The Official Website of Blairstone Forest located in Tallahassee, Florida.
BFCA Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
6:00 P.M. Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Jack McLean Community Center Meeting Room
Call to Order: 6 p.m.
Attendance:
Board Members: Llona Geiger, Fred Willes, Ben Clark, Virginia Sasser (board member elect)
Officers: Treasurer: Ben Clark Secretary: Margaret Stephens
Committee Chairs: Crime Watch: Frank Roycraft
TPAM Representatives: Jess Helton, Maggie Baker
Wildlife Specialist: Dan Roberts of Expel Wildlife
Members:
Sue Dinges, Keith Tucker, Charlotte Hicks, Lynda Davis, Ansel Bubel, Mario Lopez, Frank Roycraft,
Mike McCrea, Karen Willes
Old Business:
The minutes of the August 2, 2018 meeting were unanimously approved via email on August 7, 2018
New Business:
The agenda was adopted at 6:03 and all present introduced themselves.
President’s Report – Llona Geiger
Susan Law, chair of the nominations committee, resigned as chair but wants to continue involvement. The board will be looking for a replacement.
The transition to the new management company, TPAM, had a slow start but worked itself out.
For the new covenant enforcement process – the appeals committee was formed with Steve Wright, Karen Cummings and Jane McElroy with Johnny Richardson as an alternate. The new process started after coordination with attorney. In Phase I, 10 letters were sent to the owners with violations. 8 were corrected and 2 were not. These 2 are owners not living in the house. Phase II will include more minor violations like garbage cans in the driveway.
Repairs that are completed include a fence, pond and AAA tree job. This invoice for AAA is not paid pending removal of the damaged poop station. Repairs initiated include an electrical repair on the front entrance and on island that requires landscape work. The water pump is broken and a ticket was submitted to TPAM.
Board Votes Since August Meeting
Date Subject Votes
08/07/2018 Voted to Approve August Minutes Yes – unanimous
08/15/2018 Voted on appeals committee Yes – unanimous
09/24/2018 Voted to approve new Board member to replace Ben Oct 3 Yes – Geiger
Yes – Clark
Abstained then conditional Yes – Willes
10/01/2018 Voted to spend 500$ for tree that got removed Yes – unanimous
Wildlife Specialist Proposal – Dan Roberts
Dan presented a plan to remove the beavers. His company would set up 20 traps around the pond and check them every weekday morning for 10 days. The setup fee is $1500 and an additional cost of $125 for each beaver removed. Keith Tucker suggested that the steel fence barrier (that is there to prevent beavers from entering) should be checked. It was asked about the fate of the beavers. Dan explained that they are euthanized on the daily checks. The traps are reset on the weekends so that no trapping is done. Charlotte Hicks asked if the beaver traps and activity will be visible to those on the pond and Dan said people probably wouldn’t notice them.
The board unanimously approved spending up to $3,150 in 2019 for beaver removal.
Crime Watch – Frank Roycraft
Frank plans to walk the neighborhood with Bill Walter and verify contact information.
ACC Report – Fern Senra (via e-mail)
1676 Silverwood Drive; request to change front door. Request was approved.
2779 Red Maple Ridge; request to put up a fence panel to hide trash cans. Request was approved.
1675 Silverwood Drive; request for backyard picket fence: Request is pending additional information needed from the homeowner.
Grounds Committee Report – Tracie Priest (via e-mail)
Three homeowners allowed the committee to go into their yards to pull coral ardisia, potato air plants, Japanese climbing ferns, and mimosa trees (the bigger trees still need to be chain-sawed). If anyone else would like a one-time go-through, we’ll be happy to accommodate.
When the tree cutting around the pond is complete, and the weather is much cooler, a community effort will be organized to prepare those areas most devastated by the tree loss and the heavy equipment damage. If everyone became a member of the Arbor Foundation, they will send you 12 native flowering trees that you could donate for pond area or to replenish your own yards. I think 2 crepe myrtles are in that too, but we can find somewhere else for those. Though they’d be small, having several dozen would be a huge benefit for our neighborhood. They will be mailed to you at the right tree-planting time of the year.
Always looking for more volunteers, especially when the weather is cooler.
Treasurer’s Report – Ben Clark
Ben prepared a similar spreadsheet with the template provided by Karen Willes. He would like to see expenditure reports from TPAM but they haven’t provided them yet. He would also like a report of outstanding dues from TPAM.
Click here for the financial report.
Budget/Assessments/Expenses Discussion
The board asked for member comments on dues assessments for 2019 and provided the below documents to assist.
Click here for Budget/Priorities
A lengthy discussion included below:
Fred Willes: Wanted to talk about priorities and budget in deciding dues assessment. Provided budget/priorities document.
Llona Geiger: Moved to begin assessment discussion
Linda Davis: Preferred a continuation of $600 assessment
Mario Lopez: Referred to $600 as “peanuts” and it’s worth it to preserve the forest and beauty of the neighborhood.
Sue Dinges: $600 is a hardship and Sue feels she is representing others who have a hard time with the $600 dues. Maybe $400.
Mike McCrea: Thinks $600 is over-charging. If $600 is $170 over budget then maybe it should be reduced some.
Mario Lopez: Never questioned the increase to $600
Linda Davis: The big jump to $600 was because of the roads.
Frank Roycraft: 600$ is too high – we are losing people because the dues are too high. Maybe $500
Ben Clarke: Wanted to talk about priorities – thinks the dues should be lower. $475 would still allow wriggle room.
Margaret Stephens: Sees both sides and noted that it is hard to absorb all the supporting materials in just a few minutes. Appreciates the work involved and polling the members at the meeting. Maybe lower to $500.
Virginia Sasser: Sees both sides but suggested lowering dues to $450 and possibly raising them again if needed.
Mike McCrea: Suggested $500 then re-assess next year
The Board voted unanimously for the 2019 dues to be $500. Decisions on setting priorities and allocating the Association to fund those was postponed. Those decisions are yet to be made by the Board.
Meeting Adjourned 7:43 pm
The next scheduled meeting will be the annual meeting of all homeowners at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, January 24, 2019 at the Myers Park Community Center. Note: It is currently undergoing renovation,k so this might change.