Thought it would be a good idea to drop a note here at midsummer and update everyone on items of interest regarding Association activity. Much of this you would pick up in the monthly Executive Board minutes that are posted here on the website, but it doesn’t hurt to put out a summary for those on the run –or better yet, maybe it will be useful in driving folks to the minutes for more detail.

Well, it seems like it has taken forever (and in many ways it has), but we’re down to our final days with the current management company. The process of termination and transition periods, contract review and negotiation, and legal review has all taken place and as of August 1, we will begin our relationship with Cedar Management Group in Charlotte.

As I’ve said in earlier posts, the management company plays a crucial role in the neighborhood: 1) They provide guidance to the Board regarding the proper and legal operation of the Association’s business, 2) maintain our bank accounts; ensuring vendors are paid on time and dues are collected and posted, 3) provide community inspections (critical to ensuring community conditions, codes, and restrictions are consistently and fairly upheld), 4) assist in obtaining service contracts (e.g. landscaping and pool maintenance), 5) serve as a contact point to the homeowner to answer questions regarding the Association and community, and 6) maintain records of all Association business. It’s very unfortunate our current service provider has failed to meet our most basic expectations in this regard.

As many of you are aware, these failures have hampered the Association’s ability to conduct business in a timely, efficient, and effective manner. Equally unacceptable, they have inhibited homeowners seeking assistance from the Association.

Making this change is important for another reason. The Association has only been under the control of the homeowners for just over a year now. It’s an important time in terms of organizational development. The foundation laid in these first few years will set the pace for what we can expect from future boards and committees. We, the homeowners, should demand and expect a healthy organization that conforms to firm, fair, and consistent standards. Without the support of an effective management company, meeting these standards will be (and has been) difficult. I’m looking forward to bringing Cedar on board and expect we will see a difference immediately.

And with that, I believe I’ve beat the poor horse to death…

You may have noticed the May 27^th adoption of the HOA’s Commercial Vehicle Policy. We’ve been talking about this for a while now, but essentially it interprets what “commercial” means. This was a point conspicuously missing from our CC&Rs. Sounds simple enough, but if six people were in a room, we would have at least five different interpretations. As such, we had to form a consensus on what commercial means so this portion of the CC&Rs could be enforced. The Board gave much consideration to the question and after research and lengthy discussions arrived at an interpretation we believed addressed the spirit of the restriction and which was the least burdensome to the community. In a nut shell, commercial vehicles are those vehicles which have a gross vehicle weight greater than 12,500 pounds. For those unsure of what that means: anything the size of an F-350 pickup or smaller is permissible –even if it has a business name on it. Step vans and box vans are considered commercial, no matter the weight rating. We will begin enforcing this section once we are settled in with Cedar.

Finally, for those of you in the newest phase, I just received word last night that 5 new street lights are slated for Morning Sun, Lacona Trace, and Wayman. It seems there was some disagreement or misunderstanding between Duke Power and the Town as to who was responsible for installing them and this added to the installation time. Somewhat of an understatement, wouldn’t you agree? In any case, we can expect them to be installed by the middle of September. I know many of you will be pleased to hear that. It is definitely dark in that area at night.

I will close here. Please keep your eyes open for mail from Cedar Management notifying you of the change and important contact information. We’ll see around the neighborhood…

~Mauro