MINUTES OF MEETING LAKE ASHTON
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Lake Ashton Community Development District was held on Friday, October 13, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. at the Lake Ashton Clubhouse Ballroom, 4141 Ashton Club Drive, Lakes Wales, Florida 33859.

Present and constituting a quorum: Carol Pontious
Borden Deane Brenda VanSickle Michael Costello Bob Ference
Also present:
George Flint Darrin Mossing, Jr. Andrew d'Adesky Tricia  Adams Alan Scheerer John Cruz
Numerous Residents

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS

Chairman  Vice Chairman
Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary Assistant Secretary

District Manager GMS
District Counsel Community Director Field Operations Manager
Community Watch Solutions

Roll	Call	and	Pledge	of Allegiance

Mr. Flint called the roll and established a quorum was present and Ms. Pontious led the pledge of allegiance.

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS	Audience Comments on Specific
Items on the Agenda (speakers will fill out a card and submit it to the District Manager prior to beginning ofthe meeting)
Ms. Pontious: I have one request to speak from Allen Goldstein.
Mr. Goldstein: Good morning to everybody. I want to talk a little bit about the amenities policy. The amenities policy is directed or should be directed by the CDD and enforced by the CDD, but I find coming to these meetings for the last few years that a lot of the work is being directed by the management company. The management company

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I don't think always has the best interest of both the CDD and the residents of the community. We are one community even though we have two CDDs in it. Lately we have been becoming a more divided community and I bring this to the management. They are keeping us more and more divided. We need to be divided because we are two different locations, but I don't think it is being handled properly. I think information that we have been given from the management company has not always been on the right track, specifically information about security services, the hurricane preparedness, and what happened after the hurricane. The gates being left open directly, and it is supposed to be a guard being put into the clubhouse. I don't think that was done. The little things, but I only have three minutes. If anybody has any questions just ask me but I would like to see a bid process for everything we do in this place. I mean everything, including the management company. So I am requesting that when this contract, if this contract is up because I think you have had it since 2005, I don't think it has ever been put out to bid. You as CDD Supervisors are legally elected officials of the county of the State of Florida representing the people. I think you need to stand up and you be the leader, not the management company. Thank you.

Ms. Pontious: Thank you and we will address some of those issues today and others at another time. I do kind of take exception to one thing that you said, Allen. We work well with our management company together, and I don't think that it is the management company or the CDD Boards driving a wedge as much as it is the residents. We are going to have to address that because we have an awful lot of residents who start rumors, pass them around, and I think that is a lot of where our problems are coming from actually from the residents themselves. They choose to pass on not always accurate information, but we will address some of the issues that you talked about.
THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS	Approval of the Minutes of the
September 8, 2017 Meeting
Ms. Pontious: We need to approve the minutes from the September 8th meeting.
Are there any additions or corrections to those minutes?

 	 	 	 	 	

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

On MOTION by Mr. Deane seconded by Mr. Costello with all in favor the minutes of the September 8, 2017 meeting were approved.

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Engineers Report
Ms. Pontious: Do we have an engineer's report or any information from him today?

Mr. Flint: No. Based on the agenda we spoke with Rey and didn't see a need for him to be on the phone or in attendance. If there are any issues that come up of course we can get back with him and get back with the Board.

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Discussion on Amenities Policies
Executive Summary
Policies - Redlined
Policies - Clean Copy

Unfinished Business

Ms. Pontious: Ok we are going to move into the unfinished business and then start talking about our amenities policies. We do have a summary sheet in the beginning. I am not quite sure why we have two copies.

Mr. d'Adesky: I just wanted to give anybody who wanted any scope or had any attention span varying from little to very, whatever version they wanted to have. The first is an executive summary for those like me that have very short attention spans sometimes with just bullet points doing a broad overview of what the most important changes were and what the significant changes were. Then I have what is called an abbreviated redline. Last time I gave you a redline it was really messy. It was kind of hard to see what was changed. This kind of just shows exactly what was changed in substance. It takes out formatting changes, heading changes or things that were moved around but not changed. Those sort of things that looked really confusing on the last version. I understood the confusion there. I made it as simple to understand as possible but showed those redlines. The last version is completely clean. So no markup whatsoever. The clean version would be if you are happy would be what I would suggest we advertise as the proposed update. Once again I just wanted full information out there for the pleasure of the Board and also in the agenda for the public so they have every

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possible way to review this and understand what these changes are so it is disclosed as clearly as possible. I always try and be as transparent as possible in making these changes because these are rules of the District which we do enforce. I am sorry policy.
Ms. Pontious: Do you have this document on your computer if we still need to make changes?
Mr. d'Adesky: Absolutely. If you needed to make changes I could make those
changes quickly.
Ms. Pontious: Do we have any concerns or questions then?

Ms. VanSickle: Starting with your short form and then I will go to the long form. Under the identification card section where you were clarifying that, I know that this year for our entertainment series they have asked that the residents have their resident IDs to purchase tickets. I think that is an excellent policy. I would like to see us ease into more of that and get people used to having them and using them. We are getting a lot of new people and it is hard for staff to know who is a resident and who is not. You probably wouldn't have nonresidents coming in to buy tickets, but you never know around here. With all these new people I think that is a good practice. I would like to see us ease into that on all of our tickets sales. Horseshoe policy clarifies appropriate dress required which includes no bare feet, bathing suits or cover-ups. I can understand the no bare feet but what is wrong with people playing horseshoes in cover-ups? I have never seen anybody play horseshoes.
Mr. d'Adesky: Some of the other amenities had that requirement in it so it was just to become consistent throughout.
Ms. Adams: Just so that the same language is in all of them.
Ms. VanSickle: Did that come from the bocce group? I have seen people out there playing in cover-ups. Is it an issue? I don't see it being an issue. The shuffleboard groups that play, but residents just playing or grandchildren playing, is that really an issue?
Ms. Adams: I think the key is that if we want to take out cover-ups we just want to take it out for all of the amenities, not just horseshoes, but we would take it out of bocce and shuffleboards, etc.

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Ms. VanSickle: Well what I am asking is that a requirement of the bocce group or the tennis group when people other than their groups are playing. They may have dress codes for their groups but for other people using it.
Ms. Pontious: Could we just leave it as appropriate dress? There is a couple of other places. There is one that says no cutoffs and that was my concern there too.
Ms. Adams: Well just to clarify, cutoffs is specifically for the pool for swim attire because you don't want things with loose threads getting into the filter system.  So that is explicitly for just the pool swimming attire.
Ms. Pontious: But we have had people in the pool fully clothedso therefore I guess the cutoff thing in my own mind why just cutoffs, why not clothes?
Ms. VanSickle: We had an issue several years back where we hadsome complaints on the ladies swimsuits or the lack thereof. There was not enough of it in their point of view. I think that the appropriate dress goes a long way because if we can't say you can't do this it is hard to say somebody has overdressed.
Mr. d'Adesky: So what you are proposing is that we just take the language out and instead of being specific we say appropriate dress. Ok.
Mr. Deane:  I will make a motion to that extent.
Mr. d'Adesky: I will put that change and discuss this and see if we get other changes then we can make a motion to do all changes.

Ms. VanSickle: Under general facilities provisions 21, it says all food and beverage consumed in the clubhouse must be provided by the Lake Ashton clubhouse restaurant per the Districts contract lease. However, the amenity manager may make exceptions, but then it goes down to when the restaurant is closed. I thought at the amenity manager's discretion it would be at other times also. We talked about that recently.
Mr. Flint: We can just take when the restaurant is closed off the end of that. Mr. d'Adesky: We willjust take that out.
Ms. VanSickle: Number 18, and this is under general swimming pool rules page 10, where it saying alcohol and food other than water not purchased at the amenity facilities are prohibitedpoolside. I know we have allowed snacks, pizza, and other things

like that, especially because the restaurant doesn't offer pizza except on Friday. I have seen people bring in McDonalds. Do we really want to be that restrictive?
Mr. Flint: We have in the past. It is a policy decision.

Ms. VanSickle: I don't think we should be. I have had one person complain that they had to go to McDonalds because the restaurant didn't have a kid friendly menu. The restaurant has been very good about coming out and taking orders. I think they do a lot of drink orders from a lot of our snowbirds and our seasonal visitors. I think they do a good job and I think a lot of people like to bring a snack with them or bring a drink. I know the alcohol beverages because of the liquor license that has to be specific. If somebody wants to bring an ice tea or Coke I don't see a problem with that.
Ms. Pontious: As long as they are bringing it, not selling it. Ms. VanSickle: And not in a glass container.
Mr. d'Adesky: So essentially I would just knock out the language starting with alcohol or food and then down to glass containers. It will just go glass containers are always prohibited.
Ms. Adams: Do we want to keep alcohol not purchased? Mr. d'Adesky: We can just add a line for alcohol.
Ms. VanSickle: They have been doing much better at not serving it in glass down at the pool lately. I appreciate that.
Ms. Pontious: On the same page we have a reference to events such as potluck dinners, bingo and private functions. I don't know that potluck dinners or bingo have ever used the pool. So if we just eliminated those things in advance for community events period. We don't need the potluck and bingo and all that in there.
Mr. d'Adesky: Yes.
Mr. Flint: I don't think we can reserve the pool area either so we will update that.
Ms. VanSickle: On page 16 under bocce and page 14 it says basketball equipment if available may be obtained from the clubhouse office. You keep it at the office?
Ms. Adams: Yes the equipment is limited to a basketball but we have a basketball at the office.

Ms. VanSickle: Ok so that is accurate. On page 15 horseshoe equipment if available. That is at the shuffleboard. I think this needs to be updated to be accurate. There may not be anybody at the clubhouse office on the weekend, but that equipment is always available at the shuffle board court storage. That is for horseshoe policies, shuffle policies, and bocce policies.
Mr. Deane: They have their own box.
Ms. VanSickle: They have their own box but they have a lock on it. They have spare bocce equipment in the shuffle board storage for anyone who wants to use it. That seems to be the storing facility.
Ms. Pontious: While we are there it also says please brush the playing surface. Do we have a brush out there that allows people to do that?
Ms. Adams: The bocce? Yes. It is in the fenced in area.
Mr. Flint: That language goes back to before it was artificial turf. Ms. Pontious: Ok so do we need it?
Ms. Adams: We can eliminate that.

Ms. VanSickle: Page 21 under clubs and other organizations, the first section says clubs must be comprised of a minimum of at least five active members. All members must be Lake Ashton residents. I think we have gotten away from this. Maybe we need to get back to it.
Mr. d'Adesky: So this is an enforcement? Ms. VanSickle: Yes.

Mr. d'Adesky: Ok.
Ms. VanSickle: That is all I have.
Ms. Pontious: I have a couple too. On page 4 we are talking about resident IDs under #2 and then we go to page 5 and #8 is also talking about resident IDs and #10 is also talking about resident IDs. I would like tosee all of the IDs in one place so that when someone is looking for ID information it is there, all of it.

Mr. Flint: On that issue all the language is permissive. It may issue back when we were implementing the ID cards, the Board backed off of actually requiring IDs because

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some residents objected to having to do that. If you want to move in the direction more of requiring ID for certain things, then the Board may want to revisit the discussion whether you want to continue to make it optional either Lake Ashton ID or valid ID. At this point we are not requiring IDs, but we do require either an ID, or valid driver's license, or other form of identification.
Ms. Pontious: I think we probably need to state that so when people come to secure anything they know that they have to some form of ID.
Ms. VanSickle: I think that is a great idea.
Mr. d'Adesky: Are you suggesting that I move the language to a different section? Mr. Flint: Consolidate it.
Ms. Pontious: Consolidate into one place so that like I said if someone was looking about what they have to do about IDs it is all in one place. We are saying take out the may be required in number 2 and just make it required.
Mr. Flint: It would be IDs card or other valid identification.
Ms. VanSickle: Like a driver's license with Lake Ashton address. Ms. Pontious: Ok I think I have all mine, too. Anyone else?
Mr. d'Adesky: So I will make those revisions, and I will bring a version back for adoption at the next meeting. I will just provide a clean version because we have gone through this a few times.
Ms. Pontious: I think that is good.
Mr. Deane: George, do we need to motion to make these changes?
Mr. Flint: Yes, I would suggest that, and as Andrew indicated we will bring it back at the next meeting with the final version.
Mr. Deane: I make a motion to correct the amenities policy as discussed. Mr. Costello: Second.
Ms. Pontious: We have a motion from Borden and second from Mike to correct the amenities policies as discussed. All those in favor.

On MOTION by Mr. Deane seconded by Mr. Costello with all in favor correction to the amenities policies was approved.

 	 	 	 	 	 	

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	New Business and Supervisor
Requests
Consideration of Engagement Letter with Grau & Associates to perform the Audit for Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2017

Ms. Pontious: Ok we have a consideration of an engagement letter to do our audit for 2017.
Mr. Flint: Yes, in your agenda you have the proposed engagement letter with Grau
& Associates for the fiscal year 2017 audit. You all went through a competitive selection process as prescribed by the statute and selected Grau to perform the annual independent audit which is required by state law. We asked for multiple year pricing where the Board enters into individual annual engagement letters. You will see the fee, a not-to-exceed of
$4,100. I think there is unless they have incorporated the new public records language there is an addendum. District Counsel would prepare it and would be included with  this with some other statutory requirements.
Ms. Pontious: We saved a lot of money with this company a couple of years back.
Mr. Deane: Motion to approve the audit letter from Grau & Associates for the annual audit of the CDD.
Mr. Ference: I second.
Ms. Pontious: We have a motion from Borden and a second from Bob to accept the bid from Grau & Associates not-to-exceed $4,100. All those in favor.
On MOTION by Mr. Deane seconded by Mr. Ference with all in favor engagement letter with Grau & Associates to perform the audit for fiscal year ending September 30, 2017 was approved.

Hurricane Protocol Review and Preparedness Plan (requested by Supervisor VanSiclde)
Ms. Pontious: Ok hurricane protocol review.

Ms. VanSickle: I asked that this be addressed because I think that after any event like this we need to look at what worked, what didn't work, and what can we do better. I was thinking not only hurricane preparedness, but any catastrophic event. It is hard to say we could have a meteor hit, terror, you don't know in today's world, but I think there

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are some things we need to fix. I tried to highlight in yellow what my questions were like about the storm drains. Before the storm, blow them out and check them. I think this needs to be done ongoing before and after a hurricane. I know coming down here we passed two that had an issue. People need constant reminders not to put their debris on top of the storm drains. With all the hurricane debris that was in here it was blowing. If we have a windy day it blows into them. I think it is something that needs to be ongoing. Maybe a check off sheet. People need that constant reminder not to put their lawn garbage or anything out there, especially with the hurricane, it was an ongoing problem. Down to D, when we talk about obtaining the battery operated radios and ensure that you can receive emergency information. Where are the battery operated radios and who has access during an emergency? We didn't have staff on site. Who would have had access to that and who would have been able to disseminate that information?
Ms. Adams: Supervisor VanSickle, would you like to go through all of these items?

Or, I do have a little bit of enhanced information about the section here where it has the weather radios and flashlights. Part of the contemplation with hurricane preparedness is that it coincides with severe weather in Florida. Even during summers where we don't have hurricanes, we often have severe storms that cause electrical outages. So the concept with the battery operated weather radio, which is in the club office, as well as the flashlights being kept at each work station, is in the event that at a time when the building is staffed we have a power outage so that we can continue to monitor for weather. To know whether it is safe to send residents out of the building and I am sure any employee that has worked at Lake Ashton for any length of time can attest to the fact that flashlights come in handy. We have a certain protocol with checking each room in the case of electrical outage. Really that was the intention for those pieces of equipment being in place during severe weather season in Florida, which coincides with hurricane season.
Ms. VanSickle: I agree with that, but my question is when the building is not staffed and there is an emergency, how would we have access to that equipment? Basically that is the residents' equipment and they should be able to use it even if staff isn't here in my opinion.

 	 	 	 	

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Ms. Adams: We are talking about flashlights and a weather radio, presumably many residents who are following the typical protocols for storm preparedness would have those items in their personal possession at their homes where they typically would be during a hurricane.
Mr. d'Adesky: It is not intended for private use. It is not intended to be like a ham radio that someone just comes over and wants to use in private capacity. The CDD's ultimate responsivity under the statutes is to protect public property. So that doesn't mean there can't be tangential benefits and there can't be benefits to the residents safety in their private homes, but once again it goes back to this divide between HOA like responsibilities or your private activities in your home and your home activities versus the public infrastructure like any city or county would do. Of course they try and do as much as they can but you can only do so much. Given the size of Lake Ashton, it is more limited than even a city or county. I can say from experience having worked in a lot of small cities, they really don't do much in terms of providing backup radios and equipment of this sort for folks to utilize in the private homes.
Mr. Deane: We have CERT and they do have radios and they do have a generator if there is that type of emergency, but they have to be called for that to be done.
Ms. Adams: Just to clarify, and I don'twant to intrude too muchbecause Supervisor VanSickle has some other points to go through, but when we are talking about CERT just for informational purposes, the Community Emergency Response Team reports directly to Polk County Fire Services and during a storm event Polk County Emergency Operations. Lake Ashton CDD does not direct that team. Lake Ashton HOA does not direct that team. They receive their training and they receive their direction from Polk County Fire Services. So we work in concert with them, but they don't report to any entity here at Lake Ashton. We also on this storm preparedness plan contemplate communication with our CAP program and that is a situation where they are reporting to the Polk County Sheriff's office and working in concert and coordination and communication with Lake Ashton. They receive their training and they report to the Sheriff's office. Then of course we have Neighborhood Watch which is an independent organization here at Lake Ashton.

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Ms. Pontious: I want to say too I think this document that we are perusing right now was designed for employees correct?
Ms. Adams: Yes. Each year staff prepares the hurricane preparedness plan with any updated information. We also prepare a resource for residents, which is called seasonal storm tips and hurricane tips, and that is also updated based on new information and seasonal information. We will make some changes as a result of the experience in 2017 with Hurricane Irma. That is correct. And I will also just mention that we have separate trainings for employees that are internal personnel documents and internal personnel training regarding handling various types of emergencies, so we are talking about situations from a power outage to pool pollution to a more significant event. That is something that we routinely review and update. So that is also separate from this hurricane preparedness plan outline.
Ms. Pontious: Based on just what we have gone through, do you have suggestions to either staff or to residents to make about what we could improve on?
Ms. Adams: I agree with Supervisor VanSickle that it is healthy when you have any type of natural disaster like what just occurred to review and say what went well and what went wrong and to always look for ways that we can improve. We try to operate with an environment of a continuous improvement. That input is provided by the Board and by residents, what was understood and what was not understood. One of the challenges with hurricanes is that no two hurricanes are alike. We have from category 1 to category 5 and we have hurricanes that are rain events or hurricanes that are wind events. We have hurricanes that move fast and hurricanes that move slow or hurricanes that go across the state horizontally or in the case of Irma hit much more of the state going vertically. So each storm and each hurricane poses unique challenges. I think that staff and the hurricane plan need to be dynamic so that you can respond to evolving emergency information. I think everyone in this room saw how seriously the Governor took this storm. The Governor taking this seriously declaring a state of emergency early increased the intensity of preparations amongst citizens. I think this was probably the record for Florida evacuees. So this was a unique storm in many ways in terms of access
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to resources and some other things that had it made it challenging following this storm for certain vendors, not in particularly Lake Ashton but there was some particulars to this storm and my point is you are anticipating good judgement and responding to evolving emergency information.
Mr. Costello: One other thing the last page of this we have security officer in Lake Ashton CDD. We have a community director, CAP, CERT, Neighborhood Watch and LA Amateur Radio Club, we don't have Supervisor. We started this meeting tonight with input from the residents and one of the things that was said was that they would  like to see more involvement of the Supervisors within this. Should we have one of the Supervisors named in this?
Mr. d'Adesky: I would advise against it for liability purposes. Mr. Flint: It is really up to the Board.
Mr. Costello: As far as the liability goes and I am not an attorney, but by the same token don't we have the same liability by having our community director in there?
Mr. d'Adesky: No, because that is the scope of their position. The scope of their position is to enforce the District's policies, the District's rules, to follow all the procedures of the District, but a Supervisor, and this is me looking out for the best interest of all the Supervisors, because I care about your personal liability.
Mr. Costello: I appreciate that, but the only thing like I said one of the residents was here and he felt that Supervisors, and quite honestly I feel the same way, the Supervisors should have more input as to what is going on within this community. Not only that, there was a resident who questioned the fact that some of the information that went out wasn't disseminated as quickly as some of the people would have liked to have seen it. I don't know where our liability would come in, but if you are telling me that we are avoiding the liability as a Supervisor being involved in this, then I have to take you at your word. You went to school for it.
Mr. d'Adesky: Let me just say first of all I am not aware personally of those
scenarios. They haven't been brought to my attention factually. I am sure they happen.
Mr. Costello: It wasn't a major thing. It is not a major scenario.

Mr. d'Adesky: I understand the concern. I certainly understand the concern of wanting the Supervisors to be involved as they possibility can be. I think that we just have to remember that we are and this goes for every city and every county and every CDD, it is representative government so the scope of your position is a legislative position. A position as an elected Board member to put the policy in place for your staff to go implement that policy. The issue with liability is that a tricky attorney, and I know some of them are very creative and they would say that you in going out there and doing this hurricane plan were acting outside the scope of your role as a Supervisor, which could potentially remove you from some of the protections that we have in place. Let's say something happened with you or let's say a Supervisor was assigned and they did something wrong and someone was injured. They could try and bringsome sort of claim on that. It might fail, or it might work, but it exposes you to more liability by putting yourself out there and doing something that is typically done by staff.
Mr. Flint: As far as input goes, you guys set policy we carry. The theory is you set policy, we carry it out. If there is input that the Board wants to provide, we are always open to input. Within the framework of the Sunshine Law, which is kind of handcuffs on everybody, but that applies to every governmental entity out there. So there's a lack of ability for you guys to talk to each other outside of these meetings, but you can talk to staff and we can talk in these meetings about issues or concerns.
Mr. Costello: To be quite honest with you, I think I saw every Supervisor at one time or another in this building talking to Tricia, or offering help or something of that nature. Sunshine Laws I couldn't agree with you  anymore, they tie our  hands.  I can't say it in any other words.
Mr. d'Adesky: I wish they weren't around. It would make my life a lot easier.
Mr. Costello: I can well imagine that it would. The only thing that I can say is you look at Senators, you look Congressman, they all sit, and I am sorry, but they plot against one another in order to get what they want.
Mr. d'Adesky: And they are exempt.

Ms. Adams: One thing that may be helpful moving forward is that each year before storm season begins, so for example in the May meeting, we can put a draft of the hurricane preparedness plan for staff, the policies as reminder and at that time have an opportunity for Supervisors to review and get some fresh input.
Mr. Costello: And I realize the only thing is whatever goes on between you and I, the general public, they never hear about it. That is number one. Number two I have 35 years in emergency services, and I think I know a little bit of what goes on. I would like to see the Board of Supervisors here take a little bit more action within the community.
Mr. Deane: We saw what kind of help we got from the City of Lake Wales. They were glad we were cleaning the street. I was out there cutting down a tree that was in the street. They were glad we were cleaning the street because they hadn't even been here. That is the day after the hurricane, not the day of.
Ms. Pontious: I think one of the things that we can do that might help in dialogue with Tricia I learned thatsomething I didn't know, we do not have a resident as Chairman of our CERT committee. There was no one willing to step up and take that responsibility. So that is being handled by someone off site. Maybe we would need to put out an appeal to see if we don't have some local person willing to do that so that we have firsthand information here rather than working with an outsider coming in to help us. We also had as Brenda points out in here, we had some snafoos with security. I think those snafoos maybe can be addressed. We have a security person here, but I think we know where they are. I think they have been worked on. I think they are going to be fixed and we can only move forward with the assurance that it won't happen again. However life is life. Things do happen.
Mr. Flint: On the security issue, we had a situation that the person who was assigned lived in a mobile home. They were ordered to evacuate and this happened close to the storm time. We did have an alternate plan and that alternate was we have one of the security officers that lives within the community here on site. So there was an alternate plan. We didn't have someone in the clubhouse, but we did have someone in the community that had keys to the facility. The whole idea of being in the clubhouse

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during a storm is not to address issues that happen during the storm. It is to be there when the storm is over and it passes to be able to help assess any situations that may need to be addressed after the storm. We did have somebody within the community that works for the security company ready to do that. There was a plan B. It wasn't that we didn't have a plan. It didn't strictly follow this. Having the clubhouse wide open during the storm I know the policy talks about keeping it unlocked. This falls on me, my concern about that is I don't want people feeling like they can go to the fitness center when the eye of the hurricane is flying over and work out. It is a safety issue. People need to be in their home where they are safe, not traveling the streets and bowling or using the fitness room. That was kind of the concept of why. If there is a storm event where this has to be used as a shelter, obviously that is a different situation then what we had. We knew at that point that the storm was coming close that it wasn't going to be a category 4 storm. It wasn't going to be that level of storm. So we tried to be flexible. We communicated during that period.
Ms. Pontious: I think Brenda's concern and mine is too, is what do we do? We were so lucky that this wasn't any worse than it was. We never lost power. We have so many things to be grateful for, but what ifs start cropping up. What do we do as residents to assess or protect, whatever, the community facilities in the event that there is no staff, or if there is no security, then what is the responsibility and how many are willing to step up and do something. Do we want to man our own gates to make sure that no one is coming in that is not documented? How do we want to proceed in the future to protect what we have? That is basically the concern. I think we need to move forward with a little more planning and decide how it is we want to proceed to make sure that things are secure in the event so that people aren't coming in from the outside as soon as they can get out of their homes to see what kind of damage there is here that they can take advantage of. Things like that in the future. We will work with security. We might need to establish some kind of group working here to see just how much residents want to be involved in protecting, or is it better to just let residents take care of their home and their personal facilities? Staff when they get here takes care of the building.

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Ms. VanSickle: I guess one of my concerns was the dissemination of information. When I left here I was told one thing. When a resident asked me I gave them the information that I had been given. Then it changed. I didn't know it. I was giving out information that was not factual. I would have appreciated knowing that it had been changed. I appreciate knowing when did the gate close and open up. When was it not manned and when was it manned? We also had the issue of the gate blowing open. A ton of people calling me that they saw that the gate was blown off and they called the gate to let them know but nobody answered. I said well they are manning the clubhouse. They weren't manning the clubhouse. I felt like I was giving out bad information because I didn't know what was going on. I don't like being in a position where I don't know what is going on. I feel as a Supervisor I have that right to know. West outperformed us on this storm. I am sorry, but they did a wonderful job. Jim, you did a great job. Countless residents have come up to me and said why we weren't given this information. Tricia and I talked, and she said I put out a lot of that information, but I think the sound bites that came out and the frequency, people appreciated that. They didn't know what to do. They didn't know where to turn for answers and they appreciated getting that information. One of the main things being the trash pickup. I think information needs to flow a little bit better. If staff isn't on site, maybe our Chairman needs to have access to the media because if something happened in here and there was no staff, who is going to give that information out? That is a concern that I have.
Ms. Adams: I do have just a couple of remarks. I felt that residents were remarkably prepared for this storm. I had a lot of feedback from residents that said they were stocked up with water. They were stocked up with supplies. They were ready for power outages. Residents shared garages to safeguard vehicles. People who were not in attendance offered to share generators and propane. Residents, although it was a frightening situation, were remarkably prepared. I think you have to look back at all of the things that happen at Lake Ashton on a continuous basis. Before hurricane season each year we publish guidelines for residents, including resources to important public safety groups for City of Winter Haven, City of Lake Wales, Polk County Emergency

 	 	 	 	 	

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Management, Florida Disaster.org Make a Plan, Polk County Emergency Alert. We try to have residents familiar with all those resources so that when they need help they feel like they have some guidelines. We bring someone in every year from Polk County Emergency Services and she goes step by step on how to prepare for a hurricane. We encourage residents and we promote attendance at that meeting. The plan is to get residents so that they can shelter in place and be safe. That is the goal. Each month during hurricane season, we put a reminder in the newsletter, as a matter of fact if you look at the September newsletter, there is reminder September is peak storm season. Make sure you are prepared for severe weather with information on linking to the hurricane resource center. At Monday Coffee we remind people it is hurricane preparedness, don't donate all your water to Care Centerjust yet. We have more time to go. During the robust preparations for Hurricane Irma, there was widely published public safety information. The questions that we got at the Activities Desk were regarding shelters. We had handouts for local shelters. The other questions that we received were about sand bags. So you will notice we posted on the website locations for sand  bags.    That  was  emailed  out  to  residents.  Within  days  of  the  storm  we  had information going out regarding the status of amenities as to what had been rescheduled and what had been cancelled. Immediately following the storm we were able to do an initial assessment, and GMS staff was on site Tuesday. We went through all of the important information that needed to go out with email messaging that day, were in contact with Florida Refuse and contact with City of Lake Wales, as well as recognizing we had some problems with telephones services.   One of the important amenities, the pool, would not be open until 5:00 p.m. so all of that information was consolidated and emailed out that day. For the people who did not have electronic messaging or electronic mail, we made sure that the roving patrol officer had information so that they understood the schedule for trash pickup that week. Also, so that they understood that the telephones at the clubhouse were out so that they could pass on that information to anyone who was out and about on the street inquiring. Again, I feel like what Supervisors want is a dynamic staff that can  respond  to  evolving emergency information and  exercise good

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judgment. I think that I have to commend all of the GMS employees. There was not one employee who had electricity at their home, and in some cases there were employees who were traveling on Highway 27 without any traffic lights, which was probably just as dangerous as Hurricane Irma. All of the team came to work on Tuesday ready to work, and by work I mean pick up shingles, pick up debris, and make sure that the clubhouse was open and ready for residents to enjoy. That was really the priorities. The day after the hurricane passed we had our commercial pool vendor here. We were the first client that they came to see and visit. We had our roofer here making temporary repairs to safeguard the facilities. We had the Hartline Company here securing the Berwick gate to make sure that was back in order. So we really had a sense of priorities. We had Yellowstone, Alan and I spoke on Monday, Yellowstone was here on Monday. We were able to ride through the community. We saw what trees were either encroaching on the road or potentially could fall on the road. Yellowstone was able to mobilize their crew early on Tuesday and take care of those important safety projects. So there was a lot of good things that happened in terms of safeguarding the facilities and residents being prepared for the storm.
Ms. VanSickle: I guess my question still is when staff is not on site during a hurricane or some other type of emergency, we as residents have no means of disseminating information.
Ms. Adams: I believe that you texted me on at least several occasions. Was there ever a time that it took me more than one or two minutes to respond to a text?
Ms. VanSickle: No, but in an emergency, going forward say something happens and there is no power. Phones die and if you don't have power and your phone is dead how could we get out information? We had power here. We could have disseminated information. If staff was off site and could not get here I know for Lake Ashton II, Jim puts out a lot of information. What I am asking is should our Chairman have that access because we are on site? If we are here and there is no staff available, if I can't get in touch with you, shouldn't somebody here be able to put out that information?

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Mr. Flint: We will do whatever you guys want us to do. If the Chairman wants that responsibility, and the Board wants to be more hands on, we are willing to adapt to whatever structure you guys want. We always see our role as making sure that you are not inconvenienced by something that we should be doing. So we just take care of it. We manage it and don't think unless you all want to that you need to be doing some of those things. That is what we are hired to do and we want to make sure we are doing them. We want to make sure we are doing what you ask us to do. Now if you want to be more involved we will adapt to whatever structure you all want. We manage a lot of communities. Every community is different. Every Board is different. Some Boardswant to come to the meeting. They want the meeting to be short. They want to be gone and that is it. They rely on us to manage it. Other communities, they want to be hands on. They have Board members that have designated responsibilities. We work through that and within the confines of Sunshine Laws sometimes it gets a little bit scary, but you know we are not stuck to a certain model here. We are willing to adapt to whatever the majority of the five Board members want us to do. We are telling you what we did and what we think we did right. Was everything perfect? Of course not. It never is. There are always opportunities for improvement. As Tricia mentioned looking after a disaster looking at your policies, looking at what we did and what we didn't do is always healthy. We are happy to have that conversation.
Ms. VanSickle: I want to be kept informed. That is very important to me. Mr. Costello: Same here.
Mr. Flint: Again it comes down to what the desires of the individual Boards are. Some just want to know that it is being taken care of. Others want details. There is communication that goes back and forth amongst staff during a storm, before the storm and after the storm. Over the weekend Tricia and I communicated a lot. Alan and Tricia and I communicate, and she communicates internally with her staff. We can make sure we are giving more regularupdates to the Board members so that you are included if that is your desire.
Ms. VanSickle: Yes.

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October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Ms. Pontious: Mike certainly has the credentials to work on this.   You are fairly new on the Board where some of us are short-timers . Would you be willing to work with Tricia moving forward and see what things we need to do?
Mr. Costello: Yes. One of the questions I have for Tricia, I see all these different organizations that did an excellent job over the time period. Do we have any kind of certificate of appreciation that we could maybe give? It is always nice to say thank you. To hand somebody something they realize you appreciate what they have done for us.
Ms. Adams: Yes. We certainly could provide anything that the Board wanted to provide. I will say that you probably noticed in the October newsletter that we did take the opportunity to happily recognize Community Emergency Response Team. We have found that historically that kind of highlighting an organization and bringing attention to it will help for them to gain the support that they may require in the future. Carol already mentioned we have been trying to assist with recruiting leadership for that group so this was an opportunity, and you will see that there was a color photo montage highlighting the work that they did immediately following the storm. I think a certificate would also be nice.

Mr. Costello: I appreciate the fact that you did that, but at the same token the members of these organizations, and it may only be a piece paper, but it is our way of saying thank you.
Ms. VanSickle: I was in here the Saturday before the hurricane and Matt was busily
moving chairs around. I ran into a lady in the hallway and she was looking for Matt, she said she wanted to thank him for all he did. She said you guys need to give him a raise. The things that he has done around this building and for residents was very much appreciated. Residents really appreciated the extra support he gave them.
Mr. Costello: I would like to say that I would like to see some sort of appreciation when we go out to these people the employees also did an excellent job.
Mr. Flint:  Would you like that presented at the next Board meeting? Mr. d'Adesky: A lot of Boards do that.
Mr. Costello: Ok.

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Discussion on Supervisors Attending Conferences (requested by Supervisor Vansickle)
Ms. Pontious: Ok we have a question on conferences.
Ms. VanSickle: From time to time there is various conferences on CDDs. I have attended one on a HOA that I found very helpful. It is a good means of networking. You learn a lot of things. I first found about geothermal with pools that way. There is one that is coming up the 24th of this month. It is for special districts and I was interested in going so I filled out the registration form and when I got it back it said if you are the member of a governmental entity some say you can't accept any gift. You have to pay

$50 at the start of the conference or if it is a reporting issue they will show how to report it. So I sent an email to Andrew to do this right way within the law and all that stuff. Due to recent legislation it would be better to pay the $50, so I asked for the state statutes because I have been told from somebody else that is was a reporting issue. I wanted to find out if I need to pay the $50. I will pay the $50 because I am going to go. It is an educational experience. I want to get the information but if I don't need to pay the $50 I would rather not do that. I wanted to find out exactly what the ruling on that is?

Mr. d'Adesky: The issue is a very long statute. I sent you the whole statute, I don't know if you tried to read it. It is long. The issue is to that is a lot of these trainings are not all created equal. So that is one thing you have to realize going into it.  Some of them I go to, a great one you know there is great ones on Sunshine Laws and public records that are put out by certain foundations or certain nonprofits. We attend really legal education on these topics. Every year I am probably listening to between 16 and 24 hours of local government law related updates as to any changes in the law. I read the journals sent to me every month. There was just a case involving public records requests that changed the law in that in Florida slightly. We are always doing that and we are always willing to put on any. If you want information, I am willing to present that. Say Andrew, I would like a refresher on meetings or something like that or public records. I will do that for you. That is part of my job. With the meetings, some of them are put on by vendors and by lobbyists. The statute treats those differently. You have to realize that they can call it the special district extravaganza but they can be trying to sell you a Lexus

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and some landscaping. A lot of them do have ulterior motives. As an attorney, I get these all the time, these companies trying to sell me products and to come and sell these things to you. So that is why especially looking at that one in particular it looks like there is some companies that have corporate interest and may try and market certain landscaping and technological products to you. So out of abundance of caution, because I always go with the risk averse option, not the riskier option, I say it is easier to pay it then have to deal with potential violations. So in this particular case because of the folks that are putting it on, Jan and I both thought that is would be safer just to pay the amount.
Mr. Flint: In a nutshell, correct me if I am wrong, you can't accept any gift, quote gift over value of $100. Anything over $25, there is a reporting requirement. You have to disclose. You have to file a special report disclosing that gift whether it is ticket to a Magic game, or if it's a meal that cost more than $25. In this case, the interpretation was because of the value of the food and the other things associated with this conference that either you pay the $50 or you need to disclose the $50, which there is a separate report for that. Alternatively, the Board has the option you don't have it in your budget, but if those types of training were something you wanted the ability to do, the District can pay travel and per diem, registration for trainings for Board members. There is the Florida Association of Special Districts. There are some entities out there that do have conferences that some Board members attend. That would be an option, as well. The Board could choose to pay the $50. That is another option.
Mr. d'Adesky: That is a little cheaper than having me look at it at every single time.
Ms. VanSickle: I don't know how the Board would feel about paying the $50, but what is the difference between reporting it? What is the issue with just reporting it?
Mr. d'Adesky: The issue is you are going to have spend a certain amount of staff time looking at that and reviewing that and going through that disclosure. By that time you have already spent more than $50.
Ms. Pontious: She is saying why can't she just fill out the form?
Mr. d'Adesky: It is possible to do, but it does take a certain amount of time and information that you would have to collect for that, so that is why we typically just

recommend paying it because it is usually easier than you having to go through the disclosure process.
Mr. Flint: We can get you the form or direct you to the form if you want to file it.
Ms. VanSickle: How difficult is that? Because I am going. If I have to pay $50, I will pay $50. I am not asking the Board to pay per diem and stuff. I am getting there. I am going to spend my time. I am looking for information networking possibilities. What I am working on right now, is I am trying to make contact with an HOA in Lake County that is getting ready to put solar in to power their clubhouse. They have done it through  a private agreement with an investor. They are going to be paying 80% of what they have for their electric bill for the last five years and average of 80% for the next five years and then it will be paid off. I want to find out how they have done it. That is the type of information I am looking for because can you imagine if after five years we didn't have to pay an electric bill in this building? This is the type of stuff that can save us money.
Mr. Flint: No one is trying to impede your desire or ability to do that.
Mr. d'Adesky: If you want to work with George that is fine. I just thought it would be easier, that seemed like the easier of the two options. If you want to work with George to get you the paperwork that is fine.
Ms. VanSickle: If I can be legal with the paperwork I would rather do the paperwork, but if I have to pay the $50 I will pay the $50. If I can fill out a form and not pay the $50 and be legat I would rather do that. Is there a problem with that?
Mr. d'Adesky: We will work with you on that. We can try and get that done. Mr. Deane: Why shouldn't the Board pay for something like that?
Mr. d'Adesky: You can. It has to be a Board decision to pay for that but that is totally within the scope of what the Board could pay for.
Ms. VanSickle: There may be other conferences that people want to attend. I think maybe if we are going to do it for one we need to do it for all.
Ms. Pontious: Why don't you look at the form and see how tough it really is. If you end up paying for it, keep your receipts, and bring it back to the Board and we will take care of it.

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Mr. Costello: Does the form have to be filled out prior to going? Mr. Flint: I don't think it has too.
Ms. Pontious: You only have a week or so if you have already registered.
Mr. Costello: I also intended on going and quite honestly, I mean if it's a time sensitive issue, I think it is the 24th of this month.
Mr. Flint: I will get the form to you.  I have only filed it once in the last ten years and I filed it after the fact because I didn't realize there was a value until after the actual event.
Mr. Deane:  I would like to make a motion that if Board members are going to
attend conferences to benefit the community I don't think $50 or $100 is going to break	
the community.  I think that the Board should pay for it and that is my motion.

Mr. Ference:  Second.
Mr. Flint: I know I am not a Board member, but just for discussion that process you may want to have the Board member come to the Board prior, just to disclose or get approval rather than going to aconference and coming back and saying it was $1,000 and I was staying in a Marriott.
Mr. Costello: Can we put a cap on how much?
Mr. Flint: You can do whatever you want. Some complex organizations actually have a travel per diem budget and an allowance for each Board member. There are a lot of different ways you can do it.  It is however you all feel comfortable.
Ms. Pontious: So you are adding prior approval to your motion?
Mr. Deane: Yes, this would be for prior approval of this October 24th meeting. Ms. Pontious:  Any further discussion?

On MOTION by Mr. Deane seconded by Mr. Ference with all in favor Board members attending conferences are to be reimbursed for expenses with prior approval of the Board was approved.

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Monthly Reports
Attorney
Ms. Pontious: Andrew, do you have anything else for us today?
Mr. d'Adesky: Nothing else.

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton COD

Community Director - Monthly Report
Ms. Pontious: Tricia. Community Director's report.
Ms. Adams: First and foremost, I would like to introduce John Cruz, who is with Community Watch Solutions. I think he had planned to come up and introduce himself to the Board. He is active at Lake Ashton and he has recently taken over this account, but I have seen him three times in the past week and it is good to see him this morning. John? Mr. Cruz: Good morning. My name is John Cruz. I am with Community Watch Solutions. I am the new account manager that will be overseeing the security operations here at Lake Ashton. Some of the things that Tricia and I have discussed like Tricia said we met several times over the past couple of weeks now. I am out here to help you guys. Whatever needs you have, I am here to make sure that happens. Whatever you hear from security,  let  us know  we  will  make it happen.	I plan on coming out several times biweekly making sure that our staff is up to par and doing what needs to be done and
making sure that we are meeting all those contractual obligations.
Ms. VanSickle: We are going to be staffing a pool officer starting Thanksgiving to Mother's Day. One of the problems that we have had in the past is that the person starts and usually isn't well versed in what the responsibilities are. I would like to see us hit  the ground running with that so they know exactly what the job responsibilities are.
Mr. Cruz: Yes. Ron and I have been discussing that. We will definitely make sure whoever is posted there will meet those requirements and is able to perform the duties.
Ms. VanSickle: Also going back to the hurricane, I don't want to beat a dead horse,
but in the future does Community Watch Solutions have the staffing to make sure that positions here are staffed when needed?
Mr. Cruz: Absolutely.	
Ms. Adams: Thank you, John. In addition to the community director's report, which is a four page report that was transmitted via electronic mail, I also sent out an electronic communication this week regarding Tampa Electric Company. We are in a great position right now because they have agreed to take these final three accounts that are double fixture street lights and convert those to the single fixture street lights. So

26

yesterday I did send a copy of the agreement out and we are seeking a motion to approve that agreement and move forward with that project. Are there any questions on this process? I did add a little bit of background, especially for Supervisor Costello, who m.ay not be as familiar with the project.
Mr. Deane:  Tricia, this is the final for Lake Ashton correct? Ms. Adams: It is the final for Lake Ashton CDD, yes.
Mr. Deane: I make a motion to accept TECO contract for changing the street lights. Ms. VanSickle: Second.
Ms. Pontious:  We have a motion from. Borden and a second from. Brenda to move forward with the final installation of single fixture street lights for Lake Ashton. Any further discussion? All those in favor.
On MOTION by Mr. Deane seconded by Ms. VanSickle with all in favor the TECO contract for installation of single fixture street lights for Lake Ashton CDD was approved.

Ms. Pontious:  Thank you so much.  This has taken years of work.
Ms. Adams: It has taken years of work, but thankfully at the end of this round all 233 street light locations will be converted. It is good news.
Ms.  Pontious:  I have said this before, but just so you understand the work and where she started with this.  Every one of those poles has a number on it.  The first billings that she starte� checking, it was fine when the builder built the place and all the poles had a number and he paid the bill for all of them..  When we started breaking things apart and we had CDD I  and CDD II and  golf  course  lights and everything all on one bill had  to be broken apart. Physically someone had to go out and check all of those numbers and make sure they were on the right bill. She was working with TECO representatives who really didn't want to do this. So it has taken probably a good three or four years to work through all this mess with TECO and make sure that we were being charged for the right poles and the right places. It has been a phenomenal task. She has stuck with it all this time to make sure that this is happening so we thank her for that.

Ms. Adams: It is my pleasure. Truly the best part of this agreement that was just approved is that it is for three accounts that are not yet expired. You may recall that earlier TECO would only allow us to convert the street lights where the ten year agreement had expired. The good news was in this case they were willing to make the conversion sooner without any contract buyout expense and with no capital up front cost. So good news. Another thing that I had transmitted to Supervisors was an orientation schedule for new residents. We had orientation in the clubhouse ballroom this past Wednesday on October 11th, and Supervisor Costello . attended that. Then we have upcoming orientations in December, February, April arid June. I suggested a schedule based on the earlier rotation that I included in the email and also in the community director's report. I just want to confirm that is a good schedule for Supervisors. It would mean that Bob Ference is scheduled in December, Brenda VanSickle is scheduled in February, Carol Pontious is scheduled in April and Borden Deane in June. Does that schedule work for everyone? Ok, we will move forward with that as a plan. Are there any questions on any of the content that was in the community director's report?
Ms. Pontious: How many people did you have at the last orientation?
Ms. Adams: We hadjust over 60 new residents at the orientation. Again, Supervisor Costello was here and we appreciate him corning and sharing remarks on behalf of Lake Ashton CDD. I think he will agree it was an energetic crowd and an upbeat forum.

Mr. Costello:  Yes, it was.   A little short notice on my part, but it definitely was well attended. I think everybody left here with a pretty good feeling about what goes on in this community.
Ms. Adams: That is all I have unless there is any questions?
Ms.  Pontious:   Do you want a reminder again about the fitness center restrooms being closed?
Ms. Adams: The fitness center restrooms are undergoing tile refurbishment. Right

now if you go in you will notice there is caution tape to close the showers. The showers needed to dry out for a few days before the work begins with grout restoration on Monday.  The showers will not be available until October 23rd.  During certain times the

restrooms are open, but during certain times people may not want to access them while workers are present. So we have been notifying residents via media and I have also been in communication with water aerobics so they are aware of the scenario.
Field Operations Manager - Monthly Report Ms. Pontious: Field manager.
Mr. Scheerer: Good morning. The field operations report was included in your books. If anybody has any questions regarding it I will be happy to try and answer them.
Ms. VanSickle: I love the new pool umbrellas. They are being very well received. The wasp nest being sprayed under the handicapped lift probably needs to be ongoing because they seem to be taking up residence there. There is a small opening and they go up inside where all the cinderblocks are. And the magnolias on the Boulevard are looking really sad.
Mr. Flint: Are you talking about the base of the magnolias?
Mr. Scheerer: During the hurricane, it was a really large wind event. We did receive a lot of wind damage to a lot of the trees. I know Yellowstone was out recently and did a fertilization of _those trees and the shrubs in the Boulevard. I don't think there is anything to be concerned with right now but as with all of our landscaping through all the communities that we manage, there is going to be a little bit of shock due to the high winds. We are just going to have to monitor them, but I think the magnolias will be fine. Right now we don't have a level of concern other than the fact that we would like to see them dark green and looking good, but we are just going to have to wait and see what the end result of the storm was with all the wind damage that we received.
Ms. Pontious: Lush trees are not going to be a product of this winter.
Mr. Scheerer: Some trees won't be, no ma'am. We do have a little bit of algae that we are working in my two favorite ponds on Aberdeen and Berwick, but that is an ongoing battle. I met with Applied Aquatic this morning and we just had a quick meeting with Archie and them. I think we are ok pond wise, as well.
Ms. Pontious: We have had some concern again this week about the mowers. We have had a lot of wind, so a lot of that debris from the mowing has been blowing. We were assured that they have been instructed to make sure that they mow away from the ponds.
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October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Mr. Scheerer: The mowers themselves are mulching mowers, so they don't have an open discharge on the mower. The theory behind that is the grass clippings drop directly where they are. We have absolutely no way at all to ensure that there is no grass cuttings that get in the pond but they do start at the bottom of the pond and work their way up. They start at the property for the residents where the homes are and work their way back out and they string trim in such a way as much as possible when you are weeding the edge of that pond to try to blow as much of the grass clippings away from the water as possible. I can assure you our lakes are good. They are not intentionally discharging grass clippings and debris into the stormwater system. Chris had actually sent an email, Chris Bower our manager for Yellowstone that outlines the protocols that Mario, who has been here forever and does an amazing job in making sure the property looks as good as possible. That protocol is in place and is followed consistently. I can't say it enough, there is no way for us to not get grass clippings, especially when you are trimming. We will do our best to do that. It is not a problem for the pond other than it looks bad for a while, but every effort is being made to address that. I have a mulching deck on there as opposed to an open discharge that is one of the avenues that keeps the grass in place as best as possible.
Ms. Pontious: Thank you.

CDD Manager
Mr. Flint: There are a couple of issues that we are continuing to work on as a result of the hurricane. One is obviously the roof of this building. You have seen that there has been some temporary repairs done. The roof is not leaking at this point. The repairs are holding and we are in the process of working with a roofing contractor and the insurance company. We are also getting a second bid so that we are sure that the price is competitive. The roof is very expensive on this building. Both the contractor and the insurance adjuster are recommending that it be completely replaced based on the amount of damage. So that is expensive. We do have wind event coverage, but the deductible on wind events is different than your normal deductible. The deductible on wind events is based on 2% of the value of the asset so it is a higher deductible, but it is a big number
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October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

so we are continuing to work on that. The other thing is the canopy over the seating area, the structure itself is fine. The canvas needs to be replaced so we are working_on getting pricing on that and filing a claim on that as well. Before we move forward with that, I know the Board might want to have a discussion on whether you want to continue to have a canopy awning like that or do you want to have a hard roof. Once we get the numbers and understand what our insurance coverage is we will come back to you and have that discussion.
Mr. Deane: George, are we getting a price for a hard roof at this time?
Mr. Flint: We haven't yet. We have got prices from when we looked at it previously, but that was five or six years ago.
Ms. Adams: The last time I spoke to a contractor about it I spoke to Semco. You probably recall that they did the cinema refurbishment as well as the dormer refurbishment. They said they were not in a position to be able to prepare an estimate without engineering plans because of the lift with that kind of structure and being adjacent to the lake. What kind of other support it would need and how far things would need to be counter sunk etc. etc. They would need to have engineer plans in order to provide an accurate estimate.
Mr. Flint: Some of the companies that do that type of work have their own in­
. house engineering capability because it has to be permitted. There would have to be footers poured obviously because of the uplift and all that would have to be designed.
Mr. Deane: I understand that and we had a price before, I think it was like $23,000 or something like that.
Ms. Adams: That was prior to 2011 . Was that after Charlie? Mr. Flint: I don't know. We will go back and look at it.
Ms. Adams: 2004 was Charlie. Mr. Flint: It was after that.
Mr. Costello: I realize that we don't have all the pricing in for all the damage that had been done. I am sure that we have many different claims out there. In the end, we will get a report as to what this storm actually cost us?
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Mr.  Flint:  Yes, we can put that together.   A lot of the  costs are not covered by insurance. The landscaping insurance company doesn't insure. After Andrew they stopped including that in policies so a lot of the costs are related to that. They are not going to be covered. We can go back and give you a report on what those are.

Mr. Costello: That would be appreciated.  The only other thing is I can imagine that some of the damage may not even meet the deductible within the policy. If we piecemeal it and you give us this piece and that piece, and I am not blaming you by any means, but if we had a report giving us a total of what this storm actually cost we would appreciate it.
Ms. Adams: We set up an account for that.
Mr. Flint:  Yes, and we are tracking those expenses so we can provide that. Ms. Pontious: Alright, do you want to go to the check run summary?
EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Financial Reports
Approval of Check Run Summary
Combined Balance Sheet
Mr. Flint: Do you have any questions? We have the check run summary dated
October 13. The general fund is $172,812.15 and the capital project fund is $7,240.70.

Ms. Pontious: Are there any questions on the check run summary? If not, we need to have a motion.
Mr. Costello: I make a motion that we accept the check run summary.
Mr. Ference: Second.

On MOTION by Mr. Costello seconded by Mr. Ference with all in favor the check run summary was approved.

Ms. Pontious: We have a motion from Mike and second from Bob to accept the check run summary.

Mr. Flint: Again, you have the combined balance and statement of revenue and expenditures in your agenda. If you have any questions we can discuss it. There is no action required by the Board on those.

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	General Audience Comments

Ms. Pontious: Ok, then it is time for audience comments.

 	

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Mr. VanSickle: Jack VanSickle, 4060 Ashton Club Drive. A couple of questions. I heard earlier that we do have a basketball that is kept in the office. If I want to play ball at 6:00 a.m. or 6:00 p.m. when it is cooler, how do I get that ball?
Ms. Adams: The club office is from 9:00 to 5:00 so that would be a challenge, but truly so few requests over the years. We would be happy to move it to the shuffleboard court. We just have kept it in the club office to be assured that if somebody requested it we could air it up before it goes out.
Mr. VanSickle: One concern that I have that I really want to emphasize is dealing with the Supervisors that are sitting there. You guys are elected officials for the residents. You speak for the residents. You have a fiduciary duty to the residents, but what I am hearing is that is the change in, and I will take on the hurricane because that is easy and you discussed it, the policy that has someone close the gates, has this building open in case somebody has a problem with a house that has to transition here, that was changed and you guys didn't know anything about it. Well let me tell you about an experience that I had a few years ago when I was Mayor of Lake Wales. Leon Davis, I am not sure many people remember his name, but he was a gentleman that poured gasoline on two vehicles downtown and set them on fire. If I had been Mayor then and I was and that Supervisor of the city had not notified me so I knew what was going on when Tampa and Orlando media wanted to know what the Mayor knew and what was going on with that case, I would have been really embarrassed.  You Supervisors are in the same situation. I know I have a Supervisor that lives in my house, and we were getting constant calls on what was going on during the hurricane. She didn't know.  You guys need to change  that. You stepped around it quite a bit, but those issues are not changing. You guys need to know what is going on. If you don't, change it. If not,  don't sit up here and represent us. It came up that if residents don't have an idea of what is going on people go out and help. Borden, you did that during the hurricane. That will happen. 9/11, we all know what happened on 9/ 11. I was originally in 2001 working in the Pentagon. Right before 9/11 happened, my office, because it was next to the wing where they found the plane, moved to Dulles Airport. When the plane starting hitting the Pentagon and the other

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

ones up in New York, the employees, this is military and civilian employees, developed a team that we were actually walking the parking lot trying to protect our building. People will start to help themselves in the neighborhood. This hurricane we had we were lucky. It was not that bad. I was out early. There was confusion everywhere. Trying to get into this building, there was confusion. It was word of mouth on how to get in here. That is why the West looked better than we did. You guys need to change that. How do you change it if you are not getting the information? We need to start with Semco. I worked a lot with Semco. I recommend to you guys if that is the only bid you have don't accept it, go out and get some other bids. You need to be doing that with your contracting. Compete them and see what is out there. Don't take everything for granted because you guys are the ones looking bad because you don't know what is going on in the community. Thank you.
Ms. Baker: Nancy Baker, 4280 Dunmore' Drive. I just have a request. About a month ago, I got a call from the CDD and they invited Lake Ashton Veterans Association to design and install a wall of honor in their building and they were kind enough to help us decide the design. There was a couple of us and it is in a very prominent place. My request for the CDD is to consider allowing Lake Ashton Veterans Association to erect a wall of honor in recognition of veterans that live in the community. I would hope you would give that great consideration.
Mr. Costello: Nancy, I know that this has been a project of ours that you have looked for a long time. I would like to see maybe, Tricia, you could work with Nancy, or somebody could work with Nancy in order to get something done.
Ms. Adams: Do Supervisors envision this as part of the Veterans Memorial? We have the Veterans Memorial with the military branches of service.
Ms. VanSickle: You are talking about in this building.
Ms. Baker: In the building. Tricia was very kind. This was some months ago, and you will have to forgive me because time has kind left me by here, but what I was offered was a place in the cabinet, and that is not acceptable for what we would like to do as a veterans organization here at Lake Ashton.
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Ms. VanSickle: I would like to see us find a place to honor our veterans because veterans are a very important part of this community. With everything going on in the world today I think we need to keep that patriotism alive.

Mr. Costello: Withoutyou we would not be here today. Thank you for your services. Ms. Adams: So just to clarify.  I know that when we talked about a wall memorial,
for those that have been to Washington DC that is a structure with names.

Ms. Baker:  We haven't finished the design over in the West, but what they are allowing us to do in their media room, we are going to have all the branches of service with metal logos almost like a challenge coin, but bigger for each branch of service. Then the names of all of the Lake Ashton veterans. So it is not over powering, but very well done and I think when we complete it, it will look very good.

Ms. Adams: Is the intention to replicate that size?
Mr. Costello: That is what we feel if that is what you feel working with Tricia, if you feel that if we could find a proper place to put it in here. Like I said, we owe our existence to the military of this country.
Ms. Baker: Thank you. I appreciate any consideration. I will be more than happy to work with anybody who will work with us.
Mr. Costello: Tricia, are you able to work with Ms. Baker? Mr. Flint: We will need a little guidance, though.
Mr. Costello: No matter what you do in life somebody is going to argue with that you should have done it the other way.
Mr. Flint:  Exactly, so my preference would be that they come up with a design and a recommended location. You guys sign off on it.
Mr. Costello: That sounds like a fantastic idea.
Mr. Ference: Nancy, before you leave, how large of a wall do you need?

Ms. Baker: I can't tell you exactly because we haven't set it up yet.  One of the places I suggested originally was over by the kitchen or somewhere out in the lobby, but I don't think the lobby is conducive to take up that much wall space. You want it where people will see it. That was my big thing.
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Ms. VanSickle: Are you talking about like above the doors where the exit signs are on thatwall, or something larger?
Ms. Baker: Actually, see where that china cabinet is? Something of that size. Ms. VanSickle: Ok
Mr. Costello: How far have you gotten on the plans to do it at CDD II? Ms. Baker: We pretty much got the design.
Mr. Costello: So you are going to have some sort of knowledge as to what amount of wall space you are going to need.
Ms. Baker: It might be a good idea for Lake Ashton Veterans Association to complete it and take a picture so you will have a better idea of what we are asking for.
Mr. Costello: That would be appreciated. Ms. Baker: Thank you so much.
Ms. VanSickle: Thank you for doing this.
Mr. Zacharia: Murray Zacharia, 4004 Dunmore Drive. I have no idea what I am. going to say because I am. responding to what Nancy asked for, and I didn't know that she was going to be asking for this. I am concerned that what I am. hearing is we are doing something over on the west side of Lake Ashton and we want to do something here on the east side. It continues to bother me tremendously that we talk constantly about competing sides. I would ask the Board to consider that this is Lake Ashton and creating a wall of honor, which I am. all for that duplicates or replicates what is going on the west side is not a good use of our resources. If we have a wall of honor for whoever or whatever that it should be one wall of honor to be used for the Lake Ashton comm.unity.

Mr. Goldstein: I support the wall of honor. I know what they are doing over at Lake Ashton IL They are putting it in the activities room. or whatever. What Nancy is talking about is a little more visible then what they are going to have. I think it would enhance the look also of the community here in the clubhouse. I also want to say something else. This morning I wasted three minutes because I was told by the Chairman that you were going to answer some of the questions that I wrote up. I haven't heard them. All I have heard was that we were more interested in protecting the liability of the

 	 	 	

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

individual CDD members than the residents of this community. Again, as Mr. VanSickle said you have a fiduciary responsibility to the residents of Lake Ashton. I also asked about taking bids on the management of this community. I didn't get an answer for that, either. So I am upset. Communicating with us is important.
Mr. Costello: I have to argue with you. I sat here and totally tried everything I could with the hurricane preparedness and all this and yes, our attorney who if we are going to hire an attorney you might as well take his advice, or at least give it good consideration. Quite honestly yes, you are right, there are times when we have to stick our necks out. The only thing being is we have to develop a course of action. As far as the division that seems to be or people feel that there is division between the east and west right now, maybe the best thing that this CDD could do is request a meeting with the other CDD and sit down and iron out whatever the problems seems to be between the two organizations.
Mr. Goldstein: I agree, and I think a good step of what you have done yourself, is you volunteered to head up as a CDD member emergency or working with the emergency CERT group.
Mr. Costello: This is what you asked for. You asked for participation, and believe me I think every Board member they want to participate. They want to know what is going on and they want to help this community.
Mr. Goldstein: Let's not talk about the Mayor of Lake Wales, who I have attacked often in different things. He and I became good friends, but when you say he did not do a job we are all not doing our job also.
Mr. Costello: At this point in time, I think that we have seen quite a few members, I think Brenda was the one that said she wants to know what is going on. I agree with her. Borden agreed.  I think we do want to know what is going on and yes, maybe we need to step up a little bit more. I think there is going to be an honest attempt to do that.
Mr. Goldstein: I agree, and I thank you for that. The next thing I would like to have an answer, are we going to have a bid system on everything. We are talking about Semco with this. I am talking about management of this company of this community also.

 	 	 	 	

October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

Mr. Deane: We have a bid system on everything. I don't know the exact date of the contract at the present time. We renewed it and it is good for a year.
Mr. Goldstein: This management company was put on the bid system and they bid for the job?
Mr. Deane: It was bid out several years ago. I am not saying it was bid out last year.
Mr. Goldstein: What I have heard, and I am asking for correction, if it was 2005 that the bid was put out, that is long time ago guys. Things change. You can't get too comfortable sitting at a job.
Mr. Deane: I haven't been on the Board since 2005, and I know it has been bid since I was on the Board.
Mr. Goldstein: I am asking to have information when the management bid would come up. I want to know it.
Mr. Deane: I will find out.
Mr. Flint: The answer is our contract automatically renews each year. You can bid out, there is a 60 days provision in the contract. You can terminate it at any time with 60 day notice without cause if you choose to do that. There is no legal obligation for attorneys and for District management to bid out. There is no threshold  dollar amount, so unlike engineering services or maintenance services, which have dollar thresholds. I can just tell you in twelve years that I have been managing CDDs, I have only lost one District. The fact that it has been twelve years, it is not unusual in the world of CDD management. It is not to say that there is other companies out there that provide that service. It is up to you all what you want to do. All the employees that are in this clubhouse are GMS employees, so when you think about bidding it out, think about the people that are providing the service and whether in general you are happy with our performance. Again, there is always room for improvement. We always listen when the Board has concerns. If we are listening and we are not adapting, thatis on us, but if there are stated concerns, I think we have a very good management team and staff here. We try to do a very good job. We try to be responsive. In the past we have been successful, but ultimately it is your decision.
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Mr. d'Adesky: We work in many other districts, many of which George is not a part of. There is no bidding protocol in any of them to bid out routinely the management company every three or five years. We represent one community which has the management company that has been there for 25 years. Just so you know this is the norm throughout the districts we represent.
Ms. Pontious: Do we have any other comments?
Mr. Flint: I will mention one other thing, in regards to cooperation between Lake Ashton I and Lake Ashton II. The Chairman, the Community Director and I have met with the Chairman for Lake Ashton II and their Community Director on several occasions, and I know within the last two or three weeks the Chairman and the Community Director have met with their Chairman and Community Director and that was initiated by the Chairman on this side. So there has been an attempt to communicate. There has been an attempt to try and coordinate. I think, Mr. Costello, maybe suggesting a joint Board meeting. I don't know if that would help or not.
Mr. Costello: I think quite honestly one of the complaints is that we are involved with what is going with this. We really do need to be involved. There are two different CDDs, and I think we know in some ways we all need to get on the same page. There seems to be a little bit of a bump in the road there.
Ms. Pontious: We did have a meeting a month ago now. Ms. Adams: Most recently it was within three weeks.
Ms. Pontious: Tricia and I and Doug and Mary met, and it was primarily over the issue that the west had made the decision that they were no longer to participate in the east's new resident orientations. So we had a meeting with them to see what they were unhappy with and howthat could be changed and what we were going to do in the future. Correct me if I am wrong, but I think the synopsis of the meeting was that they really just wanted to do their own thing, and that they were going to have socials and they were going to do it in that format. They were going to have each of the new residents meet with Mary personally just to get information about the community. We were left to decide whether we wanted to buy in to that or if we wanted to continue doing what we feel works
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for us. I think that we feel what works for us is evident by having 60 people at the last new resident orientation and having it go well. The choice was theirs to do what they wanted to do. The choice then became ours to do what we felt we needed to do.
Mr. Costello: I think that one of the things that is trying to be brought out here is that you set a meeting. I think that was the right thing to do, but at the same token all five of us should have been informed on whatever happened or transpired during the meeting. I think that the complaint out there is not everybody, not all five Supervisors are brought up to speed as to what is going on. We do realize that it happened, but a lot of it was maybe through talking with a friend or something of that nature. I think if the two CDDs Boards sat down and maybe tried to iron things out, quite honestly I think maybe it would go a little bit smoother.
Ms. Adams: I do want to confirm also that all Supervisors received the message regarding orientation. I did send out an email to all Supervisors on October 4th. It included not only the revised schedule but also there was commentary about HFC implemented a social activity for new residents and that Lake Ashton II and Lake Ashton Winter Haven liaison corresponded that they would not be participating in new resident orientation at the clubhouse. I just want to be sure that all Supervisors are receiving those message because I felt that was something you needed to be aware of.
Mr. VanSickle: Tricia, you just stated something and here is the point, the point is what Mr. Costello just stated that they didn't have any input into that decision. They should know what was going on. You putting out that message is not solving the problem. They did not know about it. They had no input to it. One Supervisor, one vote. You have five. Having one person in a meeting, unless the other four say you speak for us cannot make a decision. This is not saying anything against Supervisor Pontious, but they are not all getting the information and that is the concern I have seen and it is growing. That is why things have to change. The management company supports five Supervisors. It is not happening.
Ms. Adams: I want to say all Supervisors received this information. The meeting with Carol and me was primarily to appeal to CDD II to continue on the plan that we had
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previously agreed on with the Supervisors. There was commentary about this being a discussion item. today, so that is in particular why I brought up the new resident orientation.
Mr. VanSickle: You didn't mention how it came about. You folks when you sat down came up with this and said this is what we are going to do. This is what we agreed to. Then you told them this is what is happening. You didn't say a Supervisor was involved in it. You are missing the point. They have to be involved in that decision.
Ms. Pontious: Jack, I don't understand. There was no decision made.
Mr. VanSickle: I just heard that west wanted to go off and do it in another way. Ms. Pontious: That was their decision to make.
Mr. VanSickle: That is fine, but these folks were not in the middle of the conversation to come up with that decision. It was only one person. You had a couple managers and the Chair there.
Ms. Pontious: Unless we do as Mike suggested, what you are speaking to is illegal.
We can't all meet with them at the same time.
Mr. VanSickle: That is correct. Now if the Board says ok, Supervisor one, two, or three you go represent and make a decision for us I think that is a little bit clearer. They are aware that discussion is going on. The way they get their information is from the Lake Ashton rumor control that runs very well because you folks can have a meeting and within twenty minutes 75% of the people is aware that something is going on and there are twenty different versions of it. That is how the rumors start in here. I don't think the Supervisors, and I think Mr. Costello has that concern, that they need to be more involved. I think that is a problem also. I really do think they need to be involved.

Mr. Deane: Jack, nobody is questioning about being involved or not wanting to be involved. The problem was this was a decision of CDD II, which we have nothing to say about it. What transpired with regards to the orientation was the decision of CDD II. It had nothing to do with us. I am not talking about the meeting. I did not know what came out of the meeting until it just came up at this meeting. I am not talking about that. There is no need for an argument about their decision.

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Mr. VanSickle: I am. not arguing their decision at all. I am. arguing that you guys should have known about it before it cam.e out through the rum.or m.ill because that is how you found out about it.
Ms. Pontious: These documents were sent out a week or two ago. Ms. Adams: This message to Supervisors is dated October 4.
Mr. VanSickle: And that said that CDD II wanted to go separately. It did not say that there was a meeting between both CDDs and that this is what they wanted to do.
Mr. Flint: The decision was m.ade before the meeting.

Ms. Adams: We went to try to appeal that decision to see if they would be willing to continue as had been previously planned.
Mr. Williams: Stan Williams, 317 Nicholas Drive. I just want to correct a statement. It was not a decision by CDD II. It was a decision by one person in CDD II.
Ms. VanSickle: Then CDD II has the sam.e problems that we do.
Mr. Costello: I think the problem. here is that prior to anybody meeting with anybody, everybody should be enlightened to the fact that something is going to go on. Then afterwards, be apprised of what transpired.
Mr. Mecsics: My nam.e is Jim. Mecsics. I am. the Vice Chairman for CDD II. Obviously, we have com.munication that we have to work on. I have heard a lot of that back and forth. What I would like to do, we have a meeting coming up and what I am. going to propose to our Board is that we set up a quarterly joint meeting with an agenda set up prior to that to discuss these issues where we have disconnects or disagreements on. There is going to be times when we don't agree and then there is going to be times when we do agree. I think if we could do it quarterly, we had one when we did the security contracts but if we do this on a quarterly basis I think we will get our com.m.unication working. That is from. the CDD II Vice Chair's perspective.
Mr. Zacharia: I am. still Murray Zacharia. Continuing on thissame line of discussion, I have had a concern for a long time and still have a concern about the split in the comm.unity. When I first got here it was being talked about and this was in 2008. This had gotten better, and then of late things have gotten remarkably worse with m.ore and m.ore
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October 13, 2017	Lake Ashton CDD

talk of a split in the community, which gets me thinking about things like the amenity policy that we spent a lot of time on today. I would assume legally the residents of Ashton West because of the interlocal agreement have to abide by the rules that we make about amenities.  I am not an attorney, I just use logic.  That is the only thing that says that if you want to come over here and buy a ticket to something thatwe are putting on in this building you have to have an ID badge. How do the people who attend the socials and are given a package of information, are they getting the same information that the people who come to the every other month meetings here get? We have no idea who is getting what information about what and if itis a consistent packet of information? It is one community.
Ms. VanSickle: We need to have both sides working towards that goal. That is why Jim's idea of quarterly meetings is an excellent idea.

TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS
Ms. Pontious: Anything else?
Mr. Ference:  Now?

Adjournment

On MOTION by Mr. Ference seconded by Mr. Costello with all in favor the meeting was adjourned.

Assistant Secretary/ Secretary	Chairman/ Vice Chairman

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