2018 Annual Report

PARKWOOD
2018

ANNUALREPORT

WHAT'S
INSIDE

Welcometotheannual report.
Hereyou'll seesomeof thebest that 2018hadtoofferourcommunity,from
theamazingturnout we'vehadinvolunteers,tothemultiplewaysourHOA

hasgrownandislookingtowardsthefuture.
Thisreport isareflectionof thededicationof ourvolunteers,thestrength

of ourcommunity,andtheprogressof Parkwood.

Enjoy.

INCREASEDTRANSPARENCY

Much of 2018 has been about increased
t r an sp ar en cy.

A common thread we heard early in the year and
late in 2017 was more and more neighbors
wanting increased transparency. Better
communication. More accountability. We all
remember the embezzlement that rocked our
neighborhood; not one of us wants that in our
future.

Together, the Board of Directors heard those
requests, and 2018 opened up many doors to the
Parkwood Association.

Board members have worked to create a written
procedural manual and clear guidelines for board
process. This year has been heavily focused on
tightly following the established guidelines of
Robert's Rules and state law, and working hard to
do right by our districts.

PPM has been huge in assisting us with creating a
more sustainable system of checks and balances
to help ensure an even and manageable
distribution of information, of securely managed
passwords, and of funds management. They've
also assisted with drafting NDAs and ethical
guidelines for board members when it comes to
discussing the sensitive matters of every
homeowner 's finances.

We started a restoration of the InsideOut,
reclaiming the original title of Parkwood Press and
striving to improve the content. At board
meetings, we began with documenting our
minutes live and approving them immediately,
ensuring quicker publication to the community.
Our partnership with PPM, Inc. gave us a chance
to build a new website, NABR, with the added layer
of text messages and emails -- and the ability to
opt-in to whatever kind of communication suits
you best.

We created a public Facebook account for our

events and community discussion, where people can ask questions as well as engage with one another. We
prioritized contact information, creating committee email accounts to make contacting board members and
committees effortless and intuitive.
Midway through the year, we began the public and taxing process of updating our bylaws. Community
members came forward, and together we began working at what seemed like an impossible task. But together,
we have begun the work.
Finally, we assembled this report. A portfolio of what we have accomplished, together.
We hope that our intentions have been clear and visible, and that 2018 has, for the most part, been one
without too many conflicts or discrepancies.
We encourage you to contact us if you ever have doubts about what drives us as board members, or what we
are doing to best serve our community.

Email the office at:
p a.o f f ice@p ar kw o o d n c.o r g

Email the board at:
b o ar d @p ar kw o o d n c.o r g

FINANCIAL
MANAGEMENT

95% of our budget comes from annual assessment, Carolina. Their familiarity with NC law and financial
currently $245. The rest comes from ballfield rental, matters has both strengthened the Parkwood
Parkwood Press ads, Community Center rental fees, Association, as well as given us greater
and stall fees from our community events. understanding of our own history.

In 2018, this breakdown looked something like this: Switching to PPM has brought many perks to
Parkwood, too. Their NABR network allows us to
- 50% Grounds maintenance, landscaping, post community events and networking
playgrounds, and ballfield opportunities, and makes paying your annual dues
amazingly simple.
- 25% Administrative
- 20% Seaton Road Building (15% allocated for We are already seeing benefits in our transition.
Currently about 2.5% of ou r accou n t s ar e
parking lot paving) delin qu en t for 2018 dues, with 0.2% delinquent
- 5% Parkwood Press Newsletter from previous years. Th is is t h e low est r at e in
r ecen t year s!
This year, we transitioned from working with the
financial institute CAS, to working with PPM Inc. This We're in year 1 of a 3-year contract, and are looking
process was led by a team of devoted board forward to seeing how PPM can continue to grow
members, and has had stellar outcomes. and strengthen our community.

PPM has brought Parkwood over 30 years
experience in working with HOAs across North

COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS

Parkwood is built on its community. 1,435

Newcomers to the board saw this in full pounds of vegetables from the
swing when committees like Events, Community Garden

Playgrounds, and Communications grew 1,002
bigger than ever. But we've also seen it in
eggs stuffed for SpringFest
Parkwood's long-standing committees,
like the Gardening Committee and Parks, 937
Lawns, and Ballfield. Through the HOW
committees, we see that Parkwood cares clicks to the newsletter,
Facebook page, Stewart report,
about what's going on in its
n eigh b o r h o o d . and beyond!

350

beers poured at SummerFest

COMMUNICATIONS

The Communications budget was $14,000. Our largest
expense is printing and delivering the Parkwood Press.
We were on track for having a surplus at the end of the
year until we got the toner bill (ouch!). Now we are
working hard to reduce printing costs. We are
seriously considering all the costs associated with the
newsletter and will be actively taking steps to get the
most out of our resources.

Special t h an k s: We want to give a huge special thanks
to John Jack, the former Chair of this committee, who
has recently moved out of state. He played a key role
in creating the vision for the new Parkwood Press, and
he did an enormous amount of work to make it
happen. Thank you, John, for the incredible work you
did!

We have also benefited from many, many hours of
hard work by Board members Don Bryson and
Hannah Hiles, as well as Summer Anderson and the
HOA's administrative assistant Paula McLeod.

The bright and wonderful pictures in this report and
the Parkwood Press come from our amazing
community photographers, all of whom earned a huge
thanks this year. And finally, our contributors
throughout the year, including Ken Hoover, Luis
Olivieri, Chris Classen, and many more.

A t ot ally r e-design ed n ew slet t er - Our goals were to
improve transparency in Board communications and
foster a positive sense of community in Parkwood. I
believe we have taken large steps in that direction!

Digit al dist r ibu t ion - We hunted for quite some time,
but ultimately found the digital distribution software
that will work for the Parkwood Community. (We JUST
found it!)

New w elcom e pack et - We have an exciting new community members in their native languages. Stay
welcome packet in the final design stages. New tuned for more information! We are also looking at
residents will receive the new packets filled with ways to engage all Parkwood community members
important information and lovely photos. to participate in all that our neighborhood has to
o f f er .
St ill in t h e w or k s - Pr in t -copy opt -ou t - We now have
a way for residents to choose digital-only newsletters. A bet t er coor din at ed social m edia cam paign - This
We have made progress each quarter, addressing the is harder than you?d think! But we are making
barriers one at time. Residents can opt-out of paper progress each month.
newsletters by going to bit.ly/ParkwoodOptOut.

En gagin g all of ou r diver se com m u n it y - We are
currently exploring several options for engaging

PARKS, LAWNS, ANDBALLFIELD

The Parks, Lawns and Ball Field Committee meets at 7
pm in the PA community center on the Monday
immediately before the monthly Board meeting. Most
meeting last less than 75 minutes.

Its primary mission is to maintain and improve the
appearance, safety and recreational use of the 140
acres of common areas owned by the Parkwood
Association - the lake, ponds, trails, parks and
playgrounds.

It also maintains and repairs 4.5 miles of drain pipe,
drop box inlets and other hard structure components
in the parts of Parkwood?s stormwater flow control
system located on the common areas, all homeowner
properties and 2.5 miles of stormwater drainage
ditches and swales located on common areas.

$87,000 of the committee?s $107,000 2018 budget will
be spent in three main areas:

- Grounds maintenance contract ($65,000)
- Water body maintenance contract ($7,000)
- Removal of fallen and diseased trees that either

threaten a homeowner ?s property or people
using the common area ($15,000).

Most of the remaining $20,000 is money set aside for
contingencies - such as unexpected maintenance and
emergency repairs of the common areas and storm
water drainage system.

Th r ee n ot able accom plish m en t s t h is year ar e:

- We finally found an effective, safe, long acting
contact poison for fire ants after four
frustrating years trying unsuccessfully to
control fire ant infestations at the ball field,
playgrounds, parks and the grounds of the PA
community center. No fire ant mounds have
been found on areas treated over six months
ago!

- We completed an assessment of the ecological
health and the fish species distribution in the
lake and Euclid Pond ecosystems.

- We removed all the trees that fell on a

homeowner ?s property within 48 hours of being notified.

Goin g f or w ar d in 2019, t h e com m it t ee plan s t o:

- Assist in implementing some of the recommendations in the Parks, Open Space and Recreation
Comprehensive Master Plan that Stewart, Inc. prepared with input from Parkwood homeowners.

- Improve the health and recreational use of the lake and ponds based on the results of the
fisheries assessment conducted in June 2018 by Foster Lake and Pond.

- Conduct a comprehensive assessment of the health of trees located within 100 ft of a
homeowner ?s property and use the information to develop a proactive strategy to identify,
monitor and (when necessary) remove trees likely to fall onto a homeowner ?s property.

These will be challenging tasks but the potential benefits to improving the recreational uses of our
common areas and our property values should be awesome.

If you are interested in participating in these tasks, please contact the Parkwood Office (919-544-2161;
p a.of f ice@gm ail.com ).

GARDEN

At the end of 2017 we finished putting in new posts, netting,
and compost bins with the $500 grant we received from
Durham. We took the month of January off and in February
and March continued with the our expansion plans. Our
volunteers built 4 - 8' x 8' beds, refurbished an older bed,
and moved it to become our berry bed. All these were filled
with dirt, compost and leaves. Alan Classen built us a sign
board for inside the garden to let people know what can be
picked and tasks to perform. We installed a tool shed and
mulched our paths with chips from Donald Allen.
In March we also planted 3 blackberry bushes, 2 blueberry
bushes and transplanted some raspberries to our berry bed.
It was the first year so we didn't get any fruit. Next year we
should see some. At this time we had leaf lettuce, spinach,
cabbage, mustard greens, turnips, beets and some
rutabagas as well as kale, rainbow chard, collards, carrots

and radishes planted. We didn't have good luck with Costa have been regulars as well as myself. Others
the rutabagas as no tubers formed. We did get beets who were instrumental in helping were: Melissa
from our crop. In April Alan Classen built 4 smaller 4' Grcich, Bill Sofield, Richard Draney, Cory Quammen
x 2' beds. We are calling them our junior beds or and his daughter, Virgil Petrosanu and daughter
children's beds and hope to have the Playground Aubrey, Ruth Stanton, Robbie Haggy, Jessica
group come next year and plant. We are hoping we Hardwick, Sandy Holcomb, Joe Costa and Alan
may still get some gourds. Lots of cherry tomatoes in Classen. There is surely someone I forgot. Thank you
the small beds. In April Susan Costa and I had a booth all for your help. There were over 250 volunteer
at the Parkwood Spring Fest. We handed out seeds, hours contributed to the garden. We have spent $961
trays, dirt and instruction for people to try growing of our $1000 budget this year.
flowers and veggies at home. I hope they were
successful. In 2019 we hope to replace the remaining 11 bamboo
posts with 4'' x 4'' posts, rebuild three older beds and
Tammy Sofield and Susan Costa started seedlings expand our sprinkler system. We also hope to have a
indoors for us. At the end of April we planted 12 sign for our garden.
beefsteak tomatoes in Bed 14. I planted more
strawberries in our super raised beds and we put new
supports up for our protective netting. We had more
tomato transplants for two other beds, as well as
peppers. We lost some tomatoes due to a late frost.
We put in 30 onion sets, some of which got pulled as
green onions and some died out because of lack of
water. Cucumbers were planted, along with summer
squash, zucchini, okra, cherry tomatoes, sunflowers,
Italian bush green beans. Each gave us some
produce. It's hard to tell how much as neighbors
come and pick when we aren't there. The leaf lettuce
in the shade did pretty well into early summer. The
okra is producing lots. There are still flowers on the
okra. The Pollinator garden received free new plants
from Alice Dillard at Ace Hardware at the end of the
season. The flower garden in front of the veggies was
a show of color this year as well.

We also set up a sprinkler system for most of the
garden and will work on improving and expanding
that in 2019. We now have a shelving unit under the
lean-to at the back of the office for gardening items.
It's now September and we are about ready to pull
out the squash, zucchini and tomatoes. Herbs such as
basil, dill, curry, and chamomile have replaced the
onions and the chives were pulled up. Not sure why
that happened. We have provided scissors to snip the
herbs, lettuces, kale and spinach. There are still beans
and peppers to pick.

We will be amending our beds with our compost and
mulched leaves. Our fall crops will be kale, collards,
radishes, carrots, spinach, leaf lettuces, chard, beets
and turnips. We h ave h ad m an y volu n t eer s t h at I'd
lik e t o ack n ow ledge. Tammy Sofield and Susan

PLAYGROUNDS

This year, the Playgrounds committee budgeted $8,000 to
spend on our playgrounds. In addition to the $8,000 we
budgeted of HOA funds, we also received a grant of $2,500
from the city of Durham, as part of their Neighborhood
Improvement Services funds. As of this meeting, we have
spent exactly $368.

The grant we have is a dollar for dollar matched grant, so we
will be putting lots of volunteer hours as well a small
amount of budget funds towards matching that $2,500
grant, but this leaves around $7,500 for us to use until the
end of our fiscal year. It will mostly go towards regrading the
Tot Lot.

The grant was absolutely our most exciting project. We?ve
wanted to tackle the Tot Lot for a while; this grant really
solidified our decision to do it. We were also excited by some
of the changes we made to our Community Play Days -- we
started scheduling things like storytimes in addition to our
normal meetups, and found this change very successful!

Next year, we?re looking forward to diving deep into the
results of the long Stewart plans, and seeing how we can use
that data to guide our future choices and changes to the
playgrounds. We are always looking for more who can help
in both improving and developing the playgrounds -- you
can join us at our meetings, usually held the Sunday prior to
the board meeting at 3PM, or by emailing the committee at
playgr ou n ds@par k w oodn c.or g

HARDWORK

&GRATITUDE
3500hours
of effort by16Directors
926hours
of effort bydozensof volunteers

Of whichwehad...

484hoursof hardlabor
209hoursof meetings
96hitsonthedunktank
16hoursspent poppingcorn
4hoursspent overagrill

THANKYOU,PARKWOOD

Hannah Hiles Michael Brooks
John Jack Matt Burkert
Matt Schellenberg Stacey Burgin
Pandora Simpson Deniz Chen
Heather Crane Krista Confer
Laura Stadnik
Jenny Edwards William Crosmun
Bill Egan Dawn Dampier
Jenna Meehan
Olga Rodriguez Colleen Haithcock
Don Bryson David Hamill
Bill Mitchell Daisy Hui
Marsha Brooks
Leslie Meier Irene Hui Bowditch
Marie Dean Jack Jefferson
Paula McLeod Anne Jones
James Beidler Luis Olivieri
Summer Anderson Robert Proffitt
Lisa Beckstrom
Celia Benton Adrian Rodriguez
Jessica Biggs Tamara Schellenberg
Irene Bowditch
Earl Broadus Cheryl Smith
Brenda Stone-Wiggins

Jim Tramontin
Derek Treuer
Denise Zavaleta
Jack Zavaleta

Parkwoodispoweredbyit'scommunity.
YOUmakeit happen.
YOUkeepit going.

LOOKING
FORWARD

DIGITALFRONTIER

Parkwood is one of the oldest planned communities in NC, and one of the first HOAs. It might not be too much
of a surprise that with our age, we've also amassed an impressive number of records.

From original copies of the neighborhood newsletter, to maps and drafts from our development company, the
Parkwood office has a wide spread of documents stuffed away in a series of filing cabinets. In previous years,
the Board has worked to better organize these documents, bringing in talented members of the community to
volunteer their skills and time towards sorting through our history.

This year, the Communications Department began working towards a new goal -- digitization. We aim to
digitize all non-sensitive files in the Parkwood records, and make them available for community viewing
through an online collection. We're working with North Carolina Central University's school of Library and
Information Sciences to complete this comprehensive project, allowing for Parkwood to not only receive
high-quality scans and storage of our historical documents, but for NCCU students to have the opportunity to
get their hands on some real NC history.

We're also working with the Durham County Library's North Carolina collection to discuss donating some of our
more historically significant documents. There are pieces of Parkwood's history which are of great significance
to our entire state. Things like maps, development plans, and letters, have all been of great interest to the
North Carolina collection. We are still in very early discussions with them, but the Board has been surprised --
and pleased -- to know that our neighborhood is of such curious historical significance.

Other, small, digital changes have included a push towards digitization of our newsletter, as well as covering a
wider range of homeowners online through communications. We know that everyone wants to receive
information differently -- and we're working hard on understanding what the best ways are to get information
out to the homeowners.

90,000pages

of historical documents

56years

of NorthCarolinahistory

Additionally

$14perhome,peryear,spent
printingtheParkwoodPress
$4,800spent ondeliverycosts
$7,000savedby50%of the
neighborhoodgoingtodigital

deliveries

WHAT'SNEXT,
PARKWOOD?

Afterayearof hardwork,morethan845hoursof meetingsandresearch,andsignificant community
input,wehaveourproposalsfromStewart forimprovementstoourneighborhood.

Andourworkisjust beginning!Wewill needtodecideasacommunitywhichsuggestionstofollow
throughwith,andhowtoprioritizeall ourpossibilities.

Ourinitial effortswill focusonimprovementsthat areeasytoimplement
anddesiredbymanycommunitymembers.

Wewill thenneedtomakesometoughdecisionsabout desirableimprovementsthat aredifficult to
implement andthosethat areeasytoimplement but don?t benefit asmanycommunitymembers.

Viewthefull report today

bit.ly/ WhatsNextParkwood

THE
POSSIBILITIES

AREENDLESS

We have been able to take the Stewart Master Plan
and determine that there are 4 ultimate groups of
projects (see next page for breakdown).

With this in mind, the Board of Directors has
authorized the continuation of the Steering
Committee, in a slightly new form.

Parkwoodians who are interested in contributing to
the future progress and growth of our shared open
spaces should consider joining this committee. You
will play a direct role in analyzing the potential
projects for our neighborhood, as well as
recommending which tasks the board consider first
and foremost.

Together, this committee will dive deeper into the
Stewart Plan and determine what the Playgrounds
Committee, as well as the Parks, Lawn, and Ballfield
Committee, should focus their sites on.

Together, we will use this data to shape Parkwood
into a neighborhood which is suited for us all.

Email the Parks and Open Spaces Planning
Committee today to learn more:

possibilit ies@par k w oodn c.or g

FOURCATEGORIESOFPROJECTS

FIRSTCHOICES TOUGHDECISIONS
EASYTOIMPLEMENT EASYTOIMPLEMENT
DESIREDBYMANY DESIREDBYAFEW

Decisions are in our control. Decisions are in our control.

Cost to home-owners would be relatively low. Cost to home-owners would be relatively low.

Some of the funding is available through grants or Some of the funding is available through grants or
d o n at io n s. d o n at io n s.

Products and installations are available ?off the shelf.? Products and installations are available ?off the shelf.?

Volunteer effort can contribute to much of the work. Volunteer effort can contribute to much of the work.

Many people have expressed a desire for the The location of the improvement is accessible to
improvement through public meetings and internet limited members of the community.

polls. The improvement may not be accessible by people of
different abilities and ages.
The location of the improvement is accessible by
many in the community. The improvement is usable only in certain
weather/light conditions.
People of different ages and abilities, singles and
families, can all enjoy the improvement. People have expressed little support of the
improvement through public meetings and internet
The improvement is usable throughout the year.
polls, OR the support expressed is limited.

TOUGHDECISIONS NOTLIKELYTOPURSUE
DIFFICULTTOIMPLEMENT DIFFICULTTOIMPLEMENT

DESIREDBYMANY DESIREDBYAFEW

Decisions require city or county ordinances. Decisions require city or county ordinances.

Cost to home-owners would be high and little of the Cost to home-owners would be high and little of the
funding is available through grants or donations. funding is available through grants or donations.

Products and installations are custom-made. Products and installations are custom-made.

Much of effort would require expertise and licensing. Much of effort would require expertise and licensing.

Many people have expressed a desire for the The location of the improvement is accessible to
improvement through public meetings and internet limited members of the community.

polls. The improvement may not be accessible by people of
different abilities and ages.
The improvement is accessible by many in the
com m u n it y. The improvement is usable only in certain
weather/light conditions.
People of different ages and abilities, singles and
families, can all enjoy the improvement. People have expressed little support of the
improvement through public meetings and internet
The improvement is usable throughout the year.
polls, OR the support expressed is limited.

w w w.par k w oodnc.or g
f acebook .com / Par k w oodNC

bit .ly/ Par k w oodPr ess

pa.of f ice@par k w oodn c.or g
boar d@par k w oodn c.or g

com m u n icat ion s@par k w oodn c.or g

w w w.w eb sit e.co m