June 2024 Towne South Meeting Minutes
TOWNE SOUTH HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Open Meeting Minutes – June 18, 2024
Ryan Storie, Chair, opened the meeting at 7:00 pm and asked Board members to introduce themselves.
Board Present – Ryan Storie, Hugh McWilliams, Jackie Tebbe, Greg Hertlein, and Administrative Assistant Mary Ann McWilliams. Dave Carr is excused as he is out of town on vacation. In addition to the Board members, attendees in person included lot owners: Lucille Hines, Don Cannon, Dotty Buechele, Cindy Sample, Walt Eschmann, Betty Willett, Gail Meyers, Angelo & Tracy Marnati, and Denise Dummerth. Attendees via Zoom included: Aaron & Anna Lang and Katie Mizera.
1. Approval of Minutes from May 21, 2024. The Board has reviewed the minutes from the May 21, 2024 Open Meeting and has approved them as presented. They will be posted on the website as soon as possible.
2. Financial Update
a. May 2024 - Jackie reported that our May 2024 income was $1317.22 with bulk coming from assessment fees. May’s operating expenses were $7,358.79, the bulk of which came from lawn care and tree removal and maintenance. This leaves us with a May 2024 deficit of $6,041.57. This was not unexpected as we move into the summer months and the many expenses of caring for the common grounds. The good news is that our YTD 2024 continues to be healthy.
b. YTD through June 17th income was $43,032.06 and expenses were $26,183.17 leaving us with a net profit YTD of $16,848.89. Lawn care to date is slightly over $8000, and tree service to date is $9700, not counting the check she has to write soon to take care of the 4 trees that Ameren has identified as dangerous. Overall, when compared to where we were last year, we are ahead. Jackie’s report also includes current balances in Checking of $22,747.38 and our Money Market of $26,610.37.
3. Indentures – Jackie has updated the Indentures on our website with the amendments approved both last year and earlier this year. She has shown the amendment next to what the original statement was so people can compare the two. The original is marked as changed and directs you to the new amendment.
4. Liens & Releases – Mary Ann reported that liens were filed yesterday at St. Louis County on five homeowners for non-payment of their 2024 assessment fees. Copies of the liens will be sent to each of these homeowners as soon as we receive the recorded documents back from County Recorder of Deeds. There have been no releases since last meeting.
5. Requests for approval – One fence request has been approved. One request to have a concrete pad to park RV on was denied since it did not meet St. Louis County’s code.
6. Landscaping – The Board has decided to put the following statement in each of our monthly meeting agendas -- 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.
a. Mowing – Greg reported that all is going well right now. So far we have not needed an extra mow.
b. Trees – One tree during the recent storm fell and took down Ameren’s electric line affecting several homes on Towne Centre. Ameren came out and took down the tree and repaired the electric lines but left the downed tree for us to clean up. While they were there, Ameren identified 3 other trees that they considered dangerous and needed to be taken down. It was a huge job, so we decided to get several bids. One company declined to bid saying they did not have the equipment needed to remove those trees. Our current tree service – Trees Unlimited – were willing to match the lowest bid. So, this job is currently on their schedule and hopefully, given the weather cooperates, will get removed within the next week or two.
c. Creeks – Greg stated that other than our usual problem with overgrowth, there are no problems to report.
7. Complaints – Ryan stated that we are continuing to work on a few property maintenance complaints. It’s a “work in progress” thing. A question was asked as to what powers the HOA has to actually make people maintain their property. Unfortunately, not a lot in our case. We currently send the homeowner a violation letter giving them a certain date to comply. However, the only thing we can currently do is to turn them into St. Louis County Code Enforcement or Problem Property Department. It takes a while for County to then issue a citation, again giving them until a certain date to get things cleaned up. One suggestion was for us to issue fines if they don’t comply. Ryan stated that we are currently putting together a list of fines and once those are approved, we will be able to include fines with the violation letters. Ryan assured everyone that we are on top of this issue and are doing the best we can.
8. Zone Captains – Hugh reported that the meeting on June 2 went very well. There were 16 in attendance, and we picked up 1 for sure and possibly 2 new captains. Phil and Pat Godfrey will cover Zone 9. Since the meeting Pat and Angelo Marnati called and will cover Zone 6. That leaves only Zone 1 still open. An additional volunteer to help in Zone 7 came forward. The Zone Captains were each given one of the old Handbooks and asked to review it and send in ideas they think need updating.
New Business
a) Fall Party – Last year we had a successful party in spite of the heat. This year we are shooting for October 19th. We will provide hot dogs and hamburgers and bottled water. Last year we had several sponsors to defray the cost of the event and hopefully will do the same this fall. A neighborhood party is a great way to meet people and talk to your neighbors. We will confirm availability with the church and move forward with our plans. We’ll create a flyer that our Zone Captains can pass out. More details to come.
Old Business
a) Beautification Group – We are progressing with identifying areas where we want volunteers. We will email the list of volunteers asking where they prefer to help. It was suggested that we put this project on our FaceBook page and promote it on NextDoor too.
b) There are currently 47 rental homes within our HOA. In an effort to keep everyone updated, we will report on the number of rentals at each monthly meeting. We reminded everyone that per our new amendment that passed recently we have capped the number of rentals at 60. We believe everyone is in agreement that we don’t want our subdivision to become nothing but rentals. This amendment also states that one year is the minimum amount of time for a rental. Our limit is 60. Don’t want it to become nothing but rentals. One year is the minimum for a rental.
Open for Floor Discussions – Ryan asked that if you have a complaint about a neighbor, please do not use the name or address during this open discussion.
Denise Dummerth stated that she has spoken to Tony Barnett from St. Louis County regarding adding a concrete pad to park her RV on next to her house. Tony told her that the county would probably never approve the plans she currently has for a concrete pad on the Kempf side of her house. Tony recommended she look at extending the driveway on the other side of her house. She will not need a special county permit since it will not affect the right of way. Given her description to Tony, he did not think the slope would require a retaining wall. However, if the slope is more than two feet, she will need a retaining wall and then county would be involved in this approval. She stated that she has more than enough room on the garage side of her house and has talked to her neighbor who has no problem with her parking her RV there. She showed the Board a new drawing of her plans, however, this drawing was merely a sketch made by her without specific details. Ryan told Denise that the Board would reconsider this request once she provides an appropriate drawing from a contractor showing all the details. She indicated that she wanted to move forward with this as soon as possible.
Question was asked by several attendees about the need for a fence around the RV. Neither County nor our Indentures require a fence around an RV. Concern was expressed by several that we don’t want to start looking like a trailer park and encouraged the Board to consider putting a limit on the number of RVs permanently parked in our subdivision.
Aaron Lang (attending via Zoom) expressed his concern over capping the number of rentals. If a high percentage of our rentals are owned by individuals, he feels that these homes will be cared for and the owners will be more responsive. Jackie stated that at this point, most of our rentals are owned by corporations that are coming in and buying up homes, doing necessary remodeling and repairs and then renting them out. Aaron is concerned that once the word gets out that we have a cap on rentals, more corporations are going to be seeking out homes to buy to get in under the cap. The Board does not feel that will be an issue. We don’t publish this information anywhere. Jackie stated that 83% of the respondents in vote on this amendment were in favor of putting a cap on the rentals. If anyone wants to turn this around, there are procedures in place to do so. As far as tracking rentals, every time a property changes hands, the title company must get a Trustee Verification from us. In that process we ask whether the buyers will be residing in the home or will they be using it for investment income. We know this is not a complete tracking method, but at least it’s something. As we get more contact information we are able to identify non-residing owners.
A question was asked about posting subdivision information on FaceBook. Jackie responded that whenever someone gives her something to post, she is happy to do so.
Ryan asked if anyone had anything more to bring to the Board at this time. There being none, the Towne South Homeowners Association Open Monthly Meeting was adjourned at 7:47 pm. There is no August meeting, the next meeting will be on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, 7:00 pm at Prince of Peace UCC.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Ann McWilliams
Administrative Assistant