Notes from September and October BOD meetings

Several members attend BOD meetings every month and want to share certain items that they feel are important. Audio and video recordings of these meetings are not allowed, nor are there any means for members to dial in and listen. The BOD records each meeting and then the recording is DESTROYED when the meeting minutes are transcribed, prepared and made available on the Suissevale Web site.

As a courtesy, these notes are sent to the BOD President for review and comment prior to them being published on the Love Suissevale Web Site.

The following are highlights from the September and October BOD meetings that took place on 09/21/2019 & 10/19/2019

There was a lot of information that was presented at the September 21 2019 BOD meeting. Here are a few items that were discussed that merit some concern and discussion:

1. Someone on the BOD (I do not recall who it was.) mentioned that they may need to raise the yearly HOA next year. There was not a concrete reason given. Maybe it will eventually be in the meeting minutes that should be published at some point?
2. During the financial review it was noticed that there were “marina video camera” expenses that were not booked into the Marina expense category. In several past meetings we were told all Marina related income and expenses were required to be tracked separately. This time the question was answered that they do not need to be maintained separately. It would be nice to know which way it is supposed to work.
3. During the review of the Marina by the dock master, it was stated that “phase two” of the dock replacement will cost $32,000. It was also mentioned that there was not enough money in the “Marina Account” to cover this expense, and that they may have to dip into “reserves” to cover this expense. This got us wondering why the docks need to be replaced? Some of us went down to the Marina after the meeting and walked on each remaining wooden dock that has not yet been replaced with a new aluminum equivalent. We saw no obvious safety issues with the remaining wooden docks. We are not sure what is driving this replacement and cost.

There was a lot of information that was presented at the October 19 2019 BOD meeting. Here are a few items that were discussed that we found interesting or merit some concern and discussion:

1. Permits for 5 new homes were applied for in Suissevale in 2019.
2. Additional discussion on spending a large sum of money to replace the remaining docks. Also noted was that amount would likely increase due to additional materials that will be required.
3. Discussion on adding parking spaces near the beach that will require cutting down some trees. This is in addition to clearing some space by the canoe racks to build a small garage to store the tractor in. Suffice it to say that these discussions and projects are going to change the look of the area down by the beach. One or more board members brought up allowing golf carts in Suissevale to ease parking problems.
4. Water usage is down in part due to the identification and fixing of several water leaks in the system. Kudos to the group that maintains the water system for their efforts!
5. A new “Document Request” policy was implemented that controls who can see what association documents, and how you go about requesting it. The policy is an attempt to balance every members right to information versus privacy. It is not clear yet what rules are applied or who decides whether documents and information is accessable by the membership.
6. An “unofficial” 5 year plan was presented that outlined items & expenses that the vice presidents of the different areas of the association feel are important. There was mention of a “committee” being formed to begin to review these items. There was no mention of who is currently on this committee or if they intend on having non board members on this committee. It appears that each Vice President, at their discretion can create their own groups to discuss items.To the best of our knowledge there do not seem to be any “committees” that currently have any non board members on them to solicit input.

We realize that the majority of home owners in Suissevale do not have the time or the interest in attending the monthly meetings to keep abreast of what is going on. Your home in Suissevale is supposed to be your “escape” from the hustle & bustle of life. We are trying to share what we feel is important information so that when you open your mailbox, you are not shocked by increased HOA fees or disappointed to find the landscape in front of the beach area drastically altered when you arrive one weekend.

If you have an opinion on any of the items we present, you may want to consider emailing the BOD or attending a meeting to ask questions.

Jim Graham LoveSuissevale Committee