November 15th, 2021 Community Meeting

Board Members

Lane, David, Eva, Melissa, Chris

Board held a pre-meeting with CrossRoads to discuss sidewalk repairs

Repair threshold is ¼ inch
Board approved vote to be added to agenda

Year ahead – Lane
1. Major website improvements
  1. Meeting details
  2. Additional resident resources
  3. List of current vendors
  4. Online proxy form
2. Streamlined reporting and enforcement program
  1. Online reporting tool
  2. Standardized enforcement protocol for all covenant violations
3. Exploring new financial tools
  1. Further use of Quickbooks online to streamline collection
  2. Possibility of additional payment options
  3. Possibility of additional bank account to more clearly separate reserve fund
4. By Laws Review
  1. Verify that all By-Laws are in line with how we are or want to be running the HOA
  2. Examples of items that have been brought up during meetings that are not included in by-laws (ie: voting process by mail in vs in mtg, how mtgs are run)
5. Open floor for questions
6. Covenants were changed
  1. have already been able to deny several rental companies from purchasing in the area
  2. Air BNBs are now not allowed under the new by-laws
YTD Financials Update – Eva
1. Estimated year end bank balance $20,000
2. Collection of back dues:
  1. We keep records of past dues so that when a home sells, we can collect all outstanding fees from the seller; we can also put a lien on someone’s home to collect outstanding fees
  2. July 2021 outstanding balance $12,000
  3. Current outstanding balance $7700 (of this $3000 is outstanding from 2021)
  4. Is there a free collections service that we can utilize?
    1. There are places that we could use, but they will take a large cut of the collected dues
  5. What forms of enforcement can we use to collect back dues?
    1. $75 late fee is charged
    2. Denying trash removal has been tried, but not effective because Republic would just pickup any cans that were left out
3. Budgeted vs actual spent
Budget Discussion
1. Presentation of 2022 Budget – Lane
  1. Are dues raised because of outstanding dues – no, dues are raised because expenses have increased
  2. Are there any instances where HOA bills cannot be paid? No, this has never happened
  3. Snow plowing – substantially increased this line item; plan to only salt in an emergency situation because its very hard to predict when this is actually helpful; plowing is done 3in or above and will not plow if city has not come first
  4. Trash – will be bid out in 2023 once our contract is over
  5. Improvements – removed for this year
  6. Social events – hoping to hold several block parties
  7. No officer reimbursement again this year – but this was voted into the by-laws so can be done by future boards
  8. Sidewalks (common area) – liability issue and will be repaired
  9. Mailboxes – continue replacement rotation
  10. Reserve Fund – this needs to be built up again as its been lowered by different projects and unexpected repairs (covenant, emergency repairs, etc); regardless of expenses, we will make sure that dues reflect an increase in the reserve fund each year
    1. Our goal is to have enough in reserves that we can cover catastrophic events and not completely wipe out all of the funds
  11. We are not required to vote on the budget since the change is less than 10% from the previous year (per the by-laws); the board encourages input regarding the proposed budget expenses
  12. If we find the reserves at a point that it is ‘adequate’, the reserves line item would be adjusted as needed to keep the level where it needs to be – that number has not been fully determined yet
    1. The board considered doing a study to determine healthy levels for reserves
2. Open floor for questions
Sidewalk Special Assessment
1. Intro – Lane
2. Presentation – Chris
  1. Chris has gotten bids from two companies (CrossRoads and Acculevel); He and his team have been extremely helpful in walking the neighborhood to
  2. Repairs are needed due to liability issues, keeping up appearances in the neighborhood so it does not continue decreasing values
  3. 41 known trip hazards throughout the neighborhood
  4. Per city ordinance 94.26, homeowners must repair any potential safety hazards on their property including sidewalks
  5. Cost to repair each homeowners property individually is min. of $1000
  6. Cost to repair all 41 current hazards at the same time plus go through every sidewalk and address all repairs (more than ¼ in gap) plus will level every inch of the sidewalks so that they can last for many year
  7. The process that CrossRoads uses lifts each piece of sidewalk to level it; it lasts for decades, does not expand with weather, addresses areas with root issues; low pressure injection
  8. $75 per household with CrossRoads
  9. CrossRoads will be allowed to market to homeowners to offer discounted quotes for individuals driveways and walkways
    1. Brochure sent with annual dues, posted on website, nextdoor, through emails, will go door to door (we will give notice), they will put signage at entrances 2 weeks prior, during, and after, our HOA will be a reference for them
  10. An additional $25 to repair the rest of the mailbox posts that are needed
  11. Board has 22 proxy votes in favor of the special assessment
  12. After this project, if someone does something to crack or break their sidewalk they will be fully responsible
  13. If someone is doing work with a contractor they need to make sure they have liability from contractor to fix anything that is damaged during construction
  14. On the annual invoice, the special assessment will be listed as a separate line item
  15. Biggest reason for sidewalk cracks is tree roots – CrossRoads will inform owners that have tree roots that may cause damage in the future
  16. If something happens years from now, for normal wear and tear, it will need to be addressed by the then current board and homeowners
3. Open floor for discussion
4. Vote
  1. Neighbor (Mike) motioned to add $75 special assessment plus $25 for additional mailboxes
  2. Motion seconded by several people
  3. Vote of the 5 board members to bring the $25 additional assessment to the vote – voted 4 in favor and 1 against
  4. Passed out paper ballots for everyone present to use to vote on the total $100 special assessment (passed)
5. Board to address the woman who paid for her sidewalk just before this came to the board for a vote
Open floor – Additional questions/comments not covered
1. Are trash cans allowed to be outside of the garage or enclosure – covenants allow them to be ‘minimally visible’; not in front of garages
2. Back pond – have done more algae treatments, have quotes for aeration ($8000), new fountain ($15,000) have been told that the size fountain we have is sufficient for our size pond; will bid out when our contract is up
3. New sign – insurance covered the cost of replacement minus $500 deductible; just need to add wrap around the post and adjust the lights
4. Future project – repair the path that runs along the creek
Close of meeting