Village Association Meeting
Minutes From:
Subject: Acquiring Village Legal Resources
Date: Wednesday 05/05/04
Time: 7:00 PM EST
Location: Village Condo Unit #227
Attendance:
Rebecca Olson <Becky@olsonsimon.com> -- Olson and Simon, PLC
Brice Simon <Brice@olsonsimon.com> -- Olson and Simon, PLC
Dave Parot
<dparot@woodscrw.com> -- Village Director
Dana Clark
<DanaC@atlassnowshoe.com> -- Village Director
Joe Boylan <jessicaboylan@aol.com> --
Village Property Agent
Kurt Ries
<itele2@yahoo.com> -- Village Director
CC:
Tracy-lynn
Styers <tracy-lynn@olsonsimon.com>
Joseph Kareivis <silver_fox@comcast.net>
General Discussion
Items:
Rebecca and Brice supplied with copies of pertinent documentation including:
-Village contact list
-Village by-laws and declarations
-Bolton rental pool owner agreements
-Owners Forum Open Issues, list of issues to address with possible by-laws updates
-Lien on Donahue property
Bolton Valley Village Condominium Association, Incorporated, here in after Village, is looking to cut all ties with Bolton Valley Resort and be an autonomous corporation. We are looking for legal assistance in breaking these ties, including by-law and rental pool agreements clauses. Village is also looking for assistance updating by-laws to better reflect owners needs and wishes, along with the pursuit of collecting of delinquent Assoc. fees and other owner actions.
Discussion at the end of the meeting included legal actions the Village directors would like to see initiated as soon as possible:
-Item A - by-law updates
-Item D - Donahue delinquent Assoc. fees
Village directors need legal assistance/direction in assessing the proper action for each of the tasks, and the action plans are not limited to the bullet items. In many of the cases the Village directors are not certain of the proper questions and need guidance from legal counsel on the best approach to complete these tasks.
Olson and Simon, PLC does not require a retainer and would be able to provide timely updates/status along with estimated costs on Village approved actions. Olson and Simon would charge Village at non-profit hourly rates of $125 for general legal assistance and $150 for more involved tasks and could make possible provisions to apply these rates to other legal endeavors.
Kurt Ries will be Olson and Simon central point of contact and Village director business is primarily conducted via email and information solicited/distributed to owners via web site.
A.) Assist in reviewing
and updating/filing of by-laws:
Becky has by-laws forms they have used for other associations and could be used as a baseline for the Village directors to derive/approve updated by-laws to be voted on by the owners at the annual Village meeting Saturday October 23, 2004 at 9am.
First rights of refusal clause in the Village declarations:
We would like to see the following statement is stricken from the Village Declarations, along with any other possible ties to Bolton Valley:
Any provisions herein, notwithstanding, Bolton Valley Corporation specifically reserves the right to enter into long term vacation plans or leases or to sell interval ownership of any condominiums, at its sole discretion. This right is reserved exclusively to Bolton Valley Corporation. Bolton Valley Corporation further, specifically reserves the right of first refusal to repurchase these condominium units.
Bolton Valley Corporation, president Ralph R. DesLauriers may not be a viable entity and the resort is currently owned and operated by Mountain Operations and Development Corporation, owned by Bob Fries and should have no affiliation with the Village Condominium Association.
Discussion Items:
-Would be an easier sell to the Village owners if the Village by-laws updates were derived from a standard set of by-
laws used by other condominium assoc. more consistent with Vermont law
-Is there a standard set of Vermont by-laws that Village can use as a base line
-If necessary, Brice/Becky could be available to answer owner’s questions on the updated by-laws at our annual
Village meeting
-Ballpark estimates on the cost of updating Village by-laws are $1k - $2k
Additional by-laws
updates from Owners Forum Open Issues document:
-Owner’s Code of Conduct
-Clause Assoc. has right to terminate Renal Agreements
-Owner notification policy
-Property Agent needs all unit keys
-Owner / Assoc. insurance responsibilities clearly defined
- Evaluate adding mandatory owner insurance to by-laws
-Unit must at least be kept at 50 degrees, stipulation on turning water off if not full time
-Pursuing by-law offenders, ie, heating with firewood
Action Plan:
-Kurt to supply his units Title of Opinion and Resale certificate for Becky to review for exclusive right clauses etc…
-May need land records researched at Bolton Town Clerk office for exclusive right clauses, etc…
-Becky to provide baseline condo by-laws for director’s approval/amending, it maybe possible for Becky to indicate
what can and cannot be changed to assist the directors in their review process
B.) Special
Assessments/Vinyl siding loan:
-Village is in the process of acquiring a $80-$100k loan for vinyl siding
-It was discussed that Village does have Director liability insurance in place that would cover lawsuits against
the Assoc./Directors to the extent of the coverage, not necessarily the extent of the suit
-It was discussed that Village is anticipating lower operation cost and is attempting to fund the vinyl siding
without an owner special assessment
-Question was raised to insure the Directors are within their by-law constraints to approve the bank loan
C.) Address Terese
Ayers mandatory window special assessment:
The following unit owner is refusing to comply with Assoc. mandatory window replacement:
Unit #221
Terese Ayers
P.O. Box 9213.
S. Burlington, VT 05407
802-893-3507
Because of the badly deteriorated windows in the unit, Village needed to remove exterior siding/Stucco and install vinyl siding on the gable end of the complex where the unit resides to stop water infiltration damage compromising the integrity of the structure.
Excerpt from the Oct 26, 2002 Village Condo Association Meeting minutes
Discussion Items:
-The Village annual meeting minutes would need to state a quorum was present and indicate the mandatory window
replacement was voted and approved
-Village believes that at least three memos have been mailed along with at least three phone calls from property
management and Village directors
-Village has gotten quotes on window replacement costs and has recommended a very competitive priced
company
-If this does go to court, we will have a good indication of success before hand and owner would pay Assoc. legal fees
-Terese Ayers is never behind on Assoc. fees
Action Plan:
-Legal resource review by-laws and 10/26/02 Assoc. meeting minutes to insure we can move forward
-Legal resource to call Terese Ayers with a dead line
-Follow up with a curt letter
-Need to be careful not to make idol threats
D.) Pursue
delinquent Association dues:
The following unit owners is about $10k behind on Assoc. fees:
Unit # 226
William Donahue
PO Box 9409
Burlington, VT 05407
802-476-7266
A copy of the lien filed last year against the unit for $8,055.25 was provided to Brice and Becky.
Discussion Items:
-Donahue was on a payment program, but made two payments and quit. There has been several letters and unanswered
phone message over the years. Joe Boylan, Village’s property agent sent certified letter last month, which was
returned unsigned
-Village current by-laws do accommodate Assoc. charging a yearly 18% interest on past due Assoc. funds
-If this does go to court, we will have a good indication of success before hand and owner would pay Assoc. legal fees
-Assoc. would need to pay the legal fees up front
-Ball park legal costs $1-1.5k, if goes to court $5 - $7k
-Sheriff can serve summons home or work
-If in military service overseas will cause delays in the litigation
Action Plan:
-Last attempt letter sent by legal resource. Need to wait 30 days per consumer protection laws
-If no response from letter, cost benefit analysis to decide if Assoc. goes to court
-Need to be careful of idol threats
Village has concerns over how Bolton Valley rental pool is placing tenants and enforcing MOD and Village by-laws code of conduct constraints. Village’s previous insurance company dropped the Assoc. policy as a result of renters causing $76k worth of fire/sprinkler damage to the complex. New insurance policy is about triple the cost and has increasing the average owner’s fees $600 annually.
Discussion Items:
-Full time renters in unit #326, no exaggeration, consistently break all MOD/Village by-laws code of conduct rules
-Dana presented a rental agreement written by another Assoc. that could be modified for Village purposes
-It was discussed that Code of Conduct rules should be posted on the inside door of every rental unit
-It was discussed that Bolton may have exclusive right to the rental pool services at Village condominiums, land
records may need to researched
-Kurt to provide his units Title of Opinion
-Maybe able to treat renters as holdover and not a tenants
-Assoc. would need to take on the added responsibility of monitoring the rental units
-Village needs to support/not support investment owners?
-Need to be prepared if Bolton rental pool drops the Assoc.
Action Plan:
-Raise as an issue at Village owner’s meeting
-Raise as an issue at Presidents meeting, my be able to gain more leverage if other Assoc. participate
-Legal counsel to assist in drafting resolution to by-laws, giving right to the Assoc. to terminate rental leases
-Legal counsel to assist with by-law resolution and MOD renter pool agreement addendum
-Village Directors to approach Bolton rental pool with addendum to their MOD agreement to be signed by perspective
tenants
Between Village parking lot and Bolton resort parking log a gate was erected may years ago to prevent resort traffic through Village parking lot. Fire department concerned that town cannot drive fire truck through. Village is concerned who would snow plow this portion if the gate were removed.
Discussion Items:
-Need land records researched at Bolton Town Clerk office for exclusive right clauses, etc…