March 14, 2023

Minutes of the Hickory Farms HOA Board held on 14 March 2023 

 Location: Teams 

In Attendance: 

Telah Jackson-Vice President 

Tad Weed- Associate Treasurer  

Ken Sorg- Treasurer 

Ben Noviello-Secretary 

Melissa Stark- Common Areas 

Pam Barrett – Member at large 

 The meeting began at 7:00 

 The February minutes were approved with 1 abstention.  

Old Business 

 Discussion and vote on new ACC leaders 

Discussion of a proposal for Justin Mensen, Bob Sottile, and Donna Garfield to become co-leaders of ACC with Pam Barrett to serve as a consultant.  

Ben moved to accept this proposal, Telah seconded, and the motion passed unanimously.   

Treasurer’s Report 

 Ken confirmed that all homeowners have paid their annual dues.  He indicated plans to work with Tad to ensure all financial records are in order. 

Ken discussed how the use of “Cheddar up” has made payments much easier to process than is the case with paper checks.  There was a discussion of how difficult it is to monitor the post office box, and Melissa offered to help if needed.  There was a discussion of the risks associated with obtaining a HOA credit card, while also a recognition that relying on reimbursements of purchases made with private credit cards is not ideal.  

Commons Area Report 

Melissa reported that she was in the process of identifying two new trees to replace the ones that needed to be removed. 

She also reported that mowing of the commons area has begun. 

There was a discussion of a local vendor who uses his herd of lambs to remove weeds.  This was presented as a more environmentally friendly alternative to chemical spraying, at least in certain areas.  Because the vendor does not wish his herd to be exposed to weed killers, using both approaches at the same time was described as being infeasible.    After further discussion, a proposal was made for Melissa to arrange for the vendor to use the lambs in a limited area of intense weeds, and skip the initial chemical spraying while an assessment is made prior to the middle of May. 

Pam moved to accept this proposal, Tad seconded, and the motion passed, with the caveat that this plan would be communicated to the community via list-serve.  

Melissa reported that an earlier proposal to use permeable material for the lower path was being reconsidered because of an estimated cost of $15,000.  This is in contrast to the estimated cost of $7,000 for traditional blacktop.  

There was a discussion of ways to leverage tax laws related to depreciation in order to better finance larger projects. Community pools were presented as an example.    Ken agreed to consult with our accountant to better assess this approach.  

New Business 
 
Telah discussed the imminent street, sidewalk, and apron improvements to be performed by Fairfax County.  

Melissa mentioned the possibility of a welcoming meeting in May, perhaps in connection with a community effort to plant new “plugs” in the commons area.  The notion of providing food, including donuts, coffee, pizza, or subs was discussed.  Melissa offered to initiate further discussion on Microsoft Teams  

There was a discussion about re-publishing the request for volunteers in the April newsletter.   

Ben offered to publish the request on List Serve 

At approximately 8:20 the meeting was adjourned.