2014/06/18 Special Membership MeetingMinutes of the Special Meeting of HLA
Held Wednesday, June 18th, 2014
Rossi Hall 7 PM
Board members present: President- Ellen Mason, Treasurer – Jack Page, Secretary – Dian Mathews, Directors – Bryan Bruder and Dick Scofield.
Road Committee members present: Chairman- Dick Scofield, Secretary – Frankie Scofield, members – Marilyn Chambers, Roy Marotta, Paul Krampfert
President gave a brief statement as to the petition being the reason for the special meeting. She turned the meeting over to Dick Scofield.
Dick gave the background history of his term as Road Manager as follows: He found two manuals online for maintenance of dirt roads. He stated that the no.1 problem is that the crowning of our roads is not right and the berms prevent the water from running off. The road prepared bid packages this spring; the specs asking for:
1. Grading for crowns where possible (in some places there isn’t enough material)
2. Removing secondary ditching – the berms that are keeping water on the roads
3. Compacting
Five packages were sent out. One called and said he was too busy. One didn’t send a bid back. The road committee asked for numbers from the bidders for the following work:
1. Grade the circle (highest volume) and ditch.
2. Grade the rest of the roads and get rid of the secondary ditching.
3. Just grade all the roads and crown wherever possible.
With $33K left for the job, the road committee chose the lowest bidder ($24,500). The committee vote was 4/3 for Landsite Corp. (The other bidder was $5380 more.) The road committee gave the Board the two final bids and their recommendation. The Board voted to hire Landsite Corp. to do our grading. No. 3 is the work being done: just grade and crown where possible.
The floor was opened to questions from the members present.
Cost of grading last year? $15K=gravel, $9K=grading $23K.
Did we advertise in the papers? No, it cost us $400 last yr for the plowing bid adverts. Suggestion that next year we lose the middleman. (Landsite subcontracted Chris Carter.)
Why the Board hadn’t waited until after the special meeting or the regular June meeting to start the grading? Ellen cited the By-Laws requiring us to wait three for this Special Meeting. Jack had called Tom Chagnon, the first signer of the Petition, and explained the Board would could address his questions and concerns sooner, but Tom declined the offer. Dick felt the roads couldn’t wait. Ellen asked the members if they would have wanted the Board to wait. The answer was a resounding “NO”. Our history is grading done in the beginning of June.
Who on the road committee had road experience? None. They are volunteers who are doing a lot of research and learning on the job.
Dick Scofield told his story about Paul Charbonneau –“the grader man”. Paul came up to Stoddard and spent hours going over all of Dick’s research and answering questions. Then they drove all our roads. Paul called Landsite and put in a bid with him. Unfortunately, he already had too much work when our bids came out.
The Road Committee’s “Five Year Plan”. Dick said it’s has been drafted and is being worked on. Will be presented at the June 28 membership meeting.
Jack assured members that the Contingency fund is only for emergencies.
Someone asked if the assessment was going up again this year. Ellen assured us that we have no plans to do that at this time. The Road Committee has kept the roadwork within budget. There will be no special assessment.
There was discussion about keeping the membership informed. A bulletin board will be put up at the pool for copies of minutes and notices. E-mail addresses were taken. (A mailing to membership costs almost $200). Minutes will also be posted at the mailbox bulletin board.
No further questions; Ellen ended the special meeting.
Dian Mathews, Secretary
Held Wednesday, June 18th, 2014
Rossi Hall 7 PM
Board members present: President- Ellen Mason, Treasurer – Jack Page, Secretary – Dian Mathews, Directors – Bryan Bruder and Dick Scofield.
Road Committee members present: Chairman- Dick Scofield, Secretary – Frankie Scofield, members – Marilyn Chambers, Roy Marotta, Paul Krampfert
President gave a brief statement as to the petition being the reason for the special meeting. She turned the meeting over to Dick Scofield.
Dick gave the background history of his term as Road Manager as follows: He found two manuals online for maintenance of dirt roads. He stated that the no.1 problem is that the crowning of our roads is not right and the berms prevent the water from running off. The road prepared bid packages this spring; the specs asking for:
1. Grading for crowns where possible (in some places there isn’t enough material)
2. Removing secondary ditching – the berms that are keeping water on the roads
3. Compacting
Five packages were sent out. One called and said he was too busy. One didn’t send a bid back. The road committee asked for numbers from the bidders for the following work:
1. Grade the circle (highest volume) and ditch.
2. Grade the rest of the roads and get rid of the secondary ditching.
3. Just grade all the roads and crown wherever possible.
With $33K left for the job, the road committee chose the lowest bidder ($24,500). The committee vote was 4/3 for Landsite Corp. (The other bidder was $5380 more.) The road committee gave the Board the two final bids and their recommendation. The Board voted to hire Landsite Corp. to do our grading. No. 3 is the work being done: just grade and crown where possible.
The floor was opened to questions from the members present.
Cost of grading last year? $15K=gravel, $9K=grading $23K.
Did we advertise in the papers? No, it cost us $400 last yr for the plowing bid adverts. Suggestion that next year we lose the middleman. (Landsite subcontracted Chris Carter.)
Why the Board hadn’t waited until after the special meeting or the regular June meeting to start the grading? Ellen cited the By-Laws requiring us to wait three for this Special Meeting. Jack had called Tom Chagnon, the first signer of the Petition, and explained the Board would could address his questions and concerns sooner, but Tom declined the offer. Dick felt the roads couldn’t wait. Ellen asked the members if they would have wanted the Board to wait. The answer was a resounding “NO”. Our history is grading done in the beginning of June.
Who on the road committee had road experience? None. They are volunteers who are doing a lot of research and learning on the job.
Dick Scofield told his story about Paul Charbonneau –“the grader man”. Paul came up to Stoddard and spent hours going over all of Dick’s research and answering questions. Then they drove all our roads. Paul called Landsite and put in a bid with him. Unfortunately, he already had too much work when our bids came out.
The Road Committee’s “Five Year Plan”. Dick said it’s has been drafted and is being worked on. Will be presented at the June 28 membership meeting.
Jack assured members that the Contingency fund is only for emergencies.
Someone asked if the assessment was going up again this year. Ellen assured us that we have no plans to do that at this time. The Road Committee has kept the roadwork within budget. There will be no special assessment.
There was discussion about keeping the membership informed. A bulletin board will be put up at the pool for copies of minutes and notices. E-mail addresses were taken. (A mailing to membership costs almost $200). Minutes will also be posted at the mailbox bulletin board.
No further questions; Ellen ended the special meeting.
Dian Mathews, Secretary