November 2022 Towne South Monthly Meeting Minutes
OPEN MEETING – NOVEMBER 15, 2022
Meeting opened by President Mackenzie Hennekes at 7:03 pm.
Board Members Present: Ryan Storie, Jackie Tebbe, Hugh McWilliams, Greg Hertlein, Mackenzie Hennekes, plus Administrative Assistant Mary Ann McWilliams
Visitors: Lucille Hines, Don Cannon, Beth Strautz, Cynthia Siple & Glen Huelsing ___________________________________
Agenda items for tonight:
Proper Yard Waste Disposal – It has come to our attention that several residents are burning yard waste causing a lot of smoke. In addition, it has been noted that some are disposing of their leaves into the sewers, along with other debris including dog waste. It is against a St. Louis County ordinance to burn leaves or other debris. We don’t want to be the yard waste police, or the tattle tale big brother, but perhaps if you have a neighbor who is doing this, you can approach them in a friendly manner and mention the ordinance to them. In some cases the amount of smoke can become an irritant to those with breathing issues. Putting all your yard waste down into the creeks is not allowed either. It dams up the flow of water and can become an erosion problem. We know that we have many issues of erosion already in our subdivision. MSD is not responsible for fixing the erosion problem. One visitor mentioned that she has a neighbor who has a huge pile of yard waste in his backyard and just continues to pile it up. No one wants to approach him because of his attitude.
Zones – As has been mentioned in previous meetings, this Board wants to encourage communication within our neighborhood and the Board. To that end, we have established 15 Zones and currently have 8 people who have agreed to be captains of those areas. We are looking for 7 more. This person would be the point of contact. Jackie is creating 15 gmail addresses for these captains to allow better communication. The zone captain would not have to give out their personal phone number or email address if they didn’t want to. Plus generic email addresses will allow for the change of captains from time to time. The Zone map has been loaded onto the website. If you know of someone within the last 7 zones that you think might make a good captain, let us know and we will approach them if you don’t want to. Zones 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, 12, & 14 are still open. Jackie is finalizing the zone lists and will get them to all captains when we are ready to launch this program. Mackenzie stated that a zone captain does not have to work alone. They can definitely invite a neighbor to work with them. The more the merrier. Mary Ann has put together a draft of some “talking points” for the captains. We will get that out to the captains, along with a business card making this effort more official and professional.
Dues Letters – A mailing will go out at the end of December (note: the Board revised this date to go out at the beginning of the new year after the meeting) to all homeowners containing their 2023 Assessment Dues Statement, a TSHA Newsletter, the proposed Amendment (discussed at last month’s meeting), and a return envelope. Our 2023 dues will remain $57.50, but the good news is that we now can offer online payments through Venmo or Paypal. It was questioned if we can email this mailing to those we have email addresses for. Based on our current Indentures, we cannot. It must be sent via US Mail. This is something we would like to change in the future. A question was also raised as to how many homeowners did not pay their dues last year. Jackie thinks we are down to less than 10, which is pretty good for the size of our association. In the future, we want to have a more personal approach to collecting past-due assessments. We want to be sensitive to the reasons behind the past dues. Liens should be the last option, not the first. Another question was asked about what TSHA can do about squatters in our neighborhood. Nothing. This is something between the homeowner and St. Louis County to deal with. The only jurisdiction we have is over our common grounds.
Annual Meeting – Mackenzie announced that the TSHA annual meeting will be in February 2023. The exact date has not been finalized. It’s typically on the third weekend but can be wiggled some when necessary. Jackie will check on the availability of the church meeting room for February and the Board will have the information on our website soon. Please, please encourage your neighbors to attend. We will have a guest speaker and if you would like to suggest or recommend someone, let Mackenzie know. It has been recommended that a police officer from our local precinct should come and speak.
Landscaping – The Board is reaching out for bids on all our landscaping beginning in 2023. Our current contract with Shelton ends in March. Landscaping and tree maintenance is by far our largest expense. If you have a company you would like to bid for, please let us know. We are hoping to save some money, yet still do a good job for us. This is probably too large of an undertaking for an individual – it will need to be a company with adequate equipment and staff.
Open Discussion:
Condition of the Creeks – one visitor raised the issue of the amount of debris being thrown into the creeks and sewers. Several on the Board have had direct conversations with MSD. The HOA owns the ground; MSD only owns the water flowing over the ground. Greg has been looking into getting a grant from Clean Stream that will help us in the maintenance of the creek beds and surrounding foliage and brush. We need some further information before we can complete the lengthy application form. Individual residents are not all willing and/or able to take on the task of dealing with the erosion and wildlife living in the creeks. Greg and Mackenzie both suggested encouraging all residents backing up to creeks to continue calling MSD repeatedly bugging them to do something to help. Sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the attention. We have three creeks running through our subdivision. Jackie noted that this is one area that could benefit from having its own committee. Down the road, as we develop the zones and associated captains more, we can create committees to work on specific issues. More heads and hands make the work easier. One resident noted that there was a homeless camp down in a common ground area by the creek for a short time. They are gone now so no action is needed.
One visitor via Zoom asked when our TSHA Christmas decorations are going up. Jackie stated that Richard dumped numerous bags of stuff off which are currently stored in her shed. Anyone who wants to help please contact Jackie.
Question – who plows our streets – St. Louis County.
Mackenzie asked if there was any further business or discussion. There being none, the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 pm. The next Open Meeting is Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 7 pm at Prince of Peace UCC. If anyone has something specific to be put on the agenda, please email us.
Notes submitted by:
Mary Ann McWilliams
Administrative Assistant
November 2022 Towne South Homeowners Assoc. Meeting Video