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VOL. 8 |
Pugliese to replace Miles on HOA Board
Sammy Miles sent an official letter of resignation to the HOA board on Feb. 27. Joe Pugliese has agreed to fill the remainder of Sammy’s term through November of 2010.
The letter reads as follows: “Due to employment dictated travel that prevents me from regularly attending the scheduled meetings of the board, I present this letter of resignation to the Walden Townes Homeowners Association board, so that the board of directors may fill the position with a willing party who is able to serve on a regular basis. When my circumstances change, I would desire to return to the board and serve our terrific neighborhood.”
Sammy also said the neighborhood is very fortunate to have someone like Joe who is both able and most of all willing to step in to fill the position. “I will certainly look forward to a time when I can return to the serve on the board should that ever be the will of presiding members at the time,” Sammy said.
Board President Gary Moss said he is grateful to both men for their willingness to serve and for their many contributions over the years.
“Sammy contributed a great deal to the HOA during his time of service, including spearheading the selection process that led to the hiring of Bland Landscaping under a contract that yielded considerable savings to the HOA,” Gary said. “As for Joe, he is our rock. His energy, judgment and commitment to this neighborhood are invaluable and unmatched.”
Joe officially joined the board at its March 10 meeting.
Sales prices held steady in 2008
The housing crisis hit the Triangle in 2008, but not as hard as it did other parts of the country, as stable sales prices in Walden Townes show.
Of the seven townhomes sold in 2008, a 1,634 square-foot interior unit without a garage fetched the highest price at $219,000. The lowest price, tied to a foreclosure, was $162,500. The average three-bedroom unit with a garage, excluding the foreclosure, was $184,235. That price equated to an average sales price per square foot of $115 – the same as 2007.
The most dramatic change in 2008 from the year before was in the length of time it took a unit to sell. In 2007, the average length of time it took for a unit to sell in Walden Townes was 37 days. In 2008, the average unit took 57 days to sell.
Painting contract approved
The HOA board voted unanimously to hire Airless Paint NC of Raleigh to complete the second year of a three-year project to paint the 13 white-painted buildings on Shepherd’s Glade and Poet’s Glade.
A total of 18 units will be painted for $11,200, said property manager Ron Fincher, who spend considerable time soliciting various companies for the best possible bid.
The cost per unit amounts to $622, which is $153 less than the amount charged per unit when 15 units were paid last spring.
Ron said the lower price is a reflection of a sluggish economy that has resulted in increased price competition among companies hungry for work.
In November, Ron discussed at the community meeting new guidelines that the HOA would be putting in place this year in regard to the power washing and painting of fences.
Ron said board members are still tweaking final language, but the goal of the guideline is to enhance the overall appearance of the neighborhood by creating a system that keeps all fences in the neighborhood looking nice.
Pursuant to these new guidelines, the board hired Airless Paint NC to power wash the fences and concrete patios of all the units on Shepherd’s Glade that will be painted this spring and to perform this same work on those units on Shepherd’s Glade painted last year. In 2010, the power washing will be performed on the remaining units to be painted.
The cost for all this power washing work this year is $1,950.
In addition, the HOA hired Airless Paint NC to pressure wash and paint the fence facing Home Depot at the end of White Pond Court at a cost of $350.
Cash Reserves reach $100,000 mark in 2008
The HOA ended the 2008 fiscal year with total assets of $144,679, including $105,901 in long-term reserves, according to the December 2008 financial statement.
At the “unofficial” annual meeting held in November at the Apex Community Center, the HOA presented a series of charts tracing the steady progress the board has made over the past decade in reaching that threshold of savings – progress made possible by a corresponding pattern of dues increases.
Records show that associated dues were set at $82.50 when the neighborhood began in 1997 and remained unchanged through 2002.
During that five-year period from 1997 to 2002, the HOA amassed long-term reserves totaling $23,399, which amounted to an annual savings of $4,679.
As dismal as that saving rate was, it got worse over the next three years.
In 2003, long-term savings were depleted by $4,499, bringing total reserves down to $18,900.
In 2004, cash reserved bounced back with an infusion of $5,147 that brought the reserves to $24,047.
STORY CONTINUES IN NEXT COLUMN |
In 2005, reserves increased by $397, bringing the total to $24,444, despite an unprecedented $13.50 increase, voted on by the entire community, that had to be imposed just to keep up with rising operating expenses.
During this three-year period form 2003 to 2005, long-term savings increased by a total of $1,045, or less than $350 a year.
The HOA’s aggressive and consistent pattern of dues increases, which began in 2005 just to meet operating expenses, had produced steady progress in building the reserves ever since.
And in no one year was that progress more dramatic than in 2006. Thanks to additional revenues generated by a monthly dues increase of $9.50, the HOA managed to add more money to its reserves in this one year that it had in all of the previous nine years combined. Reserves began 2006 at a level of $24,444 and ended the year at $54,863. That amounted to an increase of $30,419, or 124 percent.
That pattern of savings continued in 2007 and 2008, with $27,317 added to reserves in 2007 and $23,721 in 2008, which is how the HOA was able to reach the $100,000 mark in total savings by the end of December.
Should the HOA have raised dues as much as it has the past five years to produce a savings rate this high? That question is debatable. What is not in dispute is that it would not have been responsible to allow the pattern of non-saving to continue.
In the first eight years of Walden Townes’ existence (1997 to 2004), dues increased a total of $7.50, which averages out to less than a buck a year. The result: Reserves that stood below $25,000.
Since 2005, monthly dues increased a total of $51 up to the current rate of $141, which averages out to a little more than $10 a year. The result: Reserves that now surpass $100,000. This year, with monthly dues of $141, the HOA expects to add another $30,000 to long-term reserves.
The HOA will present its budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Jan. 1, at its annual meeting in November.
Cash reserves invested conservatively
The HOA has taken a careful approach in seeking the best rate of return on all its cash accounts.
On March 10, the HOA voted to invest $25,000 in its checking account with North State Bank into a 5-month CD with North State at an annual percentage rate of 2.25 percent.
The board has $75,000 in another CD with North State with a 4.07 interest rate that will expire in November and $18,670 in a CD at 2.5 percent that expires in June.
Another $12,111 is invested in a FDIC-insured money market with Nationwide that is currently offering an interest rate of 2.39 percent.
Total assets for the HOA on Feb. 28 stood at $153,374.
Annual insurance costs continue to fall
Tracy Whitlet, the HOA’s account representative with Nationwide, has reported that Walden Towne’s annual premium for its liability coverage in 2009 will be $31,782, or $72 less than the HOA paid for coverage in 2008.
Despite the lower cost, the policy included the automatic 6 percent increase in coverage to cover inflation, she said.
The cost of the annual insurance contract has dropped for the third consecutive year – from $38,908 in 2006 to $34,398 in 2007 to $31,854 in 2008 to $31,782 this year.
Towne Crier to appear less often
The HOA revived the newsletter in December of 2007 as a means of keeping residents informed of board decisions.
Based on the modest amount of official news there is to report, and the equally low interest in reading it, the publication schedule will be scaled back to four times a year.
“I know that the activities of the HOA board do not make for exciting reading for anybody,” Board President Gary Moss said. “On the other hand, the newsletter contains information that applies to everybody here that they cannot get anywhere else. For this reason alone I believe it is worthwhile continuing.”
Gary said the newsletter would continue to focus on how money is being spent and saved.
“At a time when Wall Street firms and banks are failing and the mismanagement of people’s money it always on the news, we hope residents find this information in some ways reassuring,” he said.
Gary said the consistent message that the HOA has tried to convey is that the HOA is meeting its fiduciary responsibilities to spend money wisely now and to build reserves for the future.
Gary added that the website, which has existed now since December of 2006, is an important tool to establish an institutional memory for the HOA.
“When I came on the board in July of 2006, I had no idea about any of the decisions that had gone on before,” Gary said. “Future board members will be able to browse these archives of board minutes as well as past issues of The Towne Crier in order to bring themselves up to speed on recurring issues.”
The Towne Crier is also available at http://waldentownes.org/ Board minutes through the March 2009 meeting can also be viewed here. |
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VOL. 7
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Cash reserves invested in new CDs, online money market
As of August, the HOA had just over $105,000 in long-term reserves. This money had previously been invested in high-yield CDs at North State Bank. After they matured this summer, thee money was transferred to a money market at North State Bank earning 1.76 percent interest. With the assistance of Sheri Fincher, the board reinvested most of that money in new CDs with North State at attracted rates compared with what is currently available elsewhere.
An amount of $18,348 was put in a five-month CD at a rate of 3.73 percent, while $75,000 went into a 13-month CD at a rate of 4.07 percent. Additionally, the board has opened an on-line money market with Nationwide Bank for remaining reserves at a variable rate of 3.5 percent. As with North State, the money is FDIC-insured up to $100,000. The money market comes with free monthly checks (up to a limit), which makes it an excellent place to park money for whatever emergencies that may arise.
The key advantage to opening the Nationwide account is having a money market we can use to park money from matured CDs that carried an interest rate nearly double what was available at North State Bank.
Given the rough patch banks have been going through, you should know that Nationwide earned a five-star rating and North State earned a four-star rating from BauerFinancial and that anything above three stars is considered excellent.
Beautification projects completed this summer
With guidance from the Beautification Committee, Bland Landscaping completed an extensive redo of the front entrances this summer by ripping out overgrown or dead bushes and replacing them with shrubs and flowers that have added that splash of color that everyone agreed was sorely needed.
However, some residents have expressed disappointment in the ground cover that was planted in the entrance islands that to date have failed to cover much. Block captain Linda Fleming has volunteered to join the Beautification Committee to consider ways how the entrances could be improved even more.
In addition, Joe Pugliese spearheaded a project to install a new irrigation line along the sidewalk between the two front entrances to replace the old line located in the tree line by the sidewalk that became blocked with tree roots. By installing the new line away from the trees, Joe said, this same problem should not occur. And with the sprinkler system restored to this area, the entire area should start looking better. Joe has also stayed busy identifying concrete repair work that needs done and that work is also under way. |
Barbara Allen appointed to serve as board secretary
The board appointed newly elected board member Barbara Allen to serve as board secretary. The primary duty of the secretary is to take board minutes and to prepare them for posting on our website. She replaces Gary Moss, who had been serving as both president and secretary the past year.
Barb has also agreed to serve as the board’s liaison to the Beautification Committee as it looks to make improvements throughout the community. Barb also attended the Walden Creek Homeowners Association meeting on Sept. 17 and brought up the issue of reserving time at the community pool for adult use.
Annual meeting set for Nov. 1 at Apex Community Center
As many of you already know, the board has decided to move its annual meeting from June to November so that the budget is developed and the board members elected closer to the start of the HOA’s fiscal year that starts on Jan. 1.
At the top of the agenda will be a strategic look at cash reserves, including a review of annual savings since 2002 and a look forward at projected amounts that will be needed to reach a target of $250,000 within the next five years. If the board can sustain a long-term savings rate of $30,000 a year, that goal will be within reach.
Barbara will also hold a workshop with block captains and volunteers to begin organizing a spring picnic. The meeting will run from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Look for official notification in the mail in the next couple of weeks. |
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VOL. 6
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Message from Board President Gary Moss
I have a confession to make: When I first joined this board in summer of 2006, I did not know what I was doing, or more precisely, I had no firm concept of how the relationship between board members, the management company and residents was supposed to work.
As I shared at our annual meeting on June 14, I think I’ve figured out the basic fundamentals as I enter my third and final year on the board.
First and foremost, I have learned that we as a board represent the collective interests of homeowners in Walden Townes, but we don’t work directly for any one of you. It is not my job to solve any one of your individual problems. We pay our property manager, Ron Fincher, to do that and he is very good at responding in a timely, courteous and cost-effective manner. Ron and his company manage more than 20 residential properties in the area and there are few problems that come up that he hasn’t run into before. He is the professional. That is why, over the course of the year, he fields more complaints about us than we receive about him.
The overarching charge of this board is to make decisions that protect and enhance the value of our homes both now and in the future. People can and will disagree about any one of those decisions, but there should never be any doubt that this single objective is behind everything we do.
One way we meet that charge is by making sure every penny we take out of your pocket is spent as judiciously as if some of those pennies came out of our own pockets, which as a matter of fact, they do. That strong commitment was in evidence this spring when we switched to a new landscaping company to get better services at a better price. The hiring of Bland Landscaping Co., we know, will yield thousands of dollars of savings in 2008 and 2009, and perhaps more in the years beyond.
We also must make sure that enough pennies are collected to build the capital reserves necessary to pay for the high-dollar repairs that we will inevitably face in the future. Since the HOA sprang into existence in November of 1996, it has amassed not quite $100,000 in long-term capital reserves, a savings record that averages out to less than $10,000 a year. The average would be even more dismal if not for the aggressive push in recent years to bolster reserves at a rate of $20,000 a year. In 2009, largely because of higher dues and the cost savings cited above, the board will be able to earmark $30,000 for capital reserves.
At the very least, a townhouse development of our size and age should have at least $200,000 in capital reserves, which means we are still only halfway to that base target.
The board, however, cannot pursue this fiduciary objective without monitoring our monthly dues to ensure they remain in line with the dues charged by comparable developments. Board Treasurer Sammy Miles, in a comparison chart he presented at the annual meeting, showed that our dues, even after the 7.6 percent increase goes into effect in January of 2009, will remain “in the ballpark” with others. |
An additional responsibility, which I have made into my own personal mission, is to share information about board decisions with all of you. In the past two years, we have added a website, a community bulletin board, and resurrected a newsletter, The Towne Crier, to achieve that goal. I don’t know how many of you actually read what is presented, but what is most important to me is that the information is there for those people who do want it. If you don’t know what it is going on, it is now your choice, not ours.
I started this communication effort with the hope that providing more information might also generate more interest, which in turn might lead to greater involvement by some of you. I have come to see this theory as wishful thinking. Even so, I am grateful to the handful of you who stepped forward in the past year to serve as block captains and fill the role as a liaison between the board and your neighbors when issues arise. I reserve special thanks to Barbara Allen, a block captain on Shepherd’s Glade who all of you elected last month to serve a three-year term on the board. Barb was among the first, if not the first person to move to Walden Townes more than a decade ago and I am confident that the board will benefit from her extensive familiarity with our community and its history.
Please treat her well.
Too often, serving on the board can turn into such an unpleasant chore that once people leave the board, they leave for good.
Too often, we are seen as the enemy and become an easy target for your complaints. But we are not your enemy. We are the neighbors who stepped forward to take a job none of the rest of you wanted, a job that comes with no pay and little appreciation.
I made a point earlier of our need to bolster our cash reserves, but what we lack most of all is a core group of committed leaders, people who can be counted on to rotate on and off the board, and to stay active and engaged in some useful way after their terms end.
Our shining example of that kind of leader is Joe Pugliese. Since leaving the board last year, Joe has continued to lead all the board’s standing committees and was instrumental in securing the contractor who will finish painting all of Phase I by summer of 2010. More recently, Joe was up in the middle of the night numerous times to make sure our sprinkler system was running as it should. There is, of course, only one Joe, and we are lucky to have someone who by doing so much permits the rest of us to do so little.
Then again, it is your right to do nothing. The dues you pay buy you that right. I also readily acknowledge some among you could do this job better than I. If you are one of those people, my challenge to you is: Why don’t you give it a try? Step forward and help us.
I know, of course, not all of you can or will choose to become board members, but I would hope more of you might at least begin thinking as a board member must, bound as we are to considering the broader interests all of us share beyond our own front yards. |
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VOL. 5
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Sprinkler system in need of repair
Units from 2000 White Pond Court to 2059 White Pond Court have not been irrigated this past week because of a malfunctioning controller that will be replaced as soon as possible. White boards were posted on Sunday to alert homeowners to water their lawns based on the schedule set forth by the town of Apex. Please check the community bulletin board and the website for updates.
Joe Pugliese, chair of the Maintenance Committee identified the problem in mid-May and arranged for Bland Landscaping to install a new controller for $800 and the HOA board authorized the purchase of the new controller the first week of June.
Residents in all of Phase II are advised to monitor the situation closely and to water their lawn at their discretion if they suspect their grass is not being irrigated. Phase I, which is irrigated by city water, is not affected.
Painting for first section of Phase I completed
Fifteen units on the west end of Shepherd’s Glade have been painted. The work was done in accordance to a decision by the HOA board in fall 2007 to paint all of Phase I over a three-year period. Joe Pugliese will review the schedule for completion for other sections of Phase I at the annual meeting.
The painting is being done by Painting Your World, the same company that painted the shutters in 2007. The company painted 15 homes for $11,625 and washed and sealed two decks along Poet’s Glade for $550. |
Annual board meeting to be held June 14
The HOA board wants to encourage all residents to attend the annual meeting from 9 a.m. to noon on June 14 (a Saturday) at the Apex Chamber of Commerce (the old train depot) at 220 North Salem Street.
There is a lot to talk about in two hours, from a review of the 2009 budget and the 7.6 rate increase that will support it to the abundant opportunities for people to continue to get involved in the way some already have. Perhaps the most exciting news is the plan that has been approved to completely revamp the front entrances, which have been aptly described as our neighborhood’s front doors.
Sign-up sheets will be passed around doing the meeting for various work details, including a work detail for next Saturday (June 21) to replace all the rusting metal mailboxes in Phase II.
Cold drinks, from ice tea to soda to bottled water, will be served outside after the meeting officially ends so that people can ask informal questions and make suggestions to help the HOA board make 2009 as productive as the past year has been. There is even a rumor going around that somebody will be baking cookies. |
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VOL. 4
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More than 70 people turn out for pig pickin’
If only the weather had cooperated as much as the pig, Walden Townes’ 1st Annual Pig Pickin’ would have been an even more splendid affair than it proved to be. But even the rain held off long enough for everybody to get their fill of good conversation and food.
Longtime residents on Shepherd’s Glade used to hold get-togethers like this on their street, but stopped once more streets were added and the neighborhood got so big. Of course, it is this added size that may make these big get-togethers all the more necessary. Without them, there is little chance to get to know and make friends with people from the neighborhood outside your immediate vicinity. And getting to know people, it could be argued, may be the fastest way to turn any place into a neighborhood.
The picnic was the inspiration of Mary and John Reed, who spend most of the year in Manhattan but do their best to spread Mayberry-like hospitality whenever they are here. The Reeds’ enlisted the help of Lori Wilson, Gary Moss and Jay Casler, who actually knows how to roast a pig the real Southern way, i.e., the eastern North Carolina way.
John says the inspiration for the down-home shindig sprang from this passage from the website "North Carolina Pig-pickin', History and Recipes:”
"In the 19th century, barbecues were an important feature of church functions and political rallies. Members of both political parties would come to the same gathering, with the leaders of each party competing with one another to supply the largest contribution of food and drink. Folks would gather from afar to reach the appointed place in time for the speeches, band concert, and all-important barbecue. The only accompaniments to the roast pig were thick slices of good bread, cucumbers (fresh and pickled), and whiskey. The saying "going whole hog" came out of these political rallies."
Even without the whiskey or politicians, more than 70 of you turned out for the event, including a handful who showed up at the last minute. Among them were two generous souls who handed out a $20 bill for their two $6 dinners, then refused to take back any change. “Thanks for doing this,” they said, asking that their $8 go into the kitty to help pay for next year’s effort. With that kind of support, it’s likely even more of us will be going whole hog again next year.
(To watch a QuickTime movie of the event, click here.) |
Bland Landscaping hired under 20-month contract
The HOA board voted unanimously in March to approve a 20-month contract with Bland Landscaping Company. The decision follows the top recommendation of the ad hoc committee led by board members Sammy Miles and Alan Schuster.
Sammy later walked the property with company representatives and reviewed the contract line by line to address any questions either party might have.
That conversation prompted one key change: Bland agreed to revise the contract to run for 20 months (up to Dec. 31, 2009) to allow the contract to follow the association’s budget year, at a monthly rate that remains constant throughout the contract. Bland also agreed to begin crafting a proposal for a new contract for 2010 around mid-summer 2008.
Sammy will review more of the details about the contract at the annual board meeting in June. Residents should know that Sammy took the time to inspect five properties that each of the three finalists cited as examples of their work. The good news, Sammy said, is that Bland not only was the lowest bidder, but received the highest marks for performance as well. As for the all-important bottom line, the 20-month contract is for $64,888. That amounts to $3,244 a month. Under our old contract, the monthly charge was $4,066. That’s a 25 percent savings based on the OLD contract that would have increased 15 percent had it been renewed. Bland’s contract goes into effect May 1.
Annual board meeting to be held June 14
The HOA board will hold its annual meeting from 9 a.m. to noon on June 14 (a Saturday) at the Apex Chamber of Commerce (the old train depot) at 220 North Salem Street. In the next couple of weeks, all of you will be mailed an official notification along with a meeting agenda, a list of board accomplishments over the past year and a copy of the proposed 2009 budget that must be voted on and approved by all of you. Another topic of discussion will be the question of whether to move the date of the annual meeting to early November so that the election of officers and the approval of a new budget can be done closer to Jan. 1, the start of a new fiscal year. |
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VOL. 3 |
Neighborhood pig picking set for April 19
All of you received a postcard in February to hold the date for the 1st Annual Walden Townes Pig Pickin.’
Mary and John Reed, Lori Wilson, Jay Casler and Gary Moss are hosting the event. All of you will receive a copy of the flyer now posted on the community bulletin board (or click the box at right to download directly from this site).
This should be a fun way for all of us, after a long winter, to get outside and meet more of our neighbors. Family and friends from outside the neighborhood are welcome to join us. The hosts hope different people in other sections of the neighborhood might continue this event in future years in future years. The price of the dinner was set to cover expenses only.
Have questions? Contact Lori Wilson at lwilson60@nc.rr.com
Advisory group to review landscaping bids
Our property manager, Ron Fincher, has received bids from those vendors interested in providing landscaping services to Walden Townes beginning in May.
A search committee, led by board member Sammy Miles, will be meeting this Saturday to review the options and to make a recommendation to the HOA board. The committee was created as an advisory body only, which means the final decision rests with the elected board.
Residents should be aware that our current landscaping company, Fontaine Landscaping, remains a viable option. Because of a misunderstanding, “The Towne Crier” reported inaccurately in January that Fontaine was going to increase his price by 75 percent. Fontaine is actually seeking a 16 percent increase, with like increases anticipated in following years.
In his charge to the committee, Sammy offered three salient points.
First, that the grounds appearance greatly influences the way we as homeowners feel about our homes, from the entrance gate to each individual yard. Second, it significantly influences the perceived ”market value” of our homes based on positive “curb appeal.”
Sammy’s third and final point touches on that aspect of landscaping that only board members are forced to think seriously about, which is the impact the new contract will have on the HOA’s annual operating budget.
As Sammy put it, “With contract costs going up at a rate of 16 percent annually, and our homeowners’ dues limited to increases of 10 percent annually without a community vote, you can see what an interesting dilemma this poses for us.”
And then Sammy posed the question that the board will have to weigh when it decides on a new vendor: “At what point can we not afford to look good?”
The board wants to again thank Joe Pugliese, Annette Fraga and block captains Jean Johnston, Sharon Mann and Linda Fleming for agreeing to serve on the committee and to offer their insights on this important decision. |
Block captains hold goal-setting session
On Feb. 16, block captains Susan Cormier, Sharon Mann, Jean Johnston and Lee Miles met with board President Gary Moss to discuss goals for the coming year. (Block captains Linda Fleming, Barb Allen and Cynthia Chapman were either out of town or had prior commitments).
Sharon agreed to serve on the architectural review committee with Joe Pugliese.
Lee agreed to help write and supply content for a “Captain’s Corner,” a sort of “news you can use” section created by block captains that will be routinely featured in this newsletter as well as on the association website. Lee plans to write a column about what she has in mind for the “Captain’s Corner” later this spring.
Jean and Sharon agreed to make our annual meeting a slightly more festive affair by serving coffee and lemonade. They will also have sign-up sheets available for people to volunteer to become team members within their respective blocks for specific tasks. Team members could be called upon, for instance, to help deliver hard copies of “Towne Crier” to people within their blocks who want them.
Susan agreed to serve on the nominating committee with Gary and Lorraine Berry to help identify people who would be willing to serve on the board. One position will be available when Alan Schuster’s term expires in June. If you are interested, give Gary a call at 371-0311 or leave a message at gary_moss@unc.edu
Block captains agreed they should all keep informed about what the board is doing and keep connected with their neighbors so they can share with all of you what they know.
Why should you care? The biggest reason is the $131 that we all pay in monthly association dues, an expense that rivals the amount we pay in city and county property taxes. Enough people should be paying attention about how the board is spending your money for the board members to be held accountable for the quality of those decisions.
Getting more people to pay attention, much less get involved, will be no easy task. The biggest reason why many people move to a townhouse development is to escape the routine chores and headaches of being a homeowner. Most of you gladly pay dues in exchange for the freedom of not having to be bothered.
Last year, Gary said one of his goals as board president would be to convince more of you to allow yourselves to be bothered. Not often, mind you. Not needlessly, either, but when the need arises.
Gary said homeowners demonstrated what a few determined and dedicated people could accomplish last fall when they pitched in to remove pine straw in preparation for the switch to mulch as landscape bedding. That conversion will save the board (and, by extension, all of you) the $6,000 we otherwise would have spent for fresh pine straw in 2008. The board hopes to be able to postpone reapplying mulch until February 2009, at 75 percent of the amount originally applied last November.
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VOL. 2 |
Advisory search committee to be formed to help select new landscaping company
Frugal.
That word, more than any other, captures the Board of Director’s guiding philosophy in recent years.
The dictionary definition characterizes it as thriftiness and avoidance of waste, and involving very little expense. It’s a good word, we think, and a sound practice, especially when charged as we are with the responsibility of tending – and spending -- other people’s money. Your money.
Earlier this week, the owner of our current landscaping company, Fontaine Landscaping, put that practice to the test when he announced he would raise his annual fee by 75 percent when the current contract expires in April.
Needless to say, Fontaine Landscaping will not be our landscaping company next year.
As a first step in finding a replacement, the board has decided to create an ad hoc search committee that will be charged with the responsibility of interviewing representatives of companies that respond to the request for bids that our property manager, Ron Fincher, will be developing and mailing out within the next few days. Ron has also offered to make his conference room available in downtown Apex to conduct the interviews.
The committee will be led by Sammy Miles, a board member who is perhaps the most interested and knowledgeable in this area.
The committee, we should emphasize, will serve in an advisory capacity only. The board will make the final decision on which company to hire, and will consider the input and recommendations from the committee in making that decision. |
We see this situation as both an opportunity and a challenge for both the board and the community.
It is a challenge because the contract for landscaping services, which already approaches $50,000 a year, is the biggest single expense the association must meet. The quality of this work, or the lack of quality, generates the most reaction, good or bad, from all of you.
And rightly so. As soon as you step out your door, the evidence of their work, and how well it has been done, surrounds you. If we make a mistake, it will be a costly one, both in our pocketbooks and our overall satisfaction living in Walden Townes.
At the same time, it is an opportunity to find a company capable and willing of doing a good job at a fair price, and just as importantly, a price we as a community are capable and willing to pay.
Everybody wants higher quality services. Not everyone is so eager to bear the higher costs associated with them. By serving on the committee, you can help the board strike the right balance between those two legitimate but competing demands.
Annette Fraga and block captains Jean Johnston and Sharon Mann have already agreed to serve with Sammy on the committee. If you are interested in joining them, please call Board President Gary Moss at 373-0311 in the evening or 962-7125 during the day.
Cordially,
Your Walden Townes Board of Directors |
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VOL. 1 |
Mulch conversion completed
With the completion of Shepherd’s Glade on Nov. 27, all areas of the neighborhood have been changed from pine straw to mulch. For a host of factors, including (if you can believe it) rain, the project was not completed the week before Thanksgiving as scheduled. The contractor was also able to complete the entire neighborhood under the original $6,000 contract. The board wants to again thank all the people who helped with the pine straw removal over the past two months and to thank everyone for their patience.
Sammy Miles named
board treasurer
The board voted unanimously on Nov. 20 to select Sammy Miles to fill the vacant position of board treasurer. Sammy joined the board in June and has two and-a-half years remaining on his term. The treasurer’s role would be crucial if the association did not have a management company to collect dues and do all our banking and accounting for us. With that in mind, the board assigned the treasurer to perform two vital duties. The first is to monitor our quarterly reports to make sure spending by category is within budget. The second role is to work with the board president in developing a budget proposal for the upcoming year.
Nominating committee
to be formed
The board on Nov. 20 authorized the creation of a nominating committee to put in place a more open, systematic and representative process to find people to run for the board. The covenants require that the committee be chaired by a member of the board of directors and that it have at least two other members. There is no limit to the number of people who can serve on the committee and board members agreed that any block captain interested in serving on the committee should be appointed. Board President Gary Moss will serve on the committee and Lorraine Berry of 1627 Shepherd’s Glade has agreed to serve on the committee as well. The goal is to have the committee in place by early spring, well ahead of the June 30 annual meeting. |
New Nationwide contract
approved for 2008
Over the past year, former board president Joe Pugliese has completed a comprehensive review in which he compared, building by building, unit by unit, the square footages listed at the Wake County Register of Deeds with the estimated square footages calculated by Nationwide underwriters.
Through his meticulous research, Joe found more than 20 valuation discrepancies, with some buildings over-insured as much as $72,000 and others underinsured as much as $16,500. In addition, Joe walked the neighborhood to develop an inventory of exterior improvements that homeowners have made, including awnings, sunrooms and decks to ensure improvements were also covered.
Tracy Whitley, our Nationwide representative, advised the board that the most prudent approach to calculating coverage would be to cross reference the schedule of values that Nationwide developed with the schedule of values compiled by Joe and to then select the highest value for each building listed on either schedule. “This would be the best way to proceed in order to less the possibility of any building being underinsured,” Tracy said.
Even when using this approach, the total amount of insurance coverage was reduced from about $18 million to $16.5 million.
Higher insurance deductible
paid dividends in 2007
At the annual meeting in June, some residents questioned the board’s decision in November 2006 to raise the deductible from $1,000 to $2,500. The rationale behind the increase was to limit the association’s exposure to the growing number of insurance claims that can be expected as buildings age and potential risks multiply. Based on the information provided by Nationwide, raising the deductible lowered the total 2007 premium from $38,908 to $34,398, a net savings of slightly more than $4,500. |
| The Towne Crier is published on a periodic basis for the residents of Walden Townes. It will be posted on the community bulletin board as well as on this community Web site. Archives of board minutes are also available on this site: archives.html |
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