TIMBERLANE ESTATES IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION Minutes of Board Meeting December 6 th, 2017 PRESENT: Patrick LeBoeuf, Fae Remedios, Diane Strauss, Philip Rebowe, Beverly Murphy, Elaine Johnson, James Breland, Jon McGill, Mark Black, Kathy Johnson, Gail Heine, Tina Suggs. ABSENT: W.J. LeBlanc, Joey Cargol. With a quorum present, President Patrick LeBoeuf called the meeting to order. Neither Councilman was present. Capt Lloyd handed out the Gretna Crime Report for September, October and November 2017. There were no major incidents in the neighborhood and car burglaries were much less than previously. He did mention that the door to the Club was left open by the pool giving anyone access to the inside of the Club. Larry Kirchner volunteered to take care of the issue. There was also an abandoned car in the same area for about ten days which had been ticketed. Capt. Russell mentioned that car burglaries in the neighborhood were less. Fae requested a report via email from Capt. Lloyd if he was not able to come to the monthly meeting because it was important to know of any criminal activity in the neighborhood so that one is forewarned. Patrick invited questions and comments from the audience. Russell Haas mentioned that he had asked Councilman Berthelot if Gretna would be putting up banners on any of the lamps in Timberlane. Jackie said that Gretna would put them up free of charge but the Association would have to purchase the banners. Gretna only puts up banners on main thoroughfares. Cardell Thomas questioned why the public was allowed to speak only after the meeting was adjourned. He wished to have the comments included in the minutes after the New Business on the Agenda. Patrick answered that if there was a topic that was brought up by the audience that needed to be discussed, it would be reviewed by the Board and discussed at the next Board meeting instead of sparing only a couple of minutes for discussion at the current meeting. Patrick did remind Cardell that if any one wished to bring up a topic at a meeting, they could request for it to be included on the Agenda for the next regular meeting which would give the Board a month's time to inform themselves on the topic. Cardell requested that Questions and Answers be allowed after the New Business on the Agenda but before the adjournment of the meeting because he might want it included in the minutes. If it were a topic for debate, he would defer it to the next meeting. Patrick said he would allow it for this current meeting, Caroline Hobgood questioned if the Board was considering giving money to Timberlane Country Club because she heard a TEIA Board member suggest it at the TCC meeting. Patrick said that the majority of the TEIA Board voted against giving the Club money at a previous meeting. file:///c:/users/fae/downloads/minutes%20december%206th,%202017.html 1/5
Philip Rebowe motioned for approval of the November 1 st, 2017 meeting minutes which was seconded by Jon McGill. W.J. LeBlanc was unable to attend the meeting but he did give a Nominating Committee report to Patrick. Michael Babin, an incumbent, wrote to W.J. of his intent to resign from the Board. His current job does not afford him the time or responsibility to serve on the Board. Two current Board members, W.J. LeBlanc and Joey Cargol do not wish to run for re-election. The Nominating Committee met with a quorum and interviewed candidates for the 6 vacancies on the Board. Their recommendations were for the 3 returning Board members, Mark Black, Tina Suggs and Philip Rebowe. They also recommended Louis Vaughn, Chris Palermo and Peter Wypyszinski to fill the vacancies. W.J. referred to a comment made during the Nominating Committee meeting that Mark Black did not currently live in the neighborhood and may not be involved in the everyday activities of the community. The Committee decided to recommend him anyway because of his desire to serve, his past service and legally he was eligible. Jon made a comment that the By-Law stating that a Board member is automatically removed from the Board for missing 3 consecutive monthly meetings should be more specific in terms of the reason for the member's absence and thereby amended. Mike Babin has 1 year left on his term which, according to the By-Laws, has to be filled by a Board appointee by the next meeting. Diane said that to have equitable representation from North and South sides, we should nominate a person living on the South side. Jon nominated Peter Wypyszinski to fill Mike Babin's unfinished term. James seconded it. The Board was in favor. Jon spoke to Peter to see if he wished to fulfill the 1 year vacancy left on Mike Babin's term. Peter agreed and was welcomed to the Board. The Nomination Committee's recommendations were for Mark Black, Philip Rebowe, Tina Suggs, Chris Palermo and Louis Vaughn. Diane objected that the South side was not represented fairly by the Nominating Committee's recommendations and proposed that the Board not accept the recommendation. This was seconded by Gail Heine. Tina Suggs and Elaine Johnson approved the motion, the rest of the Board present rejected it. The motion failed. James Breland made a motion to accept the 5 candidates recommended by the Nominating Committee. Jon seconded it. Except for Diane and Gail who opposed, the rest of the Board present accepted the motion and it passed. All the names of those who applied to fill vacancies on the Board, regardless of Nominating Committee recommendation, will be included on the proxy being mailed out to the neighborhood. Gail and Diane disagreed with the procedure to select candidates. Diane wanted to note that while she had nothing personal against the candidates, the procedure for selection was unfair. Patrick said that until the procedure is changed and voted on, there is not much we could do. Jon asserted that we need to change the Nominating Committee procedures as soon as possible. Elaine Johnson heads that committee. Patrick will email draft of proxy to Board members for approval before they are mailed. FINANCIAL: Diane Strauss, Treasurer, said a few dues were paid. She filed a lien. She was happy to state that we had over $100,000 in the bank. Diane proposed we write off bad debt which she had circulated details of earlier. Gail seconded that motion and all were in favor. James questioned why the proposed budget prepared by Diane was based on dues of $175 and not $240 unless voted out by 80% of the neighborhood. Mark commented that the budget needs to be based on what is realistic. James made a motion to hold off sending the invoices for dues for 2018 until the dues amount had been voted on by the neighborhood and ratified. Tina seconded that and all were in favor. Beverly questioned the Beautification budget. She needs to contact Diane so she can make the necessary file:///c:/users/fae/downloads/minutes%20december%206th,%202017.html 2/5
changes. The budget needs to be approved in January 2018. Diane reported that between 5-6% had not paid their dues for 2017. Those who owe do not own card readers. TAGS: Gail reported that new tags were programmed but do not work. James will be meeting NuArrow the next and has the tag numbers on a spreadsheet which he will work off of to reprogram the new tags. GATES: James reported that all the gates except the barrier arms were operational. The back-up battery for the barrier arms might be the issue. He commented that some police officer keeps going through the gates and leaving them open around 9/10 AM. Capt Lloyd will speak to GPD. James also voiced a concern about the life expectancy of the gates. He anticipates that we might have to replace or do major work on them in the next few years exceeding $30,000. He is against the dues being reduced to $175 as he thinks we need a Capital Improvement Fund. He will get estimates from NuArrow, our current vendor, for various repairs/replacements. Patrick requests that James includes the price of various components for the gates to his Policy & Procedure manual. We could also mention the costs of the gates at the Annual Meeting. Philip Rebowe recommends the Board vote on earmarking the budget with a Capital Improvement Fund after budget is finalized. CAMERAS: Diane reported that the South side camera was not transmitting correctly but NOLA AV fixed it. The night watchman light on Timberlane Drive was washing out the infrared read on licence plates. Diane had spoken to the City of Gretna about replacing the light but the issue is being discussed because they are unsure if it is a Gretna or Jefferson Parish responsibility. WELCOMING: Tina will meet with her committee after the meeting. CODE ENFORCEMENT (S): Patrick asked for a volunteer to chair this committee since Mike Babin was no longer on the Board. There was no response. Cardell Thomas who is on the committee reported that the Parish has been coming out every 6 weeks to cut the grass on the drainage canal. CODE ENFORCEMENT (N): Fae Remedios reported that Russell Haas had notified her that his neighbors had a political sign in their yard for a few days. Fae contacted them with a copy wished of the neighborhood covenants and requested they remove the sign. BEAUTIFICATION: Beverly Murphy reported that they will be putting up wreaths for the holidays. The annual planting to be undertaken by the City of Gretna has been postponed. Ted Heine is working on rebuilding the wiring conduits for the lamps on the wall at the Bellechasse entrance. REAL ESTATE: Fae reported there were 10 homes for sale in the neighborhood and a home on Fernwood sold. ARCHITECTURAL: Kathy Johnson reminded the Board that if someone called for a permit or had a question about improvements to please refer them to her phone number or email. LEGAL: W.J. LeBlanc is working on the resolution of the dues letter to the neighborhood. He will email it to Patrick who will forward to the Board for approval. This letter will go out with the President's letter and the Proxy. Diane was asked to include a note in the mail out indicating that the dues billing would be forthcoming. file:///c:/users/fae/downloads/minutes%20december%206th,%202017.html 3/5
WEBSITE: Fae wished to update the TEIA website with pictures. Patrick is the administrator and it would have to go through him. Peter requested that the 'Contact Us' tab be tweaked with an autoresponse to the contactee acknowledging receipt of request. Patrick said he would take care of that and invited Peter to be on the Website Committee. NEWSLETTER: Mark Black says it will go out next year. OLD BUSINESS: By-Laws Task Force update. Mike Babin was in charge. Ronda Sweet mentioned that in her copy of the Timberlane Charter which she obtained from the Secretary of State, there is mention of only 9 Directors on the TEIA Board. She wished to know how and when this expanded to 15 Directors currently. Did any one have any records of that? She had emailed her copy to W.J. but not received a response. Jon McGill offered to look into it on Jeffnet. Diane suggested Jon look in the Orleans Parish tax documents because many of the early Timberlane filings were made in Orleans Parish. Many of the paper records in our storage room had deteriorated and were not organized.there were 15 buckets of these according to Diane. Jon also offered to chair the By-Laws Committee. Nominating Procedures: Elaine Johnson heads this committee. She will put a procedure for midterm vacancies in place using the draft Patrick has given her for what is currently in use. Joint Resolution Committee: Patrick gave Chip Rosen, President of Timberlane Country Club the resolution our Board voted to accept which was given to us by TCC in lieu of them paying dues for the 20 developed lots they own totalling $3500. He will follow this up when attending the TCC monthly meeting scheduled for December 19 th, 2017. There is no expiration for the current resolution we are working with. The new resolution will have a 5 year term. Joint Committee with TCC: No report. Policies & Procedures: Patrick has not received all reports from committee chairs. Once all have been received, Patrick will review with Board members by email and post them on the website for the community to view and hopefully have a desire to serve on the Board. The documents will change as the the various tasks do. Christmas Parade Signs: Karen Launey asked the Board permission to put up signs around the neighborhood requesting people not to park on the streets on the Christmas Parade route on December 16 th, 2017 evening. James made a motion to allow the signs which was seconded by Kathy and the Board approved. Annual Meeting: Kathy offered to negotiate a menu with the Club for the Annual Meeting on January 19th, 2016. There was some discussion as to the amount to be spent on the food. In previous years, we have had around 100 attendees and have been charged $20 a head. As we are expecting more neighbors than usual because of the dues discussion, the budget was set at $3000 for 125 attendees. There will be a cash bar. Mark motioned for the budget to be $3000 which Gail seconded and the Board was in favor. NEW BUSINESS: Cardell suggested the Board amend the By-Laws to include a Parliamentarian to the Board. It would make the meetings flow better and on to other issues instead of all the debates on legalities. According to him, it is not about opinions; it is about what is indicated in our Charter file:///c:/users/fae/downloads/minutes%20december%206th,%202017.html 4/5
and By-Laws. Fae commented that once our By-Laws are amended to be more specific, decision making by the Board should be a lot easier. Gina Vendetti wished to volunteer on the Board. Patrick informed her that all the Committees of the Board were displayed on the website as well as 2 years of meeting minutes. Cardell Thomas suggested that a representative from the Board attend the City of Gretna monthly meetings to be informed on the happenings in city government and sources of funding that might be available to our community. With no further business, Fae Remedios called for the meeting to be adjourned which was seconded by Jon McGill and approved by the Board. file:///c:/users/fae/downloads/minutes%20december%206th,%202017.html 5/5