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HLR Open “B” Board minutes

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SUMMARY OF THE OPEN B BOARD MEETING
JULY 13, 2010

NOTE: This is an open meeting where agenda items are presented and explained to the property owners of Holly Lake Ranch (HLR.) Comments and questions from participants are summarized and discussed. The property owners may present additional agenda items during the Open Discussion segment of the meeting, if they make arrangements to get on the agenda. Clarification points to agenda items are noted in brackets. No action is taken at this meeting. Where necessary these agenda items will be brought before the Combined A & B Board meeting for discussion and action. If there is an A/B meeting, it will be Tuesday, July 27, 2010. B Board members present were Garland Ford, Vice President, Larry Bowman, Treasurer, Jeanette Sterner, Secretary and Jim Atchley. Rob James, the GM was present. Several department heads were also present.

Jeanette Sterner opened the meeting. The following items were presented by Rob James and discussed:

I. Volunteer Fire Department and Trinity Mother Francis Champion EMS. Joe Cirasola, the President of the HLVFD Board announced the negotiations between the Fire Department and Trinity Mother Francis have been completed. The contract is for an ambulance to be stationed at the HLVFD building. The ambulance will be at the HLVFD beginning on August 1, 2010. The contract provides service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The contract is automatically renewed every year, so the contract should be good for 15 years. Joe said this was the goal of the fire department when they initially built the new building. He thanked the community for always supporting the fire department. He also thanked Champion EMS for making this service available. Jeanette asked Joe to explain the new 911 signs that can be placed on your mailbox pole or on a separate pole. Joe said a new program has been underway for 30 days or so. A homeowner can buy a green sign with your address. Volunteers place the signs on your mailbox pole or they will place it on a separate pole for an additional fee. You can contact the Hook and Ladder club to get more information and sign up for the 911 sign program. The illuminated signs help emergency services to find your home a lot easier. This too is a critical part of you receiving medical attention. Joe Cirasola then introduced, Arnie Spiers, the administrator for Champion Flight for Life Champion EMS. He also thanked everyone for helping in the negotiations and working with Mother Francis and Champion EMS. Arnie made the following points about the ambulance service:
A. The ambulance at the HLVFD is an extra vehicle. There will still be an ambulance stationed in Hawkins. Because of this new station, HLR residents should see an ambulance at the residence 10 to 15 minutes sooner than they did before. Basically, response time should be cut in half.
B. Arnie said there would be a high level of service at the new station. The level of care given by the attendants in the ambulance equals that to personnel in a hospital Emergency Room.
C. The service includes an "auto launch" program, which means when the dispatcher receives a call, an ambulance and helicopter are dispatched if the information received meets a certain criteria, which would necessitate the use of a care-flight unit.
D. The cost of the service is $48 a year for a household. This fee is for ambulance and helicopter service. An example of coverage is if you are originally taken to a Tyler hospital and your medical condition requires you to be moved to Dallas, the yearly subscription includes this medical requirement. The doctor(s) have to substantiate the need for you to be moved to a hospital in the Metroplex.
E. Your subscription is for any area that has a mutual agreement with Champion. You can obtain information concerning your subscription to Champion by obtaining a brochure or going on-line.

II. Rick Van Heyst, Chair of the Road Workgroup. Rick announced that since Dave Grover, Maintenance Manager, is doing such a great job with repairing roads and resurfacing roads, the Work Group is going to be suspended. If the B Board has a project they wish to have researched, they will gladly review the problem(s) and provide an action proposal for the Board to consider. Rick believes the dual-axle trash trucks are doing excessive damage to the roads. He guesses that we spend approximately $20,000 a year just to repair the damage caused by the trash trucks. He is proposing the Association go back to picking up trash, as they did a few years back. He believes the Association's lighter trucks would save money in road repairs.

III. Deer Situation Update. Rob said he has found he was mistaken by thinking the deer population had gone down since the "no feeding" policy was enacted last year. He received several calls about the number of deer still in most areas on HLR. There are still a lot of reports of damage being done to the natural habitat and the plants on homeowners' property. Rob said three deer counts would take place beginning July 20. A member from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) will help the counters set up the system, as they did last year. TPWD and the Association want to be sure the count is done correctly. A biologist from TPWD will be on the team for at least the first count. Rob said the teams include people who feel the deer should be left alone and people who feel we need a removal program of some kind to lessen the number of deer. Once the counts are completed, TPWD will analyze the results and present their findings and recommendations initially to the B Board and the Wildlife Workgroup.

IV. USGA Golf Course Results. Bud White from USGA completed a very thorough analysis of the golf course, fairways and greens. His main finding was that the problem on the greens is "spring dead spot." Last year we had an analysis completed and it was suggested a totally different problem. The superintendent treated the greens for the ferry ring problem, when in fact the real problem was spring dead spot. That is why we still had so many problems on the golf course. The new treatments have been applied and there has already been a great improvement on the greens. Mr. White had many other recommendations for the greens and fairways. For example, the superintendent has begun a root-pruning program so more water will be absorbed by the grass and not the trees. This procedure will not harm the trees. Based on information received from the study, some trees have been removed on two "test" holes to see the impact on thinning some of the trees, which are putting too much shade on the greens or fairways, which prevents morning sun from reaching the grass. This impedes growth since the morning is the most crucial time for sunlight. The Association will determine how this affects grass growth on these two holes, before following further tree-cutting recommendations.
Rob also reported that some of the sprinkler heads have been clogged with algae, which is causing the sprinklers to malfunction. He hired a diver to check the irrigation pipe in Lake Greenbriar. It was found that the wrong type of tubing was initially used, so it rusted and broke. This caused the screen to break off. This screen filtered out substances out of the irrigation pipes. With the screen gone, we now have the clogged sprinkler heads. We are going to replace the piping in Lake Greenbriar and place a new screen on the system. Some temporary workers have been hired to clean all of the sprinkler heads so that we can continue watering until all of the repairs have been made. The extra workers were hired because this cleaning process takes so much time and the regular workers were not able to keep up with other maintenance duties on the golf course.

V. Pig Problem on Golf Course. Rob said we have recently had some destructive digging by pigs on the golf course. They have come very close to a couple of greens, which are very expensive to replace. Usually, spraying for grubs and other worms, keeps the pigs away. But, this year the pigs have been very active. Dennis McCarthy has been a great help in trapping the pigs. Seven pigs have been captured. Of course, more insecticide has been placed on these areas. So far, these procedures have been working. The golf superintendent has not seen any more evidence of pig activity on the golf course. Traps will stay in certain areas until we feel the pigs have left the golf course. Rob said again how helpful Dennis has been in this project. He has helped with trapping pigs before for the Association and his services are greatly appreciated.
Rob also mentioned the VFD also helped us water the course earlier this summer when we experiencing a bit of a drought and were low on water.

VI. Signage Proposal. Rob said the Association would keep the policy where realtors will place "for sale" signs on the homes. Rob said he mentioned there would be a fee for people to buy garage sale and estate sale signs from the Association. Since we are not in the "sign" business, there will be a refundable fee of $10 for 5 signs. We want the signs back for others who may have such a sale. Rob said other signs require permission from the GM. The signs have to be professionally made. Special event signs can be up only for 72 hours and also need to be approved by the GM. You can have a motto on your "name and address" sign on your property. The A/B Board did not meet last month, so no discussion or vote of the full A/B Board has taken place on the sign issue. The next A/B Board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27, 2010. Someone asked about using the Bulletin Boards on the property. Rob said the bulletin boards are still available for announcements.

VII. Trash Cans Left Out. Rob said people are leaving their trashcans by the road. He said this is unsightly and he asked everyone to move his or her trash cans back to the house. If you have neighbors who are part-time residents or if they are on vacation, please move their garbage cans for them.

VIII. Dumpster Project Results. The "Clean-Up" week went very well. We plan on furnishing dumpsters again next year, so we can help residents get rid of unwanted and broken items they have collected over time.

IX. Drinking on Golf Course. Rob said by Texas State law no one can bring any type of alcohol or alcoholic beverage on the golf course property. Rob said we are not going to check your coolers, but we are asking you not to being alcohol on the course. Several comments were made concerning this requirement:
A. Someone stated that the owner of the restaurant does not care about the golfers. He is not open during tournaments, except for the Veterans' Tournament. He is not open on Sundays for any 19th Hole business. So, what are people to do if they would like to have a beer and the 19th Hole is not even open? Though the 19th Hole is open at 11:00a.m. it takes too long to get a hot dog or sandwich. He has a new menu, but it takes 15 minutes or more to get the food. That is too long for golfers.
B. Someone suggested the individuals talk with the owner concerning these issues. Several people said that he does not listen. As a group or as individuals, the owner has talked with them, but then does nothing to change the operation. Rob said we would have a meeting with the owner and discuss these concerns.
C. Someone asked how much money does the owner make on alcohol sales. Rob said the owner only receives 20% of the sales by law of TABC. No "real" profit is made off of sales. The state has a set procedure on how the money from sales is split. Rob said the owner does a great job of making sure all of the requirements of TABC are met.

X. ACC Rules and ACC Updates. The updated ACC Rules should be ready to publish by the next meeting.

XI. Ban Smoking at All Pools. Rob said there is no smoking at the Main Pool on the Westside. You may go outside the fence to smoke. There is a smoking section at the Section III Pool. Rob said the Board would review any proposals for "smoking sections" and get back with the residents. Silverleaf does have a smoking area at their pool.

No other questions or comments were made. A motion was made and seconded to adjourn. The motion passed. A copy of these minutes can be obtained in the HLRA Admin office during regular business hours. Catalog number is MinOpenBMeet07132010.

Submitted by Jeanette L. Sterner, Secretary