No residents spoke up during the open forum, so President Shawn Yesner moved homeowner violations to the top of the agenda.
One homeowner had received two notices about the tarp on her roof. She said there is an active leak where the tarp is, but that she had secured an attorney after her insurance company rejected the claim that she filed. Board member Dale Sells said that they couldn’t table the issue indefinitely and asked for a tentative timeline for completion of the roof replacement. The resident said she didn’t know, and Board Member Jim Brinker made a motion to table the issue until May. His motion passed unanimously.
An Abbotsford resident received a notice about damage to his driveway caused by a tree. He said he’d reached out to the county and they refused to remove the tree because there’s nothing wrong with it. They said they would repair the damaged sidewalk, but that they likely wouldn’t get to it for three years. Board Member and Chair of the Government Affairs Committee Eric Holt said he would reach out to the county and advocate for the homeowner. In the meantime, he moved to table the issue for 90 days, and all of the board members present voted in favor of his motion.
Holt addressed the issue of cybersecurity insurance and said he spoke to a representative from Florida Coastal Insurance who provided a quote with the same coverage that other providers had proposed, but at half the cost. Holt moved that they accept the proposal from Florida Coastal, and all of the board members voted in favor of it.
Sells then presented the treasurer’s report. As of February 28, total revenue was down by $9,600, but expenses were down during that period as well. The WCA is in the black by $7700 overall in comparison to the budget.
Sells said that he had been working with Sainz to refund residents who had made duplicate payments to the WCA and were therefore owed money. He made a motion to have Sainz continue to review the prepaid accounts and make refunds as appropriate. He estimated that the remaining refunds would total approximately $9200. The motion passed unanimously.
Holt took the floor to deliver his Government Affairs Committee report. He shared that the CDD and USDA have agreed to renew their relationship in regards to vulture mitigation. Holt also reported that the committee was investigating a parking concern in West Park Village. A resident complained that the residents of the apartment complex on Magnolia were taking up all of the nearby parking spaces. Holt said he planned to meet with neighborhood relations in an attempt to resolve the issue.
The next issue in Holt’s report was the potential of bringing in a vendor like Blue Stream to supply a bulk fiber optic contract that would be mandatory for all residents. Brinker said that the Voting Members had overwhelmingly voted against any further exploration into the subject at their meeting earlier in the week. He moved to stop all discussions about bulk fiber optic contracts, and the board members voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
Holt said that he and the other members of the committee wanted to host a GAC reception with County Commissioner Harry Cohen, county department heads, neighborhood relations, the fire marshal, and representatives from the county police and public works departments. They would also invite the WCA board members, and a representative from the WOW magazine, but the final list of attendees was still in the works, he added. Holt requested the use of up to $300 from the GAC budget to serve appetizers and nonalcoholic beverages. Everyone voted in favor of his motion.
Sells then presented the final report of the temporary working group, which was tasked with reviewing and categorizing outstanding tasks in need of completion. The group started with a list of 55 items that needed to be addressed, and 21 of those have either been completed or been approved by the board to be completed, said Sells.
The items were placed in one of four categories: maintenance and minor improvements; evaluation and completion of necessary repairs for the crack in the WPV pool; items for which there are designated reserves; and items for which there are no assigned reserves or line items. Sells said the board would rely upon Sainz and Facilities Manager Dwight Kilgore to let them know which items need to be addressed and when.
The Notifications Committee was the next item on the agenda. Committee Chairman Holt reported that web design company Off the Page Creations could create a menu of notification options into which residents could opt. The company would charge just $300 to do so. Holt said that Greenacre Property employees and Kilgore would have access to the system and be able to send out notifications.
Ideally, the website eventually could be customized so that residents could receive neighborhood-specific notifications, which would relieve the VMs of some of the responsibility for communications, explained Holt. The notification system already exists, but the committee hopes to improve it, he continued.
Various audience members expressed skepticism that the system would ever be widely used, arguing that many residents are hesitant to share their contact information. Holt responded by saying that the WCA had not yet made a concerted effort to educate homeowners about the system nor done anything to motivate them to sign up. Holt moved to make the adjustments to the system, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Yesner then moved on to the matter of the exploratory committee, which had been tasked with a fact-finding mission regarding the services that Greenacre offers to Westchase in comparison to those that other, similarly sized property management companies provide to their clients. He said that a separate board meeting needed to be scheduled to review the committee’s report, at which Greenacre employees would not be present.
Holt expressed that he would like the board to have the opportunity to initially review the report without others present. Yesner pointed out that any meetings with four or more board members present must be open to the public. Ric, Goldstein said that it was vital for the VMs to be included in the review process, and Brinker said that he believed involving the VMs would be the next step. The meeting will be held on Monday, April 3, at 5:30 pm at the Swim and Tennis Center on Countryway.
At a recent meeting, the board had voted to repair the boots on the cabanas at the WPV pool, said Yesner. After the meeting, Board Member Jack Maurer reached out to Yesner to express his concerns that all projects within 60 feet of the crack in the WPV pool need to be put on hold until the pool repairs have been completed. Anything within 60 feet of the break could be damaged during the repair process, and then would need to be fixed again, Maurer said. Yesner spoke to the other board members and halted the boot repairs, but he wanted to retroactively make an official motion to do so, he said. The motion passed unanimously.
Maurer then said he wanted to make a motion requesting that the board provide a scope of work on any maintenance, renovation, or repair work that they had done. Yesner stated that he agreed with Maurer, but questioned the need for a motion. Brinker responded by making a motion for Maurer to create a committee to develop a scope of work, and all board members voted in favor of it.
Maurer then made a motion to remove the budget from the landing page of the WCA website and make it accessible only to residents. The motion passed, 5-1, with Sells voting in opposition.
Yesner then raised the issue of the Nathan Lafer Community Service Award, and asked whether board members thought that it should be continued. Holt suggested that the award recipients be either VMs or members of the WCA board. Board Member Blakley Echeverry asked whether it made sense to form a community recognition committee. Yesner said he thought that award nominations should be put on the VMs’ meeting agenda for April and May. All board members agreed that it should go on the agenda and that anyone in Westchase should have the ability to nominate potential recipients.
Holt said he had a question about Kilgore’s facilities manager report. He expressed concern that there has not been sufficient coverage of the tennis courts for the past few months, and asked Kilgore how the process was going. Kilgore said the hours that they needed court attendants to cover were a challenge, but that hiring more employees was a priority.
