21 October 2009 - Director meeting minutes.

Brockwood Management Company

Directors meeting 19 October 2009

Present:
Tony Newton
Graham Powell
Andy Giles
Simon Beirne

Apologies:
Andy Holloway

1)      AGM date

a.     Changed to 19 November, due to mistake in previous email only going to 11 houses

2)      Christmas meal

a.     Agreed to go to the Raja Tandoori, as test visit to India Dining did not impress, and the restaurant have failed to email Tony with agreed details

b.     Date set for Thursday 10 December

c.      Action – Simon to book with Raja

3)      Paint on road surface

a.     Agreed this is almost certainly caused by the Rubbish collection lorry

b.     Andy H had agreed to take up with Council but has not

c.      Action - Andy Giles to complain to Council and seek redress

4)      Garden edging

a.     Tony and Graham advised they are not at all happy with the edges, which have got worse since the last meeting this was discussed at

b.     Graham said he had obtained a quote from a recommended gardener, via Green Thumb, for £700. This is massively less than the nearly £2000 quote received from Macbeth. Agreed to raise at the AGM but the intention is to get this done

5)      Lamp-post refurbishment

a.     Two previous quotes received at £900 each. Neither person could then do the work, so we need to find a new person to do this

b.     Action – Graham to find a new person to quote and to arrange for the work to be done

6)      Bank rates

a.     Simon fed back on action from last meeting – Lloyds have rates that are an improvement on our existing accounts, but they are still poor

b.     Action – Andy Giles to check with Barclays for an alternative

7)      Outstanding invoices for 2009 fees

a.     Simon and Tony to take up with the 2 households not yet paid

8)      Parking – Notices on cars and close

a.     Following a recent incident related to a strange car being parked in the Close for several days – which in the event turned out to be a resident’s relative who was house sitting – the Directors discussed how to address such issues in the future

                                                              i.      Raise issue at AGM

                                                            ii.      Agree a wording for a notice to be put on such cars, which will point out that parking is only for residents or residents guests

                                                          iii.      Clear foliage around Foxon Close signs at front of Close

                                                          iv.      Replace damaged sign in front of No.1

                                                            v.      Investigate additional signage relating to Parking issues  - Andy Giles noted that Cedar park has some additional signs about parking rights which we should look to take as examples of what we could do. Suggestion is to put such signs up at the front of the  Close and possibly also on the wall behind the communal parking opposite no. 2

                                                          vi.      Towing – threat of towing is all very well, but we need to be sure we have the right to do so, and can follow through with the threat if we need to. Andy pointed out that when we had a car abandoned on the Close last year he had called the Police and they had removed it.

                                                        vii.      Action – Graham to investigate what we can do in the respect of towing

9)      Covenants

a.     Much discussion about general enforcement and understanding of the Covenants, especially in the light of one Covenant relating to use of the Close for Parking had the 4 Directors present at 50-50 disagreement as to what it means (Communal parking areas v Visitors bays v Hardstanding = Driveway not roadway). Agreed that we need to be sure we understand all the Covenants

b.     Further discussion about enforcement of the Covenants, as when we have raised issues in the past the person we’ve raised them with often complains that other Covenants are not being enforced, and the Directors agreed that this is an issue – if we are to enforce any Covenants we must enforce them all.

c.      Need to raise the issue again at the AGM, and perhaps to actually step through all the Covenants to explain them again

d.     Action – Agenda item for AGM – Tony

e.      Action – Simon to seek lawyer opinion on interpretation of Covenants

f.        Action – Graham to do the same

g.     Action – Simon to type up the Covenants to ensure all Directors have a soft copy

h.      Action – Simon to seek lawyer opinion on best way to record and get accepted any new rules – such as 15mph speed limit, possible item to prevent relative/friend parking in parking bays for weeks at a time while on holiday

10) Barbecue costs

a.     Agenda item for AGM to seek ratification for “base” funding of summer barbecue

b.     Suggested cost limit £150

11) Director tenure and replacement

a.     As Andy Holloway will resign at AGM we discussed how we could get a female resident to put herself forward as replacement. Action – Tony to email several female residents to stir up interest before the AGM

b.     Discussion of length of tenure. Nothing in the articles says a Director should not keep being re-elected. However, we need to address the fact that some residents might not be comfortable with this, and we should discuss at the AGM to see whether opinion exists such that we should add a new rule to the articles (but see above for action by Simon to see how we could do this)

12) Quorum

a.     We discussed how many Directors should constitute a Quorum for the purposes of urgent actions, such as the example of the parking sign on a car judged to be a risk. We agreed that while for votes in a Directors meeting a majority decision is required, for emergency actions a quorum is 2.

13) Being a Director

a.     MUCH MUCH discussion and debate about ensuring all Directors truly understand what being a Director means – fiduciary duty, abiding by Covenants, Articles and Shareholder votes, even if personally the Director disagrees with the principles or the actual action.

Tony

Tony

15 August 2009 - Director meeting minutes.

Brockwood Management Company

Directors meeting 5 July 2009

Present:
Tony Newton
Graham Powell
Andy Giles
Simon Beirne
Andy Holloway

 Parking.

a.     Andy H raised the issue of parking in the visitors bays and the sheer number of cars that were doing this recently, for regular and long periods of time

b.     Andy G advised he had recently also had cars actually parked fully on his grass

c.      Andy H again reminded the Directors of his Parking solution used at his offices

d.     Action – Directors to raise the issue with the households doing this, and to make this an action point at the AGM

2)      Lawn edging

a.     Tony and Graham said they feel we need to have the lawn edging on the common area replaced. Graham has obtained a £2000 quote from Macbeth to do this. Directors all went out and inspected the area, and in a 3-2 vote decided to not spend the money and to see how the grass improved over the summer.

3)      Fees payments

a.     Simon advised that as of the end of June we had received nearly all fees, and that 20 of them had come in on the day requested, via Standing Orders/BACS

b.     Action – Simon to chase remaining 2 unpaid fees

4)      Barbecue – 19 July

a.     Andy Giles to bring Sails for windbreaks

b.     Andy H to look into providing Fireworks

c.      “Base food” - £150 budget

                                                              i.      Shrimps and ribs – Costco, Andy G and Graham

                                                            ii.      Cold salmon - Costco, Andy G and Graham

                                                          iii.      Raw salmon for cooking - Costco, Andy G and Graham

                                                          iv.      Small Pork and Lamb joints – local butcher, Andy G

                                                            v.      Teriyaki  beef – Simon

                                                          vi.      Sangria – Ann and Simon

                                                        vii.      PIMS – Graham and Sally

 Tony

15 August 2006 - AGM minutes.

Sorry - I've not been keeping this page up to date. Posted to the left are AGM minutes from 2003 and 2005 - I'll update with other meeting and AGM notes when I sort them out!

Tony

24 June 2002 - Notes from CPM.

Notes taken by Melanie Armstrong at last weeks meeting with CPM.

    Click to read page contents.

Tony

13 June 2002 - Directors meeting minutes - meeting with CPM.

Attendees:
Tony Newton, John Snelgrove, Simon Beirne, Tony Driscoll. Melanie Armstrong, CPM

Meeting held with Melanie from CPM to discuss accounts, problems with contracts, and possibility of taking over running the management contracts ourselves.

• Tony N advised Melanie of the issues we were having with CPM not responding quickly enough to problems, and the fact that we had persistentlky had to deal with issues ourselves. Eaxmples quoted were lighting failures, pumping station problems and gardening issues. Melanie agreed that CPM could respond quicker, but that they had not yet fully grasped all the issues in handover of contracts from Fairclough. She intimated that CPM were learning about individual contracts and issues only as they arose. Tony D said this was not acceptable, and that they needed to be more proactive.
• Melanie agreed to investigate all contracts, to check that CPM had full contracts in place for all areas they were responsible for - to include gardening, lighting, road maintenance, electricity supply, pumping station, Oak tree, drainage, insurances (liability, pumping station, directors') - with a view to CPM not getting "surprised" as they were in the instance of the pumping station failure.
• Melanie presented  accounts and suggested budget breakdown, and also a list of houses in the Close and their payment record/arrears. Two households had still not paid last years' account. Melanie agreed it was CPM's responsibility to chase this and they would do so.
• Discussion around the poor quality of the gardening maintenance came to the conclusion we should look to another gardening contractor. Melanie had responded to an earlier request from Tony N and presented two quotes - for £2500 and £1700 (compared to current £767 contract). It is obvious that we get what we pay for, and it was agreed that the Directors would make a decision on what to do about this.
• Budget was discussed, and Melanie confirmed that CPM would charge for collection of even a voluntary increase in funds, and that if we increased our reserve contribution by £1000 then CPM would take £250 of that in fees. The Directors said this was not acceptable and would go away and investigate setting up a Brockwood Management Company bank account. In the meantime Melanie agreed they would not send out individual bills, and would set a charge in agreement with the Directors for the whole development, which the Directors would collect and manage, only paying CPM for actual disbursements.
• Final discussion centred around whether Brockwood needed to retain CPM as a managing agent. In the opinion of the Directors we are paying for a service we do not really get, and could save a lot of money by running the contractors ourselves. Melanie, as representative of CPM could not of course comment officially, but hinted that she thought this was the best idea.

Disclaimer:
Director efforts: It should be noted that these minutes reflect the best efforts and current opinions of the Directors. While they sometimes include statements of what we are trying to do on behalf of the Close, these statements must be taken in the context of being our best intent, and not a legally binding commitment to resolve any issues on residents' behalf. If you have a burning issue you feel needs to be resolved, the committee will seek to assist in any way we can, but residents must seek their own legal advice and opinion on any issue before conveying anything the Directors have reported in these minutes to any third party.

Tony

27 May 2002 - Directors meeting minutes.

Attendees:
Tony Newton, John Snelgrove, Simon Beirne,

• Website and discussion forum

Address for Website: http://www.brockwoodresidents.co.uk
Email address: brockwoodresidents@btinternet.com

• New household "ownership"

Name	Tony N (6)	John (8)	Tony D (9)	Simon (14)	Heather (20)
Households	3,4,5,6	1,2,7,8	9,10,11,12,19	14,15,16,17,18	20,21,22,47,49

• Date of next meeting:

Disclaimer:
Director efforts: It should be noted that these minutes reflect the best efforts and current opinions of the Directors. While they sometimes include statements of what we are trying to do on behalf of the Close, these statements must be taken in the context of being our best intent, and not a legally binding commitment to resolve any issues on residents' behalf. If you have a burning issue you feel needs to be resolved, the committee will seek to assist in any way we can, but residents must seek their own legal advice and opinion on any issue before conveying anything the Directors have reported in these minutes to any third party.

Tony

13 September 2001 - Directors meeting minutes.

Disclaimer:
Director efforts: It should be noted that these minutes reflect the best efforts and current opinions of the Directors. While they sometimes include statements of what we are trying to do on behalf of the Close, these statements must be taken in the context of being our best intent, and not a legally binding commitment to resolve any issues on residents' behalf. If you have a burning issue you feel needs to be resolved, the committee will seek to assist in any way we can, but residents must seek their own legal advice and opinion on any issue before conveying anything the Directors have reported in these minutes to any third party.

Tony

2 August 2001 - First Directors meeting minutes.

Disclaimer:
Director efforts: It should be noted that these minutes reflect the best efforts and current opinions of the Directors. While they sometimes include statements of what we are trying to do on behalf of the Close, these statements must be taken in the context of being our best intent, and not a legally binding commitment to resolve any issues on residents' behalf. If you have a burning issue you feel needs to be resolved, the committee will seek to assist in any way we can, but residents must seek their own legal advice and opinion on any issue before conveying anything the Directors have reported in these minutes to any third party.

Tony