20200303 Meeting Minutes

March 3, 2020 TREPO Board Meeting
Board Members Present: John Bryant, Charlie Arnett, Joan Nano, Laura Dailey, Tom Tramel, Glenn Hunter, Sammy Keen, Charlee Thompson, Mike Wilson
Board Members Absent: Jule McGee (excused), Phylis Rea (excused)
Officers Present: Wally Germany, Evelyn Johnson
Officers Absent: Millie McGee (excused)
Alternates Present: Karen Mullins, Sassy Johnson, Linda Hizer
Guest Present: Terri Hester, Mike and D. Cartwright, Jesse Crane, Hilda Gilchrist, Regina Severence, Patricia Burke, Tommy and Shirley Matthews, Wayne and Theresa Wideman, Gerry Murphy, Gloria Spivey, Teri Brewin, R.R. Brewin, Leah Mershon, Fred Mershon, (Laura Hunter came in late.) (There was one name that I could not read.)
At approximately 7:00 p.m. John Bryant called the meeting to order, welcomed our guests, and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Mike Wilson said a prayer. Karen Mullins and Sassy Johnson were asked to fill the empty seats on the Board. Linda Hizer called roll and asked the Board to review the minutes (sent via e-mail and also as a hard copy at the meeting). The minutes were approved and passed by the Board. Evelyn Johnson reviewed the treasury report which was sent via e-mail. The treasury report was approved and passed by the Board. (TD Money Market Account $32,690.24, TD Checking Account Balance $85,185.77)
Membership Report: No report was given due to travel and illness of the membership secretary. An estimate of 500 was given. Keys will be issued Saturday, March 7th by Mike Foret at the clubhouse. Joan Nano will help Mike with the keys. The second invoice notice has not gone to print yet. John Bryant thanked the people dealing with membership and keys and noted what a difficult job it is.
Park Management CC:
(3) Mike Cartwright reported the near completion of work at Point Park. John Bryant thanked Mike and the volunteers for all the work done there. Mike suggested that the county place “no parking” signs in the turn-around area to prevent traffic problems. Glenn Hunter stated he would contact the county about this matter. Mike Cartwright stated the possibility of placing burn rings at the parks so that people could place natural trash to be burned when needed. He also suggested building a bigger deck at Mid Point Park and said he would provide a diagram at a future meeting.
Jesse Crane is working on Mid Point Park to provide a safer entrance/exit route.
(2) Fishing Park, build up of road by county, gate placement, and road survey is presently at a stand still.
(5) CC Boat Ramp Park’s 19 foot gate has been completed.
Mike Wilson stated he would investigate the cemetery concerning a future clean-up.
John Bryant stated that we needed to keep a watch on our park port-a-potties due to higher water levels.
Park Management SC:
(4) SC Boat Ramp Park project: John Bryant is still working on digging trenches for water and electricity to the pavilion. Fencing is looking great but still working on parts. People have been picking up limbs and trash due to the high winds lately. He has talked to a man about widening the gate and getting rock for gullies in the park. There has been a recurrent problem with people putting nuts in the commode and flushing them.
Washing away of the sand below the picnic table at Brennen Park is a problem. Laura Dailey stated that SRWM would not permit building a bulkhead around this area. Surveillance of the area is in the works. There have been reports of drug deals
Newsletter Report: Wally Germany asked to have articles turned in to him for the newsletter so he could get the letter out by March 12-15.
Joan Nano asked what it would cost to include the deed Restrictions and protective covenants with the newsletter. Conversation ensued about prices. Rather than do this, it was suggested to put up signs in the community and write letters to the realtors and to put an end to this dilemma. *****A motion was made and passed to put signs up at our Three Rivers entrances informing people of being a deed restricted community and to write a letter to realtors informing them of the same. Joan Nano abstained her vote.
Old Business: (Refer to previous motion.)
Gregory Iceberg: A committee headed by Tom Tramel has met with Gregory Iceberg about his concerns. An interview with witnesses will be scheduled before a reply is given.
New Business:
April Picnic, a member’s meeting, will take place on Saturday, April 11th, 2020. Laura Dailey will put up signs on the CC side and John Bryant will put up signs on the SC side. Joan Nano and Mike Wilson will give orders to be picked up by John Bryant at Sam’s in Gainesville. ($7.00 for an adult plate)
John Bryant reiterated a past motion which allowed park managers to spend up to a certain amount without consulting/approval from the Board (June 2019) in response to a note that was given to him from Joan Nano. John reassured members that he kept receipts for each project he worked on.
Wally Germany stated he was asked to investigate an incident that happened back in October 2019 involving Linda Hizer and Joan Nano distributing fliers which encouraged people to vote “no” on the approval of the new By-Laws and Restrictions/Covenants and caused people to question the integrity of the Board. From personal conversations with both parties, both people were involved with distributing the fliers.
Linda Hizer addressed previous e-mails which were sent to all Board members from Laura Dailey and Tom Tramel, stating that no fliers were illegally stuffed into mailboxes, no slanderous comments were written about anyone, and no clandestine meetings had taken place. (At the June 2, 2020 meeting, Tom Tramel clarified that he made none of the accusations in the e-mails.) Linda Hizer reviewed her apology for the anger she expressed toward Glenn Hunter at the October picnic. She also shared her confusion as to why no concern had been placed on an event at the same October picnic concerning the physical mishandling of a member in the service line.
Linda Hizer and Joan Nano stated objections to the way TREPO members were not notified properly of the proposed By-Laws/Restrictions/Covenants, or given ample time to compare both sets. (These were shared at the November 2019 meeting.) It was also pointed out that the old Restrictions/Covenants were never put on the website for comparison before the vote and that the necessity to spend money on such a task was only once in ten years. Joan Nano reminded the Board that she recommended on numerous occasions the need to mail the documents out to all TREPO land owners. The distributions of the fliers were due to the fact that TREPO land owners and their consideration was not a priority in the Board’s attempt to approve the documents (in their opinion). People who resided in the Three Rivers area and who were not already represented by the Board were targeted.
Laura Dailey stated that much time had elapsed from the onset of writing the new By-Laws/Restrictions/Covenants and the vote for approval, giving anyone adequate time for action. Laura suggested that in the future, an experienced person be placed on revision committees and the committees be informed of any established or suggested protocol such as placing old and new documents side by side. Laura Dailey suggested that disagreements between Board members be taken care of at a Board meeting and not taken outside the Board to the community. She stated that the actions of Joan and Linda were the direct cause of slanderous allegations on social media. Laura Dailey made a motion that Linda and Joan be put on a gag order and not discuss outside of the Board the goings on of the Board. There was no continuation of this motion. Laura Dailey suggested that some protocol be established for such future behavior.
A member in the audience, “ My name’s Fred Mershon, I have property on the Santa Fe River. My wife’s family bought down here in 1956 and I’ve been coming down here since then. And I’ve seen Three Rivers transition many, many, times. And I’m telling you right now, there’s three questions I’d like to ask you. You were talking about the covenants, where’s the deed restrictions you were talking about? And why do we have to notify a real estate agent? And why do sellers have to be notified of what?”
John Bryant gave Mr. Mershon a copy of the deed restrictions.
Fred Mershon, “This is the first meeting I have ever attended and I can tell you right now, this is like going to Washington, DC. I am telling you right now, you have got to come together and take your personal stuff away from this and keep it professional because I can see the total anger in your faces. And that’s not good.”
Mike Wilson said “This thing could keep boiling and get nasty. It doesn’t have to be. What has been said and what has been done, look around this room. It has brought people in to this meeting. There are people volunteering and doing work that we’re not able to do. Our Board members are getting old. I’ll be eighty years old this year. I can’t do that kind of work anymore. I got a wife I need to take care of. And consequently, it’s brought people out. They are doing more than they’ve ever done before, (people) that aren’t on the Board. Board members are busy, they have full time jobs. I think what was done could be healed and forgotten and on the other hand I think its good its opened the spirit up and the people in the community are trying to help out more than they’ve ever done.”
Tommy Matthews asked if this was when the audience could speak? He said that in January the Board voted to get a survey done. Tommy offered his help if it was needed to get surveyors down there so we could proceed to the next step. John Bryant gave him permission to deal with the surveyors not to exceed the $1,000 voted on by the Board.
Mike Cartwright asked a question. What is the Board’s job? “I feel like your job should start and stop at that park gate. I don’t think you should ever sit around that table and talk about anybody’s personal property, you shouldn’t talk about putting leans on anybody’s property, with that attitude there would be none of this discussion tonight. And there is always rumors and innuendoes that go around anywhere. Whenever you start talking about taking a little bit of somebody’s personal property, and then a little more of somebody’s personal property, the rumors grow and grow and grow.”
Jesse Crane added, “There’s Florida Statutes that govern all associations whether it’s land owners or home owners, what ever you think you are. You need to check those out. There on line, Florida Statutes that govern associations. Check on those.”
Charlee Thompson made a motion to adjourn. John Bryant adjourned the meeting at 8:21 p.m.

On March 18, 2020 John Bryant sent an e-mail to all Board members, Officers, and Alternates to postpone the April 7th Board meeting as well as the April 11th member’s picnic due to the corona virus epidemic until further notice.
On March 24, 2020 the TREPO Board voted to close all TREPO parks except for the Boat Ramp parks in CC and SC until further notice. Following are the results from the vote: (3) Close all parks (6) Close Parks leave Boat Ramps open (1) Leave parks open
On April 29th the TREPO Board voted to use greeters at the boat ramps to keep order and insure use by TREPO members. Joan Nano will coordinate the greeter schedule. (excerpt from e-mail from Evelyn April 29, 2020: “We had 7 votes from the Board to use Greeters at the Boat Ramp on weekends. Joan will coordinate the Greeters, schedule, etc.”)
On May 2nd, John Bryant sent an e-mail to Board members, officers, and alternates cancelling the May 5th Board meeting until May 19th.
On May 3rd, John Bryant sent an e-mail to all Board members, officers, and alternates stating that the TREPO parks would open Monday, May 4th due to State Parks re-opening. Joan Nano will coordinate gate greeters for Boat Ramp Park and Point Park on weekends. Terri Hester will coordinate gate greeters for Hodor Park on weekends.
On May 14th, the Board voted to cancel the delayed May 19th meeting with 8 votes for “no meeting” and 2 votes for a “meeting” (e-mail from Evelyn Johnson). The possibility of a June meeting will be evaluated later.

Linda Hizer