Lphta - Meeting Minutes July 2009

LOWER PENN HILLS TOWNHOME ASSOCIATION MEETING MINUTES July 22, 2009 Meeting began 7:10 PM, adjourned 8 PM. In attendance: Don Barletta (416) President, Eric Guido (414) Treasurer, Anita Ditz (398), Nancy Greenleaf (432) Financial Report: Prepared 7/19/09. Checking balance $7,649, Reserve Fund balance $35,506. Income YTD $21,796, Expenses YTD $16,750. Expenses YTD detail: insurance $9,042, trash $3,006, snow $2,078, lawn $994, pest control $690, maintenance $373, electric $348, federal income tax $96, maintenance $85, post office box $38. We have not yet received bills for: trimming approximately $4,000, completed outdoor light repairs - amount unknown, or asphalt repair $4,416. Repair Still Needed: 1. A few owners have requested repair of their sidewalk entrance slabs, which have shifted. A few of the covered entrances need their concrete repaired and their iron posts are rusting, and in need of replacement. Two months ago one of the residents volunteered to do all of the research and vendor quotes for this. We are still waiting for any results from this person. 2. We have received no complaints, but the sheds are deteriorating. The options for the sheds are still to replace them, remove them, fix them, or disregard them – but no shed action has been taken or is scheduled at this time. 3. The chimneys need to be repaired, as has been previously reported. The longer we wait to repair them the more it will cost when we do repair them, as they continue to deteriorate in the meantime. We have on file two prior repair estimates from 2008. No further action is scheduled at this time. 4. The handling of and owner participation in the asphalt issue was a big success, thanks to the owners’ participation. We received 30 of 31 votes, plus many positive comments and much feedback about the survey. All voters voted in favor of being able to provide management input via these surveys, so we will continue to use this format for the foreseeable future. Asphalt patching has been scheduled and should be completed sometime some time within the next month or so. This will cost $4,416. Asphalt sealing and striping is scheduled for late spring 2010, and the last time that was done it cost about $3,500. If you would like to volunteer to assist the Board with any of these repairs, and that is only in contacting contractors, walking the property in question, getting their bids, and then presenting those bids to the Board – your assistance would be extremely helpful, both to the Board and to all of your fellow residents. As interested contractors are located for our unresolved repairs, timelines, costs, and payment plans for these repairs will be determined, with owner input again most likely via surveys. If you want to refer any contractors at any time, please forward their information to the Board. The Bank On Our Property’s Corner: We want to send a big hearty “Thank You!” to the three volunteer residents who conducted their grand experiment on the bank this summer. After their weeks of back-breaking work in the hot sun, planting myrtle and weeding, they determined that it would take much too much volunteer work on an ongoing basis, for any number of years, to attempt to bring that project to a successful conclusion, if indeed it ever did succeed. So that project has ended. For the remainder of this year we will spray the bank for weed suppression and weed whack the weeds down to the dirt level. We discussed prior projects on this bank, including when it was originally grass 28 years ago, then when it had ground cover planted on it and ultimately removed due to failure many years ago, and even when very expensive quotes were obtained years ago to build terraced block retaining walls there. We then discussed planting vetch there in the spring, as well as returning the bank to grass. It was said that either could be done but that the cost of returning it to grass would be much more expensive than seeding it with vetch. As was recommended by PennDOT, PSU Ag Extension, and many other agricultural organizations; vetch is still the best choice for a ground covering for our bank, for many reasons. It’s inexpensive, and once it matures it will keep the weeds away, and require little to no further maintenance. At this point if time permits we hope to obtain bids and schedule this vetch seeding for spring 2010. For more information “The Bank Vetch Data Sheet” is posted on the blog. Landscaping: 1. In addition to email quotes, Don has spent the last few months meeting with, property walking, and receiving bids from many different landscape companies, including Burds, City Lawn & Landscape, Clark Warner, Creekside Lawn Care, Eger’s Landscaping, Higher Ground LLC, Todd Gantt, TruGreen, and Scotts. All of their quotes are on file and available for inspection at any time. One thing is certain – for lawn care they were all much more expensive than our current vendor, by many thousands of dollars. Shrub and tree trimming, bed work, and mulching was uniformly expensive from all of them. Anita requested that we obtain a bid from Eco-Lawn, one of our former vendors. Don will contact them and obtain their bid, if they will provide one to us. 2. Anita asked about who was responsible for weeding of the shrubbery beds in front of the units, specifically some of the units who shrubbery beds are basically abandoned. Don responded that the trimmers take care of all the general shrubs in

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front of all units, and that most residents personally take care of weeding their own beds. Don also said that historically in the past that the maintenance of these beds was always the responsibility of the individual owners or tenants, and that if any fell to neglect, that the then board had sent letters to those individual unit owners or tenants, and they were asked to clean them up. Don asked Anita how that had worked when she was a Board member, and she said not very well. So Anita was wondering if the Board, (hence all owners), would pay the landscapers to maintain those individual landscape beds that specific owners or residents choose to neglect. Perhaps a survey on this issue will follow shortly. Anita asked if the cherry tree near unit 406 could be looked at, as it may have some blight. Don said that he would ask the tree trimmer to look at it. Don presented the current landscape update: All of the shrubs have now been trimmed, and the beds have been edged. The arborvitae (the two story tall green shrubs at the rows’ corners and other locations), and the trees, are all scheduled to be trimmed later this summer, just as soon as a date can be firmed up with the contractor.

Insurance: Eric insurance contacted us by phone and told us that they are mailing us recommendations that they want implemented within LPHTA. Those include new smoke/fire detectors on every floor of every unit and fire extinguishers within all units, and a barbeque grill policy involving distancing those grills away from the buildings. Eight-eight smoke/fire detectors (1 per floor), and thirty-two fire extinguishers (1 per unit) would be required. They said that the detectors do not need either wiring or installation, as they are self-contained and freestanding. They said that while their recommended units can be purchased at department stores and home improvement centers for about $60 each, they have an agreement with a vendor in Erie, PA who will provide them to us for about $20 each. They said nothing of extinguisher costs. Don asked if our failure to comply with their recommendations would affect our coverage, our premium, or our continued ability to be insured by Erie, and he was told that he would have to speak to an Erie underwriter about that. The Board is waiting to receive their written documents, prior to taking any further action. Officers: There are still current openings for Vice President, Secretary and the Assistant Secretary-Treasurer. With more officers, more of our projects can be completed. If you are interested, the President will appoint you to the position of your choosing immediately. Your only requirements will be to attend Board meetings a few times per year, vote on issues, and tackle a project by getting vendor quotes. Your Board could really use your help (as could your neighbors!), so please contact Don right away. To Contact LPHTA: Don Barletta, Pres. (Unit 416) - Eric Guido, Treasurer (Unit 414) Phone: 814-234-2758 [leave a message anytime] Emergencies: Dial 911 Mail: LPHTA, PO Box 526, Lemont PA 16851 On the web at http://LPHTA.blogspot.com Email: [email protected] [preferred, please put “LPHTA” in the subject line of any email]