Category: Villages

Notes from the 9-24-19 Franklin Village meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7PM.  Three of 5 of the Council members were in attendance)Joni Welliver and Jay Harter were absent

Financials (Jack Keeley)- We are currently under budget on the bottom line but our grading and drainage account is over budget by $11,763. With the deluge of rain in May to July (30”) we have 5 basements and 7 garages that will need work to eliminate that in the future. Most of these bills have yet to be realized since HMLD is behind. Jay estimates by year end we may end up with a deficit of approx. $15-20,000. With a total budget of $550,000 this works out to about 4% and will be carried over to 2020. However our Reserve fund is in Great shape at $496,000 and projected to be over a million by 2025. We begin our 2020 budgeting soon and will have to be aware of increasing drainage and maintenance costs as the village gets older.

Master’s Association– Only new member is George Earle from Yardley.

The elevator will not be completed till early 2020.

Roadwork at Devonshire and Yardley is completed railings have been installed on the latest addition of the walking trail.

MA meetings may be switched to Mondays

-Insurance Committee is looking for a volunteer with experience.

The Kane’s are spearheading a Technological Committee that will look at IT improvements as well as items like solar; and negotiating for bulk  purchases of things like electric, water etc. More info to come.

Pool good year for the pool. 900 guests, 1100 children and an average of 160 visitors a day with 12 kids.

2020 budget 2020 MA charge only $1.98 over 2019

Walking trail behind Franklin-next week Council will walk with HMLD to see the what HMLD is proposing, followed by a walk around with interested owners at a later date. If the proposal looks inviting and some owners appear to favor the proposal there will be a village vote. If not Council will, for the second time turn it down.

 Gutters will be cleaned again this Fall

Deadbolts at front doors will be checked by HM Security this Fall for access. Only A-1 Security can key for master key

Landscaping/ snow plowing– bidders for both were covered at the meeting, as well as the bid totals. We had few bidder responses, all of which were substantially higher than HMLD. Council met with HMLD and heard of the improvements they are planning for 2020. Based on those improvements Council voted to stay with HMLD with a 60 day cancellation provision if they don’t perform to our satisfaction

Dryer vent clean out- will be scheduled this Fall as recommended by our insurance carrier. Cost by owners (approx. $45-$55)

Powers washing bldgs and garages scheduled for 2020

Garage door vertical aluminum trim – damaged trim will be spotted and owners will be required to replace (approx $55).

Sun porches that have faded badly will have to be repainted by owner.

Walk-around by Architectural Committee coming.

Parking- 1^st car in garage-especially at night

2nd car in outside spot

3nd car n/a unless 3 licensed driver in household

No parking behind garage or double parking

No pickup outside at night

Only horizontal parking at 549 &569

Real Estate – all homes in Franklin are sold. Only 27 homes out of 1720 are available.

Committee updates:

Social, Decorating, Architectural, Communication–n/a

Architectural- see garage trim and faded sun porches above

Pool- switching pool companies for 2020. Having issues with the quality of the new liner. May be able to use chemicals to remediate.

Welcome- four new owners to be visited soon(555, 558, 587, 594)
Landscape- all project to be complete in 2 weeks per HMLD

Document updating-Michael Pincus- many suggested changes coming on docs and Rules/Regs

Next Village Meeting Nov. 20th—Budget meeting                                                      

Master Association Update

The new 2019/2020 HM Directories should be hand delivered by Council members in the next few days.

Board of Director’s election – with three openings available and 5 applicants, Bob Browner and Dennis Leary were re-elected to the board. George Earle from Yardley was also elected. George, an ex-contractor has helped the MA with many of the Mill’s construction projects.

Elevator – The MA voted to award the elevator contract to Weaver Construction since they can start this year, they lowered their bid from $316,680 to $300,000 and were substantially under the other bidders quotes

Chandler Road Work     – Lyons and Hohl will soon be starting the reconstruction of Chandler Road by Chatham and Merrifield to reduce the grade. The road will be closed to thru traffic for about three weeks. A map of the closure was sent.  Also the part of Chandler by Mill Road that was recently washed out by a severe rainstorm will be closed for a short period while a new 4 foot culvert will be installed under the street.

​Alarm Systems     – Our CAD-X panels seem to be the best of the batch when contacting security, however we will be upgrading them when normal service is required. Our system will not dial security directly but through a company called Dice, who will route the call to security. We may also switch to an 800#. Whenever there is an emergency always call 911 first.

Sunoco  – The pilot hole from 202 to Wellington is now complete and will be reamed out for the installation of the 18” pipe. Sunoco may ask to have a second hole drilled to accommodate the 20” pipe at the same time to eliminate drilling there later. This could require 24 hr round-the-clock drilling for three days if approved.

New bus – is on order and being outfitted.

The walking trail – the section from the wood shop to the garden is now paved. Mike from HMLD to meet, possibly in July, with those living along Chandler to cover the proposal and privacy plantings for Franklin.  Council will then make a decision on the path based on input from owners living along Chandler.

HM Real estate – There is a new low of only 19 homes listed for sale in the Mill.

​Franklin Village Update – Currently we are under budget ytd. $2,400.

Council voted at the July meeting to keep the $50/qtr temporary increase for repaying the Reserve fund for our new garage doors to remain in the future quarterly fee. As we are already one of the lowest quarterly fee villages and over 35 years old it is prudent to keep our reserves up. This figure would increase our reserves by $172,000 in 10 years, when we estimate our roofs would need replacement.

Condo Docs/Rules & Regs. – Michael Pincus has recommended setting up a committee to update our condo Docs, Rule/Regs etc.  Any changes to the official documents would require a majority vote of the owners. The volunteer committee consists of:

Michael Pincus 586

Diane Carlin 581

Julie Gerhardt 582

Sandy Ogletree 527

Jeanette Schmid 598

Judy Jurgan 547

Maintenance items

Water intrusion has occurred in a few basements and a few garages, in many cases for the first time in 35 years. With changing weather patterns we are having record breaking rainfall, resulting in ground saturation.

​Through June we’ve had 28” of rain, with a lot coming in heavy downfalls. We are working with HM Landscaping to rectify the issues by directing water away from foundations. Our drainage and grading account is already $10,000 over budget.

Dryer vents will be cleaned this year (as suggested by our insurance carrier) and is a home owner cost.

Front door deadbolts will be checked this Fall by Security to make sure they have access to each home in an emergency. A-1 Security is the only locksmith company who can key the locks to our master key. Owners will be informed when the locks will be checked.

Moyer Pest Control will be testing each home for termites this year. It is ongoing through the year. The visit and any remediation will be paid for by the Village.

Yearly walk-arounds by the Architectural and Landscape committees have been accomplished. Any Architectural issues will be communicated to the individual home owners for resolution. Landscape improvements were approved at the June Council meeting and communicated to HMLD and now it is up to them to complete the items approved.

Homes for sale

558 Kelly for sale

565 for sale later this year

555 Lappin for sale

594 Rodelli for sale

Welcome new residents:

Carolyn Ginther and Carolyn Hunt 570

William & Emma Hodges 578

Bob & Lynne Kocher 592

Kenneth & Kathleen Kroos 572

Kristine Meyer 595

Lynn Niblock 564

Hope Wood 593

Wm. & Lisa Koppe 571

William Glancey 575

Rick & Nancy Richards 591

Next Village meeting is September 24^th.