Saturday, October 05, 2013
Glad to hear that Storm Karen has not
intensified and doesn’t appear to be much of a threat to Gonzales and the
surrounding area. Thank God for
that. Here are my comments for today.
Clubhouse
Recently, vandals busted the rails on the front porch of the
clubhouse. As I commented in an earlier post,
Frank Conley asked for details from the HOA officers to which his request was
basically ignored. This incident brings
to mind a few questions:
·
Is the Clubhouse inspected after every event to
check for damage? Who has that
responsibility?
·
Prior to noticing the damage, who was the last
to rent the clubhouse?
·
Was there a police report filed? If so, when was it filed? Who filed the report?
On another issue, it is my understanding that camera(s) were
installed at the clubhouse. To my
knowledge, no notification was sent to the homeowners, nor was an expense
report sent on the cost of installation.
Is there one camera, or more? If
there are two cameras installed in the back of the clubhouse, then perhaps one
should spot the pool gate and the second camera moved to spot the front
entrance.
Another long outstanding issue is the pool gate. Why can’t we find someone to fix it for a
period longer than a day? What is it
about that gate that can’t be fixed? Do
we need to replace the entire gate with more robust material? Who
has responsibility for fixing the gate?
Outsourcing to Management Company
When will the homeowners learn about the responsibilities of
the management company? What is the HOA
expecting from this company? How is the
subdivision monitored? What is the
frequency of monitoring? I believe Frank Conley spoke to the management
people and asked questions about the service agreement. Perhaps Frank can share details of that
conversation by posting on this blog.
I’m a firm believer that no one can manage my property
better than me. What is it that the
management company can/will do, that we can’t do ourselves? I am dead set against outsourcing HOA
responsibilities. To do so is basically
an admission that one, I can’t handle the responsibility or two, I don’t want
the hassle, or three, I no longer care so let someone else handle it. Outsourcing has its place in the business
world. A classic example is a startup
company that doesn’t have the manufacturing capabilities and is forced to look
elsewhere for help. In our case, we have
the capability and resources to do the work ourselves. We basically took HOA responsibilities that
should be handled as part of the duties of elected officers, and then, those
same officers approved to pay a company over $1,000 per month to handle their
responsibilities. What a rip-off.
I’ve heard second-hand comments from the HOA: “I’m not going
to police the subdivision.” Another one
was, “I don’t have time.” I don’t doubt
that these comments were factual. If HOA
officers don’t have time to take care of business, then why did they subject themselves
to elections? What was their motivation
when they allowed themselves to be nominated? Obviously, it wasn’t to take care of business
and solve issues. Read Frank Conley’s
post where he listed a number of outstanding issues pertaining to the
subdivision and you’ll realize that my comments are spot-on.
The root cause for most of these issues is lack of
leadership; and that trickles down to a lack of organization. I, for one, share the blame by not attending
the annual meeting and not taking an active role in turning these issues around,
until now. One person should not have dual responsibility of president and chair of the ACC. Also, to my knowledge there are no currently
active committees. Ben Morton has been
actively involved with beautification projects and maintenance of some common
ground, but I think he basically works alone.
The Neighborhood Watch program is the only active committee, and that
organization is independent from the HOA.
Please give serious consideration to getting involved with
improving the conditions of our subdivision by either running for office, or
organizing a group to address specific issues.
Stay tune for more,
Dan
I spoke with the management company on the phone. Did not get anything concrete. I was told they were hired to enforce the C & R's and that I should read the C & R's for the answer to my question. They told me they would visit the neighborhood twice a month to do this enforcement.
ReplyDeleteWhen outsourcing is done that means that our association dues go up!! In this economy who can cannot afford to pay increase dues? Please can we work out a plan where we all pitch in and take care of our business ourselves?
ReplyDeleteBeajay, without knowing the conditions of agreement, I'm guessing the HOA is committed for at least a year to the management company. But, you're spot on, we should be able to take care of business in-house. We need to focus on HOA election in April/May to make sure we have better representation than we have now.
ReplyDeleteFinally someone is speaking up!
ReplyDeleteIn order for change, we need homeowners to attend the annual meetings. Every year it is the same handful of people that attend. The current president has been in charge for 3-4 years. he also holds the position of head of ACC therefore has to report to no one. There was a big decline in the subdivision under his regime. There is no communication with the homeowners and are not treated very nicely when you have an issue.
ReplyDeleteThey don't want to be officers and do any work for the neighborhood. All they want is the TITLE. Well speaking of that who is the VP, Sec.? Really -does the board need a violation ticket to act? Do they drive with their eyes looking straight forward? Just stop and talk to residents about their violations.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole thing is a mess. I think that everyone is just fed up. Complaints over and over again were gone un noticed. Never fixed..Boats in yards, trailers, wrecked cars...still sitting there. Bad yards...NOTHING. I have complained quite a few times and for years...and NOTHING...no matter who you have in charge..NOTHING
ReplyDelete