West Park Village Voting Member Mary Griffin took the floor during the resident forum and thanked Treasurer Michiel Oostenbrink for his thorough reporting. She also requested the board meeting agenda be published prior to the meetings via the WOW Facebook page and spoke in favor of video recording meetings at least on a trial basis in hopes of engaging more residents.
WCA President Shawn Yesner then called the meeting to order. Director Jack Maurer was absent, and Michele DelSordo attended via video. The consent agenda included the renewal of the Association’s general liability, umbrella and D&O insurance policies. Association Manager Debbie Sainz said the overall rate had increased $4,180. Oostenbrink pointed out that the final number was still $10,000 less than the budgeted amount. The consent agenda passed unanimously.
In his report, Oostenbrink said GPI’s new software will go live on April 1 and will tie into their new banking partner, Alliance Bank. He added that he will be comparing CD rates at Alliance versus Bank OZK.
Regarding the Strategic Reserve Study, he noted that only 17% of the items on the list are high priority and 50% are within one year of their useful life on paper. The Board will tackle the list strategically based on priority, location and financial impact.
Oostenbrink added that based on Yelp reviews, he wanted to ensure the contract with SLK for the WPV pool resurfacing had a set start and end date.
Josh Hernandez, manager of the local PDQ store, was in attendance to discuss a partnership with the WCA to provide lunch for summer camp attendees and staff. After a brief discussion, Director Terry Boyd suggested Hernandez meet with Facilities Manager Dwight Kilgore to craft a plan they could present at the April 11 meeting.
GAC Chair Rick Goldstein said he recently met with County officials and planned to meet with them monthly. He brought up the concerns with postponed sidewalk repairs in the community and the County reiterated the need to prioritize the projects funded by the American Rescue Plan. Goldstein also noted that he is working on his speaker lineup for 2024-25 and on a plan to honor Veterans for the November meeting.
In her Manager’s Report, Sainz said she received a new estimate for the Countryway bathroom renovations that incorporated modifications requested by Maurer and the price increased roughly $2,000 for a new total of $82,286.40. Due to Maurer’s absence, Yesner suggested a motion that would approve the estimate upon Maurer’s review so long as the amount was not more than the current estimate. DelSordo expressed her concern that this might delay the process, and made a motion to give Yesner authority to make a prudent decision once Maurer had reviewed the changes. All voted in favor. Kilgore then informed the Board that the the Department of Health said that to keep the Countryway pool open during the bathroom renovations, they would need to have an executive trailer bathroom on site that is ADA compliant and is professionally cleaned daily. Boyd asked Kilgore to investigate the costs associated with this setup and ways to help defray the cost.
Continuing with pool-related costs, Oostenbrink asked if he could get a historical view of the funds invested in pool repairs over the past 10 years to better understand if the equipment is living up to its life expectancy or if they need to adjust the reserve study. Kilgore said he felt that life expectancy was often based on pools in the Midwest, not those used year-round in Florida. Radcliffe VM Eric Holt interjected that the Level 1 Reserve Study completed in the last few years should have that historical information. The Board also agreed Kilgore should get cost versus replacement estimates for all repairs going forward.
Kilgore made a request to replace the pool computers’ diode sensors (2 per pool) and order a backup Stenner feeder at a cost of $1200, to avoid downtime should these fail. Oostenbrink noted the computers were replaced in 2019 and said they might want to hold off on ordering parts as they prioritize items from the Reserve Study. Oostenbrink and Kilgore agreed to sit down to review pool equipment needs.
Regarding Holt’s request to video record meetings, Yesner said the issue had been discussed at Tuesday’s VM meeting, where it was voted down. Boyd, who chaired the meeting in Yesner’s absence, noted legal counsel had spoken on the matter and said it was risky. Yesner reminded the Board they are being audio recorded at every meeting, adding that he didn’t mind being video recorded but didn’t think it should be kept as official record. “The real concern is control of content,” Holt said. “That is why I said the Board should do their own recording, so they have control.”
Joe Odda said they should launch a pilot program and be very clear on the objectives of the program. Those in favor of recording were hopeful it would get more residents involved in the meetings and keep them better informed. Boyd interjected that it was the VM’s responsibility to communicate with their residents. “There is nothing more effective than face-to-face communication,” he said.
“If the goal is to get the community motivated, I don’t think this is the way to do it,” added Shires VM Barry Anderson. In the end, no motion was made to approve video recording of the meetings.
Editor’s note: In WOW’s February meeting coverage that appeared in the March issue, we stated the costs associated with the Countryway bathroom renovations was $21,000, when it was actually $79,000.
