Above: Intermittently, for a time, boards informed owners of association finances
Newsletter 2008 excerpt is an example of earlier board willingness to communicate with owners.
The boards of 2019-2021 prefer not to do so.
https://tinyurl.com/BLMH2021
Life and observations in a HOA in the Briarcliffe Subdivision of Wheaton Illinois
Best if viewed on a PC
"Briarcliffe Lakes Manor Homes" and "Briarcliffe Lakes Homeowners Association"
Updated Surplus Numbers
Average fees prior to 2019
Better budgeting could have resulted in lower fees
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Response of Management to My Letter of February 14, 2007
From my archives. On February 14, 2007 I wrote a letter to management with separate copies mailed to each board member. That letter is the previous post. This is the mailed response by the Director of Management at our HOA management firm:
"March 12, 2007
Dear Mr. [My name]
On behalf of the Board of Directors and management, 1 would like to thank you for your correspondence pertaining lo the financial condition of the Briarcliffe Lakes Manor Homes Condominium Association. Since your correspondence arrived shortly after the February meeting of the Board of Directors, it was placed on the agenda of the March meeting. All of the members of the Board expressed their comments and certainly recognized the thoughtful approach that you have taken.
Your comments are and were echoed by the Board members. Sometimes it is a very close balance between structuring the assessment level while still providing the necessary funding to not only maintain the day-to-day operations of the Association; and, still be able to the fund the long-term needs of the Association for capital repairs. These decisions are always difficult. But you, like the Board of Directors, are concerned about maintaining the value of the properly. They would prefer paying a little more each month than being faced with the much more difficult financial task of paying for a special assessment.
Again, thank you for your thoughtful approach to your correspondence.
[Signed, The Director of Management, with copies to the manager and the board]"
Note:
In 2007 the board was clearly struggling with finances. I find this letter of response somewhat ironic. About 18 months later, when some owners arrived at HOA board meetings in 2008 and assailed the board and management, they said the board was not responsive, controlled communications and was unfair and uncaring. The above letter is one of the reasons I challenged those owners and that 2008 replacement board.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hey Norm,
ReplyDeleteAny comment on the letters sent out to unit owners from the city of Wheaton basically saying 'fix your fireplace by January 2016 or you and the HoA will be sued'? This seems like it answers the years long question 'what is the city going to do'?
This is going to be a sh!tstorm.