Sunday, January 31, 2010

Welcome HOA members. Please post your comments and concerns regarding our community. We will share all of them with the Board and Management Company.

31 comments:

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  2. We need communication from our Board. Tell us what is going on and why decisions are made.

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  3. WHAT IS OUR MONEY GOING TOWARDS SINCE THERE IS NO TRAIL MAINTAINENCE OR ARENA MAINTAINENCE. DON'T GIVE ME ANY BULL... ABOUT NO FUNDS !

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  4. Don't forget to send in your ballots when they arrive. Everyone should vote.

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  5. In my opinion, the root problem of the HOA board is the feeling of arrogance I get when I attend the meetings. The old Management Company handled the meetings the same way. Another problem is, I have met many homeowners at the meetings that could guide us in the proper direction and yet their names never come up on a ballot to join. I feel, this is because of the high and mighty attitude from others in the neighborhood. None of us is in an almighty position. If we were, we would not be living in the Santa Rosa Ranchos. We are just middle class families that have a great neighborhood and an HOA that we pay fees to with no perceived return. I propose we make the board meetings more structured as you see a city council meeting is. For one thing...if you wish to speak from the audience, you must request to be put on the agenda ahead of time. Additionally, the board should follow their agenda to a "T" and as with modern meeting facilitation techniques, if a question comes up during the meeting and it is outside of the agenda, it will be written down on a sheet of paper or flip chart (the parking lot). This "Parking Lot" would be actioned at the end of the meeting, if time permits, or placed on a future agenda. Thorough minutes should be taken every meeting and they should be published ASAP after the meeting. Last but not least, no decisions relating to the Santa Rosa Ranchos subdivision should be made outside of the board meeting or behind closed doors so to speak.

    PS. I will be taking notes at every HOA boarding meeting this year, that I can, because I am curious where the decisions are made and why we are not notified of the decisions until after the fact. I will forward these notes for posting.

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  6. Read your by-laws; you can nominate from the floor at the annual meeting. If you want someone else to be a possibility for the board; get off your butts and nominate them like the by-laws provides you can. (Although, you'd better be sure they are a member in good standing; i.e. current on their dues and any fines) And be aware that if you are not current on your dues, your vote will not count. Meetings are conducted, per the by-laws, following accepted of parliamentary procedure (i.e. Roberts Rules Of Order) which is normal for any formal organization. So you might want to read "Roberts Rules" too - that way you'd know that "New Business" is the proper time to bring things up that aren't on the agenda. Request copies of the minutes from your Secretary, to see what decisions have been made. It's your right as a HOA member. If everyone works together, a common goal can be achieved; but running around stuffing mailboxes with inflammatory narratives that are full of inaccuracies, serves no good purpose.

    We can work together, but the personalities will have to be put aside for the good of the organization.

    A fellow SR Rancho Homeowner

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  7. Points taken. Thank you.
    Points proven thank you, again.

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  8. Did you notice - they were out working on the arena today

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  9. I would like a copy of the minutes from the last meeting. It was held two weeks ago, on 2/15/10. Does anyone know who I should contact for this?

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  10. Meeting minutes are typically not available until they are approved (at the next meeting). Once approved, you would contact the Secretary for copies.

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  11. That is so cool they are working on the arena and getting things done.

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  12. I am voting for the folks on the ballet, I am unsure of the "friendly four". I think the existing board is hearing our concerns and I want to give them a chance. I am sure it is not that easy to work within the confines of HOA rules. They have experience and care about the community.

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  13. 1) the current BOD has NOT, I repeat has NOT groomed the arena, it was done by Gavilan Springs HOA NOT Santa Rosa HOA and the money was out of Gavilan Springs Pocket ! It would be lovely if people would have the facts instead of .......
    2)Our current president,drove into and got stuck in the huge trenches left over from the January 18th rains. The trenches were covered up on February 16th.Those trenches were a huge liability to our HOA and safety should be on the minds of our association.
    3) there are some of us that realize and some that don't realize that our CC&R's and our Bylaws state clearly common area should be repaired and maintaned not after the president runs into a trench but to keep us from falling,driving into trenches. I believe in the spirit of safety, when a contractor has given bids on repairing hazardous areas to our common area, ie. trails with drop offs of over 5 feet, should not be posponed in the summer and then "wait untill it rains" this comes directly from the current board, now the cost has increased due to further damage.So my question is this... what has been repaired or maintained? Our trail fences, our trails, our arena? I haven't seen any evidence from our board doing any of this, so if I'm wrong .... prove it to all of the homeowners.
    3)Whoever wants the minutes needs to pay Equity mgt for a copy of our minutes.... but why hasn't any been posted on the website that we were paying $35/mo. Why do people not log onto our website?.... oh, could it be that it hadn't been updated for months so why bother.
    4)Why has the BOD now purchased a web site for us? Who is going to build that website....could it be the husband of a BOD and not for free? Where's this going?
    5)Yes, you can nominate from the floor of the annual meeting if the annual meeting was held.
    6) I don't believe there are " high and mighty HO's" to quote Manacres( by the way.. love the name!) I feel our HO's, like many have a ton of stuff to do like...living, doing their own thing which is fine with me and I feel that our association works together when there has been a call to action like there has been now, and I champion the effort of HO's are making now. By the way, where have you been all this time, never see you at the HOA meeting? Hopefully you will be present at some this next year and give a good perspective, whoever gets on the board.
    Denise Constantinide

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  14. Wow. Mighty "Friendly" post there Denise. I sure hope you can prove those points you make.

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  15. Yes, I can prove all the points. How about anyone disproving them. There is a reason why so many homeowners are complaining because the board isn't doing right by the HOA.They may be trying but it's not working. I think my comments got to the point and that's what is needed. There can be sugar coating and nothing done, that's not my goal.Sometimes the facts are just plain hard truth. Our HOA is not thriving financially and upkeep to our common area is pathetic. I and the rest of the friendly four see our common area properties declining in appeal. We are a small equestrian community, it doesn't have to be so hard. Good decision making and looking at the finances,see where we are going wrong, overspending,what's being neglected. Common sense values,not being afraid to commit or make a decision, stop tabling ideas, remembering we are the owners and we must see to our own business. Just because someone is popular or candy nice doesn't make a good board of director.How about someone who's tough minded, has household expenses under control,and can make level headed decisions.

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  16. Just looked at the new website for our HOA. Funny how the board says they are doing all these things and want community action to do horseshoes and big screen activites etc. The last 4th of July party thrown at the arena had maybe 4 families from Santa Rosa HOA and cost hundreds of dollars. This is not a Mayberry USA, is the board in touch with the homeowner's?
    Will from Bonanza Backhoe was contracted to do the trails but was stopped by the board. Indeed some trees impeeded progress but many, actually most trails were clear. Will was not even allowed to do those trails. The board didn't want to spend the money. On one particularly dangerous spot the board decided to postpone repairs and wait until the rains come. Well, the rains came and now nearly half of the trail washed away leaving a treacherous fall on to boulders at least 4-5 feet down. Then a homeowner took matters into his own hands which made things worst. The bid will now be much more expensive than the original bid.
    The arena grooming has been an issue for months since the board layed off the tractor driver. Then our board postponed arena grooming to look for some expensive new footing to add to the arena. Gavilan Springs board has had a difficult time getting our board to cooperate with the arena grooming. There have been broken boards laying on the trails and particularly on the trail that leads to the arena which a horse walking on this trail could catch a foot or even a tail causing a dangerous scenario. It's been there for months. Fencing on the arena trail is literally falling over.There has been water leaking out of a sprinkler head for months on the arena trail. We don't need to repair all the fencing but do at least the worst places a little at a time. But DO something.It's funny to me how the board goes after a homeowner with such gusto yet has not done anything with the common area.The CC&R's state repair and maintain common area boundary fences. Abiding by the rules goes both ways. Equity Mgt. has proposed a 3.7% increase to there 2010 contract which will be over $23,000. The frist year with Equity, they didn't recommend a reserve fund and did no investing in CD's. Where was there experience and guidance then?
    Yes, there may be some progress NOW because they are in the spotlight. To little to late.

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  20. Ok, forgive my lack of astuteness. Please inform me of the new web site. How do I access it? Is it the same as before, through the Management's web site?

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  21. here is the address for our HOA website. i hope you find it as informative as i did.

    what a gorgeous day!!! enjoy all.

    www.santarosaranchoshoa.org

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  22. Thank you Trail Rider, for the link. The site is very straight forward and not "busy" as alot of sites are. Very informative.

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  24. wow, blogs can be a venue for spite and negativity, like trail rider and sr homeowner. I am surprised denise, st george, was brave enough to put her name, usually people hide in the dark in order to be vicious not brave enough to let anyone know their opinion, so I'm a bit impressed with that. If trail rider rides the trails, she -he is in denial or very ..... how can anyone say our common area is being tended to. Trail rider why dont you help with repairs when you see boards etc if you expect another homeowner to do it although you nor st george should have to. isn't that what we pay duesfor? Oh ya, your're the perfect citizen with your very vicious mouth done anonimously, also sr homeowner you had a personal attack on st george also. the 2 letters sent out were to the point and not a personal attack on anyone, just stated the facts. I went out to the trails and arena and did see what denise st george said was true. I see a bigger, progressive picture than to run down a neighbor. I don't care for board making statements on their behalf on our hoa website then following up with an additional expense of mailing their statements out using our hoa money. If the board wants to campaign for themselves don't do it with our hoa money, exclusion to this is T. Hintz. It really is so very disrespectul and spiteful for trail rider to log back on so kissy sweet. Probably to cover up the very black side of IT'S personality. I would like to see apologies from sr homeowner and trailrider to st george denise and the rest of the homeowners. Clearly, due to the negative comments from these 2, and the lies on the website and the spending of the ho's $ for their personal benefit I voted for the write ins.

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  25. I forgot to add, I spoke with 2 Gavilan Springs homeowners and a board member, there is alot of concern with our board for the last 3 years and particularly now. Apparently our board is not following thru with the deal of grooming the arena area etc. It has needed to be pushed and talked about and finally GS hoa groomed it themselves. Also, our board has not had the relationship with ETI as they say. ETI has done alot of repairs to our arena area at their own expense and are good citizens, good neighbors and good friends of our community. I heard the contractor bonanza backhoe hasn't been paid for work done in the past few months for work done on the trail. Sorry I forgot to put my name on the first post. This blog has shown why so many ho's don't get involved. We think that little has been done in the past years so why bother, hopefully we can have some good board representation if the write in get elected. Change can be good !
    Kathryn

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  27. OMG, TRAIL RIDER YOU ARE A SCHIZOID. ONE DAY YOU'RE ON SOME VICIOUS RANT ON A H.O. TRYING TO BETTER THE COMMUNITY THEN YOU DO A 180. ARE YOU ON A BE NICE PILL OR OTHER DRUG TO CALM YOU DOWN. DON'T WORRY 2 OF 4 OF THE FRIENDLY FOUR WRITE INS GOT ON SO I THINK THINGS WILL BEGIN TO TURN AROUND. BY THE WAY, WHY DIDN'T YOU FILL IN THE TRENCHES OR REPAIR BROKEN BOARDS ? APPARENTLY THERE WERE A NUMBER OF COMPLAINTS AT MEETING CONCERNING THE BAD TRAILS, UNSAFE BOARDS, FUNKY EQUITY MGT PRACTISES. THE FOUR WRITE INS WERE A GOOD TEAM, I HEARD ONE ACTUALLY CONCEDED FOR THE OTHER TO GET ON THE BOARD. I KNOW THAT WAS A SELFLESS ACT TO BETTER OUR HOA. YOU ON THE OTHER HAND ARE A TWISTED ITEM. YOU WERE OPPOSING THE PROPONENTS OF CHANGE, THE FOUR THAT DIDN'T LIKE YOU'RE BOARD. GOOD GRIEF NOW YOU ARE HOOTIN AND HOLLERIN THAT WE HAVE A GOOD BOARD. WHY COULD'NT YOU HAVE BEEN A POSITIVE THINKER IN THE BEGINNING?
    K

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  28. kathryn,

    i can see why you would say that.

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  29. i rode by the arenas on thurs., they all looked nicely groomed. also looked like some weeds had been wacked down. how neat that we have this lifestyle. i rode with a GF who had not been up here before. she was quite impressed.

    happy riding to all.

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  30. does anyone know? does the vinyl fencing last longer than wood? it would seem that the vinyl does not need repainting and will not rot. is the vinyl more expensive than wood? we are getting ready to replace our fence and i am curious. our horses do not hang out where vinyl would be a problem. i guess if you have a chewer wood is not a great fence either. horses!

    hope everyone has been enjoying this perfect weather. i have been riding the trails all around. i see we have a couple of bulls in the neighborhood. they sure are messy.

    let me know if anyone has some input on the fence question. THANKS!

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  31. hello fellow HO's. not sure how many people read this blog but thought i would post anyway.

    tomorrow night at 7 PM is our monthly BOD meeting. let's support our board. laura, tom, tammy, pat and paulette give their time for US. if you have a concern or some solution you can bring to the concerns, bring em to the meeting. the nights are staying warmer (so we won;t freeze)making sitting under the stars a bit more enjoyable. i see some good "stuff" going on with our new board. let's support them.
    i LOVE gavilan hills ( not the heat tho).

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