September 13, 2022

Minutes of the Hickory Farms HOA Board held on 13 September 2022

Location: Zoom

In Attendance

Jim Bever-President

Telah Jackson- Acting Vice President

Tad Weed- Associate Treasurer

Ken Sorg- Treasurer

Ben Noviello-Secretary

Carlie Mensen –Member at large

Melissa Stark- Common Area Coordinator

Pam Barrett– ACC

Meeting was called to order at 7:00

Motion to approve minutes was made by Jim and seconded by Telah; motion passed.

Old Business

Jim expressed his thanks to Melissa for facilitating a successful "weeding social," during which 15 to 20 participants removed an especially troublesome weed from the lower commons area, also known as the “sledding hill.”

Jim led a discussion on strategies to encourage more people to get involved with community activities and to consider volunteering for community positions. Possible approaches discussed include:

• Avoid being judgmental because we are not always aware of private issues
• Consider events that are smaller and more frequent than has been the case
• Establish regularly scheduled events that could become a community tradition
• Make clear that volunteering for a community position does not imply a long-term commitment
• Consider leveraging block captains
• Always follow through when people show interest.

Jim led a discussion of an ongoing issue with new residents not informing the HOA when they move-in. Various strategies for more proactively reaching-out were discussed, including leveraging block captains and the social committee.

Jim presented efforts to recruit new people for the various committees, including the social committee, the ACC, and the HOA board. It was noted that the head of the ACC is an appointed position. The need to clarify roles and responsibilities for all positions was stressed.

Carlie reported on a successful test of the "SurveyMonkey" service for on-line community voting. It was also discussed that this service might have other useful applications

Motion to buy one of the plans was made by Jim and seconded by Ben; Motion passed.

Jim led a discussion of various ways to inform residents of the October 18 annual meeting

The need to strike a balance between insisting people have online capabilities and exhibiting respect for individual privacy was discussed. Several ideas were proposed, with the recognition that this is a complicated and potentially contentious issue

Jim reported on a virtual meeting with the legal firm of Chadwick, Washington, Moriarty, Elmore & Bunn P.C.. Based on this experience, he made a motion by acclimation to continue working with this firm. There were no objections.

Treasurer's Report

Ken highlighted the importance of updated signature cards to ensuring the security of the HOA banking account.

ACC Report

Notices were sent to those with violations issues, and that there was a possible need to initiate formal actions against the most intractable of the recipients.

It was suggested, but not decided, that an executive session should be convened on Wednesday 9 November prior to the regular HOA board meeting.

Common Areas Report

Several bids for removing several potentially-dangerous dead or dying trees on community property was reported.

A motion to use the firm “CAS” was made by Melissa and seconded by Telah; motion passed

It was discussed that the age of the community implies that dead and dying trees on community land is likely to be an ongoing issue.

Melissa reported that Larry Rogers had volunteered to take the lead for coordinating HOA tree management efforts.

New Business

Jim reported that a complaint had been made by several homeowners against whichever local authority has recently pruned trees adjacent to their properties

Jim expressed the desire to move forward on repair of the lower asphalt path. The need for consensus on the extent of the proposed work was stressed.

Telah presented insights into the VDOT process for maintaining streets and sidewalks in the community, and her plans to represent the HOA at an upcoming Braddock Council meeting.

It was confirmed that the next regular HOA board meeting would be October 11, with the annual meeting on October 18th

Meeting adjourned at 8:45.