Candlelight Oaks Civic Club, Inc
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting
August 13, 2020
2020 BOARD MEMBERS:
Sandy Ericksen President
Lori Bulla Vice-President & Pool Committee Chair
Dan Gonzalez Treasurer
Charlie Bowman Volunteer Assistant Treasurer
Marilyn Harper Secretary & Acorn Editor
A.D. Koen Security Committee Chair
Michael Kuhnen Deed Restrictions Chair
Darin Lee Landscaping Chair
Cassie Ramsay Social Committee Chair
Johanna Wolfe Long Range Planning & Government Outreach
Present: Sandy Ericksen, Lori Bulla, A.D. Koen, Cassie Ramsay, Johanna Wolfe, Michael Kuhnen, Marilyn Harper. Not Present: Dan Gonzalez, Darin Lee, Charlie Bowman. NOTE: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing, this meeting was hosted by Sandy using ZOOM technology, with participants either on their computer or cell phone cameras or just phoned in.
Sandy opened the meeting at 7:37 pm.
Pool: Lori reported on emergency repairs made to the gate card reader, which had become almost unusable. She mentioned that when the system had been installed, it was known by the vendor that it was not rated for outdoor use. The new reader was installed for $616 and is a better system. All members were switched to the new system by the service techs, so Lori did not have to do that manually.
In other pool news, she said the trees trimmed back around the pool were getting lots of compliments from pool members. The City Health Dept inspector finally came by for the 2020 inspection. Everything passed, but she was told that next year, it will be required for “backwash water” to be connected to the city sewer system. It is currently allowed to run out onto the grass. Research of old COCC documents will have to be done to see if there is any info on where sewer lines exist, with the hope that something will be close to the pump house.
Business: Sandy reported that she had spoken to our insurance agent, as the annual payment was due by end of August. The amount to insure our common areas including the pool, restrooms, and the playground has been constant at $8K/yr for many years, and she wanted to know if the amount should be increased considering the upgrade to the pool this year. It was decided to vote to approve the insurance premium by email, after it is known what the recommended amount will be. [See Footnote 1.]
Sandy also wants to get a date set for the painting of the restrooms. Lori will ask Ray Cowart and his employee Eloy when they can start, so Mike Kuhnen will know when he needs to go over and remove paper towel and other attachments on the interior walls. Sandy is also investigating outdoor cleaning sprays that might be able to clean up the white brick walls on Tidwell at Bolivia, in lieu of power washing.
Security: A.D. reported that he gets daily reports from HPS officers who patrol in CO. They put a copy of the report in his mailbox when they are ready to leave. He has recommended to supervisor Shelley at HPS that one or more of the officers be given membership in our Facebook Group so they will be aware of any crime or safety issues that are posted there. There was a brief discussion of a recent event where a gun was fired pre-dawn in a back yard on Droddy St. HPD says there is not much accomplished by calling either HPD or a security service when you hear gunshots, but have no idea of the location. If you do know the exact location, you should immediately call HPD non-emergency to report the address, then call the security service, too.
Social: Still no social events planned during Covid-19 Lockdown. Johanna mentioned that once the weather cools down a bit, we can have food truck events in cul-de-sacs.
Treasury: Sandy read highlights from the notes that Treasurer Dan Gonzales had emailed so this information would be available for the meeting. Our budget position is favorable to the projected budget approved for 2020, and we have already saved ~ $4K on security cost. There are 22 homeowners not fully paid for 2020 and thus owing $6015. And additional 8 homeowners owe dues from 2020 and earlier, totaling $9906. There are some pending legal actions with the larger past due accounts that should be resolved in the near future and provide us with some clarification on next steps to collect.
Pool revenue is down a bit this year, in spite of having great membership response, because pavilion rentals were ruled out by the City of Houston Health Department Covid-19 rules regarding social distancing. CoH licenses our pool and we have to abide by their regulations. [See Footnote 2.]
Election: October is election month for COCC, so the Treasury needs to start work on preparing a budget for 2021. Marilyn will look at last year’s ballot to confirm which board members’ 2-year terms will expire this year. We need to see if there will be any vacancies to get started on recruiting.
To-Do’s: A question came up about COCC’s right-of-way to the driveway from Tidwell to the pool parking. Some board members were concerned by the flimsy fence recently erected around the vacant lot north of the COCC pool and playground. Michael mentioned Houston GIMS data system as a place to look for sewer pipes that could be a connection to the backwash water from our pool.
Sandy adjourned the meeting at 8:38.
Footnote 1: Sandy sent email to the board the day after the meeting, reporting that the insurance agent saw no reason to increase the coverage for the pool, so she moved the amount of $8K be paid this month for insurance. After this was announced in email, we had a quorum of approval votes within a few days.
Footnote 2: Sandy reported by email to the board that the current pool membership was 59, while there had been 72 in 2019. This is rather amazing considering this year’s late start due to the pool makeover, and the limitations imposed by CoH Health Dept.