POLO PARK HOMEOWNER ASSOCIATION

426 Polo Park Blvd. Davenport, FL 33897

863-420-1591

Polo Park Homeowners meeting for May 13, 2024

Attendance: Daniel Basham (President), Linda Bailey (Secretary), Marianne Helmprecht (Treasurer), Jeff Polston (Director), Scott Rapp (Director), Linda Sheerin (Director)

Absent: Mike Wright (Vice-President)

Pledge of Allegiance was led by Daniel Basham

Prayer was led by Marcia Rockinson

Secretary’s Report by Linda Bailey

Motion made to accept the minutes from April 8, 2024 by Linda Sheerin; seconded by Marianne Helmprecht. Daniel Basham asked all those accepting the minutes signify by saying aye. The vote was unanimous. The minutes have been accepted.

Treasurer’s Report by Marianne Helmprecht

Homeowners Association

bank balance for the end of March $345,871.15

plus deposits for April $ 75,008.48

less invoices paid for April $ 45,988.03

bank balance as of April 31^st $374,891.60

Marianne told us that activity money in the HOA that was $12,704.72 leaving the HOA money total at $362,186.88.

In reserves we had $123,396.58 and in the CD account (Certificate of Deposit) is $157578.36. The total of the reserve and CD accounts is $280,974.94.

Golf Course

balance forward for March 31^st $29,929.45

plus deposits for April $10,370.15

less invoices paid $17,103.74

bank balance for April 30^th $23,195.86

Activities

balance for March 30^th $37,492.73

plus deposits for April $ 8,585.45

less invoices paid $ 1,242.78

bank balance $44,835.40

The Activities money in the Fifth/Third Bank totaled $3,596.17 added to the Activities money in the Homeowners Association account of $12,704.72 and the money in the Activities account, the total of the Activities money in the various accounts equals $61,136.29.

Marianne continued to tell us about the Aging Report in which we have one house that’s in foreclosure. There are about seven houses for which letters have gone to the lawyer. There are several that are overdue for April.

Marianne asked for a motion to be made to accept the Treasurer’s Report. Linda Sheerin added that all the past reports have now been corrected and should be included in the motion. Linda Sheerin made the motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report; Jeff Polston 2^nd that motion. Daniel Basham asked all those accepting the Treasurer’s Report signify by saying aye. The vote was unanimous. The Treasurer’s Report was accepted.

Activity’s Reports

Golf Committee by David Murosky as Mike Wright could not be reached.

On Wednesday next week there will be a chemical application on the golf course. As a result, it will be closed for the day. The golf committee has suspended meetings till September. Our treasurer’s reports have been arriving after our committee meeting. The golf course is going to have a summer special on the first day of summer. We will put it out on the web. We get six or eight people that hit our website daily. The special will be a two-part special. It will be $15.00 for nine holes plus a golf cart or $20 plus a golf cart for 18 holes. We will try to see if we can generate some interest as we’re in the dead time at the moment. With the heat, we don’t get very many golfers after lunch. The pro shop will be open from 7:00 am to 11:00 am Monday through Saturday and will be closed on Sundays.

Buildings and Grounds by Scott Rapp

The tree that is behind 135 Piedmont. The tree is diseased and its roots are cracking up the golf cart pathway. In addition, it’s actually cracking the people’s house that live near the tree. Scott said he would post some pictures of the damage and the tree later today for the community to see. The best estimate for removing the tree was $3,000 and is from the same man that is coming in to trim the rest of our trees. Scott Rapp indicated that the lady that lives in the house where the tree is located will give a check for $500 towards the cost of the removal. Scott made a motion to have the company High Altitude Environmental Arborist remove the tree. The motion was seconded by Linda Sheerin. Daniel Basham asked all those who were in favor signify by saying aye. The motion was passed unanimously.

Lighting at the Challenger Clubhouse. Perry has volunteered to install mood and stage lighting. Currently for dances and other events in the clubhouse, the lighting has been less than acceptable. It’s been difficult to provide enough lighting so you can see what you’re eating and not pollute the dance floor with white light. The new system will be a four-phase lighting system. There will be lights for mood lighting for the general seating area as well as for the coffee bar that will illuminate that area to make it safe to walk around. The lighting can be any color or intensity that is wanted and can be different for each area of lighting. There will be a modern mirror ball for the dance floor. The plan would require some electrical work which Perry is not allowed to do. Perry didn’t have costs yet, but that should follow soon. PPIP’s has donated the money for the lighting fixtures. Perry has donated his time and stuff to put it all in. Unfortunately, Perry is going home next week but will plan on coming back sometime in the summer if the lighting is approved to install. If it all works well, by the fall it’ll be up and running. Perry is still looking into how to set it up so its user friendly. Scott Rapp said a big thank you for Perry for volunteering his time and for the PPIP’s for raising money to get this done. Scott Rapp made a motion to the board to approve moving forward on getting the stage lighting installed. Daniel Basham seconded the motion. Daniel then asked all those in favor signify by saying aye. The motion was passed unanimously.

Trees that are growing wildly. The live oak trees around the Challenger parking lot, around the horseshoe pits and on the side of the BCH have a lot of dense growth through the middle of them. High Altitude Environmental Arborists have given a quote of $4500 that would cover pruning all the trees. Scott Rapp made a motion on hiring High Altitude Environmental Arborist in to trim these trees. Linda Sheerin seconded the motion. Linda S. asked if Oscar should be offered the job before hiring an outside company to do the work as he does so much for our park and at a great price. Scott Rapp answered that he would approach Oscar. Scott Rapp made a motion to have High Altitude Environmental Arborists tree service do the work at $4000 and that the vote would be pending asking Oscar if he could do it for less or match the quote. Linda Sheerin seconded that. Daniel Basham asked for those in favor to signify by saying aye. The motion was passed unanimously.

CeCe has been working on a little dog park which has been tabled right now due to boundary and resident concerns but a discussion to put a dog bag station and a couple benches underneath the trees by the horseshoe pits has been put forward. There is funding options that are available. The benches would be white resin benches or something that would be easy to clean and would hold up well. Scott Rapp made a motion for the benches and dog bag station. Scott Rapp added that the committee wanted to change the sign at its current location and put one up underneath the trees as well. Discussion took place about the bags and benches in the dog park. Nothing was decided. Scott Rapp added that the idea be tabled for now. Jeff Polston motioned that the dog park discussion be tabled for a later date; Linda Sheerin seconded it. Daniel Basham asked for all those in favor of tabling this discussion reply by saying aye. All were in favor of tabling the discussion.

Scott informed us that CeCe was working on making our map that is in our phone book a little more user friendly. She felt the map should identify where the storage area was and where the defibrillators and emergency phones were for the pool areas. CeCe also felt the map should label the different activity areas throughout the park, either on the map or with a legend.

Pool Committee by Marianne Helmprecht

Marianne H. received two quotes to renovate the Boulevard pool. The pool committee decided on D&J Pool Resurfaces. D&J will install extra hand rails for easy entrance and exit from the pool, they will install a pool lift chair, a salt generator ($47,650), plaster cords ($15,000), fiberglass, paint ($3,500), tile ($8,000), hand rails ($5,000), lights ($2,200), lift chair ($6,800) and the salt generator ($2,700). Demolition is $4,250 to remove the tile spray texture. Jeff P suggested that Marianne call the County Pool Inspector. Marianne H. suggested to table this discussion until she spoke to the Pool Inspector.

The company who did the work on Challenger pool they are coming to fix the grout on the top of the tile so the challenger pool may be closed tomorrow. Marianne stated that it was $17,000.to make the stairs from the 10 inches that they are now to an 8-inch rise. A discussion ensued concerning the current step up and over a rise that is difficult for many that use the pool. Marianne answered that she will call the pool people to ask if there is a solution. Marianne added that Oscar may be able solve that problem. Linda S asked about getting rails that don’t get hot so that covers are not needed on them. Marianne H said she would ask about that as well.

CERT Report by Linda Bailey

Dick Hamilton with the CERTS group. Meetings are the third Friday of every month at 1:00 at the Boulevard Club house. We are having our meetings throughout the whole summer due to the hurricanes. People in Bartow have meetings every month or so and our team members go down there and get educated much more than we can here at Polo Park. We’re always on the lookout for the best things for the residents of Polo Park. We are working on the drones in case there are areas in Polo Park that we are unable to get to in an emergency with our golf carts. In 2023 we helped the Red Cross install over 150 smoke detectors in resident’s homes. This year we did about 75. We may do another smoke detector program later in the year. We are able to install up to 3 per home. It’s safe and its free.

CAP by Linda Bailey

Marcia Rockinson, head of the CAP program, will give the report. She reported that CAP have gotten the FLOCK camera installed. It has already been accessed by the Polk County Sherriff department. All permits are in. Hopefully this will help keep us safe. A little story how the FLOCK camera system has helped. A man pulled out a gun in a road rage situation. The police were able to get a partial license plate number through the FLOCK system throughout Polk County. In 35 minutes, they had that man arrested. CAP meets the fourth Monday of every month at the Challenger Clubhouse at 7:00 p.m. However, this Monday due to Memorial Day, we are meeting this Monday, the 20^th. Everyone is welcome to come. Our Crime Suppression Deputy comes to our meetings when he is available. He tells us we have very little crime in our community. Everyone should help us out. If you see something, say something. Call the non emergency number. Report what you have seen. CAP costs us nothing. It is all funded by the Polk County Sherriff’s Department.

Veteran’s Committee by Sam Harris

The Veterans are going to have their Memorial Day Ceremony on Monday, May 27^th at 10:00 a.m. at the Memorial Centre. We will do the 4^th of July get together again like we did last year except there will not be any snow cones this year. The price doubled so we opted out of that. We will have hot dogs and celebrations. Please come out.

ARC Committee by Linda Sheerin

This month we had 14 ARC reviews forms. Question: What do we do if people don’t fill out an ARC form prior to doing the work on the outside of their home and as is required by our bylaws? How do we enforce that? We sent the question to Richard Ackerman and the Document Committee and what they suggested we do is send out a letter reminding them to fill out an ARC form or be fined. Daniel Basham asked if there is any discussion from the board members. Linda encouraged people to contact Mary Chaney, ARC head, or Linda Sheerin when in doubt. Linda Sheerin added that if someone does not complete an ARC form, it will be taken to the board

The house on Jackson that had its yard concreted over to meet the golf path. The county has inspected it and we are waiting to see what they say.

Rules and Regulations by Linda Sheerin

Forty-two letters were sent out. Sixteen people responded by fixing the issue. There was one additional letter that was handed out to the board members labeled exhibit A that should move on to the Fining Committee. Letters have been sent to have the homeowner asking them to comply. They have not followed the directives. Once it’s been sent to fining, the homeowners will have 30 days to follow the instructions and then the issue will go before the Hearing Committee. The letter pending from last month labeled C which was held back to see if it could be fixed but nothing has happened. If everyone agreed to send exhibit C to the Fining Committee.

Linda put forth a question from the office. One of the houses that was going to the Fining Committee is going in foreclosure, should this home still go to the Fining Committee? The answer was yes.

Standing Fines Committee by Linda Sheerin

One fine has gone through. As nothing has been done, it will go to the lawyer and will go to foreclosure as it has been 2 years in September. The Fining Committee held off for one month on another home but as nothing has happened, the fine will go through.

Old Business

Swale Progress

Scott Rapp will speak on that. The swales are becoming a little more user friendly as they go along. Polk County is protecting their own property, the road and limiting their liability by getting the water off of the roads. They are trying to accommodate the home owner. Scott was in contact with Ken from Polk County. Scott had three questions for him. Would the county put a pipe up at the corner of Kensington where they dug the trench so that golf carts could go over the trench. Ken is looking into that. In the pond behind Jackson Park, there was a block of cement that was blocking the drainage pipe that leads from the road to the pond. Ken said they will send someone out there to look at the situation. At the corner of Menlo there was a concrete cap missing off of the pipe in the front yard of one house. Ken will come by and fix that problem as well. If you see anything that doesn’t look right, call Scott Rapp. He will come out and look at it and try to get the problem fixed. If you back onto a lake in the park, be sure that leaves are not being raked into the lake. This would contribute to the flooding problem.

Hiring of Oscar

As far as Linda Bailey is concerned, Oscar is out there every day working. Scott tells us that Oscar is going above and beyond.

Solar Panels.

Scott Rapp says there has been no further discussion on that with Gary Mrowka. It’s tabled for now.

Check on better interest rates.

Marianne H and Linda Sheerin went to Fifth/Third bank and South State looking for better interest rates. Marianne has not heard from either bank. Marianne will continue her research.

Question box

Linda Bailey informed us that we got 5 suggestions in the boxes. We were able to take care of 2 of them. One person wanted to know why there was a car parked in the Challenger parking lot. We finally got the owners of the car to take it back to their own property. We did receive a thank you. There was a suggestion to have speakers in the back of the challenger clubhouse so that there could be music for the swimmers. The speakers could also be used alongside of a screen to broadcast the HOA meetings when there is an expected overflow of people, especially in January.

New Business

Transfer Fee

Linda Bailey reported that it was approved. The lawyer completed the paperwork. Marianne H stated that there were a couple of sales where a transfer fee was charged. The transfer fee doesn’t seem to be affecting sales at all. Linda Sheerin told us that the estoppel fee of $250 and the transfer fee of $2,000 goes into the Reserves. Marianne H said that it was recorded at the end of April and the first sale with transfer fee was the beginning of May.

Streaming Home Owners Meetings has been discussed by Linda Bailey in her discussion about the Question Box.

Discussion on communication among neighbors

Linda Sheerin told us about her issues in the past about rumors of her wanting to shut down the golf course. Jeff Polston has also been accused of wanting to shut down the golf course. Linda S wanted to make it public that she never wanted to close down the golf course and neither did Jeff Polston.

Activity Events

Linda Bailey reported that there isn’t much left for the season. Bocci and Dominoes is still happening. Rummy Cube at 1:00 at the Boulevard Clubhouse. CeCe is still painting. Ukelele Jam is still happening. If activities are still happening, please call Jerry at the office and have her put the activity on the calendar. The calendars are in each of the clubhouses for you to take. Coffee and Chat will happen all summer on Thursday morning at 8:30. Hot dogs will be coming back on Tuesdays in June, July and August. Marcia Rockinson wanted to remind everyone that hurricane season is approaching. There are maps in both clubhouses. Also, the Polk County Welcome Center down by Posner Park is having a special hurricane thing until June 2^nd. All who attend will get a special hurricane preparedness bag. Visit the Welcome Centre and also pick up your maps at the clubhouses. Summer Bingo starts Tuesday in June. Dime Bingo on Sunday all summer. Linda Ajootian has a cruise that is posted on the board with a bus that is going to be leaving Polo Park. It is a totally handicap bus. The cruise is at the end of February. It’s an 8 night cruise with Omni and is just like they used to do before. The office has been faxing the registrations into Omni for us or you can register online.

Daniel Basham is happy that the activities will continue throughout the summer. The census showed us that the number of Snowbirds is 29% (242) of the 824 residents that sent in their census. Daniel liked the idea that the activities are continuing for the 70% of the residents that remain in the park. Linda Sheerin thanked all the volunteers who are continuing the activities throughout the summer. Linda S will post the demographics that the census showed.

Open Forum

Richard Ackerman asked Daniel if he was going to bring up the issue of sending the documents committees work to the lawyer to start drafting up the 5 years work on the documents. Daniel Basham answered yes and that the whole board needs to meet on that and discuss it first.

Bob Olivera told us that there is no such thing as a salt water pool. What happens in a salt water pool is that the salt is converted into chlorine, the same stuff you’re swimming in now. There is a little salt that remains in the water. However, metal around the pool will be affected by the salt. We will need something called a sacrificial anode to protect that metal. Unless the pool people know anything about this, it is not feasible. Safety precautions need to be done. If a valve is stuck and doesn’t open, it can explode the pipes underneath the ground. Salt will also corrode the concrete. If we are paying less money for the salt, will it make up for the money it will cost to convert the swimming pool?

Bob Olivera has noticed that people are driving on the golf cart path in both directions (hole 1 through 9 and hole 9 through 1) after 7:00. He is worried that people will get hurt if they don’t notice an oncoming golf cart and end up in an accident.

Bob Olivera has noticed that the water is turned on for hole 1 after 7:00 and continues for about 45 minutes. No one can really begin driving around the golf course from hole 1 as a result. Perhaps the water should come on around 9:00 pm so that people can go for their drives around the golf course without getting wet.

Pat Hess asked Linda Sherrin about the number of letters the ARC is sending out. Pat H. suggested that the ARC take a more personal approach and hand out the letters in person. When the ARC committee members stop in at a home where work is being done without a form completed, they have been met with abusive language. If the ARC committee goes out to the house in question and they don’t comply, that is when a letter is sent out. Other than that, it is done in person.

Lou Santomarco suggested that if the people are coming to work on the pool tomorrow, you should find out if they can paint the deck with the type of paint that won’t get hot as currently the deck is too hot to walk on. Lou S also suggested that a line be painted in the middle of the road so that we all can easily see what side of the street we should be driving on.

Elise added to the above note on ARC. Soon, if a homeowner doesn’t agree with the recommendations by the ARC, the homeowner can put in an appeal. We’re going to have to have an appeal board for ARC. This is waiting legislation that is pending now. It takes things out of the fining. Something to consider.

Tom Brosius discussed the two thermostats in the challenger clubhouse. Last Tuesday for bingo the two thermostats were not set at the same temperature. This makes one system to work extra hard. When one thermostat is changed, they both need to be changed to be the same temperature. A sign should go up to notify people of this.

Carol M from Menlo Park questioned the office hours. Marianne H answered saying that someone was there on Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00.

Ron Baker questioned about the 2 people that work in the office. Ron suggested that the people who work in the office should be cross trained. They should both know about each other’s jobs. Marianne H answered that she would have a talk with the girls.

Dave Murosky suggested that during hurricane season, the park should rent a pump, put it in the gator pond and pump the water in the pond to the swamp. As soon as the rains come, turn it on. It’s a diesel engine and it will pump 1,000 gallons per minute. Rent the pump and the hose. Jeff Polston asked Dave M about the legal aspects of pumping water into the swamp without having a permit.

Shirley Hosner commented on the lines on the road. Years ago, Polo Park did contact the County to ask for lines on the road. At that time, the county did explain why it was not allowed. Shirley could not remember the reason, but if someone called the County, she was sure they would be told the reason. While talking to the mail lady, those that are having their mail forwarded, the mail service put a green card into your mailbox. That green card is to remain in the mailbox so that a substitute mail person will know not to leave any mail.

Daniel Basham made a few comments. The first comment was concerning the census report, in particular the 30% of the forms that have not been returned. Daniel encouraged us to talk to our neighbors and encourage them to send in their census forms if they have not done so. It is required of HOA’s to have a census of those that live in their community.

Daniel suggested that residents comments written on Facebook are not always factual. This can be called gossip which can create ill feelings among us. Please refrain from spreading rumors of any sort and please guard against starting gossip.

Motion to adjourn the meeting was made by Linda Sheerin. Marianne H seconded it.