The following are highlights of the Board Meeting of August 16, 2017

(These highlights were not prepared by the Board. They were prepared by an attendee of the meeting and are presented to keep unit owners up to date until the official meeting minutes become available after they are approved next month.)

• Introduction of our new property manager of Harvard Management – Leah Borla; will send a notice to all unit owners to introduce herself.
• The Board meeting scheduled for September 13th has been moved to September 20th.
• Leah Borla announced you will need to get a copy of the financial review – we are over on the monthly budget but it is not a concern
• Voted and approved light at end of Quarry – it is installed (?)
• Fire extinguisher for grill area – work order has been sent – top priority
• Concerns about hydroseeding and lawn repairs – walkaround earlier this summer. Alliance said that they would attend to needed areas. Needs to be weed treated, aerated, overseeded. Waiting for optimum growing time. Board will continue to communicate w/ Alliance.
• Clubhouse Cleaning Contract: Brad and Doug met with cleaners back in June to review negligent items. Better since. Tuesdays and Fridays cleanings – $136/week.
• Berm trees – Dick spoke to the issue. Believes that the developer should be putting up more money for replacement. Replacement by Alliance with money promised ($1000) and hoping for survival might be the best option. Brian urged that we put the whole expense on the developer as a part of the transition. Vote by board to push for 100% of replacement trees as a part of the transition.
• Library request: $250 realized from selling the office furniture. Option to vote on maximum amount to be spent and let the Library Advocates select the shelves. Up to 4 units @ $200 each minus the $250 from the sale of the used furniture. The committee can spend less.

New Business

• Review of approved requests for Additions, Alterations or Improvements.
  Old requests approved during the summer between meetings: Doyle – deck extension, McDonough – bird feeder near retention pond, Bergeron – shutters, McCarthy; St. Louis – additional trees, Daigle – mulch areas and plantings
  New – Fragala – increase patio; Tuzzolo – expand deck; McCarthy – expand front planting bed

• Request for Cribbage Plaque to be hung – not approved

Committee Status Reports

• Clubhouse Committee Status – Bob McGrath
  – Request for board to purchase clubhouse supplies – light bulbs etc. Should the supplies be purchased on a rotating basis to as to not overburden the budget. $172 for expendables; $418 for light bulbs; ______ for equipment
  Motion to spend the $418 immediately for lighting
  Authorize purchase of $163 for expendables (not routine purchases) Furnace filter removed because it is a part of the service contract for the furnace.
  Summary of Meetings with CBA and net installers – company has proposed to convert one of the bocce courts to a oyster shell covering (gratis) – remove the astroturf. Can change the second court down the line. Motion to approve the change to oyster shells. Discussion – what is the motivation of the company? Motion passed.
  Golf netting has been re-hung. There is a hole in the nets – company will return, but it’s not a safety hazard. Need to discuss with the company the removal of the nets in the fall.
  Cleaning company –improved the communication with them. Clipboard next to the microwave for needs.
  One fitness equipment belt is not right – will be addressed.
  Tread mills’ positions have been rotated to even out the mileage.
  AC on main floor – defect found in the wiring and fixed. Looking for Mesiti to pay for service call because it was an installation defect. Leah will find out if a bill was sent and will track past billing. Potential to add AC service calls to transition issues.
  Communication needs to be improved between Harvard and Maintenance Committee so that a committee member is present when work is scheduled.
  Request to put 2 3-hook racks in the fitness center for coats, keys etc
  Action item for Leah to get bids for carpet cleaning and window washing – 3 bids minimum
  Putting green edging: Proposal for prevention edging – $775 bid from Alliance. Discussion – there has been no damage to date from the weed whacking; it’s not necessary and very expensive. Price out the cost of replacement of the putting carpeting and what is the life expectancy.

• By-Laws Committee – Allan Putnam
  – By-laws committee last met on July 18th to review the feedback after doc went to legal review. BOD needs to accept, change or modify. Tremendous effort made by committee. Extensive process that needs to be recognized.
  – Next phase is to send to Unit Owners before 9/26 information meeting.
  – Changes are basic; cleaned up language and typos, redundancy.
  – Discussion of modifying quorums (presently 66% which is extremely high). It will be challenging to get a quorum via attendance or proxy. Failure to do so will be violation of state mandate. Allan related that Nevins failed to get a 50% quorum for a budget vote.
  – September 26th informational meeting; October 17th will be a Unit Owners meeting and a vote will be taken on proposed by-law changes
  – The Board passed a Motion to put the following by-law changes to a vote:
  Quorum Change – reduce from 66 2/3% to 50%.
  Voting Standard Change: approval of a motions to be reduced from 2/3 of all unit owners of record to 50% of unit owners attending a meeting.
  – Notice of the information meeting will be emailed to unit owners.
  Harvard Evergreen will send out the official notice for the Oct 17 meeting with proxy numbers.
  (For more detailed information regarding proposed By-Laws changes see Bylaw Committee Report To BOD and By-laws Committee Minutes.)

• Transition Committee – Rick Jenkins
  – Summary of CLD Engineering Report: summarized by Brian
  120 pages from the Engineering company – request 5 copies (unless there is a cost)
  Punch list of items needing addressed – still being worked in committee. Plan is to send Rick the engineer’s report and the HW list of items (once the BOD has approved).

Other items
Proposal from Adult Education Conference Center – Financial Planning to provide speakers at HW: offer received for speakers on financial planning. Educational and no charge – services optionally available. Nonprofit. List of workshops. Info will be shared with community to see if anyone wants to spearhead – not a BOD effort.

Comments from Unit Owners

• Claudette Ramsay – cul de sac on Pepper Hill concern. Small group of PH residents had a discussion of the landscaping – would transition include them in the discussion. Brian said that Rick is willing to landscape.
• Claudette – LED choice – there are different types. Some lights are warm and some cool – consider in choice.
• Pat Pannese – workshop ultimate objective is sales leads. Bylaw motions clarify – 50% is a quorum and then 50% of those present to pass a motion.
• Bill Lannigan – proxy clarification. Can the proxy be an absentee ballot? Discussion – Directed proxy will be used.
• Jim Shearer – question about the blue markings in the street. Who pays for a potential digging up of the street? Leah offered the opinion that the developed would need to do it.
• Garry Mosher – with the hydroseeding at the back of the home, he has to drag a hose in order to water. Could he have another sprinkler head added? Will submit a proposal after getting a quote from Alliance.
• Bob McGrath – Septic system tank pumping on Tavern Hill Road beginning on Thursday 8/17. Discussions around the pumping schedule by owners. Should there be a committee to investigate the issue of mandatory pumping/maintenance? Liz made a motion to create a committee to investigate septic and leaching systems and make a recommendation to the board. Passed unanimously. Bob will draft ideas for wording and send to Liz.