House Rules and Regulations Follow Up

Bordeaux HOA,

There has been some concern on the rental policy section of the House Rules and Regulations document sent out prior to this letter. This is a section that we are very interested in talking to the community about and we look forward to our next meeting where we can identify what you want to change or add to this document. Please read section 7.1 in the CC & R’s in regards to anyone concerned if the board has the right to create an House Rules and Regulations document. The Board wants to work with the community to get this right and we know we will not make everyone happy but our goal is to come as close to perfection as we can. Please be patient with us as we have tried to get this document out for almost a year and have gotten feedback from community members who had very constructive feedback.

Ideally we would like to see what sections of the document we would like set in stone and add to our CC & R’s. Please send your ideas to Geri Pentz. We would like to put a list together to go over at our next meeting. Right now we are planning to keep our meeting time of July 12^th.

Our top complaints from homeowners are the lack of landscaping consistency, high rental percentage and number of cars parking in the street. We do have an HOA lawyer that we have been working with to help us create the House Rules and Regulations document.

Restricting the number of rentals is the hot topic issue and many of us including some board members want to eventually rent. The question we have to ask ourselves is what is best for the community. What number of rental properties should we allow? Does having a higher percentage of rentals effective the community we live in and possibly the ability to sell our home? These are the questions we want everyone to start thinking about and to bring constructive feedback. There have been situations where homeowners have called our association management company and have been very rude. We ask to please treat everyone in the community with respect and if you want to send an angry email; that is preferred over an angry phone call. She works primarily as a liaison for us and informs the board of issues so we can identify who will be working on that particular issue.

We are all busy and if you are passionate about issues we can use your enthusiasm at our annual meetings which we have had little interest in the past couple years. What we need is more involvement from our community. The board will be voting on a new board member at our next annual meeting and if you are interested in volunteering for the community we would appreciate the help. Right now the current structure for the board is the President is on a three year term, Secretary is on a two year term and the Vice President is on a one year term which will end at our next annual meeting.

I’m sure there will be many more issues to go over regarding the HR & R and we actually are glad we stirred the pot here to wake up our community. Our main goal is to get more community involvement and if that has to happen with some controversy then so be it. We all want a community that is safe, looks great and is managed appropriately and that is exactly what we are trying to accomplish. This isn’t an easy road for anyone and your HOA Board has been working tirelessly to get us to that goal.

A short list of what your Board has accomplished so far:

Setup a relationship with the City of Everett Police Department to be a part of their Block Watch program. Installed Block Watch and No Trespassing Signs in all major areas of our community to try and prevent crime and send a message that we are a connected community that will look out for one another.

Design and integrate an irrigation system into our community park and entrance sign area. We all constantly monitor and personally manage the park area to save money on the irrigation system maintenance. We have learned how to use the system and turn it on, off and change the settings ourselves instead of paying a trip charge to an irrigation specialist. We constantly pick up trash from neighbors/kids and keep the doggy pickup bags filled to minimize pet waste left on the grass.

The Board has been working with the NGPA/WA Adopt a Stream to clean up our stream that is connected to Silver Lake. Over 100 hours have been spent cleaning up the BlackBerry bushes and weeds near the stream and pond in our NGPA. We also worked with the Silver Lake Association to plant new flower beds on the sidewalk off of 19^th and install a “Welcome to Silver Lake” sign.

Although the basketball lines are not perfect, we had some of the kids help with this project so they also could be involved in our community. We have in many occasions kept our community safe by educating some of the kids in our neighborhood about how to handle kids from other communities that vandalize our community or cause other problems. There have been numerous occasions where one of those kids has informed us about suspicious activity that we were able to handle without the help of police support.

The House Rules and Regulations document and many others have been done completely by the board and we have saved a significant amount of revenue by not having to outsource this.

We constantly are looking for “Best Pricing” for Landscaping, Irrigation and all other paid services and have saved a significant amount by choosing to go with another landscaper and irrigation company. Many times we have personally done manual labor and have asked the community to help which produced a low turnout. For those that did come out and help we thank you very much for your support and as an example the latest addition of the 44 arborvitaes was planted by the board and a couple gracious homeowners.

The tree security project was the final project we plan on doing for awhile as our current goal is to put enough in savings. Our lawyer is working with a reserve specialist to identify what we need to have in our reserves in case of an emergency.  This data will be collected and distributed at our next annual meeting.

We started working with an HOA Lawyer to make sure we are doing the best job we can  and we will continue to work with them in the future to accomplish the list of goals we have for our community.  There are a lot of other things that the Board does on a daily basis that is not seen. This really is a thankless job and we would appreciate more community involvement in the future. We are looking forward to what our community will grow to and although the last few years has been tough we strongly feel that we will get back to a better place in the coming years.

Thanks,


--
Bordeaux HOA

Public Forum on Paine Field Airport

November 4, 2010 at 6:00pm

Activity Center OnSilverLake.net

11525 19th Ave/Bothell-Everett Hwy 527

Everett WA 98208

Silver Lake residents, business owners, employees, and civic leaders 

can see how future plans for Paine Field will impact the community and 

can share ideas on the local airport’s growth. 

Guest speaker Bill Dolan, Paine Field Deputy Director shares the history and 

future plans for Snohomish County Airport.

Come early and sample some BBQ Brats, Fall Salads, Cider & Eggnog and 

meet you neighbors. Presented by the Silver Lake Action Committee and 

Everett Office of Neighborhoods.

Join the discussion, share your opinion!

HR & R Mailing

Bordeaux HOA,
To answer the looming question of why should we have a House Rules and Regulations Document?

The Board has worked very hard on creating this document and has worked with community members to critique it multiple times. We are open to future suggestions and will consider making changes at our next community meeting (TBD). Please email Geri Pentz with all of our ideas and concerns to "Acer NW" ,  and she will forward them on to the Board for review.


Imagine, if you would, a community association where all residents were considerate, caring, responsible and respectful to one another. Wouldn't that be wonderful? And, in an ideal world, that is what all community associations would experience. The reality, however, is that while many association residents do try to be thoughtful neighbors, many others (at least on occasion) forget that they are living in a unique community environment. These residents may be less than considerate and respectful of their neighbors. It is precisely for this reason that community associations need to create and enforce house rules.

These rules help to ensure a positive and reasonably safe living environment for all residents. House Rules must be carefully and thoughtfully planned. They should be reasonable and address the needs of the community residents. They may cover such areas as quiet hours, pets, hazards, common areas, interior/exterior modifications, parking, etc... When board members are developing house rules, they should encourage open dialogue between themselves and the other residents. If everyone feels they have been part of the process, there will be fewer complaints about violation notices. Boards need to remember to keep rules reasonable and make sure rules do not ignore or discriminate against any one group. Equally, the rules must not favor any one group. If rules are carefully drafted, the result should be a safe and harmonious living environment for the entire community.

In the best case, with rules in place, everything should now run smoothly. Reality, again, is quite different. For various reasons, House Rules will always be violated. Some residents may feel the rules are just "on paper" and are not actually going to be enforced. They may feel there is no real need to be concerned about following the rules. Others, perhaps coming from a single family home, may not see the necessity for any rules and will choose to ignore them. Many others, who may not have been involved in the drafting of the rules, probably do not even read them and, thus, are unaware of any House Rules. All of this changes when someone gets their first violation letter. This is when the property manager may receive angry phone calls and hear things like the following: "I've never heard of that before!", or "There are too many rules!", or, "What about my neighbors? They break lots of rules!" and, finally, "Stop harassing me!" These are a few of the more common responses to violation letters.

How can a property manager, working with the board of directors, help to minimize such confrontational encounters? Human nature is such that anger and frustration can never be totally eliminated, but there are at least three keys to successful management of House Rules and violations that will help to reduce the degree of anger directed at the board and/or property manager.

The first key is education. Homeowners must be given many opportunities to learn exactly what the rules are. The first time would be at the time of purchase. House Rules should be included in their initial packet of documents. Often, however, these rules are lost in the piles of papers owners must deal with during this stressful time. Another opportunity would be right after new residents move in. A Welcoming Committee or designated board member could drop by with a Welcome Packet containing a welcome message and a copy of the House Rules. They might also include a small house-warming gift, such as a plant. Another opportunity to educate residents would be in a regular newsletter. Education is never a one time thing; it is always on-going.

A second key to successful enforcement is communication. Open communication between owners, board members and the property manager is essential to resolving problems before they become serious issues. All owners also should be aware that House Rules are not set in stone. Without compromising safety or discrimination concerns, rules should be reviewed periodically and revised to reflect changes within the community. Homeowners should be encouraged to add their suggestions to this process. All association members need to know they have a voice in rule-making and they also have the right to appeal violation notices. A property manager should always remember that an important part of communication is listening. Sometimes an irate homeowner/resident can be calmed down simply because someone was willing to listen to his/her story.

The third key to creating a better mind-set on House Rules is in consistent enforcement. Associations need to have a clearly defined procedure to be followed. It should include courtesy letters, warning letters, followed by an escalating fine system. Without such a system, rules are unenforceable and will be ignored by many. When a violation is reported, with the Board's verification and direction, the property manager should follow-up with the proper notification of violation in a consistent manner. This will ensure that residents do not feel they are being singled out. It avoids potential issues of discrimination. At the same time, owners need to recognize that if a violation is not reported, no action will result. It may appear to some owners that a violation is being ignored, when, actually, it was never reported. Again, communication and education are essential to creating a positive attitude toward House Rules and an understanding of their necessity. Everyone should know that rules will be enforced consistently to protect the rights of all residents. If most owners understand the need for rules, feel they have a voice in the process, and see that rules are enforced consistently, there should be less frustration and upset.

Having said that, disputes about House Rules will remain a part of the many challenges community associations continually face. The goal of the property manager should be to guide board members in the establishment of reasonable rules and the development of a policy regarding enforcement. The property manager should also be available to facilitate association members toward a peaceful resolution of House Rule disputes. Education, open communication and consistent enforcement are the keys to the most successful management of this often contentious area. The goal is always to work towards creating a safe and harmonious community where quality of life issues are addressed and all residents are treated fairly.
Thanks for working with us to make this successful and not a headache.

thanks,
--
Bordeaux HOA