This is the place for active discussions about current issues in our community. Just remember to be civil and to mention possible solutions for any problem you report.
This is the place for active discussions about current issues in our community. Just remember to be civil and to mention possible solutions for any problem you report.
June 2, 2007 at 1:02 pm |
Here is a reposting of the list of questions extracted from the other thread of this blog as Marius suggested.
Marius Ardeleanu Says:
June 2nd, 2007 at 12:05 pm
George: I would like to thank you for taking the time to summarize and consolidate the various issues and questions raised so far on the blog. I think it is very useful for whomever might care to answer these questions to see them all in one place. If you don’t mind, it would be good to re-post this entry on the new “Buzz” page. This could be a very good start for a new discussion thread.
George Walsh Says:
June 1st, 2007 at 8:45 pm
20 Questions extracted from the Playmor Terrace blog:
1. Can HOA financial documents be audited by any one owner?
2. How can we have access to a full record of citations and fines issued by the HOA Board of Directors?
3. Does the board issue citations and fines in a fair, thoughtful, and judicious manner, and not as a capricious or retaliatory act?
4. Is the monthly homeowner association fee increase the result of badly managed money on the part of the HOA Board of Directors?
5. Is the HOA Board of Directors accountable for the way they manage homeowner association fees?
6. Does the HOA Board of Directors practice the diligence of obtaining at least three competitive bids before hiring a contractor?
7. Was the recent major water leak situation an example of good leadership and financial management?
8. Does the board exercise good judgment to avoid costly litigation in unwinable cases?
9. Why is the same problem treated differently? For example: One owner has their entire deck replaced while another has only one or two bad boards replaced.
10. What is being done right now does not seem to be an improvement in the patching of parking spaces, will the spaces eventually be finished and have the boundary lines repainted?
11. How does having two vehicles parked in one spot “lower home values” – when the vehicles are small (like a motorcycle and a compact car)? Can this rule be modified? How?
12. Why is it that when renting tenants are fined, are they not allowed to represent themselves before the board and must have the homeowner present?
13. Is the board accountable to the association?
14. Does the board manage our money efficiently and effectively?
15. Are the working practices largely secretive and arbitrary?
16. Is it customary for the HOA board of directors to engage legal representation when conducting board meetings?
17. Please explain why the association fees have risen from $180 per month per unit to $314 per month per unit over the past 5 years and the association assets have decreased by approximately $44,800 per year over the past 5 years.
18. Please explain the procedure for independently monitoring the HOA Board of Director elections. How can homeowners be assured that the voting is fair and unbiased?
19. During the water-outage event, did members of the board take advantage of staying in hotels, and how was it communicated to homeowners that staying in a hotel was an option?
20. Please explain the process for to reviewing and revising the association rules?
21. Has the HOA Board of Directors notified the association members of the next election meeting?
June 3, 2007 at 11:10 am |
Thank you George for re-posting here. Some of the questions may need to be slightly reformulated or put into context to capture the entire scope and intent of the inquiry. For example:
1-3. Why didn’t the board take any steps to make the association records easily accessible to homeowners, such as scanned electronic copies that could be easily shared and reviewed? Why is the board charging $5 for one set of meeting minutes (2-3 pages) when the law clearly states that only “direct copying costs” may be charged?
8. Has the board fired the legal firm on whose advice they appealed a Small Claims Court decision (against the HOA and in favor of a homeowner), just to lose again in Superior Court?
8-a. Would it be appropriate for the HOA legal firm to intervene in personal disputes among Playmor Terrace owners? Would it be ethical for the HOA legal firm to take sides in such disputes? Would the HOA lawyers be concerned if complaints were filed with the Bar Association?
9. Does the board keep adequate documentation (including photographs and technical reports) to justify why the same apparent problem is treated differently for different homeowners? In other words, is the board careful not to spend significant association funds without convincing evidence that such spending was necessary?
9-a. When it comes to maintenance and repairs, does the board give equal attention to all units on the property? Do they investigate homeowners’ concerns and respond with the same promptitude and efficiency?
11. How would two motorcycles parked side-by-side in the same parking space lower the property value? Why “standard size automobiles” are allowed by the rules of the association, but a “compact size” is not?
16. Was it appropriate for the HOA board to invite the legal counsel to come unannounced to an election meeting (i.e., not an item on the meeting agenda) and make remarks that had absolutely nothing to do with most present?
17. Can the board explain why since 2005, when A. McKibbin & Co. took over property management, the monthly dues have increased from $200 to $314 per month, with special assessments on top, and without any visible improvements (including the reserves)?
19. Did the board communicate efficiently with the residents during the water crisis in Dec 2006? Did the board contact the San Diego water authority, public health officials, or the local Red Cross chapter to find out that potable water could have been made available for free to Playmor residents as emergency humanitarian aid? (see my e-mails to the board at the time).
Also:
22. Is it true that current members of board of directors, far from being “power hungry”, have stayed for so long on the board only because no other owners wanted to step forward? If so, would current board members up for reelection be happy to step down now? There are four new owners who have volunteered to serve on the board and who have pledged to work hard and improve the affairs of the association.
June 3, 2007 at 6:56 pm |
George,
I am not a lawyer but I don’t mind reading the HOA documents and relevant articles from the California Codes. Some of your questions can be answered this way.
** 1. Can HOA financial documents be audited by any one owner?
Yes. The details are in CA Civil Code 1365.2. This article gives a long list of all the kinds of Association Records (e.g. income and expense statements, general ledges, minutes, reserve account balances) and Enhanced Association Records (e.g. invoices and receipts for all types of purchases made by the HOA) that have to be made available for inspection and copying to any requesting owner. These records have to be made available within 10 (current fiscal year) or 20 business days, at a location both parties agree on (i.e. you don’t have to go to downtown La Jolla). If you would like that that they give you copies of the documents you are requesting, they can only charge you the actual and direct cost of making such copies. Finally, if the records you are requesting exist in electronic format, you have the option of receiving them in such format.
If the HOA unreasonably withholds access you can take them to court, get your attorney’s fees back, plus a penalty of up to $500 for each written request. Small Claims Court is an option for smaller cases.
Note that this article in CA Civil Code invalidates the restrictions on inspection rights stated in Article 6 of our Bylaws.
** 2. How can we have access to a full record of citations and fines issued by the HOA Board of Directors?
The same CA Civil Code article mentioned above explicitly states that an HOA “may withhold or redact” … “records of disciplinary actions, collection activties, or payment plans of members other than the member requesting the records”. That’s a “may” not a “must”.
If you go through the older meeting minutes available on this site, you’ll notice that they never mention disciplinary actions. It’s only in the last year or so that this information (including unit location, type of violation, fine issued) has been included in the regular minutes. I find it ironic that we get this kind of detail about what our neighbors are doing, but there is no information any more about the reserves.
Still, give that you have the right to inspect the income statement etc., it should be fairly easy to determine how much money the HOA is getting each month from fines levied on owners.
An easier way to get this information would be to ask the Board. They have automatic access to all HOA documents and should be able to write up a little report pretty easily.
June 3, 2007 at 7:34 pm |
** 5. Is the HOA Board of Directors accountable for the way they manage homeowner association fees?
** 13. Is the board accountable to the association?
I think these two questions come down to the same thing, and the short answer is that it is assumed (in the governing documents and the CA Codes) that a Board is always acting in the best interest of its association. If you disagree with a Board’s actions or interpretations of the various rules and/or laws, you should replace the Board members you think are taking bad decisions.
If you are wondering about recovering HOA money from individual Board members due to mismanagement of HOA funds, then that will be very hard. You can read Article 7 of the Bylaws to see various descriptions of nonliability and indemnification for Board members current (and past). Essentially, never attribute to malice what you can attribute to ignorance or incompetence. It’s only if you can prove beyond reasonable doubt that a Board member knowingly engaged in gross misconduct that this nonliability protection becomes void. CA Corporations Code Article 5047.5 states the following examples of misconduct: “self-dealing transactions”; “conflicts of interest”; “intentional, wanton, or reckless acts, gross negligence, or an action based on fraud, oppression, or malice.”
This is why it is so important to have access to the HOA’s (fiscal) records because they are the the only place you are likely to find evidence for any misconduct.
** 11. How does having two vehicles parked in one spot “lower home values” – when the vehicles are small (like a motorcycle and a compact car)? Can this rule be modified? How?
** 20. Please explain the process for to reviewing and revising the association rules?
The relevant information can be found in Article 9 of the Bylaws and especially Article 13 of the CC&Rs. Amending regular rules in the HOA’s Governing Documents is possible, but requires approval of at least 51% of the votes (so the owners of 85 units). If you want to amend any of the fundamental aspects of the HOA (e.g. voting rights, responsibility for repairs, redefinition of unit boundaries), you will need at least 67% of the voting power to agree.
The Board is not authorized to make any changes by itself unless it is to make the Governing Documents conform with changes in applicable law. (In these cases, it still has to send out a notice to all owners to give them an opportunity to protest.) One (big!) exception appears to be the Schedule of Fines, which states how much owners can be fined for various kinds of violations.
June 3, 2007 at 8:26 pm |
** 16. Is it customary for the HOA board of directors to engage legal representation when conducting board meetings?
No, unless they are expecting an owner to bring an attorney along as well, presumably for an issue to be discussed in executive (private) session.
** 18. Please explain the procedure for independently monitoring the HOA Board of Director elections. How can homeowners be assured that the voting is fair and unbiased?
The relevant articles in CA Civil Code (1363.03 and 1363.04) were updated last year in an attempt to make the elections process clearer. Our Board sent us its interpretation of these new rules in a letter dated March 1, 2007. It describes the appointment procedures for three Inspectors of Election, as well their duties. The Inspectors are supposed to be impartial (e.g. they can’t be a Board member, a candidate for election or someone related to one of these) and they will check all the proxies and count the votes.
It hasn’t been announced who the Inspectors of Election are for our Board elections, but we can reasonably ask this question on Wednesday. The Board must have appointed them already. These Inspectors will also hold on to the ballots for a while so that if there is a challenge or a request for a recount, the ballots can easily be made available for inspection and review by any association member.
** 21. Has the HOA Board of Directors notified the association members of the next election meeting?
No, but they don’t have to. From Article 2.8 of our Bylaws: “Provided that the date, time and place of the adjourned meeting is announced at the original meeting, the adjourned meeting may be held without additional written notice.” The information for the adjourned meeting was indeed announced, so the Board is within its right not to announce the adjourned meeting.
On the other hand, we just received a letter from the HOA with information about the paving project and similar notices were posted next to the mailboxes all over the complex. It obviously wouldn’t have cost them a cent more to add a few lines about the adjourned meeting, but I have given up on making sense of this Board’s actions a long time ago.
– George, these are all the questions I feel I can say something about. Again, I am not a lawyer, but I have tried to include references to the relevant documents so you can check things yourself.
June 6, 2007 at 4:43 pm |
I can’t vote for the elections since I’m a renting tenant, but I just want to say good luck to Marius and the others on the election.
June 7, 2007 at 7:51 pm |
Be aware that a person claiming to be from “Dependable Plumbing” and working on behalf of “McKibbin“ was on the property today to change water pressure regulators. He could have been an impostor because he declined to present his business card or other ID and because there has been no prior notification from the property management. Since we had not had any water pressure problems, I asked that no repair be performed until I could verify that such repair was justified. I called Bill Howe Plumbing, Inc. for a second opinion. Bill Howe’s technician tested the regulator and found it in perfect working condition. He provided a written report stating that replacement was not necessary. There are two troublesome possibilities: (1) A sham may be going on in our neighborhood, (2) The property manager has authorized unnecessary repairs. Please let me know if your water was shut off today, sometime between 10:00 AM and 3:30 PM. Keep an eye out for any unusual activities and repairs that have not been officially announced by the property manager or by the BOD.
June 8, 2007 at 10:17 pm |
Election updates: The results of the elections have been announced. Sean DeFreitas, Community Association Manager from A. McKibbin & Co. left a voice message for me today reporting that I was elected on the board. Sam Goldberg and Glen Lyons were reelected.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who voted for me, as well as for Kimberly Doseth and Ezra Van Everbroeck. Unfortunately, Kimberly and Ezra did not make it this time, but I am told that the votes were very close (nine votes between the lowest and the highest of six candidates). Ezra had more than 30 proxies, but about half of them were invalidated because the respective owners had allegedly voted by mail for the May 16 election meeting. With those votes counted according to the owners’ most recent intent, all three of us would have won easily. There is no doubt that a majority of the voting owners supported the block of new candidates. Our stated goals have received a strong endorsement. I will work in good faith with the rest of the board to promote these goals.
As promised, I will push for increased transparency and better communications between the board and the rest of the owners. I will press the case of any interested homeowner to have free and easy access to the association financial records. By putting our heads together we will identify and eliminate sources of waste. We should find alternative venues for discussing these things because people have diverse and busy schedules and not everybody can attend HOA meetings. A website, for example, gives everyone a voice at their convenience, so owner participation in managing the association business can increase. If Kimberly and Ezra get elected next time around, we will have a brand new website, which will be the official HOA channel and will provide a lot more resources for homeowners. Until then, I would very much appreciate your comments and feedback provided on this blog.
June 27, 2007 at 8:54 am |
Someone in Playmor has it out for me; my exhaust got stolen off my motorcycle several weeks ago, and this morning I came out to find that the wiring harness for my headlights, turn signals and horn had been cut. Bleh.
June 27, 2007 at 8:03 pm |
Hi Ryan,
I am so sorry to hear. I hope someone gets to see the vandal next time. You must be spending a fortune in repairs.
I am not sure whether this would be of any help, but If you live by Via Tranquilo you can always use our spare parking lot. The number should be 160, but the bumper stopper was removed so there is no way to tell. E-mail me directly if you are interested amunoz@csusm.edu.
Best,
Alicia
June 30, 2007 at 5:03 pm |
PAVING UPDATE – The journal of a Playmor Terrace homeowner:
June 5. National Paving removes by drilling and light excavating the patches of asphalt and the numbered bumper stops marked with orange at the direction and under the supervision of Marilyn Dupree, the president of the BOD.
Note: For the next 10 days, selective owners and residents have been deprived of their numbered parking place which became by default public (unmarked) parking. The board did not provide an interim solution.
June 6-8: Power outage. As per residents’ statement: “The entire Camino Tranquillo was immersed in darkness”.
Note: According to California State Law, Government code section 4216-4216.9, prior to any excavating, drilling etc. the underground electrical wires should have been detected and traced. If the Association Management had called the SDGE 2-3 days prior to the paving job the SDG&E would have provided this service for free (This was confirmed with SDG&E by phone and in person by the SDG&E technician working on the premises on unrelated matters). Why take the chances? Please go to http://www.digalert.org and click on “California state law” for more information.
June 14: By chance, my neighbor and I joined the paving walk-thru group consisting of: Ms Dupree, Mr. William S. Budd, our community association counsel from Epsten Grinnell &Howell, and then the head contractor, his assistant, and the legal counsel from National Paving. I pointed out to Mr. Budd that he has a duty toward the association membership as individuals and should advise for the restitution of our right to have our parking spaces outside the carport marked and numbered.
June 15: Some parking spaces are marked with white paint: “RESERVED”.
June 30: Lights located on the West side of the property on Camino Tranquillo, from 7942 and up are still not working. These are 6 light poles with globe shades toward the schoolyard. Residents are concerned for their safety, because some of them have entrances on that side that are now left in the dark.
NOTE: The HOA official July newsletter mentions a paving walk-thru on June 7. I am not aware of this.
July 3, 2007 at 11:05 pm |
Consistent with my pledge to Playmor Terrace homeowners for increased transparency, I will be filing informal reports on this blog and provide updates to those interested. While I may not have the liberty to share specific issues discussed during executive sessions, I think that the HOA membership has the right to know how their interests are being represented. These reports reflect my own views of the subject matter and do not represent the position of the board or that of any other single board member. Other board members should feel free to provide their opinion and you should be able to judge and decide.
After participating in a couple of board functions, I should confess that I have no faith in the current board and don’t think anything will change until the next elections. There is no meaningful debate during meetings, no apparent dedication to get to the bottom of the problems. Homeowners who make the commendable effort to participate in HOA meetings are allowed only three minutes to talk. This is an insult.
During the executive session, as a dissident board member, I do not get much time. When I try to make the case for a reasonable solution or argue against one that’s visibly undue or predetermined, someone will make a motion to end the debate and force a vote on the issue, then the rest of the board will vote “aye” in block, and that’s the end of it. It’s really the dictatorship of the majority from what I can tell.
Board business is done with an eye on the clock. When time is up, tough luck, the board has to go home no matter how many issues may remain unresolved, half-baked, or impulsively decided.
Subsequently, the board majority may announce that a decision was reversed after the meeting – When? How? Why? Hard to tell. Legally, if three or more members of the board conduct HOA business, there should be a record of it. I have not seen such records.
The balance sheet and other financial reports from the property management seem to be accepted at face value. No backup documents (contracts, estimates, work orders, invoices, checks, etc.) are routinely examined during board meetings. No evidence is presented to support that the spending was necessary. No records are provided to indicate who approved the spending. No questions asked. Actually, I am asking lots of questions, but the answers are usually short of satisfactory.
Conflicts of interest are not uncommon. Vendors have ample opportunity to cut more business for themselves, even when this is not justified. For example, Dependable Plumbing were trying to change a pressure regulator that was in perfect working order. My wife stopped them (see her blog post above), but how many homeowners happen to be at home and intervene when something like this takes place?
There are huge administrative and legal fees in the budget – I don’t think they are justified, and the board has not made it a priority to sit down and review the association expenses in detail, as long and as often as necessary, in an effort to curtail waste and control the spending.
From now on, for every dollar taken out of the association funds, I have requested that the property management company:
Provide all back-up documents related to each transaction (contracts, estimates, work orders, invoices, checks, etc.).
Provide the details of services, repairs, materials, etc. behind each transaction (if not clear from the documents noted above).
Flag all out-of-budget or out-of-contract expenses.
Confirm that each specific expenditure was pre-approved by a majority of the board of directors, and have the approval documented in writing (i.e., no blank checks).
Before any association money is spent, the property management company should provide to the board:
Convincing proof that the expenditure is necessary (e.g., as appropriate: technical reports, written expert opinion, pictures, etc.).
Proof of diligent effort to obtain the best vendor offer (truly competitive bidding, bid negotiation, vendor references, etc.).
Evaluation of potential conflict of interest (e.g., same vendor determines the scope of work and then does the work).
Action plan to prevent abuse or misuse of funds when potential conflict of interest exists (second opinion, close oversight, spot-checking, etc.).
July 6, 2007 at 3:07 pm |
Good work, Marius. Thank you for the open blog post and for sharing your experiences with us. As someone who added her name to the 2007 ballot trying to implement change personally, the board’s mysterious actions and activities now seem to be coming to light because of you. We need more record checking, not less. We need a real balance of power on our board. Marius, thank you for your openness. And you have my support.
July 7, 2007 at 10:39 am |
Unfortunately, the property management company has turned down my request for providing appropriate accountability to the homeowners association. This is the message received from Sean DeFreitas, Community Association Manager at A. McKibbin & Co.:
Subject: RE: Playmor Terrace HOA BOD business
Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 09:26:06 -0700
From: sean@amckibbin.com
To: marius_ardeleanu@hotmail.com
Hi Marius,
Adrian and I have reviewed your emailed and management will not conduct business in this manner. Management will continue to operate under its contract until our last day of employment, which will be Friday, August 31, 2007 per our resignation letter.
Thanks
Sean DeFreitas
A. McKibbin & Co.
858-551-1885
July 9, 2007 at 10:11 am |
There wasn’t any mention of AMcKibbin’s resignation on the flyers that were posted this weekend, so I just called the office. Sean confirmed that they are resigning. I didn’t ask for any specific reasons, but I can think of several.
I know that our previous management company, Merit, also dropped us. You have to wonder where this is heading.
July 12, 2007 at 10:13 pm |
During the special HOA meeting held yesterday at the East pool, Sean DeFreits’s presentation before the homeowners came out a little distorted, not necessarily intentional, but one would understand why he would not emphasize certain aspects that placed his own performance in a questionable light. Therefore, some clarifications are in order. All points presented below are well documented:
1. In March 2007, the board hired J. DiAnna to provide ongoing pool cleaning and maintenance services. DiAnna was also awarded a $3,376 job to fix the heater at the East pool.
2. J. DiAnna reported last week that one of the two pump motors at the West pool had failed and that the second one was failing. No written assessment of the defect/damage was provided to the board.
3. No second opinion was ever sought by A. McKibbin & Co. (the property manager) although virtually all pool repair contractors offer free inspection and estimates, so this can be done quickly and easily.
4. J. DiAnna issued an estimate of $1,600 to replace both pumps and motors. No competitive bidding was sought by A. McKibbin & Co.
5. Sean DeFrietas asked board members to accept J. DiAnna’s proposal, without any independent inspection or alternate offers, on the basis that DiAnna was our current pool cleaning/maintenance contractor.
6. I told Sean that, as property manager, he would be expected to shop around for the best possible deal for homeowners and not give special treatment to any one contractor. As the pool maintenance contractor, DiAnna was not entitled to no-bid repair contracts. Sean assured me that DiAnna was actually giving us preferential pricing (i.e., better than what we could get from other contractors).
7. I wanted to check this, so I took about 5 minutes to search for other pool repair contractors in San Diego, looking in particular for those who were licensed, insured, bonded, who had been in business for at least 10 years, and who had good feedback from customers.
8. The very first contractor called gave me a better price than DiAnna for exactly the same job. He also offered to come and inspect the pumps for free and verify if the repair was indeed necessary as quoted by DiAnna.
9. I mentioned this to Sean as an example. A little more diligence (e.g. spend 20 minutes on the phone instead of 5) could have possibly lead to even better deals. I told Sean that in my view the options were (1) Negotiate the price down with DiAnna or (2) Take a couple more bids and select the best offer. Sean did neither. He called the special meeting and the board voted 3-1 to give the job to DiAnna.
The financial status of our association is very grim. Although the dues have sharply increased, the reserves continue to be severely underfunded. In June the funding of the reserves fell short by almost $7,000. We just cannot afford any more waste and need to watch every penny spent. I would certainly agree with waiving the competitive bidding policy in cases of true emergency, but this was not one. There was plenty of time to obtain second opinions and competitive offers. I do not know whose friend J. DiAnna is, but my allegiance is with the homeowners and not with any individual HOA contractors. There is a reason why, when they teach Business Ethics in school, they talk about no-bid and single-source contracts in the context of conflict of interest, fraud, and cronyism. Under most circumstances, they are just not good business.
July 16, 2007 at 10:21 pm |
funny (not) how there always seem to be maintainace or repair problems at the pools this time of year. espescially with one pool always closed (not heated)half of the year. makes me wonder about general maintanance.
July 17, 2007 at 5:34 pm |
we can still have a meeting at the pool without the board, but Marius should come.
July 17, 2007 at 7:07 pm |
Thank you Marius, what a great feeling to have someone on the board who is on the side of the people who actually own the property that make up Playmor and that represents us accordingly not the other way around. I have faith that you will serve this property well even when you need to make decisions that may not be popular, because they will be explained and transparent as you dont seem to have an “attitude”and you are very knowledgeable. You are not defensive because you are open , honest and have nothing to hide or defend against and have nothing to prove.You have shown as a board member that you dont have “an us against them mentality” as was the case before. It’s time for a change. We should all feel good and comfortable living here, even if the fees were higher. We should not feel like stangers living in our own community having “The Board and the The Management company looking over our shoulders and levying fines on us like we were serfs living on thier property. It’s time to stop the paranoia that this current board and mgt. co. have propagated in this community. The current board and mgt. co. have proven that as tough as they try to be to protect this HOA they have done the opposite as witnessed by the lawsuits they are involved in and encourage.Much more I can say but at another time , Thanks again Marius and also to you Ezra and others who have taken the time to make necessary changes ,do not give up time is on your side.I am sure you will also remember why you did this even when times get tough, because some people are just inheritantly decent and when they find themselves no longer doing good they realize it and step down.Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.Some board members need power because they have nothing else,let them rule over someone else not us.
July 21, 2007 at 12:21 am |
The regular HOA meeting scheduled for Wednesday, July 18, was cancelled because three board members, Marilyn Dupree, Sam Goldberg, and Glenn Lyons announced at the last moment that they would not be attending. On Friday, July13, board packets were distributed to all board members. At that time, the meeting was on schedule. It is worthwhile mentioning that, on Friday, I also asked Sean DeFreitas, Community Association Manger for A. McKibbin & Co. (our outgoing property management company), to provide itemization and produce invoices and receipts for certain expenses noted on the monthly financial report. My request was not received very well. Saturday, Sunday, Monday – nobody said anything; the meeting was still on. Then, late afternoon on Tuesday, all of a sudden, Sean announces that the meeting is off because of lack of quorum. This decision was so hasty that Sean did not have a chance to notify the rest of the HOA members, although, to do the least, a flier could have been posted in each carport.
I decided to do whatever I could under the circumstances: Go to Doyle at the scheduled time, greet the homeowners who showed up, explain that there was no meeting, and try to apologize for the fact that nobody bothered to tell them. Some homeowners were there because they had been invited for hearings related to various violations, so they came prepared to defend themselves, some bringing witnesses. I told them that, without a quorum, there was no meeting and that I, as the sole board member present, could not hear their cases. The board would have to decide about further action. In all fairness, I would propose to the rest of the board that their cases be duly dropped.
I also sent the note below to Sean DeFreitas to express my disapproval:
—————————————————–
From: Marius Ardeleanu
To: sean@amckibbin.com
Subject: RE: The Board Meeting
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:35:35 -0700
Thank you, Sean. I have received your voice message, as well. I understand from you that Marilyn Dupree, Sam Goldberg, and Glen Lyons are NOT available for today’s HOA meeting.
For the record, I strongly disagree with the practice of cancelling regularly scheduled HOA meetings at the last minute. The board majority should not think that they have the liberty to move meeting dates around at their will. As affirmed in the Bylaws, our HOA is based on democratic principles of governance. Democracy does not mean that 51% of people can screw up 49% of people whenever they feel like it. Let alone the fact that the current board majority does not even represent a majority of the homeowners. […] Moreover, nobody notified the rest of the HOA membership, so the board may appear inconsiderate toward the rest of the homeowners in this regard.
Marius Ardeleanu
July 23, 2007 at 5:30 pm |
july 2004 the west pool was closed for over 3 weeks for scheduled repairs not emergent re: sinks and trellis again vendor problems. so much for the board caring about closing the pools because of inconvienience to the homeowners. they couldnt care less abbout the homeowners.I still have the e-mails to prove it.
August 3, 2007 at 8:28 am |
Dear Respondents;
I have owned numerous properties, throughout the US. I have bought, sold and owned approximately 300 unique buildings. I own a unit in Playmor and I must admit that I have never experienced the name calling and underhanded communications in ANY one of my prior business dealings.
Just today I received a card that makes reference to dubious activities conducted by the prior property manager. My question is where was THIS person THEN? Why NOW all of a sudden is the genuine interest in solving a problem?
My suggestion is get off complaining and take massive action to turn this around. Do not buy into any stories or get stuck in yad yada yada…it wont make a bit of difference at all.
STOP WASTING TIME AND CAUSING MORE ILL WILL.
FIX IT.
Corey Goldstein
858-270-0251
August 4, 2007 at 8:42 am |
How would YOU fix it, Corey? Or do you think that everything is fine and dandy? By the way, I received a similar card, but mine doesn’t say anything about “dubious activities conducted by the property manager”. It only says that the property manager resigned under dubious circumstances. To me, “dubious” (as in “uncertain” or “questionable”) does not imply anything nefarious, but may indicate the fact that McKibbin probably did not provide an explanation for his resignation.
August 4, 2007 at 11:09 am |
I haven’t seen anything posted on the blog yet, so I am posting the notes I took at Wednesday’s board meeting in case anyone is interested. These are obviously not official minutes, and may well contain mistakes if I misheard stuff or wrote it down incorrectly.
It was a well attended board meeting with at least 20 owners present in addition to the entire board, as well as both Sean DeFreitas and Adrian McKibbin from the (resigning) management company. The discussion got really heated at times, especially between some members of the board and some owners who have been advocating change recently. (Full disclosure: I belong to the latter group but I am going to try to keep it objective here.)
* The minutes from the previous board meetings were approved after some discussion about what Marius Ardeleanu had said exactly at the meeting about the pool repairs. The minutes will be amended to make it clear that Marius did not suggest a particular vendor; rather he suggested that the HOA shop around a bit before accepting the bid
from the current pool maintenance company. Another amendment concerning the same issue will be that one of the reasons the board went with the one bid (in addition to dealing with a known quantity) is that this company gave the HOA an interest-free loan for a few months.
* The fiscal state of the HOA is still pretty bad: the total assets (cash and reserves) at the end of June were only $174,089. I am hoping that number will be going up with the recent increases in our dues, as well as the special assessment.
* A couple of owners are seriously overdue with their monthly dues. A lien is being put on one unit, and foreclosure is being started for another one.
* Owner Ms. Kruger questioned why the proxy she had given to me for the June election meeting was voided by the inspectors of election. She had never sent in a ballot with votes, only a note to help establish quorum. (If her three votes for me had counted, Sam and I would have tied with 42 votes each. The Bylaws don’t specify what’s to happen when there is a tie.) Chief inspector of election Ms. Mahoney offered to meet with Ms. Kruger in the presence of a second inspector of election to look at
the ballots and other election materials. If the inspectors did indeed mistakenly void her ballot, Ms. Kruger could contest the election results and new elections could potentially be needed.
* Owner Mr. Huss reported ongoing problems with people parking in places they shouldn’t. For his unit, it’s especially problematic because there is no dedicated walkway to his front door. The presence of cars and motorcycles blocking the space could make evacuating the unit in case of an emergency very difficult. The board suggested to call a towing truck every time an unauthorized car is parked in a reserved spot. In the case of a clearly abandoned car parked on the street, however, we should call the city to report its license plate and location.
* Owner Ms. Agnew asked Adrian McKibbin to explain why he is resigning. The short answer is that he feels that their efforts (600+ accomplished action items in the last 2.5 years) are not being appreciated by some of the owners, resulting in a quality of life issue for Sean DeFreitas and himself. They simply don’t want to do business in this kind of environment.
Another owner expressed her regret at the resignation of AMcKibbin & Co, stating they were the best management company for Playmor Terrace in at least 15 years. There was spontaneous applause from several other owners, but Adrian McKibbin said they would not reconsider their decision.
According to board members Cathy McVeigh and Glenn Lyons, a small group of about six owners is to blame for much (if not all) of the recent unhappiness in the community. They expressed major disgust at their actions and also blamed them for much of the legal expenses that the HOA has recently had. Finally, they promised they would mail out a letter soon to the owners identifying the culprits.
With several of these owners present, minor pandemonium broke loose. The owners pointed out both that the legal actions were usually (always?) initiated by the board, and also that the board usually (always?) lost when these cases have gone to court. I.e. it’s the board itself that is pursuing owners on shaky legal grounds.
I’m happy to discuss the specifics of our own case with anyone who is interested but this is not the place for that. I will however point out that the recent interest in the HOA’s actions (and the increased attendance at board meetings) is a direct result of our efforts to let people know about what is going on and how we feel about it. You may disagree with us but at least we are getting people involved and that’s a good thing.
* With AMcKibbin & Co on the way out, the board announced they are now interviewing several other management company. They have received at least three quotes already and will decide soon so the transfer of documents etc. to the new management company can begin. In response to an owner’s question, the board said the new management company could audit the records of AMcKibbin & Co but they are not aware of any reasons to do so.
* Adrian McKibbin then briefly discussed the recall meeting request letter that they received. It is a valid request so the HOA must respond within 30 days to set up the special meeting at which the recall can be voted on. (If they don’t respond within 30 days, the owners can organize their own meeting and vote on the recall.) Mr. McKibbin also pointed out that the request to organize new elections simultaneously is not easy to implement because the regular election procedures (e.g. notices about them, requests for nominations) still have to be adhered to. On the other hand, if you don’t hold new elections simultaneously and the recall is approved, who is going to organize the elections for the new board? He recommended that the board get advice from its legal counsel to find a reasonable solution to this dilemma.
* President Marilyn Dupree asked for volunteers to update the Rules and Regulations but didn’t have any immediate takers. Treasurer Glenn Lyons asked for volunteers to create an official HOA web site. I reported that there are several companies that provide HOA web sites for relatively little money (i.e. less than $500 a year). Owner Tal Mamo volunteered to help out with setting up such a web site. With some luck, an official alternative to this blog will become available in the near future.
* Finally, Sean DeFreitas mentioned several issues that were going to be discussed in executive session: e.g. the HOA’s attorney company wants to raise its rates a bit so the board will explore alternatives; there is apparently a proposal to start an official neighborhood watch group; there is a small claims court case involving the HOA; and several hearings concerning violations and fines. Two of these hearings were actually held in open session (per the preference of the owners involved) and in both cases a solution was quickly found and no further HOA action will be required.
August 4, 2007 at 7:38 pm |
Do I understand this correctly? There are 168 homeowners in Playmor Terrace. Six homeowners are causing all the trouble. McKibbin resigns because he does not feel his efforts are appreciated by some owners (I assume these are the same six rascals). So McKibbin is abandoning the rest of the owners – all 162 of them – despite the fact that they are highly appreciative of his efforts? Wow!
August 5, 2007 at 1:44 pm |
In regards to the paving of the parking spaces. Our uncovered parking space, that has been numbered wrong for 3 plus years, was numbered wrong again!!! I spoke with the man that was actually painting the numbers and he said he walked through with the property management and painted the numbers exactly as he was told. I can see a chalk mark indicating the number to paint on the parking space and that number is marked wrong. In walking through the complex on Saturday I counted 6-7 other spaces that were also marked wrong. To those of us who have had our parking space numbered wrong for this past 3 plus years it is very frustrating that they got it wrong again.
August 5, 2007 at 5:41 pm |
Elise –
I will ask the property manager about this. I would also encourage everyone affected by misnumbered or wrongly demarcated parking spaces to address the Board of Directors in writing and request immediate rectification. I can tell you that the subject of changing the original parking space assignment has not come up during board meetings. If anyone decided to make such changes (or to perpetuate past mistakes), this was not done through the normal process sanctioned by our Bylaws. I would myself be curious to learn how such decision was reached. If this was simply an error made by the paving company, than the board has the duty to ensure that it gets quickly corrected. The final payment to the paving company should not be issued until everything is done right.
August 6, 2007 at 10:40 am |
I would also like to elaborate on Elise comment on the paving job. It is very unfortunate that the association did not take the trouble to fix the numbering of the parking spots, however, they did take the trouble to increase the size of some selected parking spots, in detriment to the size of the neighboring parking spot or/and the walkway.
Whereas I do not really mind the changes, what I think is in question here is the procedure followed by the Board. No neighbors were informed that these types of changes were possible and what criteria there was to follow. For example, we did not get a letter saying: “Please, measure your parking spot and if it is smaller than x’ we will make it x’”. In addition, the parking spots that were expanded were not too small by current standards. Even the workers from National Paving were not happy about these changes and simply said: “Parking spot size cannot be changed arbitrarily”. This example is just further evidence of favoritism. The Board needs to keep in mind their fiduciary duty to treat all owners equally.
August 6, 2007 at 4:12 pm |
Marius,
Can you give me address for the Board of Directors so that I may send a letter regarding the miss-numbering of my parking space?
Elise
August 7, 2007 at 9:21 am |
Elise,
You can mail the board at:
Playmor Terrace HOA
c/o A. McKibbin & Co
7529 Draper Ave., Suite D
La Jolla, CA 92037
The management company is changing at the end of this month so there will be a new address for the board then.
August 7, 2007 at 8:13 pm |
Elise -
Sean responded promptly to my inquiry and stated that he would have the situation with your parking space corrected on 08/08/07.
August 8, 2007 at 11:18 am |
Alicia –
As noted previously, the subject of making any changes regarding the size or the assignment of parking spaces was not discussed by the Board of Directors. If anybody made decisions to that effect, they did not follow the normal process sanctioned by our Bylaws, which require that such issues be discussed and voted upon by the Board of Directors.
August 19, 2007 at 1:48 pm |
I congratulate any owner who has spoken up seeking change and a clearer vision of our association’s management. The McKibbin resignation can’t possibly be over six owners. McKibbin was asked to provide some standard documentation and didn’t or wouldn’t ~ instead choosing to resign. That seems odd and unusual. I believe the board recall letter that was formally sent out needs to be addressed by McKibbin in a timely fashion, and not ignored for the next management company to handle.
August 21, 2007 at 7:47 am |
What is the current status of the recall? I haven’t heard sigh nor sound of it for a few weeks now. I do think they are trying to wait us out on this and hope we “forget”. let’s please try to stay vigilant about what it is we want and where we want our community to go.
August 21, 2007 at 3:34 pm |
Hi Victor,
The board is dragging its feet. The law says they SHOULD have announced the date for the recall meeting already. Instead they mailed a letter to Daniele Pelessone (the recall organizer) saying that the transition to the new management company is preventing them from setting up the meeting. We are all supposed to wait until the transition is complete and then see what happens …
The law provides two options to deal with these cases: either the people that requested the recall meeting can organize it themselves; or they can go to superior court to have a judge organize the meeting. The latter can get expensive (more legal fees for the HOA); the former can be confusing because the board could claim the self-organized meeting is not valid and refuse to accept its results.
We’re still talking about what’s the best way forward. I think we should send an open letter to the board describing how they have failed to follow the law and notifying owners that we will organize our own recall meeting unless there is an ‘official’ one by the end of September.
December 5, 2007 at 2:58 pm |
Marius Ardeleanu,
I am having serious problems dealing (or trying to deal with) Stratus Management. Is there anything you can do as a Board Member.
This is by far the worst management company I have ever dealt with. I have three properties in two states and have been through numerous Management Companies just at Playmor Terrace alone.
I have no option and I am filing a complaint with the BBB. I do not want to present the details here, but if there is a way to touch base you can e-mail through Ezra who has my e-mail address.
Thank you,
Danette
We have a GREAT management company at Cambridge Terrace.