September 2025 Towne South Homeowners Assoc. Minutes
TOWNE SOUTH HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Minutes - Open Meeting – September 16, 2025
Board present: Ryan Storie, Hugh McWilliams, Jackie Tebbe, and Greg Hertlein. Plus Mary Ann McWilliams, Administrative Assistant. Board Absent: Katie Mizera. Lot Owners present: Davis Aubuchon, Lucille Hines, Frank Schmaltz, Cindy Siple, Karen Landon, Joan Stenger, Mike & Nancy McCarthy, Mark Siebert, Ginger McClush, Greg Fister, Sue Unger, Pat Stephens, Betty Willett, Rich Vogan, Katie Davis, Patty & David Schuetz.
Chair Ryan Storie called the meeting to order at 7:02 pm and welcomed all the guests. Introductions were made of the Board members present. Ryan instructed guests to pick up the agenda and financials on the back table.
1. Approval of Minutes from July 15, 2025. The Board has reviewed and approved the minutes from the July 15, 2025 Open Meeting. These minutes will go on our website soon.
2. Financial Update –
a. July – The P&L for July shows a total income of $1,520.38, most of which came from Trustee Verification Fees. Operating Expenses totaled $3,797.75 of which the highest was lawn care. The Net Loss for July was $2,27737.
b. August – This month at least showed a positive balance. Income totaled $1,115.29 most of which came from a recovered lien. Operating Expenses only totaled $794.18, with the biggest expense being utilities. We did not have any invoices for lawn care in August. This gave us a Net Profit of $321.11.
c. YTD – The better picture is our Year to Date P&L which goes through September 12, 2025. Total income is $57,904.80 with Assessment Fees making up $53,000 of this amount. Operating Expenses come to $27,032.56 with lawn care being over $13,000. We have been very fortunate with tree removal expenses only coming to $2,000 to date. We will have some bigger expenses this month for all the clearing from IMS, the company we hired to clear out all the honeysuckle and clear out brush from around all our fences. Jackie shared a comparison of this same time period in 2024 and we are significantly ahead in income and significantly down in expenses. Our Net Profit to date is $30,872.24. Total assets to date in our checking account and money market account come to $64,591.21.
3. Liens & Releases – No Liens filed. Three releases filed.
4. Violations Resolved (2) and Unresolved (1) – We are working with County on this property.
5. Update on common ground clean up – A ton of work has been done over the past two weeks. Jackie pointed to the poster she made up of the before and after pictures. Greg reported on some of the areas that were cleaned up. He reminded everyone that we are still in Phase 1 of this clean up. We know we have much more to do, but our budget can only withstand a certain amount each year moving forward. It has been very interesting what has been found as the big equipment clears areas. There is a lot of original landscape walls and stone found way down in the creeks. After the big areas were cleared, we hired another smaller crew of young guys to do more of the “hands-on” work. Greg stated that we really need a good rain which will make things look much better. We will be applying some herbicide later to hopefully keep this overgrowth from coming back. There are many vines that have wrapped themselves up into the trees. We can kill it at the base, but we cannot go up in the tree to get the dead vines down. Mother Nature will take care of that next year. Ryan asked people to hold their questions until later in the agenda.
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.
6. Trees – We have a couple trees that we are watching and evaluating their condition. Nothing major. Some trees will look better once the vines are killed. The Conservation people that came out stated that overall we have great trees.
7. Creeks – Greg noted the creeks are really dry. We could use some rain.
8. Subdivision Party Update – Ryan reported the party is on Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 2 to 5 here at the church. Zone Captains are in the process of handing out the flyers. We will have a chili cook off again. Bring a dish to share. We are looking for raffle items and other donations.
9. Requests for Approvals – No property improvement requests have been received since the last meeting.
10. Beautification Committee – Greg noted that there is nothing organized at this point. He is working on getting all the common ground done. Then he will have a better idea of where and what we need help with.
11. Zone Captain Update – Hugh reported that as stated above, Zone Captains are distribution the subdivision party flyers. We have had two Zone Captains resign due to health issues. A few questions were asked regarding the responsibilities of a Zone Captain. Hugh stated they are mainly the liaison between the homeowners and the Board – fielding questions and concerns. They will never be asked to intervene in a dispute or asked to collect money. There is a map showing all the zones and the number of houses in that zone on our website.
New Business - None
Old Business
a) There are currently 51 rental homes within our HOA. In an effort to keep everyone updated, we will report on the number of rentals at each monthly meeting.
Open Floor Questions/Comments
A homeowner expressed concern over the power pole that was pulled away from his house resulting in a power outage. Ameren was called and it was determined that Spectrum was responsible for this repair. This homeowner wants to know who he should send the bill to for the damage done to his house when this wire pulled out. Ryan stated we would investigate this and get back to him. The homeowner said he would stay after the meeting and show the pictures he has.
A homeowner addressed the meeting with concerns about the flooding for the homes along Towne Centre, especially those living at the bottom of the hill. He has been a resident for 27 years and has seen so much deterioration of the common ground along this area. MSD will be repairing the culvert and moving it 14 feet toward Kerth. However, this job is probably two to three years out. This culvert has collapsed on the north side so water flow is drastically affected. There is supposed to be a whole new sewer all the way to Brunston. We have 4 sewers now but that isn’t enough to handle the amount of water. Greg reported that he has had numerous conversations with MSD with minimal results. MSD needs to replace the sewers, not just clean them out. It is a constant battle. Greg asked this homeowner to send him pictures of the erosion and flooding and he will forward them onto MSD. The yards behind Brunston are washing out because MSD didn’t replace the sewer pipes under the houses. It is all storm water runoff, not sewage. Greg told people to keep bothering MSD Construction Division, not the regular MSD number. Jackie will put this number on our website.
Evelyn asked that a revision be made to the June minutes. She had raised concern and issue and she felt it was not adequately recorded. She read the complete statement that she asked to be included with those minutes. **See Towne South Homeowners Association Video of Meeting at 25:18 minutes for full statement**. She stated that she had sent it to the Board via email earlier this evening.
Evelyn asked that a revision be made to the June minutes. She had raised concern and issue and she felt it was not adequately recorded. She read the complete statement that she asked for it to be included with those minutes. For a complete reading of this statement see the video of this meeting on our website which starts at 25 minutes and 18 seconds into the meeting. She stated that she had sent it to the Board via email earlier this evening. She again stated her concerns over the tree that she claims we just dumped into the ravine. She also stated concern over a tree that is in the HOA’s common ground that she feels is endangering her property. Our tree service has assessed this tree and has stated that this tree is not in danger of falling and even if it did it would not reach Evelyn’s property. Evelyn stated she is putting the Board on notice that if this tree falls and causes any damage to her property, that the Board will be fully liable. She feels the HOA is not properly taking care of the common ground behind her home. She wants our mowers to trim along the fence line. Ryan noted that Evelyn does not have a fence to trim around. She said several of her neighbors do. Evelyn was reminded that when we cut the tree down in the common area behind her neighbor’s house, that she stated that another neighbor wanted the wood, and would handle the trunk, which we then left for that neighbor. It turned out that her neighbor only wanted it if our tree service would have cut it all up for them. This is not part of what we pay our tree service for. The tree that was cut down is not in any way hindering foot traffic. Ryan interrupted Evelyn and stated that this issue was fully discussed many months ago and the Board had reached their final decision on the matter and that it was recorded in the minutes accordingly. We will not change our decision, nor discuss it again.
Evelyn then brought up the question about the feral cats and syringes being found in the common ground areas. The feral cats will continue to be a problem until whoever is feeding them stops. We have cleaned up areas below the pine trees and have removed a bunch of the lower branches that were giving these people areas to hide their drugs and alcohol trash. As stated earlier, we will be glueing all the caps onto the fence posts so that they cannot be removed for people to dump stuff in there. Evelyn believes that the HOA should have sent out a mass mailing letting all our homeowners know of these terrible issues. We have already notified members of our Beautification Committee to be more cautious when they are cleaning up these areas. We don’t think it is a matter that warrants sending out 713 letters. We have a letter that will go out either via email or regular mail to every homeowner that abuts to common ground this Friday asking for their help in watching for people dumping. In addition, now that the trees near the fences have been cut back, and people can’t throw their dog poop bags up into the trees, they are just leaving the poop bags on the sidewalk. We do not have cameras in the areas of concern so we are hoping people will report this activity to us.
Question was asked about the name of the company we hired and how much they charged us to do the big clean up. Greg reported it was IMS. To date we have paid them around $2,000. In addition, we hired a group by the name of MeadowMasters to do some of the follow-up raking and blowing.
One homeowner stated that the equipment used was very powerful and kicked up a lot of wood debris which narrowly missed his leg. Jason, who operates IMS, has been doing this type of work for 25 years. The homeowner suggested we keep the safety of people in mind when we do this again.
Several homeowners expressed concern over the use of any herbicides. He stated that these have been proven to be unsafe for humans and other animals. It was asked that we seriously investigate the use of any herbicide. We have a large area of bat habitat. Please read the labels. Greg stated that the Missouri Conservation Commission is in charge of this and have assessed the needs in our subdivision. They have actually identified seven varieties of trees we have within our subdivision that are problem trees.
One homeowner reported that St. Louis County came by one night recently and was spraying for mosquitos and she was outside and got a face full of the spray. She is an organic gardener and very diligent in having a pesticide free yard and is very conscience of the bees and other insects that help our environment. She has contacted St. Louis County and has found that people can call up and request their street or area not be sprayed. Jackie will put this phone number on our website.
The Board was asked for an update on the home on Overview that is a mess. Mary Ann reported that the County authorities are at their wits end. The owners are awaiting another court date. We continue to send letters of violation and have filed several liens on the house. The police have asked neighbors to call the precinct and report any nefarious activity they see.
Patty Schaefer thanked the Board for all they do in keeping our subdivision desirable. Pat Stephens offered to help anytime we needed some extra help. Likewise, Karen Landon offered to help with distribution of flyers in her zone, or in other zones that might need help.
Ryan asked if there was any further business to be brought to this Board. Hearing none, the meeting was adjourned at 7:56 pm. The next regular Open Monthly Meeting is Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at 7:00 pm at Prince of Peace UCC.
Submitted by,
Mary Ann McWilliams
Administrative Assistant