Fairlington Mews Board of Directors

I. Approval of Minutes.

A motion to approve the minutes for the July 27, 2004 meeting was made by Seth Low, seconded by Ann Noonan. The motion was passed unanimously.

A motion to approve the minutes for the October 26, 2004 meeting was made by David Biette, seconded by Ann Noonan. The motion was passed unanimously.

Commenting on the October minutes, Gretchen asked about the state of the window well covers which were to be removed last spring; Sher said that she was waiting for directive from the board. Gretchen asked Sher to check with the owner at 4600 South 34th Street about removing the pavers that could be a trip hazard.

A motion to approve the minutes for the November 30, 2004 meeting was made by Gretchen Martin, seconded by Ben Marglin. The motion was passed unanimously.

II. President’s Report.

Gretchen Martin raised some concerns which were discussed by those present.

A. Tax relief. Gretchen mentioned the new assessments by the County, which were significantly higher than last year’s. She said that tax relief is available in certain cases upon petition to the county.

B. Signs. Gretchen said that she didn’t think that the Mews should split the extra fee for lowering the height of the parking lot signs, an offer made by Mr. Rhodes of Legum & Norman. Sher Opal explained her original intent to avoid having the signs damaged by lawn mowing equipment and how much the extra work cost.

A motion was made by Ben Marglin to split the extra cost on the signs with Legum & Norman, who would reimburse the Mews $600; Seth Low seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

III. Treasurer’s Report.

Seth Low reported that at the current point in the year, there was a surplus of $21,000. passed out copies of the approved budget for the fiscal year. He then asked the board two questions about the fiscal year ending July 31, 2004 that were necessary for the audit. The board responded unanimously in the negative to the question as to whether the board was aware of any actual instances of fraud within the Association, and to the question as to whether the board had any suspicions of fraud within the Association and if yes, where and how.

Inas Hadieh reported that she had had a hard time getting together with the auditors to do the audit. Don Taylor requested that Sher and Seth contact Howard Goldklang, the president of the auditing firm, to see why the audit was taking so long. Seth agreed to make the call.

Seth gave an update on the reserve schedule and an update on the FY2005 budget. He asked management to explain the difference between the original budgeted amount of $329,000 for expenses and a revised amount of $288,000.

David Biette asked why the amount for delinquent accounts was 50% higher than it had been for the previous months. Management explained that the fluctuation was within the normal amounts. David asked management to provide the board with a chart of accounts.

IV. Committee Reports

Gretchen Martin said she was happy to see so many residents volunteering on committees.

A. Landscape Committee. Tom Corbin reported that there was a deposit on the tree fertilizing program which takes place at different times for different species. He said that Environmental Enhancements had cleaned up the hedge along King Street; the cost of that was $540. Gretchen and Tom discussed their efforts to determine who was actually in charge of cleaning up the area.

Tom explained the proposed protocol on landscaping to be distributed to residents. He explained that the document put together all references to landscaping from the handbook and put them in one document. David Biette asked for clarification on the definition of approved mulches. Sher asked that the date reference to the handbook be removed, and asked that final reports on roles and responsibilities for all committees be submitted.

A motion to approve the two forms from the landscaping committee, to be distributed in the spring with the recreation pass application, was made by Ben Marglin and seconded by Seth low. The motion was approved unanimously.

B. Recreation Committee. David Biette said that the contract for the pool was ready to be signed, and that language should be added regarding the possibility of keeping the pool open after Labor Day at the same rates. He said that the bill for $2,3116 should be paid from the recreation budget, not reserves.

Roger Taylor reported that the options for repairing the tennis courts would cost less than what had been presented in the Seal report. His first recommendation was that net strap anchor be fixed on the west court at 36th Street. He reported that he had had several conversations with Bishop’s Tennis, and suggested that Bishop’s was the company to go with. He added that other companies subcontract their tennis work to Bishop’s. Roger also suggested that the board consider alternative uses for the 36th Street courts, and whether or not it wanted to spend the funds to have the cracks repaired. There was concern by Don Taylor that there might be complaints by owners that all three tennis courts might not be available as they once were. Roger agreed to get more information on costs for nets, a backboard (and the amount of noise from the backboard), and ball-catcher nets.

C. Newsletter Committee. The Newsletter committee reported that the last issue cost slightly more because of the extra page; the cost was $130. The next issue is scheduled for March, with a deadline for submissions of March 5th.

V. Monthly Financial Management Report

The monthly financial report was discussed, especially that projects that might pull from reserves have been put on hold (roofing, paving, replacing the pool deck). Seth Low requested that the line item for “common elements” needs to be broken down for specific projects so that budgeting can be better and more accurate. Vail Mosier requested to see reports of past spending as a basis for future budgeting; she and Inas agreed to meet to duscuss. Ben Marglin said that replacement reserves should not go down.

The board agreed to try to get a draft budget out for review in mid-April which would be presented at the May meeting, for a vote at the annual meeting in June. It was also agreed that a preliminary meeting to discuss the budget might be helpful.

I. Old Business

A. Court 11 Cherry Tree.

A motion to keep the cherry tree on the north side of Court 11 was made by Seth Low, seconded by Ann Noonan. The motion was approved unanimously.

B. Court 12 Crape Myrtles.

A motion to keep the three crape myrtles on the north side of Court 12, and not to remove one, and to trim all three, was made by Seth Low, seconded by Gretchen Martin. The motion passed 4-1, with David Biette voting against the motion.

C. Maintenance Company Holiday Gift.

A motion to give the Engelking maintenance company a holiday gift of $100 was approved unanimously.

II. New Business

A. Plumbing Repairs Court 14. Sher explained urgent sewer repairs that were needed for Court 14, where replacement was needed instead of relining that had been done in other courts. The board discussed the proposal presented by Dwyer Plumbing to do the work.

A motion to approve the plumbing contract with Dwyer Plumbing for $14,400 to replace two sewer lines in Court 14 was made by Ben Marglin, seconded by Seth Low. The motion passed unanimously.

A separate discussion ensued on the quality of the sewer line relining work done by JED Mechanical, and on the need to camera the lines all the way into the buildings, not just stopping at the joint between and old and relined lines.

B. Pool Contract. The contract was discussed earlier in the meeting and was good to go with the insertion of a request for an option to keep the pool open after Labor Day at the same rates.

C. Disputed Plumbing Bill. Sher presented correspondence between her office and the non-resident owner at 4690A South 36th Street. Gretchen Martin noted that a Legum & Norman employee had said that the repair would be covered by the condominium. It was agreed to revisit this issue in February.

D. Tree Care Services. The contract had been signed, to come out of the landscaping budget.

E. Variance Request.

A motion to approve installation of two new electrical circuits for kitchen work at 4637A South 36th Street was made by Ann Noonan and seconded by David Biette. The motion passed unanimously.

III. Establishment of Next Meeting. The next meeting of the Mews board of directors will be held on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. at the Fairlington Community Center.

IV. Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m.