CHP HOA
Monthly Meeting

07/31/2023

Board Members in Attendance: JJ, John, David, Karen
Board members absent: Jan
Other attendees: Daniel Bennett, CAMS Community Manager
About 14 homeowners and family members

Clubhouse:

• Did we get the wasp problem solved?
  • Yes.
• Do we have more estimates for the stain?
  • One additional quote for Despres Painting $15,500 for solid stain. This means changing the color of the clubhouse but much less than the prior quote from Glory for $26,000.
  • Another quote from Southern Palmetto for $38,900, but it includes the pool house. Solid stain, paint pool house, gate, and metal fence.
  • Daniel is instructed to get a new quote from Southern Palmetto for just the clubhouse, and see if the quote from Glory is still good.
  • In executive session, we discussed putting off this project in light of the financial situation (see below.)

New Cameras:

• How is the installation coming for the new cameras?
  • Still working out how to power the cameras on the road. Will consult with electrician about providing power during the day when the lights are off.
  • JJ will get the information on the app to board members.

Financials:

• David believes he has finally figured out how to tell how much money we’ve actually received. If correct, income is ahead of projections.
• Spending is also ahead of projections. If we keep spending at the same rate, we have four months of expenses left, but five months of year.
  • We had a $12,000 fire ant bill we weren’t expecting.
  • We under budgeted for pine straw. Prices must have gone up.
  • We didn’t expect to buy a new air conditioner for the clubhouse.
• We still have reserves in the bank, so we won’t go broke, but as reserves go down instead of up, we have to consider raising dues next year.
  • Once we pay for staining the clubhouse, we’ll have about $60K left.
  • If we use this to cover the extra expenses this year, that will bring it to $30K.
  • This is not a comfortable cushion for next year. It will mean NO special projects, NO emergency repairs.
• There was discussion of raising dues.
  • We’re raised dues twice in the 30 years we’ve been here. The last one was about 2017.
  • The covenants allow for 10% increase per year.
  • There has been high inflation recently so all costs are going up.
  • The community is coming up on 30 years old. There has been deterioration and wear on all systems that we need to address.
  • We are NOT deciding to raise dues at this meeting. This decision will have to be made later in the year as we have more complete financial information, during the next budget cycle.

Pool:

• The pool company has told us that DHEC has forbidden us having the pool open after sunset.
• There was some debate about this. The latest DHEC report didn’t mention it. The company told us that DHEC changed the sign about the hours, but no such change has been made.
• We discussed having Sonitrol change the pool hours.
  • David has a chart of sunrise and sunset times for the rest of the pool season. Based on that, he suggests 7:00am to 8:00pm starting immediately.
  • That way we don’t have to change it as the days get shorter.
  • JJ will talk to the electrician about getting all the lights working.
  • John will talk to the pool company about getting the underwater lights working.
  • Once that is done, we’ll invite DHEC to measure the lighting at night and see what we have to do.
• We have a quote for plumbing repairs.
  • It seems the plumber misunderstood our request. We just have to get the water fountains unclogged. The shower will be replaced when the new extension goes on.
  • Daniel will follow up on the new extension. We think we’re waiting for permits from the city.

Rules and Covenant Enforcement:

• On sending out letters about basketball goals, we discovered that we don’t seem to have this in writing. In fact, there are several things the HOA has long tried to enforce that are interpretations of covenants but not formally written down.
• The SC HOA Act of 2018 says we can write rules without having to amend the covenants, as long as we follow certain procedures.
• We’ve talked about a Rules Committee before, but it never met.
  • David proposes that board members look over the covenants and write interpretations, as well as write some rules they believe would be good for the community.
  • Then we can post the proposals and have community input.
  • Then we can file the rules, post them again as final, and have some enforcement.
  • After discussion, the board agreed to revive the rules committee. It may take several meetings over several months. We want to get everything done, then make one filing, rather than piece it out.
  • JJ will collect rules from newsletters that were sent out regularly in the early years of the community. Then he’ll call the first meeting.
  • We agreed that homeowner input could be beneficial.
  • A homeowner talked about research he did on the basketball goal rule; he looked at city ordinances, talked to police, fire and garbage collections. He said the police don’t bother goals if they’re at the round end of a cul-de-sac because they don’t interfere with traffic as they do on two-way portions of streets.
  • David said this is just the kind of homeowner input we’re hoping for later in the process.

Projects and News:

• The new windscreens have been installed on the tennis courts.
• The electrician reports that it’s the septic pump that keeps tripping the circuit. We’ve asked for Apple Plumbing (who installed the pump) to service it under warranty.
• We’re working on costs for the damage to the sign, and will be filing against insurance. The driver’s insurance may deny because of the circumstances, so we may have to file on our own insurance. The deductible is $1,000.

Other:

• A homeowner brought up some fees that CAMS charged to send late notices. He believes he should not be charged because he did not know about the new billing address (he has trouble getting his mail). As soon as he found out, he paid the assessment.
  • David pointed out that the HOA has waived the late fees, but the only way for the HOA to get the CAMS fees off his bill is to pay them itself. Other homeowners did not cause his mail issues, so should not pay for them.
  • David got the homeowner to talk to Daniel directly and see if his request can be escalated to management.

Next HOA meeting Aug 28