Annual Meeting Minutes

Board Members Present:  Paul Canny, president, Dick Vautravers, Treasurer, Carol Conway, Secretary, Linda Siedhoff, Jim Wharry and Tammy Hanel.

Approved absences:  None

Staff: Don McIntyre

The meeting was called to order at 2:02 p.m. by President Canny with 28 members present.

President Canny acknowledged the residents in attendance and asked new residents to please stand and he acknowledged them.  He asked that all residents that have lived in Wellington Greens over twenty years to stand, asked for those over 25 years and those over thirty years. He introduced Board members.  He introduced the Administrative Assistant, Don McIntyre

President Canny asked for approval of the 2019 Annual Meeting Minutes.  A motion was made by Dick Vautravers and seconded and seconded by Jim Wharry that they be approved. The motion carried.

President Canny introduced the candidates up for election to the Board of Directors and asked them to make their presentation to the group.  The candidates were Vaughn Carter, Barb Casey, Linda Siedhoff and David Fries.  Mr. Fries was not present at this time.

The Candidates made their presentations.

President Canny called a recess so that members could cast their ballots.

The meeting was called back to order and as the votes were being counted, the officers gave their annual reports.

President’s State of the Association – Paul Canny

Welcome to the 2020 Wellington Greens Annual Meeting. One thing I can say for certain…..no one at last year’s Wellington Greens annual meeting predicted that this year’s meeting would include wearing masks and social distancing.

Overall, it has been a very good year for Wellington Greens.  Our staff does an excellent job and deserves our thanks. Thanks to Don McIntyre who does everything from maintaining our website to producing the monthly newsletter and numerous other tasks.  There have been some major changes; two board members resigned during the year.  Jim Davidson resigned from the board and he and his wife moved to the Houston area.  Steve Imes resigned for personal reasons. Linda Siedhoff and Tammy Hanel agreed to fill the vacancies and serve on the board. They are terrific additions to the board and have accomplished a lot with the architectural and social committees in a very short time.  We thank all the people that have volunteered and served on the architectural, landscape, and finance committees and as court captains this year.  Volunteering for Wellington Greens’ committees is a way to help maintain our grounds and to meet other homeowners. I want to thank the four people who are candidates for the board, all of them have the skills and temperament to be a great addition to the board.  Some things that haven’t changed.  The maintenance staff always work hard to keep the Wellington Greens common areas and golf course in excellent condition.  A big “thank you” to Dan, Eric, and Ryan.  The grounds look great despite a number of damaging wind storms and periods of time with very little rain.  The golf course, especially the greens, is in excellent condition.  Speaking of the golf course, this year Wellington Greens has the highest number of non-resident golf memberships it has ever had, thanks to the efforts of board member Carol Conway and the golf committee.  A big Thank you to the individuals who give of their time and energy to serve on the Wellington Board.  The Board maintains focused on three different items; the immediate needs of the association, the longer-term needs, and the financial stability of the association. On this last item, the board has decided there will not be an increase in monthly dues for the up-coming year. The board works hard to address the immediate needs of the Association, working with the staff to keep the grounds and the courts in good shape and working with homeowners to comply with the rules of the association in areas like architectural and landscape maintenance. At the same time the Board focuses on the future; what are the big issues the association will likely face and develop a plan to address them.  Some examples of the longer-term issues the board has addressed in the past are the funding and construction of a new maintenance building, the renovation of the clubhouse and development of a multi-year plan to address the ash borer infestation.  Each of these issues required the board to develop plans, timelines, and funding to address the issues. This year the major expenditures will be for maintenance equipment so that we have the equipment necessary to clear snow this winter.  As we look forward toward the next few years, we know that dealing with concrete issues will be high on the agenda. Board member Jim Wharry has brought together a committee that is looking at all of the courts and will make recommendations to the board this winter as we develop a long-term strategy to meet the needs for concrete replacement.

Wellington Greens is a outstanding place to live.  Whenever I tell people I live in Wellington Greens they respond with comments about how beautiful it is. I recently read some research results that seniors who lived near green spaces live longer than those who didn’t.  That’s just another reason I am thankful to live in Wellington Greens. Personally, it has been a privilege being part of the Board and working with home owners and committees the last few years, working with people who are willing, without personal agendas, who give their time and energy to keep Wellington Greens an outstanding place to live.

Next, we will hear from individual board members and after that residents will have the opportunity to address the board. Residents who want to speak will be limited to three minutes.

Treasurer Report – Dick Vautravers

My name is Dick Vautravers, and I am a member of the Board and Treasurer for the Wellington Greens Homes Association.  I am going to report on the Financial Statements from Watts and Hershberger that are available by the back door.  If you don’t have a copy, you may pick one up now at the back.

The Fiscal Year for our Association runs from October 1 through September 30.  The Financials that you have in front of you compare the results for the years ending September 30, 2019 and September 30, 2020.  Our financial records are maintained by Barb Geiger at Professional Accounting Services, our contracted accounting service.  The Compilation is prepared by our independent public accountant Watts and Hershberger.  Barb and Jim Watts are both CPA’s.

Our Association is over 50 years old.  Dan Riner, who authorizes (and spends) most of our expenses, has been at Wellington Greens for 48 years, most of the time as Head Groundskeeper.  This is my second term as Treasurer.  We’ve used Professional Accounting Services since 2011 and Watts and Hershberger have done our Compilations for over 20 years.  Our financial results are and have been very stable and predictable.

Let me go through some of the highlights from the Compilation.  If you were the shareholders of a corporation and I was giving these results, you would be very pleased.  We had revenues in excess of expenses by about the same margin as last year, and our cash position has improved significantly.  However, we didn’t plan to have this much margin this year.

Starting on page 2, let me give you the highlights:

• Our cash increased by about $73,000, which about equaled the excess of revenues over expenses.  Our member assessments receivable decreased from about $30,000 to about $16,000, as we had several large balances cleared.
• Page 3 shows revenue exceeded expenses by $73,476.  We had budgeted a breakeven year but did not spend according to plan.  Golf fees were at probably the all-time high of $34,485, as the course was much-used during this Covid year.  Expenses were lower than planned, primarily in spending on buildings and grounds.  We spent only $4,200 of a budgeted $25,000 on concrete.  We had not done a thorough review of concrete for several years, and we weren’t ready to pull the trigger by mid-summer when the best season for work was finishing.  We prefer to do the work earlier in the summer so the concrete can cure before we spread sand or salt during the winter.  As Jim Wharry will report later, we have now done our plan, are getting bids and will be working next year.  We are carrying the remaining $20,000 over and have a total of $65,000 into next year’s concrete budget.  The rest of our expenditures were generally less than planned as we had fewer equipment repairs, infrastructure repairs and storm damage in the common area.
• Page 5 shows that the increase in cash just about equals the excess of revenues over expenses.  The additions to equipment (tractor and spreader) just about equaled the depreciation plus the added cash from the decrease in receivables.

Our budget for next year assumes we will have expenses in excess of revenues of about $45,000, due mainly to the increase in concrete spending.  We also plan the purchase of additional equipment totaling about $50,000, as Jim Wharry will report on later.  So, we will be spending the accumulated cash down.  But the budget also assumes no increase in dues, which we assume makes you, our shareholders, happy.  The major hurdle on the horizon continues to be concrete.  So, we will continue to look at whether or not we can maintain our dues at the current level next October 1.

I want to thank our Finance Committee, which consists of board members Jim Wharry and Carol Conway, as well as residents Bob Shapiro and Velda Menard.  We had email discussions in April, held a Zoom session in July to draft a preliminary budget and met again this month to talk about accounting procedures and controls.

I will be happy to answer any questions during the Resident Question and Answer later this afternoon.

Golf Report – Carol Conway

Well, this has been a very strange year for everyone but it has also been a banner year for our little golf course.  The golf course has been a great place for people to get out for fresh air, social distance and have a great time.

We had a record number of non-resident members and a record income from the course.  There are 75 family memberships, 44 single, 6 youth and 9 grandparents…. for a total of 134 memberships. The income for the year is $34,485 which is over $6700 up from last year.

This summer, we got a women’s league started on Monday evenings and it has been a huge success.  We had anywhere from 4 to 14 people show up every week.  The only thing we played for was the fun and camaraderie.

I want to remind everyone once again that anyone not living in your household is a guest and therefore, is subject to the guest fee which remains at $8 a day per person.  This includes grandchildren unless you are interested in buying a grandparent pass for $50 a year.  We have done this with our own grandchildren and it’s definitely worth it.

Also, I consistently see people playing without shoes on and this is not acceptable.  We require that shoes are worn on the course and this is for your safety.

If anyone is new to Wellington Greens, you must contact me for a golf tag.

Thank you for your time and thanks for being here.

Landscape – Carol Conway

In 2020, the Landscape Committee did a walk around and sent out approximately 60 letters regarding weeds and trees.  For the most part, the response was very positive.  I want to thank Paul Canny, Judy Dyer and Tammy Hanel for being a part of that committee.  Their input was invaluable.

The residents of San Simeon at 7221 South St are working together with Campbell’s Nursery to spruce up the entrance to their court.  I looking forward to seeing the finished product next spring.

We have removed 13 ash trees during the past year.  There are 34 remaining.  8 ash trees are scheduled to be removed this fall.

There were 23 other tree removals both in house and commercially.  However, no new trees have been planted and since we are in a drought, there will be no trees planted until next year.

There have been several storms this year that have caused removal of trees.  Once again, I will remind residents that you are always able to plant a tree at your expense.  We had a redbud tree removed from outside our back patio.  That tree was one of the reasons we purchased our home.  But it has been slowly dying over the last few years.  This year a storm brought most of it down so it had to be removed.  Our plan is to purchase a flowering tree to replace it.  Of course, this is done with the approval of the landscape committee and Dan Riner.  If you wish to purchase a tree to be planted around your unit, please contact me and we will get the process started.

There were 12 shrubs removed for residents.  If you have a shrub that needs to be pulled, please contact either myself or Dan Riner and the guys will take care of that.  They removed 2 for me this year.

There are 4 sites on the commons ground that are no longer being maintained by residents.  Three of those sites were planted by former residents and the current residents asked for it to be put back to grass.

If you have an issue with a neighbor’s landscaping or have a request or a concern, please contact me and I will see what I can do about it.

As always, please leave your outside lights on during a snowstorm to help the grounds crew get their plowing done.

Thank you for being here.

Architecture – Linda Siedhoff

The committee viewed all 277 residential homes this year looking and any that needed any kind of repair, replacement or painting.  We sent out approximately 108 letters to homeowners asking for them to repair as needed.  Many are working on that or have completed necessary repairs.  We will be doing follow-up on this in November as all repairs were to be completed by October 31.  The campus is looking really good and will continue to do so.  Respectfully submitted, Linda Siedhoff. Chairman

Court Captains – Linda Siedhoff

We have completed finding a court captain for every court and find it very useful to contact them.  We held our first court captain meeting in October this year and it was attended by 12 court captains.  We have 20 courts.  I was very encouraged by their enthusiasm and they agreed to have a meeting every spring and fall.  Respectfully submitted, Linda Siedhoff, Chairman.

Hospitality – Tammy Hanel

There is not much to report on for hospitality for 2020.  We are hoping for a better 2021.  We are putting together a list of contractors, painters, plumbers, electricians and handymen to put on the web site to assist residents.  So, if you have a contractor that you really love, email their contact information to me.

Long Range Planning – Jim Wharry

We had a meeting in January and then the virus hit.  The main items discussed were equipment replacement.  We need to replace a tractor and that will cost $50,000 plus. Dan is getting bids on that.  Next, we need to replace a pickup, we have a 1999 and that is going to cost $34,000 to $35,000.  Dan has a tree removal schedule set up.  We also have clubhouse renovation; we would like to update the kitchen and basement.  Other items mentioned which we call a wish list, were benches along the sidewalks so people could sit down on their walks and maybe an association directory and I don’t think this would cost anything, churches all have directories.  We need to do succession planning; Dan has been here forty plus years and is going to retire sooner or later, we hope later.  Those will be big shoes to fill

Concrete – Jim Wharry

The concrete committee met in June and that consists of Ned Hedges, Dotti Shapiro, Bob Webb and I.  We looked at structural problems that Dan pointed out in some courts that need fixing.  We had a report from a 2014 concrete survey and we checked to see what was done and found that most of it was fixed, at least the major items.  Some smaller items were not.  We set up two concrete contractors, Gabel Construction and The Concrete Doctor to give us surveys.  We had three, Epps Concrete dropped out saying it was too much, that we needed paving contractors.  One survey is completed by Gabel Construction; they came in and said approximately 34,500 square feet needed replacement at a cost of $9 to $10 a square foot and that would be a total of $300,000 to $350,000.  This would be spread out long term.  The Concrete doctor will give us a bid in November, early December.  We have $65,400 in the budget next year for concrete.  We will compare the two surveys and set priorities on what has to be done first.  Dan and Bob know much more about concrete that I do.

We talked about the board instituting a concrete cost sharing program for drive way replacement.  Right now, we do not know if there will be money for that and it has been put on hold until we can complete the surveys and set our priorities.  We do not feel we can start a program such as this unless and until we can support it.  Be patient, hopefully we can implement it as soon as we find the funds.

President Canny said that David Fries was present now and asked him to make his presentation.

Mr. Fries made his presentation.

Residents’ questions to the Board members were taken.  Discussion was had about “for rent” and “for sale” signs on common property and Don was instructed to put that of the agenda for the next board meeting.

Election results were announced by President Canny.  Linda Siedhoff and Vaughn Carter were elected.

President Canny thanked the volunteers that worked today.

Treasurer Vautravers presented an award to Paul Canny for his many years of service on the Board of Directors.

President Canny declared the meeting adjourned at 3:18 p.m.

Respectively submitted: W. Don McIntyre, Administrative Assistant