Townhouse association meetings

The townhouse association board met twice so far this month, Nov. 2 and 12.
Outgoing board member Henry Frank made a goodbye statement expressing his concern regarding the direction the board took this last year. He said, "we started out the year with the vote to close the pool, and yet we still have liability. We have been talking for months about the bridge in Guadalajara. I don’t think it is a matter of how much it costs, it is a matter of who pays. We are spending a lot of time before we know where we stand, it is a precedent setting decision, should go to general membership and find out what they want. We shouldn’t be looking at cost until we know what the general membership wants. We have $6 million in repairs facing us, the bridge is just the first one. We could have a reoccurrence time after time as each item comes up."
None of the other board members commented on Frank’s statement.
The finance committee made its final recommendations for the 2011 budget. Committee members suggested a special one year assessment in Arista and Magellan Courts. Arista will increase assessments by $6 a month from $66 to $72 to cover a $1,449 short fall. Magellan will increase assessments by $10 from $71 to $81 to cover a $2,400 short fall. The short falls were in lawn maintenance. According to THA general manager Glenn Zarpaylic the courts were dealt a blow by Mother Nature. Both went over budget from fungus and disease on the lawn. He added, the long hot summer took its toll. The board approved the special assessment and the proposed 2011 budget. Ballots will go out immediately and will be due back in late December regarding the special assessment.
Zarpaylic said Lawn Doctor is treating the courts with viable grass with pre-emergent, post-emergent and fertilizer. The treatments were already in the budget for Arista and Magellan. The resulting bill will not increase the special assessment. The courts have enough funds to make it through the winter.
Lawn Doctor discovered grubs in Balboa Cove lawns. Treatment will cost $1,090 plus tax to spray for grubs treatment. According to Zarpaylic there is no money in budget.
Zarpaylic is pleased with the lawn service in all the courts. He asked residents to please be patient regarding the falling leaves of autumn. He added the leaves have been picked up and right away it looks like the work was never done.
A work crew replaced 600 square feet of sidewalk in DeSoto Courts. There were also trees down in DeSoto that have bee addressed. The board discussed at length a parking problem in DeSoto on Cordero Lane. Residents have complained the parking spots are too narrow and there is a problem getting in and out of them.
Zarpaylic researched a few options to address the parking problem including angled parking. After consulting with the POA it was brought to light that if the THA made any changes it would have to address Americans with Disabilities Act and it would take away from the current parking spaces available.
According to board member Larry Siler, "we can’t afford to lose parking spaces when there are not enough parking spaces to begin with and no overflow parking."
Zarpaylic thought assigning spaces might be an option. The cost would exceed what is in the capital budget. No action was recommended at this time. Further research regarding ADA and consultation with the POA will continue.
There was another lengthy discussion concerning the repair/replacement of the Guadalajara bridge. Henry Frank stated the insurance company should be notified of the poor condition of the bridge and the insurance limits should be increased. Brent Gray said the policy had risk built in. Larry Siler volunteered to talk to the insurance agent about the bridge. Siler did not tell the insurance company how long the board has known the bridge was a danger. According to Siler, the insurance agent was appalled the bridge was not fixed immediately when the problem first came to light.
The engineering plans had to be adjusted to fix the bridge only and not the retaining walls securing it. The cost was another $500. Siler said he was against spending any more money unless it is to start fixing the bridge. Bill Turner said they did not have a choice. The engineering plan had to be altered to get bids to fix the bridge.
The board voted to pay for the bridge out of THA unrestricted funds in the common reserve and will charge the cost back to residents of Guadalajara Courts at six-percent interest. The residents of Guadalajara recently voted down a special assessment to pay for all the repairs in Guadalajara Courts. Ida Feree was the only dissenting board vote.
Board members agreed to have official statements to the press made by either the president of the board or his designee. Ida Feree was the only dissenting vote on the new policy.
John Cox was accepted as the latest member of the standards, control and capital improvement committee.
The office manager, Barbara Thurman was given collection authority and limited ability to negotiate waving of administration fees when putting together a collection payment plan for association members with assessments in arrears.
The board meets one more time this month, Nov. 30 at 8:30 a.m. at the THA administrative building.