Hale Estates Owners’ Association
Annual General Meeting Minutes
Saturday, June 4, 2022
9:00 AM – in person (Madeline Cul-de-sac)

Board of Directors Present: Pete Tracy, Tom Cosentino, Lynda Mahoney, Scott Hubley, Bruce Miller, and Mark Benedict

Board of Directors Absent: David Klibanoff, Ian Heiselmeyer, Roberta Smith

Members of the Community Present: John Hebb and Linda Armstrong, Catie Hubley, Wayne and Kate Mora, Blaine Nelson, Frank Bauer, Mike Specht, Scott Santos, Rick and Kyle Ekstrand, Eric and Louise Hansen, Kary and Ed Bisson, Michelle and David Clark, Mimi and JP Mann, Mark and Deb Horgan, Rich and Julie Laracy, Mike and Jan Monroe, Chris Rouleau, Dan and Lisa Gaj, Nancy and Larry Cassidy, Courtney and Kevin Harrington, Gayle Kelly, Michael and Kim Petro, Glenn Davis, Ingrid Utley, Judith and Bruce Behning

Meeting convened – by Pete Tracy at about 9:05 am.

Board Introductions – Present members of the board introduced themselves.

Meeting Minutes – The board voted by a vote of 6, with 3 absent, to approve the May 17 Meeting Minutes.

Welcome to New Members – Pete welcomed new members of the community

Phase II Marketing and Development – Pete reported that the common areas of Phase II are in the process of being transferred from Hastings Trust to HEOA, pending confirmation of good title. There are 54 lots in Phase II, 45 already sold, 4 under contract, and 5 remaining on the market. Jim Pitman is the listing agent for all remaining lots.

Budget – Pete and Scott introduced a few changes in finance and budget matters. Last year, a transition was made from the slide presentations at the Annual Meeting to circulation of an Annual Report with a report from the Finance Committee. A change implemented this year was retention of a third-party bookkeeping service. Line items for each of the budget categories (water, septic and roads) were presented, including CARF withdraws for septic replacements. A discussion of the lifespans for various community infrastructure ensued, including timing for failure/replacement and budgeted replacement costs. There was also some discussion related to CARF funds in general. Finally, Scott reported that the annual dues will remain unchanged at $1,275 from FY2022 to FY2023, with the additional $225 assessed to homes on community septic.

The board voted by a vote of 7, with 2 abstaining, to accept the FY2023 budget.

Water – Tom briefly reviewed the water systems and reported that water testing has consistently come in clean with no problems. Printed copies of the water system’s annual Consumer Confidence Report for 2022 was made available for all attendees. The report is also available on the Hale Estates website. Water capacity of the community system was discussed. Lawn irrigation presents the greatest demands on our system. Thus far, conservation measures (watering every other day by odd/even house numbers, Sunday’s off) have proven effective in keeping our water usage under the system capacity of 50,000 gallons per day. Tom was awarded a grant to assess our system capacity – this study should help us develop a plan to ensure that we have the necessary capacity. Various ideas were discussed for meeting the capacity demands, including individual homeowner wells, shallow wells in high water table areas of Grandview, public water from Conway ($1.5 mil to pipe in water), and reducing the size of lawns.

Board Turnover – Pete thanked those board members who have served and are now stepping down, including Bruce Miller, Roberta Smith, Meg and Mark Richard and Lynda Mahoney. Pete also introduced the new board members who were voted onto the board by the community in June, including Mark Benedict, Mike Specht, Dan Gaj and Wayne Mora.

Pete presented the board meeting schedule for 2022-2023 (second Tuesdays bi-monthly; annual meeting first Saturday of June).

Owner’s Forum – questions from the community were raised and discussed. Topics of discussion included:

• street sweeping – occurred this year, unexpectedly, without advanced notice

• discounted group rates on propane; various vendors were discussed

• insurance coverage for directors and officers, insurance deductible, and timeline for the current lawsuit;

• possible transition to public roads, costs and savings, pros and cons, conditions which must be met (85% of lots built out), estimate of timing (at least 3-5 years);

Straw Voting on Community Signs –

• Grandview and Holly Ridge (north) – 8 Yes, 12 No

• Grandview and Holly Ridge (south) – large majority No

• High Point and Heather Hill – large majority No

• Holly Ridge and Heather Hill – large majority No

No additional stop signs were approved by the community (straw vote).

No additional speed limit signs were approved (straw vote).

Address tree obstruction at Grandview and Grandview intersection.

Meeting Adjourned

The meeting was adjourned at about 11:05 am.