BOARD APPROVED AS CORRECTED FEBRUARY 15, 2010

TRAILER ESTATES PARK & RECREATION DISTRICT

BOARD OF TRUSTEES WORKSHOP

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

9:30 A.M.

SMALL HALL

1903 69^TH AVENUE WEST

BRADENTON, FL 34207

The meeting was called to order at 9:32 a.m. by Chairman Martha Brauer.

Loans from individuals and the marina were added to the agenda.

1. Annual review of leases and fees

a. PP54—the amounts listed as fees on this PP already cover our phone bills for faxes. Trustees feel no revisions are necessary on this form except for changing the year.

b. Contracts—There is no new lease with Hix. He is a “tenant at will.” Hix pays 6.5 percent sales tax. Pam will speak with him about signing a lease.

Post Office—When does Linda negotiate the Post Office contract? Pam will meet with her.

Laundry—We received no money in 2009 and 2010. Joe spoke with the owner. The owner made $12,000. His lease is up in 2013. Our present contract is in the renewal stage. Joe says the lease doesn’t give us any out; but since the owner isn’t paying rent, perhaps we can get out of the lease. If we take it over, we would at least break even. Martha feels we should have the attorney look at the lease and then see what we might do to take it over.

Church—The contract is good until 2012. Trustees feel we should keep the rent the same.

Brighthouse—The lease is through Sept. 1, 2012.

Trash—Contract expires in Feb. 2011. Joe met with Waste Pro. Waste Management will not increase our rates in the new contract. Joe was told that picking up trash on one side of the street only wouldn’t lower our costs. We should wait for more information.

County Storage Lot—Have we paid rent to the county for the storage lot? Yes. We paid it in the summer of 2009. It is listed under Miscellaneous Expense.

The figures Joe gave are actually half as much as the ones given.

Harry Splett, 2104 OH—He recommends we do not sign a marina lease until we negotiate better ramp access. Do we have a contract with Manatee County to do work on their property? Answer: We have an agreement not a contract. He recommends we go back 30 percent on our boat slips.

Ken: We have had several problems with transients coming into the marina.

Bev Lew, 2008 IL—She believes she bought common property, which includes the marina, when she purchased a place in the park. Do we pay additional taxes for Hix to rent it? Owners should be able to use the marina. How many times does the church use our property? We should figure cost per square foot of things we own so we can effectively charge for them.

Martha—Boat and storage fees have not been raised since 2005.

Gail—We have been over the marina and the church before. Residents may bring forward anything they want to, but Gail feels we have discussed this enough and should move on. There are not enough slips in the marina for every owner to have one. Not every park owner is waiting to get one. If we as owners have to share marina slips, Gail will get her time. Perhaps four owners will have to share one slip. Cost accounting—figuring cost per square inch--is not an effective use of our time or our money in a small mobile home park. Gail would be willing to listen to anyone who can show her something different even though she has stated how she feels.

Martha—The marina is a place where your personal property is stored and is not available to others.

Martha--FYI on a complaint filed by resident (s) in regards to the TE kitchen with the Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants. Martha learned from John Vander Molen that the Department of Community identifies us as a mobile home park. If we are a mobile home park, our kitchen does not need to be licensed. Martha will check into this.

Gail—Continual complaints filed against our park will reduce our property values. She feels whether or not we’re a mobile home park is a moot point as she hasn’t seen condos or houses on our property, only trailers.

Martha—Three personal complaints have been filed against her by park residents. She proved that none of them were valid.

Joe—The kitchen report is very good.

Martha—We were told we need a covered dumpster for trash.

2. Loans From Individuals

Martha passed out a sheet showing the loans and their repayment. Martha said we will accept loans from Feb. 15-28 and then again from April 15-30. Martha was asked by a resident if we would consider family members of residents contributing as long as they are not related to trustees. Everyone agreed that was fine. Martha reported that our total, if all goes as it now shows, is at $460,000. Many thanks were offered for all those who have given loans to Trailer Estates.

Gail wondered if people could contribute who are neither residents nor family members of residents.

Harry Splett, 2104 OH—Can ex-board members invest even if they have been named in the court case. Answer: “Yes.”

Lenora Neal, 6619 CA—Even our sign says, “Trailer” Estates.

Bev Lew, 2008 IL—Says she did file a complaint after questions about the Christmas dinner. She believes our insurance will not pay if someone gets ill from food served in our kitchen.

Martha—Mobile home parks have great latitude.

Pam—Will call to see if our insurance covers someone who gets sick in our kitchen.

Ken—No one should complain about our kitchen.

3. Legal Expenses

Martha stated that due to the trial coming up, Kirk Pinkerton needs a $100,000 retainer. She was told we have to approve the payment of bills and then approve the payment plan. Martha will bring a motion forward to do this.

Gail—Just last week we approved a payment plan that Kirk Pinkerton agreed to at $15,000 and now they want $100,000. That doesn’t seem right. Please tell them we don’t want any more surprises.

Martha—will ask the lawyers to separate litigation from regular attorney bills.

Bill Secraw, 1803 NY—Do we have a contract with Kirk Pinkerton? Can we negotiate rates with the attorneys? He was at the court hearing on Friday in regards to computer searches of non-party computers. Said there were e-mails not produced but the judge ruled against the plaintiffs and said such computer searches were overly broad.

Lonny Stanley, 6620 NJ—He is getting concerned about our attorneys. He feels we should make known to the residents who the complainers in the park are. He wants to know who makes him pay all these expenses.

Harry Splett, 2104 OH—He feels the attorney expenses are too high.

Martha--$100,000 is not more money but just a different time frame in which the attorneys get their money. Attorneys of the caliber of Kirk Pinkerton normally get $300-$350 per hour but are charging us $225 per hour. She also said over 10,000 papers have been checked in the office. She stated she produced e-mails when she was first subpoenaed but was not, according to her interpretation of her request for a depo, required to reproduce e-mails she had already produced. She interpreted her request for a depo differently than the plaintiff’s attorneys.

Gail—Did not attend the court hearing on Friday even though her computer was subpoenaed because she did not agree with a search of her computer. She stated she had followed the Venice case closely and was careful what she did on her computer and was not concerned if her computer had been searched and would have turned it in if the judge had required it. She feels, though, that such a search is an invasion of privacy. We have laws against search and seizure and Gail feels a computer search is a seizure and search, which is wrong in her opinion. Computers contain too much private information to be searched.

4. Martha felt the marina topic that had been added to the agenda for today should be discussed at another workshop. Ken agreed. The topic was tabled.

Update on 1803 Indiana: Jim reported he had checked into it and there are no pets there. Neighbors said someone came and took the pets and cleaned the place.

Fred asked if there is any update on the gate by the shopping center. Martha said the owner said he would check into it and get back with her but hasn’t done so yet.

5. 2010-2011 Budget

Pam first went over the 2009-2010 amended budget. She was advised to amend the budget before we pay any more attorney fees. The discussion regarding our ability to pay the attorney’s fee determined that we can pay the fees since we haven’t gone over the budget. We will vote on the amended budget on Feb. 22. Pam also went over the new 2010-2011 budget.

Herb MacFarlane, 6606 Washington, a member of the Budget Committee, was elected by the committee to speak on their behalf. He stated the committee’s concern is the large increase in legal expenses. Before the lawsuit, we had $500,000 in our reserve fund. He looked into past assessments. The first bump in the assessment occurred in the 2008-2009 budget. In the 2009-2010 budget, there was an increase in the assessment of $169. The proposed increase in the 2010-2011 budget is $285. 2012 could be the last of the big assessments. He listed the following cost cutting ideas that have emerged from the Budget Committee:

a. On a short term basis, we should try to get along on a 35-hour work week for our Maintenance Department. This would save us $25,000 a year as well as a savings of $5,000 on IRA contributions. Should we have four maintenance people or three?

b. Trash savings.

c. Manatee County arrangement. We can save money if we don’t cut county property.

d. Laundry—It has become a “convenient cost,” which is not good business.

Joe: He read the memo from Harry Splett and talked with Mark and learned it takes seven man hours every ten days to mow the county property. The cost: $11.62 per hour. The county mows once every four to five weeks. He remembers how tall the grass used to get and the rats it attracted.

Martha: The county is required to mow only four times a year. Income is $27,000 on the storage lot.

Gail: She also read Harry’s memo which stated “it is illegal to spend district funds that are not in the budget.” It is her understanding that a budget is just a plan and can be changed and funds can be spent that are not budgeted. Harry also wrote that “it is illegal to spend district funds on property other than our own.” Gail expressed her opinion that Harry’s statement is not a fact.

Ken: Wondered about savings on trash.

Joe: Motion detectors for lights don’t work as well as some things. You could do a better job of turning off lights. He felt we might be able to get by with fewer lights in the parking lot since Pam let us know those lights cost $3,000 a month. He also felt we should not decrease the hours of our employees. He has known them for 20 years and knows how good, hard-working and honest they are.

Harry Splett, 2104 OH—He stated that the meeting was a good democracy. He wants us to find out what we are spending on someone else’s—the county’s--property. Joe stated he would do that.

Jennie Battaglia, 6626 Nebraska—Wonders why it is necessary to increase benefits for our employees. She doesn’t feel that in bad times we should give any more no matter how good our employees are.

Martha: Stated the benefits are not being increased and she disagrees vehemently changing things where our employees are concerned. She feels that if we cut the hours of our employees from 40 to 35, they will look elsewhere for employment.

Announcements

TE resident John Brown was recently elected to the U.S. National Shuffleboard Hall of Fame. Residents offered their congratulations.

The Bocce Club has requested a bulletin board. Gail will check into it.

Sharon Denson asked Gail to notify residents that the Let’s Talk Club will collect the following items Saturday, Feb. 20, for recycling: Portable TV’s, computers, monitors, keyboards, CD players, VCR’s cell phones, DVD players/recorders. All items must have the resident’s address on them. Bring items to the overflow lot Saturday morning. Gail reminded residents to remove chips from cell phones and destroy hard drives in computers to protect personal information.

Trash pickups will change next week due to the President’s Day holiday. Tuesday’s trash pickup will be Wednesday and Friday’s pickup will be Saturday.

The workshop was adjourned at 1:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Gail Opper, Secretary