Welcome to Center Gate Estates Village VI!
Fee Payment & Mailing Address
Center Gate Estates Village VI
c/o Pinnacle Community Association Management
PO Box 21058
Sarasota, FL 34276-4058
Architectural Committee
- Steve Specht
stephenwspecht@gmail.com - John Theimer
JTheimer@ieee.org
The Board has appointed a 3-member Architectural Committee to advise unit owners on changes they request to Limited Common Elements. The Committee will submit a sufficiently detailed report and recommendation to the Board for approval.
In addition, the Committee shall endeavor to clearly define the term “Limited Common Elements” as it pertains to our community. This redefinition will be submitted to the Board for approval and then submitted for community approval in the By-laws.
Temporary Pool Closure Announcement
Temporary Pool Closure Announcement
March 30, 2020
Hi Section Sixers – This has definitely not been an easy decision. I’ve polled the Board via email and we have decided to temporarily close the pool and Ramada. Click here for the full announcement.
Let me tell you how we arrived at this extremely difficult decision.
- Sarasota County has closed all beaches, playgrounds, tennis courts, pickleball courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, and dog parks.
- This step is an abundance of caution, or as the old saying goes, “Better to be safe than sorry.”
- In my tenure, the pool has been closed
- by the Health Department for unsafe levels of bacteria,
- during the installation of the new pavers for unsafe conditions,
- and now for unsafe conditions caused by a global pandemic.
In closing, personally, I would rather be wrong about this decision than learn later that one of you got COVID-19 at our pool because it remained open at this dangerous time.
Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
BoD MEETING NOTICE OF WORKING SESSION - Canceled
BoD MEETING NOTICE OF WORKING SESSION
Thursday, March 26, 2020
7:00 p.m. until 8:30 p.m.
Canceled
It took 67 days from the first reported of Covid-19 to reach 100,000 cases, 11 days for the second 100,000, and just four days for the third 100,000.
- Wash your hands properly and frequently.
- Stay home and avoid contact with other people.
Also, for our Board of Directors owners: if you have not done so already, please consider the temporary closure of any clubhouse or common facilities (i.e., areas of congregation). Alternatively, please strongly consider providing sanitation supplies (wipes, spray, hand sanitizer, etc.) for such settings if they will remain open.
News of the Day
News of the Day
March 19, 2020
I’ll be sending out more formal notices soon for our work session meeting of March 26th. Because of the Coronavirus, we will be having that meeting not in the Ramada, but on a phone conference call.
Stay safe out there, keep washing your hands, and keep your social distance. Please.
In case you haven’t heard, Rob Costabille resigned as Vice President of the Association on Monday. This was followed the next day by Carol Costabille’s resignation from the Architectural Committee.
From 30,000 feet, one can surmise that there must have been some terrible problem to which they were reacting. It turns out that they were reacting to me.
Fortunately, my wise wife, Cindy, has convinced me not to feed the flames and to continue to do whatever I can do to assist the community as best I can with the time I have available.
Jack Morgan
Jack Morgan
Hello Neighbors – If you saw the abundance of flashing lights last night in my end of the cul-de-sac, I’m sorry to say that all that help could not save my roofmate, Jack Morgan.
Jack just turned 83 and his daughter, Morgan, also of Sarasota, was there with him.
According to Marie, his wife who passed away in November of 2018, he was a brilliant tenor. I knew him as a good man.
No other details are available at this time.
Peace.
Bruce Gandy
Center Gate Estates Village VI
Condo Assoc Board President
We need a quorum in two days.
We need a quorum in two days
January 7, 2019
If at first you don't succeed ...
If at first you don’t succeed …
November 1, 2019
Hello Sixers – That old addage applies to our attempt to pass the roofing amendment at our meeting this last Friday. I just got the final count from Ginny, since we stopped counting when we new the amendment had passed. Thirty unit owners of 37 eligible voters voted in the affirmative, three voted against and four still did not vote.
If a ten to one margin looks like a landslide to you, so be it. I’m simply happy that there was overwhelming approval.
Additionally, should the occasion ever arise that given three quotes and the roof-mates still cannot decide which one to use, I will authorize our management company to simply toss a coin to decide between the final two roofing quotes. This should settle once and for all the mechanism to keep the Association out of the decision process.
Don’t forget, ALL roofs will need to be replaced within the next three to five years, so this measure does not prevent future boards from implementing a plan to replace all roofs simultaneously at a discounted price. And the flat roofs have a warranty of only 15 years, so they could be due at any time, but they do not affect your roof-mate.
Board Member Terms Expiring
As you were notified by Ginny very recently, three board members are up for reelection. Vacancies include: Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.
If you are interested in any of these positions (and who wouldn’t be!), you must complete the paperwork and return it to Ginny by November 30, 2019. If you don’t have the notice she sent, you can obtain it on the website here.
If you don’t know where the website is, it’s at the bottom of every email I send.
While I am grateful for the credit I have received as president, please do not think for one minute that I have done this alone. In fact, at least two of our board positions will be empty, so we are looking for dynamic, hard-working people to replace the ones I have burned out.
I know that there was something else I wanted to say but I have had “flu-like symptoms” for the past ten days, so now I will just take my meds and try to do nothing. HA! That will be the day! I have about a dozen more emails to catch up on but thank you all for your support.
Bruce
Center Gate Estates Village VI
Condo Assoc Board President/Treasurer
Please Don’t Ignore This! - Pt. II
October 19, 2019
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!
October 18, 2019
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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. - 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.
You can either mail it to: Ginny Deck |
Or fax it to Ginny at: 941-444-7093 |
Or email it to Ginny at: ginny@pinnaclecam.com |
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
Pavers Pass, Roofs Collapse
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.
Q & A on the upcoming vote
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.
"Stuff" to Know in the Next Two Weeks
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.
Some Details on the Next Board Meeting
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 simplest and fairest solution we found to resolve the roofmate issue is presented in this document.
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.
Followup to "We Need YOUR Input!"
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.
| Per Unit | Monthly over 20 years | |||
| 29,240 | 14,620 | 60.92 | Avg $56.63 | |
| 25,120 | 12,560 | 52.33 |
Assuming a steady 2% inflation rate over 20 years, the costs increase as follows:
| Per Unit | Monthly over 20 years | |||
| 43,449 | 21,725 | 90.52 | Avg $84.14 | |
| 37,327 | 18,663 | 77.76 |
Personally, I would rather not do this for a variety of reasons. The simplest solution would be to find a way to resolve the roofmate issue.
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.
Muy Importante! We Need YOUR Input!
- 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.
Kay Kellerman
“Hi, Bruce. I am Kristin Smoke, Kay Kellerman’s daughter, and Susie Martin suggested I give you an update on my mom. She has had issues from her congestive heart failure since the end of June which included 2 stays at Doctor’s Hospital. She is still quite weak, but is getting physical and occupational therapy 6 days a week at Hawthorne Village, where she is receiving good care.
She is not quite strong enough for visitors, but if anyone wants to send her a card or note, it would probably be best to send it to her home address, 4512 Lake Vista Dr. and I will see that she gets it. I don’t think she will be able to go back home for awhile, we are just taking it one day at a time. Even though she is 96 years old, she may be able to get strong again, as she has in the past.
Just wanted to update you.”
News from the Front
- After hearing and experiencing numerous complaints about landscaping and irrigation, I have asked Pinnacle for other vendors from whom to obtain quotes. I also authorized Bill to tell Ambex and Garcia that we need immediate improvement or they will be replaced.
- Lynda has written a policy and instructions about our new grille for community usage. You will find that policy posted on the website and in the Pool Ramada.
- Pinnacle has retrieved all of our documentation from Prokop and I will be slowly scanning it and archiving it on the website.
- With the advent of Pinnacle, we will finally be able to budget correctly and discover exactly how much money we have to spend on our projects.
- We’re still looking for the best quotes for the pool deck. This seems to be an issue beginning before my time, but at least we know now that pavers are the best option. Since this would be a structural change, when we’re ready with information, we’ll hold a community meeting for your vote.
- Pinnacle has been helping us find banks that will give us a much better rate on our reserve funds.
- We’re exploring the cost to clean and paint the lampposts black.
Update to Pinnacle Transition and regarding automatic monthly fee payments
June 14, 2019
Hello Section Sixers – I have been working with Jason at Pinnacle regarding automatic withdrawals so, at this point, there is no need to do anything to your automatic withdrawals.
Pinnacle is working with the same bank so they are in the process of taking care of that on the back end for the July 1 payment.
More news to come as available!
Updates on the transition from Prokop to Pinnacle
June 13, 2019
Updates on the transition from Prokop to Pinnacle
Hello Section Sixers! We will have a Transition Newsletter for all owners no later than June 26 with helpful information.
Regarding monthly fee payments, if you sent your payments to Prokop in the past (versus paying the association bank directly), here is the new payment address:
Center Gate Estates Village VI
c/o Pinnacle Community Association Management
PO Box 21058
Sarasota, FL 34276
If you have an automatic withdrawal, I would cancel it and send your July payment to the address above.
More news to come as available!
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!
June 2, 2019
The biggest news is that the Board announced a special meeting by a telephonic conference call for May 24. Four Board members were available and five of your neighbors were available to attend also. The Board voted unanimously to terminate our relationship with Prokop P.A., Community Association Management. Pinnacle Community Association Management will be our new Community Association Managers as of July 1, 2019. By that point, each unit owner will have at the least received an introduction to Pinnacle and new payment information. If you have questions about this change, some of your answers can be found at this link or feel free to contact any Board member.
Also, in our efforts to make the pool area more family-friendly, Lynda Canelakes, our VP of Good Cheer, had our new barbecue grille delivered and installed last Tuesday! It’s in the Pool Ramada and Lynda is busy writing the community rules concerning its usage so that it stays fit and clean for everyone!
Lynda is also leading the way to brightening our entrances with colorful “flowas”, as we Jersey boys and girls would say.
Next, from Sharlene this week: “I know a lot of you have been receiving complaints about the grass dying and the irrigation not working. In some cases the irrigation systems are having issues and they are being worked on. However, please remind your unit owners that the extreme heat, winds and no rain is the real issue. The county limits the days that associations can run the irrigation. If it is run more often than allowed the association will be fined by the county. We experience this every spring/summer until the rains start. Most of the established grass/plantings will come back once the rains begin. If they don’t then the boards will need to address it at that time.”
Finally, on the bummer side, we didn’t get enough people to sign up for the Power Washing discount for you from Michael Panebianco. Sorry about that, but you can still reach him at 941-504-9675.