MPOA Board of Directors' Meeting May 19, 2007

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MPOA Board of Directors' Meeting May 19, 2007

*September 16, 2017*

MPOA Board of Directors' Meeting Members present are, Brian Long, Sue Kozup, and Matthias Smith of GERC, Michael Stockwell, Betty Newell, Eric Millard, Daryl Borgquist, Kevin Frazier, Orris Hambleton, Andrew Jezioro, Samuel Good and Wayne Ford MVOA Representative. Board member absent Liz Walker. Also in attendance are Carter Miller, Administrator, Attorney Melisa Michelsen, Patty Watson of Villager Publications and Crystal Reamey as recording secretary and six property owners.

Issue Discussion Action Due Date & Assigned to I. Regular Board of Directors President Long welcomed everyone in attendance. Meeting called to order at 9:00 a.m. by President Long. Meeting Call to Order

II. Pledge of Allegiance Board Member Newell led all attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.

III. Confirmation of Agenda President Long asks if there were any changes to the agenda. Board Member Newell suggested giving people with New Business items an opportunity to speak first since it looks like it could be a lengthy meeting.

President Long announced that Gene Hauze with the Lions Club would be making a report in the beginning of the meeting so he can return to the construction site for the Lion’s Club Park. Anyone with any New Business could then have an opportunity to speak. IV. Approval of Minutes of President Long asks if there were any additions or Board member Newell made a motion to accept the March 18, 2017. changes to the July 15th minutes. Board member minutes with corrections. Board member Millard Borgquist had one small change under VI. A Officers’ seconded the motion and the motion carried. Reports; change the name of Daryl Borgquist to Kevin Frazier. With no other changes, President Long called for a motion to approve with corrections.

V. Comments on the Agenda Gene Hauze updated report on the Massanutten Lions From the Floor Club Park project. Gene introduced himself as President of the Massanutten Lions Club Foundation to the new members. He is working on the construction of the Lion’s Club Park with Great Eastern and Massanutten Property Owners Association. He expressed how grateful he is for the co-operation between the three organizations we have been working really well getting stuff done. He wanted to thank the MPOA Board, Carter, David and his staff for the super job they did putting together the playground 1 equipment. Gene reported they are a little behind schedule and had plans for a grand opening sooner but it has been re-scheduled until October 21st to work with Great Eastern and their fall festival. Everyone is invited to bring their children and enjoy. There will be food, music and fun. Seeding and grading are in the process and they will be holding a volunteer’s day next Saturday to help finish the siding and stuff. The pavers under the sign will be memorial pavers for Lion’s Members who have passed. The park should be open October 7th for people to use it. The tables will go in when it is finished. That is when people will know it is ready for usage. Gene also stated the Lion’s Club Park project is under budget at this time. If the project remains under budget, they may install some park benches. Gene reported what Great Eastern did with the shelters was a two tier thing. One is up top overlooking the pond and the other going down to the pond with a nice long walkway that is ADA accessible with 7’6” clearance.

Matthias Smith and several Board members thanked Gene for doing a great job on the park project.

No other comments or new business to report from the floor.

VI. Officers’ Reports A. Administrator Report - His Administrator’s report was distributed to the Board. . Met with Virginia Power on re-doing the shoulder of the road where they re-did the power line coming up Massanutten Drive. Part of the area they are going to pave and part of the area they are going to put in some riprap. They are going to put it back better than they found it. The guardrail replacement is scheduled for next week. The guardrail company also works for VDOT and they take priority. Carter also reported that the bear signs that he was looking at came in at around $100 per sign plus the cost of the 6x6 post and plywood backing. Carter also reported that Merck has contacted MPOA for usage of our facilities and meeting room for a Team Building Exercise for their employees. We are going to lease/selling them our amenities for several hours on Friday, October 13th at $500 per hour.

Board Member Newell – She just noticed beautiful 2 small sunflowers along the trails on Lanier Lane. Where did they come from? Carter responded – he did not know but would ride by to look at them.

B. Treasurer’s Report – Carter Carter reported that looking at the financials we are Miller. doing very well for the year. The revenues are off slightly but our expenses are also down. Carter also reported that MPOA is short on cash on hand but it has been that way all year since MPOA paid for the go-karts up front. Carter realized that we have been paying ourselves back for the go-kart loan that was taken out of capital and that is cash-to-cash accounting. It shows the same amount of cash that we have but it takes it out of operating to buy the CD’s. We have been buying investment CD’s with $60,000 per year for the past six years and that has taken $360,000 out of our cash flow that has not been budgeted for and this has contributed to the low cash flow at this time.

Board Member Newell – Commented we still have our line of credit. Carter responded, yes. He just wanted to bring this to the Boards attention.

Issue Discussion Action Due Date & Assigned to C. Developer - Matthias Commented briefly on how great it is to see a project Smith come together, stating that Gene has already left to go back to work at the Lion’s Club park and what a great job he is doing. With Fall around the corner, Firewise is a topic of conversation and his staff had some great communications; it is a great time of year to start. The press trip he mentioned in the last meeting went really well. We are starting to get on the map more outside the timeshare circle. In terms of ongoing projects, they are seeing less flaggers on the Great Eastern water pipeline project. Matthias also reported they are working directly with homeowners, Carter and the MPOA Board for owners who had trees removed as they are in the process of replanting using a few types of trees. They want to make sure each owner has an active part of the conversation such as frequency and location. He also reported that they are starting to look at the Nature/Recreation path that starts from the bottom to the top of the mountain. The goal is to have this project completed in the spring. He also stated 3 that Carter and the Board suggested adding some benches along the path, it is a great suggestion, and they plan to add some in. For next year, they will just be looking at just updating some areas like the Conference Center.

Betty Newell – Comment - The new signs are beautiful.

Carter Miller – Wanted to add that Great Eastern has been in touch with him regarding a program they do called “Birds of Prey”. They have requested to do this at Hopkins Park and Carter has given permission. He thought owners might enjoy seeing this.

D. Mountainside Villas The damaged retaining wall is finally finished. The Owners Association final cost came in at around $100,000. They had Report by Wayne Ford. planned on the cost to be $40,000 to $45,000 but had to hire a specialized engineering firm to do the work. This has been the best year in rentals out of the last 10 years for MVOA and the damages took 5 units out of service for nine months. At one point, all but seven MVOA units were rented; leaving only two units, they could work in. MVOA has published their service animal policy. Jocelyn Carl came to the Firewise meeting and she reported it is going to be a good program, a win for the community and necessity.

Issue Discussion Action Due Date & Assigned To VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS: A. Executive - Report Met to review a preliminary review of the 2018 budget. presented by Vice Discussion later in this meeting to set up an Open President Brian Long Forum meeting in October for property owner review, with approval of the budget in the November meeting.

B. Architectural & Board Member Millard reported there were two new No Comments. Ecological - report given construction approvals in July and August. They were by Eric Millard also working towards having an A&ECC manual revision. They are working on the first draft and they hope to have something to the Board by the end of this 4 year.

Board member Newell – Question – Regarding home on Wilson way, they were making great progress and now things seem to have come to a halt. This concerns her and wants to stay on top of this.

Carter responded – The company pouring the garage floor just poured it the other day. This was part of the hold up. Feels we will see them back up there working to get the house ready for winter. They have nine months to start and it is being monitored.

C. Long Range Planning - Met last month. Discussed moving forward next year. No Comments. Report given by Sam Good

Issue Discussion Action Due Date & Assigned to D. Social Committee Since last Board meeting we had two events. We had No Comments. th -Report given by Eric the MPOA Pool Party on July 15 we had a Big Splash Millard contest that went over well. Board Member Millard Thanked MPOA for the prizes donated for this event. The second event was the Ice Cream Social held in conjunction with The Concert at the Cabin. This event had a great turn out. Coming up we have the Fall Pig Roast BBQ on October 21st 5-8PM at Mountain Cruisers compliments Great Eastern. They allow MPOA usage of the room at no charge. Board Member Millard Thanked Great Eastern for the usage of the building and help from the staff. Board Member Millard also wanted to thank all the Social Committee and helpers we have that make these events worthwhile for our community, to Carter and the MPOA staff.

E. Welcome Committee - No report. No Comments. Report given by B. Newell Patricia Craft – wanted to let Board Member Newell know that there was a new family on Bobcat Lane. They are interested in committees and she thought that the Welcome Committee might want to stop and say hello to them. Board Member Newell – Thanked Patricia for the information and will pass this on to Stephanie Hutchens.

5 Issue Discussion Action Due Date & Assigned to F. Rules Committee Report Steve Kozup is the A&EC Chairperson and would like Board member Borgquist made a motion to appoint given by Daryl Borgquist to be the A&ECC Liaison to Rules. Also, Rules Steve Kozup as A&ECC Liaison to the Rules members Betty Newell and Flo Hall need re- Committee and re-appoint Rules Committee members appointment to the Rules Committee. Board Member Betty Newell and Flo Hall. Board member Millard Borgquist would like to make a motion. seconded the motion and the motion carried.

G. Nominating Committee Reported they have two candidates under Report – Orris Hambleton consideration for the A&E Committee.

H. Web Committee Report – Reported he has the requirements documents together Andy Jezioro for the existing website and Crystal will get with the person who built the original site to get an estimate. I sat down with Crystal, there is a small amount of clean up to do, and she can take care of that. I would like everyone to get Crystal an accurate list of members or information. We would like to decide if we want to publish fixed meeting dates, if your committee has fixed meeting dates, and minutes of the meetings. Once we get the systems documented and final clean up done we will be finished with the low cost enhancements.

Board Member Stockwell – Question - Do you have a deadline for the Committee information?

Board Member Jezioro – Within the next 30 days.

Issue Discussion Action Due Date & Assigned to I. Hopkins Park - Report by Met on Thursday, had a successful season for 2017. Steve Kozup Feels three concerts is the appropriate number of concerts to handle. Looking for something new next year. One of the artists they are looking at is Gypsy Town. They played the opening at Fireside Grill. Board Member Kozup spoke with them and they seemed interested. For the 2018 Hopkins Park budget, Board Member Kozup requested a water fountain for the playground, mature trees for shade and new swings. She said she called Carter and they were accepted. The Farmers Market is going very well and will be open until the end of October. The Board Arboretum Work Day will be next Saturday, September 23rd. 9AM- 3PM.

6 President Long – That is the same day the Lions are going to finish their shelters.

Board Member Kozup – The Arboretum Work days have been scheduled around Steve’s work schedule.

J. Community Garden – There was not much to report on since the last Board Report By Mike Stockwell meeting. They had a workday to put some mulch down. They had some wash out from the heavy rains; they have some work to do to prevent that. Work coming up is to put everything way for the winter and plan for next year. They are also working on plans for the sign and getting parking established.

Patricia Craft – Comment- Wanted to thank Garden Committee. As you drive up it’s such a colorful and pleasant view now in that little corner where before it was a pile of sand.

th K. Fire Wise Committee – Met August 30 , the Committee meets every month. Report By Brian Long Every other month they have the larger meeting with MPOA Police, Great Eastern Security, MVOA, and The Department of Forestry. The next meeting Chief Holloway is supposed to come from the County. President Long reported the meetings are larger than planned and working really well and moving forward. The meeting is open to all Owners. The amount of work Department of Forestry is doing is amazing. They are moving forward to get our plan together quickly and doing a lot of work, this will pin point all the spots on the mountain that are more susceptible to fire so that we will know which areas we can go into and as a team and clean it up. There may also be help from the State and Federal as well for the cleanup. We are looking into ways of making the top of the mountain a little safer; we have some ideas for that. Great Eastern is developing and working on getting an evacuation plan together.

Board Member Kozup – comment - in the Villager, we have the Firewise Chat that has good information in it.

President Long – continued, at the Pig Roast, as long as the Department of Forestry does not have a fire to deal with, they are going to come up with a booth and give information out to the kids and they may wear the Smokey outfit. It will be the perfect time during Fire 7 awareness month. Once the date and time is set for the next meeting, it can be announced on Facebook, Next Door and maybe email blasted for anyone who wants to attend.

Property Owner – S. Zukrowski - Will the plan or assessment be looking at homeowners properties and identifying where improvements can be made?

President Long - Responded – yes, one of our members on the Firewise Committee had them come out and had them do an assessment of her property. This information will be in one of our articles. They will come out to anyone’s property here on the mountain, look around your home, and tell you what you should do to make a defensible perimeter so your home would survive a fire. Sometime in the future, they will be doing a ride through the community street by street to help with the assessment.

Board Member Hambleton – Will part of the assessment be deadfall? His house has a vacant lot on each side with lots of deadfall.

President Long – Yes. They will address areas based on triage, what spots need attention first. To get a full assessment it is best to wait until the leaves have dropped.

Board Member Good – would like an assessment of Fire Hydrants. Feels the two on his drive would be a challenge for a Firefighter to hook a hose up to.

Board Member Frazier – Was under the impression that the Fire Department went around and checked them every year.

Board Member Millard – The Utility Company checks them.

Administrator Miller – Both The Utility Company and the Fire Department check the hydrants.

President Long – This could fall under Firewise to make sure your hydrants are assessable.

Board member Frazier – Chief Holloway will be at the next Firewise meeting that will be a good time to bring it up.

8 Board member Jezorio – comment – not sure who did it but there were paint markings on the road on Lanier and they are gone. They must have faded out, not sure, if MPOA did this or the fire crew. Feels it is time to re-new that.

Administrator Miller – MPOA did that.

President Long – Anything we do on the mountain towards becoming Firewise counts towards hours of volunteer time, which could potentially give us grants.

Board Member Good – Comment – after a snow it might save a few seconds if someone would shovel out the fire hydrants. If they had to wait on the pump operator, it might be a bit.

Board Member Stockwell – Can the deadwood be cleared out and used for firewood.

Administrator Miller – We do that process already with a woodcutting permit.

Board Member Newell – feels there is a misconception that the greenspace is a place for your tree cuttings. That is what Wednesday morning yard waste pick up is for.

VIII. Unfinished Business: President Long – Continued discussion regarding the Discussion concerning bears, signage for bears. He wanted to know how many deer and Property Owners safety signs he was looking at and what locations. - Carter Miller Administrator Miller- He was thinking about Massanutten Drive when people come in and then out next to Piney Mountain Drive for the second one. These signs would be 4x8 with a picture of a bear just like Wintergreen’s sign and asking owners to take down the birdfeeders from this date to this date (we will have dates available) and to please not feed the bears.

President Long – thinks it is a good idea and asks if anyone was against putting up the signs. Everyone was in favor of the signs. Board Member Hambleton – The Lion’s Club held a meeting in the MPOA room back in July and had David Kocha out. This was a well-attended meeting with Lions and community members and lots of discussion. 9 He had a great presentation.

Board Member Newell – I do not think people realize what attract bears and then they send a state person out to take care of the bear and they kill the bears. They do not just remove them.

Board Member Hambleton – This area, they do kill the bear, as there are more bear.

President Long – Thinks putting up the bear signs is the right direction for MPOA to start.

Board Member Borgquist – commented that he had a bear visiting outside his front door while he was fixing dinner. The same bear did some damage to his neighbor’s pond and flower pot.

President Long – commented that he also had a recent bear visit that went away after it heard his dogs run through the house.

Board Member Hambleton – commented that David Kocha said the bears here would not confront you or go at you. They will look at you. If they are going to do anything they will just walk away.

Board Member Kozup – commented - we had a couple huff at us, do not just take it that they will just walk away. They are strong animals

President Long – commented - they are going to want to defend their food.

Property Owner- Jeanette Smith on Bloomer Spring Road wanted to know if MPOA was going to do something about the deer. She is all for culling the deer. She knows not all owners are in for killing the deer but sometimes she has as many as 18 on her front lawn. She is a big gardener and is now looking at putting up an electric fence. She has had 6 deer tick bites this summer, in the past 37 years she has seen the deer population grow and grow. We have more bear than she has seen in the last five years. Wants to know is there a plan.

President Long – responded – Not currently. Wintergreen had someone come in and do an assessment on how many deer was suitable for their area. This would be our first step to see what our 10 saturation rate is. I would like to contact Wintergreen to find out what steps they actually took to get this process done.

Board Member Hambleton – David Kocha also addressed this in his meeting with the Lions. They would generally have the Police do it. No permits would be issued as it is around a populated area.

President Long – I think the meat is donated to hunters for the hungry where they bring a freezer truck in for the deer.

Property Owner Jeannette Smith – Works at a food panty and they used to get a lot of meat donated by hunters for the hungry. This is a good source of meat.

Board Member Hambilton – Mr. Kocha mentioned during the meeting that when the new fawns come out this is a time when the bear take a cull at the deer as well. There is a relationship between the population of bear and deer. The more deer you have the more bear you have because they can feed off of the new fawns.

Board Member Frazier – Does the Game Commission charge a fee to do an assessment?

President Long – Thinks they do; it will be good information to know if they do.

Administrator Miller – Will check to see if there is a fee with the Game Commission for an assessment check and get back to the board.

Board Member Jezorio – Has seen more deer this year than any of the ten years he has been here. Feels the assessment should be done soon.

President Long – Wants to keep the unfinished business open until November allowing Carter a chance to find out what the cost for the assessment will be.

Board Member Borgquist – If there is no cost to the assessment, he wants to make a motion or have the Executive Committee decide to go ahead with the assessment before the next board meeting.

Administrator Miller – If there is no cost for the assessment, he will proceed with the study. 11 Board Member Borgquist – recommended some Forestry students at JMU might be looking for a class project.

Board Member Frazier - also suggested students at Virginia Tech.

A.

IX. New BUSINESS: President Long stated a date needed to be set for the Carter Miller MPOA Budget Open Forum Meeting in October.

Administrator Miller – read the dates the MPOA meeting room was available. Everyone checked their calendars, October 24th at 6PM worked best for all in attendance.

President Long - next item up for discussion was the MPSC Rate increase.

Administrator Miller – Typically, in a case like this we talk with the State Corporation Commission and put some ideas forward to see part of it reduced. It would be good to partner with Great Eastern and MVOA to see what they are doing and maybe go together to do some things. This is where we may need to increase l fees for legal fees. The Utility Attorney we used several years ago now works for the Utility Company.

Board Member Kozup – Owners are upset. Feels the Utility company should have set aside money to pay for the sewer system. What did they do with all that money?

Board Member Millard – Believes the reason for the rate increase this time is for installing additional nutrient removal equipment technology, which can be debated if they were required or voluntarily accepted to do that.

Board Member Stockwell – Requested that Board Member Millard give feedback on it, if they needed to make these upgrades. Would we want to choose to pay legal money to try to not do these upgrades?

Board Member Milliard – Briefly explained his understanding of why they are asking for the increase. In the past, MPOA have had legal representation that 12 has been specific to that line of law and they have gotten us a reduction, a rate increase or we have come to some agreement that they could not come back for a certain amount of years for a rate increase. This increase however, is a significant enough bump that he feels it is in our interest to pursue it at this time. In terms of rather the Utility Company should be installing nutrient removal equipment technology, they would have to do it at some point. Part of their last permit cycle, the Utility Company and the DEQ was challenged by a non-profit concerning nutrients and the Shenandoah River. Our Utility Company has a significant discharge into Quail Run, which eventually makes it into South Fork Shenandoah River. In the State there are larger facilities that have already installed this type of nutrient removal technology that were required to do so. Massanutten is at a level of discharge that they are not quite big enough to have to do that immediately. Instead of taking four years to install the technology, they decided to do it within one year. This information was in Patty’s article. My understanding is the treatment technology is over 2 million dollars for equipment with additional maintenance and fees going forward. This is an initial increase of $650,000 that will be paid off in 3.5 years.

Board Member Stockwell – Another factor is removing elements from the wastewater that will be piped back up the mountain, is there any benefit in what’s coming our way again in taking out those kinds of nutrients.

Board Member Millard – Matthias may be able to answer that.

Matthias Smith – Agrees with Board Member Millard and thinks this type of technology improvement is on the pipeline for all Utility Companies; the question is just when. Believes they are accelerating. Our take is on the return to capital rate on a 3-year pay back is too fast and should be slowed down. Feels to have that on the communities back is a tough pill to swallow. Thinks we should weight out how much we will spend on it, as utility attorneys get very expensive fast.

Property owner S. Zukrowski – has three questions. First, she is not certain what the utility company means by 9.25% rate of return, second if the issue is the wastewater, what justifies water increase and third, she emailed Carter and he suggested that owners write letters to the SCC. Wanted to know what kind of 13 argument and justification to write to be persuasive in the letter.

Board member Long – answered her first question by referring back to what Developer Matthias stated about their desire for a quick return on investment and wanting to get the money back within three years. If it were stretched out over six to nine years, the rates would not be as high and would be easier for owners to budget.

Administrator Miller – The State Corporation Commission has historically given The Utility Company a 9+% rate of return. We have tried to fight that case repeatedly. Another thing we need to look at is where the incentive is for this company to control cost and be more in line.

Board Member Long –Suggested this example for a letter; the way your charging us now, if I use 5000 of water your charging me for 5000 of wastewater when not all 5000 is wastewater. Especially, in the summer when you are watering your plants and washing your car, that is not wastewater but you are being charged for it as wastewater.

Board Member Kozup – You are making some very good points here, but most of our residents do not understand. Is there any way we can send an email blast encouraging them to write a letter to the SCC.

President Long – We were discussing setting up an Open Forum for owners so they can come in and talk to the Board to get information. It will be on a weeknight. We want to get with Patty to publish it in the Villager to do an article about it.

Board Member Kozup – wanted the Open Forum for the Rate Increase set soon due to so much anxiety with the residence.

President Long – The rate increase hearing is scheduled for March 2018. We can get as many residences as we can to write a letter as well as the Board do action on our own.

Administrator Miller – Thursday, October 5th the meeting room is open.

President Long – Confirmed that Thursday, October 5th 14 MPOA will hold an Open Forum Water Rate Increase starting at 6PM in the meeting room to answer any questions regarding the rate increase and offer suggestions.

Administrator Miller – We will send out an email blast, the topic will be Water Rate Increase.

Unknown Property Owner – For the meeting on October 5th, Wants someone to compile a list or timeline of rate increases over the years. Seems like she has seen a rate increase every two to three years.

Property Owner – Bryan Hoskins – was going to ask a similar question.

President Long – The Open Forum meeting will be set up and we will get as much information as we can available. Thinks an increase will happen but maybe it will not be as drastic with working together.

X. New Business from the Floor None.

1. XI. Executive Session No Executive Session required.

2. XII. Adjournment President Long called for a motion to adjourn 10:22 Board member Newell made a motion to adjourn. The A.M. motion was seconded by Board Member Hambelton. The motion carried.

Minutes of September 16, 2017 Crystal Reamey, Board of Directors’ Meeting. Recording Secretary

MINUTES NOT APPROVED BY MPOA BOARD OF DIRECTORS.

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