Ascot Homeowners Association
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting -- Tuesday, March 8, 2005
Prepared by Secretary, Scott Rackham

The Ascot Homeowners Association Board of Directors met at the home of Dunbar and Lars Okeson on the 8th of March, 2005, beginning at 7:30 pm. All five current Board members were present -- Claudia Raffman, Dave Peirce, Anna Wood, Lars Okeson, and Scott Rackham. New Ascot homeowner Sassan (Sam) Firouzgar also attended for part of the meeting.

Common Grounds Maintenance

Anna Wood reported that she had contacted Sunrise, the grounds maintenance company that did the mowing and other grounds care work for the Association last year, and asked them to continue this year under the same basic rates as they offered last year, but with only one round of pruning. She will contact them again and discuss whether any pruning at all is needed this year.

Association Dues

Lars Okeson reported that year 2005 dues payments had been received from 59 of the 69 homeowner families as of the date of the March meeting.

Tennis Court

The Board discussed scheduling of a date for a Special Meeting of the Association members, as required by covenants and Association bylaws (online at www.ascotwalk.org), to vote on the Board's recommendation of a special assessment to fund an overlay repair of the tennis court. Lars Okeson has prepared a write-up of his research on options for repairing the tennis court, on the history of the Ascot tennis court, and on how much the Association has spent on the tennis court and on other expenses over the past seventeen years. His summary financial statements for each of the years 1988-2004 are posted on the Ascot Web site. In order to provide thirty days notice and still have time hopefully to arrange for repairs during this year, Board members agreed to distribute Lars' research, a cover letter from Claudia Raffman, and a proxy form before the 12th of March. (This was done. The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 PM on Thursday evening, 14 April, at the Forestville Elementary School, across route 7 from Ascot, on Utterback Store Road.)

Of nineteen homeowner families who have contacted the Board to express an opinion over the past few months, eight have been in favor of repairing the tennis court, eight have been opposed, and three have been open to discussion. In addition, all five Board members are in favor of the suggested special assessment to invest in the repair of the tennis court.

February Minutes Approved

The minutes from the February meeting of the Board were approved as distributed.

Next Meeting

The next meeting of the Board will be at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, the 5th of April, at the home of Claudia and Mark Raffman.

Respectfully submitted,
Scott Rackham
Secretary

COMMUNITY NOTES:

Comment from the Secretary

Required quorum for the Special Meeting, counting proxies and persons in actual attendance, will be sixty percent of the membership (or forty-two homes) and passage of any special assessment will require a two-thirds majority. Your vote is important. Please contact any Board member with questions you may have about the Board's research. I would urge each of you, before you decide how to vote, to stop by the tennis court and take a look at it. If you're concerned about the tale of the tennis court being built over a spring, look for any evidence of a stream flowing out from under the tennis court (and ask yourself where the water for a spring would ever come from). Decide for yourself whether the tennis court is a valuable enough asset for you to be willing to invest up to $235, this year, to make it whole. If you can't attend the meeting, please use the proxy form (attached) to designate another Association member you trust to vote for you, and tell them how to vote. If you assign me, the Secretary, as your proxy, I will cast your vote as you instruct me, or, if you do not give me other instructions, will vote it in favor of the special assessment.

Contacting the Board

Homeowners are welcome to contact the Board about the tennis court or other community concerns. Write to Ascot Homeowners Association, PO Box 934, Great Falls, Virginia 22066-0934. Contact any Board member. Or send email --