Heritage Palms
Community Development District

The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Heritage Palms Community Development District was held on Monday, March 23, 2020 at 8 a.m. by web conference with the requirements for a quorum being physically present waived under the Governor’s Executive Order 20-69.

Attending via web conference due to Executive Order 20-69 waiving the quorum requirement were:
Stan Switzer – Chair
Paul Schafer – Assistant Secretary
Al O’Brien – Assistant Secretary
Mike Whitten – Assistant Secretary
Fed DeCotis – Assistant Secretary

Also attending via web conference were:
Cal Teague – District Manager
Greg Urbancic – Attorney
Christopher Dudak – Assistant to the District Manager

The following is a summary of the actions taken at the Heritage Palms Community Development District (CDD) Board of Supervisors meeting.          

The meeting was called to order and the District Manager called the roll. All Board members were present.

The Agenda was presented and approved.

There being none, the next Order of Business followed.

The Regular Meeting Minutes were presented and approved.

The Attorney briefed the Board on SB1466. It passed both Houses and is awaiting the Governor’s signature. He expects it to be effective July 1st. Districts will not have to post the entire agenda packet on their websites under this bill, just the Agenda. He said a bill to allow Districts to advertise their meetings on the website to avoid the expense of advertising in newspapers was defeated. Also addressed was the possibility of conducting future meetings via online meeting apps in lieu of in-person quorums due to Covid-19 concerns. The agenda packet will be posted until that time.

There being none, the next Order of Business followed.

Sunstate Fence is awaiting permitting to be approved for this project; the deposit has been paid.

The Field Manager installed a cable from both gates so that they can no longer swing open. He will monitor the effectiveness of this.

The Field Manager reported that MRI said their crew spent a couple of days cleaning out the roadway basins and will have two crews consistently onsite after April 12 to finish the project. Several Board members commented that they hadn’t noticed anyone from MRI onsite. The Field Manager will monitor to ensure they are performing in a timely manner.

This work is expected to start in early to mid April by Lake & Wetlands.

i. Mill Down Asphalt at Cart Crossing on Curry Palm Proposals
A proposal from D&G Pavement was presented to mill out and regrade the asphalt at the Curry Palm cart crossing for $1,152 for 144 square feet of asphalt. It was to be a test site to see if the Board wants to consider this at other crossings. The Board wants proposals for all of the crossings in need of repair. The Chair encouraged all the supervisors to look at each crossing to see which should be corrected using this process. This is on hold pending further investigation.

L&W is working through all the lakes with the harvester and then the ground crew is following and manually raking the cut vegetation.The crew is several days behind the harvester so there will be dead spike rush floating in some of the lakes for a couple of days.

Lake Doctors and Florida Fountains submitted proposals. The Board considered these proposals but decided not to make changes at this time. They will monitor Solitude’s performance in the upcoming months.

The following comments were made:

– The Lake & Wetlands report was received.
– The aerators and fountains were discussed.
– The filter sock presented by Supervisor Schafer at the last meeting should be reviewed by the Field Manager for the next meeting.
– The Lake 4 repair of washouts and Lake 15 planting of Fakahatchee grass should be completed.
– The Hybrid Canna and Bacopa are growing and spreading nicely. It will stabilize the bank and can live under water while providing color.
– The amount of algae is down on several lakes.
– At Seminole Palm Lane, the trip hazard was fixed.
– The ADA curb was painted yellow near the clubhouse.

There being none, the following Order of Business followed.

Discussed under the Attorney’s Report.

The proposed agreement was presented and approved after review from the Attorney.

FEMA approved the $11,260 in reimbursement and payment is expected soon. Administrative costs are still being negotiated.

Resolution 2020-01 was presented to amend the Management Agreement to allow for a $45 per hour grant administration fee upon Board approval. They also acknowledge that PDM charges $150 for preparing estoppel requests.

The Board discussed the need for an increase in the budget.They would like to see a Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) included with the budget if the $100/unit increase in assessments is approved to start in the November tax bill. There is a difference between the two budgets (one with and one without the $100 increase) that needs to be resolved. The two primary concerns were roadway surfaces and exposed geotubing. The Board requests the Engineer to provide an estimated cost for road surface replacement needs for the next meeting.

The Financial Statements for February 2020 were accepted as presented.

There being none, the next Order of Business followed.

Supervisor Whitten, as a resident on the HOA Road Safety Committee, said they did not meet due to the coronavirus emergency so there is no progress at this time.

There being none, the next Order of Business followed.

There being no further Orders of Business, and

Next Meeting: April 27, 2020 at 8 a.m.