SUMMERPLACE IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION, INC
Minutes of Annual Meeting November 12, 2022
The annual meeting of the Summerplace Improvement Association, Inc. took place at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 12, 2022, at the home of Steve and Holly Melchiori, 1995 W. Barefoot Place.
1. Call to Order: The 2022 SIA annual meeting was called to order at 10:10 a.m. by SIA Inc. President John Lehnhardt welcomed those SIA members present, and recognized the Board members Mary Beasman, Walter Garrard and Steve Melchiori.
New SIA Members 2022: During 2022 five properties changed hands within SIA. Residents new to SIA in 2022 include:
Dale and Brenda Clark from Glasgow, KY. purchased the Mitchell house at 1841 E. Shell Lane. They are regular visitors to Florida and hope to increase their time here along with family and friends.
Linda Sopp and Robert Wilson from Webster, MA purchased the Bruce house at 1860 E. Shell Lane. They had rented the house last winter and will be seasonal residents. They plan to rent the six months they are not in residence.
Beth Darragh, SIA member and owner at 1881 E. Barefoot PL., purchased the Hickey bungalow at 1840 E. Shell Lane. The plan is to renovate the bungalow.
Trish and John Essick of Coco Plum here in Summerplace purchased the Davenport house at 1881 E. Pebble Path. The plan is to renovate the house.
Irwin and Jonelle Dean of Portland, Oregon purchased the empty lot and a half at 1931 W. Barefoot Place. They plan to build a home in the near future and become permanent residents.
We said goodbye to residents Tammie Davenport and the Mitchells, who moved, and part time resident Gigi Bruce. And sadly, long-time SIA residents Bart Heikes and Bill Powers passed away in 2022. Both Bart and Bill contributed to SIA, Bart as long-term SIA Board member and Bill as active on various SIA committees, including the ARC.
Additionally, John indicated the following homes are currently for sale within SIA:
1980 W. Shell Lane -by Richard Cote.
1920 W. Shell Lane – by Richard and Amanda Stalford
2. Calling of the Roll: Secretary Mary Beasman called the roll and announced a quorum to be present, either in person or by proxy, advising all proxies were certified for voting.
3. Proof of notice of meeting: The notarized Proof of Notice of the Meeting was presented to President John Lehnhardt by Secretary Mary Beasman.
4. Report of Officers:
a. 2022 Financial Report: Report 2022-23 budget and dues:
John reviewed the set annual expenditures, noting the SIA fiscal year for 2022 closed with
unspent funds of $7,809.47. This amount will be added to the Limited Voluntary Deferred
Expenditure Account that provides funding for unplanned capital projects, such as the
recent damage caused by Hurricane Nichol, in leu of assessments from members. John
advised the hurricane damage will be discussed under New Business.
In discussing the proposed SIA annual budget for 2022-2023 (October 1-Spetember 30),
John explained that each year the SIA budget is based on the projected amount of dues
received from SIA members for the upcoming fiscal year. SIA dues for the 2022-2023 budget
year will remain at $300 per property, for a total of $22,050. SIA dues are payable by
January 1, 2023.
Following a review of the proposed SIA 2022-2023annual budget, a motion was made to
approval the budget, seconded and unanimously approved.
b. Update from President: John deferred his update to New Business
5. Report of Committees
a. Architectural Review Committee:
John noted this was a fairly quiet year for the ARC with several small brick pavers project and construction of only one new house. The ARC and the County addressed significant drainage issues with this property, with attention to limiting drainage into the cul de sac. We continue to watch this construction vigilantly to ensure the drainage issue is addressed. A thank you to Andy Dlugosz for being the SIA watchdog on this project.
John indicated that next year we may have an additional new house, a couple pools and some additional paver projects that he is aware of for the ARC to review.
For those new to SIA, John advised that any changes to the exterior of a home or property must
be reviewed and approved by the ARC, with final approval by the Board. Please contact John
with any questions on a planned change(s) to the exterior of your home or property.
b. Maintenance Committee
In-house Maintenance: John advised the majority of SIA maintenance is done in-
house by SIA volunteers. Because of this, annual expenditures for maintenance are
greatly reduced. During the past year, SIA volunteers tackled the following
maintenance projects:
Erosion control: New gravel was added on all SIA streets to prevent runoff into private properties. This has proven to be very effective in controlling flooding issues and our streets.
Major repair of the East Shell beach stairs damaged earlier this year: The all-volunteer team of SIA members completed this task, limiting the cost of the project to approximately $2,000, compared to a contractor price of over $10,000. Additional damage to all our beach stairs occurred in the wake of Hurricane Ian and all but E. Shell were repaired in house. Materials for the E. Shell repairs were acquired, but Hurricane Nicole hit before the repairs were done. This was actually lucky as the stairs washed away completely in Nicole and our other two sets of beach stairs were severely damaged. We will discuss stair repair in New Business as funding these projects will require Board approval of the plan.
Australian Pine removal on 510 to prevent power outages: Andy Dlugosz took on this project and worked with FPL and the owner of the vacant lot where the pines were. Andy doggedly pushed until FPL agreed to do the whole project at no cost to us, including removal and replacement of the SIA chain link fence along 510 where FPL needed access to the pines from 510. The project is nearing completion with just the fence to finish. No good deed goes unpunished, but we owe a debt of gratitude to Andy for his hard work and diligence on this project. The power for all of Summerplace comes through this line junction.
Outside Contractor(s): John explained the landscaping of SIA common areas is handled by an outside contractor who takes care of regular trimming along SIA streets and the SIA sidewalks along A1A twice a month. Additionally, there were two major landscape trimmings throughout SIA this year. Our contractor will also handle hurricane clean-up within SIA as necessitated by hurricanes Ian and Nichole this year.
Additionally, the 5-year required maintenance cleaning and repair of the SIA seawall area is done by an outside contractor. This work involves sand blasting and painting, all of which has been delayed this year due to the on-going high sand along the seawall. With lower levels of sand following Hurricane Nichole, John reported this work should be underway within the next two weeks or so.
c. Nominating Committee
Ed Seeman, chair of the Nominating Committee, discussed the importance of having Board representation from throughout SIA. But he noted currently only one person stepped up to join the Board; and there is no representation from the East SIA streets. Ed encouraged folks on the three east streets, as well as members from West Shell, to step up and participate in the leadership of the organization. Ed thanked the members of Nominating committee for their service and recognized the current Board members for their continued service.
6. Old Business
SIA legal liaison Mary Beasman provided the following overview of the lawsuit against SIA filed by an SIA member in November 2014:
Our insurance company was notified immediately and provided SIA with legal representation through our liability coverage. We are extremely fortunate that our insurance company continues to cover the cost of our legal representation in this lawsuit without raising the annual cost of our insurance coverage due to defending SIA in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit against SIA moved slowly through the court system, but everything came to a halt in 2020 when Covid closed courts in Florida for 6 months. Once the courts reopened, the lawsuit against SIA moved forward, preparing to go to court in September 2021. But due to the backlog of court cases facing the courts following Covid, the SIA lawsuit was rescheduled. Most recently, the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial this September. However, early in September the plaintiff filed an appeal that postponed the trial until the appeal is ruled on by the appellate court. A new court date cannot be set until this happens.
The SIA Board represents all SIA members in regard to the lawsuit. As such, Board members are required to maintain the confidentiality of attorney-client privilege and therefore unable to discuss details or specifics regarding the lawsuit. This is a standard procedure in lawsuits to protect confidentiality of issues critical in a lawsuit. However, any SIA member can go online to the Indian River County Clerk of Court website and learn about the lawsuit, the motions and the rulings that have taken place to date. Thank you for understanding the importance of attorney-client privilege.
Additionally, our defense attorneys continue to strongly advise all SIA members to limit contact and/or communication with the plaintiff or any workers at his residence, other than standard cordiality where appropriate. There are important reasons for this. One, our liability insurance covers the members of the SIA Board and actions sanctioned by the board but not individual SIA members who are not on the SIA Board or who’s activity is not sanctioned by the SIA Board. Two, it is important that the integrity of the legal case be protected and discussions of this ongoing case should be carried out by the attorneys representing each side, not by on the street conversations.
In early September the court issued an order that, based on the original Plat for the development of Summerplace, that the East Barefoot Place cul de sac, vegetation and railroad ties, and the signage and signage posts at the entryway to East Barefoot Place restrict the right of ingress and egress and had to be removed in as timely a manner as possible. The work to address this order is currently underway.
7. New Business
a. SIA beach stair repairs:
John advised we applied for an emergency permit from the County for repairs to all
three sets of SIA beach stairs damaged in the recent hurricanes. Virtually all beach stairs
in the County were damaged. Just along the Summerplace seawall alone, 13 of the 15
stairs were damaged. This puts SIA on a long list of folks waiting for permits. There could
be a long process to receive a permit. A discussion followed that SIA has repaired some
or all our stairs in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022. Soe of
these repairs were because of some poor workmanship by a contractor, but weather is
the primary factor. There is no magical fix and some very expensive stairs along the
seawall were completely washed away in Hurricane Nicole. It was suggested that SIA not
invest huge sums in complicated stair repairs as these are likely to get washed out in
future storms.
It was moved and approved unanimously to commit up to $20,000 from our Limited
Voluntary Deferred Expenditure Account to the current beach stair repairs. Funding
repairs from this account means that no membership assessment for the repair will be
necessary.
b. Nominations to the Architectural Review Committee and Board vote of approval
Andy Dlugosz, Lil Fox and Steve Melchiori were nominated to serve on the ARC, with John
chairing this committee. A motion was made, seconded and the Board unanimously
approved these nominations.
c. Date of the SIA 2023 Annual Meeting
John noted the SIA Annual Meeting is held each year on the second Saturday in November.
However, in 2023, Veteran’s Day falls on the second Saturday in November. It was moved,
seconded and approved that in honor of Veteran’s Day, the 2023 SIA Annual Meeting date
be moved forward to Saturday, November 4, 2023.
d. Counting of the Ballots for the 2023 SIA Board of Directors
Prior to the counting of the ballots and the announcement of the election results, John
thanked the following members of the refreshment committee Kathy Lehnhardt. Patti
Garrard, Roseanne Dlugosz and Ann Seeman for preparing a light luncheon to follow the
annual meeting. All those present were invited to enjoy the delicious selection of food
provided.
Three SIA members present at the meeting volunteered to count the ballots. The election
results were announced with Mary Beasman, Walter Garrard, John Lehnhardt, Steve
Melchiori and Matt Quickel elected to serve on the 2023 Board of Directors.
7. Adjournment
With no further business, a motion was made and seconded and approved to adjourn the
2022 SIA annual meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Beasman, Secretary SIA, Inc.