2026-09-10 Meeting

Meeting Validation:

1. Meeting called to order by President, Nelda Fink at ?? PM
2. Validate Meeting as per bylaws,
   • notice presented. Meeting notice sent on or about 6/11/2026 via both USPS mail and email for both June 23 meeting and Sept 10 meeting (see previous meeting minutes), Signs posted on Sept 7.
   • BOD quorum met,
   • BOD members validated.

Reading / Summary / Approval Past Minutes

• 2025-12-27 Special Meeting – Reading of the Minutes – all unread meeting minutes were summarily and blanket approved. 
• 2025-12-27 Special Meeting – 2026 Budget Adoption
• 2026-06-23 Regular Meeting
• 2026-08-08 Special Meeting 8379 basement mold and 8379 inside investigation and moisture measurements for water source contributing to the mold
• 2026-08-08 Special Meeting $500 Electrician to troubleshoot building 11
• 2026-08-21 Special Meeting 581 Basement sewage cleanup ($1995) + Sewage clearing in basement ($1225) with total of $3,220 ($220 over allowed limit without board approval). Note: shop towels removed from line.
• 2026-08-26 Special Meeting Retain new Attorney and assign Foreclosed account to him. – Brian R. Fellner, Esq. Fellner Legal Services. Requesting he file appearance representing Sussex Square in 591 foreclosure to claim the audited $10,000 remaining with the court. 
  •  

Financial Review

• $305,669 total funds as of July 2026. (see below Balance Sheet)
• 7 delinquent accounts now assigned to Axela Collections. 2 brought up to date. 1 removed from Axela and assigned to new attorney.

Ongoing Projects Status:

• Benches – 4 more to go
• FHA Certification Renewal Status – has been completed and renewed.
• Planter Box phases 3 & 4
  • Phase 3 – 90% of work completed $30,327 (Belmawr all 4 buildings) 
    • issues raised during contract completion inspection – popups installed too low in the ground, 1 popup completely missing & cannot be found, 565 unit skipped.
    • timeline to complete unknown
    • payment has not been submitted 
  • Phase 4 – November $40,921 (Bldgs 6, 8, 9) 
  • Refactored prices remained same as was estimated in 2025.
  • Completion of 8341 – $2,119
  • Total expenditure for remainder 2026 – $72,367

Motion & Discussions

BOD Expense Sheets

• Ms Fink:
  
  • Outdoor maintenance – wheeled outdoor hose cart to water Belmawr beds and trees: $185, 1 contractor 50′ 3/4 inch high power hose: $65, 1 contractor high visibility contractor 50′ 3/4 inch high power hose: $85. 
  • $100 Tractor Supply gift cards for volunteers (receipts) 
• Ms Murphy:
  • Meeting signs print and laminate.

Other Motions

• Insurance Premium Increase $10,000 

  • Working every angle we can to reduce this to include:
    • increasing deductible to $25,000 (premium – $86,343) from $10,000 (premium – $90,003)
    • $90,003 premium ($10,000 deductible) = 8.7% increase
    • $86,343 premium ($25,000 deductible) =  6.3% increase
    • classifying the construction correctly — currently Frame (all wood) rather than Joisted Masonry (concrete and wood). (This could increase the premium since rebuilding concrete block is more expensive to rebuild than wood framing. Concrete block is only in between every other unit as firewall.)
    • delineating liability correctly (Association is only responsible for Common Elements, not unit. Association will rebuild the buildings and the shell of the unit including the load bearing wall in the kitchen, the floor joists and trusses, but not the non-load bearing walls, or the drywall. So the bedroom walls, bathroom walls, stairs and wall under the stairs are all part of the unit and must be covered by the unit owner’s insurance.)
    • Buildings are insured at $2.07 million for each building. If it costs more than this to rebuild the association will be penalized a percentage and receive less than was insured. Need to insure to the most reasonable level. 
    • 3 cost estimators were run. $2.07 million is in the middle. We need to over time work towards increasing the insured replacement cost so that we can be fully covered.
    • We have a blanket policy that allows us to use the insurance from 1 building to pay for another if the cost is over what we need but the penalty could work against us.
    • We need to put out notices stating the statutes so that each homeowner can evaluate their own policy and ensure they are compliant.
    • Motion to renew the Nationwide master insurance policy with the premium raised to $25,000. 
    • Motion to add a budget line item to collect the additional $15,000 necessary to meet the deductible over the next year.
    • Motion to add a budget line item to collect the additional $42,000 deductible over the next 4 years for wind hale special policy. 

• Engineer’s Report on Load Bearing Wall

  • Naylor Engineering (Ellicott City) evaluated the kitchen / living room wall of 8372 to determine whether load bearing. Total cost for this was $1400.
  • Engineering report showed the kitchen / living room wall is load bearing. 
  • Kitchen / living room wall is considered Common Element according to Declaration Article IV non-load bearing walls are part of the unit, Article V Section (b) then states anything not described as part of the unit is Common Element, making load bearing walls part of the Common Elements and therefore cannot be modified without prior Board approval. Approval will only be given with appropriate documentation showing load after modification is still in tact and with valid justification for making the modification. 
  • See engineer’s report here.

• 591 Kitchen Wall Violation

  • 
  • Not cooperating. Sent AACO Inspection “After Completion” report that did NOT address the wall. 
  • 2026-08-25 ADR / BOD sent formal violation by certified mail as per bylaws, requiring hiring of Naylor Engineering to determine load capacity of this configuration.
  • May be assigned to the Attorney soon.

• 563 kitchen Wall Violation

  • 
  • Homeowner hired Naylor. BOD Received his report (see below), stating this is in compliance.
  • Mr Naylor needed to cut holes in the wall in order to make that determination. 
  • Costs were paid by homeowner. Naylor Engineering – $1555, The Patch Boys – $375 to repair holes, total $1,930.
  • Motion to Board to pay 50% (or 100%?) of total cost (engineering report + drywall/painting repairs) to compensate for discovery and documentation of compliance of work.
  • 

• 8379 Basement Mold and Remediation Costs & Liability 

  • Received an email from owner of 8379 that on a resale inspection, mold was found in the basement below their unit and they wanted to know when it would be addressed.
  • EcoClean inspected the basement and the 8379 looking for high moisture areas in attempt to determine the source of the water causing the mold. After much investigation homeowner admitted the AC condensation line had been displaced and was not properly installed into the drainage line to the exterior. This explained why in December the mold was cleaned up but reappeared again now. Winter no AC running, now AC runs and mold reappears. 
  • Two separate estimates for mitigation and restoration from EcoClean, one for the basement ($1855), and one for 8379 unit interior ($4594). (See below)
  • Email was sent on ?? to 8379 unit owner. BOD is NOT responsible for mitigation or restoration of the unit, that falls squarely on the unit owner. The Board IS responsible for the mitigation and restoration of the basement, but since the damage resulted from the unit above, the liability can be put onto the unit owner. This raises 2 issues.
  • First awareness of the issue:
    • Unit owner was not aware of the mold in December 2025. Unit owner was not aware of the condensation line leaking onto the floor until sometime in the beginning of August 2026. Once the displaced line was found it was immediately corrected. 
    • Unit owner became aware of mold in basement when in the process of selling, the prospective buyer’s inspector inspected the basement and found the mold. Unit owner then questioned the Board about mitigating it and a timeline.
  • Second awareness of liability:
    • Only 8 units have common element basements below the unit.
    • Have these 8 units ever been made aware that they could be responsible for damages to the basements below should any issue in their unit occur?
  • Motion to the board to pass full (or partial) liability of the basement mold mitigation onto the unit owner of 8379 at a cost of ?? with a total cost of $1855 and have the work start as soon as EcoClean can get started. Owner must be notified that mitigation costs will be passed onto them. Owner must agree that if the invoice is not paid by them it will be assessed to their account.
  • Post on website for owners explaining the liability of a common area basement below the unit. 
  • The units that have common element basements below them include: 8321, 8341, 8378, 8379, 579, and 581.

• 568 Deck Replacement (Table for November 3 Meeting)

• Snow Removal Contract Reviews (Table for November 3 Meeting)

  • Will BOD consider a one-price full service contract where we pay one price regardless of how much it snows or doesn’t snow? (Layne Mauck proposal $9,000).

• Other Attorney Assignments:

  • Pool not in declaration 
  • Request to run full title search on property to find any other missing land records, look for utility easements and provide those documents.
  • Declaration only references phase 1 and only phase 1 unit definitions. Does not clearly address units with basements where basement is part of the unit and where unit is NOT part of the unit. Does not clearly address 3 br / 1 br kitchen and br overlapping boundaries.
  • Declaration does not clearly address the bulkhead that runs in the kitchen and the length of the whole building (except that it may be structural since it houses shared water pipes and sewer lines).
  • smoking in units
  • procedure for establishing rules that support bylaws (nuisances such as smoking and late night / early morning noise)
  • Motion to allow President to have open communications with Attorney for these 4 issues. Motion seconded by: . Motion approved – ,  opposed.

• New Landscaping Projects Proposals (Price Landscaping):

  • blocking holes in perimeter hedges so people stop walking through and replant where necessary
    Hedge Infill And Protect – $2895 (See proposal below) Motion to hire Price Landscaping to perform this work to be completed in 2026, cost and work according to the documented proposal. Motion seconded by: . Motion approved – ,  opposed.
  • Seed and Curlex in front of planter boxes to prevent further erosion – $3,350 (See Proposal below) Motion to hire Price Landscaping to perform this work to be completed in 2026, cost and work according to the documented proposal. Motion seconded by: . Motion approved – ,  opposed.
  • Aerate, topsoil and seed 50% of property to replace what has eroded away, specifically the tot lot area. $12,590 (See proposal below) Motion to hire Price Landscaping to perform this work to be completed in 2026, cost and work according to the documented proposal. Motion seconded by: . Motion approved – ,  opposed.

• Governing Documents Reprinting Process

  • Motion to talk to attorney to get clarification on the documents refiling process. 
  • Original documents have been OCR scanned to produce searchable PDF documents.
  • Need process to ensure correctness. Propose:
    • 3 volunteers + 1 board member review and sign off. (Walasik, Murphy, Fink)
  • Need review of costs and procedures to file new published documents into land records.
  • Notary  may be able to perform the verification that it is a true and complete replica of the original.
  • or title / real estate attorney who can then file it correctly for us as well. ($500 – $1500 including filing fee. 
  • Needs Secretary Ms Murphy in attendance

• Violation Notice Tracking Software Review

  • Previously evaluating Jira – too time consuming to set up.
  • Request looking at new software specifically designed for Common Ownership Communities inspections and violations. 
  • 563 Belmawr Pl – Beam Evaluation (9-1-26)
  • Motion to investigate, get demo’s, and pricing of other systems to bring 3 detailed cost proposals to Board in December. Motion seconded by:  .  Motion approved – ,  opposed.
  • Other volunteers?

• Sewer Flies – 8432

  • Started after the sewer backup last year
  • See pictures below.
  • Howard Plumbing camera’ed line
  • Does not see a break in the line
  • Not sure where the flies are coming from

• Payment Sheet substitute for coupon books. Need to provide this each year on the web for each assessment level.

  • See the sheet here.

• Gutter and facia repairs (8365/ 8367)

  • Estimates of $950, $750. Need to approve about $1000 more in case bump out roof needs to be repaired, and capping of firewall. This is just to make it look nicer. 
  • Motion to add $1000 additional to Quality Roofing & Construction for total of $2700 to be completed as soon as possible. Motion seconded by ??. Motion approved –  in favor,  opposed

• Budget preparation

• Use of Work Email

  • BOD members must start using the corporate email addresses
  • Council members ought not use business email addresses as COA business then gets stored on the corporations servers and BOD cannot guarantee privacy
  • Can this become a policy without 66 2/3 vote?

New Project Discussions:

• Natural property barriers perimeter for 2027 budget
• Engineer for 581 Basement reinforcement and completion.
• No trespass signage
• Spring 2027 inspection? After issue tracking system in webpage installed and set up. 
• Meeting room transformation to community room (2027 – 2028)
• Homeowners 101 class(es) / web pages

• Motion 3

  • Moved by Ms Fink that … Motion seconded by Mr. Payne. Motion approved – 4 in favor, 0 opposed
  • and more.
•