Lake of the Woods Association directors have moved the Orange County homeowners association's operating and investment funds from Wachovia and Morgan Stanley to StellarOne, the state's largest independent back.
"During its financial crisis, Wachovia presented a significant risk to Lake of the Woods' money," said LOWA President Bill Wilson at yesterday's board of directors meeting. "We have moved to StellarOne to minimize risk to those funds," he added.
On a 4-2 vote, the board also approved refinancing the Community Center loan by paying off the present 7.39 percent loan with Wachovia and securing a one-year interest-only loan from StellarOne.
Stellar One is offering a 4.5 percent interest rate on the $825,000 loan, according to LOWA Treasurer Olive Kelly. The rate might be further reduced as a result of last week's action by the Federal Reserve to lower the prime rate.
StellarOne also offered LOWA a $300,000 line of credit, which the board approved unanimously.
The new loan will be secured by approximately $800,000 on deposit with StellarOne in CDs with a 3.5 percent annual yield, bringing the effective cost of the loan to 1 percent.
Board members Peter Williams and Tom Sheridan voted against the refinancing. Williams voiced concern about having a one-year loan in the volatile financial market. Sheridan said he had a problem with securing the loan with reserve funds.
StellarOne Corp. was formed last spring as a result of the merger of its banking and trust subsidiaries, including Second Bank & Trust, First National Bank in Christiansburg, Planters Bank and Trust Co. and Virginia Commonwealth Bank. The former Second Bank & Trust is located opposite LOW on State Route 3.
In other action, board members unanimously agreed to direct General Manager John Bailey to hire an operations assistant. The position is funded in this year's budget but has not been filled.
However, Director Bruce Kay noted that in the present economic situation, "I can't see adding additional personnel."
Bailey said the full-time position will be filled by a present full-time employee who will aid Assistant General Manager Ted Wessel. The main purpose of the job will be to promote amenities and schedule and coordinate use of facilities.
Board Vice President Jeff Flynn said that the working group he heads that is looking into the functioning of the Community Center wanted to be sure the operations assistant would function as a contact person and scheduler for the center.
"I'd like to see that the job description is massaged so that's a priority for this position," he said.
Robin Knepper: 540/972-5701
Email: rknepper@earthlink.net