February 2026 Towne South Assoc. Annual Meeting
TOWNE SOUTH HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Annual Meeting Minutes – February 21, 2026
Call to Order – Chair Ryan Storie called the 63rd Annual Meeting of Towne South Homeowners Association to order at 2:02 pm
Welcome to the 63rd annual meeting – Ryan welcomed all and asked anyone attending via Zoom to please enter their name and address in the chat box. There were a total of 40 lot owners attending both in person and via Zoom. The list of names is included with these minutes.
Introduction of Board members. – Ryan introduced each of the Board members. He then explained the process of how the meeting will proceed. Please hold your questions to the end when we have a Q & A session. In addition, he stated that a little later in the meeting the Board will be listing goals that we have for 2026. He asked those present and on Zoom to think about items they would like the Board to consider during the upcoming year. There is a tablet of paper and a Suggestion Box on the table where you entered. Please write your suggestions and/or ideas down and put them in the box. If you are watching via Zoom, you can email this information to us at info@townesouth.org.
The minutes from January 20, 2026 Open Monthly Meeting have been reviewed by the Board and approved. They have been posted on our website.
Election of the Class of 2028 Board of Governors - Ryan asked Mary Ann to take over this part of the agenda. She read the section of our Indentures dealing with the election of members of the Board of Governors which lays out the process. This year there are three positions up for election on the Board with terms expiring in February 2028. At this point we have three nominations – Ryan Storie, Jackie Tebbe, and Hugh McWilliams. All three of these people are running for re-election. Mary Ann asked if there were any nominations from the floor. There being none, we will move forward with the three nominations. Mary Ann gave a brief bio on each candidate and asked for someone to second the nominations. Then by a show of hands for each nominee, she asked for yays and nays. Let the record show that Ryan Storie, Jackie Tebbe and Hugh McWilliams received all yays and no nays. Thus also let the record show that Ryan Storie, Jackie Tebbe and Hugh McWilliams were elected unanimously for a two year term ending February 2028.
Financial Report – Jackie stated that there are three documents on the check in table with reports pertaining to our finances. First is a spreadsheet showing actual income and expenses from years 2023, 2024 and 2025, plus budgeted numbers from 2025 and projected budget for 2026. She also projected out to 2027 with both keeping our fees at $75 and increasing our fees to $80 annually.
Year End 2025 - Actual year end for 2025 we show a net profit of $23,525.97 whereas we budgeted to show a net profit of only $3,400.00. The difference is almost completely related to the fact that we budgeted $20,000 for tree removal and trimming and Mother Nature was extremely kind to us and we only spent $350. We know we can’t be that lucky this year. The total income for 2025 came to $63,165.07, of which $53,160.93 was from assessment fees. The one anomaly on the income was from Missouri American Water. They were required to pay us for some work they did, which left an area of our common ground in disrepair. We will be fixing that as soon as the weather allows. Then looking at total expenses for 2025 of $39,639.10, our biggest expense was lawn care at $15,325.00. One expense that we had not counted on was our being required to file a new document with the Missouri Secretary of State which cost $500. Jackie went over the breakdown of the various income and expenses and encouraged everyone to look at the P&L statement for all the individual numbers and if you have any questions, please let her know. There was nothing out of the normal or significantly concerning in 2025.
Year to Date – This report goes from January 1 to January 31, 2026. There is a lot of income and very few expenses. Income of $23,629.10, almost all of which was from assessment fees. Expenses were $2,606.81 with the two main line items being Tree Trimming/Removal at $1450 and General Liability Insurance at $778. This leaves us with a net profit of $21,022.29. As is Jackie’s practice, she reports monthly on the total assets combined in both our checking account and our money market account and at the end of January 2026 we have a total of $83,808.86.
Budget for 2026 – Jackie pointed out the spreadsheet with the comparisons of years 2023, 2024 and 2025, with projections for 2026. Our annual budgeted income for 2026 remains about the same as 2025. The biggest hit is in our anticipated expenses. She added $9,000 for Common Ground Overgrowth Maintenance. Our trees are getting older and in 2024 we took a huge hit to our budget. We more than doubled what was spent on trees from 2023 to 2024. Moving onto lawn care, we have again asked for bids from a couple of companies on mowing and we only had one other company interested but their bid was $1600 a mow, and they required a minimum number of mows per season. Our current service charged $1100 a mow last year but is increasing it to $1300 a mow this year with no minimum number of mows. In addition, he is open to doing extra work in areas if we need it. That’s still enough below the closest bid for us to decide to keep our current company. Yes, they have some improvement to make, but Greg has spoken to the owner, and he has a whole new crew and will be personally overseeing them on our lawn care. Jackie bumped some of our other expenses only slightly to cover the cost-of-living increase in these items. We are projecting a net loss for 2026 of $7,745.00, however we have savings to cover this. Further looking out to 2027, Jackie is not predicting any assessment increase for 2027 either. There is nothing that she can see to justify an increase in 2027. Question was asked about using some of our extra money to put up more light poles, especially in some of our cul de sacs. Greg stated that installation of a light pole costs between $9,000-10,000. That expense would chew up our savings really fast. He suggested that residents keep their front porch lights on all the time. The cost to do that is very minimal compared to installing more poles. We currently have 14 light poles in our subdivision for which we pay Ameren over $3400 a year.
Accomplishments from 2025 – Greg and Ryan reported on some of our accomplishments from 2025:
We spent a lot of time, money and effort to clear acres of honeysuckle and overgrowth in our common ground areas. One resident complimented us on our new white fences. That’s how many years it’s been since we’ve been able to really see them.
There was a volunteer crew that cleaned up the area around our three entrance signs. They trimmed bushes, planted some flowers and put out new mulch. This is a project we need to keep after annually and if anyone is interested in helping let him know.
As we’ve already stated, having taken care of so many bad trees in 2024, we had no fallen tree maintenance in 2025 and so far, this year things are looking good too.
The homeowners passed three Indenture amendments dealing with trash cans, identifying the front and side building lines, and established size and weight limits for parking RVs, campers, trailers, etc. on homeowners’ property. These amendments were certified and recorded with the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds and are posted on our website.
We hosted another annual subdivision party. Attendance at this year’s party was down and we are looking for suggestions to improve next year’s party.
The motorbikes last year were a big problem for our homeowners. With the help of our police officers who are assigned to our subdivision, we were able to resolve most of the issues. The police did give out several violations and citations. It was noted that electric bikes are becoming increasingly prevalent and there are no restrictions on them. We continue to monitor this issue and try to keep them off our common ground. We find that our officer, Officer Cecelia Young, is patrolling the neighborhood often. The speed trailer that she puts in various locations is solar and often doesn’t work. We would love to have a few flashing signs but as an unincorporated area of St. Louis County we are not allowed to have those. Ryan asked all homeowners that whenever they see a motorbike or electric bike causing havoc to please call the police. Greg noted that County has been moving through our subdivision replacing the old street signs with new, larger font signs, and has installed a stop sign on Brunston and Towne Centre.
Number of Liens filed in 2025 – MaryAnn reported that there were 13 liens filed in 2025, 11 of which were for unpaid assessment fees and 2 were for violations. Of these 13 liens, 6 were from, what we call, our frequent offenders. Those are people who repeatedly don’t pay their assessment fees.
Number of Releases filed in 2025 – We filed 3 releases in 2025, all of which were for unpaid assessment fees.
Number of Unsettled Liens on our Books – Mary Ann reported that as of December 31, 2025, there were a total of 40 liens on our books. These 40 liens represent 12 properties. While that sounds like a lot, remember 10 of those were added in 2025. We have some liens going back to 2008 remaining unsettled. We currently have requests from two homeowners for payoff information so once these come through, we will be down to 34. She noted that each and every lien filed has had much effort on our part to communicate to the homeowner what is going to happen if they don’t pay their assessment fees. No one can say they didn’t know a lien was being filed. And after it’s filed, we send a letter and a copy of the certified lien from St. Louis County to the homeowner.
Goals for 2026 – Katie noted this list is tentative and not definitive. We encourage the homeowners to give us their suggestions of things they would like to see addressed during 2026.
We are committed to continuing to clear out more common ground from the overgrowth and honeysuckle. We are hoping to get out of a crisis mode and back to a routine maintenance mode.
We will continue to assess the health of our trees and make a list prioritizing what needs to be done.
We take the job of due diligence very seriously and will continue to look for any cost-saving measures that both make sense and achieve the results we expect.
We have become aware of some local, state and private grants that might assist the HOA with common ground maintenance and remediation and will investigate how we might benefit from these. Grant writing is a very detailed and lengthy process, and we are just getting started so our expectations for 2026 are limited, but that won’t keep us from trying.
We are hoping to spruce up our three entrance signs by either renovating them or if necessary, replacing them. Our signs are several decades old. Last year we did get a couple of bids that were rather high. We decided to put that on the back burner for last year and readdress it this year. We were able to do some temporary repairs that will hold us for a year or two.
We are committed to repairing the white fences throughout our subdivision. Greg has evaluated this issue. There are a lot of posts that are broken and have caps missing. We will begin working on these repairs one section at a time.
We like to think that our subdivision party is a necessary event that gives all homeowners the opportunity to get to know their neighbors. However, our attendance has gone down, and we want to reassess when and what we do. We realize there are many other activities competing for everyone’s attention. Katie asked if anyone has suggestions to please let her know.
We want to continue to review our Indentures and address areas that are old and need updating.
Report on Zone Captains – First, Hugh thanked each and every zone captain who has served over the past year. He reported that we have 15 zones and stated that the zones are posted on our website. At this time, we are missing two zone captains - one for zone 6 and one for zone 13. He reminded everyone that a zone captain will never be asked or expected to intervene with a homeowner regarding money issues or any dispute between the homeowner and the Board. They are strictly there to get to know the neighbors and be another contact for the Board. With only 5 Board members and 713 households, the Board feels that these people help them do their jobs. You do not have to live in a zone to be a representative to that zone. We have tried to keep the number of homes in each zone to roughly 35-40. Some are a few more and some are fewer. One concern that we are asking zone captains to help with is advising homeowners of the importance of having your address visible so that emergency vehicles can easily find you. There are many homes that don’t have any address on their homes. Please come see him after the meeting if you want more information or to see the map.
Meeting Schedule for 2026 – Jackie pointed out that there is a handout on the table with a list of all the 2026 meeting dates. As a reminder, we do not meet in February (because the annual meeting constitutes a meeting), plus no meetings in August and December.
Old Business – Ryan stated that these following two announcements are made at every meeting to make everyone aware of this information.
There are currently 57 rental homes within our HOA. To keep everyone updated, we will report on the number of rentals at each meeting. We have a cap of 60. Jackie reported that when title companies ask us for a Trustee Verification Letter, we ask if this purchase will be used as a primary residence or as investment property. This is the only way we can keep track of this information.
Homeowners may not mow grass, trim trees, plant, provide maintenance, etc. on common property without the written consent of the majority of the Board of Governors on an annual basis. The Board of Governors reserves the right to revoke such consent. Please let us know so we can create a list of who is doing what.
New Business – None
Questions from the floor – Ryan asked if you have a question, please identify yourself. Do not use any person’s name or specific address in any sort of complaint. Please keep your question current and relevant. Each question may take no more than one minute to be asked and the Board will have no more than two minutes to respond.
Do we have a Neighborhood Watch group? Other than our Zone Captains, we have Greg who spends a lot of time driving around our subdivision making sure things are going well. Greg stated that we do have a Beautification Committee, and we have asked multiple times for people to help us, but the response has not been very good. If you are interested, please email or call us and we will connect you with someone so we can use your talents. Our website address is www.townesouth.com.
Karen Landon – She wanted everyone to know that St. Louis County does offer a way for individual homeowners to opt out of the mosquito spraying that is randomly happening all spring and summer. She has concerns because she uses her yard as a haven for bees and various species of birds and the spraying is killing the mosquitos which are a source of food for other creatures. She has done a lot of research and has offered to share her information with anyone who is interested. You can reach Karen at 314-852-3595. You can opt out of having your home sprayed by calling St. Louis County at 314-615-0680, or 314-615-0671 which goes directly to a gentleman named Stephen.
Question was asked if we knew anyone we could call from St. Louis County regarding all the potholes and the general condition of our streets. Jackie responded that there is a phone number on our website for this. Greg stated that he has spoken to someone at County and we are on their list to get these issues fixed. Some of the big trash trucks are tearing up the curbs around our cul de sacs. County will repair these areas too. Greg stated the number to call is 314-615-8538 and told everyone to be sure to tell them you are from Towne South.
Betty Willett – She wanted to thank this Board for all they do and stated that this Board is truly concerned about our subdivision and the homeowners. Ryan thanked Betty for her compliment and said it was nice to hear our efforts are appreciated.
Does the HOA have any way to control or send violations to homeowners where the outward appearance of a home is very messy? Ryan responded that we have some authority and we do send out violation letters. However, you may also generate a complaint yourselves to County about homes you feel are not up to standards. The system is very slow and often ends up in court where the homeowner cleans it up just in time to avoid a court appearance and then goes right back and the mess is back. It’s a vicious circle. Rest assured, we do send them violation letters which contain fines that escalate over time. If you want to draw our attention to a specific house, please call or email us this information.
Mark Wagner – about ten years ago he remembers that the subdivision had a large item pick up collection that was organized by the HOA he thinks. He felt that having a large item pick up annually might help control some of the debris people stack up around their homes. Ryan thinks this is a good idea and might be something we can look into. Greg stated that all of our trash companies offer a twice a year large item pick up at no charge. Many people are not aware of this and maybe we need to spread this information.
Many years ago, the subdivision had a day when volunteers came together to clean out the creeks. Has the Board thought of doing something like this again? Greg responded that the Beautification Committee was supposed to be a group that spearheaded this, however, if never got off the ground. If anyone wants to volunteer to head up something like this, he would be happy to help make it happen. Greg also reported that we are still dealing with people throwing their dog poop bags in the creeks and even tossing them up into the trees in our common ground areas. We wish we could find out who is doing this. If you know, please come see Greg after the meeting.
Ryan asked if anyone had any more business to be brought before this Board. Ryan stated that if anyone has something they want to talk to the Board about in private, please see him after the meeting. He thanked everyone for attending and hopes to see more people at our monthly meetings. There being no further questions, Ryan adjourned the 63rd Annual Towne South Homeowners Association meeting at 3:01 pm. Our next regular monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, March 17, 2026, at 7:00 pm at Prince of Peace UCC. Please help yourself to some refreshments and feel free to hang around and visit.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ann McWilliams
Administrative Assistant