1. The board voted to hold meetings every month beginning in September.
2. The board appointed Kimbra Patterson to replace Melissa Cosby on the board.
3. The board voted to take advantage of a new state law that allows an HOA to collect dues directly from a renter if an owner is not paying.
4. The board voted to have Vice President John McQuiston (also your humble blog author) to solicit bids for our association management service.
5. The board scheduled the next HOA meeting for September 23.
6. The board engaged owners in a lively discussion about towing.
Monthly Meetings
Feedback from homeowners present convinced the board that monthly meetings would get more people involved in community business. The plan is to meet every third Thursday of the month beginning with September's meeting.
The board has worked to try to engage owners about the issues we face. The more owners who participate, the more informed their board's decisions will be.
Remember, board members are just fellow owners who agreed to take on extra responsibility for helping the community run itself. They want their actions to reflect the will of the entire community. There are few problems the board can solve by voting on them.
New Board Member
Kimbra Patterson, a longtime homeowner who lives with her husband near the pool on Johanna Avenue, volunteered to fill the board position that opened when Melissa Cosby resigned. The board voted unanimously to appoint her to the board.
Kimbra does not officially begin her duties until the next meeting but she was the advocate for monthly meetings. She has been visible in the community for a long time. "I'm the nosiest person here," she said of her willingness to talk to people she sees when she's out walking our streets.
Deadbeat Duespayers
We have some homeowners who rent their properties, collect rent, yet fail to pay their monthly HOA dues. A new state law gives the association recourse to fix that.
As Brian Wade, our association manager from Leland Management, explained to the board: In units occupied by renters whose owners are not paying dues, the HOA now has the authority to inform the renter and the owner that rent on the property must be sent to the HOA.
The HOA collects and keeps the rent until the owner's account is current. After that, the renter continues to pay the association, which deducts the HOA fee and sends the rest to the homeowner.
With delinquent accounts in our community totaling nearly $200,000, this new law will be a powerful tool in recovering some of that money.
Property Management
Leland Management has served as our association manager for more than two years. While not necessarily having a major complaint about Leland, the HOA has been able to get either better prices or better service from all of our other vendors by opening the bidding for them. The board felt that it needed also to seek bids for managing our association.
The board did not fire Leland and it is possible that Leland will offer the best combination of price and service. The board believes it is not doing its due diligence if it doesn't check to make sure. Your humble blog author made the motion, which the board passed unanimously.
Next Meeting September 23
Though state law requires only 48 hours notice, the board wants all owners to have a voice in the running of their community. To that end, it scheduled the next meeting to help ensure that owners would get plenty of notice.
The date is September 23 at 7 p.m. The venue is not secured yet but the board will try to have the meeting in what has become its usual location at the River of Life Christian Center on Krycul Avenue.
Towing
Cars parked illegally on streets had been a persistent problem. Parking on streets in places not designated as parking spaces is against Hillsborough County code. This is not just a community rule, it's an actual law.
At the last HOA meeting, the board voted to approve having Express Towing come and take illegally parked cars.
One owner complained vociferously about the policy, calling the towers "sharks." While understanding his frustration, and that of another owner who had a car towed, board members explained that the aim of the towing was not to collect fees (the HOA gets NONE of the towing charges), but to change behavior.
People had consistently ignored warnings to park on streets until the more aggressive towing policy went into effect.
However, the board specified allowing towing between midnight at 6am Sunday through Thursday to avoid targeting guests who are here for only a few hours. That, too, is not allowed but it is the chronic offenders — who have been warned numerous times before — whose attention the board was after.
Both of those who complained said that they had been towed on a weekend. While allowed by law, this was not what the board approved and it directed Brian Wade from Leland to notify Express not to patrol our streets looking for violators on Fridays or Saturdays.
Other Business
When control of the HOA turned over from a board controlled by builder KB Home to one comprised of homeowners, owners elected five people. Four of those terms were for one year, the other for two years.
Guess what? That was a year ago. Four of the five spots on the board are coming up for election soon. Whomever got the most votes at the turnover meeting won a two-year term. We actually don't know who that is. Just know that you'll get a chance either to express confidence in the current board members or to elect new ones, probably in October.
