Last week’s Board meeting was attended by fewer than five owners, so there is room for improvement there. This is despite the agenda having been posted at the pools in advance to conform with the new California law. Stratus Management was represented by both Katie and Sue Besek. For the Board, president Marilyn Dupree and vice-president Sam Goldberg were present, as were treasurer Glenn Lyons and member-at-large Marius Ardeleanu.
For those keeping track, secretary Cathy McVey just missed her third consecutive monthly Board meeting. (One actually has to go back to August of last year to find a meeting she fully attended.) According to the Association’s Bylaws (section 3.6.1 (c) on page 8), the other directors are now entitled to remove Cathy McVey as a Board member. On the other hand, they are under no obligation to do so. The Bylaws only say that the “Board may declare vacant the office of a director” in a case like this. It will be interesting to see whether the issue is raised at the next Board meeting. What may play a role is that Cathy McVey’s current term on the Board is ending this May. It is not clear at this point whether she will run for a new term.
On to the actual highlights of the meeting:
- The fiscal situation of the Association continues to improve. Treasurer Glenn Lyons asked that $50,000 be moved from the checking account into the savings account! There are still some concerns (mostly voiced by director Ardeleanu) that we are significantly behind with common area repairs and that the current reserves are thus really lower than they seem to be. Nonetheless, it is encouraging to hear that the reserves are upward of $250,000 again. The last time this was the case was in 2004.
- A welcome committee is still being considered. Owner Art Dioli has volunteered to be part of it but will need at least one other owner to sign up as well. This committee would go over the CC&Rs and Rules and Regulations with new owners, as well as other owners or residents who were violating them.
- Owner Ruxandra Ardeleanu again recommended the City of San Diego’s program to promote water preservation through a free survey. Property manager Sue Besek stated that our Association is on the wait-list for this survey. It will take place as soon as the people from the City are available.
- Owner Ezra Van Everbroeck brought up the official HOA web site options that we have posted here as well. After some discussion, he agreed to explore two or three promising options in more depth and report back at the next Board meeting.
- There are many balconies and fences around the complex in need of repair. However, different companies are disagreeing wildly about the scope of the needed repairs. An objective survey by a neutral party would be useful. Property manager Sue Besek stated an architect could do such a survey for $5,000 to $10,000. Director Marius Ardeleanu suggested getting a quote from a home inspector instead as this might save several thousand dollars. That’s what going to be done next.
- There have been a few slab leaks that were expensive for the Association to fix. Luckily, the HOA’s insurance company will be reimbursing us (after the $5,000 deductible). President Marilyn Dupree stressed rerouting the plumbing through the walls makes more long-term sense than fixing the leak in the slab. The concern is that another slab leak may occur causing additional expense.
- Owner Elsbeth Erler presented the idea of an association-wide ‘garage sale’ (to be held in the carports). Participating will cost $5 to cover the expense of advertising. The likely data for this sale will be March 28. More information should be in the next Association newsletter.
- The next landscape walkthrough will be this Thursday or next Thursday at 10am. Contact the management company to find out the correct day if you want to go along.
Posted by playmorterrace 
Posted by playmorterrace 
Posted by playmorterrace 