If you found your way to the Annual Meeting of November 30, 2023 you may be wondering why you were there. Because someone dropped you a flyer and you believed they were interested in what you thought about the Homeowners Association Budget? Or maybe because you know it is important to have a Homeowners Association in these troubled times.
So let me explain to you what happened at the Annual Meeting and assure you that there are those who want you to be there and engaged in what is happening in our community. If you note the second item on the Agenda for the Annual Meeting of the Members is the determination of a Quorum of members. What’s that? You can read about that in the governing document linked here: https://thecrystalkey.info/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CK-Docs-Part-2.pdf in the Bylaws Article VII Meetings. It seems to say that at least half the voting members have to show up in person or by proxy. I believe we have 83 homes here and that many members. I do not think that a Quorum has happened for some years now and the elections are not being held. And the results are as expected with a budget full of irregularities that should not be allowed.
The Directors suggested that the bylaws for the Quorum needed to be changed to correct this problem. That would be a very bad mistake for members as it removes the protection of getting a popular presence for a vote. The Quorum can be filled by proxy and there just appeared to be no effort to make that happen. If you cannot attend this meeting if it gets rescheduled, please get your proxy to someone who can. And we need people to vote for, who care about this community.
The directors skipped over the Annual Meeting of the Members without an adjournment, while residents watched them go to their Directors meeting and try to approve the budget. There were vocal objections to the increased maintenance and Cable TV.
The Annual Meeting can be rescheduled and elections held, but we will need participation. If we are not so organized for this year, we still need to address the budget. Your Proxy was in the same package as your meeting notice. If you did not keep it, here is the whole packet:
Where is this money going? There is a $4,300 overage for Tree Trimming and the budget for such raised $2,000. I had problems from some landscapers who claimed to be Friends of the HOA and did some disastrous work (that cost a whole lot of money) on a lot adjoining mine, that used to be one of the most beautiful lots on the block. And I have been subsequently harassed by the homeowner who claims that the HOA is giving him rights to take adverse possession of my property. Now there is a boundary dispute and it has come to light that there are problems with plat, as asbuilt surveys were never done for the community. So members should be aware there may be a Great Reset of property lines and if we are not careful, an assessment that nobody wants, to pay for the surveying. What is going on with these tree trimming landscapers?
We are all paying around $50/mo for cable TV and one attendee at the November 30th meeting, said they still had to pay $140/mo for high speed internet. And we have five years on this contract. I had a deal from Comcast for $70/mo for a year that is now back up to $90/mo. My bill is shown below. We all need this contract renegotiated to get us all $70/mo high speed internet deals for the rest of the contract. I am wired for gigabit speed. Fiber to the premisis (FTTP) would be better and that is what we need five years from now.
Hopefully we will all be hearing about a rescheduled meeting soon. There is an email address on the contact page if you have any questions about this website.