Center Gate Estates Village VI

Please Don’t Ignore This! – Pt. II

Every email I’ve sent out is posted on the website. We’ve been discussing this since August so if you go to the site and look for this on the home page:

You can read the latest email right where it says, “Please Don’t Ignore This!”. When you scroll down to the bottom, you’ll see this:

Scroll down to the highlighted text and click on the text.

The newsletter will open and you can read the beginning of this discussion from August 27.

When you’re finished with that, you can open the letter above it the same way. Keep on reading that way until you have caught up with all the facts.

Here are a couple of facts that may not be answered this way.

• When the current roofs were installed around 2004, the average cost seemed to be about $9,000.
• We surveyed four different contractors to come up with our current numbers. With our community having different models, we averaged the cost at roughly $14,000 and to account for inflation when the actual replacement might be needed, rounded to $15,000 in my last email.
• The amendment has no cost to the community. However, unit owners who need to replace their roofs before 20 years, may bear that early cost unless all roofs need to be replaced in the same time frame.
• I reiterate, nothing in the amendment prevents future Boards from trying to obtain discounted pricing by mandating simultaneous replacement.

Please read the proxy carefully when it is mailed out. We had one at our last vote that had to be marked invalid!

Please Don’t Ignore This!

I’ll start with the quick and dirty. Please clean up after your pets. They’re doing what they should be doing outdoors. How about following their example?

Next, Lynda Canelakes has resigned as Vice President, for personal reasons. She stayed on longer than she wanted to in order to help me grasp the job. She is now a friend, and she is the best of us. Thanks, Lynda.

Next, I wish I could say that the people have spoken. That means, 22 people voted in favor, four people voted against, and 11 people did not vote. The three votes we needed to carry the motion could be amongst the 11 people who did not vote. Some have said that certain people changed their minds after I explained the full meaning of the amendment, and are encouraging me to give a fuller explanation of the consequences.

With all of this in mind, I’m going to give this my best and last shot to explain why this is such an important measure and why it should be approved, because we’re going to give it another run on November 15th at the annual budget meeting.

1. Since all our roofs will need to be replaced within the next 3 to 5 years, this amendment really only deals with conflict resolution for those who feel they don’t want to be forced to replace their roof. If your roof-mate needs a new roof next year, chances are you’re going to need one soon anyhow.
2. The only cost for this amendment would be if you or your roof-mate’s roof needed to be replaced within the next three years, slightly sooner than a typical roof needs to replacement.
3. Even if it’s you that needs a new roof next year, this amendment provides an amicable and fair solution to replacing your roof with your roof-mate.
4. Nothing in this amendment prevents future associations from trying to get the best deal from any roofing contractor to replace all the roofs at once to get the best price for everyone.
5. I heard the word “assessment” bandied about last Sunday with numbers between $1,000 and $5,000. Since a special assessment is a one-time fee, the only assessment that would cover the cost of a new roof would be $15,000. Good luck with that.
6. Home equity financing is probably an option for all of us. For those with the gift of prophecy, A) you either know that you will meet your maker within the next 3-5 years or B) you know that you won’t be living in Center Gate in the next 3-5 years.
   
   If situation A applies, a new roof is not your problem (really); it’s your heirs’ problem and a good one at that. They get a free house and all it costs them is $15,000 for a new roof. If they choose to sell the house, see situation B below.
   
   If situation B applies, you buy the new roof and increase the value of your house at the time of sale, in which case the buyer is paying for the roof.
7. Finally, for good ole’ lucky #7, if this doesn’t pass and you and your roof-mate don’t see eye to eye, you will both be hiring lawyers to resolve this in court. Guess what? There’s nothing in the Association rules that addresses this situation, so the Court will be a crap-shoot, and you will have paid the lawyers for nothing.

Hopefully, you have read all of this, and it moves you to vote in favor of the amendment.

Around November 2, you will receive in the mail from Pinnacle a copy of the amendment, the proxy/ballot received previously, and this explanation. All of this will also be on the website.

Please do not assume that it will pass without your involvement. If you want the protection of this amendment, then you must take action. Print the proxy/ballot, sign it at the bottom, and vote accordingly.  Click here for the amendment.

If you have already voted, your vote is on record.

All votes must be on the paper ballot.

If you want to change your vote, send a new ballot, & mark it new.

Additionally, we will be voting the Budget for 2020.

BUDGET BOARD/MEMBERSHIP Meeting

Friday, November 15, 2019

4:00 PM sharp, Pool Ramada

To those of you who could not/did not attend yesterday’s Membership meeting, your neighbors voted to repair the pool deck with pavers and declined to amend our Declaration of Condominium.

Thanks in particular to my fellow Boardies, who worked so hard and so diligently for months to do something good for the community. We all knew it was a thankless job, but much appreciation was also shown yesterday.

 We needed a quorum of 19 unit owners and had 26, so thank you to those of you who took the time to participate in decisions affecting your future. Thanks also to those who sent a proxy or voted in advance. I do understand that it wasn’t possible for everyone to be there, but we did try to find the most convenient time to allow for participation.

 Also, we needed a two-thirds majority of the current 37 unit owners to vote for the amendment, which meant we needed 25 affirmative votes, but we only got 22. I suspect some people voted with their pocketbooks, meaning they didn’t want to be forced to replace their side of the roof if they didn’t have to do so.

 Am I bitter? No. Disappointed? Yes.

 A final thought for the negative voters: What if your roof needed to be replaced and your roof-mate’s didn’t?

 If only foresight were as good as hindsight.

Hi folks – Because we’re not legally allowed to post the meeting minutes on the website until they have been approved at the next meeting (two months later), some people have questions because they feel out of the loop. I’ll try to answer the common questions here.

• Fees will NOT increase either because of the switch to pavers or the roof amendment. We have the funds set aside for the pavers.
• Pavers have been thoroughly discussed and researched. The three B’s of the BOD (B.J., Bill, and Bruce) have visited other projects done by the prospective paving contractor. For more information, check out the most recent Minutes on the website.
• The proxy is for anyone who cannot attend the Oct 13 meeting.
• The roofing amendment didn’t quite match the concept the BOD agreed to when it was returned in “legalese”. I caught one change before sending it to you and Diane caught one afterward. Unfortunately, I was in transit driving to visit family in SC last Thursday when this was all being dealt with. The correct version is attached and on the website. Paper copy is also being sent out today.
• Roofing inspection/estimate fees should currently amount to zero, but looking to the future, that may not always be the case. The whole point of this exercise is to clarify the rules so that future generations don’t find themselves in our position.

We’ll be voting on October 13. This document contains the:

• Agenda,
• Proxy, if you can’t be there in person,
• Proposed Amendment,
• and an explanation of the process.

Remember, each unit gets only one vote!

• Save the Dates!
  Oct 27 Nov 3 – Neighborhood BBQ
  Dec 8 – Holiday Mix and Mingle

We now have an Architectural Committee to help interpret and decide those gray areas for the Limited Common Elements. Please thank them for their willingness to get involved.

Hi Neighbors – Thanks again for your input on the Membership Meeting Survey. In all, 12 people contributed to the survey and others shared thoughts via email. I didn’t have time to continually revise as people shared, so I just waited and cut off after September 14. See the results here.

The actual best way to read the small print is not to print, but to zoom in with your browser.

After much deliberation, we’ve decided to leave the roof responsibility if the hands of the unit owners. We simply can’t afford to do otherwise.

The document also contains two other items that we’ll be discussing on September 24, and two that we’ll be voting on October 13.

Hi Neighbors – I want to thank those of you who have blessed us so far with your input and your kind words. These are big decisions facing us and I would rather have this awareness of your thoughts than proceed in the dark and end up finding ourselves on the wrong side of what you want.

Six people completed the survey and two others sent more lengthy thought via email. I’ve edited both of the emails only to remove identifying information and added them to this file on the website. Page one has answers to the first four questions, page two has the lengthiest response, and page three has the answers to the five questions regarding specific issues that face us imminently. The actual best way to read the small print is to zoom in with your browser.

I’ve also asked Lynda to get quotes from Shue-Kauffman (the same roofers used in 2004). We have quotes for the 3 BR and the 2 BR units. Not accounting for inflation over 20 years (which we must), the average fee increase if the BOD resumes responsibility for the roofs would be roughly $56.63 per month, less the $25 we already increased in 2018.

Assuming a steady 2% inflation rate over 20 years, the costs increase as follows:

So! I’m trying to help us all make INFORMED decisions! Please read this and the survey results on the website, and come to the September 24 meeting prepared to discuss thoughtfully and hopefully come to a consensus.

We scheduled the MEMBERSHIP meeting for Sunday at 4 p.m. so that as many owners as possible could attend. We’ll take the results of the September meeting discussions and have our lawyer draw that up in the proper format to vote on at the October meeting.

Needless to say, time is of the essence in arriving at clarity. The September BOD meeting results must be sent to the lawyer the next day in order to have our motions reviewed, formatted for proxy voting, copied, and mailed by Friday, September 27 to arrive by Monday, September 30 in order to comply with 14 days notice for Membership voting meetings.

• Board Meeting – Tuesday, September 24, 2019
  4:00 PM at the Pool Ramada
  Your suggestions and input on these issues are requested.
• MEMBERSHIP Meeting – Sunday, October 13, 2019
  4:00 PM at the Pool Ramada
  Your Votes on these issues are REQUIRED.