Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting of the Property Owners Association of Arundel on the Bay 7:00 pm Tuesday, March 8 th 2016 at Dave Delia s House Attendees: Board members: Ed Conaway, Lori Strum, Kinley Bray, Dave Zeman, Alison Buckler (telephonically), and Mike Adams Officers: Donna Watts-Lamont, Roxanne Veal, Dawn Davis, and Dave Delia, and Parliamentarian Phillip Allen. Committee Members: None Absent: Aris T. Allen, Jr. Meeting called to order at 7:03pm by Lori Strum. Number of Board Members Forming Quorum at 7:03pm: 6 Discussions Administrative At 7:03pm Lori Strum called the meeting to order and requested that attendees review the minutes of the January Board Meeting (the Board did not meet in February due to damage at the West Street Library and winter weather). Dave Zeman made a motion to accept the minutes and Ed Conaway seconded. All were in favor. President s Report Dave Delia announced that the West Street Library would probably not be able to accommodate AOTB meetings for the next several months, due to roof damage. Mr. Delia asked Dawn Davis to correct the calendar and noted that the April Board of Directors meeting was already scheduled to be held in his home. Donna Watts-Lamont volunteered her home for the May Board of Directors meeting. The landscaping vendor submitted a bill for $200 and this has been given to bookkeeper Sheila Keating. Lori will be coordinating with the vendor for spring mulching of playground. Paperwork has been submitted to the Maryland Department of the Environment for beach water sampling and for mosquito sampling and control spraying. The DOE tests our beach water bi-weekly during season 1
and provides a bacteria count to confirm whether or not the water is safe for recreational activities. Mosquito sampling confirms mosquito populations in the neighborhood which impact spraying schedules. Yard Sale flyers were distributed and ads were placed on Craigslist and in The Capital. Chaired by Dina Meissner, the Yard Sale resulted in ample traffic for about twenty household participants. An AOTB residence had a package taken from the front porch. Security Officer Mike Harris has been made aware. Sympathy notes were provided for the passing of resident Marc Grigsby and for resident Bill Semenuk s mother. Mr. Delia sent a note to the Anne Arundel County Police Department asking Sergeant Hughes to reconnect. Ruts in the ground caused by a concrete truck at a resident s home that is under construction was addressed. The resident promised to repair after construction. The pink house near the beach and its bulkhead are being rehabbed. There are new houses under construction on Cohasset and Narragansett and at least three other rehabs in the community. We need to approve a line item in the budget for legal fees for a pending lawsuit and need to alert the community to the lawsuit. Email blast and PIER article will be sent out. The next Board of Directors meeting will be held on April 12 th, 2016 at Dave Delia s house. The next General Membership Meeting will also be the election nominations meeting. It will be held on April 23 rd at the Hillsmere Library from 10:00 to 11:30am. Mr. Delia asked Ms. Watts-Lamont to consider coordinating an email blast soliciting declared candidates to speak. Mr. Delia also noted that volunteers may be needed to help with the meeting, particularly to provide drinking water. Mr. Delia volunteered to provide snacks. Treasurer s Report 2
Roxanne Veal advised that our bookkeeper, Sheila Keating, noted that the community must notify our accountants of the lawsuit. Ms. Veal confirmed that this has been done. Dave Zeman asked if someone had notified the community s insurance company and was informed that Dave D. had notified them immediately. Ms. Veal then distributed advice from the accountants regarding notifying each household of the lawsuit. Ms. Veal also distributed the Treasurer s report. The bank balance as of January 21 st, 2016 is $137,126.00. Funds remaining are $195,103.00. A full copy of the Treasurer s Report is available from Roxanne Veal. Mr. Zeman motioned to add a line item or sub item under Legal expenses, for our defense in the lawsuit and have this communicated to the community via email blast or letter, and that it be shared at the General Membership Meeting. Mike Adams seconded. All were in favor. Mr. Zeman amended the motion to name the line item Coble-Atterbeary Defense. Mike Adams seconded. All were in favor. Security Mike Adams distributed a job description for our supplemental security officer, Mike Harris. It includes a reporting structure (reporting to Mike Adams) and the necessity of providing time sheets. The full job description is available from Mr. Adams and, when approved, will be posted on the website. Dave Zeman moved that the job description be shared with Mike Harris and that it be added as the official job description for AOTB security. Board meeting attendees decided to allow Mike Harris to review the description first and tabled a vote until next month after Mr. Harris s input had been received. Nature Paths 3
Lori Strum advised that Total Lawn has requested a plot plan so that Anne Arundel County can be approached about permits, likely resulting in a letter confirming that the project does not require permits. One of the nature paths is estimated to cost $2500 to install and there are two simpler paths that are estimated to cost between $1800 and $2000. The more complicated path is to be completed first. Total Lawn has also been advised that there must be greater consistency about emptying the dog waste containers and refilling the bags. Shoreline Ed Conaway reported that he, Lori Strum, and Roxanne Veal attended a meeting at the County Finance Office on January 21 st, 2016. In attendance were Tom Brower, Becky Swerida, and Chris Becraft of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and Billie Penley and Tomi Adebo with Anne Arundel County. The purpose of the meeting was a project status review by Tom Brower and Chris Becraft, and project hand-over briefing by Billie Penley for Tomi Adebo, who has succeeded Billie as the County Finance Office SCBD Administrator responsible for our project. Points of discussion included that $400K is available from unallocated funds in the DNR s 2016 budget and has been approved for presentation to the Maryland Board of Public Works for its approval to proceed. Since the decision on our grant application to the Chesapeake Bay Trust (CBT) was not expected until February 14 th, Tom did not reduce the DNR s funding request to reflect the potential $75K in proceeds from the grant, and only included an investment of $50K from the AOTB-POA that is intended to cover the front-end engineering design study, in their presentation. There are no changes to the project scope and plan. This was primarily a briefing for Ms. Adebo to bring her up to speed on the design and extent of our project, the funding and payment process between DNR, the County Finan ce Office and the AOTB POA.During the conversation, Chris Becraft noted that if the CBT awards the full $75K Grant, the funds would be allocated to our Project as follows: $ 3,327.00 Maintenance Plan 4
$71,673.00 Construction $75,000.00 Total $21,000.00 Bulkhead Removal $22,500.00 Breakwater Construction $21,000.00 Sand Fill/Grading $ 7,173.00 Marsh Planting $71,673.00 Total Construction Also discussed was the DNR To-Do List: 1) Director sign off on Project scope and budget, and funding set asid e availability from 2016FY budget; 2) Prepare the Project Loan Agreement and send the County a formal Notice of Intent to Award letter for execution by AACO and the AOTB- POA; 3) Submit a Project Presentation Package in time for inclusion on the agenda of the March meeting of the Board of Public Works; 4) Deliver Project work scope and specifications and sample RFP packages and contract formats, along with a list of potential engineering firms and construction companies to solicit. Anne Arundel County Action Items are: 1. Promptly sign the Project Loan Agreement; 2. Forward the Loan Agreement to the AOTB POA for execution; 3. Prepare a bill by the County Office of Law empowering the County and the AOTB-POA ECSBD to undertake the Project, for presentation to the County Council; 4. Obtain a signature from the County Executive Since time is of the essence and we will have a short construction season (summer-fall 2016) and our contacts have given us priority treatment, we must act diligently and expeditiously at every step of the administrative review and approval process, and during vendor solicitation and selection in order to achieve our desired construction date of mid-july. Mr. Conaway also reported a February 8 th, 2016 meeting with Tom Brower. During the conversation, Tom noted the following: 5
1. The Project Loan Agreement and Notice of Intent to Award letter had been sent to Toni Adebo that morning. 2. Tom s immediate manager, Bhaskar Subramanian, had signed off on the Project Agreement the previous week, and considering the strength of our application, and in the interest of expediting the process, took the unusual step of sending their project approval request forward without the County Finance Office s signature, in order to get on the Board of Public Works Meeting Agenda for either March 9 th or 23 rd. This is a key step in our project going forward and before the County and we can take any further action. 3. Tom is continuing to work on finishing the Project Work Scope and Specifications for use in the contractor solicitation and selection process, and will have sample RFP Solicitation and Contract T&Cs ready within the next couple of weeks. At that time he will also give us a list of qualified engineering firms known to his Office, after he finishes his preliminary vetting process, that includes calls to check out qualified vendor interest and availability. 4. Tom asked that we return a copy of the signed Notice of Intent Award letter to him as quickly as possible after it has been executed by the County and AOTB. Also of interest: because of the backing of our proposal by the DNR and the approval of a 20-year, zero interest loan, our project is being included in the capital budget for the county in fiscal year 2017. This takes a little more time at the front end but will really compress the schedule of the front-end administration coordination work that needs to be done. Tom Brower and Ed Conaway plan to meet in the next couple of days to go over the list of prospective engineering design firms. Tom will also have the bid packages ready to review. Once done, we will be sending out RFPs to a half dozen engineering firms, including The Morris Co., which did work for AOTB back in 2006/2007. Mr. Conaway asked if AOTB had letterhead of any kind and Dawn Davis volunteered to create it. Lori reminded that we did not receive the grant from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 6
Adjournment At 7:55pm Ed Conaway made a motion to adjourn and go into Executive Session. Kinley Bray seconded. All were in favor. Recorded and submitted by Dawn M. Davis, Secretary, Property Owners Association of Arundel on the Bay. March 8 th, 2016. 7