March 8, 2022

Hickory Farms Community Association Board of Directors

March 8, 2022     7pm—9:00 pm

Virtual Meeting via Zoom

Attendance: Sean Coleman – President; Jim Bever - Vice President; Carlie Mensen - Secretary; Ken Sorg – Treasurer; Telah Jackson – Member at Large; Thaddeus Weed – Assistant Treasurer; Ben Noviello – Member at Large

• Call to Order and Roll Call Approval of the February 2022 Minutes motion by Sean, 2nd by Jim; all vote yes-approved
• Old Business
• Friends of Tree Award Winner will present the award virtually in April. Date TBD
• If a video is recorded of the award/accomplishment, we can upload it to our website
• Introductions of new volunteersJennifer Maloney – new newsletter editor
• Discussed options for printing and how to best get information to Jennifer
• Christina Crockett – neighborhood watch restart
• Will start planning for a relaunch in April
• Treasurer’s Report – statements posted to Slack and Ken provided an update regarding the Money minder software. 
• Motion to enact the the below proposal by Jim, 2nd by Telah; all vote yes-approved
  • HFCA Proposed Draft Guiding Framework for Strengthening ACC: During 2021, HFCA’s Board discussed that as one cornerstone of strengthening HFCA’s business processes (such as HFCA internal communications systems, ethics/integrity statements, branding, and financial systems), the Board would examine ways in 2022 to further strengthen the important work of the ACC. It is proposed that an ad-hoc team be formed, led by Board Member(s), to work with the ACC Chair and ACC Members, to do following in May and June, 2022:
    • Submit findings and areas for improvement for consideration by the Board 
    • Identify areas for improvement of the ACC.
    • Seek input from current & past ACC Chairs/Members, Board Members, homeowners on the ACC process.
    • Review historic records of the ACC, as appropriate.
    • Identify lessons learned from the accomplishments of the ACC.
    • Communicate with the Board the ACC’s responsibilities, guidelines, and structure within HFCA (e.g., by-laws, rules, declarations and covenants).
    • Invite volunteer homeowners to participate in the effort.
• Branding update
  • B1 is the most popular so far with C1 in 2nd place. Voting is open until March 20th.
• Common Areas-
  • Grass cutting season coming up, which will leverage the financial system advocated by Ken. 
• Lower Path Ad Hoc Committee-Communicated with northern Virginia Soil & Water Conservation Board requesting possible inspection. Also, communicated with public works and storm water management requesting an inspection of the underground drainage line
  • Looking into possibly requesting a grant for a rain garden
  • Anticipate a report to board by April
• Zoom
  • Discussed the need to establish processes to manage the new Zoom account, including password management, the use of the administrative email and the need to limit access to board members and other associated privileged users
  • Motion for Telah to recommend processes and guidelines with assistance from Ben - Motion approved
• New Business
  • Reminder for the community yard sale May 14, 2022 7am – Noon
  • Motion for Jim Bever to serve as the acting Board President effective midnight April 30th until the annual meeting. Motion passed.
  • Ken described the possible need for a Community Outreach coordinator. Informal agreement reached to start this discussion via Slack before communicating the idea with others in the neighborhood in the May newsletter
• Question was raised regarding if someone must live in the development to participate in HOA related activities. Left as an open item.
• Discussion occurred about leveraging the HF Calendar to indicate meetings, key tax dates, and important community reminders, such as the need for mowing and other recurring notices.
• Suggestion was made that the newsletters should include seasonal reminders and other recurring information.
• Move to adjourn passed 8:45