Author: William Earnhardt

Attending: William & Lauren Earnhardt, Pam Howe, J.G. Depoy, JoAn Purvis, Matt White, Gary Bulman, Scott Auger

Scott reviewed the notes for May 17, 2017 for action items.

Lauren reviewed the budget status. As of 6/30/17, we have $6,653.27 in our checking account and $10,662.70 in the Money Market account, for a total of $17,315.97. This does not include the annual insurance payment of slightly over $1000. We have received $5,105 in membership dues to date during 2017.

Scott submitted check to the Adcock Agency to cover the insurance renewal on July 10.

Lauren is planning to move the PO box from Kildaire Farm to downtown Cary.

Matt led discussion of landscaping. We are continuing with voluntary grass cutting to reduce maintenance expenditures during 2017. Matt will continue to coordinate the voluntary landscaping effort.

Scott suggested that slopes of dam should be periodically cut primarily for inspection purposes.  Feedback was that primary concern is with the large brush and tree growth. Maintenance cutting will be considered as needed after the growing season.

Gary expressed concern for maintenance of shoreline growth along the inlet area of pond.

We also discussed possible need for confirming the CVHOA property boundary. Homeowners should contact the CVHOA before tree cutting. Gary pointed out that this has not been activity enforced in past and property owners have saved the association a lot of money over the years on tree maintenance.

William accepted the nomination as President for the CVHOA. Scott is stepping down as an officer.  Follow-up is needed to notify the bank of this change.

We discussed plans for the Work Day, Annual and Ice Cream Social on August 19. (Annual Meeting provides opportunity to formerly confirm William as President along with other CVHOA officers.). Confirmed approval for Lauren to spend about $50 for picnic expenses. Also, it was noted that Matt is authorized to make appropriate expenditures from the authorized landscaping budget for the Work Day.

Attending:  William Earnhardt, Pamela Howe, J. G. DePoy, JoAn Purvis, and Erin Loftus.  The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m.

April’s meeting minutes were read and accepted into the record.

Budget documents were not reviewed at this meeting.  Our assets currently total $16,739.40 ($6078.99 checking; $10,661.41 Money Market savings), an increase of about $1000.00 since the previous meeting.  The possibility of offering PayPal as a means to pay dues was discussed further.  William will look into PayPal’s terms of service, to find out whether we can do this without paying fees ourselves, since we are a non-profit.

We discussed placing past meeting minutes on the CVHOA Website-Google Drive.  Erin has digital copies for 2016 and 2017; anything prior exists on paper and would have to be scanned.  It was generally agreed that the most recent minutes (past 2 years) would be useful to have online (Erin will email the documents to William).

Pam will get the new membership/dues flyers out by June 25^th.  We set August 19^th as the date for the ice cream social, which will be combined with a pond maintenance workday and the annual membership meeting.  Pond cleanup would be from 8 to 10 a.m.; the ice cream social and meeting would start at 3:30 p.m.  We discussed holding a vote on a new name for the CVHOA at the general meeting.

Pond Maintenance:  Matt has acquired a mower and has done one mowing already; it took an hour and a half to do the entire property.  Pam reported that two people have volunteered to assist Matt with mowing.  This will save us a lot of money over time if we’re able to keep up with most or all of the mowing ourselves.  Jay mentioned that we need clean fill dirt, if anyone has or knows of a source where we can get it for free.  Matt has been monitoring the holes near the beaver den; no further animal activity has been noted.  Matt suggests filling in the holes in that area with crushed rock, to mitigate safety hazards such as a potential collapse of the den.  We should be able to pay for this with funds we’re saving by doing our own mowing.

There was some discussion of the recent 8–inch rain that caused a backup of water in culverts around the pond.  Pam said she had spoken to a Town of Cary official about this on one occasion.  We need to discuss this with the Town again.

Pam presented a draft of the grant request to be submitted to the Town of Cary for our shoreline restoration/beautification project.  As currently calculated, the project should cost CVHOA a maximum of about $350.00, once the Town reimburses us for our volunteer man-hours.  The grant includes replacement of the broken swinging bench (adjacent to 406 Warren Ave.) with a new stationary bench to be built by a volunteer; planting of shoreline and marsh plants in designated areas, with temporary protective fencing to keep geese away from the plants until they’re established (6 months to a year); and additional signage (optional), in case we want to update or replace any existing signs.  William suggested that we need an inventory of existing signage (how many, where they are, and what they say). Erin voiced support for additional “Please Respect All Wildlife” signage.  Pam also reported that the reconstruction of the vandalized kiosk unfortunately does not qualify for the grant, which excludes repair of existing structures.  We will put the kiosk on our summer agenda.  William has all the surviving parts of the original kiosk and needs to get new bolts and posts.  This will be a heavy job and will require a number of volunteers to assist.

Regarding goose-flock mitigation, we again discussed the floating LED lights that geese hate so much.  William said it’s unclear whether these lights continue to deter geese long-term or whether the geese get used to them and then ignore them.  Erin again cautioned that we need to find out whether blue herons, kingfishers, merganser ducks, mallards, and other birds also hate them.  We don’t want to drive away our wildlife.

With business concluded, the meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

The next board meeting will be held on Wednesday, July 12, at 7 p.m.

Attending:  Scott Auger, William Earnhardt, Pamela Howe, Matt White, Gary Bulman, JoAn Purvis, and Erin Loftus.  The meeting was called to order at 7:15 p.m.

February’s meeting minutes were read and accepted into the record.

The 2017 Proposed Budget was discussed.  Maintenance costs still require Zsolt’s input, so this portion of the budget remains in question.  Expenses so far for 2017 total $466.70 (for the P.O. Box, signage, and tax prep).  We have received $3300 in membership dues so far, with another $300 coming in.  The possibility of offering PayPal as a means to pay dues was discussed.  Our assets currently total $15,534.83 ($4873.99 checking; $10,660.84 savings).

Pamela reported a good response to the membership flyers in the neighborhood.  People seemed to like the idea of a name change for the organization.  Pam will also make a flyer to give to fishermen with information about the pond.  We discussed the idea of an ice cream social, with notification flyers to go out June 1^st.  The event could be combined with the annual membership meeting.

Matt reported on Pond Maintenance efforts.  He met with Pam, Zsolt, and Jay on Saturday, April 7 to clear up litter, briars, and branches from the shoreline and spillway, and took down three of the small trees we had identified for removal.  Mowing has not been needed yet but will likely be needed soon; Zsolt, Matt, and Jay will assess maintenance after they do a few mowings and will see if this is something we can handle on our own, to lessen costs.  Also, there are some new holes in the ground at the wide end of the inlet, right near the beaver dam.  Gary suspects there might be a beaver and is fairly sure he heard one recently.  This area will need to be monitored.

Ongoing difficulties with visitors who violate rules posted around the pond were also discussed.  One particular group has been repeatedly unruly, necessitating multiple calls to the Cary Police.  Recent vandalism, including the destruction of our wooden bulletin-board kiosk, was also discussed (the kiosk was pulled out of the ground, probably using chains and a truck).  William still has the salvageable parts of the kiosk; the general sentiment was that we would like to rebuild it, possibly in a different location.  Gary submitted a draft script that we can use when calling the police to intervene in difficult situations with visitors (copy attached to meeting minutes).  He described a recent encounter with a man fishing right next to a “No Fishing” sign who became very angry when Gary asked him to fish in the allowed areas.  With the onset of warmer weather, such incidents will likely increase.

The project to undertake some shoreline restoration on our own was discussed.  Pamela has identified a grant from the Town of Cary that would reimburse us up to $5000 for man-hours that we contribute to beautification.   She will write up a proposal for submission to the board at the next meeting.  She also submitted a draft sketch that included species of plants suitable for the various levels of shoreline that need reinforcement and erosion control (attached to minutes).  Pam thinks that we might be able to include repair of the kiosk in the grant proposal.  Scott mentioned along those lines that we someday will need to replace the Coronado Village entrance signs and might want to come up with a way to link them to the pond and preservation society.

Regarding the geese, William mentioned a type of solar-powered LED light that anchors and then floats on the surface of water.  Geese HATE them.  They cost about $400 each.  Erin cautioned that we need to find out whether blue herons, kingfishers, merganser ducks, mallards, and other birds also hate them.  We don’t want to drive away our wildlife.

Scott mentioned that he is going to follow up on pending insurance business and with updating our emergency action plan.  This needs to be done at the next meeting.  He will get a copy of it to William.  Scott will be away in May.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 17, at 7 p.m.

Attending:  JoAn Purvis, Scott Auger, Pamela Howe, Waite Warren, Tucker Bullock, Matt White, William Earnhardt, Gary Bulman, J. G. DePoy, and Erin Loftus.  The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m.

The previous meeting’s minutes were read and accepted into the record. Scott again requested a Vice President for backup.  Pamela moved to nominate William, and several attendees seconded the motion.  The vote was unanimous in favor, and William kindly accepted, to general acclaim.

The 2017 Proposed Budget was discussed.  It is the same as last year’s, but we are somewhat under on membership dollars.  We spent more because of repairs to the dam.  Maintenance costs were discussed, but without Zsolt’s input this portion of the budget remains in question.  William mentioned that maintenance and mowing are our biggest expense, and it would be good to find ways to lower costs.  There was discussion of whether the mowing is being done too often, and whether four times a year would be sufficient.  Mr. De Poy offered to mow for free and to talk to Matt and Zsolt about keeping maintenance costs down.  Scott suggested we postpone approving the budget until the maintenance costs are clarified.

William discussed tax preparation costs.  The $215.00 budgeted for this service is too pricey; he’d like to get someone else next year.  The only 2017 expense so far is the P.O. Box fee ($66.00).

Pamela will distribute flyers in the neighborhood this weekend, informing residents about the pond’s history, the CVHOA, and membership in the organization.  This is in lieu of a mailed dues notice, and hopefully will reach some newer residents who may not know that they can participate in stewardship of the pond.

There was some discussion of the size of the goose flock.  Pamela asked whether we ever addle the eggs.  Some past attempts (placing oil on the eggs, for instance) were discussed, but no measures were approved at this time.

“No Fishing In This Area” signs were discussed further.  Gary would like to purchase two signs and three posts (he has a third sign already).  Signs are $58.00 each; posts are $29.00; total expense $203.00.  Gary will put the signs up.  A motion was made, seconded, and approved to allocate funds for the signs and posts.

The meeting was adjourned at about 8:10 p.m.  No date was set for the next meeting at this time.

The CVHOA met on July 12, 2016, with Scott Auger presiding. Present for the meeting were William Earnhardt, Gary Bulman, Joan Purvis, Waite Warren, J. G. Depoy, and Pamela Howe.

The minutes of the previous board meeting were read and approved.

Discussed the Neighborhood get-together to be held in September.  Lauren Earnhardt will be coordinating the event. It will be on September 11^th  from 4-6.  This will be a General Membership Picnic and Meeting.

Discussion of spillway erosion. Scott will look further into the situation.

A letter from Zsolt Nagy was discussed concerning the landscape below the dam:

1. Trimming and clearing of trees below the dam was reported by Zsolt to be less than the budgeted amount approved by the board of ($2900).
2. Zsolt is getting quotes for readjustment of the channel. Working with Gary and engineer.
3. Zsolt spotted beaver. Report is that no damage has been seen, so no action is required at this time.

William gave the treasurer’s report in Lauren’s absence.

Membership: 2^nd mailing for dues going out next week.  Vicki is sending them out only to those who have not paid the $200 total annual dues.

YTD member dues revenue is $4300.  Total budget for year is $7000.

Insurance update:  Policy expires end of July.  Will renew.

Minutes taken by Pamela Howe, due to the Acting Secretary’s absence.