correction

The last sentence I meant to say ''sorry to see 'you' go but I sure hope this board would manage SPW forever''

By Andrew

SPW Fiancials

I was a board member for 4 years before you moved to SPW. It was during my office that the building rehab started & the colors changed. We did 6 buildings the first year & the contractor rehabbed the pool house for free. They replaced a lot of plywood under the siding that had so much termite damage. We obtained a termite contractor & the cost was about $20K for the contract & now only a nominal amount to renew each year now. If anyone wants to look at previous year financials, they are all in the closet at the end of my driveway. A lot of that money was used for lawyers trying to make owners cough up their late monthly dues. We also had sprinkler repair people out instead of shutting down the system like a current board member does which is hard on the system. Board members back then made sure things got fixed & as quickly as possible. We had the pool drained & completely rehabbed. We bought pool furniture for the residents?…bought doggie poop stands, new patio lights, new glassed in bulletin boards at the mailbox area, restriping of parking spaces, enhanced the landscaping with additional bushes & ground cover, trees pruned, roofs repaired. We had guttering installed. We had a new fence installed down one long side of the property. The property is old & requires many repairs. Labor & materials are not cheap. The maintenance fees were less then too. I published a monthly newsletter keeping the owners & residents informed as well. We rarely see a newsletter now.

If you would like more information regarding the money that was spent, feel free to contact me. It really is disappointing when other owners think that something fishy was going on with the money. Being a board member is not easy & it's a volunteer job.

I don't know if you were here during the board right before James, but they were the ones that had something fishy going on. They spent over $30,000 having the mailbox area ramp built & the expensive new pole light, the trash can & bench installed. They did not concentrate on rehab. One of the board members then was paid as a consultant for his board service as well! This is against our by-laws & why we had to boot them out of office wasting homeowner money.

Hope this explanation helps.


By Sherry

Financials under Sherry's board

I didn't mean to sound like anything fishy was going on under your board. I know you were doing a free service for no pay. My father was once on a board member at a different complex so I'm familiar with the process. I was questioning the way the money was spent and why no reserve was saved in 5, 10 or 27 years. This State needs to make this mandatory or y'all would make it disappear for no reason.

Again, let's use the current board as an example. I'm sure anyone other than me could figure it out. They spent $200,000 within 2 years to rehab the entire complex. Your board on the same principle, had $400,000 to spend in 4 years.

All of the little items that you described: termites contract, pool rehab, fence, gutters would probably equal to 1 or 2 building rehabs. Of the other 6 building rehabs, one costed $80,000 if I heard it right from my neighbor. In short, with $400K budget in 4 years, operating costs aside, you could have done total rehabs for the entire complex TWICE over.

When I came in I probably saw that last rehab and then everything stopped. You meant the rest of the remaining money went to the lawyers? I don't see any benefits for repairing right a way, or wait a few weeks to find a lowest bidder. James board if you realize, inherited a sprinkler system that is 20 years old (correct me if I'm wrong).

I remember receiving a letter from you that was sent out to all of the residents regarding your quiting the board in disgust. Then Cecilia came onboard and continued nit-picking (another area where y'all spent like crazy on violation letters).
Like James said, if y'all could just saved $25K each year into our reserve, that's only $2000 a month, we could have $100K when you left your board. Cecilia's board couldn't have used up all of that money since they would have their own budget to eat, and eat they did just like James described or we would have $300K when James' board took over.

James' board did the right thing by stopping nit-pickings but still effectively keeping up deed restrictions (see Andrew's complaint), stopped lawyers actions, stopped expensive management company and handyman. You had 4 years and couldn't do anything similar to what they did?
My vehicle was towed while parking in the mailbox 8 to 8 lot. It was towed before 8 (that's when I go to work or I couldn't have made it to my 9 AM job 30 miles away in rush hours traffic). The wrecker company coudn't even produce a picture and time taken. James' board did the right thing by discontinue indiscriminate towings, saving the residents from all the hassles and pocket monies.

I'm sure y'all have paperworks to support your spendings, like Ernest's $88 an hour - $4400 a month job. That's why City Hall politicians are able to exchange money under the table, while keeping verything ''legal'' on the table surface.

Let's see how much maintenace fees James' board could reduce and let's see if they could continue the repairs, potholes filling and still save some money in the reserve.

By Anna

Financials under Sherry

If you weren't here during the past 10 years and you've never volunteered to be a BOD member then you don't have a leg to stand on trying to explain anything about the spending habits of any SPW Board. I'll bet you never attend any monthly, quarterly or annual meetings either. If you're a homeowner get elected to the Board in January and takes James' place. You'll learn a lot and then understand what you are talking about.