LAUREL CREEK July 2016
Official Newsletter of the Residents of Laurel Creek
LAUREL CREEK
Volume 3, Issue 7
Report by Board President at the Annual Meeting At Laurel Creek Neighborhood Association, Inc.’s annual meeting, Board of Director’s President, Agnes (“Ann”) Murphree, gave a report of activities which transpired over the past twelve months. Valerie Phelps was elected to the Board of Directors at the 2015 annual meeting, and the board selected Nathan Overstreet to fill the unexpired term of Jody Deluca who resigned. One of the first major projects taken on by the Board of Directors was the trimming of the trees located in the common area. The first phase of the project started in March of 2015 with the trimming of the trees at Gazebo Park, Shadow Gate Park and around the pond. It was initially thought that it would be necessary to wait another year to complete the remainder of the trees. However, the Board of Directors carefully watched the budget and obtained many quotes before deciding on Texas Tree Team, which provided an excellent price. Trimming the trees freshened up the appearance of Laurel Creek and also improved the health of the trees. Several incidents of high wind since the trees were trimmed left no significant debris. The Board of Directors finally obtained approval from three different pipeline companies which hold easements across Laurel Creek’s property to install a fence boarding the neighborhood along Winfern. The metal fence was installed by Southland Fence Company to secure the basketball park on Thursday, June 25, 2015. However, Exxon Mobil contacted the management company the day after the installation claiming that they were not notified through the “One Call” system that the fence installation was about to take place and the fence was not properly located. In response, the Board of Directors negotiated with the pipeline companies to reach an amicable resolution. The pipeline companies agreed to allow the fence to be moved, and the Board secured an agreement from the contractor to move the fence at its own expense. The fence is something that many residents have wanted for several years. Another very significant project approved by the Board was the replacement of several cracked and uneven areas of concrete in Shadow Gate Park, around the pond, and the common walkway between Desert Cloud and the basketball park. This work eliminated several major hazards. Again, a number of quotes were obtained Copyright © 2016 Peel, Inc.
before settling on a contractor. All of the fire hydrants were recently painted. As part of the project, the MUD had all of the hydrants first inspected to make sure they were in good operating order. A number of problems were discovered and repaired before the hydrants were painted. As a result of Laurel Creek’s HOA requesting that the MUD paint our fire hydrants, the project was expanded by the MUD to include many other hydrants in the general vicinity of Laurel Creek. The new painted hydrants look much nicer, and more importantly, are fully functional. MUD, rather than Laurel Creek, absorbed the entire cost of the project. The board also authorized many irrigation repairs that were needed to keep the system functional. Our system is now about eighteen years old, and it is necessary to fix leaks and replace broken sprinkler heads from time to time. It was noted last September that our water bills were unusually high, which led to the discovery of several significant leaks that have now been repaired. The board is also now monitoring the water bills on a monthly basis. As a cost saving major, a key was obtained from the landscape company so that the Board now has the ability to manually turn off the system in periods of heavy rain to further save money. The Board replaced all six of the flood lights at the main entrance with LED lights late last year. At Christmas, two new wreathes were purchased for section 5 and two swags for Section 4. The two wreathes at the main entrance were remade. In addition, for the first time in many years, the gazebo was lit with icicle lights. Recently the Board solicited volunteers to stain the playground equipment and benches at the three parks. Thus far, volunteers completed the staining for two of the three parks. Having volunteers do the staining saved a great deal of money for the HOA. The savings from having volunteers stain the playground equipment were used to have drainage issues addressed at the basketball park and on the green belt leading from the park to Desert Cloud. In addition, the three rose beds on the greenbelt between the pond and (Continued on Page 2) Laurel Creek - July 2016
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