Hello neighbors!
Please save the date - July 13th, 2023, at 6PM for a community meeting to cover the recommended update to the CCR’s regarding work from the home, our approach to the 3rd Board seat, as well as the special assessment and a handful of other administrative items (details below).
Details:
Q: What if I cannot attend?
A: Information will be sent out before and after regarding topics and summary. Voting will take place online prior to the meeting, so you will have a chance to cast your official vote online.
Topics:
I. CCR’s
In May, issues arose regarding our current CCR’s and the language around operating a business from a residence (Sec 4.04. A resident-hired attorney argued that residents working from home likened to residents operating a business serving in-person clients. With this argument, the resident’s attorney claimed the Board was liable for selective enforcement of the CCR’s.
Attorneys retained by the Board have confirmed this argument is unsound, however this incident spurred a need to vote on a rational update to the language.
All correspondence received regarding this issue has been reviewed and a subsequent survey has been developed. Please take a few minutes to complete the survey which will be emailed separately to your PayHOA email. Survey submissions will be reviewed by Board and attorneys, and used to create a recommended comprehensive language update.
II. Special Assessment (three parts in detail below)
a. Legal Retainer and Fees
As previously stated, the Board was required to attain legal representation after a resident filed a formal grievance. Once legally reviewed, the grievance was found to be libelous in language and was therefore withdrawn by the resident. The law firm retention fee was $2,500 and $450/hour for all hours worked. The Board estimates 8-10 additional hours of work for the remainder of the year. Therefore, a charge of $50/home will be added to the special assessment fees in the 2024 dues. Wherever possible, we will of course recover any legal expenses from the resident(s) that cause the expenditure.
b. Storm Cleanup
The winter storm and subsequent clean-up requires a balancing of the community budget. Partnering with Waste Connections allowed our neighborhood to return to normal much faster than other neighborhoods in similar states of destruction. This level of damage was not in the annual budget and is best handled by the Special Assessment provision in our Bylaws. The final cost of the cleanup was $116 per home. Budget Reserves were enough to cover the cost in the short term and now those Reserves must be replenished.
c. Property Manager
We moved away from First Service last year because we were not getting what we paid for, and the experience as homeowners was poor with unclear billing, poor communication, and untimely ACC requests. As mentioned in the January meeting, they failed to pay property taxes on time (we caught us up immediately) and even failed to file a few of the resident variances granted by the ACC (all are filed now). Gate repairs took weeks and then failed again etc. This prompted the move to “self-managed” using PayHOA. This allowed the volunteer community Board to publish monthly financials, handle annual collections, courtesy letters and violations, file documents as needed, produce our own resale certificates, and deal with all our own repairs and vendors.
As evidenced by the last election in January, no one wanted to run for the Board. Mark graciously volunteered along with Steve and Justin, but the May incident and subsequent fall-out of the actions of a few aggressive residents make filling this position very difficult. As a reminder, these are volunteer positions filled by people with professional and personal lives.
Due to these issues, the Board is in communication with new property management. Negotiations are in progress to make sure the cost is as low as possible with full customer service. The Board intends to continue being fully involved advocates for the community. If transitioned in July, the community would save $900 this year by moving away from PayHOA; however, we would have a new expense for the Property Manager roughly estimated at $6,000 for the rest of this year (we need to get final quotes). This equates to an estimated $39/home for 2023.
In summary, for the Special Assessment, when you add the three pieces above together, it is $205/home. Since the property management (full year) and legal expectations (flat from the new 2023) are anticipated to carry into 2024’s operating budget, please plan on dues increasing from today’s $700 per year to $840 in 2024.
III. 3rd Board Seat
Our Bylaws call on the remaining Board members to fill any vacancy. Now with legal support and a property manager soon to be added on the front lines, the Board tasks are intended to be more manageable. The Board relies on a 3rd member for guidance and voting on key issues in the community. If you are interested, please email the Board directly. Per our Bylaws, the final vote must fall to the existing Board members.
IV. Roads
Neighborhood roads have been discussed in the past and the need for repairs has been made clear. Per section 7.04 of the CC&Rs, the community owns the roads, and our budget must account for repairs. Conversely, there is a process in Hays County where the neighborhood as tax-payers can vote to have Hays County “take over” the roads and all financial responsibility.
The process is through the County Registrar and requires votes from individual homeowners, not just the Board. Keep in mind that this community has a few stretches, like Ferdinand for example, that are “resident owned.” These resident roads, in the eyes of the County, are owned and managed by one or more residents that use them and would therefore be excluded from County maintenance. There is a process to include the resident roads with the neighborhood roads, but it could push approval back up to several years. Not including them does not prevent these homeowners from pursuing the County independently.
County representatives have driven our streets and shared that they are in “pretty good shape” but have a few areas needing improvement. That is all we know now.
How should we think about the cost here?
To get a better estimate and idea of what to expect, we had two sealant companies review our roads. Both agree on the minimum needed repair as $15K to fill in some cracks and seal them. Both companies recommend a complete sealant every 3-4 years. To completely seal the roads throughout the neighborhood making them look new again is just under $100K. If we built a plan to do these every 3 years, the annual cost per home ongoing would be $216.45. If we wanted to use our planned reserves of around $30K to do a portion of the neighborhood each year, we could start next year and do a 3rd each year for the next three years. Dues would rise each year for the next few years leveling out around $900 per year (very rough math). This is if we decided not to involve the County.
In summary, the estimated cost of bringing the roads up to spec will likely be less than our current reserves designated for the roads (conservatively under $25K). We would have to commit to that repair and have the County review once complete to take the next step.
We are waiting to receive the final spec from the County in order to validate our estimate. There is no estimated delivery date of this information, but we were told to expect news by the end of the summer. After that, the County registrar sends out a vote to each of us, we vote, and go from there. As we get more info we will share.
For a slightly more details video on this: https://youtu.be/ZMOITR51lqA
V. Survey:
Survey link was just sent separately through PayHOA to your email.
Please take your time as we’re trying to dig in on a number of issues independently. Each question covers one area we are trying to understand. Note that this is a survey - not a vote. The vote will follow more formally after this feedback is gathered.
Regards,
Steve & Justin
