Aug 3, 2026 Board Minutes
Officers & Board Member Discussion
Current officers and geographic representation. Susan Stair has resigned as vice president; the website was updated. The executive committee currently includes four people. East needs at least one additional board member. West currently has Andretti, Jen, and Lynn. North has Larry and Jennifer. Finding someone from East remains a priority.
Recruit at least one more East representative.
No formal action beyond the email already sent to Susan was identified as still required.
Contractors and local crews
Opening conversation: work often goes more smoothly when homeowners deal directly with crews (including Spanish-speaking crews, with a translator such as Luis) rather than only through general contractors. Examples included a Coral Bay driveway/rebar job and a 22' × 40' slab behind Shambles that was far cheaper than contractor bids. Caution: smaller Dominican Republic crews may not have cash-flow or scale for a ~$150,000 lump-sum job; they may fit smaller scopes.
Cenni / 501 litigation and closing discussed
Parcel 197 closed new owners unknown (management Mike Weber : off island)
Collected owed dues from liens at closing ~$15K
Liberty / civil forfeiture
Liberty: CH 195 + Boatman 15a-3-1, 15a-3-2 Rendezvous
On the 30th, counsel agreed to civil forfeiture of three properties (described as two in Bolton Point and one in Chicago). No one in the room was sure how USVI forfeiture auctions work. Suggestion: have Mallory advise so the lots do not pass to an incompatible use.
Pond Bay
Original Pond Bay documents uniquely allowed a “survive”/subdivision path others do not have. One back lot has sold; Building 5E was partitioned to residential but access/deed issues remain. Discussion of whether to put a written challenge on file regarding DPNR/CZM handling, even if government is unlikely to unwind deeded lots.
Liens, delinquencies, and collections
Figures as spoken in the meeting (confirm against bookkeeper reports):
Policy: lien anyone who is more than two years behind rather than scrambling at closing. East dues cited at ~$1,820, so a two-year threshold is roughly $3,500. Some mailed notices came back undelivered. Consensus that a government lien can still be filed using the recorded address even if the friendly letter bounced.
Parcel #168 should get a formal mailed letter (they do respond by mail).
Research past due on Parcel #19
Housekeeping
Two recent closings should have released liens;
#197
#31
Double-check Susan’s corrections to lien statuses.
Jen & Andretti can draft lien packets; secretary process + notary + recording to be split so the work is not left to one person.
Deeds, recorder access, and bylaws
Interest in sampling warranty deeds (especially transfers before/after ~2006) for HOA language, non-subdivision clauses, and membership. One owner claims his deed does not mention the club.
Suggestion to buy annual Recorder of Deeds login (ballpark: low hundreds, not thousands) Amending a deed on a future sale requires both sides to agree.
Bylaw changes were flagged as the most time-consuming legal project (attorney + likely more than one annual meeting). Park legal-budget and bylaws talk until the November/ December meeting, after road spend is clearer (more than $150k under discussion).
Roads : Requests, Bidding & Maintenance
North: Harley Smith
East: Steve Butcher
West: Jeremy Prudhomme
West has ~$95,000 of requests and ~$60,000 in the bank
Prior practice mixed member discussion at the annual meeting with later board/executive allocation using a formula (cars served, not just who speaks up).
West concrete batch quote discussed: $45,860; West has ~$60k so can do that plus a smaller piece
Maintenance
Get three bids for general road maintenance (plants and, more importantly, culverts/gutters, Tree over hang every month).
East: (currently Miles runs landscaping) grooming runs roughly ~$1,500 some months; drains and tree hang over growth on banks are not consistently done.)
Construction impact fees (1%)
The 1% construction/road-protection fee is weakly enforced. People rarely ask for refunds after completion; some never pay. Permit values understate real spend (example: DPNR permit $838,000 vs. estimated ~$2M actual, including a large concrete driveway and many trucks on one-lane Croton).
Ideas: photograph before/after; require a last-chunk road repair instead of or in addition to cash; consider a flat construction assessment on sale/conversion. No vote taken.
Maintenance of HOA beach paths to be discussed at next meeting
Other property / neighbor issues
MAMPOO ROAD: Parcel #136 / 135: drainage work helped (~90% of water off the road). #135 owner requested s a document preserving a driveway location before signing anything. This falls on shoulders #136 & #135 Owners, not on HOA.
Poinsettia : middle section failing (thin concrete, water underneath, ~¾ lane). History of water-truck traffic after cistern leaks. Two years out on the list; debate whether to jump the queue.
Banking and administration
Roughly $730,000 on hand; far above one-bank insurance comfort. In the process of moving from FirstBank to Merchants was called a good decision. Merchants sent paperwork to complete. Suggestion to split balances.
New official address: board@echla.org
Website form goes to that email now, not the old Gmail.
Export and forward the old Gmail; stop using personal Gmail for official mail so Sectary and Bookkeeper records stay in one place.
Board ONLY internal webpage (passworded) started as a shared punch list: permits, West, HOA letters, beautification, virtual meetings, lien tracker, realtor closings.
Action items
Items parked to November
How much to allocate to legal after road bids land.
Bylaw revision timeline and attorney scope.
Whether to change the two-year / dollar threshold for automatic liens.
Construction-fee redesign (1% vs. flat vs. last-segment road repair).
Sampling deeds for missing HOA language.