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Bylaws & Budgets
Our 2004 Bylaws Committee, led by three members of our community, worked
for months to rewrite our Bylaws and C&Rs, excluding the developer, including
the new State Statutes' requirements and providing thoughtful, conservative and balanced
revisions.
The 2004 Board's suggested amount for annual assessments ($489.55 total divided into two
amounts due Jan & Jul 2005)reflected and covered the 2005 budget
they developed and that which was actually utilized the majority of the 2005 year.
This budget was designed to have a second portion of the total $489.55 annual assessment
invoiced (~ $157.00), in July 2005.
The SLHOA members were never invoiced for the remainder of that
year's revenue.
The 2005 Board of Directors preferred to adjust the 2005 budget
(to require a total of $600.00 per year per unit; $500 for the operating budget and $100
for the Road Reserve).
Those who voted, passed this revised budget on October 18, 2005.
A 2006 proposed budget (continuing at $600 per unit) was sent to members by postal service,
as is required by our documents and the meeting to this revised budget was held on January
17, 2006. The BoD passed this budget at that meeting.
In 2007, the BOD determined there was no meed to increase the annual assessments and $600
total was continued as the annual assessment for members. There has been no increase to the annual assessments for
2008 or 2009.
The current BoD has not determined the 2010 budget, as yet. When it is determined,
each member will receive by U.S.P.S., a copy of it, as well as an annouoncement regarding the date, place and time of the
2010 Budget Meeting. This is a legal requirement per our Bylaws.
(11.12.09)
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Bylaws and C&R Proposed
Revisions
Note:
The following are general brief notes (not exact quotes or complete paragraphs) of further recommended revisions made
by our association attorney that were read at the July 2005 BOD meeting. Since there was no copy for the membership
to review and follow at this meeting, a full list of recommended changes that the Byaws Committee wrote (and those added
by the BOD as well as the association attorney) is not listed here:
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Members who are delinquent in paying
assessments may not vote.
(Of course, per State Statutes, they must be in arrears 90 days prior to losing their right to vote.)
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A members meeting may be called by 30%
of the members eligible to vote. (This matches the State Statutes. Our current requirement
is a "majority" which is 51% of the voting members. It is allowed to use the lower % requirement per SS. )
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Staggered board elections with the three
receiving the most votes to serve for two years and the other two to serve for one year. (Designed
by the Bylaws Committee in 2004.)
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Rename the Landscaping Committee the
"Garden Club".
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Establishing a “Covenants Committee”
to operate as a Fines Committee and assess $100 per day fines to members found to violate the Covenants & Restirctions
of the SL Community…with an opportunity to be heard by such a “Covenants Committee”.
(Assessing fines for violations has been in our Covenants & Restrictions since June of 2000. The maximum annual
fine according to current State Statutes is $1000. A member may not be restricted from voting for non-payment of a fine,
nor may foreclosure be an option to force payment of a fine. Once the fine reaches $1000, the Association may sue the
member in court for the fine total and court costs.
-
The 2007 BOD appointed a "Due Process" Committee which is another name for a Fines Committee.
The Committee possibly has three members and no report on this committee has been heard since it's creation in 2007.
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A Road Reserve (voted as a Reserve by
the 2003 BoD) established at $100 per year per lot and may be only used for road resurface purposes. This reserve is in addition to the regular annual operating assessment, operating contingency fund or
any other special assessments levied. (The current $100/per lot per year Road Reserve was established
in 2003 through the efforts of the then Vice-President, Mr. R. Gursky. Mr. Gursky himself researched the need and
worked the estimate of the amount that may be needed to resurface our roads as they become aged and developed this reserve
plan for the Association. The 2003 BOD voted to accept this reserve and it was added to the budget requirements for
2004. State Statutes now preclude such dedicated road reserves to be used for anything else.)
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Annual assessments may be due in
two portions on January 1st and June 1st of each year. (This was a recommendation
by the Bylaws Committee in 2004, but is still not according to our Bylaws.)
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Change of the current 10% cap
on annual assessment increases – Board members wish this cap to be increased to 15%.
The 2005 BOD decided this was not a good idea and removed it from the proposed changes.
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Special Assessments – May be levied
for capital improvements...or other
financial need as deemed necessary by the BOD, without a vote by the members. (This
underlined part above is apparently a change suggested by our previous attorney, that the board felt
"uncomfortable" with at this August 16, 2005 BOD meeting and eventually did not support.)
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The maximum total annual assessment for
2005 may be set at $600. (Although the 2004 BOD developed a budget for 2005 that totaled
$489.55 per lot per year [presented as recommended to be collected $332.75 in January 2005 and $156.80 in July 2005], this
2005 revised budget included reserves for other items ($110.45 x 469 homes = $51,801.05). Note:
The board took great pains to educate the community regarding the need for further funding and the $600 total annual assessment
for 2005 (an increase of $110.45) was passed by an appropriate membership majority on October 18, 2005.)
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Detached auxiliary buildings and doghouses
must be of same exterior as home and not be visible from the street. (2004 Bylaws Committee
recommendation)
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Basketball backboards and skateboard
ramps must be stored indoors or on the side of the dwelling and not visible from the street.
(Skateboard ramps were added)
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Any fireworks that go up in the air are
not allowed in SL.
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All proposals for structures to the ARC
must be drawn and scaled by licensed engineers.
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Page 10 was deemed "not useful"
at the July meeting. (The full contents
contents of page 10 remain unclear at the time of this meeting.)
The 2005 Board of Directors voted unanimously to accept their changes as
noted/discussed/amended above.
It may be wise for each SL member to reflect on each of the proposed
items in the Bylaw and C&R changes carefully before voting (or allowing others to vote with their
proxy) on these important documents.
The previous Boards all recognized our community requires a substantial amount of money to
safely cover the maintenance of our common areas and those other required costs of a large, private, gated, deed-restricted
community. They also recognized that they are required by law to provide services to the community and may not
cut services to the community because some members refuse to pay their assessments.
When lack of funds gave them no choice, previous boards fairly and equally invoiced
all the membership a special/corrected/adjusted assessment ($150-$175) to replenish the reserves and maintain the community
properly. They did their legal and moral duty...popular, or not.
The 2006 Board realizes the full costs involved and and recognizes that community volunteers,
while well-meaning and certainly a great asset in many ways, cannot provide the professional level and continuity of services
that are legally expected and required for this large development.
In addition, the legal issues of possible injuries to the members while providing such
services to the association, make utilizing members as repair/service personnel, an unwise idea. Thoughtful changes
to our documents should be made to update them and keep our community strong.
It is hoped that everyone will carefully evaluate the Bylaw and C&R changes proposed.
These have not yet been provided in full to the membership to review and discuss, as yet. Until they are changed
by a vote of the membership, the current Bylaws and C&Rs remain the legal the governing documents
for this association.
It is also hoped that all who are past due in annual, special/corrected or adjusted assessments
and other monies due our association, will remit these promptly. Let us build up our community together.
(11.12.09)
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