Our Newsletter

Newsletter, Dec. 2017

December 2017

Quail Hollow neighbors and property owners,

It has been an eventful year.  A recap:

  • We were able to hold our mowing costs at the same price as 2016, and due to the dry autumn which allowed us to stop mowing early, we came in under budget.
  • In January I set up our website, https://qhpoa.org, which contains a great deal of useful information, especially the clubhouse reservation calendar. When you want to reserve the clubhouse, check it to make sure the date is available, then send me an email.
  • The mound behind the pool was planted with trees and shrubs that will, in a few years, provide a privacy screen much prettier and well-behaved than the white pines that were lost in the wind storm in the summer of 2016. Just this month, the north side of the mound was planted with a ground cover that will do away with the need for mulching on that side in a few years.
  • The volunteer work days in June when we weeded, trimmed the shrubbery, and spread over 900 cubic feet of mulch saved us over $2000 in labor costs.
  • We replaced about half of the pool furniture cushions.
  • This fall we repaired one of the tennis courts by filling the cracks and repainting the surface and lines.
  • In November, an alert Jack Jordan, our maintenance man, discovered a broken water line at the clubhouse. We got lucky, it was easily repaired, and a big bill was avoided.
  • Thanks for bearing with the glitches as I took on the job of Property Manager. After a few early problems the clubhouse reservation system is working well.  We’ve improved compliance to POA rules and restrictions. All dues accounts are now current, and the new payment schedule has simplified our financial management.  A new payment option is available – you may use your Venmo account to make dues payments (Zelle, which replaced ClearXchange, is no longer available).

And coming up in 2018:

  • Paving of Quail Hollow Drive from the neighborhood entrance to Fox Meadow Drive (the condo’s street), and Beechwood Drive between Quail Hollow and Meadowview Court (the hill) has been scheduled for April, weather permitting. We’ll provide as much notice as possible.  Cost is $47,600.  No additional paving is anticipated for several years.
  • The repair of the tennis court turned into a larger and more expensive job than anticipated, and the other court is still out of service due to several bad cracks. Given how little the courts are used, a decision must be made whether to repair it, leave it out of service pending major refurbishment in a few years, or to repurpose it as a basketball court or for other use.
  • The rest of the pool furniture cushions will be replaced if we can afford it. If not, we’ll buy what we can this year and get the rest next year.
  • As our facilities age, we must expect higher maintenance costs. A review is underway to determine if our dues are adequate to cover foreseeable expenses.  As you are probably aware, our dues are much lower than most comparable private neighborhoods.  This could come back to haunt us if it becomes necessary to require a special assessment for major projects such as re-roofing the clubhouse, replacing the pool, etc.

I appreciate hearing from you with your suggestions, and will do my best to resolve your concerns and complaints.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Ken Gough
Property Manager

November 2017 Report

Quail Hollow neighbors and property owners,

A summary as we wrap up a good year:

  • Expenses.  Our expenses have come in well under budget, which has allowed us to set aside additional savings for the roads and other major maintenance and capital expenses coming up in the near future.
  • Dues and rules.  We’ve brought past-due accounts and rule violations under control.  Thanks for everyone’s cooperation.
  • The pool.  We bought new cushions for about half of the furniture this year, and will purchase more in Spring, 2018.  If we can’t afford to buy all we need, enough of the older cushions are in good-enough shape to last another year, and we’ll buy the rest in 2019.
  • The mound behind the pool.  The trees and bushes planted in the summer are doing well.  The Green Giant arbor vitae will eventually reach 40 feet tall and screen the pool from the condos, but it will be a few years.  To cut down on the yearly mulching, the Board decided in November to plant a ground cover on the north (condo) side of the mound.  That will be done sometime in the next few months.
  • Mulching and weeding.  The work days last summer, when we did the mulching and weeding at the entrance, on the mound and in front of the clubhouse, saved a ton of money, but not without complaints.  The Board will decide this winter whether or not to do it this way in the spring.  Stay tuned.
  • The tennis courts.  One court has been repaired with the exception of some line painting that will be done on the first warm day.  It’s in reasonably good shape.  This turned into a larger and more expensive project than anticipated, and the Board is trying to decide what to do with the other court – repair, leave as-is until major refurbishment is done in several years, or convert it to another use.  Your input is appreciated.
  • Roads.  The Board decided in November to pave 2 sections – Quail Hollow Drive from the entrance to Fox Meadow, and Beechwood between Quail Hollow and Meadowview Court.   The cost will be slightly less than $50,000.  To keep disruption to a minimum, we’ll give you as much notice as possible.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Ken Gough
Property Manager

Newsletter Sept. 29, 2017

Dear Quail Hollow neighbors and property owners,

• Tennis players – Although there is still some touchup work and painting to be done, 1 tennis court is now playable. The repair proved to be much more difficult than expected, so the Board will discuss what to do with the other court and the rest of the surface at the October meeting. If you have any comments or suggestions, they would be very welcome. Please email me.

• Directory – If there are any updates to your phone or email information, please let me know ASAP. The finished directory will be sent out to those who requested it late next week.

• Budget – Although I don’t think the Board will finalize and approve the 2018 budget at the October meeting, they are getting close. Last chance to speak up!

Thanks,
Ken Gough
Property Manager

Notice of change in late dues policy

March 22, 2017

NOTICE OF CHANGE IN POLICY

Dear neighbors and property owners,

The Board of Directors has reluctantly concluded that it must begin enforcing a long-ignored clause in our property restrictions.  With respect to owner’s dues, Paragraph 10.D(2) states:

“If any such charge shall not be paid when due, it shall bear interest from the date of delinquency at the rate of two percent (2%) per month. The monthly charge shall, if unpaid within 30 days of its due date, become a lien…”

The Board has given instructions to the Property Manager to implement the clause as follows. 

Effective July 1, 2017:

  • Dues are annual, and are charged to your account, due and payable, on January 1. (Dues are currently $720/year, subject to change.)
  • Current practice will be modified.  As is now allowed, dues may be paid annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly.  However:
    • The grace period for all payment schedules is changed from 2 months to 15 days.
      • Therefore, annual payment must be made no later than January 15;
      • Semiannual payments must be made no later than January 15 and July 15;
      • Quarterly payments must be made no later than January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15.
    • Monthly payments must be made no later than the 15th of each month.
  • Since a grace period is allowed, no further allowance will be made, and you will be charged the late penalty if payment is not received timely.  (Timely means actually received in-hand by the Property Manager or deposited directly in the QHPOA account by the dates noted above.  If payment is mailed, you must mail it early enough to be received in time.)
  • The 2% per month penalty is to be charged on the entire outstanding principal amount from the date when it became due, not from the end of the grace period, and a new month’s penalty is charged on the first day of each month.
    • Examples: 
    • Dues of $720 are charged to your account on Jan.1.  No payment is received until April 6.  You will be charged a penalty of $57.60, which is 2% x 4 months late x $720 principal amount.
    • Dues of $720 are charged to your account on Jan.1.  You pay $360 timely for the first semiannual payment, reducing your balance to $360, which is due July 1 and payable by July 15.  The second payment is not received until December 1.  You will be charged a penalty of $43.20, which is 2% x 6 months late x $360 principal amount.
  • Interest will not be charged on outstanding penalties.
  • Payments will be applied first to penalties, then to outstanding dues.
  • It is not the intention or desire of the Board to cause undue hardship.  It will consider waiver of penalties for good cause at the request of the property owner.
  • A lien may be filed any time after dues are 30 days late, however, liens will be filed only by explicit instruction of the Board, typically when it becomes clear that collection of outstanding dues and penalties is unlikely and/or problematic.  A $100 filing fee will be added to your account.

The Property Manager will send out reminders for annual, semiannual and quarterly payments, but it is nonetheless your responsibility to make timely payments.  He does not have authority to ignore late payments or waive penalties, so please don’t put him in the awkward position of having to say no.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by phone or email.

Sincerely,

R. David Roberts

Chairman of the Board

Quail Hollow Property Owners Association

The President’s Report – 2016 In Review

The year 2016 for the Quail Hollow community began with our Board President, Warren Jackson, having submitted a resignation because of a brain tumor.  The Board chose to hold that resignation in abeyance in the hope that he would recover sufficiently to resume his duties.  However in the spring they sold their house and moved to Florida to be near family.

As was noted last year, we have had numerous people step up and volunteer to do needed tasks for the benefit of the whole neighborhood – from patching potholes in our roads, to pulling unsightly weeds from the entrance flower garden, to trimming off bushes around the clubhouse entrance, to rowing a small rowboat out to retrieve and work on our pond pump, to a myriad of cleaning and litter removal jobs. To all those unsung heroes we offer our sincere thanks, and even if no one else knows who did what, we hope the benefit to our community was satisfying to you, as it helped us all.

As for what the Board dealt with in the last year, here is a sampling:

  • When a tree fell in the storms last summer and damaged the pool fence, we appreciated volunteers getting us started on clearing the mess, and then contracted with someone to take down the rest of the tree and carry it off.  After that it became evident the remaining trees have been a messy nuisance in keeping the pool clean, so we had them removed too.  Now we are in the process of trying to get some bushes to landscape the area.
  • The rest room floors at the pool have deteriorated from about 30 years of wet use, so we contracted with Chris Hollifield to replace them and redecorate the rooms too.
  • As many have noticed, our pond fountain/aerator is an on-again/off-again issue.  We purchased the original pump in 2010, and It has been repaired under warranty until recently.  During the times it was sent back to the factory for repair, we purchased a back-up pump; however right now both are broken.  The original will cost almost $1000 to repair; or a new one will cost just under $2000.  Our back-up unit has a bent propeller, so Chris Hollifield thinks it will not be so expensive to repair.  We use these not just for aesthetics, but to keep the algae under better control.  The fact that our pond is man-made and part of a flowing stream means that we will always have debris coming through.
  • Snow removal last year cost us as much as $1200 once and over $1000 every time they scraped and salted our roads.  We do not have sufficient funds to keep spending at that rate.  So this year we checked with the company that does our common area mowing, and they bid much lower costs.  At the same time, we decided to salt only the hilly areas, and plow when it is really a hindrance to access or departure.  By indicating we want to say how much to do, we are not at the top of the company’s urgency list.  That means we must make decisions that we hope are in every one’s best interest.
  • We contracted to clean out our silt trap to keep some of the debris out of the pond.
  • Our volunteer Treasurer, Sheila Gough, has put in countless hours at a time when she is exceptionally busy and burdened with other needs.  When people do not pay their dues in a timely fashion, she is left to try to contact them and remind them – which is not part of what she agreed to do.
  • Because some people did not pay all year and ignored any efforts to contact them or remind them, we periodically have to file liens against property to assure that the dues are paid even when the house is sold.  This takes time, legal activity that is out of the realm of experience and skill of our volunteer Board, and extra costs that have to be added to the dues.  Having someone staying on top of this need is part of the reason the
    Board has considered engaging a Property Manager.

Prepared by R. David Roberts, Acting President

Greetings from the new Property Manager

January 19, 2017

Dear neighbors,

As Dave Roberts informed you a few days ago, I have accepted the job of property manager for the Association. Having semi-retired, it will keep me out of my wife’s hair, which she appreciates, and I hope will make the affairs of the neighborhood run a bit smoother, which we will all appreciate.

Sheila and I have lived at 744 Meadowview Court for 31 years; we are your neighbors and consider ourselves fortunate to live in such a beautiful place with such fine people. Sheila has done the Association’s bookkeeping for over 20 years, so the transition should be seamless. As a matter of fact, as far as you’re concerned, you should see very little difference in operations. In general, here is what I will be doing, after a short transition period:

• Build and maintain a website (already in the works)
• Collect dues and do the bookkeeping
• Clubhouse reservations and management
• Manage pool passkeys
• Manage contractors for the pool, grounds, landscaping, etc.
• Manage the POA’s finances
• Act as initial point of contact for all POA business
• Write a brief monthly newsletter
• Carry out enforcement actions as directed by the Board

I should stress that I have no independent managerial or decision-making authority; that remains with the Board, and my role is to carry out their instructions. That said, please understand that dues collection and rules enforcement have been sore points for many years, and I’ve been instructed to improve the situation. Toward that end please visit the Important Documents page to look at the POA’s charter, by-laws and restrictions. Please take a few minutes to review them. (There are additional rules for the condos at the same page.)

I would greatly appreciate your keeping me informed of changes in your mailing address, phone numbers and/or email address. Makes life simpler for everyone.

Best to contact me by email – kdg@accmachprod.com – which I’ll answer promptly. Of course, if the need is urgent, don’t hesitate to call me at 423-571-1470.

If you have any questions, just ask. At this point I may not have the answer at hand, but I’ll get back to you quickly.

Finally, your suggestions are greatly appreciated – just send me an email.

Thanks,

Ken Gough
Property Manager
Quail Hollow Property Owners Association