Meadowbrook Farm / Clarkson Estates Subdivision
Board of Trustees HOA Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Chesterfield City Hall
Call Meeting to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm. Board members were present: Brad Barks (Treasurer), Lisa Monachella (Secretary), and John Thompson. President Carol Fine was not in attendance. Lisa agreed to conduct the agenda. All board members present introduced themselves. Lisa motioned to Mike Moore to introduce himself and his guest, Lane Koch. She is on the ballot for the April election. She is running unopposed. She introduced herself and thanked the room. Reminded the room the Board reviews and agrees upon the minutes before the next meeting so we can have them posted before the next meeting. Copies were still available at the meeting and homeowners were asked if anyone had questions or concerns about them. No one objected.
Financial Report
Brad presented the financial status of the subdivision. We are on track so far with the budget. We have made many prepayments to expenses where allowed, which gives us a good look at what discretionary income we have available for the rest of the year. This allows the Board flexibility in case unexpected expenses arise. More than normal was spent on upkeep. This was due to the updating and maintenance needed to the Baxter entrance and the monuments on Country Ridge. We did not spend as much as we hoped for Legal fees in 2024 but certainly will be spent in 2025. We wanted to be further along than we are on the indenture revamp. Brad stated there is about $14,000 in unpaid assessments. This is spread over about 20 homes. This number does not include the 2025 assessment
Incorporation as Meadowbrook Farm HOA, INC
Brad continued with the next topic. After the October Annual meeting, the Board continued the discussion among themselves regarding incorporation. An official vote of the trustees was taken. The majority elected to move forward with incorporation. The three reasons the Board had was again reviewed. First, becoming incorporated provides governance to the board. Currently there are no state laws governing HOAs. Second, this can reduce the legal liability to individual homeowners for incidents on common ground. Third, this can provide tax exempt income status to the association. The audience was reminded it was the first two reasons that swayed the decision. The tax status is just a bonus. Due to mail issues and timing, the incorporation did not become official until after January 1st. This just means we will have to file two sets of taxes for 2025, one set of documents for the few days we were unincorporated and the other set for being a non-profit corporation. This will not affect residents. It was explained the corporation’s name for the HOA is separate from the subdivision name. All legal plot filings will still say Meadowbrook Farm/Clarkson Estates. The certificate of incorporation will be posted on the website.
Indenture revision
Lisa started the discussion, but all Board members commented and discussed. The lawyer provided the Board with the first draft of the by-laws and indentures. The Board will review the by-laws first. We are reading them, making adjustments and developing questions individually. We will convene to see if we are all in agreement. Once the Board is in agreement, we will want to get a committee together for resident input. It was stressed though that the Board will not be ready for the resident input for a few months. It will take time for the Board to get through both documents. We do have names from the 2024 survey of residents who gave an indication of interest to participate on this committee. We will verify with those residents their interest is still valid and as well, see if anyone has changed their mind to be involved.
Social Events Committee report
There were Social Committee representatives present but the report was yielded to John to provide. 2024 was successful. The committee did a great job of spending the budget allocated wisely. The most recent event was the Lights Competition last month and the number of residents who participated was great. The activities are going to continue through 2025. The hope is to continue with at least four per year (Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter). This is assuming the weather cooperates in each season. The committee would love feedback and ideas. They do read what is on the subdivision Facebook page as currently the residents on this committee are the administrator of the Facebook page.
2025 Board priorities
We reminded everyone present that as talked about earlier the Board will be focusing on completing the restate of the bylaws and indentures. This is a process that is expected to take most of the year. We will also be adding more rules regarding the subdivision. We plan to also get advice from the lawyer regarding what rules should or should not be implemented. The next big focus will be common ground improvements. This will include (but is not limited to) removal of honeysuckle and wild grape vines where appropriate, planting saplings to benefit wildlife and preserve soil. This led into a discussion regarding identifying erosion problems throughout the neighborhood. The trustees do hope to walk the common ground to identify spots but there was an ask for input from residents when they see situation or weather-related issues that could be causing erosion. The homeowner who reported the issue regarding the common ground behind Long Castle Forest Court at the October meeting was in attendance. Since the weather has not recreated the flooding situation since it last occurred, the owner has been unable to provide photos of the issue. Once the Board has photos, correction of the issue can begin. It is encouraged for homeowners, if they can, to take photos of any issues they come across and send to the Board to report. Photos help the Board understand the situation better which in turn can allow us to start tackling faster. The audience was reminded about the letters the Board sends out regarding all the curb appeal ordinance violations. The audience all agreed they appreciate the current process and would like the Board to continue. John gave an update on the email list. We have surpassed the goal for 2024 and want to continue to increase the participants. We would like to continue to use surveys to solicit improvement input from residents. We have been reactive historically on improvements and would like to shift to being proactive.
Councilpersons’ update
Downtown Chesterfield was discussed. Mike expressed understanding of the resident fear regarding traffic. Part of the money being used on this initiative is to go to roads, both improvement and implementation. They are forecasting a 20% increase in population at first and then another 10%. This shifted the conversation to what Monarch can support. It was suggested the Board schedule Monarch to attend a meeting for question on support capabilities when the local population increases.
Homeowner forum
General and clarification questions evolved after Mike’s update. As encouraged, owners ask questions through the meeting. Conversation went right up to 9pm.
The meeting concluded at 9:00 pm.