I want to thank our residents for being involved with the association and attending our meetings.

Our attendance at our board and annual meetings is much higher than those in Punta Gorda Isles, Burnt Store Isles, Burnt Store Meadows, Herons Glen and Burnt Store Marina. All of these associations have many more homes and residents than we do. The only recent exception is that Burnt Store Marina has had higher turnouts as the board has had special sessions. They recently lost the lawsuit where the court said the board exceeded their authority by leasing the golf course, and they are explaining to the residents why and how they are appealing the decision. The true winners in this battle may be the attorneys’ as each side fees are approaching fifty thousand dollars.

Our resident attendance is greater because of our excellent communications through our web page, the Grapevine, email system and personal contact with residents. We also have more informative presentations by outside organizations than the other associations.

At Burnt Store Meadows with over 500 homes, they only get an average of 20 residents attending a board meeting. Burnt Store Marina, with 1900 units, rarely exceeds 100 residents at any board meeting. I thank you for attending our meetings.

I also thank all the committees for their great work. The amount of work these committees do is outstanding and benefits all our residents. We have over 125 members that serve on committees (17% of our in-season population). You will hear their accomplishments as they make their reports today.

I thank all the directors for their contributions during the past year. No, we certainly did not agree on all issues, but we were able to work through those. We always tried to do what was best for the community.

We negotiated a new two year contract with Greenscapes. This is a firm price contract. The price increase after the previous two year firm price contract was only 3%. We are seeing improvements in weed control as these programs are now entering their second year using improved products. Yes, we are aware there are complaints, but no more than other associations that use different contractors.

We renewed the agreement with Greenscapes for storm related vegetation removal. This agreement gives them the authority to enter our property and remove vegetation to keep our roads open. Approval by the board is not necessary for this service to start. This agreement only kicks in when vegetation from a storm blocks our roads.

We negotiated a new two year contract with Star Hospitality at a 5% increase over the previous two year firm price contract. The performance of Star keeps improving each year, and we have developed an excellent working relationship with them.

The board has spent numerous hours working on the easement dispute which still has not been resolved.

This is the easement that runs from the Seminole Lakes Plaza behind our guardhouse. Those hours spent doing research has saved us thousands of dollars in attorney fees as we developed the history and secured many of the documents. However, we also have spent thousands of dollars in attorney fees defending our rights. The board is prevented per legal advice at this time from giving any other details.

We continue as a member of the South Charlotte County Coalition, a group of eleven Homeowner Associations with common goals. I am the representative for that group and Nick Cole is the alternate. Knowing the presidents of the other ten homeowner associations also has provided benefits. We are fortunate that some directors in Seminole Lakes have a higher level of knowledge with the governing documents, Florida laws, and statutes than those associations. This is because some of those boards have turnovers annually, and gaining this knowledge in just one year is difficult. In other cases, such as Burnt Store Meadows, all their directors work full time not giving them sufficient time to do the research necessary or attend seminars.

I represent Seminole Lakes on the City Land Development Regulations Committee. The function of that committee is to give the Homeowner Associations a chance to review proposed changes to the Land Review regulations and ordinances before they go to the planning commission and City Council for review and possible approval. Some recommendations have been killed in that committee because they would not be feasible in deed-restricted communities. New proposals in the works are to review artificial grass as a substitute for real grass, changes in the percent of grass required, and a move towards drought resistant plantings, the lighting and landscaping around commercial buildings, and maximum height of buildings. In any year there are hundreds of proposed changes that come before the committee.

Our involvement with the SCCC and Land Review Committees also brings us in direct contact with a number of city and county officials. Those contacts have been very beneficial to Seminole Lakes.

The board continues to be a member of the Community Association Institute. This is a national organization with local chapters whose goals are assisting associations to succeed. This group distributes timely homeowner association information to all their members and also sponsors seminars. Our attorney, Becker & Poliakoff, continues to perform valuable legal services to the POA. They also sponsor legal seminars where some of our directors attend each year. It is important to attend these seminars to be up-to-date on the latest changes to laws that affect Homeowner Associations. There are changes almost every year to the Florida statutes for Homeowner Associations.

The Burnt Store Road expansion project is now in the right-of way acquisition process.

The widening project will result in two additional lanes on Seminole Lakes side of the road. That, plus a planned sidewalk will bring the sidewalk close to the concrete electrical poles near our wall. We have requested the county to review installing a sound barrier wall on our side of Burnt Store Road. The last response from the county is that it is not feasible or cost/effective to install this wall. We will continue to pursue this issue. The schedule has changed many times and the latest is that the bridge near Hwy 41 will be replaced late this year.

The construction of the new fire hall on Acline Road will begin shortly as the final permits have been received. As this fire hall is within a half mile of our back gate, this is a plus for Seminole Lakes. Let your insurance company know.

Jim Lacktis, along with a few other residents, have organized a group consisting of singles in Seminole Lakes. We have over 105 adult single residents or 14% of in-season residents. They have many activities planned, and the board offers their assistance to help them get established.

As you can see from this report, the board has been extremely active serving our residents which is their only function. All directors and boards serve at the will of the residents. You are the only ones that can elect or recall directors. I personally thank all our residents for supporting the board through some difficult situations. Fortunately, we will continue with some experienced directors on the next board.

I now challenge the new board to continue to be honest and effectively represent the residents. Any director elected for the first time is challenged to become educated on all the laws by taking advantage of the educational opportunities provided by the Community Association Institute and our attorney. Being a director in Seminole Lakes is a full-time profession.

Thank You

Bob Toth
President