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

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

The Good.

It’s fitting that today’s comments would be about something good happening in the neighborhood.  I want to give a shout-out to Frank Conley.  Frank has been on top of Neighborhood Watch for a few years.  He has organized “block captains” and through this organization has diligently kept homeowners informed of suspicious activities and police reports as these activities occur.  Without fail Frank sends an email at month end summarizing the Neighborhood Watch activity.

The Bad.

 Unfortunately, he doesn’t always get cooperation from the HOA officers.  Just recently, a section of rails on the porch of the clubhouse were busted.  Frank requested a report from the HOA Officers to determine whether a police report was issued, or not.  To my knowledge he has yet to receive a response.  Why couldn’t the HOA give Frank the information he requested?  Another instance of the lack of communication which I believe is at the root of most issues in the subdivision.  The HOA President and Board Members should take a lesson from Frank and follow his lead on communication and responsibility.

The Ugly.

The clearly disregard to Frank’s request for information, clearly supports my initial comments in the opening of this blog.  One can only suspect that the HOA officers are either oblivious to neighbor activities, or simply too arrogant to respond.

Thanks Frank for your diligent and effective Neighborhood Watch program.

Hopefully this forum will serve the homeowners to voice their opinions and comments about our neighborhood.  The HOA has an online message board.  However, it is heavily scrutinized for comments that are detriment to the HOA officers.  Comments, unless you want to buy or sell something, are usually deleted.  Complaints are deleted within hours of posting.  What kind of message board is that?  What purpose does it serve?  If I needed a classified ad, I would quickly turn to Craigslist, or eBay, certainly not the HOA message board.  So, again what is the purpose of the message board?

My commitment to this blog is that I will not delete comments unless crude and offensive language is used.  As long as the comments are civil, I will allow the posts.

Have a great day,

Dan

 

Please read the comments at the bottom of the page.  Today, Frank posted a list of issues that he accumulated over the past few weeks. 

 

 

“Déjà vieu all over again!”  Back in 2009, I established a blog for the same reason as this new blog.   In 2009 communication between the HOA officers and members were basically nonexistent, just as they are today.  Board meeting minutes, if any meetings take place, are not communicated to the members.  Financial conditions, i.e., income and expense reports are nonexistent.  No activity is communicated to the members, nothing!  In many respect today’s condition are worse than 2009.  Do any of you know how many members have not paid their annual dues?  Do any of you know how many of these delinquent owners have liens against their property?  Are any fines being levied for ACC violations?  As cooperative members shouldn’t we know that?  I happen to think so.

There is one basic concept that the current officers have yet to realize, or understand.  An HOA, such as ours, is a classic cooperative.  By definition, all members have an equal stake in the endeavor.  Ours is not a corporate entity where you have major and minor shareholders, with the major shareholders have most of the power and decision making clout.  In our cooperative endeavor, the president and board members all have one vote, the same as you and me.  And since we are all equal shareholders, we should all share the same information, financial and otherwise.  It’s not happening, so we should demand it.

The HOA officers are serving at the members’ discretion.  I don’t think they fully understand.  As an equal shareholder, I am appalled at the way business is conducted, or perhaps I should rephrase, at the way that no business is conducted.

We’ll have plenty of time to discuss all of the issues in detail as this blog gains momentum.  Please forward the blog site to neighbors that have the same concerns as you and me.  Many property owners are not interested in getting involved, so consequently this blog will not appeal to them.  And that’s OK.  For those of us who see our stake in this subdivision has a substantial investment, then let bind together and affect change.  Please post your comments as frequently as you identify issues.

You can access this blog by typing www.olddutchtown.blogspot.com in your browser.  Save the address in your favorites to have it readily available.  To post a comment, please scan the bottom of the page for "Posted by Old Dutchtown at (time).  Immediately to the right click "no comment," or "comment (#)" to open a new page where you can post your comments.

Thanks for reading.  I hope to hear from you soon.

Dan