Happy Spring VAT!
Hopefully our days of grey skies and cold winds will be a distant memory soon.
As you know, last month was the annual Village at Thornapple meeting and the documents below reflect the handout given to homeowners who attended as well as the official meeting minute records.
PDF – 2023 Annual Association Meeting Agenda
The major topics presented during the meeting were:
Election of officers – No applications were received prior to the annual meeting. During the meeting, requests were made for potential board membership with no response.
Financial Report– Association income is slightly off due to homeowners that did not complete the payment of their annual dues. This is predominantly caused by the change of the due date of the annual HOA fees changing from December to the following January (at homeowners request). Capital expenditures includes the cost of ash tree treatment in 2022. The Net Income from the end of 2022 will roll into the Reserve Fund for 2023 once all closeout of invoices expected for 2022 are completed.
Reserve Overview –
The initial reserve funding was created by a lawsuit judgment in our favor for a chemical treatment that significantly damaged greenery within our community. There has been a reserve balance of approximately $76K for several years with no significant growth.
A third party engineering company does a review of the community and all the owned and maintained assets. The report was done in 2021 but it was received by the Board in early 2022. In looking at the report under current funding we were underfunding based on the forecasted expenses for the next 20 years which would require special assessments in order to fund repairs at a later date. We took into account 3% inflation for the next 20 years when determining what the appropriate annual dues increase will need to be. Our current reserve balance is sitting at approximately $76K.
In order to meet the needs of the report we need to be at approximately $106K in order to fund the reserve to the appropriate amounts. The reserve study did not include the costs of maintaining the ash trees within the community.
Snow plowing to the community has been added as a service – this is not in lieu of city services – the city plows will still service our streets. The funds for snow will be reassessed every 5 years to determine if funding is appropriate and any adjustments will be made at that time. Also there was an addition of an incidental account to cover items not budgeted but not capital expenditures. Examples of this include: broken lights/equipment.
Financial Goals: Increase reserve funding, fund snow plowing, fund ash tree treatment.
ARC Report – ARC (Architectural Review Committee) exists as a checks and balance system for the community to upholds the standards of our association. Items that affect the exterior of the home typically require RR (Request for Review) forms. Due to the age of our community more of the “big ticket” home repairs are showing up (roofs, driveways are the most common).
ARC received a total of 57 applications in 2022.
Following official adjournment of meeting an end of year recap Q&A Session was hosted for homeowners. Below is a summary of questions and responses.
A brief history of the association was shared.
Q: When ash trees (treated or not) are removed are they at the expense of the community or the association?
A: These are replaced at the expense of the city if “sidewalk trees”.
Q: Are the city lights maintained and chosen by the association?
A: No. The replacement bulbs are LED and not the original incandescent style. The newer bulbs are very bright. Columbus 311 can be contacted but given that they are the cities to maintain we may not be able to request a smaller lumen bulb.
UPDATE 3/21/2023 – Per the City of Columbus Utility Department – all street lights are switching to LED and bulbs need replaced. The city typically only has one lumen option for each type of fixture. Homeowners are welcome to report their concerns to Columbus 311.
Q: Has the city been contacted regarding the status of our streets?
A: Beyond calling 311 for review of potholes and general feedback of the streets no official communication with the city by the part of the HOA has been undertaken.
UPDATE 3/21/2023 – The association has been in touch with the City about the status of our community roadways and more news on this will be coming in the days/weeks ahead.
Q: How are the streets being approached for resurfacing? Has anyone contacted a city councilmember to revisit this issue?
A: No city councilmembers have been contacted about the resurfacing of the streets. The HOA can look into contacting the appropriate party but it might involve some community outreach (i.e. petition) to get our streets prioritized for resurfacing.
UPDATE 3/21/2023 – The association has been in touch with the City about the status of our community roadways and more news on this will be coming in the days/weeks ahead.
Q: Can the association lobby with our city council member to get some community involvement?
A: We can determine the appropriate contact and see what can be done as a community to get more attention for our community needs.
Q: Do we know anything about Aldengate speed bump removal?
A: No, but we will make the appropriate follow ups to determine what the status is on this project. Also there was a concern raised as to why one bump was addressed but not the others.
UPDATE 3/21/2023 – The association has been in touch with the City about the status of our community roadways and more news on this will be coming in the days/weeks ahead.
Q: How old is the current surface on the park?
A: Board members did not recall exact date of installation. Will look up in old files to determine age.
UPDATE 3/21/2023 – Records indicate the safety surface was replaced in 2015.
We hope everyone finds this information helpful and we look forward to seeing you all at next year’s meeting!
