Hardwick Mountain Property Owners Association
Minutes of Board Meeting held on 09/25/2020 at 5:30 P.M.
at the former Montagna residence
Present: John Barnhill, Kai Dozier, Steve Hovanic, Susan Jammé, Carl Prober
It is to be noted that due to Covid-19, a formal public Annual Meeting, per se, has not been held this year. However, earlier in the summer, an informational mailing was provided to each property owner (email or Postal Service, as appropriate) as well as a ballot to allow voting for Board of Directors members. The result of that election was that all current Board members remained on the Board.
Business Items discussed:
1.) Revisions to Bylaws, Restrictive Covenants, etc.: Board members are aware that the existing Bylaws document has not been updated for many years (revised in 1988), the Building Requirements and Additional Positions by HMPOA Board of Directors has likewise been in its present form for many years (revised in 2001), and the Restrictive and Protective Covenants have never been updated (created in 1972). These documents have items in them that are ambiguous and possibly unenforceable, some matters may no longer be applicable while others are not addressed at all. Even the terminology of typical homeowner association documents has changed over the years: Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions is the term more commonly used than Hardwick Mountain’s Restrictive and Protective Covenants, while Rules and Regulations would describe what has been called Hardwick Mountain’s Building Requirements and Additional Positions by HMPOA Board of Directors. For the benefit and protection of existing Hardwick Mountain property owners, as well as those who may purchase property here in the future, it is felt that a thorough review and possible revision to these documents is in order. As a first step, Kai will contact an attorney who deals with homeowner associations and attempt to get an estimated cost to review and make any necessary changes and / or meet with the Board for discussion; in addition, the Board members themselves will review the documents (all are available on the Hardwick Mountain Property Owner’s Association website) and within two weeks forward their comments and suggestions to Susan Jammé for summarization and distribution. Another Board meeting or online discussion will follow to determine the next steps to be taken after everyone is apprised of what appear to be the major areas that need some sort of revision (adding, deleting, rewording, clarifying, etc.).
2.) 911 House Number Signs: Barbara Dulaney has been working with Department of Forestry / Firewise personnel and it seems that grant money is available for the purchase of house number signs (green with high visibility white reflective lettering), requiring only that Association property owners handle the installation themselves. Signs can be obtained for either horizontal or vertical mounting. All property owners will be contacted to see if they would like to take advantage of this safety-related benefit.
3.) Emergency Vehicle Turnaround Area Road Maintenance: Some property owners have noted that after every heavy rain, erosion continues to worsen on the sloping part of the road just below the Emergency Vehicle Turnaround Area. Water runs across the road, cutting a channel and washing out the gravel. Several solutions were discussed, such as installing a culvert under the road, creating a shallow concrete channel across the road, or paving / tar & gravel treatment. Steve will contact Jeff Gray (C & G Paving, who has provided road maintenance on Hardwick Mountain for quite a few years) to get his opinion and recommendations as to the best solution to the problem, as well as providing an estimate for tar & gravel surfacing of the turnaround itself. (There may be Department of Forestry grant money available for this project as in item 2.), above. When Jeff is here, he will also do a drive-around on all the roads to see which are the most in need of localized repair or resurfacing.
4.) Roadside Ditch and Culvert Maintenance: After some discussion, it was agreed to schedule a workday to add another load of riprap stone along some areas of Hardwick Mountain Drive. In general, however, the riprap dams that have been placed in the ditches are serving their intended purpose well. The Board is very appreciative of Carl Prober’s and Dick Smith’s efforts in unclogging culverts and regrading some water diversion channels; thankfully, there are no culvert issues to be dealt with at present.
5.) Orange County Broadband Authority: Carl Prober has been in contact with personnel regarding the timeline and scheduling (most likely, relatively early next year) for the actual cable installation. When the work does commence, a right-of-way will need to be granted for burying the cable along the roadsides. This should be just a formality, as there is already a 50-foot-wide utilities right-of-way along all Association roads. Carl will keep the Board apprised of any developments and / or action to be taken as this county-wide project comes to fruition.
6.) Officers: As all current officers are willing to continue serving (until next year’s Annual Meeting and Board elections), it was unanimously agreed that they remain in their same capacity, namely: Kai Dozier, President; Carl Prober, Vice President; John Barnhill, Treasurer; Steve Hovanic, Secretary.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Hovanic, Secretary
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