St. Martin's by the Bay

Minutes

St Martins by the Bay Home Owners Association Board Minutes August 12, 2017 (approved))

Board Members Absent: Joe Pino

. Public Water Presenters: Bob Mitchell (Worcester County Environmental Programs), John Ross (Worcester County Waste Waters), John Salm (J.W. Salm Engineering, Inc.) The meeting was called to order by Justin McGinnis at 10:08 at Montgomery Financial Services. Public Water Presentation: John Salm explained that we had two paths to obtain water: a private water system and a public water system. While our current private system has provided us with quality water, it is an expensive and aging one. It is an aggressive system (one high in metals, in our case, iron), which has recently received a warning from MDE for a clogged backwash drain and consequently a violation for a dirty floor. The controller box was recently struck by lightning. The backwash from our system drains into a lagoon and then into the river. No one has been able to find a permit for this; most likely one was not required when our system was developed. Therefore to continue with our current system we must apply for a permit and put in a holding tank to allow the iron to settle before it is discharged into the river. It is unknown at this time if MDE will issue us a discharge permit or how much the holding tank will cost. In summary, our system is aging, we don’t know if a discharge permit will be issued, and we do not know the cost or the location of a holding tank. The Worcester County water system is a high quality, high pressure, non-aggressive system (low in iron). Implementation and construction of the system is at least two years away and will require a 2/3 vote of the home owners for both interest and acceptance of public water. There is the possibility of loan forgiveness (a grant) for some of the implementation/construction cost. If there is a 2/3 vote from the home owners for a serious interest in public water, the first step will be the PER: the preliminary environmental report. Worcester County will investigate two options. A no action option (not connecting to public water): Can we obtain a discharge permit from MDE? How much will it cost? Can we put in a holding tank and how much will it cost? Is it feasible to continue running our aging system? The other option is connecting to public water. The County will put out bids for construction and implementation. There will be a public hearing after the final bid for home owners to accept or reject that price. Questions: Custead: Do we have the options of rejecting that bid? Yes. Young: How will the water be brought in? From White Horse Drive in Ocean Pines to Beauchamp Road, to St Martin Parkway, to the swimming pool. This will be a 12 inch line, 4 feet under ground. The road will be repaired. Construction will be around 4 months. Constantino: Will there be new lines from the edge of the road to individual metered lines? The town homes will have individual metered water lines. The County will repair any damage created while putting in the system to individual meters. Constantino: Will there be problems with the Worcester County higher pressure of 65 psi to the individual lower water pressure lines? Most likely not. Financial input: the financing will be the same for all members of the community, but there are options. There could be an initial down payment or the total amount could be financed with a loan from MDE, 20 to 30 years at 1.75% or USDA, 40 years at 3%. Killinger: Does the loan go on the water bill? Yes. Constantino: Worcester County provides the loan for each resident and that loan will be on the water invoice? Yes. McGinnis: The pool and the marina will be metered also? Yes. Most water systems have water departments as part of the water invoice. The water department is not usually a separate department. Having the loan on the water bill is not an issue for selling homes. Young: Is public sewer in the future? Yes without a doubt. Grants are available for sewer. If our sewer system fails we may be pushed into public sewer. Stopford: if someone connects after our system is implemented what do they pay? The same price. A 2/3 vote of the home owners (39 home owners) is required for Worcester County to move forward with the PER. (The petition for interest in public water was passed around the room. Within the next few days 40 home owners had signed. That interest and those signatures were forwarded to the County.) Secretary’s Report: The minutes from June 11 were approved as emailed to the Board. Treasurer’s Report: Barry reported $39,349.98 in the General Account and $24,385.60 in the Boat Account. Budgeted items are well within expected payments except Sharp water, which is over budget due to unexpected water problems. Of the HOA dues not yet paid for 2016, two continue under legal advisement, one is on a payment plan. At least 65% of the HOA 2017 dues have been paid; those who pay semi annually will be invoiced this month. The report was approved as presented. Legal Updates on Delinquent Accounts: Janie reported that final judgement was entered against Mr. Rinkus on July 28. If Mr. Marini does not appeal his judgment, his final judgment will be entered against him on August 28. According to Attorney Cosby, the HOA has three options: 1. Go to district court to find out if the delinquent has anything of value that we can attach. (Cost to us around $600.) 2. Attach anything of value that the delinquent obviously owns, i.e., a car or boat. 3. Attach the home for a sheriffs sale. (Cost to us around $3000.) After discussion the Board unanimously voted to attach both houses for sheriffs sale. Janie and Justin will pursue this with Mr. Cosby. Dock Update: Four dock boards are damaged and need to be replaced. After some discussion it was decided Buddy and Mike could and would do this. The ramp (which was part compensation for a boat slip for two seasons for Mark Nicolle) is still not completed. Janie suggested that maybe next year we not exchange any slips for service for anyone. (Since then John Carr has fixed the boards and Mark has begun work on the ramp.) Pool Issues: Janie reported that eight homeowners had given the code and permission to their friends outside of our community to use the pool while they were not present. This and other problems will be discussed in the next community email. Justin will investigate extending the pool hours for next season and the continued problem of the clogged backwash drain. The annual pool party will be Saturday, the 16th at 5:30. Rain date Sunday. Parking bumpers for Parking Lot A: Buddy is waiting for shipping and handling prices before he orders. Weekly Rental: Justin has been asked by home owners how we are managing our weekly rentals. How do we know who is staying in our community and how do we identify them for pool/dumpster usage? Keeping an email list of those rentals was discussed, but Buddy felt the individual landlord already did this, and a public list would be an invasion of privacy. Garden Maintenance: For a variety of reasons, the Board could not manage a gardening work day. Instead Janie presented three bids for four gardens: the two in front of the town homes and the two at the pool. The Board unanimously approved the bid from A Cut Above for the two town home gardens: trim tree, add one board, spray weeds with pre-emergent, weed, trim bushes as needed, add brown mulch to garden section A for $275, spray weeds with preemergent and weed, put four ft of heavy duty fabric around perimeter, trim bushes as needed, add brown mulch to garden section B for $350. Because it is late in the season, the pool gardens will be dealt with next spring. CD from First Shore Federal: Barry and Mike have removed the $2500 CD from the bank and Barry will put it in a reserve savings account. Next Meeting Date: October 14, 2017 at the Ocean Pines Library small conference room. Motion to adjourn at 12:38.

Official document

These are the original pages. The PDF file is the same document.

Download the official PDF