FOREST HILL ASSOCIATION
SPECIAL EXECUTIVE BOARD MEETING
DECEMBER 8, 2009


Board members present: Dan Kelly, Sally Kipper, Warren Krauss, Kathe Farrell, Katie Balestreri, Mel Bachmeier.

Dan Kelly called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Three general points were discussed:

1) The bill for $8500 for attorneys' fees involving the Glass-Baum lawsuit. Several unpaid bills have accumulated. Dan maintained that he had talked with Warren about the latter billing hours as a member of his law firm, Sedgewick, while being a volunteer director of FHA, and that Warren had agreed that he would not bill for his services. Warren maintained that he did not agree, and that he could not have agreed because of his firm's insurance responsibilities. He further stated that, because of the work done, the firm was successful in getting FHA dismissed from the continuing litigation, and that both Mr. Roger Sleight and he represented the Association at reduced rates. Dan stated that it would be difficult for someone outside the Board to accept the concept of a board member billing for services. Discussion then concerned the fact that, regardless of the miscommunication, the work had been done. After considerable debate, a majority of members present, with Warren's abstention, agreed to authorize Sally to pay the full amount.

2) Concerns about potential conflicts of interest of the Directors and how to avoid. Related to 1): Sally read from State law about the necessity of avoiding even the appearance of conflicts of interest, and it was agreed to explore samples of documents in order to develop a policy for FHA. Warren volunteered to send to members another organization's document as a possible model.

3) The overall procedures governing contraction of services for fees. Sally mentioned concerns about contracting persons or companies for services without having a specific Board vote. She gave as example her hiring May Pon to straighten out the last two years' tax situation. This concern led to a discussion as to the process we have for approving hiring and the need to have contracts spelling out services and their cost. The question of the current Valley Crest contract came up and whether a current Board member had signed it. Dan will check with Diane Wara. Sally announced that she and Mel will interview 4 persons for the position of bookkeeper this Saturday. It was decided after discussion that, if a qualified applicant is identified, this person would be given the task of correcting some computer bookkeeping problems for approximately $75/hour. More permanent employment would be discussed by the Board and voted on at the January meeting. This person would then have the task of preparing the invoices following the vote on dues assessment. Therefore, the deadline for paying annual dues will then be delayed until February 28.


8:25 PM
Kathe Farrell
12/11/09



Addendum: From Sally Kipper

Just to clarify my understanding of the hiring process: Mel and I will interview several candidates tomorrow. We then plan to hire someone for a short-term project that will include:

1. Cleaning up problems in our QB program.

2. Working with Yen to prepare a crosswalk between Access and QB

3. Getting us started on the invoices for the 2010 assessments (developing an invoice format, etc)

In our interviews we'll make it clear that this is a two-step process and successful initial candidates will stay in the running for the long term hire, which will be determined by a formal action of the board at the January meeting. We'll also put a notice in the December newsletter. Mel and I will then interview anybody else who looks qualified and will make a recommendation to the full board for authorization to hire an ongoing bookkeeper at the Jan meeting.