Minutes 8-7-19

MINUTES 8-7-19 Call to Order: 6:35 pm Present: Tim Hauert, President, Andrea Cinnamon, Vice President, Jim Muhlstadt, Treasurer Christy Strole, Secretary, Lisa Meyer, Heather Gill and Jeff Souligne Public Comments: Jim Gall joined us but had no comments. Minutes approval: Lisa moved, Jeff seconded, minutes were approved as written. Treasurer’s report approval: For the June treasurer’s report, Christy moved, Andrea seconded, report was approved. For the July treasurer’s report, Lisa moved, Christy seconded, report was approved. Old Business: Dufrain re bid for cleaning up landscaping: He knows he won the bid but hasn’t done the work yet. Tim will call him to get him going. Deb Turner had some high school kids pull weeds as part of their community service. Violations: Lot 95: (debris in yard) Still has debris, now house is for sale. Lot 105: (debris in yard): Problem solved Lot 65: (dumping in retention pond) see below Lot 27: (trailer) They have kept it there for only four days, so that’s some improvement. Retention pond by Lot 65: Andrea called the township road commissioner, Glen Kramer, who met her and Jim Muhlstadt on the property. He said it’s on his list to clean up weeds and rock in the retention pond and by lot 38. Tim went to see Darwin at the County Health Department, and they walked the property. There is black water coming out of a pipe, so the leach field for lot 66 may not be functioning. The county health department, in response to two complaints, wants to do a dye test on Lot 66 but the owners are out of the county for a couple weeks. The owner of lot 65 emailed to ask what progress has been made: Christy will email him an update. New Business: Lisa moved, Andrea seconded a motion to reimburse Christy for postcards and 35 cent stamps: motion carried. Receipts were given to Jim. These postcards go to the people who don’t have email addresses to let them know about our regular monthly meetings. Welcome new people: John and Tina Varvel bought Lot 19 (Benoit): welcome letter was sent Tayler and Alex Blanchette bought Lot 94 (Robertsons); welcome letter was sent. Lot 95 (Hunt) is for sale. Lot 3: Don Anderson died. Curtis, his son, lives there so I’ll send him a letter Londa and Mark Tanner bought Lot 76 (Bukowski), and a welcome letter was sent. Lot 21 has a pile of branches behind the welcome sign at the corner of Stone Ridge Drive and Pipeline Road. Tim hauled a brush pile away on clean-up day but more brush has piled up. Some of it is from our birch trees and some is from Lot 21’s trees. Maybe DuFrain will clean it up when he does the entrance signs? We’ll wait until next month. If he doesn’t clean it up we’ll contact the owners. The owners of lot 1 keep their trailer on their lot. Christy will send an email reminding them of the covenants. Lot 84 has weeds taller than the bushes. The children have taken over the widow’s finances and are paying someone to mow, but not weed. Tim will contact the daughter of the owner of Lot 84 before the condition deteriorates. Jim said a homeowner complained that they got a letter from a lawyer without any neighbor ever having said anything about the complaint against them. This is a neighborhood, and people should feel comfortable approaching each other before going to the board. But they don’t always have that kind of relationship. One function of our HOA is to follow up on complaints for the homeowners so they don’t have to. It cost us a lot of money to have Ann Brezinski send letters, so Christy made a motion that in the future we first send an email from our RBWCA email reminding violators of the covenants. We could ask them to respond and give them a deadline, after which the matter will be turned over to the attorney. Lisa seconded, motion carried. Motion to adjourn by Christy at 7:34, seconded by Andrea, motion carried. Respectfully submitted, Christy Strole Approved ___________________________ Date: ____________9-4-19__________

Minutes 7-10-19

MINUTES 7-10-19 Call to Order: 6:33 Present: Andrea Cinnamon, Vice President Christy Strole, Secretary Heather Gill Jeff Souligne Public Comments: The owner of lot 65 appeared, alleging the farmer (Schneider) who owns the field adjacent to Lot 65 has dammed the flow of water out of lot 65 with corrugated metal plating, pilings and backfill so that water does not go into his field. So now water comes down Sunset Lane, into the retention pond, then onto lot 65 and has been standing for weeks. The owner of lot 67 has an aerated septic system and the owner of lot 65 is afraid that the output of that septic dumps onto lot 65. He also reported that our mowing contractor is not string trimming the rock ditch part of the retention pond. He asked our help to resolve his drainage problem. He asked that RBWCA reimburse him to rent a pump, which would probably cost less than $150, to do a one-time pump of the standing water over the corrugated metal sheet that Schneider allegedly erected. The board did not agree to that. He doesn’t want to have to come back next month. He talked to County Code Enforcement, who quoted the statute about no one being allowed to change the flow of water and suggested he come to this board. Andrea will contact the county, and then talk to Ann Brezinski. Christy will email DuFrain and ask about trimming the rock ditch. Minutes: Christy moved, Jeff seconded, minutes were approved with one typographical error corrected. Since these minutes are searchable on Google, we will use lot numbers instead of homeowner’s names to respect privacy. Treasurer’s report was not presented as Jim was not present. Old Business: Garage Sales June 13 & 14 were successful. The first day is always busier than the second. Maybe next year we should only do one day. New stop signs? Rich Berns referred Christy to the guy at the township responsible for stop signs. He said it was his job to replace stop signs as necessary. We can’t purchase one or repaint one, we just have to wait. Andrea asked if a sign was missing at the intersection of Route 114 and River Bend Drive. Christy will check. (There is a stop sign there.) Ann Brezinski wrote letters re violations: Lot 13: unpaid dues: They paid! Lot 95: (debris in yard) She has put her house on the market. Lot 105: (debris in yard) No response. Lot 105. Lot 65: (dumping in retention pond) He appeared at tonight’s meeting. Lot 27: (trailer) No response. Sending these letters cost us $461.75. Maybe in the future we email homeowners first from the RBWCA email account, signing it from “The RBWCA Board” and if the situation is not resolved within the timeframe we give, then we have Ann send a letter. Let’s discuss this again when more people are here. Welcome new homeowners: Strelczyks sold lot 12 to Katie & Alan Glidewell, welcome letter sent Robertsons will sell lot 94 soon: they close July 11, we don’t know who. Windmillers sold lot 80 to Raymond and Claudia Berwanger, welcome letter sent Bukowskis sold lot 76 to Mark and Londa Tanner: Christy will send a letter New Business: The bylaws require us to notify every homeowner of every meeting. Deb Turner said: “If it’s a recurring monthly meeting always the first Wednesday you don’t have to give notice. I did reminder emails and the signs. I only sent letters to the few without email for the annual meeting and special events. FYI Don Anderson died last week.” We will send an email every month to the group. We could have some postcards printed for the people who don’t have email addresses. Christy will buy different stamps for the postcards. The postcards will all be printed to say, “RBWCA Meeting is Wednesday at 6:30 at the library.” Christy bought a roll of stamps: if anyone needs some, see her. She moved that we reimburse her ($55), Jeff seconded, motion carried. Christy moved we reimburse Andrea for the expenses for the garage sale (about $40) and approve the bid from DuFrain to clean up the entrance landscaping. Heather seconded, motion carried. Christy moved we adjourn. Jeff seconded, motion carried. Adjourned 7:10 pm. Respectfully submitted, Christy Strole __________________ Approved ________________ Date

Minutes 6-5-19

MINUTES 6-5-19 Call to Order: 6:33 pm Present: Tim Hauert, President Andrea Cinnamon, Vice President Christy Strole, Secretary Jeff Souligne Public Comments: Dave Rivard asked what he has to do to build a three-season room. Just bring us the contractor’s plan for our approval before you apply for a permit. Minutes approval: Tim moved, Andrea seconded: minutes were approved unanimously. Treasurer’s report approval: Christy moved, Jeff seconded: treasurer’s report was approved unanimously. Old Business: Garage Sales June 13 & 14: Christy will send the homeowners an email, post it on River Bend Neighbors email group (which reaches other neighborhoods in our area) and see if we have a facebook page. If we do, she’ll post it there. Andrea has contacted the newspapers (Daily Journal and Herscher Pilot) and will submit the receipt at next month’s meeting. Clean-up Day: Tim cleaned up the sign by Benoits but the work needed at the 113 entrance is more than one guy can do in one morning. We decided to ask some guys what it would cost to have the landscaping work done. Tim will ask around and we’ll ask for bids next month. Darek Lee’s Fence: He did not tie it in to the neighbors, but butted up against it. Christy moved we approve his fence ex post facto: Jeff seconded and the motion carried. Betty Jo Baker’s mowing: Her yard has recently been mown. Her son says the family will have Clean Cut do the mowing. All dues paid? Only Holm has not paid. Christy will email Ann Brezinski to see what it will cost to send Holms a letter. We don’t want to spend $100 to get $75. New Business: Christy bought stamps: so if a board member needs to do a mailing, get stamps from Christy. Someone’s front deck is not approved: Randy Collins has done some work to his property. He fixed the drainage issue in the back yard, which was caused by cracked and crumbling tile, which had to be dug up underneath some landscaping. He put in a sidewalk on the side of his house so he can get to the back yard without going through the house. He didn’t build a new front porch, he raised the level of the current front porch. Christy moved, Jeff seconded that we approve his sidewalk ex post facto. Motion carried. Christy moved, Jeff seconded that we approve his improvements to the front porch ex post facto. Motion carried. Cara Johnston’s brush pile: She has a brush pile on the south edge of her yard at 2264 Valley View, between some trees or bushes, which violates Covenant #19. We will ask Ann Brezinski to write her about this. Jerome Warner, 2326 Sunset Turn, is dumping grass clippings in the retention pond, where we pay Dufrain to mow. We will ask Ann Brezinski to write him about this. Thomas and Victoria Klaman, 2895 River Bend Drive, leaves his third wheel trailer out for weeks, violating Covenant #20. We will ask Ann Brezinski to write them about this. Nicole and Steve Dunn, 2256 Ridge View Lane, also need to clean up their yard, which is in violation of Covenant #19. We will ask Ann Brezinski to write them about this. Welcome Letter: We need to welcome the new owners of lots #12 (fka Strelczyk), 94 (fka Robertson) and 80 (fka Windmiller). Christy will look up the new owners and send them the welcome letter, which asks for their email address and refers them to the link for the covenants. New stop signs: Some of our stop signs are in sad shape. Christy will call the Road District Garage, 815-939-1636 and ask what the procedure is for getting new signs. She emailed the township and got no response. Adjourned 7:30 pm Approved: __________________ Signed:___________________________

Treasurer's Report 5-1-19

Treasurers Report May 1, 2019 thru May 30,2019 05/01/19 Beginning cash balance 13126.98 05/02/19 Deposit ( 5th set of dues) 525.00 13651.98 05/07/19 CK# 1300 Andrea Cinnamon (Easter) -44.80 13607.18 05/13/19 Ck# 1302 Auto Owners ins. (Property) -786.00 12821.18 05/14/19 Com Ed -42.24 12778.94 05/14/19 Ck# 1301 Dufrain Lawn Care -148.00 12630.94 05/20/19 Deposit (6th set of dues) 450.00 13080.94 05/22/19 Ck# 1303 County Collector (taxes) -55.90 13025.04 Approved _______________________ Signed _______________________

Minutes 5-1-19

Minutes for meeting 5-1-19 Call to Order: 6:30 pm Present: Tim Hauert, President Andrea Cinnamon, Vice President Jim Muhlstadt, Treasurer Heather Gill Jeff Souligne Minutes approval: Jim moved, Andrea seconded, motion carried. Treasurer’s report approval: Heather moved, Jim seconded, motion carried. Six people have still not paid dues. Christy will send another paper bill, telling them that this is the last notice from our association before the matter is turned over to our attorney. Old Business: Easter Egg Hunt 4-13-19 was successful. Clean-up Day has been rescheduled to 5/18/19, meet at 8:00 at the park. Darek Lee Fence: Tim will call him to get a layout. We have the type of fence but need to approve where he’s putting it. Randy Collins drainage: a backhoe was in the driveway, so maybe he’s taking care of it. New Business: Garage sale has been changed to June 13th and 14th, since we now know Briarcliff is holding their sales June 6 & 7. Christy will email the homeowners. Tim made a motion that we reimburse Andrea $44.80 for Easter hunt expenses. Jeff seconded, motion carried. Emmet Zumwalt submitted a design for his shed. Heather moved, Andrea seconded we approve his shed. Motion carried. Tim will document our approval on letterhead for the county so Zumwalt can get his permit. Jeff moved we adjourn. Heather seconded, motion carried at 6:55 pm.

Minutes 4-3-19

Minutes 4-3-19 Call to Order: 6:31 pm Limestone Library Present: Tim Hauert, President Andrea Cinnamon, Vice President Jim Muhlstadt, Treasurer Christy Strole, Secretary Lisa Meyer Heather Gill Jeff Souligne No other homeowners were present. Treasurer’s report was reviewed. 18 homeowners have not paid their dues that were due March 15th. They have been billed twice. We’ll wait another week, then Jim will send a new list to Christy who will send out paper overdue notices to whomever has not yet paid. Jeff moved we approve the treasurer’s report. Andrea seconded: motion carried. Minutes from last month were reviewed. O’Connor emailed to alter their bid after we decided last meeting to award the contract to Dufrain, but it was too late. Garage sale will be 8-4 pm on June 6 and 7. Christy moved we approve the minutes, Lisa seconded, motion carried. Old Business: Who mows the park? Tim checked with a guy at the park department, who said a deal was made when the park was installed that the park district would maintain the equipment and RBWCA would mow. So Dufrain will mow the park for us. Easter Egg Hunt: 4-13-19 Last year Deb spent $50 on the Easter Egg Hunt, which Andrea will spend this year. Heather will preside at the hunt from 10:00 to 10:10 on Saturday April 13th. Christy will send an email to all homeowners advertising this event, as well as clean-up day.. Choose date for clean-up day: Clean-up will be April 27th, meet at the park at 8:00 am. Jim already cleaned up the 113 entrance where a guy slid on the ice and hit the sign. New Business: Darek Lee Fence Approval: He emailed a picture of the type of fence and a bid from the contractor. Tim called and left a message, Darek hasn’t called back. We need a drawing showing where the fence will be located. Christy will email him asking for a hand-drawn representation of the location of the fence, then we will vote via email. Randy Collins drainage issue: Randy told Tim he didn’t learn about the drainage problem in his back yard until he moved in. Two aeration septic systems drain into the same retention pond area, and there’s landscape brick and dirt in an L shape on top of the ground where the water should be moving underneath. Randy is committed to doing whatever needs to be done, whether he has to repair, replace or raise the line. Jim researched this when Martin owned the property, and learned that code has changed since this system was installed. If Randy repairs or raises the line, he’s grandfathered in to the old code. If he adds a new line, he’ll have to comply with the new code, which prevents this kind of installation. Tim will talk to him. He wants to pull bushes out from the west side of his house to install a sidewalk, which Tim approved. Jim suggested Randy send us a drawing of the sidewalk plan. Tim moved we adjourn at 7:03, Jeff seconded, motion carried.

Minutes 3-6-19

Call to Order 6:35 pm Present: Tim Hauert Andrea Cinnamon Jim Muhlstadt Lisa Meyer Christy Strole Jeff Souligne Minutes for last month’s meeting were reviewed and a spelling error corrected. Christy moved we approve the minutes, Lisa seconded, motion carried. Treasurer’s report was reviewed. 43% of homeowners have paid dues already. Lisa moved we approve the treasurer’s report, Tim seconded, and the motion carried. Christy will send a reminder email to all homeowners regarding the March 15th deadline, and this time she’ll tell people to make the check out to River Bend West Homeowners Association. Old Business: Results of election: We got more than 30 votes so Tim Hauert, Jeff Souligne and Christy Strole were elected. Slate of officers: Jim Muhlstadt graciously agreed to serve as treasurer, Tim Hauert as President and Christy Strole as secretary. Christy moved we approve the slate, Jim seconded, and the motion carried. Mowing bids were reviewed. Dufrain said last year he mowed the park as well as the other lots. We thought the park district mowed the park. Tim will check with the park district. Christy moved we award the bid to Dufrain, Jim seconded, and the motion carried. Christy will notify Dufrain. New Business: Garage Sale: Briarcliff usually holds theirs the first weekend of June or the last weekend of May, so we’re going for Wednesday June 5th for preview night, Thursday and Friday June 6 and 7 for the association garage sale. Andrea will notify the papers, using the same hours we used last year. Easter Egg Hunt: will be held April 13th from 10:am to 11:00 am. Andrea will get the stuff again and fill the eggs. Christy will look up last year’s receipts to see what we spent, and announce the date via email to homeowners this month. Clean Up Day: We’ll pick a date based on weather forecasts at our next meeting in April. Christy moved we adjourn, Lisa seconded and the motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm. Respectfully submitted, Christy Strole Approved Date:___________________ Signature: ______________

Minutes 1-9-19

MINUTES 1-9-19 Call to Order: 6:35 pm Present: Tim Hauert Andrea Cinnamon Jim Muhlstadt Christy Strole Jeff Souligne Minutes approval: Andrea moved, Jeff seconded, motion carried. Treasurer’s report approval: Christy moved, Jeff seconded, motion carried Old Business: Results of call for nominations: no one volunteered. Our ballot for the February Annual meeting will include Christy, Tim and Jeff. We’ll add “we need 28 votes, so please vote even though there are only three candidates for three positions.” Paper ballots will be available at the annual meeting. After that, ballots and dues notices will be emailed together. All homeowners will be invited at least 5 days before the annual meeting via email. We decided to email all homeowners before every meeting as well. Scott Styck fixed the broken light fixture on the sign at the 113 entrance and did not charge us. Andrea will ask his wife what restaurant he likes and she’ll send him a thank you note from the board with a $25 gift card for that restaurant. Jeff moved, Jim seconded: motion carried. New Business: Jim shared the 2018 budget with actual expenses listed and we created the 2019 budget. We had no attorney expense listed. Why hasn’t Ann B. billed us for the letter she wrote this summer? Andrea will ask Deb about that, and if we will owe her money, Christy will email her to say the Martin situation has been resolved and ask whether we owe her anything. We need to send out an RFP to get bids on the lawn mowing soon. Christy will look for specifications for this bid to make sure trimming is included, as it was not done this year. We’ll send it out next month. We have 109 lots, at $75 we expect revenue of $8175 but Cody consolidated two lots, so we expect $8100. Jeff moved we adjourn, Christy seconded, motion carried, meeting adjourned at 7:10 pm.

Minutes 12-5-18

RBWCA MINUTES   December 5, 2018

Call to Order:  The following officers were in attendance.  No other homeowners attended.

Interim president:  Tim Hauert

Vice President:  Andrea Cinnamon

Treasurer:  Jim Muhlstadt

Interim secretary:  Christy Strole

A quorum was declared.  Minutes of the 11-7-18 meeting were read.  Christy moved that we approve the minutes.  Jim seconded, motion carried.  Treasurer’s report for November was read.  Christy moved we approve the treasurer’s report, admiring the new easy-to-read format.  Tim seconded, motion carried. 

Old Business: 

Structure behind Don Anderson’s house:  Tim walked back there to discover that it's a lean-to covering firewood.  This does not violate our covenants.

Tom Martin’s house sold to Randy and Cristal Collins.  Christy sent them a form letter directing them to the website and asking permission to contact them via email.

New business:

One of the lights was out on the subdivision entrance sign on Route 113.  Jim bought a new light bulb and installed it.  That didn’t solve the problem.  Tim moved that we give Jim authorization to contact an electrician to fix the light.  Andrea seconded, and the motion carried.  Jim will talk to Scott Styck first.

This month, Christy will email the membership asking for volunteers for the two open board positions.  At our January meting we’ll create a ballot, hopefully including the new names.  We’ll vote at the February annual meeting on the ballot.  If we don’t get 28 votes at that meeting, dues notices will go out with email ballots.  The March meeting will have new officers.  Christy will send the board members the 2014 bylaws, and check to make sure the March deadline is correct.  She’ll create a Google doc of our membership list so we can all edit it when we learn of a change.

Christy moved to adjourn at 7:30, Jim seconded, motion carried.

Minutes 11-7-18

Meeting Minutes River Bend West Community Association

11-7-18

Present: Board Members Jim Muhlestadt, Andrea Cinnamon, Tim Hauert, Dave Baron, Jeff Souligne, Christy Strole and Heather Gill. Absent: Lisa Meyer. Quorum was present. No other residents attended.

Meeting was called to order by president Dave Baron at 6:35 pm.  The minutes of the October meeting were reviewed by Christy and the treasurer’s report from Deb Turner was reviewed by Dave.  Jim moved we approve these reports, Andrea seconded and the motion carried.

OLD BUSINESS:

Dave passed out copies of the meeting schedule for 2019. He scheduled the library room for all those dates. Someone should check in in June or July to confirm the last six months.

Upcoming election. Deb Turner and Dave Baron were up for re-election, but they’re resigning so now Christy Strole, Jeff Souligne and Tim Hauert are up for election in February. Today we need to appoint a president and treasurer from this group.  Dave suggested Jim for treasurer and Tim for interim president until February.  Andrea is Vice President. Christy is interim secretary.  Jeff moved we appoint Jim as treasurer. Jeff seconded.  Motion carried.  Jeff moved that Tim be interim president, Andrea seconded, Tim agreed to serve, and the motion carried. 

Interim President:  Tim Hauert                   Interim Board Member:  Jeff Souligne

Vice President:  Andrea Cinnamon             Board Member:  Heather Gill

Interim Secretary:  Christy Strole               Board Member:  Lisa Meyer

Treasurer:  Jim Muhlestadt

For next month’s meeting Dave will attend but Tim will preside.  In December Christy will email the group asking for volunteers for board members. In January we’ll send out dues notices with ballots.

Don Anderson has an unapproved structure in his backyard.  Dave wants to go see Don’s son Kirk to ask about what looks like a rabbit hutch.  Livestock is prohibited by covenants.

All dues are currently paid.

Tom Martin’s asked us to pay to fix his septic field.  Our attorney Ann Brezinski advised that it’s not our responsibility.   Tom offered to sue us but has not done so.

NEW BUSINESS:

Betty Baker cannot keep her lawn mowed now that George has passed.  Steve Schulz, John Jones, Tim Hauert, etc. have been helping her out.  Let’s revisit this in the spring to see if we need to take action. 

Jeff moved to adjourn, Andrea seconded, motion carried at 7:08 pm

Respectfully submitted,

Christy Strole, Interim Secretary

2019 River Bend West Community Association Meeting Schedule

All meetings are held on Wednesdays, 6:30 pm at the Limestone Library

January 9

February 6

March 6

April 3

May 1

June 5

July 10

August 7

September 4

October 2

November 6

December 4