2024 SMA Annual Meeting Minutes and Treasurer's Report

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SMA Mailing

Each homeowner will be receiving a package associated with the runoff election. That package contains a hard copy of the above listed files, which includes a letter, a proxy form and candidate summaries for the two candidates running for the third board position. These are included for your reference.

Please reach out with any questions. Thank you for your patience and we look forward to seeing you November 1st!

SMA 2023 Annual Meeting – Board Election Next Steps

Thank you for your patience as we travel unchartered waters together regarding our 2023 board election. We have an update regarding next steps for the remaining board position.

In consulting with our attorney, we were advised a separate election focused solely on the election for the third board position is required. That election must be held in person, similar to the election we just completed.

The election will involve just the two candidates who were tied for the third board position. All homeowners are invited to participate. Again, for those who are unable to attend, proxy voting will be allowed.

In order to execute this properly, we will be developing communications and supporting documents to explain the voting process, including proxy voting (which will include a form for completion) in advance of the election. These materials will be mailed to each homeowner and will also be available on the website. Information will be available on Facebook as well.

Once the materials are completed and approved by Jessica Dabish and myself, we will coordinate with Jerry Minando to produce the materials and execute the mailing. 

We have been advised that the meeting needs to take place 10 business days after the mailing of the materials have occurred. That said, we plan to develop, produce and package the information for the mailers this weekend/early next week. We will have an election date identified in advance of the mailing and will include that information with each mailer and we will post that both on Facebook and on the website.

We will more information to share in the coming days. 

Thanks again for your patience.

SMA 2023 Annual Meeting – Meeting Minutes

Date of Meeting: October 11, 2023

Board Attendees:

· Jerry Minando – Assistant to the Treasurer

· Sandy Chenet

· Jen Mooney

· Lisa Pooley

Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:07 pm

· Role Call completed by Sandy

· Proxy Review completed by Jen

· Introduction of Officers by Sandy

· Welcome new residents – Sandy listed the new residents who have come into the neighborhood since the last annual meeting.

· Old Business

o Infrastructure was covered by Lisa. 

§ This included the history of the water problems plaguing the neighborhood, and what activities have been done to date. Lisa stated they hired an engineering firm to assess the state of the infrastructure of the community and identify the primary areas of concern. 

§ From there the discussion covered contractors we solicited to address the issue of which one responded and came back with a quote of $48K. We discussed the size of the work and how these contractors usually do large jobs, so getting one back in 2022 to do the work was a challenge as they are in demand for larger work. 

§ Also, all the money was needed up front. That would involve an assessment of which the board would like to present the complete situation to the homeowners before moving forward. 

§ Discussions and questions arose from this topic including responsibility for the breaking infrastructure, etc. Lisa responded that the attorney states it’s the homeowners as the pipes are on private property. We advised we contacted both the township and the county and their don’t claim ownership. 

§ The builder and the developer are both out of business now, so we opted to understand the matter and wanted to take it to the co-owners for next steps. However due to the current litigation, it was decided to put the matter on hold for financial reasons.

§ Many homeowners had questions and suggestions. 

§ Lisa to follow up and bring the action to the forefront to get new bids and see what other support may be available. (Action item)

o Roads was the next topic. 

§ Lisa shared the Oakland Country program and advised we would look into it further, but we needed to address the water issues first as the water matters will destroy the roads so that investment would be lost if the infrastructure wasn’t addressed first.

o Landscaping/Gardening – 

§ Sandy covered that topic and indicated we hired Mang to address our landscaping and gardening needs. Jerry provided some history and information about the commercial vehicle storage for his company, which is now offsite as his business is growing. 

§ Overall, we are happy with his work and others in the neighborhood have used his services as well.

o Street Repairs – 

§ Jerry addressed that topic. Essentially since the county came in and did patching this year, we opted to not do any work. We can address next year, as needed.

o Garbage Collection – 

§ Sandy covered this topic, advising of the process she completed to get GFL for our service. Some questions and comments came up about contacting them and the difficulty around that. The board will look into a way for homeowners to reach out (Action Item).

o Grounds Keeping – 

§ Jerry addressed the work that Marty has been doing with lawn cutting and fertilization. We’ve not received a rate increase since we began with him. He also addressed tree replacement. He covered some issues with certain pine trees and that those impacted will be replaced with different pines, not susceptible to the disease. 

§ Also, curbside trees will be replaced in the fall. A question was raised about spraying done by Marty on one street tree on her property. Essentially is was determined it was probably deep root feeding instead.

o Picnic – 

§ Sandy and Jen covered this topic looking for feedback, suggestions on timing, food, etc. The only reaction was to announce the date 9 months in advance for planning purposes.

§ Facebook – 

· Jen addressed this topic and stated the platform was initiated to have neighbors ask questions around home repairs, recommendations and positive things. She stated the page is becoming a tool where people are getting negative and divisive. She stated she is the admin and will remove posts or take it down.

· This lead to some heated comments and furthered a discussion around communication channels. One homeowner, Jessica Long, brought up the topic of a directory and ultimately volunteered to start one. Other homeowners stated they don’t want their information published, so it’s a mixed decision as some may want to support this and others won’t participate.

· In addition, this discussion brought up the topic about transparency with the community as it related to the current lawsuit. The group asked if we had a quorum before we decided to pursue legal action. Jerry explained the process we did and what we usually go through before we pursued anything. Next the group asked about updating the bylaws. We responded and said our bylaws are old and it would cost $15K-$20K to update them as the need to be updated by a law firm. 

o Treasurer’s Report –

§ Jerry reviewed the handouts that addressed the budget spend and planned spend for 2024. He addressed questions as they arose including digital payments, online invoice requests and more. Specific expenses were asked about, such as what Professional Fees included, etc. 

· New Business –

o Website – 

§ Lisa stated the website has been updated and open to input/feedback.

o Sidewalk repairs – 

§ Jerry indicated that the uneven sidewalks were shaved down this year to help keep them smooth. One homeowner indicated concrete levelers may work as well.

o Legal Case Status – 

§ Lisa showed the flyer included with the last invoice and newsletter that was mailed out, again reiterating we can’t share any more than what is stated there. Much of this topic was addressed throughout the evening through the topics above.

o SMA Board Election – 

§ Jerry and Jen distributed ballots to those present to include additional ballots for those who were proxy for other homeowners. Jerry also asked Mike Morris and Larry Blevin to be ballot counters. They agreed.

§ The ballots were cast and both of the counters verified the ballots and counted the votes. Jerry announced the results:

· Jessica Dabish (Most votes)

· Lisa Pooley (Second most votes)

· Tie between Jen Mooney and Mark Smith

§ By this time, some homeowners left so we couldn’t do a run off election. Lisa reached out to both attorneys, but no one answered. It was decided we would reach out to counsel in the morning and determine next steps.

§ Information was to be provided to the homeowners advising them of next steps the following day.

Time Meeting Closed: 9:34 pm

On behalf of the SMA Board, we are confirming details with the association attorney, but initial information we received looks like we will need to hold an additional election to determine the last board position, as we expected. We should have more information around how that should work once we meet with them tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.

Thank you to all the homeowners that were able to take the time to join us at our annual meeting last night. Thank you to those homeowners unable to attend who voted by proxy as well. A quorum was met for our election and the results are somewhat in. . . 

In order of highest number of votes. . .

Jessica Dabish

Lisa Pooley

. . . and a two way tie to Jennifer Mooney & Mark Smith.

We have reached out to our legal counsel to provide us our next steps for handling a tie s our Board of Directors, according to our bylaws, is to be comprised of only 3 members. We will be in touch soon.