Morningside HOA Board Meeting
4/19/2021
Meeting Minutes
Ben Whipple called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m.
In attendance: Ben Whipple, Jeff Miller, Matt Huff, Jimmy Newland, Andrew Johnson, and Phillip Blume.
This was a special called meeting specifically do discuss and make final decisions regarding improvements to the entrance. These minutes will not only serve as a record of that meeting – but also as a record for previous and subsequent emails amongst the board which included pertinent information and decisions.
Notes on Entrance Discussion and Decisions
Irrigation
- Oconee Irrigation came to look at irrigation system – very nice and fancy
- They said it was a nice/fancy system
- The county had to cut Magnolias down to get water on for testing, although they were needing to cut these down anyway for county-based water work and someone had planted these trees over the water main.
- Once water got reconnected there were a total of 14 faulty valves – only 3 would actually cut on.They think the issue is likely electrical in nature and hopefully will not involve extensive digging or material. Most of the cost would be labor.
- Probably $3-4 K to diagnose and get it running
- The Board considered the idea of hiring a plumber instead to run a line down Hodges Mill and add taps to it, but decided against it.The Board also revisited the idea of the water truck instead since we might not have a long term need for irrigation. However, the truck was going to be $4-5 K for 2-3 weeks and then we wouldn’t have anything after that. When a board member mentioned that water would also help the other shrubbery fill out faster, the decision was made to stick with the route of irrigation repair.
- Philip and Andrew both tried to get companies to come out for a comparative irrigation quote, but either couldn’t get phone calls returned or companies could not get out for several weeks.One of the other companies did say that Oconee Irrigation’s quote sounded about right. The decision was made to proceed with Oconee Irrigation – they were scheduled for May 4th.
Discussion Around new Plants
- The landscaping plan changed substantially from the first quote due to the need to fill in where the Magnolias were and the desire for at least some slightly more mature trees.
- Ben and Andrew both walked the whole front berm with Paul Squires of Georgia Greenworks.They put flags down where they thought trees/shrubs were needed. Ben welcomed board members to also walk it to compare.
- The plants are ordered but not yet scheduled for install due to needing the irrigation issue resolved.
Existing Trees/Shrubs
- Ben asked Matt to tell bush trimmers not to trim bushes for now.The bushes by the sign should be kept trimmed and proper, but otherwise we want them to grow into more of a hedge for privacy purposes. The irrigation should also help that.
Dumpster for Spring Cleaning
After investigation and competing quotes, the board decided to use Waste Pro for the community dumpster. It was quoted as $380 for a 30 cubic yard dumpster filled up to 1 ton. It would be an additional $55 per ton for anything over a ton. It would be $170 to dump and return the dumpster if the community had more than one dumpster worth, and then $55 for each ton. We would have the dumpster for approximately 10 days. Ben sent out an email to the community on 5/11 and the dumpster was due to be delivered that day or the next day.
Other Business
- The social committee has been active.Among other things they have done the following:
- Planned a community block party for Saturday May 1, late afternoon.It will be between the McCuller’s and Pilcher’s houses.
- Sent care package to the Shadburns
- Sent baby gift to the Hearns
- Decided not to have a community garage sale this year due to not enough time to get it together.
- Ben asked for any board members to get in any remaining neighbor information sheets.
- Ben also suggested that going forward we would look at moving to quarterly board meetings unless a hot topic came up.
