Beechwood Estates | Athens Ohio | Route 50

Meeting at Beechwood Lake, Sunday, September 29th, 2024, 3pm

In attendance John & Helen King, Roman Warmke, Bill White, Ashley & Nathan Clink (and kids), Corrie Callaghan.

Call to order, Roman wrapped up 2024 HOA dues with the following report:

24 Homes paid totaling income of $1,400.00 … fifty bucks shy of a record! Our balance at the bank is a healthy $2,572.00, more than enough to pay the property taxes, insurance fees on the lake, and electric bills on the two security lights until next year’s efforts resume. A special thanks to Scott and Marcia Cornell for the additional $150, and Tony Sylvester for the extra $50.

AEP Security Light Discussion

Roman showed the bills from AEP wherein we pay about $500 per year to keep two street security lights running, and put out the idea of turning them off to save money, which was not well received. Bill White volunteered to contact AEP for alternative energy sources which may be cheaper (solar, LED.)

Lake Discussion

The lake water is still pretty bad even after the city came thru and hooked most of us up to their sewer system. Bill White Volunteered to contact Rural Action to have another water quality test done.

Elections

2025 Trustees will be: – John King (President), – Roman Warmke (Secretary-Treasurer) and our 4 other Trustee Volunteers include – Michael Small, – Bill White, – Nathan Clink, and – Ashley Clink.

Next meeting someday… stay tuned!

Hello Beechwood Neighbors,

Annual residential fees are due. The dues are $50 per household.

We collect about $1500 per year and spend the same, (3 light poles, property tax on the lake, and insurance on the lake) and we have a balance of about $1,653 in our account, down ($150ish) from this time last year, and further down from a high of $1,918 this time in 2019.

You can pay online below. If you prefer to pay by check you can do so:

Beechwood Estates
6933 Beechwood Drive
Athens, Ohio 45701

Important! Make checks out to “Beechwood Estates”

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Pay online using your credit card here:

Hello Beechwood Neighbors,

Annual residential fees are due. The dues are $50 per household.

We collect about $1500 per year and spend the same, (3 light poles, property tax on the lake, and insurance on the lake) and we have a balance of about $1,780 in our account, down from $1,918 this time last year.

You can pay online below. If you prefer to pay by check you can do so:

Beechwood Estates
6933 Beechwood Drive
Athens, Ohio 45701

Important! Make checks out to “Beechwood Estates”

—-

Pay online using your credit card here:

This meeting at 6885 Beechwood was attended by Ed Peterson (Trustee-President), Roman Warmke (Trustee-Treasurer), John and Helen King (shared Trustee position), John Scott, and Caryn Asleson. Mike Small (Trustee-Secretary) and Mark Van Hook (Trustee) were unable to attend.

We reviewed the Bylaws of the legal document entitled Beechwood Residential Association of Athens, INC. The Bylaws state that only dues paying owners can be considered members and only one vote per household is permitted. It also states that there should be 5 trustees and that there should be “regular” meetings.

We discussed the importance of getting new people involved in this organization as a way to get more community input and to create a pipeline for future Trustees. In addition to collecting dues and paying bills, the Trustees also update the subdivision list of owners. Ed recommended that we look a creating a list of projects that we want to address. Some ideas mentioned were assessing the lake water quality and determining how that could be improved, and reviewing the condition of overflow pipe and dam. We noted that we would need additional funds to make any significant improvements. We could take this list (once completed) to the other owners for feedback. It would also be an opportunity to explain the purpose of the home owner’s association, including the importance of paying dues.

Roman provided a Treasurer’s report and indicated that we have a $1,150 balance to date which is close to where we were last year at this time. We collected a total of $2,453 dollars in 2019 thus far. Our yearly expenses include property taxes ($480.60), liability insurance ($303), and charges for the security lights. We have 39 homes with 37 owners. There are about 13 houses that have not paid dues for this year. Roman reminded us that minutes of previous meetings can be found at beechwoodofathens.com.

John wanted to discuss the status of the Beechwood sign at the entranceway. He had a contractor (Lifestyle Building and Renovations) look at the project for an estimate on the repair. He gave a verbal estimate of $1,000- $1,500. Roman confirmed that the sign box was not common property. He indicated that he spoke to the parties involved and they were suppose to meet to resolve this issue. Since this transpired about a year ago, Roman will follow-up.

John also checked into a site for a future Beechwood meeting. He said that the Athens County Library would be available at no cost. The consensus was for a March date as a beneficial time to have that meeting.

Helen provided an update on the sewer project. The County is waiting for USDA Grant approval before they can move forward. They are expecting to begin construction in spring 2020. We do not currently have access to a final right of way plan for the sewer.

Next Steps-

1. Ed will work with the Trustees and others to develop future projects to address.
2. Roman will follow-up with the sign situation.
3. John will assist with the scheduling an upcoming meeting at the library.

Agenda notes were taken by Caryn in Mike’s absence.

Thanks to Trustee and Beechwood Resident John King for the new Picnic Table at the lake! $107 from our fund well spent.

Also a huge thank you to Mr. Paul Grippa, long time resident who does such an amazing job keeping the lake’s grass trimmed, and this year also getting wet and cleaning the drain. We really appreciate all you do Paul!

Our annual meeting took place at Beechwood Lake at 7pm on Monday, September 30, 2019, and lasted 45 minutes. In attendance were – Roman Warmke, – Mike and Cathy Small, – Doug Williams, – Nathan Clink, – John and Helen King, – Claudette Stevens, and – Paul Grippa.

Agenda Included:

1. Financed Report: Roman reported so far 21 homes (of 39) have paid their annual dues (of $50) making the total collected so far for 2019 $1,050. (Last year’s total was $1,410, due to some donations and extra fees from rentals.) Roman will send one final reminder via US Mail and wrap up fund raising. We spend about $1300 a year. Our balance last year at this time was $2,278, and now it is $2,528, so there’s a surplus which is good. Expenses include – 3 light poles, – insurance on the lake, and – property taxes on the lake.
2. Picnic Tables: John King noted the poor condition of the lakes picnic tables and offered to spearhead an effort to repair or replace.
3. Activity Report: The Trustees have not met since last years picnic and there was no big news to report in the areas of crime or home sales.
4. Elections: The following individuals were nominated to serve as 2020 Trustees, – Roman Warmke, – Mike Small, – Ed Peterson, – Mark Van Hook, and – John King. What roles these folks will fill (President, etc) will be determined via email. – John Scott volunteered to be an adviser to the group.
5. Sewer Update: Looks like the County is still planning to do the project which is slated to begin in Spring 2020. After some discussion it was determined we were still pretty much in the dark in regards to costs and specifics. Helen King volunteered to go to the next County Commissioners meeting and report back via email.
6. Adjourn, 745 pm.

On Sunday, October 14, 2018 we had an informal meeting at the lake, about a half dozen residents were in attendance. (John, Roman, Terry, Marie-Claire,  Nathan and Ashley. )

– Financial Report

So far this year we’ve taken in $1,310.00 so we’re in good shape. We typically spend about $1,400 per year. We have a balance of $2,502.69. Twenty-one of Thirty Nine homes have paid their annual dues, about 55%, which is common.

– Activity Report

Roman reviewed the agenda’s of the past 2 meetings (scroll down for those) and indicated we now have a new Federal Tax ID # as well as new bank account, due to the exit of our past treasurer. We also discussed the quality of the water in the lake.

– Sewer Expansion Update

John caught the group up on the status that the project is set to begin next Spring. Costs to home-owners could be problematic, including a one time fee to hook up each house, and a monthly bill to the City of Athens.

– Question and Answer

The question was posed as to why Rentals units in Beechwood are charged $35 per unit, instead of the $50 flat fee per house for non rental units. It was decided to ditch the rental fee and in the future, just charge $50 per house.

A question was posed as to why do we really need dues at all in the first place, and for that matter a Residential Association at all? After some discussion of the benefits (- owning the lake as a group, – insurance if an accident on the lake, – property taxes on the lake, – public safety light poles (3), and – mechanism to speak to public officials in one voice) it was decided to create a survey to ask the residents what they think.

You can take this short survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LHXRJPQ

– Elections for 2019

This did not occur due to poor attendance.

Compiled and Posted, 10/15/18. 

Hello Beechwood Neighbors,

Annual residential fees are due. The dues are $50 per household.

We collect about $1500 per year and spend the same, (3 light poles, property tax on the lake, and insurance on the lake) and we have a balance of about $1,918 in our account, up from $1,750 this time last year.

You can pay online below. If you prefer to pay by check you can do so:

Beechwood Estates
6933 Beechwood Drive
Athens, Ohio 45701

Important! Make checks out to “Beechwood Estates”, not “residential association” or Roman or Brad

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Pay online using your credit card here:

Emergency Beechwood Trustees Meeting; 4/4/18
Michael’s House w/ Roman, Ed and Smally, 7-8pm

An impromptu “emergency” meeting was held at Micheal Small’s house on Wednesday, April 4th, 2018 to decide the course of action to take in lieu of our treasurer Brad leaving the organization as he’s moved out of the neighborhood.

After some discussion the remaining trustees (Roman Warmke, Ed Peterson, and Michael Small) unanimously agreed to create a new Federal Tax ID # for the Beechwood organization, and to meet with Brad at the Ohio University Credit Union (and their representative Mindy Henderson) to close the old account and open a new one.

The new Federal Tax ID # has been obtained and the bank meeting is slated for late April.

Roman volunteered to do 2018’s fund raising/ due collecting.