The WCA Board called a special meeting on Oct. 30 to discuss several new business items. An agenda was sent out to residents through the association’s notification system 48 hours prior. Four of the seven directors were in attendance. Jessica Siddle, Jason Jozefiak and Ashley Wait-Woodcock were absent.
WCA President Michiel Oostenbrink kicked the meeting off with audience comments. Harbor Links resident Katie Hammond asked for confirmation that the board had received the bio she submitted for a position on the Swim & Tennis Committee (S&T). Oostenbrink confirmed they had and the board would hold onto it in the event a future spot on the committee should open.
Hammond also reiterated her stance that the board should retain lifeguards at both pools for the safety of residents. She noted that the proposed cost savings didn’t seem significant enough to warrant their removal. As a case in point, she referred to an incident last winter when a resident was extracted from the pool due to a pacemaker failure.
A second resident added that the issue isn’t just about young kids – it is a multi-age safety issue. She proposed a small fee for guests who wish to use the pool to help absorb the costs and suggested those fees could also apply to the tennis and pickleball courts.
Turning to new business, Oostenbrink noted that Paint Corps had completed work to restore several benches at the Swim & Tennis centers and the board was not happy with their work. He said Paint Corps had agreed to forgo the remainder of their payment and walk away from the job.
Association Manager Jennifer Jordan said she had been looking at vendors to replace the benches and explained that a lot of associations are moving away from wood in favor of more durable, weather-resistant materials. She presented a proposal from Recycled Materials for seven, 5-foot benches for a total of $3,500 or seven, 6-foot benches for $4,200. Jordan added that it would be best to wait until S&T decided what benches they were going to order for the inside of the courts to save money on shipping costs. Director Eric Holt suggested passing the research on to S&T, and having them present their recommendations.
The board agreed to accept Paint Corps’ offer to walk away from the project and have S&T come up with a proposal for all benches. The item will be added to the December agenda.
The board then set the Voting Members’ Budget Workshop for Nov. 8 from 1-4 p.m.
Turning to tile repair work needed at the Countryway Pool, Oostenbrink informed the board that there are several tiles falling off under the coping and that, in this instance, he has no problem putting tile over tile since the pool will need to be resurfaced soon.
Director Jack Maurer said that the first bid they received from Triangle Pools was fine, but then they came back and said they should demo everything and replace the tile. The original quote jumped from $815 to $1415. Maurer suggested the board agree to an “up to” amount that would allow him to renegotiate with Triangle. A motion to approve a bid up to $1415 passed unanimously.
The conversation turned to landscaping. Holt noted that the association’s total landscaping budget is $10,900 (the CDD handles the bulk of Westchase’s landscaping) and there is roughly $7,000 remaining. Oostenbrink reminded the board that they had gotten a bid from Red Tree to regrade the grounds at the Countryway S&T center, but the project was put on hold to address water intrusion at the storage shed. Oostenbrink suggested getting another bid from Red Tree and the board agreed. S&T Char Dan Haigy asked the board to add removal of pine needles from the courts to Red Tree’s scope of work.
Regarding asset inventory, the board agreed that, because they did not receive any information from Greenacre and are starting from scratch, all items over $100 should be inventoried. Oostenbrink added that the focus should be on items that would eventually need to be replaced – technology, chairs, equipment, etc. Jordan said that they had a solid list that had been sent out for review. The board agreed that S&T would inventory the lifeguard office and pool areas.
The newly formed Technology Committee took the floor to discuss internet capabilities. Mike Ward informed the board that the current system is outdated and that the committee had completed an analysis of what was needed. He said the association’s internet capability is 50 GB, but they are paying for 300 GB. The Tech Committee recommended consolidating the current systems into a unified Frontier fiber solution. They also recommend migrating the telephones to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). Holt asked about costs. Ward said the association is currently paying $900/month for phone service and that will drop to $300/mo. Ward added that there would be a significant initial cost to upgrade the fiber to migrate to VoIP (roughly $7,000), but that would be a one-time fee compared to $7,000 in annual savings on phone service and $2,200 in annual savings on internet, including guest WiFi.
Ward said the committee is also looking at options for gate access-point entry systems and security cameras.
The board voted unanimously to upgrade the phone and internet capabilities. “This is going to be a significant improvement for our facilities,” Holt stated.
Regarding future facility access, Jordan said that Inframark is looking at different facility access estimates/ideas. Maurer asked about immediate action to alleviate incidents that constitute an abuse of the amenity space (unauthorized tournament play, damage to fences, etc.). Ward said he could work with Jordan to get quotes for a maglock system for access to the courts. Haigy pointed out that there would still need to be full-time coverage at the cabana and Jordan assured him the cabana was fully staffed.
The discussion moved to oversight of the lifeguards. Oostenbrink reminded the board that Inframark does not oversee lifeguards, and they need to come up with an immediate solution. One proposal is to hire a facilities manager to oversee lifeguards and Jordan would oversee the facilities manager. Oostenbrink presented a proposal from Patrick Piper, owner of Pipeline Swimming. The agreement would be month-to-month, terminated with 30 days’ notice, with an option to do a 90-day trial. Piper would be on site a total of 19 hours (Mon-Thurs and Sat). Responsibilities would include daily maintenance and operation of both pools, water testing, lifeguard oversight and training, and twice-monthly updates to the board for $30,000/year paid bi-monthly.
Holt interjected that he had been looking at the staff scheduling, costs, etc. He noted that the head lifeguards were brought on to take over the facilities manager’s role when he wasn’t on site and that he doesn’t understand concerns about a gap in service. He explained that utilizing the current head lifeguards would provide twice as much physical coverage, continuity and no additional cost. Holt pointed out that the association hadn’t had a facilities manager since April and things were running quite well. “I think there’s a head lifeguard that could become a staff supervisor,” he added.
Holt also said that Piper would not be able to properly manage staff if he were not there 75% of the time. Other objections included the fact that the 3-7 p.m. timeframe Piper suggested in his proposal overlaps with the current hours he is on site with his swim team. Piper interjected that he is currently on-site from 4-6 p.m.
VP Terry Lanzar said that Nick (current head lifeguard) does a good job, but it’s a chummy atmosphere and she wasn’t sure he’d be assertive enough to get the job done.
Holt made a motion to appoint an existing lifeguard as staff supervisor, granting them the authority to manage staff and require their presence on site 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. There was no second, so the motion died.
Piper said he would be happy to adjust his proposal to train Nick for three months. Oostenbrink noted that they would be able to eliminate the $2,400 per month they are currently paying Triangle Pools to manage the pool chemicals if they brought Piper on, and he could, in turn, train Nick to take on that role.
Jordan reiterated that Piper should not be paid for hours that he is already here for the swim team. Lanzar pointed out that Piper’s proposal indicated 19 hours and said they could modify the timeframe so it doesn’t include hours that he is working with the swim team.
Training would focus on equipment in the back room, chemicals, staff training on pool chemicals (all guards) and how to manage staff properly.
A motion to approve Piper’s contract with noted revisions (which will go back to Piper and legal for review) with the goal being that Piper trains the two certified lifeguards to take over as staff supervisors, passed 3-1, with Holt dissenting.
An audience member spoke up to request that the board handle this transition carefully. He explained that he uses the pools regularly, and he had concerns about slowly evolving the role of facilities manager.
Oostenbrink moved on to a discussion regarding the need for a facilities maintenance technician. The proposed position would cover overall cleanliness, light maintenance and minor repairs. Key responsibilities would include daily cleaning, site upkeep, regular inspections/maintenance of electrical from the electrical panel forward, HVAC filters, plumbing from main line forward, etc. The position would report to the property manager and would coordinate with outside contractors to do work beyond their scope. Projected salary would be $65,000.Oostenbrink noted that this would be an added cost, and the board agreed to readdress the facilities maintenance technician role at the November board meeting.
In the interim, Jordan asked about having a handyman come in to address a list of items that needed immediate attention at a rate of $700. The board agreed.
The final order of business was the creation of a resident survey regarding lifeguard use at the facilities. Ward said the Tech Committee’s recommendation, after reviewing eight platforms, was to subscribe to Survey Monkey for $1100 per year, which would allow the board to implement quarterly surveys with video capability for a more personal touch. Ward added that the board could roll out a campaign to get residents to opt in for future surveys so residents could have a say in future planning. In the interim, they could start with the list of certified email addresses that the association has already gathered through Vantaca (the association’s web portal). Ward said the Tech Committee can put together a live survey for the board to review, but the board would need to supply the questions.
Holt said that what Ward was describing was more of a long-term communication plan and the immediate survey need could be much simpler. This evolved into a larger conversation about communication with residents. Maurer suggested sending out a mailer for the immediate survey and also to gather emails for future communication.
“I’m of the thought that we take what we have for email communications, and we send out a link to a survey and be done with it and save this conversation for a more strategic, bigger picture of how we are going to handle communication in Westchase,” Holt said.
Maurer suggested creating a folder on the board’s Google Drive for board members to start generating suggestions for survey questions. The board agreed to finalize questions so the Tech Committee could put together a demo. They will revisit survey discussions at the November 13 meeting.