Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO: Property
Manager.
Directors:
Barbara Tauritz
Cindi Sorrentino
Jon Zimmerman
Judy Kyrala
Susan Jennings
FYI: In the past, it has been the practice to have on-site inspections attended by the property manager, a few Directors, and the contractors doing our painting, landscaping, etc..
For money related issues that directly affect you, your home, and your investment, I suggest you read the June Update and then work your way up.
Here's an interesting development: Susan Jennings wants to have me removed from the Board.
September 9: email from Judy Kyrala
John Hall did some preliminary cost estimates for gravel xeriscaping because the issue did come up at several meetings at the time the external PRVs were being considered. There was even a straw vote taken at one of the annual meetings on the issue. At that same time we knew what the costs were to keep the unregulated sprinkler lines patched from high pressure related breakages. The cost of the wasted water would be additional to that for the homeowner. None of the options are cheap.
September 9: my response
Also, we may well have a situation in which the landscaper is replacing the above ground plastic PRVs on systems where the plumber has already installed, or may install in the next year or so, a below ground PRV. And, so far there is not a shred of evidence that the PRVs have saved us even one penny, let alone the initial $100 per unit it cost to install them. And now Royal Plumbing is charging at least $325 per unit to install a different PRV [and replace the stop/waste valve].
One very important fact is that the Board budgeted about $4,000 a year for sprinkler repairs before and after Morning Dew was paid about $10,000 to install the plastic above-ground PRVs. Yet there is no evidence whatsoever that PRVs save more than they cost. It's time to get that evidence. Please vote "Yes" and approve the Motion to obtain that evidence.
September 10: email from Susan Jennings
All,
I am calling a special meeting for the purpose of requesting approval from the membership to remove Bill Lee from the Board. For notice requirements to the membership I would like to have this meeting on September 30th at noon. Please confirm your availability so Melanie can send notice to the membership.
Though I asked several questions of the City of Flagstaff Utilities Division Engineering Manager Ryan Roberts, PE—and will address the other questions in a future update—this is the one that pertains directly to my motion.
Question to Mr. Roberts: With the almost daily freeze/thaw cycles of our winters, do above-ground plastic PRVs make sense?
Mr. Roberts response: No, they do not make sense. Most residential PRV’s need to be installed below the freeze line (19” or more) or above ground within a garage. I would not recommend installing above ground exposed to Flagstaff winters. Depending on installation circumstances (new or existing home, location of incoming line, ease of shutting off water service to the home, etc.) I normally see them installed in the garages with a shutoff valve installed upstream.
As President of the HOA, Susan Jennings is responsible for doing the role call for the vote. I'll let you know how it turns out, but in the meantime...
I took these pictures on Labor Day at 2525 and 2529 Eva Loop. These bushes were planted by the developer and are the responsibility of the HOA. Unfortunately, our property manager Melanie Lashlee made no arrangements with the landscaper to have them trimmed, even though, last year, it was she who convinced the Board to keep the bushes after I suggested that they be removed. At the July 29 Board meeting, Melanie was instructed to ask the homeowners for permission to remove the bushes.
At least a third of the members of our HOA have received Violation Notices from Melanie's office with instructions to remedy violations such as damaged window screens, things put in a driveway while work was being done inside a townhouse, or a bicycle left out front. And yet, here we are more than five weeks later, and still nothing has been done about these overgrown, misshapen bushes that have not been trimmed since last summer.
In case you're wondering, it was Jessica, Melanie's former assistant, who did the drive-throughs looking for violations. By all indications, Melanie herself has not set foot on our property this entire year—except once in March, when she and I met with an insurance company lawyer and engineer, and Tyler from DC Restoration, at the home of a plaintiff who is suing the HOA. When the lawyer and the engineer were finished at that location, they wanted to look at other locations on our property. At that time, Melanie claimed another commitment and left, leaving me to escort the insurance company's lawyer and engineer to where they wanted to go.
On August 8, I emailed the following to the Directors and our property manager, Melanie Lashlee:
The bottom line, though, should be our main concern: $325 per unit x 100 units = $32,500. That's a lot of money! $256 out of the pocket of every member of our HOA. What kind of results can we expect for it? It seems to me that we need a lot more than just the opinion of the contractor who has a vested interest in this matter. After all, we decided to go with Agassiz based on what we were told by the guy from Agassiz and look how that turned out. It's the results, not the promises, that matter.
In the mean time, while we're waiting to see if HOAMCO can get the city to act, we should get some more information from Royal Plumbing. The PRVs we now have are above ground so it's easy to see if they're leaking, The PRVs Royal Plumbing is installing are a few feet below ground.
> Can they leak so badly it seriously undermines a townhouse?
> Won't our high water pressure damage the PRVs?
> How long can we expect the PRVs to last?
> What kind of guarantee do we get?
**********
Melanie did not respond. Instead, on August 13 she suggested that we put the matter off until the October 28 Board meeting. When no one agreed to put it off, on August 19 I emailed the City Engineer the following; it summarizes where we now stand.
> There is no reason to expect a stop/waste valve to ever need replacing. That doesn't mean they can't fail; it's just rare.
> PRVs fail and need to be replaced.
> There is still no reason to expect a stop/waste valve to fail and need replacing.
> At 120psi, a PRV will last only two or three years.
Nor could I find a PRV, of any type, with a warranty of more than one (1) year.
> Does installing an underground PRV, to protect a stop/waste valve, make sense? ($325 to install both valves)
> With our climate, do plastic PRVs, installed above ground at the sprinkler controls, make sense?
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two
**********
Mr. Barrett emailed the following day, August 20, “I’m forwarding your inquiry to Ryan Roberts in Utilities Division as he will be much better at resolving your concern than I may be.” So far we haven't received a response, so next week I'll follow-up with another email.
August 18 UPDATE
Have a problem? Put it off for a few months.
You need to read this. It will give you
insight into how Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO
is managing our property.
> PRVs fail and need to be replaced.
When I told him that our water pressure gets up to 120psi, he told me:
> We should complain to the city and
demand they do something about the pressure of the water their
delivering to us.
> There is still no reason to expect a stop/waste valve to fail and need replacing.
> At 120psi, a PRV will last only two or three years.
Nor could I find a PRV, of any type, with a warranty of more than one (1) year.
All;
This issue will obviously take much more discussion to come to a conclusion . I can’t see how this will happen via email . I can have Royal Plumbing come to our next meeting if you like . I can also contact the City engineer to get something in writing for your review.
Your thoughts ?
Thank you !
August 14: Bill Lee
III. Melanie will get an itemized account from Royal Plumbing to clarify their charges.
The work done last year by Royal Plumbing was done on your say-so without the knowledge or approval of the Board. We only learned about it at the January meeting, when you told us that Royal Plumbing had replaced PRVs on the sprinkler systems. However, as everyone must have realized by now, Royal Plumbing didn't replace the above ground PRVs already installed at the sprinkler controls, they installed a second PRV below ground. We were told back in 2005, by Jason of Altitude Plumbing, that if two PRVs are installed in series, one will probably leak. I just reread the letter from Mr. Ontiveros, and he gives no indication that he knows that we already have PRVs on our sprinkler systems—PRVs that cost our HOA about $10,000. By installing a second PRV, Royal Plumbing may well have damaged our sprinkler systems; or worse: if the underground valves are leaking, they could be undermining some of our townhouses. So, Melanie, I don't think this can wait until the end of October. We need to know now, what you did and why you did it, and what instructions you gave Royal Plumbing?
Bill,
When an owner calls me stating there is a leak in their front yard causing damage and it is not due to an irrigation leak I need to call a plumber...[sic]wouldn’t you agree? I use Royal Plumbing on all of my communities because they are GOOD, reliable and have great follow through and reasonable pricing . If the Board wants to use a different company I can look in the phone book and pick one. I am happy to use any vendor the Board would like but since I have a good working relationship with the vendors I use all the time that’s who I will call to get things addressed in a timely manner.
So in answer to your question I called a licensed plumber to repair something that was leaking .
**********
Who do you think is supposed to do the on-site inspections with the contractors to make sure they know what needs to be done?
Who do you think is supposed to make sure the work gets done properly?
Who do you think is supposed to keep track of what the contractors do from year to year?
Who do you think is supposed to warn us if a contractor is trying to take advantage of us?
The answer, Melanie, is the property manager.
And we need a property manager who understands this.
We certainly don't need a property manager who, after a year and a half on the job, complains that, “At this point all I can do is keep the membership happy by responding to any issue reported in a timely fashion such as leaks in the yard , irrigation leaks, roof leaks , gutter leaks , sprinkler head coming off, too much water- not enough water, dead trees, too many trees , no grass , doesn’t want grass, kids in the alley playing to load , dogs barking , fence if broken , fence has fallen over and the list goes on.”
Half of the things you've listed would require no more effort on your part than to give the list to the landscaper. But then, most of the things I listed would have required no more effort on your part than to jot down a few notes, and make a few visits to our property. And yet you seem to be overwhelmed by it all. I'm not blaming you, Melanie. As you see it, your “job is to take care of issues reported from the membership regarding needed repairs and certainly water leaks.” And that makes you the wrong manager for our HOA.
It's the vision thing. We need a property manager who understands the big picture. Someone who sees our property as an interconnected whole. After all, over the next fifteen years, we'll probably have to raise more than a million dollars just for our roofs and roads. If we don't have the right property manager, who has the right priorities, we could windup in one heck of a mess.
So, we need to start looking for that property manager as soon as possible.
In keeping with our typical cost for sprinkler repairs, the Proposed Budget for 2013 budgeted $4,000 for Plumbing and Sprinkler Repairs. But then we changed management companies, and in 2013 we spent $9,161 for Irrigation [Sprinkler] Maintenance & Repairs; $2,345 of which was for replacing seven plastic Pressure Regulating Valves. We have about one hundred PRVs, that were first installed on our sprinkler systems in the fall of 2007, and the spring of 2008, at a cost of approximately $100 per unit. So, the effective life of the seven that were replaced was only five years, which raises the question: are the PRVs worth the cost of replacing them. To find the answer, I put forth the following motion on July 31, via email:
To be continued with more information about our PRVs, and if the Motion passed.
Painting:
“Did anybody do a walkabout with the painter?” That's the question our property manager Melanie Lashlee asked at the July 29 Board meeting about the painting that was done in the Spring of this year. On August 1, Melanie sent by email a map showing which townhouses had been painted, with the following instruction for the Board: “If during your inspection you find items that need to be corrected please let me know and I will forward to Jay Bowers with Certa Pro to correct.”
$1600: That's how much we just spent to clean gutters that had already been cleaned. Last fall, after the leaves were off the trees, Spike Landscaping cleaned the gutters. And then, just before we had that hail storm a few weeks ago, the gutters were cleaned again by Incline Custom Builders. Why? What could have fallen out of the sky to clog the gutters since last fall? Snow? Rain? Bird droppings?
Earlier in July
My July 9 second request to Melanie:
Hi Melanie,
Again, please provide copies of this years contracts. At the moment, the one I'm most interested in is the contract to have a crack-seal done on our streets. In the past, it has been the practice to have a crack-seal done every year, and a sealcoat done at least ever third year. Our streets are almost thirty years old, and are no more than four inches of asphalt sitting on dirt; fortunately, though, we don't get a lot of traffic and heavy vehicles are rare, so, if we take good care of them, our streets can still last us a long time. If we don't take care of them, any cracks in our streets can be widened and undermined every time it rains, which could result in the kind of potholes that happen on Lockett Road. If that happens, our streets would quickly deteriorate and have to be repaved. Last year Director Pat Mount, who is a retired contractor, told us it would cost at least $250,000 to do a full repaving of our loop drives; that's $2000 out of the pocket of every member of our HOA.
The following is Melanie's response:
Hi Bill,
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I have had 3 Board meetings this week . If you don’t mind can we have this request be a part of our meeting on July29th ? I can have everything ready for the Boards review at that time. At this time there is only Spike Landscaping new contract which will be in the Board packet for review , the gutter cleaning contract which is being done now and and the Crack Sealing contract that needs to be approved by the Board for this fall. AZ Seal Coating is booked out till September.
Hopefully this will work for everyone ????
Yesterday, July 10, Melanie emailed the mentioned contacts. The contract with Arizona Sealcoating is dated January 15, 2014. There have been four Board meetings and an Annual Meeting since then. Yet Melanie won't be submitting the contact for Board approval until the end of this month!
JUNE:
I take protecting my home and my investment very seriously, as I'm sure you do. So, as a Member of the Board, if I think something is a bad idea, I speak up, and if I'm not sure what should or can be done, I research it.
Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO has been our property manager since January of 2013. What follows are a few examples of how she's handled things. I'll let you judge if she's doing a good job.
If you get a chance, take a look at the east end of our property along where we boarder with the backyards on Patterson. There is an easement that runs through there to provide drainage for storm water, and access to gas meters and utility poles. The storm water is channeled through concrete spillways; these spillways are shaped like a shallow V about 8 feet wide and 18 inches deep, and they empty onto our grass common areas. At the end of the spillway behind Judy Kyrala's townhouse, the silt had piled up into a long, gradual hill about two feet high. After the landscaper removed the silt from inside that spillway, it remained blocked by the part of the hill that extended out onto the common area. So, what to do about it? Well, we could have the landscaper remove the rest of the silt blocking the spillway, or we could have him put a one foot wide, twenty-five feet long culvert through the hill. I thought it was pretty obvious that a culvert would clog up pretty quickly and then we'd have to keep paying to clear it. But what did Melanie Lashlee and the landscaper think?
$3200 to install a culvert through the hill: Spike Landscaping recommendation. No competitive bid.
Approved by Melanie Lashlee. Opposed by me. Nothing was done; however, the matter came up at the adjourned Annual Meeting about six weeks later.
$1044 to install a culvert through the hill: DC Restoration.
Approved by Melanie Lashlee. Opposed by me.
I requested an on-site meeting with an engineer from the city's Storm Water Division. The City engineer recommended removing the hill of silt.
FYI: $3200 ÷ 127 = $25. That's $25 right out of your pocket. And the more money that gets wasted, the more we have to increase the Annual Assessment.
To continue with the easement, a chain-link fence at the south end of the easement was in very poor condition because openings were being repeatedly cut, repaired, and cut again.
$1000 to remove the old fence and install a new chain-link fence.
Approved by Melanie Lashlee. Opposed by me.
It seemed to me that putting up another chain-link fence would be a waste of money: even if it didn't get cut again, any ten year old could climb over it and anyone else could just walk around it by going through the alley or down one of our streets. However, in following-up on the matter, I learned that the Flagstaff's Building Code forbids fencing an easement; presumably, it was utility workers cutting the openings because they had the need, the right, and the tools to do it.
$300 to remove the old broken-down fence. Approved by Melanie Lashlee and all of the Directors.
$1800 to install the wooden fence with gate. Approved but not installed.
Three months of effort wasted because Melanie Lashlee apparently forgot what was learned about fencing easements when we dealt with the fence at the south end of the easement.
If you were at the Annual Meeting, you know that there was a discussion about the need to plan for expensive future projects such as re-shingling our roofs. Melanie Lashlee suggested using $3000 to $5000 of HOA money to pay someone else to do a Reserve Fund review. $5000 ÷ 127 = $39.37.
Also, during the past year, I have come to believe that Melanie Lashlee has never bothered to read our Bylaws, CC&Rs, or Rules and Regulations. It took her three tries to get the quorum requirement right for our Annual Meeting: first draft, 25%; second draft, 51%; third draft, a majority. In the first draft of a newsletter she wrote that our winter parking regulations are the same as on city streets. She had to ask what to do when a member inquired about installing a screen door. She didn't know what to do when a member's roof was leaking along cracks in a common wall.
FYI: What we would have to do if we wanted to change our property manager: The Board would have to interview, vote for, and sign a contract with the new property manager, and then give notice to the old property manager. After that, the property managers would take care of the transition; however, as you probably recall, the transition to HOAMCO didn't go all that smoothly: HOAMCO had our monthly annual assessment checks going to a non-existent address, and we never did get the HOA webpage we expected.
May 19 UPDATE
with some minor corrections and changes from time to time.
May 19, 2014
Directors:
Barbara Tauritz
Cindi Sorrentino
Jon Zimmerman
Judy Kyrala
Susan Jennings
FYI: In the past, it has been the practice to have on-site inspections attended by the property manager, a few Directors, and the contractors doing our painting, landscaping, etc..
For money related issues that directly affect you, your home, and your investment, I suggest you read the June Update and then work your way up.
September
10 Update:
Here's an interesting development: Susan Jennings wants to have me removed from the Board.
In 2007, when Susan Jennings and Judy
Kyrala were Directors, the Board
hired Keith Hammond to sue me for at least $126,000 when I tried to
find out about the installation of plastic pressure regulating valves
on our sprinkler systems, and then denied it in writing, twice.
If
you've been following my blog, you know I have a motion before the
Board concerning those same plastic pressure regulating valves (PRVs)
September 9: email from Judy Kyrala
I read the research done by Denver on
this issue the last time this subject came up and it agreed with what
the city and the vendors were telling us at that time. I reported
back to the board at one of the relevant meetings at that time. The
Denver report used to be online - it probably still is. Do you have
any counter evidence?
John Hall did some preliminary cost estimates for gravel xeriscaping because the issue did come up at several meetings at the time the external PRVs were being considered. There was even a straw vote taken at one of the annual meetings on the issue. At that same time we knew what the costs were to keep the unregulated sprinkler lines patched from high pressure related breakages. The cost of the wasted water would be additional to that for the homeowner. None of the options are cheap.
September 9: my response
All,
The purpose of the motion is to answer
all those questions by obtaining the real-world results of the
experiment on our sprinkler systems. The only way we can obtain
empirical evidence directly related to our sprinkler systems is by
doing the test.
Also, we may well have a situation in which the landscaper is replacing the above ground plastic PRVs on systems where the plumber has already installed, or may install in the next year or so, a below ground PRV. And, so far there is not a shred of evidence that the PRVs have saved us even one penny, let alone the initial $100 per unit it cost to install them. And now Royal Plumbing is charging at least $325 per unit to install a different PRV [and replace the stop/waste valve].
One very important fact is that the Board budgeted about $4,000 a year for sprinkler repairs before and after Morning Dew was paid about $10,000 to install the plastic above-ground PRVs. Yet there is no evidence whatsoever that PRVs save more than they cost. It's time to get that evidence. Please vote "Yes" and approve the Motion to obtain that evidence.
September 10: email from Susan Jennings
All,
I am calling a special meeting for the purpose of requesting approval from the membership to remove Bill Lee from the Board. For notice requirements to the membership I would like to have this meeting on September 30th at noon. Please confirm your availability so Melanie can send notice to the membership.
Thank you,
Susan
September 5 UPDATE
Motion before the Board:
I move that the Board obtain a test sample, to find out if the above-ground PRVs installed on our sprinkler systems are worth the cost to the HOA every time one is replaced, by instructing the contractor to replace the next twelve (12) above-ground PRVs that fail with an appropriate section of pipe; the ongoing results will be determined by keeping track of the relevant work orders.
If this motion does not pass, our property manager Melanie Lashlee will continue to have the landscaper replace the above-ground plastic PRVs when they fail, while at the same time she will continue to have the plumber install below-ground PRVs when a sprinkler system stop/waste valve fails.
Though I asked several questions of the City of Flagstaff Utilities Division Engineering Manager Ryan Roberts, PE—and will address the other questions in a future update—this is the one that pertains directly to my motion.
Question to Mr. Roberts: With the almost daily freeze/thaw cycles of our winters, do above-ground plastic PRVs make sense?
Mr. Roberts response: No, they do not make sense. Most residential PRV’s need to be installed below the freeze line (19” or more) or above ground within a garage. I would not recommend installing above ground exposed to Flagstaff winters. Depending on installation circumstances (new or existing home, location of incoming line, ease of shutting off water service to the home, etc.) I normally see them installed in the garages with a shutoff valve installed upstream.
As President of the HOA, Susan Jennings is responsible for doing the role call for the vote. I'll let you know how it turns out, but in the meantime...
I took these pictures on Labor Day at 2525 and 2529 Eva Loop. These bushes were planted by the developer and are the responsibility of the HOA. Unfortunately, our property manager Melanie Lashlee made no arrangements with the landscaper to have them trimmed, even though, last year, it was she who convinced the Board to keep the bushes after I suggested that they be removed. At the July 29 Board meeting, Melanie was instructed to ask the homeowners for permission to remove the bushes.
At least a third of the members of our HOA have received Violation Notices from Melanie's office with instructions to remedy violations such as damaged window screens, things put in a driveway while work was being done inside a townhouse, or a bicycle left out front. And yet, here we are more than five weeks later, and still nothing has been done about these overgrown, misshapen bushes that have not been trimmed since last summer.
In case you're wondering, it was Jessica, Melanie's former assistant, who did the drive-throughs looking for violations. By all indications, Melanie herself has not set foot on our property this entire year—except once in March, when she and I met with an insurance company lawyer and engineer, and Tyler from DC Restoration, at the home of a plaintiff who is suing the HOA. When the lawyer and the engineer were finished at that location, they wanted to look at other locations on our property. At that time, Melanie claimed another commitment and left, leaving me to escort the insurance company's lawyer and engineer to where they wanted to go.
We have a situation in which the only employee of HOAMCO, who regularly visited our property, no longer works for HOAMCO—and Jessica was usually here only to look for violations. Which raises the question, how can our property manager Melanie Lashlee manage our property if she doesn't visit our property? Isn't that like having an office manager who never goes to the office?
So, if you're asking yourself if your home, your investment, your family's inheritance is in good hands, I suggest you look at the bushes on Eva Loop for the answer. What do you think this kind of obvious neglect does to our property values?
On September 11,
the bushes were trimmed.
August
30 UPDATE
Update on the sprinkler leaks. How
much more of our money is going to be wasted?
On August 8, I emailed the following to the Directors and our property manager, Melanie Lashlee:
The ideal solution would be for
HOAMCO to use it's influence to get the city to do something about
the water pressure. And, if we do continue to replace the PRVs, a few
competitive bids won't hurt.
The bottom line, though, should be our main concern: $325 per unit x 100 units = $32,500. That's a lot of money! $256 out of the pocket of every member of our HOA. What kind of results can we expect for it? It seems to me that we need a lot more than just the opinion of the contractor who has a vested interest in this matter. After all, we decided to go with Agassiz based on what we were told by the guy from Agassiz and look how that turned out. It's the results, not the promises, that matter.
In the mean time, while we're waiting to see if HOAMCO can get the city to act, we should get some more information from Royal Plumbing. The PRVs we now have are above ground so it's easy to see if they're leaking, The PRVs Royal Plumbing is installing are a few feet below ground.
So, we need some more answers from
Mr. Ontiveros:
> How will a homeowner know if a
below-ground PRV is leaking?> Can they leak so badly it seriously undermines a townhouse?
> Won't our high water pressure damage the PRVs?
> How long can we expect the PRVs to last?
> What kind of guarantee do we get?
**********
Melanie did not respond. Instead, on August 13 she suggested that we put the matter off until the October 28 Board meeting. When no one agreed to put it off, on August 19 I emailed the City Engineer the following; it summarizes where we now stand.
Dear Mr. Barrett:
We need your help. In spite a few
dozen emails exchanged over the last two weeks, our Board of
Directors has been unable to decide on what to do about the
stop/waste valves and PRVs installed on our sprinkler systems. And
now our property manager wants to put off any decision until the end
of October. However, I'm concerned about the undermining that could
result if underground valves are leaking. Our HOA Secretary, Judy
Kyrala—whom you may know from previous contact—suggested that I
contact you; that you might have the answers we need.
Last year seven stop/waste valves
were replaced on our sprinkler systems, and at that time, PRVs were
also installed. As way of explanation, on August 6, the plumber
wrote, “A PRV (Pressure Regulator Valve) is installed in the garage
next to the water heater. Protecting the house of high pressure
issues and contributing problems.
However the sprinkler system is
not—specifically the stop-n-waste and sprinkler valves—thus
wearing out the stop-n-waste and sprinkler valve. Resulting in high
water usage, valve malfunctioning, and lawn sprinkler heads over
spraying.
When there is a stop-n-waste leak or
break, generally caused by high PSI, it is highly recommended to
install a PRV at that time. While the main line is already exposed.
To prevent further wear and tear. This will reduce cost in the short
run and the long run. Make best sense to HOA and tenant. Water bill
will be lower monthly.”
From what he says in his letter, I
don't think the plumber realized that our sprinkler systems already
have PRVs. We were told back in 2005, by a different plumber, that if
two PRVs are installed in series, one will probably leak—a few
years later, the HOA spent about $10,000 installing about 100 plastic
PRVs on our sprinkler systems—so, by installing a second PRV, the
plumber may have inadvertently damaged our sprinkler systems; or
worse: if the underground valves are leaking, they could be
undermining some of our townhouses. Also, when I asked our property
manager, Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO, what instructions she gave the
plumber, her response was, “When an owner calls me stating there is
a leak in their front yard causing damage and it is not due to an
irrigation leak I need to call a plumber...[sic]wouldn’t you agree?”
? So, she gave no instructions, and has not contacted the plumber for
more information.
On August 7, I informed the Board,
and Ms. Lashlee, that I spoke to the proprietor of our local
hardware store about stop/waste valves and PRVs on our sprinkler
systems. The following is from that discussion:
> The stop/waste valve is the
main valve for turning on and off the water for the sprinkler system,
and gets hardly any use. It's turned on in the spring and turned off
in the fall, and maybe gets turned off and on a few times for monsoon
season. > There is no reason to expect a stop/waste valve to ever need replacing. That doesn't mean they can't fail; it's just rare.
> PRVs fail and need to be replaced.
When I told him that our water
pressure gets up to 120psi, he told me:
> We should complain to the city
and demand they do something about the pressure of the water their
delivering to us.> There is still no reason to expect a stop/waste valve to fail and need replacing.
> At 120psi, a PRV will last only two or three years.
Also, it took me about fifteen
minutes online to find the type of underground stop/waste valve, that
is turned on with a meter key, that our sprinkler systems require,
that is rated to 300psi and has a warranty of forty (40)
years.
I couldn't find anything about PRVs
in relation to stop/waste valves. Nor could I find a PRV, of any type, with a warranty of more than one (1) year.
When the PRV in my townhouse failed
in 2005, I tested the water pressure at ten townhouses, and all but
one had water pressure between 100 and 120psi; presumably the PRV had
failed in all but one of those townhouses. At that time, I asked for
an emergency meeting of the Board that resulted in the HOA sending a
letter to the members advising them to check their water pressure.
(Most,if not all, of the townhouses I checked had the PRV replaced.)
However, one of our Directors wrote that, when her water heater was
replaced a year ago, the plumber told her the water pressure was
80psi without a PRV.
So, Mr. Barrett:
> What is the pressure of the
water that is being delivered to our homes on Eva, Heidi, and Jeffrey
Loops? > Does installing an underground PRV, to protect a stop/waste valve, make sense? ($325 to install both valves)
> With our climate, do plastic PRVs, installed above ground at the sprinkler controls, make sense?
Any advice or information that you
can provide will be greatly appreciated.
Bill Lee
Vice President Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two
**********
Mr. Barrett emailed the following day, August 20, “I’m forwarding your inquiry to Ryan Roberts in Utilities Division as he will be much better at resolving your concern than I may be.” So far we haven't received a response, so next week I'll follow-up with another email.
August 18 UPDATE
Have a problem? Put it off for a few months.
is managing our property.
It's much more than just an update on
the matter of PRVs, stop/waste valves, and our sprinkler (irrigation)
systems.
**********
August 6:
From a letter from Gabriel Ontiveros of
Royal Plumbing.
“A PRV (Pressure Regulator Valve) is
installed in the garage next to the water heater. Protecting the
house of high pressure issues and contributing problems.
However the sprinkler system is
not...When there is a stop-n-waste leak or break, generally caused by
high PSI, it is highly recommended to install a PRV at that time...”
**********
August 7:
I informed the Board that I spoke to
the proprietor of our local hardware store about stop/waste valves
and PRVs on our sprinkler systems.
> The stop/waste valve is the main
valve for turning on and off the water for the sprinkler system, and
gets hardly any use. It's turned on in the spring and turned off in
the fall, and maybe gets turned off and on a few times for monsoon
season.
> There is no reason to expect a
stop/waste valve to ever need replacing. That doesn't mean they can't
fail; it's just rare.> PRVs fail and need to be replaced.
When I told him that our water pressure gets up to 120psi, he told me:
> There is still no reason to expect a stop/waste valve to fail and need replacing.
> At 120psi, a PRV will last only two or three years.
**********
It took me about fifteen minutes
online to find the type of UNDERGROUND stop/waste valve, that is
turned on with a meter key, that our sprinkler systems require, that
is rated to 300psi and has a warranty of forty (40) years.
I couldn't find anything about PRVs in
relation to stop/waste valves.
Nor could I find a PRV, of any type, with a warranty of more than one (1) year.
**********
August 9: Cindi Sorrentino
August 9: Cindi Sorrentino
Hello All,
Do we even know how many units the high
water pressure is affecting at this very moment? ...[last Sept.] The
plumber replaced the water heater and several lines and they tested
my water pressure and I was told that my water pressure was at 80 psi
without a PRV.”
**********
All together, about two dozen emails
were exchanged. Unfortunately, no one took responsibility for
moderating the discussion, so...
**********
August 13: Melanie Lashlee
August 13: Melanie Lashlee
All;
This issue will obviously take much more discussion to come to a conclusion . I can’t see how this will happen via email . I can have Royal Plumbing come to our next meeting if you like . I can also contact the City engineer to get something in writing for your review.
Your thoughts ?
Thank you !
**********
August 14: Bill Lee
Hi Melanie,
From the January 28, 2014 Minutes:III. Melanie will get an itemized account from Royal Plumbing to clarify their charges.
If Royal Plumbing is still doing what
they did last year, they could be doing a lot of damage.
Unfortunately, we're dealing with this now, instead of months ago,
because it took you five months to provide the invoices from Royal
Plumbing.
The work done last year by Royal Plumbing was done on your say-so without the knowledge or approval of the Board. We only learned about it at the January meeting, when you told us that Royal Plumbing had replaced PRVs on the sprinkler systems. However, as everyone must have realized by now, Royal Plumbing didn't replace the above ground PRVs already installed at the sprinkler controls, they installed a second PRV below ground. We were told back in 2005, by Jason of Altitude Plumbing, that if two PRVs are installed in series, one will probably leak. I just reread the letter from Mr. Ontiveros, and he gives no indication that he knows that we already have PRVs on our sprinkler systems—PRVs that cost our HOA about $10,000. By installing a second PRV, Royal Plumbing may well have damaged our sprinkler systems; or worse: if the underground valves are leaking, they could be undermining some of our townhouses. So, Melanie, I don't think this can wait until the end of October. We need to know now, what you did and why you did it, and what instructions you gave Royal Plumbing?
**********
August 14: Melanie LashleeBill,
When an owner calls me stating there is a leak in their front yard causing damage and it is not due to an irrigation leak I need to call a plumber...[sic]wouldn’t you agree? I use Royal Plumbing on all of my communities because they are GOOD, reliable and have great follow through and reasonable pricing . If the Board wants to use a different company I can look in the phone book and pick one. I am happy to use any vendor the Board would like but since I have a good working relationship with the vendors I use all the time that’s who I will call to get things addressed in a timely manner.
If the Board chooses to do something
else regarding the PRV values … FINE !!! My job is to take care of
issues reported from the membership regarding needed repairs and
certainly water leaks. This issue has been ongoing for many years
prior me becoming your manager. I inherited all of the previous
problems from years of multiple vendors doing multiple things. The
irrigation issues, landscaping issues are enormous in nature and
difficult to manage . I have no idea what has been done in years past
, by whom or why they did what they did at the time.
The Board needs to let me know what you
want to do and how and I will do it. At this point all I can do is
keep the membership happy by responding to any issue reported in a
timely fashion such as leaks in the yard , irrigation leaks, roof
leaks , gutter leaks , sprinkler head coming off, too much water- not
enough water, dead trees, too many trees , no grass , doesn’t want
grass, kids in the alley playing to load , dogs barking , fence if
broken , fence has fallen over and the list goes on.
So in answer to your question I called a licensed plumber to repair something that was leaking .
**********
August 15: Bill Lee
Hi Melanie,
Frankly, after reading your email, even
Susan and Judy must now realize that you're the wrong manager for our
HOA. We didn't hire you just to “ take care of issues reported from
the membership...” We hired you to be our property manager. We need
someone who has an understanding of what's required to maintain the
various parts of our infrastructure. We need a property manager who
has the knowledge and experience to advise the Board on what needs to
be done, and to make sure that it gets done.
You wrote, “The Board needs to let me
know what you want to do and how and I will do it.”
Well, Melanie, last year we let you
know that we do a crack-seal every year and a sealcoat every third
year, and yet you failed to arrange to have our streets crack-sealed
before monsoon season? What do you think is happening to any cracks
that haven't been sealed? We'll be very lucky if we don't wind up
with the kind of potholes that are now opening up on Lockett Road.
Last year we chose four front yards as
test areas to see if the landscaper could get grass to grow on the
bare spots. On August 15 of last year, Troy emailed, “By seeding in
early spring I think it gives us the best shot at seeing some good
results.” And yet you did nothing to arrange it.
And, you made no arrangements to
maintain the bushes across from Barbara's, even though you're the one
who convinced the Board to keep them after I suggested that the worst
of them be removed.
And you did nothing to follow-up when I
twice reported to you the hole on King Street that you yourself
described as “a huge liability for the City”. What was the
liability? That the hole could cause our sidewalk and the entrance to
Heidi Loop to be undermined? Because you did nothing, that hole was
still open when we had the hailstorm, and other storms, in July with
a river of water running down King Street. What do you think happened
to the water that went gushing down that hole? How much damage did it
do that we don't know about because it's below ground? Do you even
understand how much your failure to do anything could wind up costing
us?
Do you think somebody other than you
was supposed to take care of these things?
Who do you think is supposed to do the on-site inspections with the contractors to make sure they know what needs to be done?
Who do you think is supposed to make sure the work gets done properly?
Who do you think is supposed to keep track of what the contractors do from year to year?
Who do you think is supposed to warn us if a contractor is trying to take advantage of us?
Who do you think is supposed to have a
good understanding of our property, and what needs to be done to keep
it well maintained?
The answer, Melanie, is the property manager.
And we need a property manager who understands this.
We certainly don't need a property manager who, after a year and a half on the job, complains that, “At this point all I can do is keep the membership happy by responding to any issue reported in a timely fashion such as leaks in the yard , irrigation leaks, roof leaks , gutter leaks , sprinkler head coming off, too much water- not enough water, dead trees, too many trees , no grass , doesn’t want grass, kids in the alley playing to load , dogs barking , fence if broken , fence has fallen over and the list goes on.”
Half of the things you've listed would require no more effort on your part than to give the list to the landscaper. But then, most of the things I listed would have required no more effort on your part than to jot down a few notes, and make a few visits to our property. And yet you seem to be overwhelmed by it all. I'm not blaming you, Melanie. As you see it, your “job is to take care of issues reported from the membership regarding needed repairs and certainly water leaks.” And that makes you the wrong manager for our HOA.
It's the vision thing. We need a property manager who understands the big picture. Someone who sees our property as an interconnected whole. After all, over the next fifteen years, we'll probably have to raise more than a million dollars just for our roofs and roads. If we don't have the right property manager, who has the right priorities, we could windup in one heck of a mess.
So, we need to start looking for that property manager as soon as possible.
August 9 UPDATE
Sprinklers:
$9,161 vs. $4,000In keeping with our typical cost for sprinkler repairs, the Proposed Budget for 2013 budgeted $4,000 for Plumbing and Sprinkler Repairs. But then we changed management companies, and in 2013 we spent $9,161 for Irrigation [Sprinkler] Maintenance & Repairs; $2,345 of which was for replacing seven plastic Pressure Regulating Valves. We have about one hundred PRVs, that were first installed on our sprinkler systems in the fall of 2007, and the spring of 2008, at a cost of approximately $100 per unit. So, the effective life of the seven that were replaced was only five years, which raises the question: are the PRVs worth the cost of replacing them. To find the answer, I put forth the following motion on July 31, via email:
In order to provide a test sample to
find out if PRVs are worth the $325 it's costing the HOA every time
one is replaced, I move to remove, and not replace, the next twelve
(12) Sprinkler System PRVs that fail; the ongoing results will be
determined by keeping track of the relevant work orders.
To be continued with more information about our PRVs, and if the Motion passed.
Painting:
“Did anybody do a walkabout with the painter?” That's the question our property manager Melanie Lashlee asked at the July 29 Board meeting about the painting that was done in the Spring of this year. On August 1, Melanie sent by email a map showing which townhouses had been painted, with the following instruction for the Board: “If during your inspection you find items that need to be corrected please let me know and I will forward to Jay Bowers with Certa Pro to correct.”
So far this year we have spent $28,830
on painting, which also involves quite a bit of carpentry to replace
worn-out siding and trim, and yet our property manager did no on-site
inspection with the painter to see what work needed to be done, and
no subsequent inspection afterward to make sure the work had been done
properly.
Landscaping:
At the March 18 Board meeting, we interviewed two landscapers from whom Melanie had obtained bids. Yet even though the references that the landscapers provided made it clear that the properties they maintained were primarily xerascaped, Melanie did not arrange an on-site “walkabout” with the landscaper to make sure they adequately understood the scope of what we required. The result: instead of paying $2,150 per month to Agassiz, we're now paying $3,900 Spike.
Pothole:
On June 15, I emailed Richard Hearne,
the Street Supervisor at Flagstaff City Hall, and Melanie, informing
them of “a deep pothole where the street and the curb meet that
appears to be undermining the curb and maybe the sidewalk. It is on
the east side of King Street next to the home at 2500 Heidi Loop.”
Melanie did nothing about it.Landscaping:
At the March 18 Board meeting, we interviewed two landscapers from whom Melanie had obtained bids. Yet even though the references that the landscapers provided made it clear that the properties they maintained were primarily xerascaped, Melanie did not arrange an on-site “walkabout” with the landscaper to make sure they adequately understood the scope of what we required. The result: instead of paying $2,150 per month to Agassiz, we're now paying $3,900 Spike.
Pothole:
At the June 25 Board meeting, I again
brought the hole to Melanie's attention. Again, she did nothing about
it.
On July 15, I sent a picture of the
hole to Melanie and the Directors, and informed them that I had
reported it to a Flagstaff police officer who happened to be on-site;
he called it in. The hole was plugged by noon the next day. There is
still a barricade and a cone to keep anyone from parking on that
plug.
After a month of doing nothing, when
Melanie saw the picture of the hole, we finally got a response from
her: she wrote, "Hard to understand why they aren’t fixing
that !!! That is a huge liability for the City . I will follow up
with the City as well to see if they will get it scheduled. Thanks
for your help Bill."
Considering the monsoon storms we had
during July, there was also a “huge risk” that our sidewalk would
be undermined—I drove up Kings Street thru a river of water about
four inches deep when we had that hailstorm on July 8.
JULY:
Gutters:$1600: That's how much we just spent to clean gutters that had already been cleaned. Last fall, after the leaves were off the trees, Spike Landscaping cleaned the gutters. And then, just before we had that hail storm a few weeks ago, the gutters were cleaned again by Incline Custom Builders. Why? What could have fallen out of the sky to clog the gutters since last fall? Snow? Rain? Bird droppings?
All
it takes is a little common sense to know that we just wasted $1600
cleaning gutters that didn't need cleaning!
Crack-seal:
If
you've already read what I posted earlier this month, you'll
understand why I think it's time for a bit of a primer on the
maintenance of our streets. First, though, you should know that I
worked for twelve years as a “Highway Repairer” with the NYC
Dept. of Transportation. Highway Repairer is a skilled labor
position, and as a Highway Repairer a partial description of my job
was Asphalt Worker/Truck Driver (CDL required)/Substitute Foreman.
So,
I know what I'm talking about when I tell you that our property
manager Melanie Lashlee had the wrong season when she wrote in the
newsletter, “The roads will be scheduled for crack seal this fall
to protect them during winter”.
The
best time to do a crack-seal is in June for three basic reasons:
First and foremost, to protect our streets from the damage that
monsoon storms can cause when torrents of water run down our streets
and through any cracks that aren't sealed; second, it needs to be
done when the weather is warm so that the crack-seal will bond with
the street itself; and third,
starting in October, the daily
freeze/thaw/contraction/expansion cycle will reopen old cracks, cause
new cracks, and loosen the bond between the crack-seal and the
street, regardless of whether the crack-seal is done in June or
September; obviously, though, a crack-seal done in September will do
nothing to protect our streets from the ravages of the monsoon storms
of July and August.
The
crack-seal should have been done weeks ago!
To
finish with this primer, if you've ever seen ribbons of crack-seal
flapping around on a street, it's probably because the contractor did
the crack-seal in cold weather, or because the street wasn't properly
cleaned. That's why you see the workers cleaning our streets with
leaf-blowers before they do a crack-seal or sealcoat—a sealcoat
seals the smallest cracks, provides a protective coating, and is
similar to a paint job.
Earlier in July
Last
year Director Pat Mount, who is a retired contractor, told us it
would cost at least $250,000 to do a full repaving of our loop
drives; that's $2000 out of the pocket of every member of our HOA.
As you know I wasn't at
the April Board meeting. To make sure that everything that needs to
be done is being done, last week I asked our property manager Melanie
Lashlee for copies of this years contracts, and repeated that request
this Wednesday.
My July 9 second request to Melanie:
Again, please provide copies of this years contracts. At the moment, the one I'm most interested in is the contract to have a crack-seal done on our streets. In the past, it has been the practice to have a crack-seal done every year, and a sealcoat done at least ever third year. Our streets are almost thirty years old, and are no more than four inches of asphalt sitting on dirt; fortunately, though, we don't get a lot of traffic and heavy vehicles are rare, so, if we take good care of them, our streets can still last us a long time. If we don't take care of them, any cracks in our streets can be widened and undermined every time it rains, which could result in the kind of potholes that happen on Lockett Road. If that happens, our streets would quickly deteriorate and have to be repaved. Last year Director Pat Mount, who is a retired contractor, told us it would cost at least $250,000 to do a full repaving of our loop drives; that's $2000 out of the pocket of every member of our HOA.
The following is Melanie's response:
Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I have had 3 Board meetings this week . If you don’t mind can we have this request be a part of our meeting on July29th ? I can have everything ready for the Boards review at that time. At this time there is only Spike Landscaping new contract which will be in the Board packet for review , the gutter cleaning contract which is being done now and and the Crack Sealing contract that needs to be approved by the Board for this fall. AZ Seal Coating is booked out till September.
Hopefully this will work for everyone ????
Yesterday, July 10, Melanie emailed the mentioned contacts. The contract with Arizona Sealcoating is dated January 15, 2014. There have been four Board meetings and an Annual Meeting since then. Yet Melanie won't be submitting the contact for Board approval until the end of this month!
JUNE:
I take protecting my home and my investment very seriously, as I'm sure you do. So, as a Member of the Board, if I think something is a bad idea, I speak up, and if I'm not sure what should or can be done, I research it.
Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO has been our property manager since January of 2013. What follows are a few examples of how she's handled things. I'll let you judge if she's doing a good job.
If you get a chance, take a look at the east end of our property along where we boarder with the backyards on Patterson. There is an easement that runs through there to provide drainage for storm water, and access to gas meters and utility poles. The storm water is channeled through concrete spillways; these spillways are shaped like a shallow V about 8 feet wide and 18 inches deep, and they empty onto our grass common areas. At the end of the spillway behind Judy Kyrala's townhouse, the silt had piled up into a long, gradual hill about two feet high. After the landscaper removed the silt from inside that spillway, it remained blocked by the part of the hill that extended out onto the common area. So, what to do about it? Well, we could have the landscaper remove the rest of the silt blocking the spillway, or we could have him put a one foot wide, twenty-five feet long culvert through the hill. I thought it was pretty obvious that a culvert would clog up pretty quickly and then we'd have to keep paying to clear it. But what did Melanie Lashlee and the landscaper think?
$3200 to install a culvert through the hill: Spike Landscaping recommendation. No competitive bid.
Approved by Melanie Lashlee. Opposed by me. Nothing was done; however, the matter came up at the adjourned Annual Meeting about six weeks later.
$1044 to install a culvert through the hill: DC Restoration.
Approved by Melanie Lashlee. Opposed by me.
I requested an on-site meeting with an engineer from the city's Storm Water Division. The City engineer recommended removing the hill of silt.
$648 to remove the hill. DC Restoration: Approved by
Melanie Lashlee and all of the Directors.
FYI: $3200 ÷ 127 = $25. That's $25 right out of your pocket. And the more money that gets wasted, the more we have to increase the Annual Assessment.
To continue with the easement, a chain-link fence at the south end of the easement was in very poor condition because openings were being repeatedly cut, repaired, and cut again.
$1000 to remove the old fence and install a new chain-link fence.
Approved by Melanie Lashlee. Opposed by me.
It seemed to me that putting up another chain-link fence would be a waste of money: even if it didn't get cut again, any ten year old could climb over it and anyone else could just walk around it by going through the alley or down one of our streets. However, in following-up on the matter, I learned that the Flagstaff's Building Code forbids fencing an easement; presumably, it was utility workers cutting the openings because they had the need, the right, and the tools to do it.
$300 to remove the old broken-down fence. Approved by Melanie Lashlee and all of the Directors.
As some of you already know, in order
to prevent transients from Bushmaster Park from using the north end
of the easement as an overnight stop, I worked with a member of the
neighboring HOA's Board to arrange for the installation of a wooden
fence with a gate for utility workers, next to the home of that other
HOA's Board member; we would pay to install the fence and they would
maintain it. As agreed, the member of the other HOA got estimates for
the fence, and written approval from his Board. He then met with our
Board, and our Board unanimously approved installing the fence;
however, only then did we find out that Melanie Lashlee had gotten
permission from APS but not from SuddenLink or UniSource. I
reminded her that permission was needed from all three utility
companies. A day or two latter Melanie Lashlee informed the Board
that UniSource had refused permission.
$1800 to install the wooden fence with gate. Approved but not installed.
Three months of effort wasted because Melanie Lashlee apparently forgot what was learned about fencing easements when we dealt with the fence at the south end of the easement.
If you were at the Annual Meeting, you know that there was a discussion about the need to plan for expensive future projects such as re-shingling our roofs. Melanie Lashlee suggested using $3000 to $5000 of HOA money to pay someone else to do a Reserve Fund review. $5000 ÷ 127 = $39.37.
Also, during the past year, I have come to believe that Melanie Lashlee has never bothered to read our Bylaws, CC&Rs, or Rules and Regulations. It took her three tries to get the quorum requirement right for our Annual Meeting: first draft, 25%; second draft, 51%; third draft, a majority. In the first draft of a newsletter she wrote that our winter parking regulations are the same as on city streets. She had to ask what to do when a member inquired about installing a screen door. She didn't know what to do when a member's roof was leaking along cracks in a common wall.
FYI: What we would have to do if we wanted to change our property manager: The Board would have to interview, vote for, and sign a contract with the new property manager, and then give notice to the old property manager. After that, the property managers would take care of the transition; however, as you probably recall, the transition to HOAMCO didn't go all that smoothly: HOAMCO had our monthly annual assessment checks going to a non-existent address, and we never did get the HOA webpage we expected.
with some minor corrections and changes from time to time.
May 19, 2014
To the Members of our HOA.
Hi Neighbors,
Our HOA is in trouble. When Bette
Holloway was President, she would welcome members who came to a
meeting saying, “congratulation on protecting your investment.”
When I asked Pat Mount, Kurt Fenske, and Debbie Carpenter to join the
Board, all I wanted to do was protect our investment and our
community by getting us better management. Unfortunately, they all
resigned and we are now “out of the frying pan and into the fire”.
And I can't put out the fire by myself. From what I've seen since
Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO became our property manager—unless some
of you make a commitment to get involved and stay involved—the only
things we have to look forward to are wasted money, arbitrary
decisions, and ever increasing annual assessments. If what follows
doesn't convince you, I don't know what will.
On May 16, I emailed the following
letter to our HOA's attorney:
Dear Mr. Hammond:
Because I disagree so vehemently with
the opinions you expressed in your March 4, 2014 letter, I have not
contacted you about the following matters. That may have been a
mistake; as the HOA's attorney, you need to know about these things.
On April 29 there was a Board meeting I
did not attend. Following that meeting, on May 3, I received in the
mail a ballot (attached) for an amendment to the HOA's Bylaws.
Included with that ballot was a letter from Melanie Lashlee
(attached) and your letter of March 4. I assume your letter was
included to create the impression that you approved the amendment,
even though our Bylaws expressly forbid the Board of Directors to
proffer an amendment to change the number of Directors; also, our
Bylaws require a meeting of the membership concerning any amendment,
yet, as you can see from Melanie Lashlee's letter, no such meeting
was called. Furthermore, this amendment was not on the agenda
(attached) for the April 29 meeting.
Also, concerning
what I considered to be an exorbitant amount of money spent on
sprinkler repairs, I emailed the following request to Melanie
Lashlee: "Last year the HOA spent $9,161.00 on Repairs/Maint -
Irrigation (64600-000) . Please have copies of the invoices that
represent this $9,161.00 available for review at the April 29
meeting.”
Melanie Lashlee's responded, writing:
"I have the receipts ready for review . I will have the item
shown on both the Regular and Ex Session . "
I received the requested invoices by
mail on May 3.
$9161...What we
paid last year for sprinkler maintenance and repair.
-$6685...What the
invoices show we were billed by Spike Landscaping..=$2476...The difference between what we paid and what we were billed.
And there is another problem that I need to bring to your attention:
Minutes were submitted for approval at the April 29 Board meeting.
According to Melanie Lashlee, those Minutes were approved “as
submitted”. If that is true, I believe I have unequivocal proof
that the Minutes of HOA Board meetings are being deliberately
falsified.
I have done my best to make sure that your client, the Members of
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA, know about these matters. I am well
aware that our property manager Melanie Lashlee, HOA President Susan
Jennings, and HOA Secretary/Treasurer Judy Kyrala don't like me
“Repeatedly taking action outside of Board authority”; however,
the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of
Rights guarantee me the right to do so, and I intend to continue
exercising that Right.
I don't know what your fiduciary responsibilities to your client, the
Members of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA, require you to do in
these matters—perhaps the State Bar of Arizona could give us
guidance; what I do know is that something needs to be done beyond
what I have been able to do.
Sincerely,
Bill Lee
Vice President
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA
Mr. Lee,
I am writing this to you as a Association Member and not as a director for my client the Greenlaw Townhouses Unit II HOA, because your communication does not appear to be authorized by the Board as a whole. My opinions expressed herein are on behalf of the full board of Directors and is not intended to be relied upon by you as if I were your attorney which I am not. If you disagree with me you are free to hire your own counsel.
BL> We only have three Directors:
Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, and me, and yet Mr. Hammond chooses to
disregard the fact that I represent one third of what he
characterizes as “the Board as a whole” and “the full board of
Directors”.
First off we the Board disagrees with your assertion that the Board cannot call a special meeting to address the number of directors question. The By-Law Article III §3 says that a “Special meetings of the lot owners, for any purpose or purposes, unless otherwise prescribed by statute or by the Articles of Incorporation, may be called at any time by the President, or by the Board of Directors..” I can find nothing in the Articles that prevents the Board from calling a special meeting to vote on an increase in the number of directors.
BL> I did not assert the Board
“cannot call a special meeting”; what I wrote was, “ no
such meeting was called”. Please notice that Mr.
Hammond makes no mention here of By-Law Article III § 4,
which not only requires “not less than ten (10)” days notice of
such a meeting, but also requires that the notice be signed by “any
officer, director or stockholder of the corporation.” Obviously the
purpose of such a meeting is to give the Membership an opportunity
for comments and questions; however, instead of a meeting, all we got
was a ballot, Keith Hammond's opinion letter (which cost us $975),
and a letter from our property manager Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO.
Please provide what authority you are referring to when you claim that “our Bylaws expressly forbid the Board of Directors to proffer an amendment to change the number of Directors.” If you are referring to Article IV §4 which reads; “The initial number of directors shall be three (3).The number of directors may be changed at any time by a vote of the shareholders” then you are completely misinterpreting the language. That simply means there has to be an affirmative vote of the members either by a special meeting/election called for that purpose or at annual meeting with the amendment on the agenda and absentee ballot. That of course is what I have stated is missing all along and what the Board is trying to correct by this special election.
BL> Not only does Mr. Hammond
ignore the fact that “the shareholders”
have voted to change the
number of Directors, by electing more than three (3) Directors, at every Annual Meeting since I bought my townhouse in
2001, he also ignores Article XI Amendments
to Bylaws, Section
2 of our Bylaws, which states: “Subject to the right of the
shareholders to adopt, amend or repeal bylaws, the Board of Directors
may adopt, amend or repeal any of these bylaws other than a
bylaw or amendment thereof changing the authorized number of
Directors.” As you
can see, the Board of Directors is expressly forbidden to proffer an
amendment to change the number of Directors:
that right it reserved exclusively for the Members of our HOA
As to your other accusations of fraud in the minutes I will inquire of the remaining Board if such action truly occurred.
As to your other accusations of fraud in the minutes I will inquire of the remaining Board if such action truly occurred.
BL> One example of falsified Minutes:
the following is from an
email I sent to Melanie Lashlee on April 29, “Right now we are
involved in a law suit and have already been told by our attorney
that we can expect to be deposed. So, Melanie, just in case the
Minutes are subpenaed and you are called to testify as to their
accuracy, I have a question for you: Based on the sound recording,
various emails, and what you personally witnessed while acting in
your capacity as our property manager and as a representative of
HOAMCO, which of the three versions of the Minutes for the June 18,
2013 Board meeting would you swear is the most accurate?” Ms.
Lashlee did not respond.
The version of the Minutes that was approved by “the remaining Board”, makes no mention of the Board having discussed my April 29, 2013 letter to Justin Scott and Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO. (Please see my February 1 Update at the bottom of this page[at my blog].)The September 24 Minutes are even more troubling.
As to your assertion that the remaining
board has accused you of “[r]epeatedly tak[en] action outside of
Board authority” I too observed that behavior from you. You have
set up a web site to collaterally attack the Board’s decisions and
threatened to publish confidential attorney/client privileged
information without the other Board members approval.
The version of the Minutes that was approved by “the remaining Board”, makes no mention of the Board having discussed my April 29, 2013 letter to Justin Scott and Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO. (Please see my February 1 Update at the bottom of this page[at my blog].)The September 24 Minutes are even more troubling.
BL> From the February 19 Update of my
blog, “Watch
for the posting of Mr. Hammond's opinion and how much it cost. In
the mean time, please take a look at the Bylaws and see for
yourselves who gets to elect the Directors...”
Mr. Hammond's February 19 response to what he now characterizes as my threat to publish...: “Mr. Lee, Thank you for forwarding your posting to me. Please understand that any opinion I may or may not provide the board upon any matter at their request, is privileged and cannot be posted without Board consent. You certainly may post the amount of any fees charged as that is public. Please see A.R.S. §33-1805(A)(1). I trust you will follow the rest of the Board’s lead on the disclosure of an attorney opinion to the Members.”
Mr. Hammond's February 19 response to what he now characterizes as my threat to publish...: “Mr. Lee, Thank you for forwarding your posting to me. Please understand that any opinion I may or may not provide the board upon any matter at their request, is privileged and cannot be posted without Board consent. You certainly may post the amount of any fees charged as that is public. Please see A.R.S. §33-1805(A)(1). I trust you will follow the rest of the Board’s lead on the disclosure of an attorney opinion to the Members.”
As to the payment for sprinkler repairs
that is not something I have been asked by the Board to address and
make no opinion on the matter.
BL> I represent one third of our
Board of Directors and I'm the Vice President of our HOA yet, when I
informed our HOA attorney of a $2476
difference
between what we paid and what we were billed for sprinkler repairs,
he had “no opinion on the matter.”
Lastly are you threatening me when you
say “perhaps the State Bar of Arizona could give us guidance”? I
certainly do not take such threats lightly.
BL> When I
got Mr. Hammond's October 2, 2007 certified letter informing me that
the Board had approved suing me when I was trying to find out about
the installation of plastic pressure regulating valves on our
sprinkler systems, I felt threatened. It was at least a month before
I could go to my mailbox and not be afraid of finding another
certified letter. I know what a threat is. Because of that incident,
I find it particularly offensive and hypocritical for Mr. Hammond to
imply a threat in my suggestion that “perhaps the State Bar of
Arizona could give us guidance”. I consider seeking such guidance
to be nothing more, or less, than prudent. By the time you read this,
I will have done exactly what I suggested: I will have asked the
State Bar of Arizona for guidance.
Kind Regards;
/s/ Keith A. Hammond
KEITH A. HAMMOND, P.C.
Attorney at Law223 N. Elden St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
May 6 Update
Today I began emailing the following letter [the new version is substantially different.]
HOA PROPERTY MANAGERS NEED TO BE LICENSED
Dear ... :
I need your help. We need your help. The members of our HOA just got a ballot in the mail (attached).
The initial number of Directors shall be three (3). The number
of Directors may be changed at any time by a vote of the shareholders.
New Version would read:
The Board may decide by majority vote to increase the size of
the Board of Directors from three (3) to five (5) or seven (7).
Sincerely,
Bill Lee,HOA Vice President
greenlawtownhouses@gmail.com
February
1, 2014 UPDATE
Tevis Reich, Attorney at Law
In Reference To:General Matters
Professional Services
2/27/2012
TR
1.60 hr. $320.00
$200.00/hr
Review
pending matters and prepare for Board of Directors meeting;
travel
to meeting and present and answer questions as needed.(Unrelated Item Deleted by me)
3/7/2012
NG
0.40 hr. $34.00
$85.00/hr
Review
William Lee's blog regarding Greenlaw Townhouses and perform
Tracer
search and do public records check on Mr. Lee to view any priorlegal issues.
TR
0.50 hr. $100.00
$200.00/hr
Telephone
call with Jim; discuss board's actions at last meeting and
board's
request for direction regarding the same; direct staff to initiateresearch.
3/8/2012
TR
1.80 hr. $360.00
$200.00/hr
Review
background findings; review blog in preparation for advising
board
and review postings and recordings; review bylaws and conductlegal research and formulate opinion regarding procedure for removal of
a board member.
3/9/2012
TR
1.80 hr. $360.00
$200.00/hr
Speak
several times with Jim regarding findings; follow up on additional
research
requested and speak again; prepare email and provide findingsvia the same.
(Unrelated Items Deleted by me)
For
professional services rendered 7.60 hr. $1,432.00
Total
additional charges $205.75
For
professional services rendered 7.60 hr. $1,637.75
…......................................................................................
As you can see, in 2012 our HOA paid $1637.75 to Tevis Reich for professional services; half of it to try to find a way to remove me from the Board. I don't know why the other Directors were so determined to get rid of me. Was it because they didn't want me to have a vote on how they were running things? Or was it because they didn't want me to be a Witness? I don't know the answer to these questions. What I do know is that, by the end of the year, four of the six other Directors and Jim Joyce had resigned [Correction: only two Directors resigned and there is nothing to indicate their resignations had anything to do with me]. The only other Directors who didn't resign and are still on the Board, are Judy Kyrala and Susan Jennings. When I found out that at least $854 of HOA money had been spent trying to remove me from the Board, I submitted to the Board charges against Judy Kyrala and Susan Jennings. Following that, I wrote to Justin Scott, CEO of HOAMCO, and Melanie Lashlee, our Association Manager, hoping to have my charges against Judy Kyrala and Susan Jennings properly reviewed. (See below)
So,
why am I bring this up now? It's because these matters have still not
been property disposed of by the Board or anyone else, yet we are
about to elect a new Board of Directors. Barbara Tauritz will be a
first-time Director and I don't want to drag her into the middle of
this. So, I'm putting it here for all to see. I'm sure Judy Kyrala
and Susan Jennings won't like it, and they can complain to me all
they want, but at least Barbara won't have to deal with it.
The following is excerpted from my Letter to Mr. Scott and Melanie (the charges are stated in the letter):
“April
29, 2013
Dear
Mr. Scott and Melanie:
I,
William P. Lee, aka Bill Lee, a member of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit
Two HOA since August of 2001, and a member of the Greenlaw Townhouses
Unit Two HOA Board of Directors since November of 2011, do hereby
charge that Susan Jennings, currently President of Greenlaw
Townhouses Unit Two HOA, and Judy Kyrala, currently Secretary of
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA, did, after conspiring with others
to do so, knowingly rig elections of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two
HOA, did, after conspiring with others to do so, knowingly violate
Bylaws of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA, and did, after conspiring
with others to do so, knowingly misuse monies belonging to Greenlaw
Townhouses Unit Two HOA. Proof of these charges can be found in the
Minutes and Ballots of the Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA Annual
Meetings of 2010, 2011, and 2012; in my recordings of the Greenlaw
Townhouses Unit Two HOA Annual Meetings for 2011 and 2012; in my
recording of the February 27, 2012 Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA
Board Meeting; and in the Professional Services statement provided by
Tevis Reich, Attorney at Law, to Melanie Lashlee, Property Manager of
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA, on or about February 08, 2013.
(Attached is a sworn-to and signed copy of the charges)
As
a Member of the Board of Directors of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two
HOA, a non-profit corporation, incorporated under and subject to the
laws of the State of Arizona, I believe I have an obligation to learn
what the laws of Arizona require of me in this matter, and to obey
those laws; therefore, as a Director, I believe I have a right to
demand, and do so demand, that these charges be submitted to a
qualified attorney expert in the Laws of Incorporation of the State
of Arizona for review and recommendations on what should or must be
done about these charges. I also believe that failure to do so on my
part would involve me in a cover-up and make me an accessory after
the fact.
I
appeal to you in this matter, Mr. Scott, because I think it would be
unfair to Melanie to put her in the middle of this. I have nothing
but respect for Melanie and do not want to jeopardize her position as
the property manager for the HOA; however I have been unable to get
any assurance from Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala that they will not
use the next election as an opportunity to once again change
management companies and bring Jim Joyce back as the property
manager, as they did following the 2009 election. So, it seems to me
that the best way to protect Melanie is to go over her head and
submit this matter to you for action; though the only action I expect
from you is that you pass this matter on to whatever attorney you use
for HOAMCO’s corporate needs...”
If you want a PDF of our Bylaws or CC&Rs, just email me.
NOTE ON POSTINGS:
If you're looking for previous postings, the only ones you'll find are the 2011 postings and my 2012 Journal. I've left the first because in it I said I would follow-up if the bushes didn't get trimmed; well the bushes didn't get trimmed, so I got elected to the Board and two days latter the bushes got trimmed. And then, at the next Board meeting, I was voted off the Board; you can listen to that on the second posting I left. As for the other postings, I've archived them and have left only the most relevant updates; what went on with our previous property manager and previous Boards no longer seemed to matter nearly as much as what's going on now, which is why the above is almost entirely about the property manager we have now, Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO, who has been our property manager since January 2013.
If you want a PDF of our Bylaws or CC&Rs, just email me.
