November 8, 2011 Board Meeting

The meeting convened at 8:00 PM at the BRPA Pool House. The President, Pam Jacobsen, chaired the meeting. Board Members present included: Pam Jacobsen, Jay Green, Sherrie Kelley, Bill Thomas Monica Mount, Kurt Karsten, and Paul Behrends. Also in attendance were: Sue Russell (counsel). The seven Board Members attending represent a quorum which will allow the board to conduct formal business.

Reading of the Minutes – The reading of the minutes of the 10 October Board meeting was waived because the meeting minutes were reviewed by the board via email, and the corrected version has been posted on the BRPA web site.

Reports

Financial Report – Sherrie Kelley provided the Treasurer’s report a copy of which is attached to these minutes and will be separately posted on the BRPA web site. In the course of discussion of the report the financial items addressed included:

The report notes that the net income through November 7th is $14,477 and we are projected to come in under budget.
The estimated net income before depreciation should be approximately $6,000.00 barring any unforeseen expenditures. The current balance of cash on hand is $166,481.
It appears that our current capital reserves are less than the estimated costs of the anticipated major capital items.
The CD held at Bank Annapolis in the amount of $25,432.21 had come up for renewal. The finance committee had renewed the CD, but reduced the term to 6 months in case the cash was needed sooner. The committee will revisit the options when the CD renews in May.

Unfinished (Old) Business

Member Health Issues – As was noted at the 14 September Board meeting, the board received a letter from the Cashman family addressing a health issue with a member of the family. Their son has serious food allergies, but especially allergy to peanuts. Pam Jacobsen provided an update on the issue. Points addressed included:

Kurt Karsten, Pam Jacobsen and Bill Thomas met with the Cashman family. As a result, the family verbally acknowledged that the BRPA cannot guarantee a nut-free environment.
Discussion with DRD indicates that they would be willing to assume custody and accountability for an EpiPen to be used by the son if he has an event. It was noted that DRD personnel are trained in the use of the EpiPen. It was proposed that the EpiPen could be stored with the pool’s automatic defibrillator.
Jay Green voice concern about the BRPA liability incurred by storing the EpiPen at the pool. It was noted that the transaction would be between the Cashman family and DRD, with no direct involvement of BRPA.

Pool Access Control – Jeff Gilbert discussed his research into access control computer software. Items addressed included:

The price range of available systems runs between $800 and $2,000.
Maintenance program support (including initial system configuration, program updates or error repairs) is not included in these numbers. Implementation and technical support is left as an exercise for the user. It’s not clear who would take on that task.
It was noted that DRD uses similar programs for those pools that they own.
A side benefit of a computer based access control application would be the development of detailed data on time/usage of the facility.
Paul Behrends noted that a custom computer based system was used about 5 years ago. At that time the gate guards were resident teen-agers. The biggest problem was that the computer was used (by the lifeguards and gate guards) as a “game machine”. Little attention was paid by the guards to their primary function. On this line, Jay Green noted that the observed presence of a BRPA Board member appears to enhance the performance of gate control.
As a result of this discussion, Jay noted that we would probably be better off continuing using the manual system currently employed.

Facility Maintenance – A number of maintenance related items were discussed. They included:

Pool Repairs – In response to a passed resolution from the last Board meeting, Bill Thomas reported on his efforts to resurface the baby pool. He noted that he had received three estimates for the job:
DRD (baby pool only) $7400
DRD (in conjunction with main pool resurfacing $4500
Olympia Pools $3800

Bill noted that it is unclear if Olympia Pools would honor their $3800 bid if the baby pool work is decoupled from the main pool resurfacing. He is still in conversation with Olympia to clarify their position on the bid.

Building Structural Repairs – The full scope of the required repairs remains to be defined. The initial phase of this effort will be an “open and Inspect” process to define the full scope of the expected work. Bill Thomas noted that he is still trying to get reasonable estimates for the anticipated structural repairs on the front of the second floor of the pool house.
Landscape and Grounds Maintenance – Bill Thomas reported he met with a new contractor (R and K Services). Their bid for the 2012 Landscape and Grounds Maintenance work is was the best he has been able to obtain.

Motion: Kurt Karsten moved that “BRPA accept the bid provided by R and K Services for landscape maintenance work for 2012.” The motion was seconded by Jay Green and passed with a voice vote.

Plumbing Issues – Jay Green noted that the pool house has two 80 gallon hot water heaters in the pump room. Both heaters appear to be in full operation. Jay has noted that these hot water heaters appear to be able to be independently isolated (both plumbing and electrically). With extremely limited hot water use (no showers during the winter), Jay proposes shutting down one of the hot water heaters.

New Business

Financial Budget for 2012 – Sherrie Kelley presented the draft budget for the coming calendar year (2012). A copy of that draft budget is attached to this report, and will be posted separately on the Bay Ridge Pool web site. In the course of the discussion on the proposed budget the following items were addressed:

The budget is based on an estimated total membership of 213 members, including:
Bay Ridge Regular 150
Resident Annual 1
Single Member 2
Annapolis Cove Regular 60
Kurt Karsten anticipates early announcement of dues and recruiting will lead to an increase in the Annapolis Cove representation in the membership rolls. He also expressed his concern that any significant increase in the annual dues for Annapolis Cove members could very probably lead to a loss of members during the renewal process.
Sherrie noted that we need to start the fiscal year (1 January 2011) with a sizeable cash balance, since the BRPA will not get meaningful income for the first four months of the fiscal year. That income source will be membership renewals which will begin in earnest in March.
As noted above, Sherrie noted that the current reserves (primarily in the form of CDs with various institutions) do not meet the anticipated capital expenditures over the next year or two. Various means of increasing the ancillary income were discussed.
Jay Green noted that more member activity would help. He also suggested fund raising parties (charge a cover fee/admission for the BRPA parties).
It was also suggested that there is a need to generate contributions to the Capital Reserves line of the budget. Steve O’Hare is tasked with fund raising to that purpose. The goal of this fund raising effort is set at approximately $1,000/month.
Sherrie Kelley discussed the rental income line item in the budget. She noted that this year had the highest income in the last several years (about $12,000). Paul Behrends noted that this was due to a very active early summer rental usage of the facility. Prior years showed income in the range of $8,000-10,000. In view of the prior year performance, Sherrie assumed an income of $7,800 for the year, to which the Rental Coordinator agreed.
Based on extensive discussion, the board addressed the dues for the coming year. The dues for 2011 will be based on essentially a 3% raise in the rate. By category, the proposed rates are:
Bay Ridge Regular $430
Bay Ridge Annual $800
Single $300
Annapolis Cove Regular $830 (No change from 2010).

Motion: Kurt Karsten moved to “Accept the presented budget, as modified dues rate (keeping Annapolis Cove dues at the 2011 level)”. The motion was seconded by Bill Thomas and passed with a voice vote.

Rental Forms – Paul Behrends (Rental Coordinator) reported that an ad hoc committee had reviewed the existing “Rental Guidelines and Rental Agreement” with an eye to make it more clearly delineate the current practice, as well as making sure it meets the requirements of the Bay Ridge Pool Association Bylaws. He then presented the results of this review, which eventually produced two new documents created from the original single document. The new documents are:

Bay Ridge Pool Rental Policies
Bay Ridge Pool Rental Agreement

Paul then discussed each of the documents in turn:

Bay Ridge Pool Rental Policies
This document gathers together those policy items which are not pertinent to a formal rental contract.
Minor wording changes were made in selected areas to improve the readability of the document.
The Hours of Rental was reformatted to improve readability, and a new statement added to clarify rental start times during pool season.
Added clarifying information on the need for guest lists for parties that overlap pool hours.
Modified the facility rental fees.
In the course of reviewing the document, it was noted that the proposed cleaning fee had been raised from $100 to $110.

Motion: Monica Mount moved that “The assessed cleaning fee be retained at the current level of $100.” The motion was seconded by Kurt Karsten, and passed with a voice vote.

Bay Ridge Pool Rental Agreement
Kurt Karsten outlined his approach on the revision as a means to make the document read more like a standard property rental contract. The big changes here are the addition of a description of the area being rented, and a commitment on the cost of the rental.
The document now clearly states that the renter recognizes that, where appropriate lifeguard fees will accrue and be due with the rental.
Those items in the original agreement document that are not pertinent to a rental contract were removed and placed in the Rental Policies document.
Relatively minor word changes were made, which do not significantly change the meaning of the statements.

Motion: Kurt Karsten moved to “Accept the Rental Agreement and Rental Policies documents as amended”. Steve O’Hare seconded the motion, which was then passed by a voice vote.

Bay Ridge Pool Association ByLaws – Kurt Karsten discussed the results of the five year review of the ByLaws. Points addressed included:
Modified the notification requirements for calling or canceling meetings from simply posting at the entrance to Bay Ridge to read “Provide adequate notice” . “Adequate means of notification” which would include email, posting on the web sites, etc.
Reduced the number of general meetings from essentially monthly to be only in May and November.
Add a statement that states that “Baby Sitter” passes will be used only for those baby sitters who are not residents of either Bay Ridge or Annapolis Cove, otherwise the baby sitter will require her own BRPA membership for pool access.
Removed the requirement for 2 members of the BRCA Board to serve on the BRPA Board.
Exempted the Secretary from the term limits of this section.
Changed the contracting authority limit from $750 to $5,000
Remove the requirement for dual signatures for payments greater than $500.
Removed double signature requirement on large checks.
Removed the term limit for the office of Secretary.
Modified voting rules to allow not more than two votes per membership.

Motion: Bill Thomas moved that “The revisions to the BRPA ByLaws be presented to the general membership for approval. Monica Mount seconded the motion which was passed by a voice vote.

Meeting Schedule:
The official schedule for future meetings of the Pool Association and its Board of Directors includes:

General Meeting –Monday, 14 November 2011 at the BRCA Marina clubhouse.
Board Meeting – Tuesday 13 December 2011 at the BRPA Pool.

Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at 10:01pm.

Respectfully submitted:
Paul Behrends, Secretary