karen
New Member
Posts: 9 
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Post by karen on Oct 16, 2015 19:55:04 GMT -5
I was unable to attend the meeting this past week. I would appreciate any feedback from anyone on the meeting so I am able to keep up with what is going on? Can someone please advise. Thanks!
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Post by sbrett on Oct 16, 2015 20:55:59 GMT -5
Another quarterly meeting past, and for those of you that were there, what did you think? I’m thinking it’s the same old thing over and over again. After a couple of hours my eyes start to glaze over and I walk out of there trying to remember everything. It really shouldn’t be that hard since it really is the same thing every time. I’m nowhere close to being as detailed as the admin but these are the things that stuck out in my mind.
Usual topics:
Water bill – How expensive individual hook ups are. Okay, we get it. It will cost millions and as it was repeated several times, by the time we all chip in and get it done, the cost will be so out there that most of us will not live long enough to see the benefit. We can’t even get people to pay the water bill as is; you REALLY think they are going to chip in thousands of dollars to get individual metering? Asked and answered, many times. Let’s move on.
How we can save on the usage of water- This one was a new one. Someone on the board thinks it’s a GREAT idea to enforce us to all switch out our toilets to low flush toilets. Make it mandatory. There was even talk of trying to get a by-law to state as much. We must all comply otherwise charge us a special assessment until we can prove we have new toilets. Really? Oh yea, and to prove it we would have to take a picture. (Please, don’t get me started on this one)
Good news! We are all caught up on the water bill… at the moment. Even with the special assessment, they are only collecting about $11,000 per month but we owe the water company $15,000. By December we will be back in the hole. (Merry Christmas)
Leaky roofs – Seriously, is there anyone in here that DOESN’T have a leaky roof? Another beat to death topic that never seems to get fixed (literally). A lot of talk about the roofer and if they were competent and actually doing what they should be doing. One person said he’s been trying to get his roof repaired for (I think) 2 years and after many calls, letters and certified letters, Zip. Let’s face it, we all need new roofs, but there is no money for it.
The quality of the roof workers also turned to the maintenance work in general…we all know how that topic goes. We the people think the work is mediocre at best, the board thinks they are jack of all trades and good at it.
I think it was mentioned that bids were put out for something, not sure if it was new roofers or some other maintenance. (Correct me if I’m wrong!) And these guys came in the cheapest. Clearly we get what we pay for. Someone even made the comment that cheaper isn’t always better.
Okay, the good stuff… I won’t tip toe around this one. The fees will be raised. The board voted on raising it $5 on the maintenance side and $15 for water.. When you get that envelope at the end of the year be ready for the increase. If I remember correctly, last year when a bunch of us were trying to vote in a new board, we were accused of wanting a new management company and all the new company would do is raise the rates. Well, we have the same board and they are raising the rates anyway. What do we get for our fees? Crappy maintenance, leaky roofs and unpaid bills. What would we have gotten with a new board? Guess we will never know.
Non-Payers… 366 units, only 260 are paying. Who is paying for those other 106? We are. What is being done about it? Calling people at night asking them to pay. Good news, we collected almost $3,000 for cold calling. Whoo-hoo. Someone also suggested if we pay up front Metro should offer a discount as an incentive.
And last but not least… we created a safety committee. Apparently one of the people not paying is suing us for a fall either over a sidewalk or ice. (Can’t remember exactly) So a safety committee was created, the people that signed up will get an assigned area and walk it periodically to make sure there are no safety hazards.
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Post by Admin on Oct 16, 2015 23:49:01 GMT -5
Thanks for the excellent recap of the meeting. It brought back the many highlights of dull lack of knowledgeable thinking and self-serving actions that have us in the state we're in. As was pointed out, there was much ado about owners being forced to change toilets or face steep fines. Obviously a sign of short-sightedness and very limited knowledge of condominium laws, code requirements and no concern for people's legal rights. Safety committee? I heard Mary Anne actually state confidently, the mason hired to replace sidewalks was excellent. She also noted that this same mason had done an excellent job for her on another community. As much as I wanted to ask what qualifications were used to decide this mason knew what he was doing. One of those in attendance commented on the sidewalk replaced near her place. A neighbor has been driving on the sidewalk and broke it. A decent number of sections have been replaced and the quality of the work is horrible. I know for a fact, it is absolutely some of the worse workmanship I have seen in 30 years of working with concrete contractors. I actually watched the workers for a good park of the time they were doing the work. Anyone seeing the same, would wonder "why are we paying such obviously unskilled workers?" And after seeing the finished (not a word that applies here) work that, we as an association, are being scammed with paying for, I can only wonder why are so many willing to put up with this form of theft? These workers didn't even have the $20 worth of tools needed to do the job, if in fact, they even know what tools are required. I also noted the same "beat-a-dead-horse" manner of promoting the idea, that all of the financial problems are a result of people who don't pay the water bill. And as much as it's true with every condominium and HOA that the economy has hurt the bottom line, due to the loss of revenues from foreclosures and abandonment of units, this is being used as part of a smoke screen. After all, if we can be kept focusing on this one problem, we won't remember to ask, "Where has the money been going for so many years before this?". The maintenance fee increase was approved by the board. $20 for water costs and $5 for maintenance "reserves". Of course it was clarified by Mary Anne, president of Metro Associates, that the maintenance portion would, could be taken out of reserves if needed due to anything. The board also decided to increase the initial new member fee to $1800. Mary Anne, of Metro Associates, stated a previous amendment "they had passed" gave them the right to do so. Many noted aspects of the meeting that should be a concern to all members are; - The meeting notice sent out had "no agenda", which is a legal requirement. That is also a requirement, in order to vote on anything.
- No quorum was present. 122 members are required in person or by proxy. It was claimed 120 were accounted for.
- If you don't know; a quorum is just the minimum number of members needed to have a legally binding vote
- The Board voted on changing the maintenance fees and new member fee, without a quorum to approve either. As in, a direct violation of legal by-laws.
- The Board's comment to an objection to violating the by-laws, was the stated, "the member would have to take it up with the attorney".
- A lack of knowledge of the governing by-laws and assertive desire to side-step them
- Reference to a prior amendment, passed with false statements and no vote.
For those interested, the board was represented by; - George Bischoff, vice president acting for absent president, Martin McDermott
- Peter Alvarado, director, chairperson of safety committee
- Mary Anne Butler Hayes, director, secretary, treasurer, President of Metro Associates
- Paul Hayes, director, former treasurer, and not seen at a meeting for quite some time was absent, CEO of Metro Associates
- Marie Check, asst. secretary, Vice President of Metro Associtates
- Stephen Kotzas, attorney for ?
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Post by njbroker on Oct 17, 2015 12:35:20 GMT -5
Hopefully more will wake up after they realize what one of the highest HOA fees in Brick does for a 2 bdrm under $200k.
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Post by Admin on Oct 17, 2015 13:22:03 GMT -5
Hopefully more will wake up after they realize what one of the highest HOA fees in Brick does for a 2 bdrm under $200k.
It should be noted that the 3 main voices at the meeting in favor of increasing fees everywhere possible, were landlords. Folks who don't live on the property and don't have to worry about the cost out of their pockets, as they will pass it onto their tenants.
Property values just took a dip......again.
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Post by lorelirusty on Oct 18, 2015 10:56:54 GMT -5
It's hard to sit here and watch our community take a turn for the worse. Six years ago when we purchased our home, this community took care of issues and the grounds looked nice and well kept. My husband and I would love to sell our home and move into a single family home with out association fees. We are sick and tired of paying our dues and having nothing taken care of. My roof is leaking like crazy, I have black mold visible in one room, who knows if there is more at this point in time. The association has been "taking care of" my roof for almost 2 years with no success. The last roofer who came to look at my roof said that we needed a whole new roof. It's not fair to all of the 260 units who are paying their dues that the work they so desperately need taken care of is being neglected. Metro associates need to get their act together and manage their funds more closely. Start evicting the people that are not paying their dues. I understand that some units are vacant but I have neighbors that blatantly admit that they do not pay their association dues because it's a waste of money. Obviously this hurts all of us as a community, but at the same time, you can't blame their thought process. I am starting to feel the same way, what are we actually paying for. I however cannot in good conscience stop paying my dues, I just cringe when I have to write my $225 check every month to an association that does not work for its members.
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Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2015 23:23:46 GMT -5
I have to agree with Mister D. If a bunch of us pool our money together for legal fees, it would cost any of us much. With just 50 of the members, it would run $100 or less for each of us. A 100 of us would only need to put up $50 per owner. That's darn cheap for fixing the corruption of the board members. I know the folks trying to get a legal election earlier this year was saying the main goal was to get the "conflict of interest" off the board, because of the Metro people controlling our board, but now the way the crony actions of the board and the crony attorney, we need to get those "criminals" out. Its no wonder we are losing so much money. I've talked to neighbors who said they don't pay the maintenance for some time because they are tired of paying and seeing the whole property keep deteriorating. At the meeting they kept claiming the problem is the non-payers and the cost fo water. That's BS. I was following the postings on the mua payments and all the payments Maryann claims to make last year and this year were mostly payments to pay off the previous years. Our bill for 2014 wasnt paid off until August. With the amount of lies told to us by Maryann year after year and the incredibly bad management its no wonder we are losing money. Criminals control the money and we let them get away with hiding where they put it. I guess until more are willing to quit complaining and do something, we'll just keep losing property values, our health, our rights to live in comfort. And lets not forget we'll just keep giving our money to criminals and cronies. As for me, I have a crisp $100 bill ready to go. This was posted under the July 15th mtg/Special Assessment. >> Read Posting 399 << It says what a lot of us have been feeling. I know I'm in for pooling our money. |
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Post by Mister D on Oct 22, 2015 7:26:42 GMT -5
Hopefully more will wake up after they realize what one of the highest HOA fees in Brick does for a 2 bdrm under $200k.
It should be noted that the 3 main voices at the meeting in favor of increasing fees everywhere possible, were landlords. Folks who don't live on the property and don't have to worry about the cost out of their pockets, as they will pass it onto their tenants.
Property values just took a dip......again.
Becoming a landlord may be the only choice I have to turn this situation around... somewhat. I still would not agree with raising this already absurd association fee. |
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Post by sbrett on Dec 30, 2015 18:37:56 GMT -5
There’s a new post for the January 2016 meeting, but the response is disappointing. What do we do to get everyone’s attention and make people aware of what’s going on? 2015 is coming to a close and the only change I see is everyone throwing in the towel and giving up on trying to make this a better community. We have fought hard this year and definitely hit hurdles, but that’s not a reason to going back to the ‘what I don’t know won’t hurt you’ mindset. I’m commenting under this post so you can refresh on the recap of October and remember what’s going on, hopefully get a little enthusiasm back into the homeowners. I’m sure you all received the great Christmas present from Metro notifying you of the increase in our monthly fees. The letter stated that during the Oct 14th meeting the OWNERS suggested raising the fee; I don’t remember it going exactly that way. They suggested... who is THEY? The owners on the board, that’s who. The ones that don’t actually live in the community. What owner in their right mind would suggest paying more and getting nothing in return? Ones that can pass the cost on to people they are renting to. So the increase, what are we paying for? $5 extra for maintenance, which I can’t imagine that extra 5 is going to improve anything; and $15 extra for water. Honestly for what we pay to Metro and the MUA for water and sewer I expect gold to come out of my faucet. Metro was thrilled that the water bill was paid off because of the special assessment. It was paid off because the hard working people that can barely get by are paying for the non-payers. What’s going to happen next year when we run short again? A special assessment on top of the already raised monthly fee? The leaky roofs, anything being done about that? Always a pain point. The letter stated that there are six roofs beyond repair. Pretty sad that we let it get to that condition. These are the things that get discussed at the meetings. If people don’t show up, the board manages to do whatever they want and look where those choices have gotten us so far. Come to the meeting! January 20th, 8PM. I’m sure they made it that late to discourage you but please come. Its only one night. You need to know what’s going on in your neighborhood and stop letting other people make the decisions for you on how the community is run. *January 20th, 8PM – Millbrook Manor*
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