President's Note: provided by Dale Hoffman.

I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. My wish for the New Year is that we continue to move forward and have a wonderful 2012.

Thank You,

Dale Hoffman

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Minutes of Recent Oak Ridge POA Board Meetings

September 17, 2011.
The meeting was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by President, Dale Hoffman. Dale Hoffman recognized the Board and took Roll call. Board Members present: Dale Hoffman, Bill Manno, Katherine Walther, Reagan Ramsower, Dan Barnhart and Cheryll Mabray.

Community Members present: Homer Ahr, Sondra Mobley, Bob Westerheid, Marilyn Westerheid, Don Booker, Francis Booker, Jo Manno, Bonnie Raffels, Wilda Meixner, Marion Staton, Dick Heilman, Barbara Elliott, Dorothy Gaisbauer, Syl Gaisbauer, Sandra Staton, Inger Lise Blount, Connie Roth, Tom Graham, Steve Betram, Sue Betram, Jim Walthers, Bobby Walker, John C. Klepper.

Homer Ahr asked the Board President to verify that payment of POA dues by Board members was made by July 1, 2011. Reagan Ramsower made a motion to have Bill Manno, Treasurer, review payment of POA fees by Board Members as soon as possible and report back to the Board. Dan Barnhart seconded the motion. All in favor, motion passed.

Dale Hoffman went over procedures for meeting protocol and addressing the Board. (Please see attached for details)

Approval of September 10, 2011 Minutes - Katherine Walther Reporting
Katherine Walther read the minutes. Reagan Ramsower moved to approve the minutes as presented with Dan Barnhart seconding. 5 Board Members in favor, 1 abstaining. Motion passed.

Treasurer's Report - Bill Manno Reporting
Bill Manno reviewed the Treasurers Report. (Please see attached for details) Reagan Ramsower moved to approve the report as presented with Dan Barnhart seconding. All in favor, motion passed.

Committee Reports

Architectural Committee - No report

Publications Committee - Wilda Meixner Reporting: Sandra Thompson is working on updating the directory for publication this fall. Wilda thanked Katherine Walther for forwarding minutes and Bill Manno for his work on the website.

Grounds Committee - No report

Community Center - Katherine Walther Reporting: There have been 7 rentals since May with 1 rental scheduled in November.

Communications Committee - No Report

Social Committee - Katherine Walther Reporting: The ORE Rummage sale will be October 22nd. Volunteers can sign up to help by contacting Sharon Coffey or Geri Graham. Pre-sale set up is October 13-21. Volunteers who work during set up are eligible to come to the pre-sale event the evening prior to the sale.

Finance Committee - Wilda Meixner Reporting: Wilda is in the process of forming her committee. Bill Manno thanked Wilda for her service on the Finance Committee and her help in assisting Bill with invoicing.

Ad-Hoc Committee - Dick Heilman Reporting: Dick Heilman read the Ad-Hoc Committee Interim report to update the Board on progress and status of the Committee. Please see attached report for details.

Items

1. Lock on Community Center
   There was discussion by the Board regarding keys and access to the Community Center. Reagan Ramsower made a motion, with Cheryll Mabray seconding, to clarify procedures regarding access to the Community Center and make the procedures available to the community. All in favor, motion passed.
    
2. Recognize John C. Klepper resignation from the Board
   Dale Hoffman announced that John resigned from the Board for personal reasons and thanked John for his service. Dale asked for a motion to accept John's resignation. Katherine Walther made a motion to accept John's resignation with Dan Barnhart seconding. All in favor, motion passed.
    
3. Next step on Ad-Hoc Committee
   Dale met with the Mayors of Horseshoe Bay and Granite Shoals to gather information regarding release from the ETJ. Dale indicated Granit Shoals is not interested in annexing ORE. Dale noted that Granite Shoals jurisdiction extends ½ mile beyond their City limits. Dale reported that Horseshoe Bay will release us from the ETJ for a period of 6 months or whatever time we need. Dale indicated we would have to request resolutions from both cities prior to any release from the ETJ to protect ORE. Reagan Ramsower made a motion with Cheryll Mabray seconding, authorizing the ORE President to engage an attorney, if the Board felt it was warranted, to guide us through the ETJ process. It was agreed we need an attorney to protect ORE at large and not rely on claims by the community. All in favor, motion passed.
    
4. Discuss fire contract due November 1, 2011
   Bill Manno reported that after the rummage sale in October will may still be short $3-$4k on the fire contract if no other voluntary contributions come in, and recommended a reminder billing be sent to those who have not contributed and to those who have made partial contributions. There was discussion regarding sending the contract out to bid, negotiating with Horseshoe Bay and method of how the community would be billed for their voluntary contribution. Reagan Ramsower made a motion, with Cheryll Mabray seconding, authorizing Dale Hoffman to sign a new fire contract for 2011/2012 with funding by a request for voluntary contributions from the community based on property assessment. All in favor, motion passed. There was further discussion regarding method of billing i.e. per property owner, etc. It was recommended that if we change our use of fire department, we should have insurance statistics as back up. It was agreed that the Board will continue to explore all avenues for billing and what effect, if any a change in fire service would have on ORE.
    

New Business

1. Sondra Mobley passed out brochures from the Horseshoe Bay Fire Department regarding Fire Safety.
    
2. Dale Hoffman announced the Board will appoint a replacement for John Klepper. The Board will accept resumes and recommendations for John's replacement. The Board will meet in executive session to select a replacement. All candidates must be current on their POA dues, storage lot rental and mowing fees (if applicable) to be considered for appointment. Reagan Ramsower made a motion, with Cheryll Mabray seconding, to accept the procedures for the appointment approval process. All in favor, motion passed.
    

Reagan Ramsower made a motion, with Cheryll Mabray seconding to adjourn the meeting. All in favor, motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Katherine Walther, ORE Board Secretary

Ad Hoc Committee Interim Report - 17 Sep'11

At the 11 Dec'10 board meeting, a motion was passed that the board should continue to explore options to ensure that property owners pay fees necessary to keep Oak Ridge Estates (ORE) solvent. The board met again on 26 Jan'11 to consider a list of 9 options and 4 finance proposals. The option to obtain clarification of our bylaws by a legal expert qualified in POA law was given priority. The Lawyer's opinions regarding the bylaws/deed restrictions were posted on the ORE web-site, and discussed briefly at the 21 May'11 general meeting.

In general, the attorney briefly summarized that "The main problem/challenge with this association if that there is no mandatory membership." "….property owners have a clear duty to pay assessments to the association, but membership in the association is in no way mandatory." "I would suggest more than anything that you seriously consider amending your deed restrictions.", so that membership is mandatory. "It appears that ORE can qualify for use of property code Ch. 211 amendment procedure (which would in a nutshell require a 67% vote of property owners) if you can temporarily get yourself out of the ETJ of Horseshoe Bay." Without release from the HSB ETJ, Oak Ridge would require a 100% approval vote of the property owners to amend our deed restrictions.

At the 26 June'11 board meeting, the board commissioned an Ad Hoc Committee charged with "preparing a written report outlining the wording, steps and timeline necessary to amend our deed restrictions as suggested by Connie Heyer (attorney hired by the Board) in her 15 May'11 letter to the Property Owners Association of Oak Ridge Estates, Inc." The board appointed Dick Heilman/Chair, Mike Cumberland/Vice Chair, and committee members Alan Neis, Frances Booker, Bob Sumrall, Marilyn Westerheid, Cheryll Mabray, and Suzanne Graham as committee members.

The Ad Hoc Committee has met 3-times since the 26 June'11 board meeting. It has prepared a 5-step process for amending our deed restrictions. If 67% of the voting property owners will agree with the amendment procedure, which would be proposed while we are temporarily released from the HSB ETJ, the procedure would pass. The amendment procedure would become 'official' once the board President filed it with the deed restrictions in the Official Public Record of Llano County. Then the amendment procedure could be used to make further changes to the deed restrictions, like mandatory membership in the POA. The committee is only charged with providing the amendment process, which, when acted upon by the board and the property owners, would be the first amendment to the deed restrictions. This amendment would then provide a way to further amend our deed restrictions, within the HSB ETJ, with a property owner vote (of 67-75% , TBD by the property owners) that would not require 100% approval. The committee is not charged with providing any additional amendments or changes to the deed restrictions or bylaws.

During the course of the committee discussions, committee members identified several important considerations that may have unintended consequences for Oak Ridge. These include vulnerability to annexation by other municipalities once we were released from the HSB ETJ, and new requirements imposed upon ORE upon readmission into an ETJ.

In our final report to the board, we want to include with the amendment process, our list of risks and recommendations for the board, to ensure that all the property owners understand what is involved, why it is being done, and the expected results.

*November 13, 2011 - Reagan Ramsower moved to approve the minutes with Bill Manno seconding. All present in favor (Dale Hoffman, Reagan Ramsower, Bill Manno and Katherine Walther). Motion passed.

November 13, 2011.
Dale Hoffman called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.

Roll call was taken. Board Members Present: Dale Hoffman, Bill Manno, Katherine Walther and Reagan Ramsower. Community members in attendance: A.D. Robinett, Dick Heilman.

Approval of the September 17, 2011 minutes.

Reagan Ramsower made a motion to approve the minutes with Bill Manno seconding. All in favor, motion passed.

Open for discussion from the floor
Dick Heilman spoke on the following:

1. Dick asked that the Board recognize the Social Committee at the December meeting for their hard work in cleaning the Community Center.
    
2. Annual Thanksgiving dinner is Thursday, November 17, 2011 in the Community Center. All ORE POA members are invited to attend.
    
3. There will be a pancake breakfast fundraiser on December 10, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. in the Community Center. Dick and Gerri Graham will be visiting with the Horseshoe Bay Fire Chief this week to ask if there is any interest in attending the fundraiser to speak on fire protection and safety in our community.

New Business - There was no new business.

The Board moved to Executive Session at 1:45 p.m.

Reagan Ramsower made a motion to adjourn the meeting with Katherine Walther seconding. All in favor, motion passed. Meeting adjourned at 3:15 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,
Katherine Walther, Secretary

*December 3, 2011 - Bill Manno moved to approve the minutes with Dale Hoffman seconding. Dale Hoffman, Reagan Ramsower (via proxy), Bill Manno and Katherine Walther in favor, with Cheryll Mabray abstaining (was not present at the November 13, 2011 meeting). Motion passed.

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Other Items

From the Tai Chi group

Have you noticed that your body is much stiffer than it used to be? Do you have less flexibility? Do you worry about falls? Statistics show that older people are likely to suffer from falls and take longer to heal. Have you been procrastinating about doing something good for your body? Do you feel that your memory is not like it was when you were younger?

Are you aware that doctors recommend Tai Chi as a good program for improving balance, flexibility, and concentration? The solution to the above is: Show up for Tai Chi class at the Oak Ridge Community Center Tuesday January 3rd 2012 to start the New Year on the "right" foot. Classes are at 8:45am Tuesdays and Fridays. If you have questions, call Dick Heilman 598-6491 or Dorothy Gaisbauer 598-4511. Y'all come.

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Garden Talk

Don't tell anyone, but we have a plant that is getting a shady reputation. It seems to have wandering-ways. Our trumpet vine has been sending up shoots all over the garden, and we want it to stop for the good of the neighborhood. Upon investigating, we learned that trumpet vines spread through the roots and from the seeds which are in bean-like pods. To prevent the wandering that we have been seeing, we boxed in the roots with some strips of black plastic edging (thanks A. D.), and we intend to monitor/harvest the seed pods to prevent the dissemination of the seeds. We will see if this will tame our wild hussy.

We have pruned the plants in the community center garden for the winter, and we removed the ones that did not survive the hot, dry summer. To help the remaining plants survive the winter, mulching is probably the most important. We applied a lot of mulch in the spring, and will reapply more mulch where needed. We have obtained some large clay pots, which we will place over some of the most vulnerable plants whenever a protracted cold/freezing spell is predicted. Watering also helps when a freeze is expected. We will report the results in the spring. The plants entering the winter period (after surviving the summer) include the rosemary, Mexican bush sage, trumpet vine, rue, purple fountain grass, Mexican mint marigold, Mexican oregano, santolina and all the cactus.

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A Note from the Social Committee

The Pancake Breakfast was a success. We feed 45 people and the firemen gave us some really good tips on how to protect our property from wild fires. We appreciate all the support we were given at this event and all the social events we do as a social committee.
Thanks again.

The Cookie and Candy Exchange had a very good attendance. Lots of good food, lots of good cookies for everyone to take home. A fun time was had by all and Cookie did a great job in leading us in Christmas Carols, Thanks Cookie.

Judy, was a wonderful hostess and her house was a show place for all the beautiful Christmas decorations.
Thanks Judy, you are a special person.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR from the social committee.

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This and That

Cheryll & Wynn Mabray's daughter, Meryll, got married here on July 16, to Ryan Hodson of Sugarland, Texas. Meryll was a 2004 Llano High School graduate, graduated with an Elementary Education degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2009 and is a 1st grade teacher in Fort Bend ISD with an English as second language certification. She & Ryan live in Richmond, Texas.

Annyka Rose Marie has arrived and is beautiful (according to Grandmother Jobena Marie Climon) just like her mother.

Bill and Jo Manno are celebrating the arrival of their second great-grandbaby - Elana Marie was born July 9 and lives with her parents in Alhambra, Illinois. She welcomed her father home from Afghanistan the first week of December.

We have one local candidate living in our midst and she wants you to know that she will appreciate your support. Cheryll Mabray currently serves as Llano County Attorney and, incidentally, is a valued addition to our Oak Ridge Property Owners Board.

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Oak Ridge Estates POA Financial Statements

OAK RIDGE ESTATES POA
Income Statement
May 1 - November 30, 2011

OAK RIDGE ESTATES POA
Balance Sheet
As of November 30, 2011

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