Notes from the April 2014 ECA Council Meeting

In case you missed the Council Meeting, Council Chair Mr. Parker stated (regarding the vote that would be taken to spend $5.7 million and to borrow $7 million) that “whatever decision is made today, the Council will still move forward in one fashion or another.”  

Addendum: As you all know, the $5.7 million option was defeated. This means, barring a serious “no” vote in September, there will be several million expended on the Center.

Some of the items that Board President Goldman touched on are:

·      Now that the Sewer Company has been acquired by the VDE, sewer users will see no changes except that bills will now be issued by the VDE.

o   Sounds like you can relax—until you got your bill.

·      He also mentioned that a decision from Superior Court has not been rendered but is expected soon.

o   Decision has been made and you can read all about it at http://tinyurl.com/p4f4fns

·      New Member Fees are up from a budgeted $220K to a received $347K, showing “positive real estate activity”.

o   How is this positive for Members? Yes, it is positive for Real Estate Agents. It is positive for ECA governance. However property churn at Eastman has driven down Average square foot cost in Eastman 21% since 2010. There is a 2 year inventory in Eastman with 126 units on the market This is not positive for members.

·     

Mr. Goldman made a number of comparisons of Condo Association fees showing Eastman (which is not a condo association) in a very positive light. His numbers didn’t identify the incremental services that condo owners receive.

o   You can read about that at http://tinyurl.com/koxtbff

·      He noted that the pool at South Cove and Cross Country Skiing are the most expensive amenities in Eastman.

o   This shocked many members as it is well known that golf is the most expensive “amenity”. But wait a minute, Governance fixed that—in FY2013 they took $50K from our Assessment Fee and put it into Golf Revenue, which gave them a slight profit. However, the Auditor disallowed this little trick. Is that why we had to seek another Auditor? The former Auditor declined to bid.

·      Mr. Goldman also stated that neither he nor the Board has taken a position regarding the proposed CETF project. A decision will be made by the recommendation of the Council and then forwarded to the Board.

o   Has not taken a position? Was it not the Mr. Goldman who appointed the CETF Committee and populated it with Board Members and Golf members who stayed on with the following CRC Committee? And back in March, did not the Board approve the FY2015 Budget, which eliminated Center Capital Expenses being budgeted because they will be funded separately? Stay tuned.

Mr. Webber, Board member and Chair of the CETF Committee gave an overview of the time and effort expended by the CETF members over the

past 18 months in developing their recommendation. The CETF recommends that the Council approve the authorization to borrow $5.7 million to finance the CETF renovation. He then requested that everyone write to the CETF to thank all the other members of that committee for their time and work.

Addendum: Not holding governance leaders accountable for their words and actions is costing Eastman members big $$$.