Neighborhood News

 

The Board would like to update the Association on certain activities that are going on within the community. As many of you are aware, there has been significant discussion concerning the repainting of Phase I. While we will not revisit the circumstances behind the issue, there have been recent developments.

 

First, the Board did solicit bids from the painting contractors to repaint Phase 1 back to the original colors. We received the final bid Tuesday, August 25th. The Board also received assistance from previous board president Kirk Kirkland in re-negotiating a favorable estimate with the contractors. The lowest estimate returned by the current painting contractors was $33,600 total for Phase 1. In addition, Mr. Kirkland has submitted information on another two companies to the Board in attempts to seek out a more favorable bid, and the Board has instructed Stan to contact these contractors. One returned a bid of $32,400 and the other $15,575 (but this contractor was not using Kelly Moore paint but Sherwin Williams...an updated estimate from them using Kelly Moore paint is expected within the next day or two).

 

Second, the Board has been made aware of a petition drive initiated by some members of the Association to request that the planned vote be canceled and the Board simply repaint the Phase 1 patio/porch/balcony ceilings and soffits back to the original color (matching the siding color). While we respect and support the rights of any resident in this process, our main concern is that the petition language that we have seen does not include the critical information of the additional cost to the community to repaint Phase 1 (see above). The latest message sent out last Saturday did communicate this, but only about 50% of the community was on that email list. That means the other 50% that have not been receiving emails for the past several weeks likely have no knowledge of the issue, and the first exposure for these residents will be in the form of a petition that is omitting a number of crucial facts and is not worded in an objective matter.

 

Thus, we feel that it would have been more practical to have waited until the estimates were gathered before beginning this process. In addition, some inaccurate information was presented to homeowners that the Board was waiting to see if the petition garnered a sufficient quorum before sending out the voting ballots. To be clear, this has not been the case--the Board has been waiting on the receipt of the bids from the contractors, so that this could be communicated in the ballots prior to sending out to the Association. Finally, the bylaws and articles of incorporation are not clear on the petition process, and the Board is researching this further.

 

Third, and on an unrelated topic, the City of Austin has indicated that the next stage of water restrictions has begun on August 24th. This means watering one day per week and ½ the time period currently allowed. Watering will only be allowed from midnight to 10 a.m. Stan has taken measures to insure that we are in compliance.

 

The Board has also received the initial results of a water audit conducted by Stan. This audit was review water usage by unit (from the meter readings). The data indicates there are approximately 20+ units that may have an issue, either with a leak in the system or a bad meter to excessive watering. These units will be contacted individually by Stan to ask them to report any leaks, etc. so that they might be repaired. There have been repairs made to some units already. If you suspect a water leak in either your or a neighbors water system, please report it to Stan immediately!!! As you know, the cost of water to the Association has tripled over the past year, taking a greater bite out of the budget.

 

Sincerely,

 

Tom Keney

Gary Chetzron

Mark Dermit

 

SRC Board of Directors