General Membership Meeting Minutes 14 October 2021

Call to Order & Introductions – 7:30 PM by President John Cooley

Minutes from Last Meeting (May 2021) – minutes had been vetted by those who attended the meeting and are now on our website. Similarly, draft minutes will be sent to those at this meeting for your review and approval before posting to the website.

Vice President Comments – VP Bernie Koehle – spoke to the need for more lights either from street lights, yard pole lights or simply leaving home outside lights on at night to dissuade would be thieves.

Financial Report – Treasurer Liz Greene – see attached 

Past President Comments – Kirby Myers - will need a replacement for this non-elected position. President will find someone to relieve Kirby.

Executive Council Reports:

• Membership – Julia Hale – 280 paid memberships as of 10/10/2021 And 6 more with check in the mail.  
• Directory – Andrea Lewis – submitted by John Cooley - would appreciate any suggestions for the next directory. Also looking for a quality photo to use on the cover.
• Village FaceBook Group – Wendi Dorey – submitted by John Cooley - Rules: Be Kind and Courteous, No Hate Speech or Bullying and No Promotions or Spam
• Website – Bob Havey - Because of some updates to the underlying software I have to make a lot of changes to the website.  If anyone wants to suggest changes (simple, more or different information), this would be a good time to speak up.
• Neighborhood Watch – Jeff Carter – We are fortunate here in the Village to experience very little crime, but the following are suggestions to keep your home and property a bit safer.

• • Don't provide places for thieves to hide
  • Don't let thieves know you are not home
  • Keep your yard clean to prevent giving thieves an advantage
  • Install a security camera system
  • Install a home alarm system
  • Take precautions to protect windows
  • Secure sliding glass doors
  • Always lock doors and windows
  • Lock your vehicles
  • Change the locks as necessary
  • Get to know your neighbors and report suspicious activity
  • Expanded guidance on the above topics will be provided in the upcoming eNews and posted on our website.
  • Additionally, FCPD offers a Home Security Survey program. Our West Springfield District Station’s Crime Prevention Officer can provide an at home visit for anyone interested. Please contact me or John Cooley for additional information, but the above list most likely covers the majority of items covered in the program.       

Village West Pool – Jen Guernsey – 2020 was a difficult year for Village West, because the pool did not open but still had expenses to pay. Thanks to the $60,000 economic injury disaster loan our treasurer secured in April 2020, we were able to weather 2020 and then march confidently into the 2021 season despite the continuing uncertainty engendered by the pandemic. Contrary to our expectations, 2021 was a banner year, with a considerable increase in membership and a concomitant increase in revenue. This more than made up for the loss of revenue from not selling concessions through June and not hosting campers from a local karate studio, both of which were COVID-related decisions. By identifying and addressing a water leak issue in 2020 and cleaning the leaves out of the pool over the winter so we didn't need to drain and refill the pool, we were able to keep our 2021 water expenses significantly below budget.

Our major unanticipated expenses this year involved replacing the sand in our filter tanks (which should now last for decades; $5K), repairing a clogged and cracked sewer line (around $8K), and removing a dead tree ($5K). While our financial situation is slowly but steadily improving, our pool will need new plaster and tile soon, which is a major expense (~$100K), so there remains much work to be done.

To this end, we plan to self-manage starting next year. Instead of hiring a management company to operate the pool, we will do it ourselves, hiring and managing our own lifeguards and obtaining our own chemicals. Pool opening, closing, and repairs will continue to be done by a skilled outside contractor. Self-management is expected to save us a good deal of money and give us additional control over, and flexibility in, our operations. This past year, our guard staff was made up entirely of kids from our own neighborhood, and we expect many of them to return next summer.

The pool also began a very promising relationship with Freedom Scuba, in which we provide pool access (generally off-hours) and a parking spot in exchange for some income and discounted scuba and CPR courses for our members. Finally, we have a new and very energetic socials chair, and if you attended our wildly successful Oktoberfest this past weekend, you saw the results. Look for another community event at the pool in early December!

Weekly Enews – Needing constructive criticism and input to future editions. Have been having issues with format and the enews going to recipients’ junk or suspected spam folders. 

Old Business: As suggested in our last meeting, the CAWSV did purchase yard signs that are displayed throughout the village soliciting membership. Hard to determine if they help with membership numbers, but we know they can’t hurt.

New Business: 

• Ratify FY21 Audit Report (attached), Nelson Ritchie & Jeannette Swain. Vote was unanimous in favor or ratifying the FY21 audit.
• FY22 Budget (see attached). Vote was unanimous to adopt the proposed budget without markups. However, the BOD can vote to exceed a budget line if necessary. The BOD often solicits votes from the Executive Council for the same and elicits input from the village via weekly enews.  
• Election of new Board of Directors (President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer). Nelson Ritchie was nominated by John Cooley to become Treasurer, Molly Alonzo nominated also by John Cooley to be Secretary. John Cooley recognized Liz Greene for her service as Treasurer. Since Kirby Myers had been serving in the capacity as Past President even without ever serving as President, John Cooley promised to find a replacement for Kirby.  Bernie Koehle will continue as VP and John Cooley agreed to one more year as President. There were no nominations from the floor; vote was unanimous to elect or re-elect John Cooley as President, Bernie Koehle as Vice President, Nelson Ritchie as Treasurer and Molly Alonzo as Secretary.

NOTE: Executive Council members are appointed by the Board of Directors; no vote required. Andrea Lewis was recognized as our new directory editor.

Rolling Road Widening Project Update - VDOT’s schedule follows.  

• Phase I - Construction – Completed
• Phase II - Right of Way Acquisition – Ongoing 
• Phase II - Begin Utility Relocation - Winter 2020/2021
• Phase II - Construction – delayed to Spring 2024; 2-year project.

We lost contact with our VDOT point of contact, but Jeff Fasceski said he’d track down the responsible VDOT engineer and report back.

Adjourn – NLT 9:00 PM - CAWSV President

 

Program – None