MINUTES for meeting 6-1-20 Call to Order via Zoom: 6:35
Present: Tim Hauert, President; Andrea Cinnamon, Vice President; Colleen Wepprecht, Jim Muhlstadt, Treasurer; Christy Strole, Secretary; Benay McCue, Homeowner Jerome Warner
Minutes of 5-6-20 approval: Christy moved, Benay seconded, Tim asked about the $25 late fee, wasn’t it just a dollar a day? Christy will check and make it right. Motion carried. (Christy looked it up: Minutes of July 2010 said the board decided on $25 plus $1 a day up to $250.)
Treasurer’s report approval: Christy moved, Colleen seconded, motion carried.
Public Comments: Jerome Warner has retained Nick Elliott to sue us for draining our detention pond into his back yard. He says the rock wall is on our property and it causes the outflow of the detention pond to go north to his house. It has been a year since he came to us and he hasn’t heard from us. We explained that our lawyer said if a lawsuit is possible, individual board members should not have conversations with Mr. Warner, business should be conducted only during board meetings. We also explained what we have done since he appeared at the board meeting in July of 2019. Mr. Warner said that there is a board of trustees for Limestone Township, which when asked to clarify he said that a couple of the guys on the county drainage board cover Limestone. He said we should have contacted them. He has not contacted them and doesn’t know a name. The Farm Bureau would know their names, he said. He said he thinks the drainage tile under Schneider’s field starts 400’ or a couple hundred yards from his property line. We asked him to send us a picture of the flooding and the name of the person at the Farm Bureau and he agreed. He reminded us that the document he emailed us that clearly states that a landowner cannot divert the flow of water. Christy noted that the last section of that document indicated that compliance was largely voluntary, as no penalty has been established. We will discuss his issue during closed session.
Closed session:
Old Business:
Lot 66: septic overflow (since 2012) has not pulled up the pipe. Christy will ask Ann to send a letter giving him until July 15 to have the drainage pipe removed from our detention pond. If it is not, we will pay to have the work done and send him the bill.
Lightbulbs at Entrances are okay now, we think. Scott Styck has not gotten back to us regarding the solar light option.
Overdue dues: Letters were sent to the six homeowners, due June 15. Three homeowners have not yet paid: Warner, Gessner and Love. Jim will tell Christy who is still delinquent after June 15th. She will send them letters letting them know that the penalty will be assessed and a lien on their property will result.
Taxes paid? Jim has not heard back from Geoffrey Johns. He will give them until Friday, then Benay suggests Dan Borschnecht.
Trailers all gone? Yes!
New Business:
We canceled the garage sale due to Covid 19 via email and informed the homeowners. Several said they’d have sales anyway. A second email was sent explicitly explaining that homeowners are solely responsible in case Covid is transmitted and they are sued for it.
Ann Brezinski got back to us re Lot 65’s drainage issue. Notes of that phone call are attached. For the first time, our lawyer is saying we might be liable since our detention pond is draining into Lot 65. She feels this will need to end in civil litigation. She’s not a litigator, but recommends Nick Elliott and Dana Meyer. She suggests we have a couple of tiling contractors come out and see how much it would cost to tie our detention pond drainage into the tiling of Schneider’s field. Back in August of 2009 Mr. Schneider suggested we split the $13,000 cost of doing so, but the board decided not to. Paying for tile on property outside of the subdivision may not have been considered a proper use of association funds.
So the board decided Tim will go ask the Farm Bureau who we can talk to from the county drainage board. He’ll let us know how that goes. We have already spoken to the county building department, county health department and county road commissioner on this issue. If we need to consult Dana Meyer, we will vote by email since that will require expending association funds. Tim said that Schneider didn’t just dam up our detention pond and Warner’s back yard, there is a series of dams along the west edge of our subdivision. Those homeowners have drainage issues as well, but none as bad as Warner because his house is at the lowest point per those topographical maps.
Adjourn: Jim moved we adjourn, Andrea seconded. Time: 7:45
