Top 10 Goals for the 2018 Board
1 Establish term limits for serving as a board director
o The stipulation will be that a member can only serve on the Board of Directors for a maximum of six (6) years. This requirement must be written and incorporated into the bylaws. The limitation can be achieved by serving two each 3-year terms; three each 2-year terms; six each 1-year terms, or any combination thereof. This condition would not prevent a member from serving additional time on committees or as an Officer of the Association
2 Establish Association Officers Separate from Board Members
o In any corporation the officers are the individuals who oversee and run the day-to-day business of the corporation. It’s no different in a non-profit association. The Board’s main role is to oversee the Officers to ensure they stay in adherence to the governing directives and serve the best interest of the members. This is a check and balance that is built into a corporation or associations structure. By continuing to allow the Board to serve as both “Board and Officers of the Association”, this balance is non-existent. Only the ideas, opinions, and interests of the few on the board become what they believe are important.
3 Establish permanent virtual or teleconference meetings
o There is no reason why this shouldn’t have been done 10 years ago or why we had to wait for a pandemic to implement. Major reasons people don’t attend an HOA meeting is that they have busy lives with work or family or some just don’t care. But, for those who want to attend a meeting they usually don’t attend because they have other obligations that are far more important. This may sound overly simple. But, if you have kids, you’re not going to hire a babysitter just so you can attend an HOA meeting. Also, this will give the 27 percent of homeowners who don’t live in the area full time a means to attend meetings if they desire.
o Depending on the system used the meeting can be recorded and will become a permanent record of the HOA for members to review.
4 Continue and improve on-line voting capabilities
o In the past (2010-2017) the board has relied on the lack of interest in members voting to extend their seat on the board year after year and ensured the continuing award of a contract to a single agent (VCM).
o By its very nature, the on-line voting capability automatically establishes an outside, independent source that would oversee the entire voting process.
o Depending on what system we continue to use, the process could:
§ have the ability to conduct multiple voting activities throughout the year
§ keep track and be able to share the progress of ballots collected
§ automatically send out reminders for those who have yet to cast their vote
§ provide results for all to review the day of voting
§ permanently store results for historical records.
o Continuing with an on-line voting capability makes the voting process much easier for the members via computers, tablets, and smartphones.
o Mailed in ballots could still be allowed for those who prefer mailing
5 Establish better capability to send notices and information via email and social media
o This is crucial to providing association members with up-to-date information on a routine and consistent basis.
6 Make records more easily available to members (meeting minutes, election results, etc.)
o This entails the creation of an on-line library beyond just the HOA documents. Members are currently asking each other to find out what happened during the board’s bi-monthly meetings. It’s not disturbing that they are asking others about the meeting; it is disturbing that they need to ask other members what was discussed at these meetings. Whatever is discussed at a board or members meeting, aside from personally protected information, must be recorded and preserved as a permanent record that is made available to all members upon demand. As of April 2018 the board or its agent has yet to make available any meeting minutes to the association members.
7 Find viable ways to encourage members participation in the Association
o A more practicable process to encourage voter participation might be the option to offer a reduced quarterly assessment fee for returning a valid ballot. A careful financial study would be needed for something like this to occur. However, whatever process is decided upon must be written into the bylaws to ensure it is offered equally to all association members.
o Encouraging more participation would include finding ways to get representation from all six parcels that comprise the association
8 Reduce landscaping costs
o The highest costs to the HOA deal with landscaping. We’re projected to spend over $360,000 annually to primarily cut grass and trim bushes. Landscaping is important, but we don’t need to be spending this much on primarily vegetation while living in the desert through severe drought conditions. We can find ways to cut this back 10%-20% initially while still maintaining attractive and appeasing common areas.
9 Redraft and update by-laws through committee
o Changes to the by-laws are allowed by vote of the board alone. However, these changes should not be made “on a whim” or without careful study of the change effect. Whatever changes are made, the by-laws must be formally rewritten and filed with the county recorder’s office. The need to change the by-laws would be necessary if there is to be changes to the term limit of the directors. Any changes to the by-laws should be accomplished through committee recommendation.
10 Expand on what homeowners can do without HOA prior approval
o This policy can be expanded to include other areas, such as roof repairs or tile replacement; pouring concrete for RV gate driveways; storage building types, size, location, and colors; among others. The inclusion of other areas should be done by committee rather than by decree of the board.
o Publishing the pre-approved paint schemes was a good start. Had the last remaining board member attended the May 2017 meeting he would have heard the idea of easing the requirements of a homeowner getting prior approval to upkeep their property being mocked and ridiculed by the community manager
o The implementation wasn’t really thought out, though. There are six different developments that make up the HOA. Each development has its own housing styles and color schemes. We’re now seeing the darker Chocolate Browns, Olive Drabs, and some type of Raw or Burnt Sierra color of Parcel 8 showing up among the light Desert Browns, Tans, and Beiges/Whites of Parcels A&B and C. These darker colors look as out of place among the lighter color schemes as the “grey” house that the board complained about at the September 2017 meeting. Unfortunately, we're also seeing the Eggshell White homes with Primer Grey garage doors showing up that were from areas outside the HOA that we’re going to need to live with due to this short sighted decision.
