment on their faces. You might imagine seeing dollar signs for pupils as they read our new insurance contract or just be in a state of trance pondering if they are the crazy ones instead of their clients, with insuring a place now better known by locals as the “Village gone wild”?

Several lawsuits seemed to be a result from poor oversight. One such oversight was a verbal instead of a written rearrangement in the method of paying Arroyo Cable. Simply speaking the Village was not paying the bill the way it was expressed in the contract. All the following boards allowed this to continue and with having nobody enforcing the “no” satellite dish clause, the lawsuit was just a matter of time. That time came when our Village cancelled their services.

Another oversight was when the Village was serious in buying the land beyond the Sea Cottages. Our Village reportedly filed a land easement right-of-way to this property with the Cameron County Office. When it was decided not to purchase this land, the board neglected to remove what they filed. The Cowen Group ultimately procured this land and of course they feel they should be allowed to use this right-of-way on file, thus the pending lawsuit.

Our insurance agent reported a lawsuit filed against our management and to many owners, this is one lawsuit too many. Management actions never seem to require much in a need for accountability, so little is known about the particulars.

Any of these bone head lawsuits above should have some effect towards this impending increase of the Park’s insurance premiums come July.

Many owners seem to feel that none of these above affect a premium increase as much as the grand daddy of all the bone head lawsuits, the one that was filed by Leroy Mulch and Reta Priest against six active board members. The apparent purpose of this lawsuit was to keep these six from requiring our general manager be held accountable for his actions and to thwart any attempt for his removal. Last heard, this lawsuit has cost Villagers well over $20,000 and thousands more yet to come. Villager’s contribution to this lawsuit has been high, but it is only a fraction to what it has cost the insurance company. With that being said, should not our insurance company feel compelled to charge our Village dearly in light of what many have viewed as an act of sheer lunacy?

We also have two lawsuits against our Village involving the bridge that is on a separate policy. At the 5/19/08 Bridge Board meeting it was said to have went up about 33% ($8000 a month to $12,000).

Owners still wonder why Leroy Mulch, Pat Burke and Mary Steffensen, as a group, made no effort to sit down and hash out the differences with these six other directors months before this costly and senseless lawsuit started.

We should not forget to thank those who have contributed to this higher insurance bill when our Village receives it come July.



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