For those who want to be in the know! June , 2017
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
I see many of our homeowners outside enjoying our tennis and basketball courts along with the children at the playground. This is great and that’s why we spent money to develop and continue to repair them. Our pool has opened and the days are getting hotter which brings more and more homeowners to the clubhouse to slip into the cool clean water to refresh themselves. I expect we will have a busy summer season once school lets out. Please enjoy yourselves but remember these are your amenities so treat all of them as you would treat your items at home.
June will be a two part newsletter because of the many things that the BOD is involved in. I know when the letter becomes too lengthy many will not read the entire letter. Here we go with part one.
Don Roach, President
THE USE OF POOL AND OTHER AMENITIES
It appears that our upgrade to the camera system and the installation of the new lock system have already been well worth the investment. Many violations have occurred during the past weeks, and we have been able determine exactly who the violators are.
The majority of our homeowners pay their monthly assessments on time on a regular basis. Those that do not, are not authorized to use their pass key for our amenities until their account is paid in full. However, several past due residents are piggy-backing in on others keys and getting the benefits they are not paying for. This is definitely unfair to the majority who make it a point to pay their monthly assessment fess. On the cameras, we have also seen a resident allow 11 other people into our pool, none of whom are residents of Centennial Commons. From a liability standpoint alone, this can cause a big problem.
As each homeowner is allowed to bring in occasional guests, (up to 4), bringing in more than the accepted number without notifying the board for approval, will result in a violation and fines.
Another issue that has arisen is the use of the pool after 9:00 p.m. When the Splash monitor or lifeguard leaves at 9 PM, the pool area is to be clear. We inherited many problems last year when people were allowed to stay later into the evening. Garbage was left for someone else to pick up, beer cans and cigarette butts were left behind, broken umbrellas from not being retracted and yes, the dreaded feces in the pool. This is an expense we all inherit when a few refuse to respect our pool area and the appropriate times.
We have a great community and our amenities are one of the inviting factors when someone is looking for a new home. It is also an asset to our homeowners to know that there is no abuse of our amenities being tolerated.
Violations
Most violations of our covenants are brought to the Boards or CMA’s attention by the residents in our subdivision. A few are noted by our CMA representative while driving through the subdivision doing the required bimonthly inspection. If a violation is reported to the board, CMA is notified and the process of notifying the resident begins. From there it becomes a written record between CMA and the resident until the violation is corrected or the issue is resolved. This process may include the Board but is not for community information. If you are involved in reporting a valid violation, rest assured the Board or CMA is handling it as required.
Facebook
Recently some comments were made on our Facebook page that was unattractive to say the least. The Facebook page has a code of conduct rule that you follow or you will no longer be part of FB. Call it responsible parenting, but we will drop you off the page if you can’t write like an adult. Thanks to those that make the page an informative source for the residents to use.
No Weapons allowed on Commons Property
The board has received many concerning questions and comments regarding “weapons” being allowed on Common Property. The term “weapons” includes, without limitation, B-B guns, pellet guns, slingshots, bows, firearms or other similar devices whatsoever.
These numerous concerns were discussed with CMA at the last board meeting. It is the opinion of CMA that weapons should not be allowed on Common Property. The board voted and felt the advice of CMA should be followed.
Section #3.13f of our covenants, authorizes the board to make and amend rules and regulations for the Commons Property and imposing sanctions for violation thereof, including reasonably monetary fines.
Therefore, under the advice of CMA, the Board has decided it is best to eliminate weapon carry on common property, since common property is the property of all homeowners. Signs are now posted on the amenity gates and/or fences.
Delinquent Fees
As you are aware homeowners pay a monthly fee to maintain our beautiful subdivision. This assessment fee also includes the use of the amenities on common property. When homeowners fall behind on these fees, CMA notifies the Board of those delinquencies. While CMA has various approved options to try to collect the past fees the Board has only one option to encourage payment and that is to rescind the use of the amenities. In order to regain the “good standing” status and be able to utilize these benefits again, a delinquent homeowner must pay all past due assessments, current assessment and late fees. This means you have to pay for the current month if it’s past the 15th of the month. I hope this explanation helps those that are attempting to become current with their fees.
For a complete explanation of delinquent fees, see Article 6.8 of our Covenants.
Collecting Fees
This is the elephant in the room that no one likes to talk about but it’s not fair for 85% of us to pay our fees on time and for 15% of others not too. The Board understands that there are tough financial times that some homeowners go through. There are provisions that a homeowner can take to work out a payment plan through CMA until what time they no longer have those financial issues. We believe it’s our responsibility to those that pay on time to collect from those that don’t and to do it with the least expensive measures.
Again, we turn to CMA for our options. Their recommendation is to use a collection agency to collect outstanding fees. To reduce our cost a collection agency would be able to collect before we have to rely on expensive legal action. Our legal fees for collection are slightly under $10,000! It is 1/3 of our costs to collect what is owed. While the POA Act does put automatic liens on properties, these liens are deferred until the sale of the home, or we proceed with foreclosure. The collection would be handled solely through CMA and is no cost to our HOA.
While the Board has distaste for collection agencies, we know that we cannot continue to have nonpaying homeowners and continue with our current fees. In other words if some don’t pay, others will have to pay more.
The Board will take action on this soon.
Thanks for reading,
Don Roach, President
And the Board of Centennial Commons