October Beacon: Vote Today on the 2020 Budget

October 2019

Next Board Meetings: October 9th Annual Meeting at the Shore Acres Clubhouse at 7:30pm (Social) 8pm (Business)

November 5th at the Shore Acres Clubhouse at 7:30pm

COMMUNITY HALLOWEEN PARTY:

Where: Playground

When: Saturday October 26th (Rain Date: Sunday October 27th)

Time: 3-5pm

What: Small treats and snacks provided. Crafts and games. Costume contest and short parade around the playground!

Please CLICK HERE to RSVP with number of children attending so we can be sure to have enough treats and crafts for all.

If you are able to help with planning/set-up/clean up for this event or would like to help with future events please email Chelsie Herr at Chelsie415@gmail.com

2020 BUDGET VOTING

Please CLICK HERE to vote on the 2020 budget (expenses).

CLICK HERE for a printable proxy ballot.

Should the increased budget be approved via this voting, here are possible projects below. We would use the new website functionality to conduct polls to see what the community preferences are to help the board prioritise what projects we will invest in.

Bay Hills Community – Long Range Projects
Grounds Perspective

Security concerns – There are (2) main goals around this request. The first and foremost is our community. The community pays an annual fee for the Community Board to maintain common spaces within the community. There is an expectation that these areas are well maintained, provide clean and well maintained equipment for everyone to use and is above all is a safe environment to use 24/7. The second main goal is to help reduce the Community Board’s liability if something happens on these common areas. This community has multiple entrances and hundreds of homes with kids and these areas are shared and sometimes not shared by members of the community. As a Board, it is vital that we identify and implement ways to provide more visible and non-visible actions to help prevent malicious or accidental events from occurring. Suggestions like WIFI Cameras with the ability to view and record activity, additional lights for nighttime usage and deterrence of negative activities, adding Public safety features like a deliberator and a call box which guests can call 911.

In addition, the Board is not an expert on security maintenance and we might need to reach out to outside consultants or other communities to identify best practices.

Pavilion Common Area
1. Need to replace the posts that hold up the Pavilion
2. Need to re-design the retention wall that is on the North side of the Pavilion.
  1. 1. To help prevent kids from jumping on the Pavilion
    2. Help to reduce erosion of water from the downhill flow into the Pavilion
3. Re-design the landscaping around the Pavilion area so we have better drainage, erosion of the downhill flow of water
4. Install a French drain from the VolleyBall court to reduce water ponding and sand flowing into the Pavilion area.
5. Additional lights for security and use at night
6. Trash Can that the county picks up once a week– to help ensure that the common area is maintained by its guests.
Replace Pavilion Roof
1. Look at a Tin Roof that withstand Kids and harsh weather
2. The roof needs repairs today – kids have broken off shingles.
Replace Swings and other playground equipment
1. If a re-design of landscaping occurs it might sense to move the swings and replace them.
Tennis Court area
1. Installation of a half wall or full wall behind the courts for practice
2. Installation of benches or other sitting area
3. Always concerned about the tennis court appearance and usage. The resurfacing and ongoing maintenance.
Island on Bay Hills Road – facing the Broadneck Elementary School.
1. A re-fresh is needed to clean up the island make it more appealing to the community
Basketball courts + Open area on Bay Green Drive
1. New fence gates to prevent non-community members usage of the basketball courts.
2. Work on new landscaping around the courts and develop a strategy for the land behind the courts. (Playground)
3. Adding Lights to help provide nighttime coverage
4. Changing out the Wood fence along the road into a plastic fence similar to that around the pavilion area.
Bay Hills entrance signs.
1. There are 5 entrance signs – all in need of pressure wash and some type of masonry work.
2. Long Term planning – might look at a re-design of the signs
Need to re-look at the Community Board at the corner of Bay Green Drive and Bay Dale.
1. The Community Board needs a re-fresh.
Additional storage areas for community equipment and documentation
1. Community currently has a shed near the Tennis Courts where we store VolleyBall equipment, Tennis equipment and drawings. As a community we need to look at additional storage for both the community use and the community board’s usage. In addition, the community board has amassed a great deal of paper and other documentation that needs to be stored in a method that can be accessed by future boards.

A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

Hello Neighbors,

The Annual Meeting of the Bay Hills Community Association (BHCA) will be held on Wednesday, October 9th beginning at 8:00 at the Shore Acres Clubhouse 970 Magothy Ave, Arnold, MD 21012. We will have an informal meet and greet session beginning at 7:30 and ending with the start of the meeting. We hope you will join us for this important opportunity to actively participate in your community. There will not be any officers up for election this year, but I would expect several openings next year. We are always looking for interested volunteers to assist the work of our Board. If you are interested in volunteering for a committee or have some ideas to make our community even more enjoyable, please let us know. Remember, our Board is here to serve you, the residents of Bay Hills. The focus on this year’s ballot is the budget. We did raises annual dues to $120 last year. Our goal was to say in budget for the first time in several years and be able to contribute to our reserve fund. We will not be able to reach this goal again this year. Our Treasure Bob Ray has looked closely at the causes of the continued short falls and detailed them in the September Beacon issue. There are three primary issues. First, we have realized that when we prepare the budget our revenue expectations are always too high. We assume we will collect 100% of dues but this is never the case. In fact, after reviewing previous years budget we are consistently 10% -13% below expected revenue. Before we even start the fiscal year, we are already underwater. We are taking steps to address this. In the proposed budgets for 2020 Bob has lowered the revenue estimate by 13%. But this doesn’t address the cause-just the symptoms. We are also looking for a new vendor to manage dues collection and accounts receivable. We feel that this process could have been managed better and we will find a company that can help us address the unpaid dues. The second issue is having an unexpected infrastructure repair. We hired a vendor last to help us plan and prepare for these types of incidences but were caught off guard with the need to immediately make major repairs to the Pavilion. It left us with a $14,000+ bill. Third we have added police patrols to the budget the last three years. In a recent poll there was overwhelming support for this to continue. 86% of response are in favor of keeping patrols. These factors have limited the board’s ability make any capital improvements. To that end the board proposed two budgets. One that stays the course but leave little room to grow our reserve and a second that would allow us grow the reserve and allow for investment capital projects. Either way please vote for the option you are most comfortable with. Proxy Ballot and send it, no later than October 5th to:

Secretary, Bay Hills Community Association, P.O. Box 8 Arnold, MD 21012

If you are receiving the Beacon online, you may vote using the ballot that will be part of that issue As previously noted in the September Beacon, the Board is presenting two options for an approved budget for 2020. The $120 annual dues budget requires controlling expenditures in Grounds & Landscape Maintenance, Traffic Safety, and provides no funds for emergencies or improvements. The $150 annual dues budget allows us to continue at current levels of services and provides a small cushion for contingencies and potential to start saving for some capital improvements. Please be careful and read carefully your options in voting on the 2020 Community Budget. A vote for the $150 annual dues will also be counted as an approval of the $120 annual dues, should there not be enough votes for $150, but there are enough combined votes to renew the $120 annual rate. Before casting your vote I would highly encourage you to review the budget message in the September Beacon. You can access the Beacon online at bayhillsonline.com.

Dave Eckels

Bay Hills Community Association, Inc.

Minutes of Monthly Meeting- September 2019

Held on September 3, 2019 at the Shore Acres Clubhouse

In Attendance: David Eckels, Bob Ray, Jeff Burkhart, Ed Dawson, Steve Sheesley, Mary Cortes,

Oliver Perry

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. by President Dave Eckels.

Welcome, Approval of Meeting Minutes & Annual Meeting notes: Dave Eckels

● August meeting minutes were not available to approve

● Annual meeting to be held on October 9

● There are no open board seats to fill this year

Treasurer’s Report:

● September 2019 treasurer’s report approved

● 2020 budget review. Need to look at raising annual dues again, as well as continuing to

cut costs where possible

● Will vote on two budgets at annual meeting; one without a dues increase and one with

a $30/household increase to cover expenses and build reserves

Communications/Social:

● Adding online voting option for annual meeting election/budget approval

● Evaluating social events based on community input and interest

● Looking to manage dock gate codes for community courts via online registration

● Planning to continue sending monthly survey questions to measure pulse of community

● Community yard sale scheduled for September 28

● See website (bayhillsonline.com) for current events calendar

Property & Grounds:

● Pavilion contractor scheduled to commence work on September 10

● Vandals have repeatedly targeted the playground area. The Board is considering options

to install security cameras

● Need to replace signage at basketball courts and playground/pavilion, indicating that

the facilities are for BHCA use only & are closed after dark

● Dock gates will be installed at the basketball and tennis courts, with access codes

provided to BHCA residents only

● Tennis courts power washing is completed

● Volleyball courts rebuild is delayed until 2020

Adjournment:

● There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 8:38 p.m.

If you are interested in having information in the Bay Hills Beacon or on the website, please email me at beacon@bayhillsonline.com