April 2022 Newsletter
Dear Greenmar Estates Homeowner Association Member:
We look forward to seeing you at our annual meeting Tuesday, April 26th, 2022.
- Bowles Gym: Doors Open 6:30pm, Meeting to start promptly at 7:00pm
- Please check the website for unexpected changes to the meeting. Greenmarestates.com
- We will have a few attendance prizes again this year – please join us!
- See enclosed invoice for your annual assessment. Due date is May 15, 2022.
Agenda Items:
- Welcome and introductions
- Common Ground: Special Assessment
- Indentures: Tabled
- Updates/Communicating via our Greenmar Estates Web Site: https://www.greenmarestates.com and email
- LATE Assessments – Notices of late assessments have been mailed.
- Budget 2021-2022 – Download from Website – a few will be available at meeting!
- Items from the members
- Election for a trustee (three year term): Ballots will be issued per lot (one vote per lot)
Meeting Etiquette: For a productive meeting that is kept in order, on task for agenda and subject and so all can be heard we will be instituting Robert’s Rules of Order at this meeting:
- “The Chair” will cover current items on the agenda and request input and commentary from the “Floor” after each topic.
- Entitled to be Heard: You must be recognized by the Chair/Trustee prior to speaking
- If you wish to be recognized you stand, and you will be recognized in order to speak (the first one standing speaks first when recognized by the chair, and so on). Please introduce yourself prior to your discussion.
- We ask that you do not Interrupt others or discuss topics not yet presented
Please follow the rules of etiquette so everyone can be heard, we appreciate your cooperation.
Election of Trustee: We will be voting on one trustee position this year. If you are interested in running for Trustee please contact the trustees at Greenmarestateshoa@gmail.com to get your name on the ballot. We will also take nominations from the floor at the meeting.
Duties of a Trustee: As trustees our main purpose is serve the interest of the homeowners who elected us. Our primary responsibility is fiduciary, managing the assets of our subdivision, paying bills for electricity, insurance and the care of our common grounds. We also work hard to protect the interest of our homeowners and ensure our subdivision continues to be a nice place to live. Each Trustee serves for a three year term. Responsibilities are divided among the three serving trustees.
Finance role: Takes care of collecting mail from our POB and depositing and keeping track of banking and writing checks.
Correspondence: Drafts & sends annual HOA letter with budget & invoices. Correspondence and Finance trustees work together to review finances and create the budget. This provides necessary checks and balances for our books.
Secretary: Taking of the minutes, assisting with committees.
All Trustees answer emails, phone calls, knocks on door, etc. about concerns or with requests from homeowners. If you’d like to be a Trustee please nominate yourself! All you need is a willingness to participate and to donate your time.
Committees: In the past we have had a committee the help manage the common grounds. This committee has dwindled to just one person. We would like to see this committee grow again. If you are interested in contributing to our subdivision please consider signing up to help or even lead. We would also like to welcome any homeowner who would be willing to sponsor other community groups as well. Bring your ideas to the meeting and see where it goes.
Indenture Revision: Tabled due to lack of support/interest.
Communications: The HOA uses email to communicate subdivision information via email throughout the year. This letter has also been emailed to all homeowners we have email information for. If you did not receive this letter via email please send your email address(s) of choice to greenmarestateshoa@gmail.com to be added to the email list. Generally, the email frequency will be less than 1 a month and we will not share your email address with anyone.
Most issues the Trustees are Contacted about are County Regulated. Homeowners can contact St. Louis County directly. Our experience has been that in most cases they are responsive and willing to work with homeowners to resolve issues and concerns.. Homeowners may remain anonymous if they prefer. To begin an investigation call South County Satellite Center: Phone: (314) 615-4100 Hours: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Common Ground: Last year we held 8 workdays to address honeysuckle eradication in our common grounds. In all, outside the trustees and the common ground committee chair, we had only 4 other homeowners participate on 4 occasions. The honeysuckle has long been neglected in our common grounds, it is killing our native trees which results in even more expense removing dead trees and addressing damage. We need to begin addressing this before it gets worse. In addition, we expect our overall grounds maintenance cost to rise at least 25% in the coming year. We will be discussing and voting on a special assessment to address both the honeysuckle and the additional maintenance costs. Any special assessment passed will apply to all homeowners. A majority approval of homeowners present at the meeting is required to pass a special assessment. Please be sure to attend to ensure your voice is heard.
A homeowner has offered two trees to the subdivision. If you live on a cul-de-sac and would like one of these trees to plant in your circle let trustees know. The trees are still young and will require regular watering and attention the first couple seasons to flourish.
Our common grounds belong to all of us. NO DUMPING IS ALLOWED! Please check with the Trustees BEFORE removing or planting of vegetation on or near our common grounds to ensure you’re not encroaching or trespassing on property not owned by you or the HOA.
Pet Feces: Please pick up after your pet, including your own lawn. It is a county violation to not properly dispose of animal waste. Keep our neighborhood healthy!
Sewer Openings: If you have a sewer drain in front of your yard please keep it clear for water run off.
DO NOT USE THIS AS A TRASH RECEPTACLE FOR LAWN DEBRIS. MSD does not do any maintenance or cleaning of our sewer drains, if we do not keep them clean it creates water back up in neighboring basements.
Let’s ALL work together: Please keep in mind we are all members of the homeowners association and each of us has a personal responsibility to adhere to state and county ordinances. As your Trustees it is not our position to be enforcers of these statutes but to remind members to follow the law, and anyone of you can contact the county with complaints or violations, see below. A neighborly thing to do is to remind your neighbors prior to contacting authorities there are laws/ordinances being broken. Maintaining our neighborhood is a group effort and that responsibility belongs to each of us and we look forward to your cooperation.
Thank you for your cooperation and interest in your subdivision.
Contact information:
Website: www.greenmarestates.com
HOA email : Greenmarestateshoa@gmail.com
Trustees:
Bonnie Wagner: bonniew63026@gmail.com 314-359-1532
Jackie Wiggins: jaclynswiggins@gmail.com 314-393-1545
Michelle Haley: rmhaley2011@gmail.com 314-479-4591
May 2021 Newsletter
Honeysuckle invasion: Within our subdivision we have significant common grounds to maintain, much of which is wooded. The honeysuckle invasion continues to be an issue, chocking our established, native hardwood trees. These trees are dying and as a result we will continue to experience increasing costs to remove these trees. If not addressed, we will eventual lose our wooded areas, and managing the resulting ecological changes will also be expensive.
In 2020, faced with a significant cost to hire professionals to eradicate the honeysuckle, the homeowners voted to try to address the issue ourselves. To facilitate this direction we have scheduled 4 work day in June to begin to clear the honeysuckle. If you are able please plan to join us on 1 or 2 of these days. As this will be an ongoing effort, additional days for July and August will be added as we see what works. If you have skills or tools that may help us. Or if you any suggestions regarding scheduling etc, please reach out to one of our trustees or our Common grounds committee chairman.
HoneySuckle Work days.
| Date | Time | Meet Location | Point of Contact |
| Wed, June 9th | 6:00 PM | Area 1 South Creek (Green Birch and Green Knoll) | Gene |
| Sat, June 17th | 9:30 AM | Area 1 South Creek (Green Birch and Green Knoll) | Gene |
| Wed, June 23rd | 6:00 PM | TBD | Gene |
| Sat, June 25th | 9:30 AM | TBD | Gene |
| Wed, June 30th | 6:00 PM | TBD | Gene |
| Trustee | Michelle Haley | 314-479-4591 | rmhaley2011@gmail.com |
| Trustee | Bonnie Wagner | 314-359-1532 | bonniew63026@gmail.com |
| Trustee | Jackie Wiggins | 314-393-1545 | jaclynswiggins@gmail.com |
| Common Ground Committee Chair | Gene Fantasia | 314-740-2215 | gfantasia2@gmail.com |
Entries and Islands:
Front entrance: The front entrance is looking pretty good. We planted several species of native flowers and shrubs last year and they came in great this spring. We have also seeded for some summer and fall cover in beds 3 & 4. The tall grass in bed 2 was cut back and is coming in nicely. We also have day lilies that were donated that will go in that bed this fall. Brian Kettenacker planted elephant ears in the front entrance and the island on Greenmar. Thanks Brian! They were a wonderful add to our entrance last year and we are looking forward to enjoying them again this season. Bed 1 (nearest to the crosswalk) Has been lightly mulched and is ready for annual plantings. As we did last year, anyone is welcome to come plant annuals in this bed. We have a number of things we would like to do in the front entrance so if you are interested in helping please contact Bonnie Wagner.
Other islands: We have 7 islands and entrances in our subdivision that could use some more love. If you are interested in adopting an island, please contact one of the trustees. You can do it yourself or form a group with a few neighbors. Great way to get to know your neighbors and get outside a bit!