HOA Board Meeting Minutes
January 11th, 2025 at 10:00 am
4752 Ironwood Court
Board Members in Attendance / Quorum Established: Myra Whiting (President), Jan Bergman (Vice President), Donna Chavarro (Secretary) Craig Mancuso (Treasurer) Richard Drath (Assistant Officer) and LaVonne Kranz (Member at Large)
President’s Welcome
- Everyone took a moment to introduce themselves, what position they hold and which committees they are to the residence in attendance.
The 2024-2025 HOA Board:
- Myra Whiting – President & Design Control Committee
- Jan Bergman – Vice President & Grounds & Maintenance Committee
- Donna Chavarro – Secretary & Covenant Committee
- Craig Mancuso – Treasurer & Budget & Finance Committee
- LaVonne Kranz – Member at Large & Covenant Committee / Advisory Committee
- Richard Drath – Assistant Officer & Design Control Committee / Advisory Committee
- The residents in attendance took a moment to introduce themselves to the Board and each other.
Order of Business:
- Initial proof of notice of meeting and the meeting agenda was posted on Sea Links website January 8th, 2025
- Called to order at 10:10 am – Myra (P) motioned – Jan (VP) second it.
- 6 residents attended.
- Board approved the minutes from the last meeting and it was posted on December 17th, 2024.
Secretary Report – Donna
- Emails: Reported on the emails that were sent in since the last meeting in November. They included requests for gate codes, gate remotes, design control requests, questions regarding the street sign that was hit and taken down, emergency action, parking offenses, HOA dues statements and drainage issues.
- Bank: After Donna signed at Banner Bank she emailed the banker the notes from the last HOA meeting that assigned Craig as the Treasurer. Myra, Donna and Craig have access to all financial accounts.
- Gate: will call our gate software company to see what the cost would be to upgrade our system to include mobile and long distance phone numbers to the gate codes and report back at the next meeting.
Treasurer Report – Craig
- Dues: All of the HOA dues statements have been mailed out to residents now. Michelle, our accountant, said that she wanted to wait until after the first of the year. Last year, they were mailed out on January 2nd, 2024.
- HOA dues are due by January 25th – and you can either pay the entire amount of $500 – or half payment now ($250) and the other half ($250) in June. You can pay by mailing a check, or by supplying your credit card info – but you will incur a 3% fee.
- Michelle said that you will always receive your paper statement mailed to you by regular post. QuickBooks emailed, in error and in electronic form, a 2025 Dues invoice marked paid to just a few residents. Again, all HOA Dues will be mailed to you in paper form.
- Annual Report: was already filed with Michelle on 12/31/24. Great job, Craig!
- Invoices: There are no outstanding invoices at this time.
- Statements: Craig is looking at statements on a regular basis. We had a lot of invoices from Gateway Controls – with all of the gate repairs and maintenance; and one from the tree that came down and needed to be removed from the Sea Links drive – on the way into the neighborhood.
- Money: Craig will be looking at the HOA dues that come in – figure out what we spend vs. what needs to be done, and shop for any CD’s available to get some added interest for our money.
Maintenance Committee Report – Jan
- Front Gate: Gateway Controls – the sensors were replaced – the ones that open the gate if power is lost.
- Back Gate: The back gate has not been upgraded in 20 years. You could see the issue and why it was not functioning properly – the wires could be seen coming up from under the asphalt. Now we have little sensors that are dug into the asphalt and the gate is working much better now.
- Also, the receiving unit was moved and reinstalled in a plastic housing to cause less interference for the signals from the sensors – and is located on the south side of the gate.
- Street Sign: There was more involved in fixing our “Sea Links” street sign than just putting it back up. Thank you to those residents who were patient and knew that it was being taken care of properly. The street sign was hit in an accident – and there were many things had to happen before the sign could be replaced: such as police report – did the driver have insurance, if not what is our insurance deductible, get bids on replacement, get permit to install street sign, discuss placement of sign, get board approval to spend the money, award the bid, locate utilities, and get sign installed.
- Stop Sign: Our Stop Sign at the end of Sea Links is too short, too low and too wobbly. Jan received a good bid (with a discount) to fix both the stop sign and street sign for $550.00. They will use a 2×2 metal post, drive an anchor into the ground, replace the stop sign and put up our street sign above it. Add reflectors on both East and West. And Jan will look into having the tree trimmed around the sign post.
- The Board voted on a more permanent fix for the street sign. Myra (P) motioned, Donna (S) second, all agreed. Thanks, Jan, for your due diligence with all the calls to the police, our insurance company, the utility company, meeting with the utility company, as well as the city, county and the permit company.
- Mowing: Jan will get a couple of quotes for the mowing as our contract is up in March. She will check with “Birch Bay” and “Express Help” – and she knows all of the areas we need mowed and the entry trees trimmed.
- Asphalt: We had 2 bids for this – but they are too old – so Jan will see about new bids. She will figure out what needs to be done, curbs, etc. She will check and report at our next HOA meeting in 2 months.
- Drainage: We are aware of the issues – and the money needed to properly fix it. It is still a work in progress – but nothing new at the moment.
Design Control Committee – Richard & Myra
- 4760 South Golf Course: Plans for a 2 story, 2000 sq ft property were submitted. It was approved. No follow up yet as to when they will start.
- 7936 & 7940 East Golf Course: were purchased – but no plans were submitted yet to build. County still needs to evaluate the extent of the “Wetlands” – so it is all on hold for now. There were 4 lots – but only 1 of the 2 that were purchased can be inhabited. There still remain 2 uninhabitable and unoccupied lots on that side of East.
- Wetlands: There is also a property on the corner of North and East that is also labelled as “Wetlands” – and nothing can be built on it either.
- We had a request that someone wanted to buy one of the buildable lots on Sawgrass – and put/build a prefab home. It was denied as we do not permit prefab homes in Sea Links. So, they did not buy the property for sale.
- West Golf Course: Myra has been reaching out to see what the ETA is, as well as the current plan for the unfinished property on West. Apparently, there was an issue with PSE trying to get power to the property – some issues that were out of the builder’s control. At least, the debris was cleaned on the landscaping lately.
Covenant Report: LaVonne & Donna
- Fences: Question was asked about fences in backyards that face the golf course and greenways. Residents were reminded that NO fences are permitted behind the houses that face the golf course or greenway. Also, fences or arbor dividers between houses cannot be taller than 4 feet high. Hedges are allowed. Decks on the back of the house with a rail are permitted. All plans need Board approval.
- Parking on the Street: Warning letters will be sent to repeat offenders – followed by fines if the issue continues.
Website: Donna
- Myra and Donna will have a working design meeting to put a process in place that includes expectations for the website, method to do it and the structure to update our website.
Welcoming Committee:
- We only have 66 people subscribed to receive emails and communication from Sea Links – in the event of a disaster – we know that our neighbors would like to be informed. You can subscribe on our website: https://sealinksbirchbay.org
- Welcome Packs will be assembled for all new residents to let them know about services in our community and to help make them aware of our governing documents – CCR’s and Rules & Regulations.
Future Events
- Community Clean Up & BBQ Potluck: Last year’s Clean Up & BBQ was a great success and the neighborhood looked great afterwards. It was also a nice “meet and greet” to get to know your neighbors. Possibly having 2 – one in the Spring and one in the Fall.
- Garage Sale – we will see if we can coordinate when Latitude 49 is doing theirs.
- Christmas Tree Pickup – can help assist picking up Christmas trees at the end of the holidays.
- Holiday Event: Progressive dinner idea was suggested.
Next Meeting
- Our next HOA Board Meeting will be on Saturday, March 8th at 10 am at LaVonne Kranz’s (MaL) house – 4752 Ironwood Ct.
Adjourn
- Meeting adjourned at 11:38 am. Myra (P) motioned and Craig (T) and Jan (VP) second it