From: Sarah Pusey
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 3:59 PM
I would like to propose the meeting to be on a different day/time. The 4th of July is a holiday weekend, which is hot & humid. And, Sundays are church days for many. Most people come down early for the 4th of July anyway, so I propose Thursday, July 3rd from 5pm - 7pm? And, their needs to be an agenda - one topic at a time. Otherwise, nothing will be accomplished due to multitudes of tangents. I have attached a word document - short, simple. I know topics of discussion are missing. Please feel free to add more information.
Proposed Agenda:
Special Assessment
HOA Fees
Increases
Changing by laws to include caps and majority vote
Budget information
Property Management
Needs for all residents to receive all mailings
Address residents concerns in timely manner
Trash
United Propane Heating
HOA Board
Committees
Pool, Social
Also, for those of you NOT receving the minutes from the meetings (general and board), the meetings are mailed to me by EXCEL!! Excel handles ALL the mailings!! I have lived here since 2004 and have received everything from Excel. Many of the questions many of you have are in the minutes. Now, not all of the information is in the minutes, for example, I was in shock over the change in trash, I knew their was continued discussion, but not a complete change. And, there are a few other items that I am confused about.
I think the board needs to be in attendance as well, since they will have many of the answers to the questions, and they are also owners.
Yes, we should have a meeting. Excel and the board should be present so we can present our agenda (our concerns) and every attempt should be made to control the meeting environment. Assign a time limit to each person who has the floor, so anyone who has a question or concern, can voice it.
Yes, there should be a cap on fees.
Yes, we, the homeowners, need to be informed of all meetings.
Yes, yes, yes.....
You may want to use “Robert’s Rules” – a good way to conduct meetings!
Robert's Rules of Order Online - Parliamentary Procedure and ...
"It is recommended that each officer and serious member of an organization obtain a copy of the 176 page Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised in Brief ... www.rulesonline.com/ - 35k
Hi Everyone,
Yes, thank you for opening up the lines of communication for the residents of Fairfield to keep abreast of issues, concerns etc. We, too are concerned about the escalating HOA fees. We never owned a property where there was an HOA so this is all new to us. I understand the need to bump up reserves but the $600 special assess. seems too much too soon. I'm hoping we can all learn from one another and take advantage of the power in numbers as we approach Excel regarding our concerns. Unfortunately, my husband and I rent out our unit and are unable to attend the meeting being scheduled for July 4th weekend. I just registered on our online forum so we can remain in the loop when things are being discussed. For the record, I called Excel several months ago and gave Kelly my home email so we could receive prompt notification from Excel and have not had a problem receiving information from them. Hope to meet some of you in the future, perhaps at the fall general meeting.
Sharon and Dave Russell
A number of responses were received from the homeowners with an interest to have a Social Event/Meeting to be held on Sunday, July 6th at 12pm-3pm.
The date/time seemed to work for most of the homeowners and I apologize to those who cannot attend. The goal of the meeting is to provide an opportunity for the neighbors to meet and network with one another. We can also address issues/solutions in working together with Excel and supporting our board members for continued improvements at Fairfield at Longneck.
This invitation is extended to all homeowners and Excel Property Management and more information will follow. We would like to have the first hour from 12pm-1pm for networking/light refreshments followed by a meeting at 1-3pm to address the concerns of the homeowners and find ways to improve our community.
Hi all -
For those of us who are new(er) residents (Johannes Sayre and Alison
White in unit 9-4 - hi !) I'd like to suggest an agenda item to introduce
us to the involved parties (at least let us know their names, if they can't
be there) -
- officers - president, VP, treasurer, secretary - who are they, and
are there others ?
- board - I assume this is the 3-member 'council' defined in both the
declaration and code of regulations ? Who are the members, and when do
their terms expire (for informational purposes only...) ?
- if the board is not the 'council', then what is it, and what
document defines it ? Pardon if we missed that information.
- Excel principals - we've met some but probably don't know all the
names.
- the developer - what continued involvement do they have if any ?
- any others ?
A little context will help us understand the situation better.
Looking forward to meeting the above folks and the rest of our neighbors
Johannes
The condominium council is made up of three officer, president, treasurer,
vice president and secretary. The volunteers serving is these roles are
Fred Walker as Treasurer, Sandy Carl as Secretary and me as President. Due
to the positive response since the annual meeting from people wanting to
serve on Council we created an Advisory Committee at the last Council
meeting on 6/21. The Advisory Committee members will have an active part
in Council business except for voting. Also the Advisory Committee members
will hopefully create the subcommittees we need to address specific areas
and be nominees for future officer elections.
The officers terms are 3 years, 2 years and 1 year. The purpose of the
staggered terms it to provide for continuity on Council as people rotate
off and new people join the Council. There is a meeting October 25 and an
agenda item will be for nominations and voting in new Council members.
The terms "board" and "council" have been used interchangeably in the
communications I have read. Technically it is "council".
The developer was Anderson Homes and they have no continued involvement in
Fairfield at Long Neck.
The key contacts at Excel Property Management are:
Dave and Rick are the first point of contact. Kelly supports the
communications with Dave and Rick and Pam addresses any questions
concerning your monthly condo fee.
There are no others involved in the condo management or business at
Fairfield
Let me know if the foregoing answered your questions or if you have any
other questions.
Just a reminder of the social meeting on Sunday, July 6th from 12pm-3pm at the Fairfield Pool. An agenda is attached for review from suggestions by homeowners so we can get an chance to meet one another and work together with our board and Excel in finding solutions to some current issues. Please forward this information onto any homeowner that might not be on this email list.
Being from Philly, I have volunteered to bring pretzels ( I won't forget to bring the mustard!) and Chuck Rehill has volunteered to bring drinks. If anyone else would like to volunteer to bring a snack or drink, please contact me. Thanks for your help and have a safe and fun July 4th weekend! See you on the 6th!
Just some questions about thoughts about the meeting on Sunday. Not everyone knows about the meeting this weekend and if you want more owners there, signs need to be posted around the neighborhood. And, if that is done, the next thought is, are renters invited to also attend, if interested? Or, owners only? If you post signs in the neighborhood, all will see the signs and need to know whether the meeting is open to all.
Also, will the pool be closed for the meeting? If you have children splashing/playing in the pool, then you will not be able to hear anyone talking. And, if you are going to keep children out of the pool for the meeting, then signs need to be posted to make everyone aware.