This is an "unofficial" quick summary of the Sept 9th BHHOA Meeting. The detailed meeting minutes will be published later this month.
TRUSTEE VOTE
We received a majority vote in favor of making BHHOA the Trustee. 75 YES votes and 9 NO. With BHHOA as the trustee, the homeowners will have the authority to make decisions through the existing BHHOA Board of Directors, Officers and Trust Advisory Board.
In the near term, Mauch Chunk Trust Co - will continue to hold our funds and Appletree will continue to be our property services provider.
Longer Term - there is no intention to have officers, board or volunteers do all the work of the former trustee. (like collecting funds, paying bills, keeping track of homeowners insurance etc.)
The officers and board will be meeting soon to discuss using Mauch Chunk Trust Co as our administrative services provider (collect fees, pay bills, etc), possibly hiring a property Manager, retaining Appletree for property services, and Jim Nanovic as our legal counsel. Others may be considered as well.
EXTERIOR REPAIRS and STAINING PROJECT
Quickly.....
We voted to have Mike Delancy's company do repairs, siding refurbishment and staining to Units 7,8,9,10 in the near future. (next few weeks) This will serve as our "test" set. Each homeowner (unit 7,8,9,10) will be given an estimate for their siding repair and be responsible to pay Mike Delancy directly. They can individually work with Mike if there are other special repair needs at the same time. The homeowners reserve will not pay for the REPAIR. The homeowners association reserve fund will pay for the finish refurbishment and staining of the 4 units, as well as all the other units in Blue Heron over time.
Next....
Mike Delancy's company has been chosen (after reviewing his experience, interest in doing the work, and competitive price) to do the siding REPAIRS on all the units that elected to use a trustee selected contractor. (He gave a high spot estimate of $900 to $1600 per unit for REPAIRS only) He will then inspect and estimate EACH unit to see if they will perhaps cost less to do the repairs. His work must meet the spec that we defined earlier. If there is undiscovered damage under siding, carpenter ants etc. the cost will be more. This work will be paid for by each individual homeowner and must be complete before siding finish work can be done. Realistically...we are hoping that Mike can perhaps complete over half the repairs before winter weather...and finish next spring. All homes (the homes Mike is doing, as well as the homeowners who do the work themselves or using another contractor) will be inspected by an independent inspector and "OK'd" before siding finish work can be started.
Next...
We will bid out the finish refurbishmennt and staining work. Estimates so far have ranged $600,000 plus for all 126 homes. (about $5,000/home) We only have $425,000 in our reserve fund....so we will likely have to spread this over 2 or more years. Concern was expressed that we should try to avoid spreading it over 4 years, as was earlier suggested and consider maybe 2 years. (perhaps the next two summers) Mike Delancy informed us that IF his crews can do REPAIR, Siding Refurbishment and Staining in each GROUP of units (units attached together) at the same time - there would be lower labor cost of moving ladders and crews around. We will discuss this option.
APPLETREE
Homeowners were generally pleased by the responsiveness of Appletree in some general grounds maintenance over the last month.
The Lake Club has also been improved this season.
The trash removal company will be contacted to remind them to completely empty cans (they have been leaving things in the bottom, which smell over time) IDEALLY, we want everyone to bag their trash before putting it into the cans.
They will also look into putting hasps onto the trash can lids again. (not LOCKS, just something to make it a little more difficult for bears and other animals to get into.)
SNOW SHOVELING PROGRAM FOR UPPER DECKS
If an individual homeowner wants to be put on Appletree's regular program to shovel their upper deck whenever the snow is over 12 inches...YOU must let Appletree know. The cost is $30 per occurance and will only be done at 12 inches or more. Contact Appletree at
570-842-0321 and ask for Megan.
BEARS FILLING UP FOR WINTER
There have been 3 to 4 bears spotted walking through Blue Heron and dumping trash cans over between 7pm and early am many days. Do NOT feed the bears and do not approach them. They are NOT tame like the deer. Usually they will stay away from humans as long as you don't surprise them. If the guard is made aware of it, they may drive around the courts with headlights on at night to chase them away. Just an FYI in case you see a vehicle driving around your court in the middle of the night.
Other neighborhoods are using hasps on their trash cans, which makes it slightly more difficult for bears to get food. If they find it easier to get food in Blue Heron....more will come around...this year and next. Humans can create a bear problem by making food accessible. Do NOT feed them.
FALL FEST
Reserve Saturday afternoon October 13th. We are now planning to have the picnic at Mountain's Edge lower level and patio. At this point, we do not believe we will be able to go to the top of Big Boulder via the chair lift, but we are still trying to work that out.
Official minutes will be out in a few weeks....
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