Townhouse annual meeting

The townhouse association held its annual meeting. There were only four people in the audience that were not on THA committees. Seven in the audience weren’t on the agenda. The Bensons were there for the Guadalajara bridge and did have questions concerning the annual budget. There were eight people total in the audience. One of them left well before the meeting was concluded.
The guest auditor spoke first and was allowed to leave once he went over the auditors report. He read, "in our opinion, the financial statements referred to above fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of Hot Springs Village Townhouse Association as of December 31, 2009, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in conformity with United States generally accepted accounting principles."
Along with the letter the 2009 balance sheet and the 2009 statement of revenue and expenses was submitted by the auditor.
Fred Benson asked about the developer contributions included on the balance sheet. The auditor said they included the THA building with office, the swimming pool and other appurtenances given at the time the THA took over from Cooper.
Board director Bill Turner corrected the amount owed by the homeowners for the engineering plans to repair the Guadalajara bridge, as reflected in the last meeting minutes. The amount read $2,070 it should have read $2,750.
Board director Larry Siler submitted the treasurer’s report for the first quarter of 2010. He also generated a report showing the health of the THA from 2004. He went over the list of continuing goals for the association. Safety is still number one.
Director Henry Frank had his say on the THA spending any money on the pool or the bridge. He said, "before we commit additional funds from the THA I think we have to determine whether it should come out of the THA or the court funds. I don’t think it has been clearly defined in our discussions of the tiered assessments." He added, "the tiered assessments were approved in 2006 and the decision was upheld in court."
"One of the biggest expenditures of the association is coming up and I think we need clarification. Our attorney said in April that tiered assessment is legal. The funding of the bridge is the first issue and there could be others down the road. I am confused from the standpoint previous boards have worked to get tiered assessment to get each court to stand on its own. Now there are 16 courts and over 900 doors."
"I don’t think we should spend money on the bridge or the pool unless we have clarification."
"The bridge is a safety issue requiring a special assessment. I think we have to be very careful in clarifying the issue."
Director Robert Jordan said there needs to be a change in the handbook that is issued to every new THA owner. The pool will be removed from the handbook as a THA responsibility.
Other committee members suggested the legal documents be updated as well.
Director Jim Bigg suggested the definition of common property and limited common property needed to be clarified in the documents.
The board members discussed the lack of teeth in enforcing THA by-laws.
Board director Robert Jordan read a letter into the minutes reflecting the loser’s side of the vote taken at the May 4 meeting regarding the repairs to be made to the DeSoto Pool from THA funds. Funds were allocated for the repairs. Jordan and the minority are not happy.
THA general managers Glenn Zarpaylic reported Reserve Advisors will arrive tomorrow to meet with the THA board members between 2 and 2:30 p.m. to answer any questions regarding their evaluation and prioritization of the courts needs.
The only committee chair that showed up for the annual meeting was nominations committee chair Dot Ashley. She explained again the requested changes to the nominations and elections process. All but one of the committee initiatives was approved. The board will not do background checks on prospective board members.
After much wrangling the board voted to spend $6,100 on the engineering plans to replace or repair the Guadalajara bridge. The money will be loaned to Guadalajara Court with an interest rate of up to 7-percent. This decision was made without any input from members of Guadalajara Court. The board said it has to have the specs to get bids to bring a total dollar amount in front of Guadalajara Court members. This is a matter expected to go to the legal court system. The cost may never be recovered from Guadalajara Court to the THA. Robert Jordan was the only dissenting vote regarding the expenditure of the $6,100, the interest and the lack of a time frame on the repayment to the THA.
Siler said they must move forward with this safety issue immediately. He is tired of the board dragging its feet on such a huge safety issue. Siler said he would quit six months from now if this issue had not be resolved.
Jordan said he wanted the homeowners to pay up front. Benson said he was given until June 22 to reply and he will pay his share and reply as directed.