Happy New Year!
The following is my New Year's gift to you, though it will probably be several years before you have a use for it. I have no doubt that when the time comes, we (and especially the newest Members/Lot Owners) will have excellent grounds to sue for mismanagement and for the deliberate waste and misuse of HOA money; and that we will be suing the following:
HOAMCO
Melanie
Lashlee
of
HOAMCO,
who is identified by the various titles such as Flagstaff Regional
Manager, Community Association Manager, and property manager. HOA President Susan Jennings <sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com>
HOA Vice President Jon Zimmermann <jonzimmermann2@gmail.com>
HOA Treasurer Cindi Sorrentino <cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com>
HOA Secretary Judy Kyrala <j.kyrala@gmail.com>
HOA Director Barbara Tauritz <btauritz@hotmail.com>
For
the record, I hereby swear that I have made a sincere effort to make
certain that everything posted here is true and accurate, and that it
is intended to be used as evidence in any proceedings against HOAMCO
and the aforementioned Directors. I strongly recommend that you
make a copy of this posting and consider it to be sworn testimony. As
you read what follows, please keep in mind that the CC&Rs is a
contract, and that our HOA's Rules and Regulation are based on the
CC&Rs, but do not supersede the CC&Rs. If the CC&Rs
doesn't authorize the Board to spend our money on something, the
Board doesn't have the right to do so; for example, even though
plowing snow from our streets is an essential service, the CC&Rs
had to be amended to allow the Board to use our money to pay for snow
removal.
1.
The deliberate waste and misuse of HOA money.
HOA
Rules and Regulations (The entire Rules and Regulations are posted at the bottom of this page.)
19.
The Association repairs and maintains the following elements of the
Project as prescribed in CC&Rs, Section # V.(a):...gutters and
downspouts (lot owners are responsible for gutter and downspout
cleaning).During the past two years $5,500 was spent on cleaning gutters, even though most gutters never need cleaning, and the HOA is not responsible for cleaning gutters. In 2014 Incline Custom Builders, INC was paid $3,200 to clean the gutters in June and late November. In 2015 Doug Clark was paid $2,300 to clean the gutters in April. It should be obvious to anyone that once the leaves were off the trees and the gutters were cleaned in late November of 2014 there would be nothing that could fall out of the sky that would require the gutters to be cleaned again in April, and yet Doug Clark was paid $2,300 to clean the gutters in April, so even if Mr. Clark put in a full eight hour day, that would come out to just shy of $300 an hour for unskilled manual labor to do work that had already been done.
(For further details and documentation please see 1a below.)
2.
Special privileges for at least one Director.
This
should be of particular interest to anyone who was told they're not
allowed to put an air conditioner in a bedroom window.
Even
though there is nothing in the CC&Rs that allows anyone to
install anything on a roof, Director Barbara Tauritz had someone cut
a hole in the north
side of her roof and install what she described as a solar device to
save on heating and cooling costs. Frankly, to me, it looks more like
one of the roof-mounted exhaust fans sold at Home Depot, but you can
judge that for yourself. (See 2a for a picture and related emails)
Note: FCC regulations mandate that satellite dishes be allowed.
3:
Deliberate deception of the Members/Lot Owners by the Board and
Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO.
From
the third paragraph of the November 19, 2015 letter “To All
Members” from Melanie Lashlee on behalf of the Board
With
the winter months upon us it is very important to remember that there
is "No Parking" on the streets or alley ways of your
community...Please be advised the Board will be taking the necessary
action to resolve this matter if street and alley parking continues.
Back
when the HOA's Rules and Regulations were written in 2003, some
Directors wanted to eliminate all parking on our streets. I thought
this was unfair to anyone who had bought or rented a townhouse with
the understanding that they could park on our streets, so I wrote the
original Parking Regulations for our HOA, and can tell you with
absolute certainty that you have the right to park on our streets.
Both the CC&Rs and the Rules and Regulations state that you may
not “store” a vehicle on Association streets but parking is
definitely allowed. Along with myself and others, Susan Jennings and
Judy Kyrala were on the Board in 2003 and participated in writing the
Rules and Regulations, and Ms. Jennings and Ms. Kyrala were both on
the Board in 2006 when the Rules and Regulations were revised, so
they undoubtedly know that you have the right to park on Association
streets, and Melanie Lashlee knows it, too; this is not the first
time this matter has come up since HOAMCO began mismanaging our HOA.
4.
Fraud, harassment, libel, and perjury.
In
September, I emailed the following request to Melanie Lashlee of
HOAMCO.
Dear Ms.
Lashlee,
Please include
the following statement with the Notice for this year's Annual
Meeting/Election of Directors. In response to last year's Amendment to the Bylaws, and the Special Election to remove Vice President Bill Lee from the Board of Directors, Mr. Lee filed a complaint with the Dept. of Fire, Building and Life Safety. In the Judge's Decision—which can be found at greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com—the Judge ordered that Mr. Lee be deemed the Prevailing Party, and the HOA was fined $200 and ordered to pay half of the $2,000 filing fee.
Here
is Melanie Lashlee's response:
Mr.
Lee,
There
is no legal requirement for me to include this information on the
Annual Meeting Notice. Unless the Board request for this information
to be added it will not be included on the notice.
This
matter has already been to court, so it is now a part of the public
record. Though it was not a criminal trial, the Board was in effect found guilty of Fraud, Harassment, and Libel. Any review of the proceedings will show that the Board failed
to provide any evidence of any kind to support any of the charges
against me because there was no evidence; the charges were a pack of
lies. Also, any review of the
proceedings will show that Melanie Lashlee and HOA Secretary Judy
Kyrala committed perjury. Under Federal Law, perjury is a felony
punishable by up to five years in prison, and yet HOAMCO is still our
management company and Judy Kyrala is still an officer of this HOA.
If
you have read the Notice for this year's Annual Meeting/Election of
Directors, you already know that the statement I requested was not
included, so the harassment and libel continue.
(See
last year's posting for additional information.)5. There is still a key question that needs to be answered: Why were they so determined to remove me from the Board?
In
2007, the HOA installed above-ground plastic pressure regulating
valves (PRVs) on our sprinkler systems at an estimated cost of
$10,000. I thought it was an obvious boondoggle, so I requested
information from the Board; I was ignored. When I informed the Board
that I was going to try to have the matter looked into by the proper
authorities, I was threatened: I received a letter from Keith Hammond
informing me that the Board had authorized him to sue me. Though they
never did sue, and later denied having any knowledge or documents
concerning the matter, at the time it was pretty intimidating.
At
the 2010 Annual Meeting, I asked how much it cost to install and
maintain those plastic PRVs. Property manager Jim Joyce answered,
saying “I have no idea, Bill.”
In
2014, I learned that when sprinkler system stop/waste valves failed
and had to be replaced, our current property manager Melanie Lashlee
of HOAMCO was having a plumber install below-ground pressure
regulating valves to protect the new stop/waste valves. Based on what
I already knew about PRVs, this didn't make a lot of sense, so I did
some checking. I had no trouble whatsoever finding a stop/waste valve
of the exact type we use with a 40 year warranty; I could not find a
single pressure regulating valve with a warranty of more than 1 year.
On
September 3, 2014, I emailed the following Motion to the Board,
requesting a test to find out if continuing to install above-ground
plastic pressure regulating valves made any sense.
Motion:
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.
Susan,
please do the role call for the vote.
****************************************
On
September 9, Judy Kyrala emailed the following question:
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?
****************************************
On
September 9, I responded, writing:
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.
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.
*********************************************
The
next day, on September 10, Susan Jennings called for a meeting to remove me from the Board:
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
*****************************
On
September 11, Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO emailed:
Notice
will be sent to the membership per your request.
Thank
you !
MELANIE
LASHLEE| Flagstaff Regional Manager(See the 2011 postings for further information about my removal from the Board.)
(See 5a for additional information about the maintenance of our sprinkler systems.)
#############################################
1a.
From my bedroom window, I can see eight townhouses, seven of which
have gutters that never need cleaning. The picture below shows four
of those townhouses. Please notice that the
townhouses at either end, as with all end-unit townhouses, only have gutters over the driveway so that
snow melt doesn't drip on your car when you pull out of the garage.
Of the 127 townhouses in our community, 54 are end-unit townhouses. Also,
even though the last gutter cleaning was in April of 2015, the next
cleaning is budgeted to be in October of 2016. This in itself is a
perfect example of how incompetently our HOA is being managed: not
only were the Members not informed that the gutters would not be
cleaned in the fall of 2015, the next cleaning is planned for October
of 2016, before the leaves are off the trees, instead of late
November, after the leaves have fallen. It is also worth mentioning
that gutters are, by design, self-cleaning: in most cases, anything
that gets in the gutters gets flushed our when it rains.
Emails related to the work done at Barbara Tauritz's townhouse.
1. Sent by Bill Lee
Subject:
Documents Request From: William Lee (billlee520@yahoo.com)
To: mlashlee@hoamco.com;
Cc: dlogsdon@hoamco.com; cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com;
Date:
Thursday, November 12, 2015 12:36 PM
Dear
Ms. Lashlee:
Please
provide me with any and all bids, contracts and invoices related to
any and all work done at the home of Director Barbara Tauritz, 2530
Eva Loop, since Ms. Tauritz first became a Director in February,
2014. Thank you in advance,
Bill Lee
cc: Cindi Sorrentino; Debra Logsdon
*******************************************
2. Sent by Melanie LashleeSubject: RE: Documents Request
From: Melanie Lashlee (mlashlee@hoamco.com)
To: billlee520@yahoo.com;
Cc: dlogsdon@hoamco.com; cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com; btauritz@hotmail.com; jonzimmermann2@gmail.com; j.kyrala@gmail.com; sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com;
Date:
Thursday, November 12, 2015 1:29 PM
Bill,
The
HOA has not done any repairs to Barb’s unit that would require a
bid . I know she has done some upgrades to her unit but it did not
involve the HOA.
Bill,
Debbie Logsdon works in our accounting department and has nothing to
do with the management of your community .
Why
do you keep copying her on emails ? If you would like to copy the
Board you should copy all members and not just one .
I
will check my records but again don’t remember anything of any
consequence being done on her unit unless she was included in full
scope rotation painting at some point . Maybe a simple repair on her
fence ?
MELANIE
LASHLEE| Flagstaff Regional Manager
**************************************
3. Sent by Bill LeeSubject: Re: Documents Request
From: William Lee (billlee520@yahoo.com)
To: mlashlee@hoamco.com;
Cc: dlogsdon@hoamco.com; cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com; btauritz@hotmail.com; jonzimmermann2@gmail.com; j.kyrala@gmail.com; sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com;
Date:
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 12:16 PM
Dear
Ms. Lashlee:
It
is now two weeks since I made the following documents request. Please
comply by the end of business today.
Please
provide me with any and all bids, contracts and invoices related to
any and all work done at the home of Director Barbara Tauritz, 2530
Eva Loop, since Ms. Tauritz first became a Director in February,
2014.
Bill
Lee
***********************************************
4. Sent by Melanie Lashlee (Automatic reply)Subject: Automatic reply: Documents Request
From: Melanie Lashlee (mlashlee@hoamco.com)
To: billlee520@yahoo.com;
Date:
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 12:16 PM
I
will be out of the office Monday , November 23rd returning on
December 1st. If you have an after hour emergency please call
928-443-3593.
Thank
you ,
Melanie
***********************************
5. Sent by Barbara Tauritz
Subject:
Re: Documents Request From: Barbara Tauritz (btauritz@hotmail.com)
To: billlee520@yahoo.com;
Cc: mlashlee@hoamco.com; dlogsdon@hoamco.com; cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com; jonzimmermann2@gmail.com; j.kyrala@gmail.com; sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com;
Date:
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 3:00 PM
No
funds were sought from the HOA. Consequently there is nothing to send
you
Sent
from my iPhone
**************************************
6. Sent by Bill LeeSubject: Re: Documents Request
From: William Lee (billlee520@yahoo.com)
To: btauritz@hotmail.com;
Cc: mlashlee@hoamco.com; dlogsdon@hoamco.com; cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com; jonzimmermann2@gmail.com; j.kyrala@gmail.com; sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com;
Date:
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 6:02 PM
Dear
Director Tauritz:
As
I'm sure your neighbors can verify, since you became a Director, a
gutter was installed at the back of your townhouse, about half of
your roof was re-shingled, and what you described as a solar device
to save on heating and cooling costs was installed on the north side
of your roof. Am I to understand that all this was done at your own
expense, and without the approval of the HOA?
Bill
Lee
*****************************************
7. Sent by Melanie LashleeSubject: RE: Documents Request
From: Melanie Lashlee (mlashlee@hoamco.com)
To: billlee520@yahoo.com;
Cc: cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com; btauritz@hotmail.com; jonzimmermann2@gmail.com; j.kyrala@gmail.com; sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com;
Date:
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 9:07 AM
Bill,
As
I stated the HOA does not have any estimates for repair to Barbs unit
. She had some improvements done to her home and paid out of pocket
as the repairs were not the responsibility of the HOA.
MELANIE
LASHLEE| Flagstaff Regional Manager
End of emails related to the work done at Barbara Tauritz's townhouse.
********************************************
5a. Please take a look at the final posting for last year. After the bushes in the picture were trimmed on December 7, a sprinkler head began leaking. The water from that leak is running into the street and past two driveways, so it's easy to see and yet it hasn't been fixed. Of the five Directors, two live on Eva Loop--Barbara Tauritz, across the street from the leak, and Judy Kyrala, down the block and around the corner--so it's pretty hard to believe that any Director is making any effort to keep an eye on things. That goes for Melanie Lashlee, too: I'm pretty sure HOAMCO is required by contract to do an on-site inspection of our community at least once a week.
Just the fact that there is a leak raise some questions:
1. Why is that sprinkler head still leaking three weeks later?
2. To prevent damage from freezing, did a contractor turn off the water supply to individual sprinkler systems at the stop/waste valves?
3. If the water supply to that sprinkler system was shut off, why is that sprinkler head leaking?
4. If a contractor did shut off the water supply, does that contractor know how to shut it off without damaging the stop/waste valve?
5. Is it the same contractor that Melanie Lashlee hired to replace stop/waste valves, and install pressure regulating valves to protect stop/waste valves, at a cost of $325 to $375 per unit?
********************************************
One last thing: As I wrote above, this is my New Year's gift to
you. It should give you a pretty good idea of what's really going on. I have no doubt that Melanie Lashlee and the current Directors,
through their conduct, will eventually convince you that we need to
sue them. Unfortunately for the Directors, when that time comes, they
are probably going to find out that their Directors Insurance doesn't
protect them the way they think it does, if it protects them at all.
Unfortunately for us, that means we're probably stuck with them until
the time comes to remove them from the Board and sue. As I'm sure you
recall, they had the Bylaws amended to require a Board of five or
seven Directors, so if one of them quits they won't have the
requisite number of Directors, and I can't believe that anyone else
would be foolish enough to join the Board if there is a vacancy. But
you never can tell: I didn't think HOA Treasure Cindi Sorrentino
would be foolish enough to put her Real Estate Broker's License at
risk, though that's exactly what she's done. 5a. Please take a look at the final posting for last year. After the bushes in the picture were trimmed on December 7, a sprinkler head began leaking. The water from that leak is running into the street and past two driveways, so it's easy to see and yet it hasn't been fixed. Of the five Directors, two live on Eva Loop--Barbara Tauritz, across the street from the leak, and Judy Kyrala, down the block and around the corner--so it's pretty hard to believe that any Director is making any effort to keep an eye on things. That goes for Melanie Lashlee, too: I'm pretty sure HOAMCO is required by contract to do an on-site inspection of our community at least once a week.
Just the fact that there is a leak raise some questions:
1. Why is that sprinkler head still leaking three weeks later?
2. To prevent damage from freezing, did a contractor turn off the water supply to individual sprinkler systems at the stop/waste valves?
3. If the water supply to that sprinkler system was shut off, why is that sprinkler head leaking?
4. If a contractor did shut off the water supply, does that contractor know how to shut it off without damaging the stop/waste valve?
5. Is it the same contractor that Melanie Lashlee hired to replace stop/waste valves, and install pressure regulating valves to protect stop/waste valves, at a cost of $325 to $375 per unit?
********************************************
##############################################################
Update: October
The following pictures were taken from in front of the home of Director Barbara Tauritz on the day the red zones were repainted. Because of the excessive use of cinders last winter, our streets have become severely pitted, and the sealcoat has been completely worn away, leaving our loop drives unprotected from any oil or gasoline spills or leaks. Please see the February 15 Update for my February 4 email to the Board and manager concerning the damage the cinders were doing.
10-07-2016 A
10-07-2016 B
August 4, 2016
It appears that the sprinkler leaks in the front yard common area at 2529 - 2533 Eva Loop were finally fixed as of 10 AM, Monday, August 1.
Update: July 21, 2016
Okay, one more update. The landscaper was here yesterday with lawnmowers and leaf blowers, and yet, as you can see in the picture below, not only has the leak not been fixed, there are now two leaks.
Still leaking as of July 27.
Picture taken 7-21-2016
Saturday July 9, Update
As you can see in the following
picture, the sprinkler leak that I wrote about on July 1 continues.
It starts in front of 2533 Eva Loop, flows past 2529, past 2525, and
then appears to sink under the curb in front of my driveway at 2521
Eva Loop. Director Barbara Tauritz lives at 2539 Eva Loop, directly
across the street from 2533 Eva Loop, so there is no question that
the Board of Directors knows about the leak, and yet it has still not
been fixed. Unfortunately for our community, this is not unusual. As
you can see from earlier Updates, the leak at 2525 Eva Loop (the NCHC
property) continued leaking for the entire winter, more than three
months, even though the water supply to the sprinkler systems is
supposed to be shut off in the fall.
From here on, I will continue to take
pictures but I will not write updates about this leak. After all, a
broken sprinkler head should not require this much attention. In case
you're not aware of it, we used to have our lawns mowed on Fridays,
so that they would look their best for the weekends. At the
suggestion of former Director Kurt Fenske, we moved the landscaping to
Thursdays so that any sprinkler heads that the lawnmowers broke could
be fixed on Friday without having to pay weekend rates for the repair. Now the
mowing is done on Wednesdays and one can only guess when a broken
sprinkler head will get fixed.
One final point: it was because of
sprinkler leak that a townhouse on Eva Loop was so badly undermined
that it had to be shored-up.
Picture taken 7-08-2016
Friday July 1, Update
>In spite of what the April Newsletter said, our streets were not crack sealed before monsoon season.
Also, this year, our streets were due to be sealcoated, but that too was not done. My twelve years of experience maintaining NYC streets and highways tells me that the damage done by the unprecedented use of cinders this past winter, and the failure to properly maintain our streets, will cost us dearly.
>As you can see in the following two pictures, there is a sprinkler leak at 2529 - 2533 Eva Loop. The landscaper was here on Wednesday yet it wasn't fixed.
>I'll let the picture of the common area in front of the North Country Health Care property at 2525 Eva Loop speak for itself as to how the HOA is maintaining that landscaping.
6-28-2016 2529 - 2533 Eva Loop
March 28, UPDATE:
I took these pictures last week.The first picture shows that the leak at 2525 Eva Loop is no longer leaking,
The second picture is an example of the damage the cinders did to our loop drives.
March 20, SPRING UPDATE:
It is now the first day of Spring and
the leak at 2525 Eva Loop is still leaking. It has been leaking all
winter long. Awhile back I thought the leak had been fixed but it
probably just froze. I'm pretty sure that was the only time the curb
and gutter in front of the leak were dry. But that was then and this
is now, and now there is absolutely no question that it is leaking
everyday, and, and from what I've seen, it's leaking twenty-four
hours a day.
Obviously the leak should have been
fixed before Winter began, and yet here we are at the beginning of
Spring and it has still not been repaired, even though we had the
second warmest February on record and the landscaper started
maintaining our common areas about two weeks ago.
2525 Eva Loop Leak 3-20
March 16 UPDATE:
The next four pictures show the 2525 Eva Loop Leak and the street around it as of March 16.
3-16-2016a
March 4, UPDATE: Okay, now things are
getting really bizarre. As you can see from the 3/1 and 3/2 updates,
On March 1, before 8AM, workers with
leaf-blowers came along Eva Loop blowing the cinders and cinder
debris away from the curb and into the street.
On March 2, after midnight a 12:30AM a
mobile broom swept up the cinders.What's really bizarre, is that today, March 4, shortly after 11AM, a worker with a leaf-blower came along my side of Eva Loop blowing a cloud of dust along the curb as he went. Seeing him do it, I got my camera and waited for him to do the other side of the street. As you can see in the following three pictures, he went along blowing a cloud of dust from the sidewalk and from along the curb into the driveways and, in the case of the townhouse across from me, right into the garage.
March 2, UPDATE:
After midnight, at about 12:30AM, a mobile broom (street sweeper), with lights flashing and making a heck of a lot of noise, spent about 20 minutes cleaning up the cinders on Eva Loop, and in the process probably woke up everyone who wasn't still awake.
March 1, UPDATE:
As you can see in the following two
pictures, this morning workers used leaf-blowers to move the cinders
and cinder debris from close to the curbs on our loop drives, where
they were a nuisance but didn't do much damage. Unfortunately, they
didn't clean up the cinders and cinder debris. They just moved it all
to where it is more likely to get under the wheels of traffic, which just increases the
damage it will do to our streets.
Also, as you can see in the third picture, the leak at 2525 Eva Loop, which has been leaking for at least two and a half months, has still not been fixed.
2525 Eva Loop Leak as of March 1
2525 Eva Loop Leak as of February 20. Picture taken from the sidewalk in front of 2530 Eva Loop.
February 15 UPDATE
Obviously I hadn't planned on doing all these updates, but for the time being it seems prudent.
Yesterday I swept cinders and cinder
dust from my garage, driveway and along the curb at my townhouse.
Last evening, when I came home, I noticed that in front of three
townhouses, a substantial area of the street had been sweep by the
homeowners, so I did the same. It's hard to see the cleared areas,
but I took the following picture to try to show them.
Obviously I hadn't planned on doing all these updates, but for the time being it seems prudent.
Below that picture is a copy of an email and picture I sent to the the Directors and HOAMCO concerning the cinders.
And below that are two more pictures of the leak at 2525 Eva Loop. Apparently the leak is now constant. I don't know if it's leaking twenty-four hours a day, but it appears to be leaking every day.
William Lee <greenlawtownhouses@gmail.com> Thu, Feb 4, 2016 at 3:40 PM
To: Susan Jennings <sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com>, Jon Zimmermann <jonzimmermann2@gmail.com>, Cindi Sorrentino <cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com>, Judy Kyrala <j.kyrala@gmail.com>, Barbara Tauritz <btauritz@hotmail.com>, Melanie Lashlee <melanie@hoamco.com>, dlogsdon@hoamco.com
All,
Consider this my last attempt to convince you to stop having cinders spread on our loop drives. On February 1, I emailed all of you a picture showing where the contractor had spread cinders on Eva Loop where there was no snow. Sometime between when that picture was taken and 9AM February 2, we got about a half inch of new snow on our loop drives and more cinders were spread. I took the attached picture today, February 4, to show how much of that cinder material remains on Eva Loop. Just simple common sense should tell you that having this much cinder material ground into our streets will do serious damage. If you don't believe me, take a shovel-full and spread it on your kitchen floor; obviously it will damage your floor, just as it damages our streets. Also, now that the seal-coat has been worn away there is the constant risk of extreme damage from any oil or gasoline leak or spill. Please put a stop to the spreading of cinders on our loop drives.
--
Bill Leewww.greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com
February 1, UPDATE:
Less than five minutes before this picture was taken the contractor spread cinders on Eva Loop. Look at the picture and decide for yourself if it was necessary or a waste of money. Also, next time you go outside, if you look closely at the street surface you'll be able to see just how pitted our streets have become this winter. Based on my twelve years of experience as a Highway Repairer with the NYC Department of Transportation, Bureau of Highways, I can guarantee you it's the cinders that are doing the damage.
January 27, UPDATE:
I took the following picture today, January 27, to show the condition of the leak and the surrounding area at the 2525 Eva Loop North Country Health Care Townhouse. Some days the water runs over the curb, some days it soaks into the ground, and some day it might get fixed.
Don't expect any more updates unless something extraordinary happens.
January 25, UPDATE: The leaking sprinkler head at the NCHC townhouse is still leaking!!!
As you can see from the previous update, I had hoped the leak had been fixed. It has not. When I checked today, not only was it clearly visible from my car but it was obvious the all the water is now soaking into the ground.
January 20, UPDATE: The leaking
sprinkler head at the NCHC townhouse is still leaking.
About a dozen years ago a townhouse on Eva Loop was so badly undermined by a leaking sprinkler head it had to be shored up. The front yards are common areas, and the maintenance and repair of the common areas is the responsibility of the Directors and our property manager Melanie Lashlee, not the homeowners. After all, many of our townhouses are rental properties, or summer homes, or owned by snowbirds.
If Melanie Lashlee and the Directors were making any effort at all, they couldn't help but see where the water from the leaking sprinkler head is running over the curb, although now most of the water is soaking into the ground; the large wet spot at the corner of the front yard makes that pretty obvious. That water has to go somewhere, and if it's undermining the street and driveway at the NCHC townhouse, there could be a law suit much sooner than I had anticipated.
NOTE: After all these weeks, the sprinkler head may have been fixed today. If not, I'll let you know in a future update.
Snow Removal:
Has anyone else noticed that a lot of
unnecessary plowing is being done this year? Here in Flagstaff, our
coldest average day has a high of 42 degrees, which means in many
cases the snow doesn't need to be plowed; give it a few hours and it
will melt. Also, on January 15 we had no more than two inches of snow and
yet the contractor spent three or four hours plowing our streets, and
after the snow was plowed, the contractor spread more cinders.
Obviously, the snow that gets plowed has to be put somewhere, so it
gets pushed into a pile, and when the pile gets too big it has to be
moved somewhere else, so we have to pay the contractor to move it,
and that requires a front-end loader and they don't come cheap.
Cinders:
When I looked out my front window this
morning there was some snow in the driveways across from me, but
almost no snow in the street, and yet the contractor had spread more
cinders. We have a 10mph speed limit, very little traffic, and no
hills, so pretty much the only thing the cinders are doing is
hastening the deterioration of our streets. Also, I don't know about
you, but I'm sick and tired of sweeping cinders out of my garage, and
I pity anyone who has small children tracking cinders into the house
onto wood or vinyl floors.
January 11, UPDATE: Cinders damaging our streets.
Today I sent the following email:
Dear Vice President Zimmermann:
In your first Letter of Interest you claimed that you know how things work. Have you looked at our streets lately? I assume you know that the sealcoat on our streets is a protective coating similar to paint. The contractor who is doing the snow removal has been spreading cinders on our streets. What do you think happens every time a car, truck, or school bus drives on the cinders and grinds them into the street? We are only three weeks into winter, and already much of the sealcoat has been worn away and our streets are showing signs of surface pitting. Please stop the contractor from spreading more cinders, and have someone clean up the cinders that are already damaging our streets.
Please know that I will post on my blog this email and your response.
Sincerely,
Bill Lee
www.greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com
January 5, UPDATE: More Money Wasted
Just after 6am, the noise of a snowplow on Eva Loop woke me, so I looked out the window to see how much snow there was. There was no snow at all in my driveway or on my side of the street, and not much on the other side, and yet the snowplow did at least a dozen passes. Our HOA, HOAMCO, and the snowplowing contractor all have billing records, and the City of Flagstaff has records for snowplowing and snow amounts in different neighborhoods. When the time comes to sue, a simple comparison of who did what, when and where will tell the story.
HOA
RULES & REGULATION
