Next HOA Board Meeting
Our next Board meeting will be Wednesday September 15, 2010 at 6:30 at Dover Shores Communiy Center
Neighborhood Get-Together
This year's National night out will be Tuesday Night August 3, 6-9pm. It is a chance for everyone to get together to strengthen or resolve to say "goodbye to crime" in our development. There will be Free Hamburgers and Hot Dogs. A bounce house for the kids, and a drawing for two free One Day Park Hopper tickets to Disney.
New City Garbage Cans Present a Big Problem
In our bylaws, it states that after the trash has been picked up by the city the garbage cans should be “in back or out of sight.” We understand that since the bylaws were written, we have been given these huge garbage cans by the city and are very difficult if not impossible to store in our tiny garages. We do, however, ask you to set it to the side of your house behind your fenced in area. This will at least hide it a little bit. It is a violation of our bylaws to just leave it in front of your house.
Board Looking To Future Improvements
Our board members have discussed several ideas for future improvements as funds become available. Some of those ideas are listed below.
Poop Lands in Wrong Yard
As you walk your dog, please make sure that his or her droppings do not end up in your neighbors’ yards. We have had several complaints about this happening. It may be a useful fertilizer to you and you may not mind scrapping it off of your shoes because you love your dog. Your neighbor will not have the same opinion. Please be courteous to others and pick up after your pet.
Assessment Improvements Completed
In the past two years many of you have struggled to get your assessments paid so that we can improve our neighbor-hood. You are to be congratulated!
We have repaved our roads, put in new streetlights, replaced aging and broken street signs, replaced our fence that was falling apart and upgraded our park.
On top of that we have repaired or replaced our irrigation system, our sign lights, and our retention pond inlets. (That ugly orange fence is finally been taken down.)
We, the homeowners, are the only ones that can only make improvements. The city has no responsibility to maintain anything within the borders of Grant Station.
Property Inspections Begin Again
Many homeowners keep their homes and yards looking absolutely fabulous! It is obvious many homeowners care how their homes appear. They are to be congratulated.
There are others, however, that often need a little encouragement to maintain their homes. It is to this end that the board has reauthorized the management company to make monthly inspections of our property and to send out reminders to those homeowners.
We are aware that because of hardship some people simply cannot do the work required. We want to know this as well, so that we can help. We cannot know that someone needs help unless it is asked for.
Together we can improve the look and feel of Grant Station. It will give us a further sense of pride and raise our property values.
Neighborhood Watch
Neighborhood Watch is in need of “block Captains” to head up the organization on their street. We need Block Captains to head up the roster of people on their street to keep an eye on our neighborhood. We need 40% participation from our homeowners to maintain our designation as a “Neighbor-hood Watch Community.”
Some Homeowners Have Decided Not Pay their Fair Share
For one reason or another there are homeowners that have decided not pay their special assessments or do not pay their monthly dues. Which is their legal obligation. This puts a huge burden on those that do pay and slows down progress of any improvements or repairs. There are homeowners who have not paid their dues in years. This is a very serious legal situation.
The Board of Directors has authorized the Management Company to hand over the worst offenders to our lawyer to use whatever means is necessary to get these homeowners to make good on their responsibilities, like most other homeowners already have.
This is uncomfortable for the Board of Directors and seems an un-neighborly thing to do. But then so is not paying your fair share. If homeowners have financial difficulties please contact All About Management to work out a neighborly payment plan and avoid the pain and embarrassment of having a lien put on your house or forcing us to foreclose on your home. We are eager to work with anyone having legitimate financial problems.
A Good Deal on a New Mailbox is Coming
Take a quick walk around the neighborhood and you will quickly notice that one thing that really blights the neighborhood is the condition of many of our mailboxes. The Board of Directors has been shopping around to get a good volume discount for good-looking mailboxes that homeowners can purchase to replace broken ones. Standby for good news on this idea.
We Will Try Again for Mayor’s Matching Grant
We can once again apply for a matching grant for 2010-2011. We are hoping to receive one of these matching grants next year for improvements to our park and for our “Neighborhood Night Out” event. It is a matching grant that must be matched with our money and with volunteer hours to help with the improvements. If you are interested in helping with "sweat equity" please contact us. We cannot get the grant without these volunteer hours.