Guidelines for the Homeowner Forum

As a board member of your HOA, you’ll find it worthwhile to schedule times to get input from homeowners, whether there is a specific issue on which opinions may differ, or to get a sense of direction for many decisions the board makes. 

Homeowners may attend any board meeting and be given an opportunity to comment on agenda items at the appropriate time.  Or the association may wish to schedule a Town Hall type of forum to hear owners’ concerns and to answer questions.

The following guidelines are helpful for board members to guide the discussion and share with homeowners in advance of meetings- perhaps through an association newsletter or website.

Suggested Guidelines for Homeowner Forums

In the state of Texas, residents are encouraged to attend and observe association board meetings, except during executive sessions. If you’d like to bring an issue to the board’s attention, you’re welcome to speak during the homeowner forum—generally at the beginning of the meeting.  So that everyone who attends has an opportunity for a meaningful exchange with the board, we ask that you observe the following guidelines:

·         Notify the association manager in advance of the meeting that you will be attending the board meeting and would like to speak.

·         Each person will be allowed to speak no more than five minutes. Please respect the volunteers’ time by limiting your remarks.

·         If you need more than five minutes, please put your comments in writing. Include background information, causes, circumstances, desired solutions and other considerations you believe are important. The board will make your written summary an agenda item at the next meeting.

·         Although we’re all neighbors, this is a corporate business meeting. Please conduct yourself accordingly.

·         You may be asked to sign in and provide your contact information.  You will be called in the order you entered. This also allows the board to contact you if we need further information and to report back to you with an answer.

·         The homeowner forum is an exchange of ideas, not a gripe session. If you’re bringing a problem to our attention, we’d like to hear your ideas for a solution too.

·         To keep the meeting businesslike, please refrain from speaking if you’re particularly upset about an issue. Consider speaking later, speaking privately with a board member, or putting your concerns in writing and e-mailing them to the board.

·         Only one person may speak at a time. Please respect others’ opinions by remaining silent and still when someone else has the floor.

We may not be able to resolve your concerns on the spot, and we will not argue or debate an issue with you during the homeowner forum. We usually need to discuss and vote on the issue first. But we will answer you. 

Research Matters: How cutting corners in legal research costs community associations

Seemingly trivial oversights or cost/time saving techniques are often the root of an association and its management company being co-defendants in unwanted litigation. Our firm has represented management companies, managers and associations in these matters in an exceptionally large number of cases.  Community association lawyers play an integral part in reducing the potential occurrence of unwanted litigation. This article focuses on the proper method for checking record title in collection matters.

The Reliable Way to Do Title Searches

County Title Records

Each time a collection or compliance step is taken, record title to the property should be verified. Reliable title research takes mere minutes, yet many folks in the community association industry, lawyers included, fail to follow best practices. They rely on questionable resources rather than confirming record title through the most accurate resources.  

In many instances, the appraisal district records are used as the sole resource for determining ownership.   While these records can be a good resource for finding alternate addresses, appraisal district records are not determinative of record title to real property.  

 

The only source for current record title is the real property records of the county in which the property is located.  Many counties grant access to these records with “unofficial” documents available at no charge.  For counties that do not grant this type of access, subscriptions to the databases and/or vendor charges for title work are affordable and worth it.

The potential risk to the association and its management company is that a demand for collection or compliance may be sent to the incorrect party or address.  A suit against the community association, management company, and possibly the manager, for violation of the federal and state debt collection laws and a wrongful foreclosure is born. 

  

The amount of protection gained from a quick and affordable title search is immeasurable and good insurance against unwanted litigation.  Board members and management companies should check with their legal counsel to ensure that they are protected by reliable title searches.

Brady E. Ortego, of Roberts, Markel, Weinberg, PC, is an attorney specializing in community association law.  He is a frequent author and educator on issues affecting community associations and is active in community association industry support groups such as the Community Associations Institute.   

Selecting Qualified Vendors

HOA expert Chuck Miller recently wrote about Selecting Vendors in HOA Pulse, an electronic newsletter.

“Unless an Association uses its own employees to perform ongoing services, it must generally outsource to third-party vendors to provide the necessary services. If the board of an Association is inexperienced at selecting vendors, the best first step is to select a qualified management company that has experience in the vendor selection process. With years of experience in performing the vendor selection process, such companies ensure that vendors are chosen based on their specialties, excellence in working for other communities, financial protections, and licensing, and that they have appropriate contract provisions.”

One of the benefits of working with a CMA manager is the ability to compare bids and select qualified vendors whose reputation and skills meet our exacting standards.

CMA adds value in examining and requiring insurance and standard contracts which protect your association’s interests.  From his summary or general criteria to use when selecting vendors, Miller makes these points about vendor insurance and contracts.

Insurance

“A business must carry insurance that covers injuries to residents, injuries to its employees, and damage to the property of either residents or the vendor that occurs during the fulfillment of the contract. Proper insurance protects both the vendor and the community from financial damages that occur in relation to the work performed. This is an often overlooked criteria, as too many managers assume that proper insurance is carried without ever requesting proof of insurance.”

Contracts

“Contracts should only be executed when they contain the proper provisions and information. This includes credentials of the contractor, the start and end date of the contract, compensation and terms of payment, description of work to be performed, provision for the termination of the agreement, provision for warranties for services and materials, proof of insurance, and provision for legal costs. It is generally wise to have Association legal counsel review contracts prior to execution. This is one of those areas where the saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” really applies.”

Board Basics: Conducting Efficient Board Meetings

While meetings are a fact of life for board members, no one wants to spend more time in them than necessary. Consistently long or ill-planned meetings will result in chronic absences and apathy, and very little will be accomplished.

Well-organized meetings can set the tone for all association business and board work. The following tips will help you and your fellow board members conduct efficient, effective meetings that get results for your community:

• Set a board meeting schedule and stick to it.
• Whether you schedule monthly, bimonthly or quarterly meetings, always meet at the same time and day of the month and—whenever possible—in the same location.
• To set a business-like tone for the meeting, select a meeting location other than a board member’s home. Most community centers, libraries and similar municipal facilities—and some local churches—rent meeting rooms for a nominal fee.
• Notify all association members—resident and nonresident—of any meeting date, time and location well in advance. Post all scheduled meetings on the association’s website and in newsletters. (Note:  Texas state law mandates a 72-hour advance notice of board meetings).
• Educate yourself about the items on the agenda before the meeting. Read committee reports, and carefully study documents like financial statements and vendor contracts. Be prepared to ask questions and make informed decisions.
• Use a timed agenda that allots specific times for approving minutes, hearing manager and committee reports, discussing unfinished and new business, and conducting a brief homeowner forum. Sixty to 90 minutes, depending on how frequently you meet, should be sufficient to accomplish association business.
• Open your meetings to association members, and include time on the agenda for a homeowner forum after other business is concluded. Allow three to five minutes for each person to speak. Once the meeting is called to order, members may observe, but they should not participate in board discussions.

From Community 411, Fall 2013 Newsletter.

Keep Water Flowing for Growth and Prosperity

Vote on November 5

This article contains information reported in the Dallas Business Journal, October 18-24, 2013, pp. 2-3, Thirsty Work.

As a Texas homeowner, you can vote to ensure the continued growth and well-being of your community.   Not only suburban lawns and shrubs have suffered through the prolonged drought; Texas business and new home growth could dry up if Texans don’t keep the tap of plentiful water flowing.

The November 5 election tees up a critical decision for North Texans.  If passed, Proposition 6 will create the State Water Implementation Fund for Texas, transfer $2 billion from the Rainy Day fund and set up a framework for a sustainable revolving fund with revenue from completed projects refilling the fund for future projects. 

If approved, Prop 6 is expected to create thousands of engineering and construction jobs. 

Municipalities are the largest users of water, selling water to residential users and businesses.  Certain types of manufacturing such as semiconductor plants also use large volumes of water.  On average it takes one-third of a gallon of water to make one semi-conductor chip.

Access to a water supply is one of the first things the Huffines brothers look for when they decide to build a residential community, according to Dallas-based Huffines communities, a builder of master-planned communities.

As one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country,(according to the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce),  the Metroplex has much to gain from plentiful water.  Economic recession plus drought temporarily dampened homebuilding. Texas housing has staged a strong recovery in recent months, and new jobs are outpacing the national average.

To read more about Proposition 6, see these Dallas Business Journal articles. http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2013/10/14/most-texans-support-spending-2b-on.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/2013/10/how-gov-perry-plans-to-address-dfws.html

Also, visit the http://www.watertexas.com website.

Expedited Foreclosures for Community Associations

 Will the name hold true after 2013?

As is the case in any collection matter, time is money; the faster the matter reaches resolution, the smaller the cost for the association and the member. With the new expedited foreclosure process borne out of the legislative session concluded in 2011, I envisioned a legal remedy that worked well for both sides. Members in arrears were given the protection of judicial review to the foreclosure process and community associations were given protections in efficiency and predictability. With plenty of time to practically apply those expedited foreclosure laws, I certainly gained some insights on how it works, the efficiency and cost of the process, and how the members in arrears and even the courts feel about the expedited foreclosure process.

Perspective on 2011 Impacts

Here’s a perspective on what our firm found as a matter of practical experience with clients since these laws were passed. 

What the application of the 2011 foreclosure laws has shown us is that the cases filed require more work up front but actually settle sooner in the process. The end result is that we find that our clients are spending less money in the long run through the utilization of the expedited foreclosure process..  In our practice, most applications for expedited foreclosure went from filing to order or settlement in less than 6 months. Given that the 2011 foreclosure laws are specific about aspects like service and default orders, we experienced a reduced incidence of the delays that are the norm in judicial foreclosure cases. These delays regularly push judicial foreclosure cases beyond 12 months.

Less than 2% of the applications we filed went all the way to the final hearing. While we had responses to the applications filed in an estimated 20% of proceedings, most respondents did so with the goal of working toward payment arrangements and filed a response, not to challenge the proceeding but to avoid default.

2013 and Beyond: Will the Process Continue to Be “Expedited”?

The 2013 changes to the foreclosure laws made additions affecting service of citation, court-ordered mediation, and forms promulgated by the Texas Supreme Court. Excepting the forms, the newest additions to the foreclosure laws may add time to the process which typically results in an inherent cost increase. Only time will tell whether the newest legislation affecting foreclosures will positively or negatively affect a system that has proven efficient and less expensive for community associations and its members.

Court-Ordered Mediation.   One new addition to the foreclosure laws provides the potential that a court can order the parties to mediate. The court may only order mediation under certain circumstances and a hearing is required as a component of ordering mediation. With a hearing about mediation and an actual mediation being part of the foreclosure process, it will certainly add time and expense to the expedited foreclosure process. The parties will share the costs of the mediator and a court will appoint a mediator if the parties cannot agree on one. While courts may not order mediation in all proceedings, for those in which they do order mediation, I expect those proceedings to last longer and cost more.

In conclusion, community associations that have not yet tested the expedited foreclosure process should consider the option if permitted by the dedicatory instruments. Given the efficiency and reduced cost when compared to the traditional judicial foreclosure process, the expedited approach should work toward improvement in the rate of collection for the association. 

The guest blogger for this post is Brady Ortego,  an attorney specializing in HOA law affiliated with Roberts, Markel in Houston, Texas.

Ranch Fest Caps 25-Year Growth of McKinney HOA

Community Pride Resonates with Festival Goers   

By Tricia Scruggs

Thousands of Stonebridge Ranch residents and friends and family, together with HOA and local officials, witnessed the proclamation of July 26 as “Stonebridge Ranch Day.”

Before introducing City of McKinney Mayor Brian Loughmiller, Stonebridge Ranch HOA Board President Jon Dell’Antonia (L in photo) acknowledged board members in attendance and thanked Association Manager Mike Lesku, the staff and anniversary committee for putting together Ranch Fest, a three-day celebration of the community’s 25^th anniversary.

Mayor Loughmiller (R in photo), read the official decree on the second day of the fest, telling an attentive crowd how he and his wife moved to Stonebridge in 1989 when the population was about 460 people.

“Today it’s more than 30,000,” he said. “So there’s been tremendous growth and the area has grown in the right way. It’s the reason that we’ve all moved here.”

According to the proclamation, Stonebridge Ranch consists of 5,000 acres, once known as the Flying M Ranch. Today, the acreage is made up of nearly 70 residential villages, six parks, 830 acres of golf course, lakes and ponds for sailing and fishing, miles of hike and bike trails, an aquatic center and a tennis and beach club.

Mayor Loughmiller thanked the HOA board for “doing a fantastic job,” managing budgets and helping ensure the development moves forward in the right direction.

Ranch Fest kicked off on a Friday evening with a beach club party, featuring a DJ, free food and games and prizes. On Saturday, classic cars filled one of the Beach and Tennis Club parking lots in the morning, while Kids Zone and a food truck court kept residents and their guest entertained and nourished from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. A concert with live band InVersion made for a musical evening, which was capped by a fireworks display. On Sunday, a fun run and Luau-themed beach party preceded the closing ceremony. Also during the fest, residents competed in numerous events, including a golf putt challenge, volleyball and tennis tournaments and baseball and football tosses.

“I think 25 years ago, when the developers looked at this piece of land, which was just farm land at the time, and they had the vision to develop a master-planned community, I doubt that in their wildest dreams they would ever had anticipated it would turn out to be the beautiful community that it is today,” Board President Jon Dell‘Antonia said. “We should all take pride in living in one of the finest communities in the country.”

Tricia Scruggs is a freelance journalist and a Stonebridge Ranch homeowner. She and her husband Anthony enjoy spending time around the community with their toddlers Andrew and Luke. 


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