May 2024 Towne South Meeting Minutes
TOWNE SOUTH HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Open Meeting Minutes – May 21, 2024
Board Present – Hugh McWilliams, Jackie Tebbe, Greg Hertlein, and Dave Carr, plus Administrative Assistant Mary Ann McWilliams. In addition to the Board members, attendees in person included lot owners: Lucille Hines, Evelyn Bevans, and Don Cannon. Attendees via Zoom included: Anna Lang and Katie Mizera.
In the absence of Chair Ryan Storie, Vice Chair Hugh McWilliams called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm and welcomed and thanked all for attending. Board members were introduced.
1. Approval of Minutes from April 16, 2024. The Board has reviewed the minutes from the April 16, 2024 Open Meeting and has approved them as presented. They will be posted on the website as soon as possible. Evelyn asked if she could have a copy tonight, but Jackie stated that our minutes cannot be made public until they are reviewed and approved by the Board, which just happened. Check the website in a few days for those minutes.
2. Financial Update - April – Income for the month came in at $3,885.49, most of which was from assessment fees. Late fees were $585 and recovered lien income was $438.25. April expenses were $2,317.97, most of which were $900.00 in lawn care. Other expenses included our general liability insurance, office supplies postage, utilities and miscellaneous other items. We were able to show a net profit of $1,567.52 for April. However, the highest expense months are ahead of us. Our YTD thru May 21, 2024 is showing total income of $42,959.34 and expenses of $18,762.82. Lawn care expenses to date are $4,410 and tree maintenance and removal is already at $6,200 plus Jackie has a bill to pay now of $3,500 for the latest tree problems. This brings our tree expenses for 2024 already over the budgeted amount. The balance in our checking account is $30,095.23 and in our Money Market it’s $26,610.15. We are trying to build up our reserve account to be able to have a buffer to fall back on if something major happens.
a. April 2024 - Income for the month came in at $3,885.49, most of which was from assessment fees. Late fees were $585 and recovered lien income was $438.25. April expenses were $2,317.97, most of which were $900.00 in lawn care. Other expenses included our general liability insurance, office supplies postage, utilities and miscellaneous other items. We were able to show a net profit of $1,567.52 for April. However, the highest expense months are ahead of us.
b. YTD – Our YTD thru May 21, 2024 is showing total income of $42,959.34 and expenses of $18,762.82. Lawn care expenses to date are $4,410 and tree maintenance and removal is already at $6,200 plus Jackie has a bill to pay now of $3,500 for the latest tree problems. This brings our tree expenses for 2024 already over the budgeted amount. The balance in our checking account is $30,095.23 and in our Money Market it’s $26,610.15. We are trying to build up our reserve account to be able to have a buffer to fall back on if something major happens.
3. Indentures – The six amendments to our Indentures have been ratified by our attorney and filed with the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds. The Indentures will be updated as soon as possible and put on our website.
4. Liens & Releases – No liens and one release since last meeting. We will be filing liens on those property owners who have not paid their 2024 fees in the first week of June. It was questioned how many homeowners have not paid. Mary Ann stated it’s either 6 or 7.
5. Requests for approval – One fence request approved.
6. Landscaping
a. Mowing – Greg reported that we have had to do one extra mowing because of the excessive rains we have had.
b. Trees – Greg reported that this is the “same old, same old” story. With all the storms and high winds we’ve had recently, it’s hard to keep our old trees upright.
c. Creeks – no issues to report. If all goes well, MSD should be repairing the broken culvert along Towne Centre near Waringford sometime in June.
7. Complaints – We have had two complaints since our last meeting, both of which are in the process of being resolved. Question was raised about the mess on the house on Towne South. Mary Ann reported that she is in conversation regularly with the property management people but it’s becoming a long and tedious problem. Rest assured, we are working on it.
8. Zone Captains – Hugh stated that there will be a meeting on June 2, 4:30, at his house for all Zone Captains and for those who have expressed an interest in learning more about it. So far 13 have said they will be there. We still have 3 vacant zones to cover. Zone 1, 6 and 9 and may have one more. You do not have to live in the zone to be that Zone Captain. It’s also encouraged that people get a friend/neighbor to help them. There is a map on our website marking off the zones.
New Business
a) Fall Party – The Board is wanting to have another subdivision party, but looking for a cooler time and suggesting either the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of October. Ideas include making it a Halloween theme and maybe doing a chili cook-off contest, and have more activities for kids. If you want to help plan this event, please let Jackie know.
Old Business
a) Establish a Beautification Group to help with spring clean up. I know this has been mentioned before, but we really want to move forward with this. It has been suggested that since we have acquired so many email addresses of our homeowners, that we can send out a blast email asking for help. We will define exactly what we want help with. It’s been suggested that people want to know exactly what to expect and that stating a specific date and time may not work best. Make a list of what we want done and ask people to pick something they want to do. This will be on the agenda at the Zone Captains meeting on June 2.
Open for Floor Discussions –
Any questions?
1. Katie Mizera offered to help plan the October party.
2. Question was asked if we think the new lawn company is doing a good job. Yes, for the most part. They are going slower and doing more trimming around our white fences. We have had to bring a few things to their attention, but they have been more than willing to take care of these items. Greg thinks that our common ground areas are looking nice.
3. Evelyn asked what our procedure is on removing trees. What determines whether a tree is just dropped in place or removed? She asked for this information last month and has not gotten a reply yet. Hugh stated that the Board has met on her question/issue and she will be receiving a written response later this week. Each case has to be reviewed and evaluated on a case-by-case basis. There is no hard fast rule. It comes down to accessibility, cost and safety.
4. Evelyn stated that our entrances are not looking good at all. They have deteriorated over the past few years. She suggested we hire a professional landscaper to take care of them and spruce them up. Greg stated that we can’t afford a professional landscaper. We have to depend on volunteers and that is one of the areas we will be asking our Beautification Committee to focus on. Or perhaps by sending out the email Jackie is proposing we will get one or two people who will step up and say they will take care of one of the entrances/signs, or some other job they might want. Evelyn again stated that she didn’t see why we couldn’t afford to have these things done with all the dues money we take in. Jackie stated that our annual budget was made public at the 2024 annual meeting and was approved. The $57.50 collected from each homeowner barely meets our budget as it is, much less adding more expenses. At this point, care of the common ground and old trees takes up most of our projected budget.
Hugh asked if anyone had anything more to bring to the Board at this time. There being none, the Towne South Homeowners Association Open Monthly Meeting was adjourned at 7:25 pm. The next meeting will be on June 18, 2024, 7:00 pm at Prince of Peace UCC.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ann McWilliams
Administrative Assistant