The November 13 WCA Board Meeting covered a lot of ground. The final vote of the meeting was to approve the 2026 budget, resulting in an annual assessment of $477.
At the resident forum that opened the meeting, Woodbridge VM Rick Goldstein asked WCA Treasurer Eric Holt to clarify comments he had reportedly made indicating that Greenacre Properties had improperly handled association money. Holt denied making those comments, stating that the WCA had invested money in CDs that had expired and that GPI had neglected to close the accounts or renew the CDs.
President Michiel Oostenbrink interjected to explain further. The CDs expired over the summer and Greenacre didn’t want the CDs renewed under their name, so they allowed them to expire, he said. This expiration resulted in a tax obligation for the WCA, he added. Goldstein insisted that the CDs had to be closed out and transferred to Inframark.
A Fords resident stated that he objected to a proposal by Swim Tampa Aquatics to use the Westchase pools. He argued that allowing another organization to use the pools would further reduce residents’ access to the facilities.
Stonebridge VM Christine Lindsay said she wanted to make sure she properly understood that if the budget that was presented to the VMs at their November meeting was approved, it would mean that the 2026 annual assessment increased by $56. Holt told her that the budget had been adjusted slightly since the VMs meeting (which was held two days prior) and the assessment would only increase by $53.
The board members then discussed the logistics of hiring Coach Patrick from Pipeline to oversee the community’s lifeguards. Oostenbrink questioned whether Coach Patrick should be a contractor or an employee of the association. Holt said he wanted to ensure that Coach Patrick wouldn’t be paid by the WCA while working with the swim team and that those hours would be mutually exclusive.
Director Ashley Wait-Woodcock suggested that it was a conflict of interest for Coach Patrick to be an independent business owner and an employee of the WCA simultaneously and asked who would oversee his work. Oostenbrink clarified that Inframark would be responsible for making sure Coach Patrick was doing his job properly and added that Legal Counsel Kathleen Reres was reviewing the contract prior to its signing.
Holt noted that Coach Patrick would not be responsible for maintenance outside of pool equipment, but Director Jack Maurer disagreed. Oostenbrink clarified that the contract states that Coach Patrick would be responsible for “the daily maintenance of both pools.”
Oostenbrink said that he would have to call a special meeting prior to the regularly scheduled December meeting to make the determination, and suggested that the WCA reach out directly to Coach Patrick to find out whether he had a preference.
Director Jason Jozefiak stated that it’s better for both parties if Coach Patrick is a 1099 employee. Holt made a motion to classify Coach Patrick as a 1099 employee, and the motion failed, 4-3. Oostenbrink officially tabled the matter.
Association Manager Jennifer Jordan presented her monthly report and stated that there were 473 violations in October, 435 of which were courtesy notices. Charles Stephens, Chair of the Covenants Committee, requested an updated flow chart and/or official explanation of the violation process. Oostenbrink agreed that it was necessary and noted that it would go on record as an action item.
Oostenbrink reported that the Modifications Committee had mistakenly approved the installation of a specific type of fence in Harbor Links, and the board had to decide how to address the issue. Maurer recommended reaching out to the vendor responsible for installing the fence to determine the cost of rectifying the situation. Jordan agreed to do so.
GAC Chair Wait-Woodcock stated that she was open to having both existing and new members serve on the committee, and agreed to reach out to those who had served under previous GAC Chair Goldstein.
Maurer reminded her that he had requested regular updates from the monthly CDD meetings, and Wait-Woodcock said she would leave that to Pam Wilcox, who regularly attended the meetings and reported on them. Maurer took issue with that, as Wilcox is not currently a member of the GAC. Wait-Woodcock told Maurer that she would invite Wilcox to join.
Document Review Committee Chair Holt said that Reres was putting the final touches on proposed revisions to the CCRs and bylaws. He explained that homeowners will vote on the changes, and VMs will take those votes to the January VM meeting. He added that VMs will vote on behalf of any homeowners who don’t submit a vote.
Holt said that Reres recommended not changing any language in the INSGs without going through the official review process. He asked whether the board wanted the DRC to review the INSGs, as some of them could potentially conflict with the master guidelines. The board agreed that Holt should reach out to the existing committee members to see whether they were willing to tackle the INSGs.
Swim & Tennis Committee Chair Dan Haigy reported that their committee resolution was complete and would be submitted to be presented at the December board meeting. He stated that the committee analyzed the services offered by Pipeline Swimming and Swim Tampa Aquatics and determined that there is no reason not to renew the Pipeline contract.
Wait-Woodcock asked whether there was a way to have both teams use the community’s facilities. Oostenbrink expressed concern that doing so would decrease residents’ access to the pools. Maurer said he thought it would be a conflict to have two swim companies at the same facility.
Holt shared that he still had questions about the Pipeline contract and wanted to know exactly which services Coach Patrick provides.
“If Coach Patrick isn’t actively providing swim lessons, we need to find someone who will,” asserted Holt. “How many people are in the swim lessons and when does he offer lessons? I’d like to understand that better.”
Wait-Woodcock agreed.
“We should benefit from the relationship, not the other way around,” she stated. “Have they been paying under market value? The goal is to protect the interest of the association.”
Director Theresa Lanzar noted that Coach Patrick does a lot for Westchase for which he doesn’t get paid. Director Jessica Siddle said that if there was any available pool time remaining, it might make sense to allow Swim Tampa Aquatics to also use the facilities.
Wait-Woodcock asked how the S&T Committee had reached their conclusion about renewing Pipeline’s contract, and Haigy said they had compared the two companies’ websites. She expressed concern that the comparison had not been done objectively, and agreed to come up with a list of questions for the committee to submit to both companies.
Haigy explained that the committee had been tasked with doing a deep dive into pool usage to determine how many residents are using the facilities by hour and that report would be submitted soon. Haigy also said that the committee had been researching proposals for the revamping of the West Park Village pool area, and had transferred all of the information to Jordan so she could further pursue the effort.
The committee planned to submit a revised set of facility rules and regulations to the board, Haigy reported. The revisions are intended to clarify permissible league and tournament tennis and pickleball play. Committee members also did an asset inventory of both locations and submitted it to the board.
In an effort to increase the availability of pickleball courts to residents, the committee planned to institute an open play program on Thursday evenings and Saturdays. Haigy sait the program can’t begin until the board has addressed limiting physical access to the courts.
Technical Advisory Committee Chair Brad Swindell said the board had tasked its members with exploring options for the proposed community outreach survey regarding the use of lifeguards at the community’s pools. The committee determined that Survey Monkey would be the best approach. He added that the board needs to decide on a few questions to ask, as brevity is important in this type of survey. Multi-channel delivery is also vital, he said, and suggested using emails, QR codes, the WCA website, and the World of Westchase Magazine to reach residents.
The TAC also investigated options for Countryway tennis court gate access, and Swindell said they felt that a mag lock with push button entry would be the most cost-effective solution. The committee presented a bid for slightly more than $3,000 and recommended that the board accept the proposal. Holt moved to approve the work and the motion passed unanimously.
Swindell shared that the same vendor could install a total of four cameras across two properties. The system would be expandable and could eventually support up to 16 cameras per location. Holt asked whether that would be done in 2026, and Maurer said it would.
Regarding the association’s fees for internet, phones and utilities, Swindell said the committee members found significant overlap and put together a scope of work to install improved infrastructure that could be built upon. They proposed building out a proper network infrastructure that would run like a conduit between buildings and would provide WI-FI throughout the entire property.
Swindell said they sent a request for estimates to four companies and only Surveillance Technology Incorporated provided a comprehensive bid that meets the scope of work. Swindell warned that the longer the WCA waits to install the infrastructure, the higher the cost will be due to tariffs going into effect. He told the board that they would have to sign the contract in November to get it paid before the end of the year.
Holt urged the board to make a reasonable effort to do its due diligence and get additional estimates before signing a contract. Oostenbrink suggested that Swindell reach back out to Complete I.T., a company that had expressed interest, and let them know they needed to submit a final bid by the end of the following week.
Swindell added that the association currently has four internet bills, but the TAC is trying to reduce that to two. The committee also addressed the old legacy phone system, which included seven phone lines, only three of which are being used, he continued. TAC recommended instituting a cloud-based phone system.
Moving on to old business, the board reviewed the proposed TAC Resolution. Holt reminded the board that they had agreed that the resolution should include specific language prohibiting committee members from profiting from their involvement. Oostenbrink moved to approve the resolution with that modification, and his motion passed unanimously.
Maurer moved to approve the facilities maintenance technician job description, and the entire board voted in favor of it. The board briefly discussed members’ suggestions for the questions to be included in the community lifeguard survey. They agreed to combine Holt’s recommended questions with an edited version of Oostenbrink’s background information.
Oostenbrink then turned to landscaping, and Maurer said they needed to add $10,000 to the 2026 budget to cover the costs. Holt said there was already $9,000 with no home in the budget that could potentially be used for landscaping, and argued that they should leave the budget as is. Wait-Woodcock asked why the costs for landscaping hadn’t been brought up earlier in the budgeting process. Jozefiak recommended adding money into the budget by increasing the income from the Westchase Station capital contribution.
Holt moved to approve the 2026 budget as presented, and Wait-Woodcock seconded the motion. Jozefiak said he wanted to bring the annual assessment back to $477, which would include an additional $10,000 for landscaping. The motion failed, 5-2, with Holt and Wait-Woodcock voting in favor of it.
Lanzar moved to add $10,000 to the 2026 budget for landscaping, which would bring the annual assessment back up to $477, and to approve it with that change in place. The motion passed unanimously.