Garden Patio Villas
7708 Margate Blvd, Margate, FL 33063
2020 Annual Member Meeting
December 08, 2020 7:00 PM Location: Clubhouse
BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: President, Melodie Savoca, Secretary, Barbara Reul
OWNERS PRESENT: 19
Melodie called the meeting to order with the Roll Call
Pledge to the Flag
Our Secretary, Barbara, read and explained all of the improvements and accomplishments for 2020.
FINANCIALS: Our President, Melodie reviewed and explained the tentative Budget for 2020 which was given out to all attendees. The budget was prepared by our Treasurer, Marshall Hyman who did not attend due to the covid situation. It reflects all of the income and expenses up to November 2020. Melodie went item by item and explained the reason why we show a very small surplus due to the emergencies we experienced this year. She added that after we pay all the December bills, there will not be any surplus.
Melodie then proceeded to explain some of the immediate concerns our community is currently facing:
BACKFLOW PREVENTION: The City of Margate has imposed a violation to our community to install backflow preventers on each cluster and the clubhouse. This amounts to 12 systems at the rate of $1500 – $1800 per system, which we do not have any funds for, just our reserves or a loan and that will result in an assessment of approximately $300 per villa.
LANDSCAPING: There have been numerous concerns regarding our lawns being brown in some areas, sprinklers not working and shrubs missing or dead along the wall on Lemon Tree. The Board of Directors and Maintenance are well aware of the situations. However, the shrubs have not been replaced because our community faced many emergencies this past year and the money left after our expenses went to the emergencies. For example, Pool Heater, Sprinkler Pump, Fence on the bridge, Trees removed that were a definite hazard through the hurricanes, just to name a few. Melodie then asked Joe, our Maintenance Coordinator, to discuss the issues in detail.
BACKFLOW PREVENTION: Joe explained that he is working with the city and 2 plumbing companies to investigate the options that we can put in one backflow preventer at the main water supply instead of at each cluster. He has spoken to different city personnel and city commissioners to see if our community can be exempted. He went on to add that our sprinkler system is not cross -connected in any way with our drinking water and being residential we should be exempted. Presently, we are waiting to hear from the city and depending on their reply, we will continue to fight for the exemption.
LAWNS & SPRINKLERS: He assured the owners that our lawn company is trying their very best to bring our lawns back to green. We have suffered a drought this year, a broken sprinkler pump which hurt the grass, then an extremely heavy rainy season for weeks which caused fungus and killed some of our grass. What we see brown is weeds that have died. Our lawn company did a great job with getting rid of the weeds! New grass will grow once our weather stables out. Our sprinklers are back on and the lawns have been fertilized. We should see some improvement very soon!
QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS FROM OWNERS PRESENT:
Q. Shrubs along the wall on Lemon Tree need replacing.
A. The Board has that into the budget for 2021. Due to all the emergencies in 2020 we had to put it on hold. Hopefully we can get it done this new year..
Q. Can we change the Annual Meeting to a Saturday?
A. Melodie sent an emailed survey to owners and it was noted that Saturday was not the most desired. The most desired was weekdays at 7PM. With those results, the Board voted to keep the meeting on Tuesday evening.
Q. Lawn service did not pick up trimmings from hedges and the spray they used killed some of the plants.
A. Joe will check it out and will notify the lawn service to be sure it doesn’t happen again.
“VILLA OF THE QUARTER” CONTEST:
Melodie mentioned that our Association will begin a quarterly contest in the new year for the best looking villa! Does the exterior of your villa look tidy, attractive and abide by our “Rules and Regulations”?
The Board of Directors will pick a winner each quarter and the winner will get a $25 gift card along with a certificate of achievement! This gift card will not come from the association funds but from our association credit card rewards.
A photo of your villa will be added to our website for everyone to see! No need for Owners to sign up. All villas are considered. The Winner will be notified. For more information go to: “Villa of the Quarter” Contest
ANNUAL VOTING OF OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
The new candidates for each position were then introduced.
Vice President: Lou Grunes C10U6
Vice President: Barbara Ventor C9U5
Treasurer: Gelly Dossman C3U10
Member at Large: Jeff Mandell C2U6
Melodie Savoca, President and Barbara Reul, Secretary will automatically serve another term since no other prospective candidates signed up.
Marshall Hyman, our Treasurer will be retiring to work with his wife on their home based business. Marshall has been an asset to our community for many years and has worked hard doing various jobs to insure the legal and necessary requirements of our association. A sincere thanks to him for his efforts and good luck for his future endeavors.
RESULTS OF GENERAL ELECTION:
There were 47 votes received. Garden Patio Villas needs a quorum of 30% of the owners, which we attained by having a minimum of 25 votes. The two candidates for Vice President were voted upon. Lou Grunes received 42 and Barbara Ventor received 6. Lou will be the new Vice President. A special thank you to Barbara Ventor for stepping up to the call for candidates. Gelly Dossman will be our Treasurer and Jeff Mandell will be our Member at Large.
Each new Board of Directors had the opportunity to introduce themselves and speak for a moment.
CLOSING: Barbara thanked everyone for coming and for the opportunity given to herself and Melodie to continue to serve the community. She further discussed the future of our community as far as events and get-togethers go and assured us that we hope to start in January to bring our community into a close knit community. Unfortunately, due to COVID we have not been able to congregate.
MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:30PM
