F.Y.I. The Newsletter of Edgewood Townehouse Association
PO Box 5424, Eugene, OR 97405October 2016 Edition
Upcoming Events
Next HOA Annual Open Forum Business Meeting: Tuesday, October 25, 2016 at 7 PM in the Clubhouse
Next Regular Board Business Meeting: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 6.30 PM in the Clubhouse
By-The-Brook Book Group: Wednesday November 9, 2016 at 2 PM
Tea Time: Not Scheduled in November
CONTENTS
Message from the Board
October Board Meeting Minutes
Facilities Report
Website Report
approved fiscal Year 2017 Annual Budget (omitted)
Proxy Ballot (omitted)Editor: Guest Editor
MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD
Preserve. Restore. Maintain.
Robert Bruce Trafton, President, Edgewood Townehouse AssociationOctober at Edgewood Townehouses is a busy month. It is our time to simultaneously look backward and to look forward. There is much for us to do as we operate our Association’s business and maintain our Association’s facilities and grounds.
After another year of advancement, progress, and change moves behind us, it is now that time again to look forward to our Annual Meeting and the beginning of a new year. We have much to be proud of over the past year, and many continuing challenges to pursue for the future. Our Annual Business Meeting is a special time for us to reflect and plan, and your attendance is imperative in the business and governance of our Association. If you have comments, compliments, or concerns that you care to share, or have questions that you need answers to, please bring them to our Annual Business Meeting on Tuesday, October 27, 2015 beginning at 7 PM.
Second, included with this edition of the FYI is a list of candidates seeking a three-year term on the Board of Directors. Fortunately, each of the incumbents have agreed to continue volunteering their time to serve on the Board. Notwithstanding, during the Annual Business Meeting, nominations for the Board positions will continue to be accepted, only if the nominee is present and accepts the nomination. Members who are unable to attend the Annual Business Meeting, may vote by proxy. A proxy ballot is enclosed for your convenience.
Third, another matter of importance regards the upcoming Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 home owner dues (HOD). Our Facilities and Operations Director and our Treasurer prepared a “proposed” FY 2017 budget and options, based on the past five years’ of proposed budgets, for the Board to review at the monthly Board Business Meetings. The lion’s share of increase reflects significantly higher cost of service charges for water, sewer, electricity, waste collection, and insurance premiums. Conversely, there were also small decreases in the proposed budget in the cost of natural gas and our plans for the repair and resurfacing of Driveway 4 (addresses 35 to 87 Westbrook Way). After many questions, a thoughtful discussion, and adjustments, the Board moved to accept the proposed budget as the “approved” budget for FY 2017. The FY 2017 Approved Budget reflects a 3.9% increase, or $12 per month assessment increase. A copy of our budget is included within.
On behalf of the Board, I look forward to seeing you at our Annual Open Forum Business Meeting to further address these three matters.
EDGEWOOD TOWNEHOUSE ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MONTHLY BUSINESS MEETING
Preserve – Restore – Maintain
Tuesday, October 11, 2016Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. Board members present were: Bruce Trafton, Michele Coney, Sharon Kimble, Don Pasquali, Jennifer Smith, and JoAnn Wilson. Darell Bidstrup, Christine Donahue, and Michael Maulding were excused. Also present was Frank Gaddini, ETA Director of Operations and Facilities.
Approval of Minutes: The Board approved the minutes of September 13, 2016.
Standing Reports:
- Facility Report: Submitted
- Treasures Report: Submitted
- Website Coordinator: Submitted
- Swimming Pool: Closed. Final report for 2016 submitted
- Clubhouse Coordinator: No report submitted
- Hospitality Coordinator: No report submitted. Fran Gaddini has volunteered to continue as coordinator.
- Welcome Coordinator: No report submitted
Old Business:
- Repair of 10, 20, 30, 40 Brae Burn: Frank Gaddini, ETA Director of Operations and Facilities, updated the Board on the status of the foundation repair at 10, 20, 30, 40 Brae Burn. The remaining inside and outside work is expected to be completed by the end of this month.
- ADA Clubhouse Accessibility Follow-Up: Given the foundation repair work in 2016, this Board goal will be moved forward to FY2017.
.
New Business:
- Waivers: None
- Regular November Board Meeting Reschedule: The Board voted to move November’s business meeting from November 8 (election day) to Tuesday, November 15.
- HOA Annual Open Forum Board Business Meeting Election Procedures: President Trafton summarized past procedures for the Annual Meeting election of Board members. Homeowners who will not be present may vote by proxy; forms will be included in the October FYI.
- Fiscal Year 2017 Budget: The Board reviewed and unanimously approved the 2017 budget as proposed and accepted a 3.9% increase in HODs to total $320/month, effective January 1, 2017.
- Executive Session
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- The next HOA Annual Meeting: Tuesday, October 25, 2016, in the Clubhouse at 7:00 PM
- The next Board of Directors Business Meeting: Tuesday, November 15, 2016, in the Clubhouse at 6:30 PM
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM.
Secretary JoAnn Wilson ( _ )
Looking Back Over the September 2016 Facilities and Operations Report
Frank L. Gaddini, ( _ )This report is a review of work performed in September 2016. Looking back over the month, it was another benchmark month for maintenance; it saw the seasonal closing of the Pool Season on Sunday September 18th; the conclusion of our seasonal lawn maintenance contract; and it also marked the close of the third quarter of our Fiscal Year. The weather for most of the month was dry and hot.
September was extremely busy, and we were extremely productive. During the month, we recorded and completed one hundred and forty-three (143) jobs, and year-to-date, we have completed nine-hundred seventy-two discrete jobs.
Much of our work was engaged in routine maintenance activities including lawn maintenance, painting all of the mailboxes, and extensive pruning, and the replacement of two domestic water supply valves at 100 and 121 Westbrook Way. However, we also engaged in major improvement projects including the restoration of the patio walls at 2 Westbrook Way; the abatement of seven hazardous trees; the installation of four new concrete patio floors at 10, 20, 30, and 60 Brae Burn Drive; and the restoration of the asphalt surface in the Overflow Parking Lot.
In our Operations activities, we committed considerable attention to planning next year’s Major Maintenance and Repair Projects which will include twelve more overhead garage doors; the repair of worn surface asphalt and substrate in Driveway 4; 120 linear feet of concrete walkway; the replacement of the groundwater drainage system for 139, 141, 143, 145, and 147 Westbrook Way; and the restoration of four more single-story patio walls. Another long-range planning project during the month was assessment of roof surfaces and the logistics of phasing the replacement of the roof laminates over a six year timeframe. Looking forward and planning projects is a constant and never-ending process in the Association’s Operations activities.
SEPTEMBER WEBSITE REPORT
During the period September 7 to October 5, 2016, our website, www.edgewoodhoa.org had 80 visitors who looked at 108 pages.Toni Horodysky, Webmaster for Edgewood Townehouse Association ( _ )
ANNUAL OPEN FORUM BOARD BUSINESS MEETING NOTICE
Tuesday, October 25, 2016, at the Clubhouse, beginning at 7 PM. This is an open forum meeting business meeting. The most important task at our Annual Meeting, of course, is the selection of Board of Director members. Currently, we have three Board members whose terms will end, and there is a list of candidates interested in serving on the Board for a three-year term. Included with this edition of the FYI is a list of candidates seeking a three-year term on the Board, a nominee application form, and the Duties and responsibilities of the Board of Directors. During the Annual Business Meeting, however, nominations for the Board positions will continue to be accepted, only if the nominee is present and accepts the nomination.
By-The-Brook Readers Club September 2016 Report
Join us in our clubhouse for the next meeting of ETA readers on Wednesday, October 12, at 2:00 pm. We talk about what each of the attendees has been reading—a diverse group of readers who choose not to all read the same book. Here is what was talked about last month:
Carol (P): In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson tells the story of the last pre-war American ambassador to Germany (1933), a reluctant professor who took his family with him and tried to live on his salary. Unfortunately, the entitled anti-Semites back in the State Department ignored his scary reports since he wasn’t one of “us”. Larson’s nonfiction is always gripping.
The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis by Elizabeth Letts is a wonderful narrative about this historic breed. First they needed to be saved from Nazi eugenicists determined to breed the perfect war horse, then the encroaching Russians. In the end, the famous Lippizaner horses were saved by good people of a variety of nationalities.
James Alexander Thom’s Follow the River is the adventure of the very pregnant Mary Ingles who is kidnapped by marauding Shawnees in 1755, along with her two sons, trekking a thousand miles with them. She escapes with a Dutch woman prisoner and they make their way for 44 days back to Virginia, eyeing each other as food as they have less and less to eat. This is historically-based fiction at its most absorbing, admiring Mary’s ingenuity and bravery.
Gloria (G): The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe: A Biography by Elaine Showalter is another story of a woman trying to be a writer in the 19th century while dealing with a heroic husband jealous of any success she has. When she writes The Battle Hymn of the Republic to immediate acclaim, it creates as much domestic discord for her as the war which is changing the country.
Two books that deal with questions of consciousness: The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery is about miraculous critters with a walnut-sized brain and no bones. These clever gals enjoy puzzles, tentacle to human contact, and escape scenarios. In prize winner Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis, two gods walk into a Toronto bar and debate whether human consciousness is a good or bad thing. As an experiment they give the gift to a group of dogs in a vet’s kennels, to mixed results. A strange fable.
The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee is another fascinating review by the Pulitzer award winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. From Aristotle to DNA screening and therapies, this has interesting biographical asides as well as detours into such topics as eugenics in our country as well as Nazi Germany.
The Bernie Gunther novels by Philip Kerr are being continued and are both mysteries and interesting views of a German policeman/detective’s life before, during, and after WWII. In The One From the Other it’s 1949 and Bernie fails as a hotelier outside Dachau. Setting up as a PI in Munich gets him involved with networks of conspirators looking after former Nazis. In A Quiet Flame he is among SS refugees in Argentina, comparing Nazi and Peronist tactics.
Ruth (K): Kenneth C. Davis’s Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned is the stuff they didn’t cover in survey classes, up through 9/11. From Indian captives who didn’t want to go back, to the human qualities of the founding fathers, to lost battles of the Union, to promises made to Mexico by Germany to win a war, to many more. Each chapter has questions which are then answered. No tests will be given.
Bev (B): Robert Harris’s An Officer and a Spy takes place in 1890’s France when anti-Semitism and security issues clashed, resulting in the Dreyfus affair. Told by the elite military officer responsible for accusation and conviction, he discovers other possibilities. This is a thriller with a good picture of the time.
Connie (H): Was glad to read Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning by Scotty McLennan which concludes that humans are better off with religion than without. He wound up Unitarian Universalist after his own exploration.
The Wisdom of the Myths: How Greek Mythology Can Change Your Life by Luc Ferry is aimed at all ages and levels to relate the underpinnings of Western philosophy. Mythology is more secular than religious, telling stories with purpose. Philosophers have lost some of the pith of mythology.
Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On: The Autobiography and Journals of Helen M. Luke is a well-done memoir of the Jungian analyst who emigrates to America, leaving her family behind.
Good reading,
Gloria
[Phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and street addresses have been removed for privacy reasons.]