FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) August 2011

Transcription

1 Mystic Shores POA Board Meetings FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) August 2011 Q. Can I attend the Mystic Shores POA Board meetings? A. Yes. The Mystic Shores Property Owners Association Board holds its meetings on a regularly scheduled basis, at least 4 times per year. These meetings are open to all property owners of Mystic Shores, and attendance is encouraged. We believe the open Board meeting format provides more transparency than those that occur in many other communities. The dates and locations of each meeting are regularly published in the newsletter and on the Mystic Shores website at Q. Can the property owners participate in the POA s Board meetings? A. The Mystic Shores Board of Directors has adopted the widely accepted Robert s Rules of Order format for conducting all of its formal meetings. This format is designed to maintain order so that interruptions can be minimized and business can be conducted efficiently by the Board members. Board meetings, in accordance with the Association s By-Laws, are not designed for property owners to participate in the decision making, which is the responsibility of the Board. In effect, this is a business meeting with audience in attendance. In electing the Board, the property owners put their faith in the Board members to make decisions in the entire community s interests. Q. Is the membership allowed to provide any input to the Board at the meetings? A. Yes. The Board provides property owners an opportunity to raise issues at the end of each meeting in a structured manner and, time permitting, responds verbally, or later in writing. A standard time limit ensures that a practical number of issues can be raised by a reasonable number of property owners. Property owners are always welcome to address the Board in writing at the address indicated on the website. Mystic Shores POA Board and Committees Q. Is it true that four Directors resigned from the Board in the last year? A. Yes. Resignations were for various reasons. Two resignations were submitted without reason. One individual cited differences with the Board. One resigned based on the fact that he could no longer devote the required time to the Board, stating that it was unfair to the community and to his personal business. Q. Is it true that the Board reduced the open Board meetings from monthly to quarterly? A. This is misleading and incorrect. After the annual meeting in April 2010, the Board immediately adopted a policy of open board meetings. Its first open meeting was held on April 30, The By-laws require that the Board meet on a quarterly basis. The Board changed the schedule to monthly in the hope of encouraging better property owner participation. Monthly meetings were held in April, May and June which showed absolutely no improvement in attendance. As a result, the Board returned to the required quarterly schedule in September. The Board again attempted to improve attendance by altering the hours to an evening meeting in September. When it was apparent that this also had no effect, the Board returned to quarterly morning meetings. 1

2 Q. Is it true that almost all committee chairpersons have resigned or been replaced in the past year? A. The Board has appreciated the leadership role taken by committee chairs in these important volunteer positions. Our experience has been that committee chairs and committee members resign for various reasons. The Communications Committee chair stepped down to act as editor and allow someone else to take the chair s role. He had been the chair since the committee s inception in 2009 and is still a contributing member of the committee. The Social Committee chair resigned following a disagreement over funding authorization for approved functions. The Maintenance Committee chair offered his resignation after informing the Board he could not devote additional time to the committee. The Neighborhood Watch Committee chair advised the Board in June 2011 that he had found someone to take his place after serving for over two years. The Conservation Committee chair advised the Board in July 2011 that he was resigning after serving for over two years due to his increased travel schedule and other commitments. Q. Is it true that two ACC chairpersons have resigned or been replaced in the last year? A. Yes. This is correct. Currently, we have an acting chair and 16 committee members and the Board continues to work to improve operations of this critical committee. Q. Is it true that the community is now only conducting four social activities per year instead of about once per month? A. No. The Social Committee is entirely responsible for the social activities held within the community. The schedule evolves over the course of the year. The committee has already been responsible for a newcomer s coffee in March, the youth Easter egg hunt, a Meet the Candidates Mixer in April, and the Annual BBQ in May. The committee currently has mixers scheduled for July and September and plans for a youth Halloween event. The committee decided not to hold events during cold months such as December, January and February, as the majority of their events are held outside. Q. Is it true that the Board canceled the Christmas party last year? A. No. The Board advised the Social Committee chair in August that, due to budget constraints and feedback from many property owners, a Christmas party should be paid for primarily by the property owners attending the party. The chair then advised the Social Committee that the party was canceled. Q. I heard that the newsletter quality has suffered by evolving to mostly advertising. Is this true? A. No. The View at Mystic Shores newsletter is published 10 times a year through the dedicated efforts of a small group of volunteers comprising the Communications Committee. Under the guidance of the Chairperson and Editor, the quality of the newsletter has continually improved, while advertising offsets about $10,000 of cost to the community per year. This makes it a very cost effective resource for the dissemination of critical information and updates to the community. Enforcement of the DCCRs Q. Is the ACC biased in its enforcement of the DCCRs or is it using an interpretation that was never originally intended for this community? A. No. There is an appearance of change with respect to enforcement of the DCCRs as the new Mystic Shores Boards began enforcing rules which Bluegreen Corporation had no vested interest in supporting in the past. As Bluegreen s interest was primarily one of selling property, numerous variances to established rules were commonly granted. The interest of our community is now centered on maintaining the Association and our community based on the DCCRs as they were written, and therefore the need to grant variances is considered to be rare. The DCCRs do not actually allow a great deal of flexibility for interpretation. A variance to a hard and fast 2

3 rule (DCCR) may be granted, but these are considered exceptional cases, and must have a great deal of supporting information. There are certain areas within the Design Guidelines that allow for some interpretation. These have caused some misunderstandings over time. As a result, the Association retains an Architect for his professional opinions on these decisions and the ACC and the Board carefully weigh the impact on the immediate neighborhood as well as the overall community of any requested variance. Q. Has the Board changed the DCCRs since the turnover from Bluegreen? A. Absolutely not. The Board has not changed any DCCRs and, in fact, does not have the power to change any DCCRs. All of the DCCR amendments were made by Bluegreen, including several changes shortly before the turnover, which occurred in April Director Elections Q. How are votes cast and controlled during POA Board elections? A. Only registered and cross-checked property owners are allowed to cast a ballot either by mail or at the annual meeting. Only one vote per lot owned is allowed, and each ballot is cross-checked to validate votes. Budget, Financial Statement Related Q. Are deposits and fees required for projects other than primary houses? A. Almost all projects requiring Architectural Control Committee ( ACC ) review have a review fee associated with them in accordance with the Mystic Shores Architectural and Site Design Guidelines ( ACC Guidelines ). The ACC Guidelines should have been provided to each property owner at Mystic Shores upon purchase of their property and they are available on the Mystic Shores website. Some small projects that do not require review by the Association s professional design adviser do not require a fee or deposit. Q. What are the deposit and fee amounts for each project? A. New build home projects currently require a $300 review fee and $1,500 Clean Site Deposit. The review fee for all other projects requiring a fee is $100. You can find all this information in the ACC Guidelines, which you should have received when you purchased your property, and which are available on the Association s website. Q. What is covered by the legal fees in the budget? A. The budget number for legal fees is an estimate, based on legal fees incurred in past years. We recognize that lawyer fees are expensive. As a result, we try to minimize attorney services as much as possible, including a contingent arrangement with an attorney for collection of past due annual property owner dues. Initial notification of property owners for any violations of the Mystic Shores Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions ( DCCRs ) or the ACC Guidelines is performed by the Management Company representing the POA. Legal fees are necessary in cases where non-compliance with the DCCRs or ACC Guidelines is ongoing and/or litigation is required or threatened. We try to recover these legal fees from the violator. Legal fees also are incurred from time to time when legal advice is needed by the Board or our Management Company to handle various situations. Q. How often are the Association s financial statements audited? A. The normal practice has been for the Association s accounting firm to provide a compilation of the annual financial statements, not an audit. The annual cost of a compilation by an outside third party accounting firm, along with the preparation of the tax return, generally is less than $1,000. Audits are not required and are only performed at the direction of the Board of Directors. The 3

4 Board engaged independent accounting firms for audits of the Association s 2008 and 2010 financial statements. Q. What types of services are included in the Professional Fees? A. Professional Fees are for review of building plans for homes and other additions by a professional designer to advise the ACC with respect to compliance with the DCCRs and ACC Guidelines. The amount increases proportionally with the number of plans being submitted for review. These costs are recovered from review fees charged on plans submitted. Any fees outside the norm that do not have a designated category also are included in this number. Q. What are Grounds Improvements as listed in the budget? A. Grounds Improvements includes the same items as Grounds Maintenance, except that it records periodic or ad hoc maintenance requirements rather than scheduled contracted expenses for things such as periodic fence repair and painting, dumpster service, etc. This is usually plant replacement, color change out, mulch, etc. Q. Are grounds improvement costs paid from the reserve funds? A. No, these costs are budgeted line items and are not paid from reserve funds. Q. What are the reserve funds for? A. The reserve fund is for more significant long-term events such as major pool repair/replacement, building repair/replacement, etc. Q. Is there a separation of gated community funds, expenses and obligations from the balance of the Association s funds? A. Yes. Gated community funds and expenses are separated from the rest of the Mystic Shores funds. The gated areas have higher POA dues since they share the common areas of the Mystic Shores community as a whole and also are responsible for common areas and roads and gates beyond the gates for their community. Q. Isn t the storage area a cash flow positive facility (bringing in revenue)? How does that affect our non-profit status? A. The Board has taken action effective January 1, 2011 to make the Storage Facility revenue neutral, but self-sufficient. Even if the storage area were to generate revenue, we have been advised that our non-profit status would remain intact as long as the revenues were used only for the benefit of the facility or the POA. Architectural Control Committee Q. Are fees received for ACC plan reviews part of the Plan Review budget item? A. Yes, review fees are included in the Plan Review line item. Q. Are there different forms for approval other than homes? A. Yes, the ACC Guidelines include different forms. Q. Can we modernize by allowing for filling out online approval forms? A. Online forms have been considered and are not currently within our budget constraints. When the budget allows for website improvements, numerous capabilities will be added and made available online. Unfortunately, not all property owners have online access, and we are still required to make information available to all property owners of record in Mystic Shores. We will consider online forms as time and budget permits. 4

5 Q. I paid a review fee for a hard surface driveway as required by the covenants was that punitive? A. No. Any additional project costs the POA extra for administration, review and processing. Therefore, review fees apply for most added projects. These fees can be avoided by submitting all plans at the same time. These charges are not punitive. Q. How are ACC committee members selected? A. Volunteers are considered by existing committee members and approved by the ACC Chair, in consultation with the Board, based on background, experience, availability and their views with respect to enforcing the DCCRs and ACC Guidelines. A volunteer form can be found on the POA website. We would appreciate participation in any of the committees that require assistance. A list of these committees and their responsibilities can also be found on the POA website. Q. What type of transparency or communication to the community is there so the ACC has accountability to constituents? A. It is not practical from a timing standpoint to try to have hearings and involve everyone in the community or neighborhood for every plan approval or variance requested. Since the ACC reports directly to the Board, the Board is ultimately responsible to its constituents. Decision Making Q. Will property owner input be allowed or considered for the annual meeting? A. As previously noted, the Robert s Rules of Order format for meetings is widely used and is designed to maintain order so that interruptions can be minimized. It is important to note that Board meetings are significantly different than the annual meeting. Board meetings are business meetings held for the purpose of conducting the regular business of running the Association. These are conducted in a public forum to allow property owners to stay informed about the working and expenses of their Association. The annual meeting is primarily designed to report to the Association members (property owners) and take community feedback. Q. Why does there seem to be such concern with the enforcement of the covenants, variances granted by the ACC, and non-compliance by property owners? A. The DCCRs and ACC Guidelines need to be enforced to maintain community standards and property values. Bluegreen created 21 separate units within Mystic Shores and each unit has some variations in its restrictions. The Board and the ACC seek to enforce the applicable restrictions for each unit as uniformly as possible. Q. How are variances granted? A. Variance requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis, generally by the ACC. Some variance requests may require Board review. The DCCRs and ACC Guidelines are used in conjunction with common sense to make decisions. A guiding principle is to evaluate any impact of the requested variance on neighbors and the community before making a decision. Q. How are concerns regarding violations brought to the ACC, Board, or the Management Company? A. The Management Company regularly checks Mystic Shores for violations during its twice monthly inspections of the neighborhood. If a property owner has a concern or notices a potential violation of the DCCRs or ACC Guidelines they have a responsibility to notify the Management Company of their concerns. This can be done by calling AMS at or ing them at steve@ams-sa.com. The ACC or Board can be contacted through the POA website. Q. What happens when a violation is identified? A. The property owner is notified by mail in a letter from the Management Company identifying any violations and the actions necessary to eliminate them. This is followed up by further 5

6 notifications, and ultimately the implementation of fines until the situation is resolved. If necessary, in some cases, the Board will take legal action to enforce the DCCRs. Q. Exactly what infractions of the DCCRs is the Board concerned about? Are the DCCRs open to interpretation? A. The Board is concerned with any situation not in compliance with DCCRs and ACC Guidelines. The DCCRs are specific for most covenants, such as setbacks. There are some areas where the ACC and the Board may consider subjective factors, such as effect on adjacent lots when new home plans are submitted, in determining compliance with DCCRs. The ACC and the Board seek to enforce the DCCRs and ACC Guidelines consistently and fairly. Management Company (AMS) Q. What are the Management Company s (AMS) contracted duties? A. The Management Company s responsibilities are summarized in the May 2010 newsletter and the notice for the 2011 annual meeting, which were mailed to all property owners. The May 2010 newsletter also is available on the POA website. The Management Company also assists the Board by providing many services that Board members do not have time or expertise to perform. Board members are part-time volunteers, with families and, in some cases, still working at full or part-time jobs. Q. How do some violations get so extreme prior to being addressed? A. Our AMS manager inspects Mystic Shores every two weeks. Violations generally are addressed promptly after being noticed. Violations sometimes continue because people ignore the letters. We now have a process to impose fines for continuing violations to help this issue. Q. Why are there fees to AMS at the time of lot transfer or refinancing? A. The $100 transfer fee is paid directly to AMS and covers AMS cost of researching the property owner s account, completing any forms required by the title company, providing copies of the DCCRs to the title company, handling the transfer or refinancing, and administrative costs of setting up a new property owner account in the Association s records. The Board has been advised that this is a standard fee for homeowner and property owner associations and AMS is one of the lowest in this area. Many association management firms charge $250 or more for this service, and AMS only charges $100. Recreational Facilities Q. How are pool opening and closing dates determined? A. The Board determines when to open and close the pools each year, based on past usage and weather predictions. Information on pool opening, closing and hours can be found in the Recreational Facilities Handbook, which is available on the POA website. Q. I heard that the pool hours of operation have been reduced. Is that true? A. Absolutely not. The stated pool opening and closing dates and hours of operation have never changed. Any additional pool hours (beyond those officially stated in the annual Facilities Handbook) are at the discretion of the Board and based on weather conditions and pool utilization. The pool was not opened for spring break this year due to weather and history of prior years pool usage. Temperatures the week of spring break had actually dropped into high 40 s in the evenings water temperatures at the time were in the mid 50 s. The Board actually made special allowances this year for a Water Aerobics group to have additional access to the pool, and the Board lowered the age of individuals allowed in the pool without adult supervision to 16 years. 6

7 Q. Is it true that the hours of availability to the Nature Preserve/River Park have been reduced? A. No. There was a temporary change to evening access to the River Park due to some vandalism and the lighting of fires in the Park area after dark. The dangerous situation of fires in the park area was reported by several concerned residents who live nearby. Some vandalism to the gate occurred when non-residents attempted to bypass the code restriction on the entry gate. Q. How do I reserve the Lake Park Pavilion? A. Pavilion reservations are handled by our Management Company. Procedures and rules for the Pavilion can be found in the Recreational Facilities Handbook, which is available on the POA website. There is a usage fee to cover cost to the Association for cleanup for private events. Q. What was Bluegreen s original plan for the North Pavilion? A. Bluegreen advised in 2009 that it would not be doing any further work at any Mystic Shores facilities. To our knowledge, Bluegreen does not have any legally enforceable obligation to do any further work. Q. Why is the North Pavilion padlocked? A. The North Pavilion is padlocked due to past vandalism and fires at that Pavilion. Any Mystic Shores property owner can obtain access to use that Pavilion by contacting the Management Company. Keeping the Community Informed / Dissemination of Information Q. Is it true that the Board has restricted the release of information to the community? A. Absolutely FALSE. The Board has provided more information to property owners in the last year than has ever been readily available. All POA documents have been made available via our website. This includes the By-Laws, DCCRs, Facility guidelines, ACC Design Guidelines, Model Home rules, minutes of all meetings, all Board resolutions, and events. The Board (through the Communications Committee) instituted a secure area of our website to allow for the placement on the web of previously unavailable documents due to their sensitive or private nature. Q. Is the Board adequately involving the community in discussions for input on changes in all areas? A. That is a matter of opinion. The Board attempts to get feedback on all major issues affecting our community. We invite all property owners to attend the open Board meetings so that their opinions may be expressed, or simply contact AMS or Board members utilizing phone, or website contact information. Far too often, lack of involvement leads to complaints based on rumors and erroneous information. We would prefer that individuals simply contact the Board to get the facts or utilize the appropriate available avenues to provide feedback and keep the Board informed of community concerns. Q. Is the Board keeping the community adequately informed of issues, actions and decisions which involve the community? A. The Board believes it is doing its best to keep the community informed. The Board has adopted a policy of open Board meetings, encouraging property owners to attend and be involved. Within the last year it has provided easy access to all critical community documents via our website. For the first time, newsletters, DCCRs and other documents can easily be accessed by anyone with Internet capability. Minutes, financials and other similar sensitive documents are available to property owners only via an easy registration process. Additionally, the Board implemented a series of blast s to keep property owners informed of important issues in a timely manner, and/or to let them know where they can get further details. These blast s are only available to property owners who have signed up to receive them. Discounting individual contact with each of over 2,000 property owners, the Board believes it is using all the resources available to 7

8 Security keep property owners informed. The Board must and does rely on a certain level of personal responsibility by each property owner to stay involved, utilize the resources that are placed at their disposal, and therefore be informed. Q. Why were security patrols decreased and what is being done for security? A. The Board has been advised by active and retired law enforcement personnel that security patrols cannot prevent all burglaries or other crime. The Association currently has the same level of security patrols that have been in place for several years, with the exception of a few months following several burglaries in late More security patrols would require an increase in POA dues. A survey conducted by the Board in 2010 indicated that while many property owners were willing to pay more for increased security patrols, many other property owners did not want to incur this additional cost. The best security is neighborhood watch and the Association has an active Neighborhood Watch Committee. Property owners concerned about security are encouraged to contact their Neighborhood Watch Committee representative or join this committee. The Neighborhood Watch Committee Chair can advise who is your unit representative. Miscellaneous Q. Can I have a well on my lot? A. The ACC Guidelines require a lot to be at least five acres to have a well. There is not a state acreage requirement for a well; however, the state does require that a well be installed by a licensed well driller. A licensed well driller cannot install a well within 100 feet of a septic spray head under state licensing regulations. In Mystic Shores all lots have septic systems and all lots, except lots in Unit 2, have water available through Canyon Lake Water Service Company. Also, the board has been advised by local government officials that Comal County is likely to be part of a water conservation district within two to three years and that would probably include a five acre minimum lot size for a well. The board believes the five acre requirement is in the best interests of all property owners so that septic systems for future homes are not adversely impacted by wells on smaller adjacent lots. Q. Can a POA committee raise funds? A. Any funds raised by a POA committee belong to the POA and must be turned over to the Association s Management Company for proper accounting and use by the Association. This is important to maintain our non-profit status. For example, the Communications Committee raises funds to offset the cost of printing and mailing our newsletter and the Social Committee has raised funds to pay for Christmas decorations. These efforts have been very much appreciated by the Board. A group that wishes to raise funds for its own purposes cannot be a POA committee. Q. Why can I not put a for sale sign on my vacant lot? A. The rule prohibiting signs on vacant lots is in the DCCRs as created by Bluegreen. The Board believes that this rule continues to be in the best interests of Mystic Shores. Bluegreen sold many lots to investors who never intended to build a home in Mystic Shores. We have been advised that currently there are over 400 vacant lots for sale. Having over 400 for sale signs on vacant lots would adversely affect the appearance of our community and likely decrease our property values. Q. I have signed up for delivery of the newsletter. Why am I still receiving a hard copy via mail? A. The Communications Committee has considered electronic newsletter distribution and has concluded that newsletter advertising will be adversely affected if the newsletter is only or primarily distributed electronically. The Committee also believes that more property owners will 8

9 read a hard copy newsletter than an electronic newsletter. We must also consider the additional administrative time and expense if two distribution lists are maintained. Q. How can we get a plat or map of the complex? A. Copies of individual plats can be ordered through the Management Company. 9