Nothing is simple at an HOA board meeting. Tuesday night’s
meeting was, at best, whacky indeed.
The board voted to “give a haircut" to oak trees in the beautification zone around the president’s property. The devil is in the details.
The RFP sent out by Town & Country was for only the
Roper Mountain entrance and included only oak trees. (There are trees on
community property that also need some attention, in particular the one that
drops sticky stuff on the pool area.) A homeowner has expressed concerns about the tree cutting in several
monthly meetings recently and took great issue with the agreed upon action to allow unsupervised work done on the trees.
Primarily, the homeowner’s objection was based on (1) not being included in the
planning and execution of the tree trimming service, (2) not being asked for
permission for the service provider to come onto her property to put mark the
trees, (3) the bad advice from Ben Harrison that now is the best time to prune
the trees (they should be dormant, perhaps October/November), (4) the total
lack of policy and process for performing work on a homeowner’s property that
is in the beautification zone, and (5) the really bad quality of work done in
the past by Harrison’s crews.
So the board decided to go ahead with the "haircuts" on the president's property but not the property of the homeowner who objected. Hmmmm. Why do the work at all? Why not wait until the trees go dormant in the coming winter? The president voiced her feelings that she wanted her trees trimmed now. It was perhaps not an intended misstep by the president but it does create an appearance that does raise an eyebrow.
The definition of and procedures for dealing with
beautification and buffer zones was one of the issues we brought in our court
case. We recognized the inadequacy and inconsistency of the HOA board to manage
these areas, even define them. The board has had the property surveyed, good,
step one. But where are the processes and procedures? It’s not only a few
homeowners at the three entrances who are directly affected by the
beautification zone issues. All of us are affected directly because of the cost
involved with dealing with these zones. It’s our HOA dues that are used to
maintain these areas.
In late 2023, early 2024, three of us homeowners tried very hard to get a landscape committee approved but were sent back to the drawing board to provide more and more written information. We were assigned a liaison, a go-between, to communicate through since we were told not to speak directly to Chris Donahue. We were told not to speak to Ben Harrison or anyone on his teams. We were told that Chris Donahue was the only one who could interact with him and if she were removed from her liaison position, Harrison would terminate his contract with the HOA. Whatever motivated the board’s actions, clearly there were and perhaps still are a suspect vendor relationship. Thus, it concerns us that he recommends tree work now, close to some really hot weather.
JUST DO IT has been the mantra of the HOA Board for many
years. “Well we’ve always done it that way.” “In the past, we did” such and
such is the board’s automatic response. And even when there are clear
restrictions in the Covenants, no worries. Just devise an interpretation, and
then just do it. Ignore legal advice. Just do it.
Just like implementing fines…just do it and figure them out
later. I heard the president and a former president say those exact words in
late 2024. They proposed and got passed (remember, we are legally challenging
the 2024 election) bylaw changes to allow fines but they refused to let us
examine any documents that would confirm that the election was conducted based
on covenants and state law.
So now they are fining for things that are not in their
jurisdiction or specified in the covenants. We are five months into 2025; that
is a lot of time to write definitions of what warrants a fine, rules for
remediating the issue, and cost.
We homeowners should demand consistency, fact-based assessments, open communication, transparency (a word that brings giggles in board meetings), long-term planning and fiduciary responsibility to meet the demands of the future. Don’t settle for less.
On a bit lighter side, the mahjong controversy addressed
today on the OF Events and Happenings FB page… why would board members not
allow Mahjong to be included in the game night activities Chris Donahue runs?
Volunteers would teach folks to play the game. The utility bill would be the
same as it is now, so where’s the cost increase? Is it an issue of control,
power, since “that’s how we’ve always done it”?
