DRAFT

TRAILER ESTATES PARK & RECREATION DISTRICT

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETING

MAY 3, 2010

9:30 A.M.

SMALL HALL

1903 69^TH AVENUE WEST

BRADENTON, FL 34207

The meeting was called to order at 9:30 a.m. by 1^st Vice Chair Gail Opper.

ROLL CALL: Pam Cole, Margo Cushman, Fred Hoch, Gail Opper and Joe Salerno.

Absent: Martha Brauer, Harry Fitzpatrick, Jim McIlveen. Harry arrived at 9:43 a.m.

Gail read a memo from Martha asking to take part via telephone, due to her health problems that took her north, in both the meeting and the Litigation Assessment session. A motion was made by Margo and seconded by Joe to allow Martha to take part in both meetings. Motion passed 5-0.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

April 19, 2010 Meeting—A motion was made by Joe, seconded by Pam, to approve the minutes. With no discussion, the minutes were approved as written, 7-0.

April 26, 2010 Workshop—A motion was made by Joe, seconded by Margo, to approve the minutes. With no discussion, the minutes were approved as written, 7-0.

April 26, 2010 Meeting—A motion was made by Margo, seconded by Joe, to approve the minutes. With no discussion, the minutes were approved as written, 7-0.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Balance in the checking account: $201,012. Balance in the Money Market: $1,299,325.12. Miscellaneous Income dropped because we took money--$19,269—from the notes and put it in a liability account. That balance is $735,965.

APPROVAL OF BILLS

We received a bill from Attorney Dan Scott for $3,360. We paid $5,000 in April. He gets another $5,000 in May. The balance is $9,731. Pam made a motion, seconded by Joe, to pay the bill for Attorney Dan Scott. Motion passed 7-0.

We also received a bill for $2,400 from the transcribers plus another for $206.44. A vote is not required.

REPORTS OF TRUSTEES

Pam—On Monday, May 17, she will be gone to a symposium, sponsored by Florida League of Cities, on disaster situations. There is no cost to the park. The symposium is in Palmetto and anyone interested is welcome to go with Pam. There will be no Board meeting on May 17 due to a lack of a quorum.

Joe—Called Washco. We can control the hours of the Laundromat because the hours are not part of the lease.

Margo—Sent 16 cards due to illness and there were 5 deaths.

Fred—No report.

Harry—No report.

Martha—She is working on the kitchen and sent our policy to Tallahassee. We received two more complaints—6508 and 6515 Nebraska. Martha is working with Lou Orsini from Adams & Reese about this. She will write George Sipich a letter when she gets more information. The fax machine and date stamp machine expired. Martha asked Pam how we are doing in office expenses. Pam replied that to date, we have spent $8,808.52. The amount budgeted is $16,000.

Gail—At the April 26 meeting, Bev Lew said she got a copy of the police report from the April 19 disturbance and the report is wrong. Gail asked Bev if she could please turn a copy of the report into the office because Gail called the Sheriff’s Office and spoke with Pat in Records who, after much searching, stated that she could find no police report but she would transfer Gail to a deputy who might help her. Deputy Casey searched and searched and found no police report and no case number. Without a case number, there can be no report. She said the responding officer would call Gail. The officer called the next day to say she had not written a police report. On Friday, Gail went to the police station and was told again there was no police report, but there is an intake screen that can be copied for the public. Gail got a copy of that and read it at today’s meeting, explaining that she found nothing but the truth in the report.

Gail also stated that she walked by the bulletin board at the post office and noticed that the item placed there by Chet Force had been written on. Though the remarks weren’t bad, they were inappropriate. Normally Gail would have taken that down; but Chet had spoken at a Board meeting that if his item was removed, he would remove everyone else’s and went on to say, “That’s not a threat. It’s a promise.” So, Gail had to make a decision that was right for the entire park. Thus, she left Chet’s item on the board. The next time she walked by, Chet’s item had been taken off the board by someone else.

Pam—wants the Board to know that volunteers are covered by liability insurance.

REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES—No reports.

RESIDENTS COMMENTS

George Sipich, 6517 Nebraska—He had a rental at 6511 Nebraska in the 80’s. We now have no way to check on renters. There was a sex offender apprehended on Arizona who was not registered. There has also been an attempted robbery. Linda Brush has only five violations recorded. She presently has an underage person staying there and has had her grandson there. She has a dog with no tags. There are teenagers at 6508 Nebraska.

Geraldine Stoner, 6519 NJ—She read a letter from Candy Chorman, 6521 NJ. She is tired of the negative behavior but not tired of the lawsuit. We need to get back to basics.

Billy Buckenburger, 1807 WI—She submitted a request for pavers and wondered when she’d hear about her request.

Pam: The ARC Committee handles it. The office can help her.

Connie Zack, 6819 MA—She wants to thank the TE Fire Department who responded to the tornado as well as the Sheriff Department. Both patrolled the TE streets all night. The Board should write a letter of thanks.

Gail agreed to write the letter.

Mary Huston, 1714 MN—Joe, have you submitted the times for the laundry? Why couldn’t we open it three days a week? Doesn’t our Charter say we have to have a business meeting?

Pam: It also says we have to have a quorum.

Ruth Schneider, 1918 IN—Do some people have any joy in their lives? Seems people purposely go out of their way to hurt other people.

Margo Cushman, 2004 FL—Speaking as a resident, she wants to thank someone who put a flower in her box.

TRUSTEE COMMENTS

Gail: To Mr. Sipich, there is increasing crime everywhere not just in Trailer Estates. To Ms. Chorman, there are two sides to every story. We have not paid $750,000 to the lawsuit. If we don’t cover the trustees, no one would run for office.

Martha: Everyone can have a different perception of what happened, but we have to act according to our Charter. If found guilty, the trustees will have to repay the park. If there is no quorum, a Board meeting cannot be held. This does not break the law. Martha believes the fence issue on her property is harassment. It is in the proper location and is repaired and maintained. There is no violation. Martha announced that Ken Ilg has resigned. She called all the volunteers. Mary Lou McNulty will have April and May coffee breaks and will make a decision about summer coffee breaks later. Arrangements are made through August for Bingo and are being made for the fall. Dances will continue. Notices will be on Channel 95. There will be no potlucks for the summer. Martha appointed Fred as new liaison to the ARC Committee.

Harry: Commenting on Candy’s letter: We need to try to understand what happens. He feels no one has done anything to harm the people in the park. Try to understand both sides.

Attorney Mark Barnebey arrived and made a request for a Litigation Assessment session. Gail read a list of people eligible to attend the session. The Board meeting was recessed at 10:48 a.m. When the Litigation Assessment session ended, the Board returned to the Small Hall announcing that the Litigation Assessment had been recessed until 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 4, in the Small Hall. The Board recessed for lunch until 2 p.m.

The Board meeting resumed at 2 p.m.

ROLL CALL: Pam Cole, Margo Cushman, Harry Fitzpatrick, Fred Hoch, Gail Opper, Joe Salerno. Absent: Jim McIlveen. Martha Brauer was with us via telephone.

OLD BUSINESS

1. Laundry. Joe passed out information he gathered from Tri Par, who owns their own laundry. Joe suggested our laundry hours be: Monday-Friday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Saturday, 7 a.m.-9 p.m.; closed Sunday. This will be effective immediately. Joe will put the information on Channel 95.

Pam: The laundry isn’t cleaned every day.

Joe: We should check on that. We should do something with the hot water by using an automatic timer.

Harry: What’s the charge for our washers?

Pam: It’s $1 for 48 minutes to dry. The 18 lb. washer is $1.50 and the large washer is $2.25.

Joe: Our contract is up in 2013 but the man from Washco doesn’t want to get out of it. Joe will make a sign with the new hours for the laundry on it.

2. Marina Lease—in regards to the clause about a renter’s signature, the attorneys feel it is unnecessary. This clause has no impact legally. The Board consensus is that we should leave the clause out.

3. Appointment of Dockmaster and Assistant Dockmasters—Martha has some concerns: 1) liability, 2) failure to act, 3) actions when they are asked to do something, 4) dependability, regularity and routine. Martha feels that Bruce sees a different vision for the marina. We are requiring things he doesn’t want to do.

Fred: Does Bruce really want to be Dockmaster?

Martha: She called Bruce two times; he didn’t return her calls. She left a message and he didn’t call.

Harry: You have given him ample time to answer.

Joe: Bruce didn’t come today; I am disappointed in that. I want to address this concern about insurance coverage. I called Andy Hansen. He says volunteers are covered.

Gail: People usually are released from a job based on something they did wrong. Is that true in this case?

Harry: Gail and I have admitted that we don’t know much about marinas, and we should trust those who know what we don’t know.

Pam: We have had a Dockmaster for years and all has been fine. I have concerns about having an employee do the work. They wouldn’t give out much advice. What will create a liability?

Harry: Hurricanes give advanced warnings. At lease three other people have been asked and would do the job.

At this point, Bruce came to the meeting. Joe made a motion, seconded by Fred, to allow Bruce to speak to the Board. Motion passed 7-0.

Bruce: I have been the Dockmaster for five years. We have had no complaints. We get in trouble when a lot of people aren’t here. We had a public meeting.

Martha: We had a public meeting, too, and they refused to come. They didn’t come to our meeting when asked. There have been complaints against them.

Bruce: I will not continue as Dockmaster because of the personal attacks.

Martha: This is not a personal attack.

Harry: It seems there is a problem between you and Martha. Why didn’t you respond to her?

Bruce: The first time I had some personal problems. The second time I did meet with her.

Martha: Ken wanted to meet with the Dockmaster and not the Assistants. They didn’t want to do that. Frank Riedel was always very cooperative.

Joe: We had nine members of the Board go over these (marina rules). Would you follow all of these?

Bruce: Some would have to be changed.

Gail: The Board makes the rules and the volunteers are expected to follow them. If you don’t like a rule, you can work to change it; but in the meantime, you have to follow it.

Martha made a motion, seconded by Fred, to suspend the current policy requirement of having a dockmaster and assistants and instead have the duties incorporated into our employees’ responsibilities.

Harry: I am more up in the air on it now than I was before.

Vote was taken. Motion passed 6-1, with Pam voting against the motion.

Harry suggested we bring Ken back on the Board.

Gail: We can’t do that. Once he resigned, that was it.

Martha: We can suspend the policy and fill the vacancy. How should we handle this?

Pam: Why have a policy if we suspend it all the time.

The Board agreed we should wait until fall to fill the trustee vacancy.

4. Behavior Policy 58A

Attorney Mark Barnebey looked over the policy we wrote in regards to behavior at Board meetings. He made some changes bases on case law and included committees in the new policy. The trustees compared what Mr. Barnebey wrote with what we had written. The Board agreed there were few changes.

Margo made a motion, Pam seconded, to adopt PP58A as amended by Mark Barnebey. Motion passed, 7-0.

5. Signs on County Property

A resident asked the county about putting up signs regarding picking up after your dog. Kaycee Ellis of Citizens Action wrote back about how the signs should read. They can be placed on county property with Board action.

Fred: We don’t want to place these signs where the men have to get off the mower due to the sign.

Martha: It would be helpful to have these signs.

A motion was made by Margo, seconded by Fred, to allow dog signs to be placed on county property within Trailer Estates. The motion passed, 7-0.

6. Ideas about meetings.

Gail’s neighbor suggested to her that the Board consider having meetings twice a month rather than four times a month—Workshop first and Meeting second every other Monday. That would give the Board a break. Gail asked the Board to think about this over the summer and she’ll bring it up in the fall.

Martha mentioned health insurance for our employees. A company will bid only $1,000 deductible. Our present insurance has a $250 deductible.

The meeting was continued to 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 4, in the Small Hall.

Respectfully submitted,

Gail Opper, Secretary