Hello neighbors!

I wanted to send a personal message to all homeowners to let everyone know what has been happening since the storms and the annual meeting. Since we moved board meetings from monthly to quarterly, I felt this was the best way to get out the information of what is occurring in our community. We will plan to try to get these types of e-mails sent out monthly to make sure everyone stays informed.

Part of the annual meeting was delivering a president's report and I wanted to follow-up on a few things within that and with what's been going on since then. Our management team has been working tirelessly with us as we navigate all the items below.

Contractors and vendors since the storm(s) have been incredibly busy. We've visited at least 10 nearby communities to gather/assess how they're doing as well. Every one that we've been to has bent/broken street/other signs, missing shingles/tarps on roofs, fallen trees, etc. still. Most communities are likely in the same situation as ours, with the two storms hitting back-to-back at the end of the fiscal year (typically Jan-Dec), which means funds are low from the prior year and our community in particular hasn't had a reserve study completed yet. This means that we don't currently have any reserve funds to repair all the damage so rapidly caused from the storms, especially at the end of the fiscal year. We have to be incredibly careful not to overspend on things that aren't budgeted (i.e., storm damage). Per the president's report and the 2025 budget, a reserve study will occur at some point this fiscal year, so that in the future we can begin to build that and have funds available to hopefully avoid slow or otherwise delayed repairs, etc.

Insurance - we filed an insurance claim and have received those funds; however, insurance doesn't cover everything (i.e., damaged signs or damaged landscaping). As stated, we have received funds from the insurance claim to cover the "covered" damage (i.e., amenity roof, perimeter fence behind the townhomes, etc.). The only landscaping that was/is covered by insurance are the two large trees which fell on the fence behind the townhomes (because they fell on/damaged a "covered" structure). More information regarding insurance below.

Sign Quotes - many requests for quotes were sent; we received just a few - two of them wouldn't do an actual site visit, only one did a walk/drive with me just this last week around the community and I sent him the locations/details (we will have their quote this week hopefully), and we'll get those all in order pending schedule, etc.

Roof Quotes - many requests have been sent, I'm not aware of a single response yet...many roofs in the surrounding area remain unrepaired as well. This is one of my largest concerns as I don't want the rainy season to come, very shortly, without it being repaired to prevent further damage. Of course, any and all necessary actions will occur to try and avoid this. If anyone knows of a good roofer, please send their information to Karen to coordinate a quote/repair.

Perimeter Fence Repair Quotes - we have quotes, awaiting the large tree removal(s) behind the townhomes, which landed on the fence, to approve/schedule the selected contractor.

Tree Removal Quotes - only two trees were covered by insurance (these are already approved and in work for removal), all others are not (such as the ones around the community which needed/already are straightened/supported, with more still to do to ensure their health)...we have to balance currently available funds to determine if/when we can have them repaired (more affordable) or prioritized to remove and/or replace, only if necessary (not as affordable) due to fiscal timing, other priorities, etc.

Security System/Gate Quotes - we've received outsourced quotes, none of which were "outstanding". A community member reached out directly to us (the board and Karen), who has been in security for over 30 years, and also owns their own business as well. I've been in direct contact with this homeowner as well, and received an additional proposal from them. As always, my preference is to utilize the services of our neighbors (if able) before outsourcing if at all possible. We are reviewing everything to get our new access/gate/security system in place (hopefully before the heavy pool season gets going), work in progress. A pool area reservations system/policy was mentioned as a future item as well. This new security/gate system needs in place prior to enabling that, but we are starting the ground work for the reservation system soon.

Insurance Quote - (utilizing a commercial insurance provider within the community for a new quote). We are in direct and frequent communication with another homeowner who does/offered commercial insurance for our/their community. They are building/coordinating that quote currently to hopefully reduce costs there as well; TBD.

Pressure Washing Quote - (utilizing a community member within the community - always to prefer to use our own, first). I'm in contact with a couple people in the community who own pressure washing businesses.

Finalizing (soon) Access Management (prior management) delinquencies and our demands to them after an incredible amount of due diligence to attempt to go after much more than just one single thing (i.e., townhome owner's water bill late fees, three-four months of no vendor payments, lack of community documentation transfer to First in Property at turnover, and, etc.).

Engineering Study was done - I walked and rode around the community with the 3rd party engineering team, the report is being reviewed and we're taking follow-up recommended actions per the report (when the services are available), before we can proceed with any developer actions; incredible amount of due diligence. One of the items recommended and receiving a further investigation is the community's main irrigation system. The entire system is being inspected currently (takes time due to it being a reclaimed water system and the County controls the water pressure of reclaimed water to certain days of the week) by a 3rd party irrigation professional to ensure it's appropriate/per code/standards, etc.

Additional HOA Payment Options - we are evaluating additional payment options we received recently as they all have pros/cons due to startup fees, additional overhead, etc. which would have an effect on next year's budget/dues. We are deep diving with this to continue the conversation of options before we determine a final decision.

This list isn't all inclusive, but contains many of the large items currently happening.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the new year and I wish you all the very best as we continue to make strides towards our community's bright future!



Your Neighbor,

Korey Pickett
Summerstone HOA President