Villas @ Hunton Park COA Newsletter OCTOBER 12, 2016 VOLUME 3 Board of Directors Andrew Klein President 2015 2016 Brent Trefsgar Vice President 2013-2016 Leslee White Secretary 2015-2018 Tom Schwartz Treasurer 2016 Michelle Williams Director 2015-2017 VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR ALL YOUR COMMUNITY NEEDS villasathuntonpark.com Highlights from the October 2016 Board Meeting Board of Directors On Monday, October 3, 2016, there was a regular Board meeting. It was held at the Community Partners offices so we could easily view a projected budget spreadsheet and work on the 2017 Villas community budget. A variety of topics were discussed and decisions made and actions taken. All are presented below. As always, if you have any questions or concerns contact your Board. (hpvillas@gmail.com or correspond directly with Andy Klein at alklein65@gmail.com. There is the annual community meeting on November 14 th at the Glen Allen Library. The meeting will start at 6 PM. Please mark this on your calendar. Reminders: Trash pickup is every Thursday morning, but on Wednesday for the week of Christmas. 1
Community Services Many community services depend on volunteers. To ensure timely, thoughtful, quality service, we are in need of volunteers. Several of these jobs require minimal time, but they do require some attention. Recently Andrew Kuhle has agreed to represent the Villas at the Boulevard committee which oversees the maintenance of the Hunton Park Boulevard grounds. Thank you Andrew. He adds this to his duties overseeing the community landscape and has done a marvelous job this year. Thank him when you see him next. We are going to need volunteers for 2017. You can help in any area that would be of interest to you. This includes: Landscape and grounds Clubhouse Pool Architecture and Community Lighting and Parking Social Budget and Monthly Dues I hate to rain on anyone s parade, but the community has been running on a deficit for the last three years. There have been no dues increases since before 2012. And then the increase was $25. By careful negotiations of new contracts by various board members and close budget monitoring, we have held the line, but cannot any longer. Going into the fifth year since an increase, we must raise the monthly dues by $10. No one likes an increase, but we cannot balance the budget without it, even after making all the cut-backs we could find. Starting January 1, 2017, this additional ten dollars will be in your bill. Fire Lanes and No Parking Areas Towing will commence Repeated resident complaints and observed violations led the community to contract with Peaco towing. In the terms of the contract they are authorized to tow immediately any vehicle in a Fire Lane or parked more than 5 minutes in the 5 minute mail pickup spots. They will be through the neighborhood for this purpose. In addition, resident cars that are tagged by board members for being in visitor parking will be towed by Peaco. Owners of towed cars will be responsible for towing 2
fees, storage costs, and any damage done to the vehicle. In addition, it is a fire code violation for anyone to park in the street in the Villas. The signs are throughout the neighborhood. It is a $100-$150 fine issued by Henrico Police and your vehicle will be towed at owner s risk and expense. Bottom line, DO NOT PARK on our streets. Only in designated spots for residents (not visitors) or your driveway or your garage. After all this bad karma news, we need a party. Tom Schwartz and Colleen Hurley are collaborating to throw a football party. They did this a few weeks ago and it was great fun. Do come. See the particulars below. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL? Come join your Villas Neighbors again to enjoy another football game at the Clubhouse Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans Thursday, October 27th Doors Open 7:30pm Game Starts 8:30pm Appetizers and Soft Drinks will be Served BYOB if Desired 3
Lighting Sunset comes earlier so out streets are darker earlier. Two items for you here. First, the board has contracted for a street light check. These are the big curbside streetlights. We want to make sure they are working. For those of you who have cleaned and put new bulbs in their yard lights, thank you. It really makes for a safer neighborhood. For those who have forgotten or need a bit of help, we are making ourt Halloween party (YES, another party!) a light the night event where a board member will help you (if you need help) installing new bulbs in your yard light. For those who have not, we will have a box of bulbs and offer our assistance to you. Keep our homes and the neighbors on the streets safe. LIGHT THE NIGHT. Roofs Roof inspections are complete and the report is in. The inspections were done by an engineering firm that does not do or sell roof repairs. None of the buildings were found to be in need of urgent repair. Almost all repair items were found to be minor and not needing attention. One building was found to be in need of more work, but even that was deemed not urgent. We will address this building. The Community will continue with repairs as scheduled in the maintenance plan and make repairs as pro-actively as possible and as budgets allow. Roof repair is costly and we are setting aside reserves for scheduled repair, but annual repairs are costly as well and are a significant budget line item 4
Pool The pool is shut for the season. The community has contracted with a new provider, Signature Pool Services, LLC. to do the following: Empty the pool and remove and replace the white coating and the tile around the pool border. While this is a season ahead of schedule the wear on the pool bottom is a problem. Replace filter sand and maintain the pumps Provide pool cleaning and chemical services next season Potentially provide an extra month of the pool being open ( a month past labor day) if we can find the additional funds as the budget expenditures and savings are realized during the year. This action saves money, addresses a need, and upgrades the pool. Start day for the pool work will be October 24 th and take about 2 weeks subject to the weather. Snowplowing and Shoveling Yes, that season is close enough we needed a contract. We have a contract with Tuckahoe, as we did last year. They will plow when the board asks them to do so (when something more than 2 inches of snow is expected or on the ground). They will plow the blacktop. They will not plow the concrete curbing. They will shovel driveways and resident walkways from their driveway to their homes. Save the community money and get exercise shovel your driveway but do not hurt yourself! Tuckahoe will remove berms of snow formed by the plows in front of driveways. This is somewhat less coverage than last year but cost (well over $30,000 for one snowstorm) and damage to the concrete and sidewalks have led us to be more limited in the plowing. All this is subject to the weather and a common sense approach...we will adjust accordingly. 5
And on another note: Never, ever, use any salt or similar ice melt on the aggregate surfaces (driveways and walks). It destroys the aggregate!!! If you do so and do damage, you will have a very expensive repair bill. Other Contracts Renewed Francesca s Cleaning, Inc. is providing clubhouse cleaning. She is already and work and seems to be doing a great job. She is giving us a great price hoping some of you might like her people to clean your homes! We are enthusiastic about her work so far The gutter cleaning contract with PowerWash This, Inc., was renewed and all the homes that have the big trees in their back yard will have their gutters cleaned. Inspections found this to be needed. This expands the scope of this by about twice. House painting will continue with Creative Contracting. We have made it explicit that the entire outside walls are to be power-washed before the painting, and not just the painted areas. This was not what was said in their contract from last year. Johnson and Johnson Disposal Service will continue with trash and recycling pickup at the same rate as 2016. Adams, Jenkins, and Cheatham will continue providing audit services 6
I promise another party! Crystal Doyle is organizing a Halloween party at the clubhouse. Announcements have been sent. Check your in-box! 7