Cedar Springs HOA Special Meeting March 16, 2024

Cedar Springs Homeowners Association
2024 Special Association Meeting
March 16, 2024
Zoom and In Person

 

CALL TO ORDER 10:15 in the Windermere Conference Room & on Zoom

ROLL CALL

Present: Stannert (1801), Thorngate (1802), Caracciolo (1804), Mickelson (1815), Winge (1817), Perry (1819), Cawrse (1902), Harper (1909), Shotwell/Lamborn (1910), Strandberg (1802 Ct.), Janicula (1811 Ct.), Guard (1813 Ct.)

 

Zoom:  Metcalfe/Terrell (1903), Kudelko (1809)

 

Proxy: Laiche (1806), Welchko (1807), Radke (1901), Gauthier (1813)

 

Absent: Petrin (1808),Vorel (1810), Rietzel (1811), Kezar (1803), Dale (1805), Moore (1907), Yankacy (1812), Petro (1908), Westlake (1804 Ct.), Theny (1806 Ct.)

 

NEW BUSINESS

Curtis Payne from Farmers Insurance answered questions about insurance rates, coordinating personal insurance and HOA insurance, and options of raising deductibles. 

 

Rates going up 20-80 percent across the board because of natural disasters around the country. Ours went up 25%. One way to decrease this is to increase deductible and have owners increase their personal coverage. 

 

CCR’s require that owner’s have and submit proof of personal insurance that covers HOA insurance deductible (currently $2,500). Owners can have your insurance company send it to Windermere. 

 

Our current policy rebuilds the building back to how you purchased it. Owners advised to talk to your insurance agent about what needs to be covered, including upgrades to flooring, cabinets, etc. Each owner should have photos of improvements that have been made. Can provide these to Windermere. Any improvement above $1,000 should be reported to HOA. 

Condo insurance covers all buildings. Deductible is per event. Current deductible is $2,500. If we increase HOA deductible to $25,000, then homeowners need to increase their coverage to at least $25,000. We have to police these. Several homeowners reported that increasing their coverage was less than $25 per year. 

 

Curtis discussed HO6 which covers your belongings, liability, and is designed to cover losses to the structure of your unit that your condo association's master policy won't.

 

Earthquake insurance: also went up quite a bit. It has the same coverage with a 10% deductible. Always catastrophic policy. $1.5 million deductible. We renewed Farmers at the current rate so we’d have continuous coverage. Most likely will do this for March as well.  At the annual meeting, we expected a 10% increase and approved $34,000, but it went up much more and we have a $6,563.26 shortfall.

 

Insurance currently runs from Feb 25 - Feb 24. Earthquake gets big payment in Feb and then spread out over next months thru Dec 31. 

 

$25K deductible would save a good bit. Must make sure that each homeowner has coverage.

 

Mary Guard made a motion to transfer $6,563.26 from the operating budget to the insurance budget. Art Shotwell seconded. Discussion included option of dropping earthquake insurance, getting quotes from other agencies (Sate Farm, American Family, CAI). Motion passed.

 

Motion: Art Shotwell made a motion to get 2 more estimates at each deductible ($2,500 & $25,00) and before the end of year, inform homeowners that there’s a possibility of raising deductibles and to also pursue changing start/ stop dates to Jan1/Dec 31. Joan Mickelson seconded. Discussed changing deductible to 25K, but need time to get homeowners on board. Will use docusign when needed to get owner’s signatures of proof of insurance. Motion passed.

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:19

 

Next board meeting: TBA

Respectfully submitted by Suzanne Metcalfe, CS HOA secretary

Cedar Springs HOA Special Board Meeting Minutes February 16, 2024

Cedar Springs HOA Special Board Meeting
February 16, 2024 2 PM
Windermere Real Estate Office & Zoom 

●      Meeting called to order at 2:05

●      Attending

○      Board Members:  Paul Stannert, Art Shotwell, Cele Westlake, Suzanne Metcalfe

○      Zoom: Mary Guard

○      Staff:  Donna Cunningham

○      Homeowners: Kippy Stranberg, Joe Terrell

●      Insurance cost discussion

○      Heather Ladd from State Farm presented a quote, suggested the option of insuring each building separately, answered questions about individual insurance coordinating with HOA insurance, loss assessment coverage, and options. Suggested keeping earthquake insurance with our current company, Farmers. 

○      We discussed various deductible options and consequences, amount of coverage homeowners be required to have, insuring entire complex versus each building.

○      Art made a motion to continue HOA insurance at $2,500 deductible and schedule a special meeting with owners to discuss insurance. Cele seconded. Motion passed. 

○      Cele moved to send a letter calling for a special HOA membership meeting to discuss insurance and possibility of raising dues. Mary seconded. Motion passed.

■      The board will look at options and present its recommendation.

■      Let homeowners know of their responsibility regarding individual insurance coverage.

■      Plan to have an insurance agent present to answer questions.

●      Special HOA meeting scheduled for March 16, 2024 

●      Cele discussed damage done by Ziply. Ziply will pay for the damage from the installation. Water lines need to be cleared out. Suggested that we have Herberth do this. 

●      Brief discussion about mulching and landscaping. 

●      Meeting adjourned 3:57

Respectfully submitted,

Suzanne Metcalfe, Cedar Spring HOA Secretary

Cedar Springs HOA Owners Annual Meeting Minutes January 27, 2024

Cedar Springs Homeowners Association

2024 Annual Association Meeting

January 27, 2024

Zoom and In Person

CALL TO ORDER 10;02 in the Windermere Conference Room & on Zoom

Art welcomed homeowners and explained the math error in his first letter. Roofing and painting are both coming up and will be major costs. Proposing increasing dues $25 this year to $400. Trying to only use the reserve account for long-term expenses. A big project this year has been  fencing. 

 

INTRODUCTION OF 2023 BOARD

Donna Cunningham: Windermere Manager

Art Shotwell: President

Bruce Janicula: Landscaping

Cele Westlake: Treasurer

Kippy Strandberg: Member at Large

Joan Mickelson: Member at Large

Simone Caracciolo: Member at Large

Suzanne Metcalfe: Secretary

 

ROLL CALL

Present: Stannert (1801), Thorngate (1802), Caracciolo (1804), Laiche (1806), Weichko (1807), Yankacy (1812), Gauthier (1813), Winge (1817), Cawrse (1902),  Metcalfe/Terrell (1903), Harper (1909), Shotwell/Lamborn (1910), Strandberg (1802 Ct.), Westlake (1804 Ct.), Janicula (1811 Ct.)

Zoom: Guard (1813 Ct.)

 

Proxy: Kezar (1803), Dale (1805), Moore (1907), 

 

Absent:  Petrin (1808), Kudelko (1809), Vorel (1810), Rietzel (1811), 

Yankacy (1812), Mickelson (1815),  Perry (1819), Radke (1901), Petro (1908), Theny (1806 Ct.),

 

APPROVAL OF CSHOA ANNUAL MEETING 2023 MINUTES:

Cele moved to waive reading the March 5, 2022 Annual Meeting Minutes and Simone seconded. Motion passed.

 

PRESIDENT REPORT

Major Events of 2023

●      Fencing

Upcoming Events

●      Roofing and painting

Finances

●      Trying to keep the Reserve Account to long-term and replacement only

●      All other routing expenses to come out of Operating Acoount

Looking for board members

 

ASSOCIATION MANAGER REPORT

●      Property Check ongoing

●      Roof issues: please report to Donna Cunningham. Bell Roofs will be out to look at possible issues.

●      Water Sensors

SECRETARY REPORT

Water sensors

●      Everyone must have one by dishwasher, washing machine, and icemaker/water dispenser on fridge (if have one)

●      Please fill out Water Sensor Form due every year. We will send out to those not present.

●      Check battery every year/ test them

●      A good idea to give a neighbor a key and let someone know when you are out of town. 

●      Art Shotwell has more if you need them.

Contact Information should be updated with Donna Cunningham at Windermere

 

LANDSCAPING REPORT

Bruce Janicula gave an overview of 2023

●      Since 2018, but time to let it go. He bid the position goodbye. Please respect the next Landscape coordinator.

●      We have great vendors, lawn, tree trimming, fence repairs, etc. Please consider using them in the future

●      2023 Overview

○      Removed 2 trees in Court area as well as roots. This was a big expense.

○      Sprinkler replacement was started in 2019 and completed this year. Although this was costly, it has been a good expenditure. Water rates have been reduced and sprinkler heads don’t need to be replaced. 

○      2023 budget was well budgeted, but we spent $9,000 from the reserve. 2024 budget is going to be reduced and that should go to the reserve (without unexpected expenditures). 

○      There was a question about mulch. 3 years ago we changed to 3 phases of mulching. 1st phase: Front and sides facing street, entrance way, islands. 2nd Phase: Backs. 3rd Phase: Court area  We spent $4,840.

●      Lexie thanked Bruce and Linda for their hard work and dedication. 

●      Good word put in for Herberth and his wife as well as all the other vendors.

 

TREASURER’S REPORT

Cele Westlake reviewed the 2023 Statement of Assessments and Expenses forms. 3 Accounts: Insurance, Operations, and Reserve. Dues discussion. Our reserve account will start to build back up now that painting is done. 

●      Landscape is our biggest expense. 

●      Insurance 2nd largest. We don’t know this year’s cost and won’t know until February as we renew on March 1st. We estimated $34,000

●      Overall we spent $106K in 2023. We are earning more interest due to purchasing a CD. Hoping to put more money into CDs as we have funds.

●      Reserve started at $31,790 and we ended 2023 with $51,850. We’ve made progress. How can we keep costs down? Looking at using the reserve for only long-term improvements (as opposed to a slush fund) and have moved more money into operations to provide for those unexpected expenses as the year goes on.

●      Cele has a spreadsheet with all expenses. Donna will put these in the portal.

●      Question about reserve study. These are required by state law every 3 years. These are in the portal. Helps for planning. Helps us avoid special assessments. Last study done in 2022. We will do one this year. 

 

2024 BUDGET

●      2 formats, but they amount same.

●      Anticipating raising the dues to $400 and will need to go to $425 eventually. Cost raising due to age of buildings–roofs, etc.

●      Total income $133,000. See proposed budget

●      We removed roof treatment by AllServ. Discussion of roof treatments and chlorine–by the time it comes off the roof, it loses its power. 

●      The board has removed mailbox replacements from the budget. Owners may replace their mailboxes with locking ones if they look similar.

●      Discussed how our dues break down by Operations/Insurance/Reserve

○      Insurance is starting with $3,800 in account. We’re estimating around 10% increase.

○      Reserve account will be $79,00 if we don’t take anything out. But we have some roof repairs coming up. This protects the buildings long-term. 

○      Operations budget is higher because we moved some things that used to come out of reserves into it, and Windermere expenses have also gone up from $700 to $770 per month.

●      This budget has minimum expenditures. 

●      Big thank you to Cele Westlake for all her long hours and hard work. She is very diligent and keeps a monthly balance to compare with Donna’s accounting. 

●      Paul Stannert asked for clarification of budget numbers and suggested that we consider a larger raise in dues to continue the reserve account increase at around 8%. Doug asked about roof repair issues and suggested maybe increasing dues a bit more. 

●      Doug Winge made a motion that proposed dues be increased to $420 starting in March and extra not shown in board’s proposed budget go into reserve account. Paul Stannert seconded. Extensive discussion of upcoming expenses, how to allocate the extra money, avoiding special assessments, and looking at the upcoming reserve study. Motion was revised and accepted by Doug. Motion: Proposed dues be increased to $420 starting in March with the extra not shown in the board’s proposed budget go into the reserve account. Kippy Strandberg called for the question. 17 voted yes. 

AUDIT BALLOT VOTE

●      Audit will cost $2,220. 

●      Kippy made a motion to forgo the audit in 2024 and Simone seconded. Motion passed. 

NEW BUSINESS

●      CCRs need to be updated in 2024.

●      Some homeowners have taken the foam in gutters out. Look into having them all done next time the gutters are cleaned.

●      2024 BOARD

○      President: Paul Stannert

○      Treasurer: Cele Westlake

○      Member at Large: Mary Guard

○      Vice president: Art Shotwell

○      Secretary: Suzanne Metcalfe

○      Landscaping: Windermere Manager

 

THANK YOUS

●      Simone for bringing goodies

●      Bruce for all his hard work on the landscaping

●      Board for all their time and effort

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:10

 

Next board meeting February 16 at 2 PM at Windermere

 

Respectfully submitted by Suzanne Metcalfe