The Sept. 11 WCA Board meeting contained detailed discussions regarding potential changes to lifeguard staffing at the community pools. The board also appointed officers for the coming year.
The first item of new business was officer appointments. Michiel Oostenbrink suggested that rather than nominating candidates for various positions, board members have a conversation surrounding each position and express their interests. The board agreed.
Association Manager Jennifer Jordan asked who was interested in the position of president. Oostenbrink offered to continue in the role. No other board member expressed interest, and he was voted in unanimously. Theresa Lanzar said she would continue to serve as vice president, which also passed unanimously.
Eric Holt was the only board member who threw his hat in the ring for treasurer and Jack Maurer asked to serve as secretary. Both were appointed unanimously.
An audience member asked when the vacancy left by Nancy Sells’ resignation would be filled. Oostenbrink replied that, due to the timing of the recent election, he was unable to get the matter on the agenda with proper notice. He recommended holding a special meeting to select the final board member.
He added that Keswick Forest VM Jason Jozefiak and WPV Single Family Homes VM Mary Griffin had both asked to be considered. Tim Green, who ran in the recent election, and audience member Marlon Santos also expressed interest.
The board agreed to meet on September 15 to fill the vacancy. Oostenbrink asked all candidates to submit bios to Jordan prior to the meeting.
Turning back to officer appointments, Wait-Woodcock said she would like to serve as Government Affairs chair and Jessica Siddle said she would like to continue her role as WOW liaison. Holt made a motion and Maurer expressed concern about filling those positions before the board filled Sells’ vacancy. Oostenbrink shared that committee roles can easily be changed by board vote, per legal counsel. Holt’s motion passed unanimously.
Oostenbrink then opened the floor to residents. Glencliff VM Shirley Boyd asked the board to approve the community’s 2026 budget, adding that 77% of the 48 homes voted in favor of the budget. Holt asked why the WCA needed to approve it, and Jordan told him that Glencliff does not have a sub-association, so it is not a separate entity. Oostenbrink added that Glencliff’s budget is factored into the WCA budget, and the money is set aside for the community. The board voted 6-0 to approve Glencliff’s 2026 budget.
Two residents then asked whether the board planned to vote that evening to remove lifeguards from the community’s pools. Oostenbrink said he was uncertain whether the board would vote but reiterated the results of the straw poll taken at the August Voting Member meeting, which indicated that the majority of VMs present would be in favor of removing lifeguards from the pools during all but the summer months (Memorial Day through Labor Day). He added that doing so would save the WCA approximately $208,000 annually.
One resident asked whether such a decision would negatively impact insurance rates, and Oostenbrink assured her it would not. He also said that Westchase is the only community in the area that still has lifeguards. The resident expressed the importance of Westchase maintaining a higher standard of excellence than surrounding communities. She also claimed that after speaking to some of the lifeguards, she learned that there were 120 people at the pool on Labor Day and four near-drowning incidents. Jordan said she had not received any incident notices from that day, and the board expressed surprise at the resident’s claim.
Holt told the audience that the lifeguard question was posed to the body of VMs and that they had thoroughly discussed the matter. A second resident recommended that the board survey residents directly, as opposed to just asking VMs, in the event that the community representatives were not seeking their constituents’ opinions. He added that if one divides the $208,000 in savings by 3,500 (the approximate number of homes in Westchase), each resident will save only $59 annually.
Holt stated that both VMs and residents have complained frequently about their experience at the Westchase pools, and some of that dissatisfaction stems from the lifeguards.
“If that’s true, you improve the operations,” said the resident. “You don’t get rid of the guards.”
Maurer, who also serves on the S&T Committee, reiterated that he felt the board was doing a thorough job examining the issue from all sides.
A handful of residents spoke about the need for the board to address issues with the pickleball courts. They claimed that residents are reserving the courts, then allowing non-residents to use those reservations. They also said that non-residents are holding unauthorized tournaments and damaging fences by hanging things on them.
“We are acting diligently to take care of it,” responded Maurer. “We have to be able to control who’s there. It’s a multi-layer issue that we’re working to resolve.”
Oostenbrink then moved on to the issue of which board member should serve as liaison to the association manager and legal counsel. The majority of the board tentatively agreed that the president should do both. Maurer expressed that all board members should have the right to speak to legal counsel. Holt interjected that the exception would be if a board member feels they can’t go through the president for some reason. The board voted unanimously to appoint the president as liaison to the manager and legal, and they also approved having Lanzar continue to provide oversight of the management contract.
After a brief discussion regarding the dissemination of information prior to scheduled meetings, Wait-Woodcock moved that Inframark will deliver information as follows: preliminary board packets no later than 5 p.m. the Friday prior to the monthly meeting; final copies by 6 p.m. the Monday prior; and any emergency corrections by 6 p.m. the Tuesday prior. The motion passed, 6-0.
The board also voted to post WCA Board meeting notices on the association’s website and on the bulletin board at WPV at least 48 hours prior to every scheduled meeting and to allow the president to authorize any expenditure up to $5,000 without board approval.
After a lengthy discussion, the board voted unanimously that the property manager needs to seek approval from the president for expenditures exceeding $2,500, except in emergencies. They also voted unanimously to give the president authority to make decisions regarding collection and enforcement of litigation without prior board approval and to keep official audio recordings of the meetings for 90 days.
Oostenbrink provided a brief update about the curb painting in West Park Village, which had been discussed during the VM meeting. He then turned his attention back to lifeguards. He shared the results of the straw poll of the VMs again, concluding that the majority would be content with lifeguards during summers only.
Wait-Woodcock asked what tasks the lifeguards do, outside of their lifesaving duties. Oostenbrink responded that they check IDs and do janitorial work. He added that the $208,000 that he had mentioned earlier accounted for keeping staff in place to do those things.
“There would still be staff supporting residents who are using the facilities,” explained Holt. “What would not exist is an individual sitting on a lifeguard stand. There would be signs saying, ‘Swim at Your Own Risk.’”
Holt then asked for the number of employee hours that would still be needed under the new system if the board were to vote to keep lifeguards only during the summer months. The head lifeguard was present and said there are typically two opening lifeguards and two closing lifeguards at the WPV pool. He said the same is true at Countryway, with the addition of one mid-shift lifeguard.
Holt stated that it is important for the WCA to offer a consistent level of service to residents – for example, ensuring that someone is always available to let them into the facilities. He acknowledged that the board needs to take into account both savings and safety. Oostenbrink said that the board needs to know exactly how many positions are built into the supposed $208,000 worth of savings.
Wait-Woodcock asked for concrete next steps. Holt wanted to know what Jordan’s recommendations were, based upon how their other HOAs function without lifeguards. He recommended that the board work with Inframark to hammer out all of the details of costs and savings for the new proposed staff if lifeguards were eliminated for all but the summer months. Jordan said she would reach out to her fellow Inframark staff members and compile the relevant information by October 7. The next board meeting is scheduled for October 9.
September 15 follow-up meeting
On Sept. 15, the board unanimously appointed Jason Jozefiak to fill the vacant seat left when Nancy Sells resigned.
The board spent time discussing the three additional candidates: Mary Griffin, Marlon Santos and Tim Green, who ran for election on Sept. 9. In the end, they agreed that Jozefiak’s experience as a voting member, combined with his experience in the construction industry, made him the ideal candidate to round out the board.