Finance & Legal minutes: 2010-07-22

Minutes:

>
> Minutes of F&L Meeting
>
> 7-22-10
>


> Present: Aaron, Mary, Carl, Amy
>


> 1. Unit in Arrears
>


> The household in arrears has paid $200 this month so far. This is not the
> full monthly amount owed. A late fee will be imposed unless an additional
> payment is made by July 31. Carl will let us know if another payment is
> made.
>


> The lien paperwork will be filed with Washtenaw County in early August.
>

>
>> MONKEY: Cher will fill out the paperwork and consult with Carl or Elph
> about the amount due.
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Unless the Treasurer needs to file the lien, Amy will do it as
> she will be on vacation in early August.
>
>>
>
>> 2. Closing the books on 2009
>
>>
>
> Aaron has communicated with Elph about closing the books on 2009 as
> discussed at the previous F&L meeting.
>

MONKEY: Aaron will provide instruction to Elph in writing.

>
>
>> MONKEY: We need to work on a new policy on closing the community’s books
> each year, including rebates, rollover funds, etc. It would be ideal to
> roll this out at the same time as the 2011 budget process. It would also be
> ideal to get input from the professional reviewers.
>
>>
>
>> We talked about the idea of budgeting for unpaid association fees, i.e.
> writing off a bad debt. We felt that this was a slippery slope that the
> community would need to think about carefully.
>
>>
>
>> 3. Budget Process
>
>>
>
>> Carl will be helping Rod with the Budget process.
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Aaron will e-mail Dale with cc to Rod that Rod should be
> assigned work hours for leading the budget process, and Amy will follow up
> to make sure this is done when she stops by the Work Allocation on Sunday.
>
>>
>
>> Carl will report on the budget process at future F&L meetings.
>
>>
>
>> 4. Annual Review, Attorney Fees
>
>>
>
>> We still need to get some documents to get two more bids for the annual
> review of GO’s finances. Mary asked Elph for these documents via e-mail
> during the previous meeting.
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Amy will ask Elph if he has done this and if not, if he can get
> to it, and if not, Amy will ask Kathy if she can generate these.
>
>>
>
>> We need to get the bids together before the budget process for 2011 this
> fall so that it can be included in the F&L budget with sufficient data to
> back up our request.
>
> We just got another bill from our attorney. Our total is now about $725.
> We only have $500 from Steering for the attorney. We’ll have to take
> the overage from the Professional Fee line that we were planning to use for
> the Annual Review. We’ll have to request more money for next year for the
> Annual Review. Most of what is owed to the attorney is collectible from the
> parties who are responsible for our needing to consult the attorney and are
> accounts receivable, but it is unknown when we will receive these funds.
>
We discussed the backlog of changes to the Bylaws and Master Deed and how
> this may or may not be expensive – since Keast has already reviewed these
> documents for another purpose, it might lower our costs to some degree.
>
Our bylaws currently say that we need to do an annual review, but Mary heard
> from one of the accounting firms that it is not required by law to do a
> review every year, and obviously we’d save money by doing it less often. We
> may want to change our Bylaws to reflect this.
>
>>
>
>> 5. Foreclosure
>
>>
>
>> Dave Butler has remained current on his association fees; therefore, there
> is no further action needed on our part in relation to the foreclosure.
>
>>
>
>> However, once the redemption period is over, the unit’s association fees
> will continue to accrue, but the bank will not pay the fees monthly. When
> the bank sells the unit, the unpaid association fees due should be paid to
> us as part of the closing.
>
>>
>
>> The bank could choose to sit on the property; if so, we might want to
> budget for some unpaid association fees. But we’re guessing that the bank
> won’t sit on it. The property is not likely to go up in value
> significantly in a short time. The bank will likely end up selling the
> unit for less than they are owed (short sale).
>
>>
> It would be good if there is a person at the bank who we can talk to get
> our questions answered. We want to be on top of the situation.
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Aaron will ask Cher for advice on this.
>


> 6. Reserve Fund
>
>>
>
>> We would like to get the Reserve Study completed to help inform the 2011
> budget process, so community members know whether the Reserve Fund component
> of our Association fees will change. We’ve been asked by a community
> member for an accounting of how much money has gone into the Reserve Fund,
> how much has been spent, etc.
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Aaron will ask Elph for a status report and whether he would
> prefer to hand this over to F&L to carry forward. Carl is willing to take
> on communications with Paul Conahan, to get this done as soon as we can.
>
>>
>
>> 7. Request to pay association fees late
>
>>
>
>> A household contacted F&L to let us know that their July Association fee
> would be ten days late, and requested that a late fee not be assessed. We
> greatly appreciated the communication and advance notice about the situation
> and agreed that as long as the check was received as promised, we would not
> charge the late fee.
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Carl will communicate with Elph about not charging this
> household a late fee provided their check is received as promised.
>
>>
>
>> 8. New Agreement with Household in Arrears
>


> Cher has prepared a draft new agreement with the household significantly
> in arrears. We support Cher’s concept to focus on establishing a regular
> pattern of staying current on monthly payments, rather than focusing on
> paying down past debt. No late fees would be assessed as long as they
> stay current. This would “stop the bleeding.”
>
>>
>
> 9. Future F&L meetings
>

>
>> Carl asked if we could move to 2nd and 4th Mondays. Amy signed out the
> CH Sitting Room for these nights for the fall. For the two August
> meetings we’ll have to go to Carl’s house (or possibly Amy’s house).
>
>>
>
>> MONKEY: Grounds has been using the sitting room for 2nd and 4th Monday
> meetings; Amy will check in with Katie to see if it would be better to share
> the sitting room with each committee getting it on one of the two Mondays,
> if that would work for Grounds.
>
>>
>
MONKEY: Amy will try to figure out where our meeting schedule is recorded
in the community’s information, and change it.
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