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MINUTES
FEARRINGTON HOMEOWNERS
ASSOCIATION
BOARD MEETING
March 3, 2009
Minutes of the FHA
Open Meeting held March 3, 2009
The meeting was called to order by President Thomas at 7:00 PM. In
attendance were Peter Thomas, Ken Talbot, Walter Jernigan, Ray Andrews, John
Hammond, Harriet McGraw, Carol Kurtz, Carol-Ann Greenslade, and Leonard
Kreisman. In addition over 130 residents attended the meeting.
Peter introduced Tina Stone of the Chatham County Tax Department and two
members of her staff. Ms. Stone detailed the process by which reevaluations
of property are made and pointed out that in Chatham County the decision had
been made to do this every four years. In the determination of value
material on sales has been collected from January of 2005 to December of
2008. Such information is collected by neighborhoods and the high and low
prices are discarded and an average developed which then helps to determine
individual evaluations. As Tina pointed out the tax rate will be determined
by the Commissioners and her office is not involved in that operation.
However, she did indicate that the Commissioners have voted to retain a
revenue neutral position this year.
In addition to a power point presentation which described the various stages
of the evaluation process as well as the process for appeals Tina answered a
number of questions from residents. She pointed out that it was not
possible for her to deal with individual concerns but that these would be
answered if and when the homeowner had filed an appeal. However, if there
were errors in the listing of property details, corrections would be made
once that material was verified. Tina also indicated that all such material
was on public record and she distributed information on how one could access
that on line as well as the sales which related to that neighborhood. Peter
thanked Tina and her staff and the Board then proceeded to the other issues
detailed on the agenda.
Peter Thomas read a resolution thanking Barry Reece not only for his service
to the Fearrington Writers Group, from which he is stepping down, but also
for the many other contributions that he has made to the Village.
Peter then went on to describe some of the responsibilities that the Board
has and indicated that as of April 1, 2009 CAMS will be the new management
team. This is a group which currently manages The Preserve, Governor’s
Club and Chapel Ridge among others. As part of this contract there will be
a person on premises for 3 hours a day five days a week along with the
continuing service of volunteers.
The next item discussed was the need for residents to be familiar with
issues involving covenants. Ken Talbot detailed the process and copies of
the Policy and Procedure statement as well as the application for work
requiring covenant committee approval was distributed. Ken also pointed out
that the new directory on pages 5-7 provided necessary information. These
new guidelines were developed and approved by the Board at a meeting on
September 2nd, 2008 and are in compliance with North Carolina law. It was
pointed out that the Board’s covenant committee consisting of Ken Talbot,
Harriet McGraw and Joseph Woehrel were the ones authorized to give final
approval to any applications. The role of the local covenant committee was
to assist residents in making sure that all of the required information on
any application was complete.
Responding to some questions from the floor Peter indicated that there were
penalties suggested by the law but that he hoped that most situations could
be remedied without such action. It was also suggested that it might be
useful to have reminder notices about covenant compliance appear on a
regular basis in the Newsletter. It was pointed out that the Newcomer’s
packet contains a special sheet that recommends that residents familiarize
themselves with those covenant issues that apply to their neighborhood.
Another suggestion made was to have Block captains collect a signed
statement from new residents testifying to the fact that they are familiar
with the covenant issues that apply to their residence.
Carol Kurtz thanked Henry Castner for all the work done on helping to
develop the various walking surfaces and paths and trails in the Village.
She also recognized RB for his contribution especially the crushed gravel
path along Millcroft. Carol indicated that a packet had been prepared with
a map, pedometer and log books to assist residents in reaching a 25,000 mile
goal for Walking Fearrington. Responding to a question from a resident
about connecting the Lassiter area, it would appear to be a very difficult
issue to solve but there is still hope.
Ray Andrews reported that the CERT (Civilian Emergency Response Team) had
held table top simulation this past week and John Bierling, a national
expert and a Fearrington resident had conducted that exercise with some 60
participants some from Cary. This is the group that would be mobilized
should any type of emergency impact the Village.
John Hammond pointed out that residents could earmark $3.00 on their State
tax return to create a neutral fund for the election of judges.
The final item from a Board member was a report by Carol-Ann Greenslade who
indicated that another walk Fearrington Day was scheduled for March 14th
and that the Creekwood path now goes all the way to the Beaver pond. She
reported that because of the snow the yard pickup had been extended into
next week. Any volunteers to replace Carol-Ann should make themselves known
to the Board since she expects to step down no later than June.
Among the last items was one raised by a resident of the need for residents,
with dogs, to dispose of waste in an appropriate manner and not to ignore
picking it up. It was suggested that such a notice be in the next
Newsletter. In response to another question a resident was advised that
going to the appropriate tax site, information on houses sold in that
particular neighborhood would be displayed. This would cover houses in
addition to those sold by RB.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Leonard T. Kreisman, Secretary |
