Minutes of the AGM of 28. 04. 2011
Committee members Present:
Keith Brown, Fred Duffin, Grant Butcher, David Inglesent, Adrian Chard, Sarah Fitzgerald-Zimmer, Colin Marley, Nick Marsh, Trevor Gibson.
The Chairman opened the meeting at 7.31pm.
1. Apologies: R.G Hunt, M & N Decesare, P. Allbutt.
2. Previous Minutes:
The minutes of the last meeting were read and accepted as a
true record of the meeting.
3. Matters arising:
A. Road Openings - the Chairman reported of the findings of the investigations of the committee over the previous year. He had written to all the services and established that they all pay into a central fund, from which Dorset County Council receive payment when any roads in the county are opened. The Association cannot request a Road opening fee from any of the Services. However, road opening fees can be charged if a private company or individual digs up our roads.
A comment from the floor was that the simple requirement is that whenever a road is, it needs to be reinstated to a standard acceptable to the Association. To this end the Chairman stated that a pro-forma letter has been produced which is to be presented to any service opening the road, informing them of the standard of re-instatement that is required.
B. The adoption of the roads by the County Council was also investigated. It was established that the roads would first have to comply with the County’s requirements in terms of road markings, lighting etc. and that this would lead to significant outgoings. Considering the state of the county roads and cut-backs in the amount of money available to the County for their upkeep, it was decided that this was not advisable.
C. The Chairman apologised for not getting a copy of the up to date Rulebook out to all households. He will endeavour to do this with a copy of the Minutes this year.
D. The matter of the farmer, Mr Fox and his access over Association and Home Owners land is in hand. The Chairman has been in close contact with the Solicitors, Nantes, and he has been visited by members of the Committee. A comment from the floor was that he needs to clean up the mud and farmyard mess he leaves behind him on the roads.
E. Payment of Maintenance Fees – the Chairman congratulated the Treasurer, David Inglesent on his work this year. He has managed chase up any late payers, and only 4 Fees remained unpaid. This was met with a round of applause from the floor. The Chairman reported that the committee was investigating whether it was financially viable to recover these fees through the Small Claims Court.
F. The Gas Board was reminded of their responsibility to make good the damage to the verge through their works last year. The grass was re-seeded and has now recovered.
4. Election of Officers
All the Committee members are willing to stay on apart from Grant Butcher, who is stepping down as Road Rep and from 5 years on the Parish Council to enjoy his retirement. A replacement has been found for both positions. Malcolm Leighton will join the Parish Council and Margaret McClennan the Association Committee as Road Rep. The Chairman thanked the committee for their valued input over the previous year.
The retention of the Committee ‘en block’ was proposed by Reg Dodd and seconded by Peter Hopwood, a vote was taken and the motion accepted.
The Officers were proposed by John Fevin as follows:
Treasurer: David Inglesent
Chairman: Keith Brown
Secretary: Sarah Fitzgerald-Zimmer
The proposal was seconded by Colin Marley, voted on and accepted.
5. Treasurers Report
DI delivered his report. Incomings in 2010/2011 were approx. £9,290.00, outgoings £10,510.00 leaving a balance of ca. £10,770.00 at the end of this financial year.
A question from the floor was made asking if a direct debit system would make collection of payments any easier. The Treasurer replied that because the payments would all be of the same amount it could become difficult to establish where the payment came from and that a cheque with a name on it is easier to sort.
Keith Brown proposed that the treasurer’s report be adopted, Robin Smith seconded, and the floor voted unanimously for adoption.
A statement from the floor was that the road signage needs to be redone at the entrance to the Estate. The Chairman replied that the Council have agreed to do this and are being chased up. If this does not happen soon the Association will take care of it. The matter has been recognized and is in hand.
The Chairman then encouraged all House Owners to pay their maintenance fees promptly in this year as the Association has expected outgoings of roughly £18,000. This figure takes into account a saving which is only possible if the planned works can be done in one go, that is if sufficient funds are available. £2,000 is to be kept in the funds to deal with unforeseen events or emergencies.
6. Chairman’s Address
The Chairman has produced a number of Newsletters over the last year to keep the Residents up to date with all that has been going on.
He reminded the Home Owners that all who are on the committee are working for the good of us all on the Estate, and not for personal interests. At times he has felt that this has been misconstrued by some in recent times.
Sewers: a recent problem with a lateral drain was recently dealt with well using the guidelines set down 3 years ago at the AGM. However it was realised that these guidelines had not been formally adopted.
In Brit View Rd. the pitch fibre drains were originally laid with a ‘breeze block sandwich’ at every joint. This has over time caused the drains to collapse. The Association has taken steps to find out if any recompense can be obtained from the original builder for such poor work. A solicitor’s letter went to the company, but it appears that following it any further would incur more costs than bring in revenue, as the regulations 30 years ago were not as stringent as they are today.
Wessex Water is required by law to take over the sewers irrespective of their condition. The take-over will be in October. A question from the floor asked if Wessex Water will levy a surcharge if the pipes are not in good order – no. The costs will carried by all.
The Chairman then explained the proposal of the committee to change the wording of the Rulebook in order to provide clarification and formally adopt the guidelines on dealing with any necessary repairs to the sewers, lateral drains and gullies. A prolonged debate ensued. A request was made that a map be added to the website showing who is responsible for which sewer, drain or gully. The Chairman explained the correct meaning of the term sewer and re-iterated that the surface water drains will always remain the responsibility of the Estate as they do not discharge into Wessex Waters system, but into the sea.
A suggestion from the floor was to involve the Environment Agency by any further problems with the sewers, they would then recover any monies from parties upstream of a blockage in accordance with the law. The floor was informed that the last blockage resulted in a charge of approx. £85 per household. The debate continued, with numerous suggestions on how to clarify the wording and situation. The Chairman ended the debate and asked the floor to vote on the proposal later on in the meeting.
He then addressed the situation of the road resurfacing. He reported of the developments in the use of different methods and different contractors on different areas of the Estate. The situation is presently this that as DCC have left us waiting and not replied to correspondence or our requests, the committee has decided to work with H.C. Lewis of Beaminster who have been much more amenable. They are offering a higher quality resurfacing, involving shaving off 30mm and resurfacing, raising and rectifying gully problems with a concrete lip and some kerbing. There will be disruption on the Estate for 1 day in the week beginning 6th June 2011, the residents will be informed in advance of this when he has confirmation of the date.
The crazing on West Walk was deemed by the contractor as presently not being a problem, and, as some House Owners who own up to the middle of the road at this point, are not wanting the Association to resurface the road, this area is not involved in the present plan. It was asked from the floor why they didn’t want it done and a short discussion followed.
Another question was if any damage is done to the road by a House Owner doing or having any work done, is there any recompense for the Association? The Chairman asked if the question was about the damage outside ‘Silverhow’, which the Contractor had identified as being only superficial, but stated that generally the answer is yes. If any additional costs arise the committee will follow it up.
A comment was made about the unsightliness of the weeds growing at the curbside and that if the House Owners could generally do five minutes weeding now and then, lots of this damage would not occur. Grant Butcher replied that this would be helpful but the committee had taken over responsibility for this because there many residents whom simply aren’t physically able to undertake such work. The Chairman agreed that the present weed killing seems to be ineffective and perhaps the specification or contractor need to be changed, and that the committee will look into it.
The Chairman advised that a new newsletter will be coming out in the near future.
7. Appointment of an Auditor
Grant Butcher reported that his wife Elaine was willing to Audit the Accounts again this financial year and the chairman noted that there would be no question of conflict of interest as Grant has stepped down from the committee.
DI proposed and Barbara Woods seconded, and this proposal was accepted unanimously by the floor.
8. Proposed re-wording of the Rule Book
The Chairman called upon the floor to make their vote on the proposals as explained in the Newsletter and debated earlier in the meeting.
The 2nd proposal –retention of the maintenance fee at its current level- was voted on first. The following votes were recorded:
Floor Proxy/postal Total
For 23 9 32
Against 0 0 0
Abstention 0 0 0
With the 75% agreement being achieved (100% for, none against) the proposal was accepted.
The 1st proposal –re-wording of the Rulebook - was then voted on. The following votes were recorded:
Floor Proxy/postal Total
For 8 10 18
Against 13 3 16
Abstention 0 0 0
With the 75% agreement not being achieved (53% for, 47% against) the proposal was declined.
A.O.B
How do we communicate our dislike about matters outside the Estate (for example, planning matters, the West Bay regeneration scheme etc) to the committee? This question was asked from the floor. The House Owners were advised to contact their Road Rep. and ask them to discuss it at the next committee meeting. It was commented that it is more effective to additionally contact the Parish and the District Councils, through their Representatives. The Chairman urged the House Owners to do both, and in the written form.
It was commented from the floor that a letter from the Committee could easily be misunderstood as being a representation from the whole Estate. The Chairman explained that the Committee is well aware of this and the wording of such letters specifically states that the content is the opinion of the committee and not of all 130 Households on the Estate. Grant Butcher reminded that the Regeneration Scheme as recently published was still in the consultation phase; planning permission had not been sought for any alterations as of now.
It was asked as to whether we are kept informed by the County/District or Parish Councils presently. The Chairman said no, but is sure that Malcolm Leighton will keep us informed at Parish level.
KB thanked the House Owners for attending, thanked the Committee and the helpers in the Kitchen and then closed the meeting at 8.42 pm.
