Minutes

Tuscany HOA

Tuscany HOA Board Meeting July 20, 2015

 

Call to Order: 6:30 p.m by Sandra Wilt

Affirmation of quorum. Board members Wilt, Jones, Horsley, Uhlman, and Walker were present. Mike Pastor was not in attendance

Residents present: Jeanne & Ron Yazinsky, Dan Betencourt, Troy Knight, Bernie & Stephanie Gontko, Nathan Cassidy, Judy & Ken Fox, Judy Brooks, Benny Locken, Gwen & Lloyd Guhr, Ashley & Chad Poling, Kristin & Jason Barrett, Tom & Ann Blastic, Diane Johnson, Kent Horsley, Chris Gordon, Rickey & Terry Oubre, Justen Moore

Minutes of last meeting: Sandra Wilt for Mike Pastor  Minutes were not available and will be forwarded by Mike for email approval upon his return from vacation. June minutes will then be forwarded to Dexter for posting

Treasurers Report: Lori Jones  report was interrupted because our guest, Officer Andrew Raphael from the Winter Garden Police Department showed up.

Landscape Report: Donna Horsley-as above

The past weekend's rash of auto break ins and theft has brought this group together to both hear what the WGP have to report & suggest, and to discuss the desire for a feasibility of installing a security system somewhere in Tuscany. Officer Raphael began his remarks by stating that Tuscany is, by and large, a very safe community and that ALL of the recent incidents involved UNLOCKED cars in the resident's driveway. He cannot recommend or suggest that we install a system, however he indicated when incidents DO happen, the more information the better from the investigation standpoint. He had suggestions designed to tighten the security of our neighborhood:

1. Leave exterior garage lights on through the night
2. Do not leave garage doors standing open for hours at a time
3. Do not leave a portable garage door opener in your car
4. Do not leave firearms in your car and most importantly. LOCK YOUR CAR IN THE DRIVEWAY.
5. Call the Winter Garden police IMMEDIATELY if your see suspicious activity.

There were several questions from residents both to the officer and to the board as to ability to fund the cost of a system, what type of system, what it would/would not accomplish, etc. The officer left the meeting at 7:10 with our heartfelt thanks. He or a member of his community relations team is available to us upon a phone call and will attend monthly or annual meetings as we request. Sandra Wilt then raised the question as to whether the consensus would be to have the entire neighborhood vote an up or down on a system. Most in attendance want a vote of the neighborhood.. this brought up questions as to the board's authority to make decisions of major importance without a vote of the residents. Bernie Gontko indicated that the board cannot (by Florida Statute) make decisions about major purchases or CC&R amendments without a vote of the majority. We clarified for him that the existing Tuscany covenants DO allow the board that authority, etc. and that the recent amendments were actually clarified wording of existing covenants that have been in place for 23 years.

It was decided to gather information & quotes from various security vendors and present for resident discussion and board recommendation at the August meeting. Rick Uhlman offered to take on the task of gathering said information.

The issue regarding sheds came up again with unanimous agreement that we do not want a policy that allows sheds to be seen from the road and deteriorate the pristine uniformity that currently exists in the neighborhood. Bernie suggested that perhaps the easiest solution is that any type of storage container/shed has to be in a yard that is fenced and cannot exceed the height of the fence. It was decided that we would continue to revisit the subject and look at other neighborhoods policies and practices before making any decision on this matter.

Sandra Wilt reported that the CC&R violation letters were meeting with great response from neighbors in doing cleaning walkways & fixing landscape in accordance with the CC&R rules regarding general maintenance. There was a request that we be careful how the violation letters are worded and suggested that we asked for things to be cleaned as opposed to pressure washed and if we are asking for landscape to be neatened, we specify in what manner. Sandra asked for volunteers to serve on a fine review committee several people appeared interested in serving on either this or the landscape committee. Determination of assignments will be made at the August meeting.

It was a very lively meeting with good discussion on the above topics and board members attempted to address all questions and objections. Attendees were reminded that the board is tasked with enforcing rules that apply to everyone and to do so is often an unpleasant and thankless task. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:00 p.m.

August Meeting Date: Monday, August 17, 2015  6:30 p.m.

                              1630 Victoria Way

The mission of the Tuscany Homeowners Association is: To institute and enforce rules, regulations and legal restrictions designed to ensure that the Tuscany neighborhood is a safe, attractive and desirable community where property values and resident satisfaction are maximized.