Meeting

Hampton Park Neighborhood Association of Athens (HPNAA)

Fall 2025 Meeting

Thursday, 11.20.2025 – 6:30 pm

Attendees

Blake Hartis, President

Janeen Hartis, Vice-President

Jaime Alishio, Secretary

Susan Allen, Treasurer

Neighbors:

Merry Anderson, Jerry Whitacre, Janet Valente, Courtney Etheredge, Dustin Hacfele-Tschanz, Mike Magee, Monica Magee, Faye Harrison

Agenda

1: Call to Order

2: Introduction of Officers and Participants

3: Presidents Report / Purpose of HPNAA

  • Goals for this meeting are to help rebuild participation, clarify our purpose, and elect new officers.
  • The last meeting was in December of 2021.
  • Hampton Park has 3 phases and 3 sets of covenants.
  • The Hampton Park Neighborhood Association of Athens is a voluntary neighborhood association, not an HOA.


  • Our PURPOSE is to maintain the entrance and common areas and to support neighborliness and communication. We do this by paying for the landscaping of the entrance and cul de sac circles, lighting for the entrance, taxes for the entrance, secretary of state fees, bank fees, transaction fees, PO Box fees, website fees, postage, and repairs as needed.
  • We DO NOT provide covenant enforcement, provide architectural control authority, issue citations, fines, liens, stop-work orders, or intervene in private property disputes.
  • We foster neighborhood communication and collaboration by maintaining a private Facebook group. There is also an old NextDoor page that is no longer being used.
  • QUESTION FOR RESIDENTS: If the entrance and common areas were not maintained do you think your neighborhood and your property values would be…
    Harmed
    No change
    Improve

4: Last Meeting Follow Up

  • Research options for eliminating bank fees – Still Pending
    We discussed this at the last meeting but haven’t implemented any changes.
    Bank of America charges $15 per month for each month that our balance is below a certain threshold. 2 ways we could potentially eliminate this and save money are to increase participation which will increase the bank balance which will eliminate the fee, or potentially change banks, but this can be a cumbersome process, and if we switch to another bank with a free account there is no guarantee that they won’t start charging in the future. So far this year we’ve had a sufficient balance for 7 months of no fees and 3 months of fees. We may end up with 2 more months of fees depending on our final membership contributions for 2025
  • Neighborhood development
    All lots in the neighborhood have been built out except for one which recently went up for sale on Berkeshire Ct and is awaiting a closing.
  • Mall Exit Construction Project #122890
    We discussed how the interchange from Loop 10 to Atlanta Hwy was to be redesigned. This project is underway and the information I found online indicated it may not be completed until 2027.
  • Greenway expansion / Beech Haven
    Beech Haven is still closed to the public and the redevelopment of the property is still in the design planning stages. Similarly the connectivity project which may connect this property to the Greenway is still to be determined.
  • Cottage Court Development / 1010 Oglethorpe Ave
    The property and building development plans were for sale recently but seem to have been removed from the market.
  • Welcoming Committee
    We had established a welcoming committee with Jan Reeves, Janeen Hartis, Jaime Alishio and Carla Aranibar to welcome new residents but this has dissipated.

5: Treasurer’s Report

  • HPNAA utilizes Wave to send invoices and collect payments for the maintenance charge.
  • Current account balance: $3416.94
  • Annual expenses for 2025
    1. $4,980 – Dixie Landscaping ($410/month for maintenance plus approximately $60 for debris haul-off fees
    2. $1,200 (approximately) – maintain 2 entrance lights – Georgia Power
    3. $35 – Secretary of State fee
    4. $21.73 – property tax for entrance
    5. $67 – website fee
    6. $192 – P.O Box fee
    7. $90 – stamps and envelopes
    8. $15/month bank fee when balance goes below $3,500
    9. Transaction fees for maintenance charges: $3.50-4.00 depending on which credit card is used in Wave, $3.98 for Paypal, no fee for check payments.
  • Number of paying households
    1. 2025 (as of Nov. 20) –  26 out of 139 properties (18.7%)
    2. 2024: 67.5 paid – 49%
    3. 2023: 64.5 paid – 46%
    4. 2022: 65.5 paid – 47%
    5. 2021: 72 paid – 52%
  • Invoices are sent in the fall to collect the maintenance charge by December 31. If you haven’t received an invoice or have any questions, please contact us at info@hamptonparkathens.com.
  • It’s cheaper for us to email invoices. Please send your email address to info@hamptonparkathens.com if we don’t have it.

6: Maintenance and Neighborhood Updates

  • Repairs made to the right hand entrance light and change of bulb color
  • Get landscaping comparison quotes for 2026
  • Upcoming or needed repairs
  • Opportunities for volunteer

7: New Business

  • Should we re-establish the Welcome Committee?
  • Does anyone use NextDoor, and should we resume posting there as well?

8: Officer Elections

  • All current officers are stepping down
  • Nomination and voting
  • If new officers are not elected make a plan to go dormant or provide minimal functions

9: Open Forum

  • Questions, suggestions, concerns
  • What do neighbors want the HPNAA to focus on and look like in the future?
  • What matters most to you as a resident?

10: Adjourn

Notes

Secretary notes are in bold face.

  • Blake reviewed all of the above agenda details. He noted that we now actually own the front entrance. With this, there are now secretary of state fees associated with the ownership. 
    • Attendees were asked how they would feel about stopping the upkeep of the front entrance- it appeared everyone felt it was important to maintain it.
  • Susan Allen presented a detailed accounting of the yearly expenses incurred by the association.  We have historically been able to cover our expenses but it usually takes us below the minimum bank balance needed to avoid fees at some point during the year. See notes above for details on annual expenses.
  • There was discussion about our yearly home owner fees and how to possibly increase participation (recent year participation rate is around 47%). Blake reviewed how real estate agents typically portray our fees and said it is usually the closing attorney that is responsible for obtaining the prorated fees at closing and forwarding them to us. 
    • Possible actions included having a meet and greet in the neighborhood.
    • Maybe a community garage sale.
    • Perhaps reignite the welcoming committee efforts to get other homeowners engaged in the association.
    • It was suggested that it sounded like we needed to find someone in the neighborhood to help us with our efforts. Monica Magee offered that she might be able to help us with that in the spring.
  • It was noted that we are currently aware of 13 rental properties.
  • There was discussion that the current officers have been in place for several years and that they would love to see some new people step up with new energy and ideas.
  • There was a question about getting speed humps on Hampton Park Dr. Blake has asked ACC to do two studies over the last few years and we have not met the criteria to have speed humps installed. Someone mentioned that the criteria may have changed and Blake will look into it.
  • There was a question about getting more street lights in the neighborhood. Blake will look into the criteria for getting additional lights installed.

Action Items
Have another association meeting in March or April in order to plan for the transition from the current officers and plan for increased community engagement activity.


Next Meeting Agenda Items

Review to ensure all goals are achieved or in progress.