Annual Meeting

The annual meeting was held at the Fears Mill clubhouse on 3-16 at 6:30pm.

CAM had mailed out notices of the meeting in advance to homeowners.

Unfortunately, we only had 15 people attend, representing 10 homes.

We talked about a variety of issues to include:

-  The end of year financials for 2015

-  The proposed budget for 2016

-  The feasibility of continuing CAM services given the chunk of cash that pothole maintenance has taken from our balances.

-  The covenant violation process

There were several questions from residents on topics such as:

-  Potential for speedbumps

-  Are those access roads with potholes really the HOAs responsibility

-  How many delinquent homes were on the books when CAM took over and how many are there now?

CAM agreed to several action items in order to answer the residents questions and provide options for reduced services.  As those answers and that data is provided, I will post it here for transparency and comment.

We also held elections. The current Board was re-elected without competition.  Wanda Harris nominated Jason Glover for President so Wanda and Jason have switched their roles for the next 12 months.

Here is a link to the audio of the meeting if you want to listen:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_2-fYTPxyhVdTZLWWUtQTdtdzQ

End of Year Financials

As we prepare to meet for the annual gathering this spring, here is a summary of the end of year financials.  If you want the detailed documents that CAM provides, let me know.

End of Year Cash on Hand - $2864.00
End of Year Savings - $1709.00

Income and Expenses

We still had (13) homes with past due balances totaling ~$7200.00

We anticipate reducing services from CAM in 2016 to compensate for unexpected monetary losses due to pothole repair and based on the fact that CAM has spent $6300.00 and only recovered $1600.00 for us in 2015.

Meeting Date coming soon!
Jason

Pothole Repair #2

All-

We are having another pothole repaired on the back access road that is behind the Old Highway 3 homes.

Please note these dates when traffic may be impeded:

Form area for concrete on Sat.--April 4th
Pour concrete on Mon.--April 6th

Thanks!
Jason Glover, VP

Annual Meeting 2015

Tonight was the HOA's annual meeting.  We had about 11 residents attend as well as Mr. Lee Mason from CAM.  Mr. Mason's assistant, Rhonda Fleming, was unable to attend due to a death in the family.

Mr. Mason provided us with a 2015 budget that raised some questions and discussion (see below) and we re-elected the current board for another year.

It was a short meeting and I was disappointed that there was not more engagement from homeowners.  However, it was nice to be able to share the positive things that have occurred this year and to begin strategizing on what the next few years may look like for us.

CAM 2015 Budget:

This budget provoked some questions and discussion regarding the HOA's ability to sustain a partnership with CAM without operating "from paycheck to paycheck" in the outgoing years.  There was some discussion on what services are provided by CAM.

Among the services provided by CAM are yearly assessment letters, meeting notifications, accounting, violation reporting and enforcement, contractor negotiation, and collections actions.

It was determined that we should continue this full partnership with CAM for the next year and reconsider a reduced level of service/ payment for outgoing years at our next annual meeting.

Part of the discussion tonight also revolved around the current monetary situation.  Mr. Mason and the Board had expected Rhonda to bring the update on current finances.  With her unexpected death in the family we were not able to produce the most timely financial information.  We expect to be able to share the January and February financials soon.  In the meantime, I agreed to summarize the last set of financials that the Board received here on the blog.  The information below is based on December data.  For the full set of original documentation, just contact me.

WHAT'S UP WITH THE MONEY?

As of last years annual meeting on 3-26, the HOA had $5705.00 in checking and $595.00 in savings.

As of the end of December 2014, the HOA had $4235.00 in checking and $1705.00 in savings.

That means that the cash on hand now is $360 less than we had on hand last year.  That is not a substantial difference and looked at alone might indicate that things remained pretty status quo.  However, we must look more deeply to see the full picture.

One of the most important details about the past year with CAM has been their ability to collect on past due fees.  We began the year with 21 homes in some form of arrears for a total of $13,708.00 recoverable.  We lost $2036.00 in unrecoverable fees due to foreclosure.  Nothing we can do about that.  CAM did recover $2640.00 for us.  That leaves us with 18 homes still owing and $9032.00 still waiting to be recovered with the caveat that we will probably lose another $453 as "unrecoverable" due to a pending bankruptcy on 1 home.  Of those 17 remaining homes, here is the breakdown:

• 3 have set up on a monthly payment.
• 8 have been sent a demand letter.
• 2 have a claim of lien 
• 1 has a statement of lien
• 3 have not been addressed yet

Remember, all of that info was based on December data.  It is important to note that several things must have occurred "collections-wise" in January and I simply do not have that report on those yet.  I say that because Lee informed us that we only have around $6800.00 left in past due amounts to still be collected at present.  That would mean that we collected (or lost to unrecoverable) over $2000.00 in January.  I can attest to the HOA collecting almost $700.00 based on a sale I am aware of.  I will post that updated data as soon as I receive it. 

So, how does that relate to the big picture?  It CAM has helped us collect ~$2600.00 between hiring them in March and the end of December...why don't we see that money in our totals?  Shouldn't our total cash on hand for this end of year be around $2600.00 more than last year?  Those are good questions.  Since we don't see that occurring we have to ask: "where did that $2600.00 go?"

Potholes and fences.  That is the answer.  We had to address two big maintenance issues this year on the Highway 3 side of the HOA.  The Highway 3 entrances were falling apart and unkept.  We contracted a company to make repairs and to bring the entrances up to standard.  We also had to repair a major pothole that had formed on the back access roads behind the house along Highway 3.  Those repairs cost us right at the amount that CAM was able to recover from past due homes.

Circling back to the big picture, there should be serious thought given to how we will address future repairs that cost an excessive amount of money (more than budgeted).  In fact, we have been alerted to another pothole on the access roads behind our Highway 3 homes.  It will have to be addressed and may cost $1500 to $3000 to repair.  The only place to get those funds is our cash on hand and, you can see, that would be a significant hit to our "rainy day funds."

We could always amend the covenants to try and raise the dues but that would be difficult and wildly unpopular.  I think that the best answer here is that we need to ensure that all 67 homes pay annual dues this year and we need to ask CAM to make sure that they are doing everything possible to recover the remaining past due balance.  Beyond that, we will need to look at the options for reduced services from CAM for future years.  That was the general consensus of the residents in attendance at the end of the night.

Again, if you are interested in seeing the original documents, or you have questions...do not hesitate to let me know.

Thanks,

Jason

Pothole Repair

Please note that the contractor will be out to fix the large pothole on the back driveway behind the Highway 3 homes the weekend of Nov 29-30.  New concrete will be poured on Dec 1st.

Let us know if you have any questions!
Jason, VP

Halloween!

Hey neighbors!

I wanted to remind everyone that Halloween is on a Friday this year.  Sunset is expected at 6:46pm.

I want to encourage all the residents of Jasper Heights to stay local and participate in Trick or Treating!  It is a fun and easy way to meet each other and say "hello." 

We have a great long street (River View Ct) that would make trick or treating easy to do.  Let's take advantage of this holiday to get to know each other better and munch on some candy!

I hope to see you around 7pm on October 31st!

Jason, VP

Pine Straw, Paint, and Potholes

In response to some concerns, the HOA has recently authorized our landscape contractor to "spruce up" the entrances to the driveways along Old Highway 3.  Take a look as you drive by and you will notice the new pine straw, the fence repairs, and the new coat of paint on the fences.  Looks 100x better!

Our landscaper has also put down fresh pine straw at the River View Ct entrance.  It also looks great!

We are aware of the pothole on one of the driveway behind the homes off Old Highway 3.  We are looking in to having it repaired.  It seems to be a pretty bad pothole and will probably require more than just a quick fix.  Please be patient as we secure the appropriate contractor and we ensure that we have funding for this repair.

As always, if you have any questions, please contact the Board.  Thanks!
Jason Glover
VP