Did you know that after months of telling Superior Community Management, the Board of Directors and alas the attorneys at Vial Fotheringham Law Group that the HOA is required to have not only a reserve account, but an annual Reserve Study...that after 15 years they FINALLY did one!?!
Yes, they did...and it is an inaccurate study for several reasons but I intend to address only a few. As a homeowner in the Oak Knoll Homeowners Association, you really should request a copy and read it (or you can email me and I will send it to you).
Moreover, to get a better understanding of the corruption of HOAs and their Board of Directors...that is if you want to be informed rather than complacent, apathetic and ignorant...you really need to review the background information on HOAs and why their were created and how they destroy rather than improve community living: http://www.thehoaprimer.org/
Contained herein will be select pages from the 66+ page reserve study conducted by Reserve Funding out of Lake Oswego, OR.
In their report Reserve Funding agents claimed to have reviewed our CC&Rs as the foundation of their reserve study, but clearly they did not because they have identified items as 'common improvements' or otherwise required items to be "maintained, repaired or replaced" by the HOA (i.e. at the homeowner's expense via collected dues NOT to be used for these required).
As I have written the Board of Directors (BOD) and Superior (more like Inferior) Community Management (SCM) over and over, year after year, the CC&Rs DO NOT include sidewalks damaged by street trees on any lot as being the responsibility of the collective HOA.
Section 7.1 makes it perfectly clear as to what the association is responsible for where the “common improvements” are concerned.
“Oak Knoll has or will have certain improvements which are for the benefit of all Lots. These improvements include: Sign monuments to be installed on Lot 29, Oak Knoll; traffic circle at intersection of Foothills Drive and Center Street; planter strips along Foothills Drive; and street trees on each Lot…All of the common areas and improvements are collectively called “Common Improvements.”
Where in CC&R 7.1 does it state "concrete flatwork required on the pathway and any work required due to root invasion to the sidewalk area on the landscape (planter) strips on Foothills Drive" is a 'common improvement' of the HOA? IT DOES NOT!!! Therefore the following assessment in the Reserve Study conducted by Reserve Funding is completely inaccurate and on its face faulty on their part due to a lack of attention to detail and proper analysis of our HOA's CC&Rs:
Notice the highlighted portion? Even Reserve Funding clearly understands that trees on "private property" is the "owners [sic] responsibility."
The City of Newberg Ordinances cited time and time again to the BOD, SCM and Vial Fotheringham substantiate that the sidewalks and planter strips throughout the entire Oak Knoll Homeowners Association as far as maintenance, repair, and upkeep (i.e. replacement of street trees) are the SOLE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE HOMEOWNER!!
In CC&R 7.1, can anyone point out where it states that the "mailboxes" provided by the United States Postal Service are a part of the "common improvements," thus the responsibility of the HOA to maintain, repair and/or replace? Anyone? I didn't think so...and yet Reserve Funding documented it is a replacement requirement of the HOA because it is "in the common area."
Again, would someone please show me where in CC&R 7.1 it states that the mailboxes are a "common improvement" of the Oak Knoll HOA.
23 mailboxes at a cost of $1,450 each with a future cost of $45,915.07 that is the sole responsibility of the United States Postal Service being passed onto each and every one of us...the homeowner within the Oak Knoll HOA. Is that an expense you're willing to take on despite the FACT it is NOT your financial responsibility?
And once again the street trees along Foothills Drive comes up yet again, a financial responsibility that is NOT the responsibility of the homeowners within the Oak Knoll HOA.
Once again, can anyone show me in CC&R 7.1 where just the street trees along Foothills Drive is a "common improvement" of the HOA that "required" (according to the BOD and this Reserve Study) the maintenance or replacement (NOT TRIMMING - YET THE BOD HAS PAID FOR TRIMMING OVER THE YEARS AT OUR EXPENSE IN DIRECT VIOLATION OF THE CC&RS) of the street trees on Foothills Drive.
"It is estimated there are about 60 trees that the association must maintain on Foothill [sic] Drive."
Reserve Funding...please cite the correct CC&R that delineates as a matter of legal contractual fact that the HOA "must maintain" the trees on "Foothill [sic] Drive."
The next page talks about trimming of the estimated 60 trees along Foothills Drive, yet the same question remains...where in CC&R 7.1 does it state that JUST the street trees along Foothills Drive as a "common improvement" of the Oak Knoll HOA?
It doesn't and the BOD and the attorneys at Vial Fothingham KNOW THIS IS A FACT! I have a recording at a past Board Meeting where an attorney from this so-called "premiere HOA law firm" admitted that the BOD have been misinterpreting the CC&Rs for years...but did nothing during the vote in stopping them from continuing the ignorance of their status quo to benefit only those living on Foothills Drive (that which INCLUDES members of the BOD) and non-other within the HOA, despite the FACT that CC&R 7.1 clearly stipulates that ALL street trees within the HOA are the financial responsibility of the HOA.
It's either all or none at all...period!
Within the conclusion of this study I found an interesting statement that contradicts the premise of many aspects of the study Reserve Funding conducted. Hence, if they failed to "thoroughly" review the CC&Rs in order to provide an accurate Reserve Study...then how does it make them look when they tell us, the homeowners and the BOD of the HOA to do just the same when they utterly failed to do themselves (i.e. do as I say, not as I do):
"You are encouraged to thoroughly review this document and its individual reports for conformity to the description of responsibility for the Association's Common Areas and Commonly Maintained Property as those terms are defined in your Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions."
Would it not be reasonable to expect such a company providing a so-called "Reserve Study" required by statute for Planned Communities to have reviewed said community's CC&Rs in order to provide an accurate and detailed analysis of the "common areas and commonly maintained property?" Or is that asking too much? After all...we (all of us) paid for it via funds from the HOA.
Last but certainly not least is the fact that even this inept company recognizes the FACT that state law requires a reserve account and a reserve study in substantiating that account; something that I have been bringing to the attention of the BOD since 1997 when I first moved into this HOA; and it wasn't until this past year that a reserve study was done and a reserve account magically appeared a year before that without a reserve study to substantiate it!!!
I wrote Reserve Funding after reviewing this report, and do you think I got a response? Of course not, who likes to have their failures questioned? No one, but it is one thing to make a mistake and ignore it but something else entirely to make a mistake and OWN IT! The latter speaks volumes as to the nature of the character, integrity, and honesty of the individual or company responsible for the faulty product provided.
I cannot help but wonder, given my experience with the numerous BOD members of our HOA over the years, and SCM, as well as the inept attorneys at Vial Fotheringham that Reserve Funding was cherry picked to suit the interests of the CID of this HOA.
OKHA WatchDog
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