Minutes of the Oak Terrace Improvement Association
February 5, 2020
Board members present: Ramona Triebold, Ken Hohs, Kevin Shifley, William Yarbrough, James Harms, and Jeff Kehr. Board member Rich Reick was present via phone conferencing. There were no members at large.
The meeting was called to order at 7:04pm by President Ken Hohs. Reading of December 2019 meeting minutes were waved but William Yarbrough did have one change to remove the conditional statement from the Treasurer’s report as he had now confirmed the accounts. A motion to approve the minutes as revised was made by Kevin Shifley. Ken Hohs seconded the motion and the motion passed.
William Yarbrough delivered the Treasurer’s report. William stated that statements for 2020 Assessments went out on January 1, 2020 and already a large number of payments have been received. Also, one of the delinquent accounts that had been in collections had been settled. Motion to approve the Treasurer’ Report was made by Ramona Triebold, seconded by Kevin Shifley and passed.
Ken Hohs reported that the beach park phone has been removed, the phone line disconnected and final invoice received. Also, 3 signs totaling $45 were purchased: Two signs reading “CELL PHONE REQUIRED” to be placed by the gate and on the post where the emergency phone was. One sign to be placed at the exit “PLEASE REMEMBER TO CLOSE AND LOCK GATE”.
Ken Hohs had reached out to Julie Jacobsen, our lawyer, to confirm the following questions. At that time Oak Terrace was informed that our monthly retainer would be lowered to $100. Issues discussed are:
1) Currently we require 11 board per covenants, can it be reduced by Board vote to a lower number?
Response: The number of board members can only be reduced by an amendment.
2) If OTIA cannot get a full slate of 11 board members, so for example only had 7 volunteers sitting on the board, what would be the quorum?
Response: Quorum would be 4, which would be the majority of the current number of Board members.
3) The OTIA Declaration state that annual meeting is the 1st Thursday in November, can the board change it to a Wednesday or take it out altogether and decide year to year?
Response: The Board cannot take out the Declaration provision that the annual meeting is the 1st Thursday in November without an amendment; however, the Board can schedule the meeting for a different date so long as it is reasonably close to the 1st Thursday in November.
4) If a Board member wants to phone in or Skype in to a meeting to vote or to make quorum, does the Board need to make a policy and vote on it?
Response: A Board member can participate and vote in a Board meeting by telephone or Skype as long as all the Board members can communicate with each other.
5) The Board wants to charge a $50 closing fee for the work done by the Association Board? Is that a policy or just a vote?
Response: The Board can vote to charge a fee at closing; however, the Common Interest Community Association Act only allows the Association to collect “a reasonable fee covering the direct out-of-pocket cost of copying and providing information” at the time of any resale of a unit. Ken also checked with another Real Estate attorney and he said most associations do charge the seller and $50 is at the low end of what’s being charged.
6) What does our (legal) retainer cover?
Response: It covers phone consultations and meetings regarding association business. If anything is outside the scope of the retainer, a fee will be quoted before any charges are incurred.
7) Does Oak Terrace currently have any “Rules and Regulations”?
Response: None that the Lawyer has record or. Rules can be adopted by the Board.
8) If budgeted money is not spent, what is done with it?
Response: Per 1/11/18 new Illinois law, the money can be put into reserves or refunded to members at the discretion of the board.
9) Can multiple persons from the same households be on the board?
Response: Ownership of property is what matters. For Example, if a husband and wife own two properties they both could be on the board. But, if they only owned 1 property, only 1 could serve on the board.
10) The lawyer offered to do any amendments the board would like to do and/or put together Rules and Regulations, which would all be done at various fees to Oak Terrace. Ken instructed them not to do any additional work at this time.
Ken confirmed with our lawyers that a fee can be charged for document preparation, etc associated with home sales in Oak Terrace. A result of the board’s conversation was to charge $50 to the seller for the cost of the paperwork. A form will be drafted to be filled out by the seller when requesting these documents and instructions to have a check payable to:
Oak Terrace Improvement Association. After discussion where these funds would be utilized, Ramona Triebold made a motion to have any proceeds placed in the general operating fund. James Harms seconded the motion and it passed. As Nancy has done such a good job with drafting other forms, Ken will reach out to her when she returns to request a form be created.
Two new forms a) Beach Park Rules and FOB Agreement and b) Boat Slip Rental Agreement were distributed and reviewed. Discussion ensued regarding removal of the “no fishing” from line 1 of the Boat Slip Rules and was agreed. Motion was made by William Yarbrough to approve both forms with the “no fishing” removed from line 1. James Harms seconded and motion and it passed.
Kevin Shifley informed the Board that Fremont township was holding a vote to approval for the single waste hauler plan presented by Groot. Residents should keep an eye out for correspondence informing them of any changes/actions.
There being no new business, the Board went into Executive session to discuss collection efforts on past due residents at 7:35pm.
There being no further business before the Board, Rich Reick made a motion to adjourn, Kevin Shifley seconded and the motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 7:52 pm.
NEXT MEETING WILL BE APRIL 1, 2020.
Respectfully submitted – Ramona Triebold, OTIA Secretary
