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 Monday, May 12, 2025 at 9:01 a.m. at the Lake Ashton Clubhouse Ballroom, 4141 Ashton Club Drive, Lake Wales, FL.

Present and constituting a quorum were:

Brenda VanSickle	Chairperson
Mike Costello	Vice Chairman
Steve Realmuto	Assistant Secretary
Debby Landgrebe	Assistant Secretary
Greg Ulrich	Assistant Secretary Also present were:
Jill Burns	District Manager, GMS
Jay Lazarovich	Latham Luna, District Counsel
Matt Fisher	Operations Manager
Christine Wells	Community Director
Alan Rayl	Rayl Engineering, District Engineer

The following is a summary of the discussions and actions taken at the May 12, 2025 Lake Ashton Community Development District Board of Supervisors meeting.

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS	Roll Call and Pledge of Allegiance
Ms. Burns called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m., called roll, and the pledge of allegiance was recited. Five Supervisors were present in person constituting a quorum.

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS	Approval of Meeting Agenda
Ms. VanSickle asked for approval of the meeting agenda. Ms. Landgrebe stated there is an 11:00 a.m. joint meeting so they need to do everything they can to finish by 11:00 a.m.

On MOTION by Ms. Landgrebe, seconded by Mr. Costello, with all in favor, the Meeting Agenda, was approved 5-0.

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS	Public Comments on Specific Items
on the Agenda (the District Manager will read any questions or comments received from members of the public in advance of the meeting)
Ms. VanSickle opened the public comment period.
Ralph Ritter (3020 Dunmore Dr.) stated the $4M sitting around has a projected interest income of $15K which is terrible. Asked to do something with the revenue stream to maximize the return on their investment.
Marianne Zak (4031 Birkdale) asked if updating the ballroom is a necessary expense. Adding glass inserts to the doors is an unnecessary expense & says “we don’t trust our own residents behind closed doors.” Asked not to change what already works at amenities.
Daniel Davis (4445 Turnberry Ln.) expressed concern about the Boards upcoming spending wishes such as bonuses for employees, ballroom renovation, and irrigation system for the golf course. If the golf course needs a new irrigation system, let the golf course pay for it. Where will the money to fix Turnberry Lane come from? CDD fees keep going up each year. Suggested Board members pay bonuses out of their own pockets.
Jonathan Ridpath (4135 Aberdeen Ln.) spoke on budget & bonuses to staff. No need to increase assessments. There is plenty of money in reserves and enough money to cover budgeted expenses. A poll taken on bonuses showed 90% were against it.
Judy Armstrong (4036 Ashton Club Dr.) suggested the Board look into investing their money where they can get a better ROI. Feels its important to be transparent & accountable to the residents as they are the ones paying the bills. Upset with 11% increase. If they want to increase employees’ budgets, the residents need to know what they are making and what percentage we can increase their salaries. It should be written into the contract.
Linda Zacharia (4004 Dunmore Dr.) expressed concern about an article about nonresident members and asked for an explanation of what these nonresident members would be.

John Sebastian (Lot 931) thanked the Board members for the unselfish hard work they do for the community. Thanked Matt and Christine for all their hard work to keep the neighborhood in great shape.

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Consideration of Minutes from the
April 14, 2025 Board of Supervisors Meeting
Ms. VanSickle presented the minutes from the April 14, 2025 Board of Supervisors meeting. Ms. VanSickle noted Marianne’s last name was spelled wrong, should be Zak on pg. 2. On pg 5. Mr. Realmuto didn’t suggest replacing the bulbs with LEDs but pointed out the fixtures had been replaced with an LED fixture recently.

On MOTION by Mr. Costello, seconded by Mr. Realmuto, with all in favor, the Minutes from the April 14, 2025 Board of Supervisors Meeting, were approved 5-0 as amended.

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Engineering Report
Mr. Rayl presented a quote from David Wells for some concrete work (8ft x 2ft & 19ft x 6ft sections) on the cart path along holes 9, 10 & 12 in the amount of $6,400. It is for cart path repair on hole 9 & 10 and erosion repair on hole 12. The depth should match the existing and should be 4 inches. He noted there was another quote from Royal Concrete which was higher than $7,000 and one was withdrawn.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, the David Wells Quote for Concrete Work NTE
$6,400, was approved 5-0.

Mr. Rayl stated the repair on Turnberry for the storm sewer pipe is expected to be installed later this week. He will confirm that considering there has been a few days of rain recently.
Mr. Rayl presented a quote from Groome Industrial for $5,271 for the Turnberry internal spot repair of the pipe. NTE was $10,000. It is an inside the pipe repair.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, the Groome Industrial Quote for $5,271 for Turnberry Pipe Repair, was approved 5-0.

Mr. Rayl stated Triple A Top-Quality Asphalt signed the agreement for the Turnberry repave and plan to start October 1st. He will work with the city to repair the leak area after the pipeline work is done. He noted the work on pond 11 is scheduled to start next week.
Mr. Rayl presented some options for accessible ADA space improvements in the East parking lot to Supervisor Landgrebe as well as a plan for some options compliant with her requirements as far as accessible route. To add an additional passenger car ADA space, it would require some additional striping and also would remove three golf cart spaces. If a handicap space is added and all striping needed to accommodate that, five spaces would be lost from golf cart parking. Mr. Lazarovich will review the information the engineer provided regarding the accessible ADA improvements. Table to next month.
Mr. Rayl noted there continues to be some encroachments along lots that are abutting the wetlands. He can walk it with staff to identify individual lots and come up with a quote for staking if the Board would like. He noted the area of the former driving range, it is implied as wetlands and they may have been given permission from the environmental scientist at SFWMD for recreational activity but recommended confirming that.

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Old Business
Discussion Regarding Updated Reserve Study (requested by Supervisor Realmuto; documentation provided by Supervisor Realmuto)
Mr. Realmuto updated the reserve study with changes highlighted in yellow from the March meeting. He pointed out on page 21 the FY2026 expenditures of $232,868. The capital projects balance is over $1M. It is invested and earning over 4%. Ms. VanSickle expressed concern over not seeing a list of all the projects that haven’t been done to date. The Board discussed the reserve study. Mr. Realmuto stated in his opinion the Reserve Study does not present justification for option 2 on the budget increasing assessments.

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	New Business
Items Relating to the Fiscal Year 2026 Planning Support Documents
Review of Draft Fiscal Year 2026 Planning Support Documents
Draft Fiscal Year 2025 Capital Projects and Contingencies Listing
Reserve Study and Strategic Planning Projects Combined Listing for Fiscal Year 2024
There being no comments, the next item followed.

Consideration of Resolution 2025-05 Approving the Proposed Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget and Setting the Public Hearing to Adopt he Budget (Suggested Date: July 21, 2025) (Option 1)
Ms. Burns noted a preliminary budget needs to be approved by June 15th. This will set the cap amount. The Board will approve the preliminary budget and set a public hearing that is at least 60 days out from today. This budget needs to be transmitted to the city at least 60 days prior. There are two options per the last meeting. Option One is if assessments were to remain the same and option two shows the increased amount requested by the Board. Mr. Realmuto motioned to approve option one that calls for no increase.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Mr. Ulrich, with Ms. Landgrebe in favor and Mr. Costello and Ms. VanSickle opposed, Resolution 2025-05 Approving the Proposed Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget and Setting the Public Hearing to Adopt the Budget (Suggested Date: July 21, 2025) Option One, was approved 3-2.

Consideration of Resolution 2025-05 Approving the Proposed Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget (Suggested Date: July 21, 2025), Declaring Special Assessments, and Setting the Public Hearings on the Fiscal Year 2025/2026 Budget and Imposition of Operations and Maintenance Assessments (Option 2)

Discussion Regarding Increase Scope Performed by Staff and Work Authorization for Increase to Contract (requested by Supervisor VanSickle)
Ms. VanSickle stated the District recently gave a considerable amount of money to a private enterprise and staff had no say in that. The Board makes the decision and staff implements, takes the grief and does all the work. She proposed an $11K increase

for staff. Ms. Burns noted this is a private contract and these are not direct CDD employees. GMS’ financial records are not subject to public record. She disclosed that employees get regular increases and bonuses as part of their employment at GMS already. Mr. Ulrich stated the people here who provide service for us are doing an outstanding job. However, like Jill just said they are GMS employees. If they went over and above then GMS should reward them. Ms. VanSickle stated maybe GMS should send us a bill for the additional work. Jill noted if GMS thought the staff was being asked to do something outside the scope of management and it changed the contract for something that wasn’t contemplated, we would request that. We did not request. Mr. Realmuto stated Ms. VanSickle is proposing doing this and it wasn’t budgeted.

On MOTION by Ms. VanSickle, seconded by Mr. Costello, with Mr. Realmuto, Ms. Landgrebe and Mr. Ulrich opposed, for the
$11,000 Increase Scope, the motion failed 2-3.

Discussion Regarding Golf Course Irrigation
Mr. Ulrich stated according to the lease the District is not obligated to do this but would leave that for the attorney’s opinion. Mr. Lazarovich noted there isn’t enough information on this at the moment but he would go to the joint meeting to see what Lake Ashton II proposes. Table to joint meeting.

Discussion Regarding Definition of Guest and Non-Resident User Fee
(requested by Supervisor Landgrebe)
Ms. Landgrebe stated this is ongoing. She suggested the new Board member and a new Board member from Winter Haven work with Christine and Karen on this as well as reviewing the policy with a fresh set of eyes. Mr. Ulrich noted there are zero nonresident user fee guests. No Action.

Discussion Regarding Resident Request for Space for Remote Control Model Car Track (requested by Supervisor Costello)
Mr. Costello asked for permission to bring the resident up to speak about using an area that had been questioned because of SFWMD. Ms. Burns suggested not getting into

this until the question is answered if this area can be used at all because it is a wetland. Christine will ask SFWMD. Add to the next agenda.

Discussion Regarding the Unification of CDDs (requested by Supervisor Landgrebe) – Added
Ms. Landgrebe spoke about a resident asking to form an independent small group excluding Board members or relatives to look into this and do some research. Would it include any financial cost to create the group and explore it? Ms. Burns stated the process to combine CDDs is a legal one and would be hesitant to take advice from people who may not be familiar with CDD law. Will take this to the joint meeting.

EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Monthly Reports
Attorney
Mr. Lazarovich had no updates but offered to take any questions.

Lake Ashton Community Director
Ms. Wells stated the Community Directors Report is on page 145 of the agenda package and offered to take any questions. She spoke about the joint amenity policies being brought up at the joint meeting and asked if the policies that she asked the Board to adopt could just be talked about there to give some direction to the Board on that. Mr. Realmuto stated some of those policies aren’t necessary or shouldn’t be part of what is currently titled the joint amenity policies since not all of those relate to amenities and suggested some of the policies would be better handled by the individual Districts. Ms. VanSickle noted possibly the two community directors could work together on what needs to be worked on together or individually and make a presentation.

Consideration of Proposals to Replace the Shuffleboard Court Roof
Ms. Wells stated this was submitted FEMA for reimbursement. The shuffleboard court roof is a total of 2400 sq ft and was not budgeted for FY25. The date of the last event was 2002. Four quotes were received – Fisher & Floyd $12,140, Jurin Roofing Services $19,520, TPC Roofing $15,600, and WCM Construction Roofing $10,800.

On MOTION by Mr. Ulrich, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, WCM at $10,800, was approved.

Consideration of Proposals to Replace the Guard House Roof
Ms. Wells stated the guard house is 1400 sq ft. It was submitted to FEMA. The date of last event was 2016 per the reserve study. Quotes included Fisher & Floyd $5,330, Jurin Roofing $14,981, TPC Roofing $10,200 and WCM $7,600.

On MOTION by Mr. Ulrich, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, Fisher & Floyd at $5,330 was approved.

Ms. VanSickle suggested Yellowstone go before the joint meeting.
A representative from Yellowstone noted pest control treatment was done for ants & grubs in the dog park, a granular turf fertilization was done throughout the community, and two oaks were installed in the dog park area. They prepped an area for new sod and they are working with Matt to get that ordered. Soil was added to level the area and is now ready for St. Augustine turf to go in. He is working on ordering pine fines for the annual beds in the front. Extra attention will go to weeds that are popping with the He will do a hard cutback on the fig vine.
Mr. Realmuto asked about the cost of the two oaks installed at the dog park. Yellowstone is helping for no cost and purchased them from a nursery at $200 each. Mr. Ulrich noted the low foliage at the front entrance needs to be trimmed more often. Ms. VanSickle noted the oyster plants in the front look really bad, please review.
Ms. VanSickle asked for a motion to recess the meeting.

On MOTION by Mr. Costello, seconded by Mr. Ulrich, with all in favor, to Recess the Meeting, was approved.

*Mr. Ulrich left the meeting at this time.
Ms. VanSickle asked for a motion to reconvene the Board meeting.

On MOTION by Ms. Landgrebe, seconded by Mr. Costello, with all in favor, to Reconvene the Meeting, was approved.

Consideration of Proposals for Ballroom Refurbishment
Ms. Wells stated the carpet replacement was included on the damage inventory with FEMA from Hurricane Milton. To receive that funding they have to show 95% completion in that project area. The entire ballroom refurbishment project consisted of painting, carpet replacement, dance floor replacement and drapes. All of the items were on the capital project list for capital projects for FY24. For painting $8,320 was included in the project list. The last painting was 2015. Three quotes were received including Bock & Hoeft $17,765, D&D Painting and Home Repair $14,800 and Operation Paint $10,475. All quotes included removing the window at the kitchen and drywalling it.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Mr. Costello, with all in favor, Operation Paint at $10,475, was approved.

Ms. Wells noted the next item is ballroom carpet replacement which will be submitted to FEMA for possible reimbursement. The amount of $42,385 was included in the FY24 capital project list. The carpet was last replaced in 2011. Quotes included Blackburns $47,741.19, Jim’s Floor Depot $25,643 and Shaw (State of Florida contract) and Spectra install at $31,028.62. It was an average, narrowed down to carpet samples present at the meeting & it would be $34,677 for price and installation. Ms. Wells recommended Shaw and Spectra to install. Mr. Realmuto motioned NTE $35,000 to accept the shortest quote with Spectra as the installer, keeping in mind the square footage may decrease.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Mr. Costello, with all in favor, Carpet NTE $35,000, was approved.

Ms. Wells stated this is for dance flooring and was included in the FY24 project list and included $25,740. The last date of replacement was 2009. Quotes included Blackburns $34,747.40, Jim’s Floor Depot $27,019.20, Shaw $20,171.37 and Williford Flooring $24,428.95. Mr. Realmuto recommended increasing the size of the dance floor by 10 ft and somehow account for that.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, Shaw + 10 ft. Dance Floor NTE $23,000, was approved.

Ms. Wells noted next is replacement of the ballroom drapes which were last replaced in 2014. This was included in the FY24 capital project list amount of $26,000. Quotes included Budget Blinds and Window Concepts by Annalisa who were able to quote the entire project which would be installation of roller shades on all windows except for windows above the door. The large windows on the South side of the ballroom would have 2 roller shades, the smaller windows on the North side would have single roller shades, above the doors would be plantation shutters and, on the doors, would be roller shades that match the shades installed on the windows. The quotes are for all remote motorized blinds with rechargeable batteries. For the cornice board add $1,320.

On MOTION by Ms. VanSickle, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, Window Concepts by Annalisa NTE $51,500, was approved.

Consideration of Proposal to Install Glass Inserts on Amenity Doors
Ms. Wells reviewed a quote from Hawkins Home Repair, LLC to fabricate seven doors with cut sections to receive custom tempered glass for $3,100. Mr. Costello and Mr. Realmuto do not see the need for this at this time. No Action was taken.

Operations Manager
Mr. Fisher presented the Operations Manger’s Report on page 264 of the agenda package. He spoke with Yellowstone last year regarding the Medjool palms. Pete mentioned it was too much to do the job and wouldn’t recommend it to the District because of the exuberant cost and palm tree survival being 50/50. Mr. Realmuto asked how there could be an opinion about what the cost would be without having a quote. He noted that is the Board’s call and not an employee’s call.

Landscaping Update
a) Presentation of Monthly Landscaping Checklist and Report
There being no comments, the next item followed.

Aquatics Update
b) Presentation of Monthly Aquatic Maintenance Checklist and Report
There being no comments, the next item followed.

District Manager’s Report
Presentation of Number of Registered Voters – 1,364
Ms. Burns stated as of April 15, 2025 the District had 1,364 registered voters.

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Financial Reports
Combined Balance Sheets
Capital Projects Reserve Fund
Statement of Revenues, Expenditures, and Changes in Fund Balance
Ms. VanSickle asked for any comments before approving the check run summary. Mr. Realmuto stated the balance at the end of April and the capital projects fund was
$1,016,000. Prior to the things approved that haven’t actually expended funds, we have only spent about $165,000. That includes both capital projects and contingencies.

Approval of Check Run Summary
Ms. VanSickle asked for approval of the check run summary.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Mr. Costello, with all in favor, the Check Run Summary, was approved.

TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Public Comments
Cheryl – suggested painting a little piece of the walls on the outside and for carpeting, take a square and lay the carpet down to see in a bigger picture.

ELEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Supervisor	Requests/Supervisor
Open Discussion
Ms. Ulrich requested to leave the door at the East parking lot unlocked.
Mr. Realmuto stated the final design decisions are Christines but would be a good community relations thing, perhaps have that available for residents to look at.

Ms. Burns asked for a motion for the Board to appoint themselves as the audit committee.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Mr. Costello, with all in favor, the Appointment of the Board as the Audit Committee, was approved.

TWELFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS	Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned.

On MOTION by Mr. Realmuto, seconded by Ms. Landgrebe, with all in favor, the meeting was adjourned.

Secretary / Assistant Secretary	Chairman / Vice Chairman