An open HOA meeting was held on January 18. The following are highlights of that meeting.
- The new Board was introduced. Marge Hutchings, its new January 15 est member was elected President.
- The Golf Course submitted its latest round of answers January 15 to the County’s questions. Hats off to the Board for posting the document on Town Square immediately. If interested, you can find it there. The HOA lawyers are reviewing it. Our immediate reaction is that many key issues were deferred/sidestepped, numerous easement issues were stated as under negotiation with the HOA (we are aware of none underway). The issue of commitment to a 9 hole golf course or no golf course was sidestepped as was the inability to operate the banquet facilities without the golf course. We anxiously await the next chapter.
- In response to urgings from the community, the Compliance Committee is being reestablished. Its first meeting was to take place the weekend of January 22. This is much needed to aid in enforcement of our CC&R’s which make our community unique.
- ARC Committee is in full swing. 17 applications were reviewed and 15 approved. There was some discussion of the legality of removal of its previous chair. This further emphasizes getting a clearer understanding of the Committee’s role as an INDEPENDENT watchdog of CC&R’s. We will have more discussion of this in future posts as there are still misunderstandings and disagreements.
- Landscape Committee reports progress on the Villas greens refurbishment project which is moving along. The Committee is still seeking new members.
- The Safety Committee is still gathering data and trying to assess next steps with the speeding issue. The greeters have ben asked to advise guests of our 20mph limit, though we continue to have frequent violations by residents.
- Roving security patrols have been increased from 4 to 8 hours and will be random on rotating shifts.
- The new rule limiting estate sales was approved after no community comments were received. It will be published shortly.
- The starting of a newsletter was raised again. Still no action. We’re waiting!
- Are painting violations enforceable? The answer is, YES per Vicky. This also applies to stained driveways.
- Much discussion centered on the dues increase. The question was raised: Now that the gates loan is almost paid off, why isn’t this applied to constraining dues? The anecdotal answer from the board was that costs are also rising fast. E. g. minimum wage from $10 TO $15. The board seems aware of the issue, and we are confident it will be considered in future budgets. The question was also raised as to why dues were decreased last year by the prior board. No good explanation was given. Vicky noted the board has authority to raise dues up to a maximum of 20%.
- The latest on the Morgan Creek Lane fiasco: The remaining four lots finally have plans on file and were approved by the ARC. No date when construction might begin.
As always, your comments are welcome.
The board needs to be recalled
Thank you for the updates. Any discussion on who is responsible to oversee/enforce the landscape maintenance contract?
Is the HOA considering the option of buying the golf course to stop the perpetual fight and bleeding of time and legal fees? The long term profitability of running the course and event venue could provide some return on investment and may even help stabilize HOA dues.
Our newest Board member and newly elected President Marge Hutchings is a breath of fresh air for this community. I was impressed with her quick uptake on issues, her willingness to listen to and engage the community, and the way she very adroitly ran her very first meeting. She appears to be action oriented and to have a sincere interest in getting things done.
One item that is not mentioned in the blog and was given much discussion by the Board and Community is the effort under way to “officially” update and revise our CC&Rs which are sadly out of date and many conflict with the way the community is currently operated. They also contradict themselves in numerous areas which makes it difficult to enforce the CC&Rs. Revising our CC&Rs is a legal process that is both time time consuming and expensive. This revision and update is long overdue. I truly hope it is completed before the current Board Members term out and all their hard work is lost.
A correction regarding the increase in our assessments – the gate project was paid off this past summer. The question is “Why wasn’t the savings from the monthly payments for the gate project reallocated to those budget items that have increased (security, minimum wage increase, water, etc} instead of raising our assessments?
At he time the gate project was approved, the community wanted that Board to promise that the funds used to pay off the gate would be reallocated to lower assessments once the gates were paid off. The Board would not make that promise and justifiably so. Instead, they left the decision to reallocate the gate funds to a future Board at the time the gates were paid off. I don’t recall our current Board having those discussions with the community nor have I seen a breakdown of how the monthly funding for the gates was reallocated?
Associa was our management company at the time the gates were approved and installed as they are our current management company.
Associa should have all of the previous meeting minutes, records and commitments. They should have advised our current Board of the promise to discuss the reallocation of gate funding with our community.