Present: John Box, Allen Tansil, Betty Case, Bob Semisch.  Mary Carroll represented Marquis Management, Inc.  Ed Riggins and Richard Whipple were not in attendance.

I. Mr. Chilivus' renters are behind in paying their homeowner dues by approximately $1,500. Mr. Chilivus has committed to pay this.  This has been an ongoing problem which needs to be addressed with Mr. Chilivus.

II. Signage:  John Box will review the street signs within Courtyards and make an inventory of the damaged signs that need repairs, painting or replacement.  From this inventory he will get quotes from Mary Box as well as Sign-A-Rama for repairs.  John also reported that some of the light poles in the neighborhood were in need of painting and he will look into this as well.

III. Landscaping:  The previous Board began an initiative to plan a long term rejuvenation of the landscaping in the common areas.  As a first step, Mary got a proposal from Valley Crest landscapers for this long term plan which included before and after pictures of the pool area, the main area along Courtyard Drive, and the berm along Markham.  The new Board agreed that a long term plan to rejuvenate the landscaping of these common areas is something we should pursue.  We discussed that, in addition to needing landscaping, the berm along Markham had worn down over time and no longer provides a sound buffer from train noise.  This should be taken into consideration with the long term landscaping plan.  The Board asked Mary to identify a couple of other landscaping companies to make proposals for consideration and ask the landscapers to provide names of other communities they manage so that we can view the quality of their work.  We will form a committee of qualified homeowners to view these other communities and make recommendations.

IV. Georgia Power Project:  We had much discussion about th4e Georgia Power project to replace the power line poles, particularly the one located on the hill next to the pool.  There are seven parcels in the neighborhood that will be directly affected by this project.  It is anticipated that GA Power will need to develop a temporary road from the Tanglewood cul-de-sac, up the hill that is located behind Porter's on Markham.  This road will probably be their access to the area where the old pole will be removed and the new pole will be erected on the hill.  We anticipate that several plants, trees and shrubs around the hill will be destroyed and there will probably be damage to our roads and curbs as well.  The Board decided that a committee will be formed to work on the project.  The committee will be responsible for meeting with GA Power as needed, insuring that the best interests of Courtyards will be given full consideration by GA Power, minimize damage, insure that GA Power will pay for damages incurred, and communicate with the Board and the Courtyard homeowners regarding the project.  The committee will consist of Board members (to be named later), homeowners whose property will be impacted, Owen Searcy of GA Power, Lee Conn for his expertise in these matters, and the Wallace Court resident with whom John Box has met.

V. Entrance streetlight:  We will replace the community's entrance streetlight and pole that was damaged and moved recently.  We have been unable to buy a light and pole that matches the other poles in the neighborhood.  Therefore, we will buy a similar looking light and pole and place it near Judy Culpepper's property.  We will take the light and pole that are currently at Judy's and place that at the entry for uniformity in this high visibility area.

VI. Website:  We discussed how to get more homeowners to utilize the Courtyard website.  This is an issue because we have to physically distribute news to homeowners when we need to get important news to them.  It would be easier and less time consuming to place the news on the website and let the homeowners read it there.  We discussed several ideas to help increase the number of visits to our website but did not make any decisions.

VII. New Legal Documents:  The new by-laws for the Courtyards will be filed and will be distributed to the homeowners along with the new directories in February.  It was decided that the Board members who distribute these will give us an opportunity to make sure our neighbors know who is on the Board and answer their questions.

VIII. Stewart Bruce property retaining walls:  We discussed at length Mr. Bruce's request that the Homeowners' Association pay to replace his retaining walls.  It was determined that Mr. Bruce's survey/map does not match the original plat for the community, which is the legal document, and the walls do not border common property.  Therefore, the Homeowners' Association has no obligation to pay for replacing his walls.  Mary is going to advise Mr. Bruce of this and suggest that eh talk with his surveyor about discrepancy.

IX. Sewer Lines:  The Board decided to have Stasco run cameras in our sewer lines and compare pictures to the pictures taken approximately three years ago and determine if there has been new blockage.  If so, Stasco will remove the blockage and apply Root-X to help prevent further blockage.

X. Backflow Preventers:  We discussed that Cobb County will be requiring that Courtyards, along with all neighborhood in Cobb who have one main water system access, have a backflow preventer on the water supply.  The purpose is to insure that contaminants cannot flow back into the main water system from the neighborhoods.  Mary stated that another property that she manages had been notified by Cobb County that the county will install backflow preventer for that neighborhood.  If we are required to install a backflow preventer amd pay for it ourselves, it would cost approximately $30,0000.  The Board decided to wait to hear from Cobb County on the backflow preventer and not take any further action at this time.

XI. Next Board Meeting:  February 24 at Betty Case's home.

Respectfully submitted, Allen Tansil, Secretary

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