2020 Annual Meeting Minutes

The WPCA annual meeting was called to order at 2:01 p.m. on 8 November 2020 by president Jim Emery. The meeting was held in the Stallworth Court cul-de-sac.

Those in attendance were: Jim Emery, Ken Burns, Dan Clark, Paul Maxwell, Mike Yang, Jeff Peters, Mike Cleary, Pandu Balaram, Johny Ramia, Siyoung Lee, and 6 others.

READING OF THE MINUTES

President Jim Emery read the draft minutes of the WPCA annual meeting of 29 October 2019. A motion was made to approve the minutes as read, seconded, and passed.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Treasurer Dan Clark reported the status of WPCA financials for 2020 and presented the proposed 2021 budget (attached).

Dan reminded members that when a WPCA resident reports a common area tree concern, the Association has the responsibility to resolve the problem. If there is no report to WPCA and a common area tree falls on a property, the damage, if any, is the property owner's responsibility.

Dan thanked everyone for paying assessments this year. The process went quite smoothly. There were a few problems resulting from using email to get in touch with everybody. These problems were resolved by sending second requests for payment. In a couple of cases, the Association's emails were categorized as spam.

Administrative expenses were less than usual, $60 instead of $150. The tree budget was $2,500 this year, but only $1,500 was spent. The past three years have been expensive for trees, so this year was much better. Our spending was less than budgeted in 2020.

The amount of assessments is about right to cover our expenses, but not to cover our projected maintenance and replacement expenses for the common area path and playground equipment, as specified in our Reserve Study. For 2021, the Board recommends raising the assessments to $92, an increase of 9.5%, to continue our efforts to fully fund our obligations. At present, we should be allocating $2,050 per year toward our reserve. We are behind in laying aside reserves, but are catching up. We plan to continue raising the assessments by no more than 10% annually until we achieve full funding of our reserves. This is preferable to an emergency assessment to eliminate the shortfall.

Pipe stem escrow fees will remain the same next year. The pipe stem owners can discuss if they want to increase their escrow contributions. We did disperse the full amount of the pipe stem escrow for Headly Court because of a water line repair. (By the way, buy the water line insurance.)

The Blue Sky maintenance contract will be going up $20 next year. We are still allocating $2,500 for tree work. The other budget categories are about the same amount as this year. We are including a $2,050 contribution toward the reserve, but we may not be able to fully fund that amount depending on how much tree work has to be done in 2021.

Pandu Balaram asked if the Association paid any of the costs for the repair work on the Headly Court pipe stem. President Jim Emery answered no. The pipe stem owners paid the delta cost over the amount of the escrow that was paid out to them.

Jim Emery also pointed out that the current Reserve Study does not include the costs for replacement of the common area path and playground equipment, only periodic maintenance. These facilities are already over 30 years old. As this issue is corrected in the next Reserve Study in 2021, approximately $25 per member per year more will likely be needed for replacement costs. Consequently, the annual assessments may need to be raised to $150 over time.

A motion was made to approve the treasurer's report and 2021 budget, was seconded, and passed unanimously.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS

President Jim Emery opened the floor for nominations noting that he was not running for reelection. The following officers for 2021 were nominated:

  • President: Jeff Peters
  • Vice President: Johny Ramia
  • Secretary: Cindy Sanzotta
  • Treasurer: Dan Clark
  • Member At-Large: Siyoung Lee

President Jim Emery noted that it has been common practice for many years to simply elect officers as a slate when there are only single nominations for each office. However, this practice is not specifically authorized in our by-laws. A motion was made to authorize election of the nominated slate of officers this year, was seconded, and was passed unanimously.

Ken Burns, Pandu Balaram, and Paul Maxwell were appointed to serve a one-year term on the Architectural Control Committee for next year.

Jim Emery will continue serving as the webmaster for the Association's website pending appointment of a replacement by incoming president, Jeff Peters.

OLD BUSINESS

Formal Complaint Policy. President Jim Emery reminded the members of the formal complaint policy and process that was established in 2012. He presented a summary of the process that is detailed in the Complaint Policy on the Association's website. You can send a formal complaint by email, but you must attach the specified form and follow the rules on how to lodge a formal complaint. You cannot complain about your neighbors, what they do or don't do; you can only complain if the Board is not doing its job.

NEW BUSINESS

Updating Governing Documents. Our governing documents are out of step with Virginia's Property Owner's Association Act and changes to Fairfax County zoning rules. Jim Emery noted that Jeff Peters provided comprehensive comments on issues with our covenants that should serve as a good first step in identifying needed changes. Jim proposed a committee to include members that are newer and younger residents to address recommendations for updates. This proposal was well received by all. Jeff Peters agreed to seek out and appoint members for this committee. Jeff indicated his preference that our covenants not be more restrictive than the Fairfax County code so we don't have rules that we don't enforce. Jim Emery concurred that this was a good approach because trying to enforce some of our more restrictive covenants may expose us to unwanted legal costs. He cited the sign issue where Fairfax County made changes to their sign ordinance to comply with a US Supreme Court decision on First Amendment grounds. Jim said we should change our sign covenant to be consistent with Fairfax County's sign ordinance as we would be unlikely to win any case concerning a covenant more restrictive than the ordinance.

Appreciation. Jeff Peters thanked Jim Emery for his long and hard work as president for the past 10 years. Thanks were extended to all of the officers who served this year. Mike Yang said he would continue to organize the annual chili cook-off.


At 2:36 p.m., a motion to adjourn was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,
Jim Emery
WPCA President

Note: These minutes were edited in accordance with the WPCA Privacy Policy and were posted 10 November 2020. The full text of the official copy of the minutes may be reviewed or obtained by request by any WPCA member by contacting the WPCA president, president@kpwwpca.org.