✉ by Bill Page, President, SMVE HOA
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As an original owner, I have been a full time resident in SMVE since September 1, 1991. As with most original residents in SMVE, I had just retired and was seeking a planned community in a serene location with great views, not far from the amenities of a city. This Fairfield subdivision fit the bill perfectly.
When the new residents had the opportunity to take over the HOA responsibilities, I soon got involved. There was an “esprit de corps” that attracted those with the interest and talents to assume the duties of working to manage the Common Areas for the benefit of the entire community. The early Hospitality committee had great turnouts with residents who had moved here from all over, gathered to meet their neighbors and form social groups to play tennis, bridge, etc.
Some residents would occasionally attend the monthly Board meetings to make useful suggestions or to offer helpful new ideas. Those who aspired to Committee chairs had little problem getting volunteers to share the work of the committees. Annual meetings were fun, respectful, peaceful and functional. The Board members and Committee chairs reported local activities, accomplishments, updated rules, and the HOA financial condition and future plans. Residents had a chance to ask questions and express opinions. The meetings were always cordial and everyone left feeling uplifted. Civility and respect for neighbors was the norm.
Even though the Board and Committee membership have changed over time, the cooperative and positive atmosphere remained for over 23 years. Over time, our HOA physical infrastructure, most of which was installed 25 – 30 years ago, was showing normal deterioration from use and weathering. The Board oversaw repainting, patching, resealing, etc. to keep everything functional and looking good, but after 25 years, much of that original infrastructure demanded a major overhaul, code updates, and replacement.
Over the past 10 years or so, President Vaughan has skillfully guided the Board to develop a plan to rebuild and upgrade the common area infrastructure in the most efficient and reasonably priced manner. He negotiated very favorable bids with numerous subcontractors. He fostered the current method of HOA accounting to be totally transparent and permit homeowners to compare the past five years spending with the projected spending for the coming year. He worked on building up the HOA capital reserve fund (short and long-term) to finance future projects (i.e. replacing our roads) over a time period that should avoid the necessity for any sudden large special assessments.
As the duties of Board and Committee members increased in numbers and complexity, he carefully apportioned the workload to avoid “volunteer burnout”, recently even hiring, with Board consent, an administrative assistant to deal with some of the more difficult important jobs in a manner to keep up with the changing Arizona laws for planned communities.
In addition, Bob’s wife (Sue) has spent countless hours maintaining an up-to-date master database of homeowner’s local and away addresses, phone numbers, and emails so they could be quickly notified should the need arise, and billings would reach the homeowner in a timely manner. This is a never-ending task as home sales result in changes as residents move out and new residents move in. Additionally, Sue, over 10 years produced and distributed our great newsletter manually, and evolved it to be sent by email to save a great deal in postage costs and stuffing envelopes. Bob and Sue worked tirelessly with a new homeowner, Guy Scharf, to develop the original and customized SMVE HOA website.
Some do not seem to realize that Board members also like to travel; yet Board and Committee responsibilities are a 12-month commitment. When a Board and Committees members work closely together, as the SMVE HOA Board and Committees always have, we learn enough about each other’s responsibilities to stand in for one another for a short time when one travels. When traveling, we can expect to get phone calls whenever the need arises to help this community. Over the years, Board members have thrived on respectful teamwork.
You may now begin to grasp the degree of dedication, time, and effort it takes to serve as a volunteer Board member and/or a Committee member who are directly involved in almost every project serving the community.
With this brief history, you can understand the degree of shock, disbelief, and dismay that occurred near the end of the February 16 Annual meeting, as President Vaughan was entertaining some residents’ questions while we awaited the result of the election. A few residents, who had not attended monthly Board meetings to express any concerns, or sent any questions to Board members, loudly and “rudely” began to question the make-up and decisions of the elected Board. They even questioned why Board members wives had volunteered to serve on Committees. Their unfounded insinuations and misrepresentations were disrespectful and disruptive.
Can you imagine how those who “pour their hearts and souls” into maintaining and upgrading this community for the mere satisfaction of living in such a great place, felt when suddenly disparaged in such a manner? Because the hour was late and the meeting was completed, President Vaughan announced the election results and declared the meeting adjourned! Many left the meeting stunned, angry, and even fearful by the seemly pre-planned disruption by a few for their own reasons.
The “rude attack tone” so shattered the cordiality we had long grown accustomed to in our meetings that everyone was too stunned to react. Neither Board members nor residents in attendance rose to deflect the “attack” or defend Bob or the Board. It was a most unsatisfactory ending for our 24th Annual Meeting.
Upon reflection, Board members and many community members who were present have later expressed feelings of hurt, disgust, and disbelief of such uncivilized behavior. My first communication with Bob & Sue was a sincere apology for having been caught so unawares and being so stunned that I did not react properly. It won’t happen again!
On 2/18/15, Bob, who had already decided not to continue as president, resigned from the Board. He did remain as Chair of the Landscape Committee so as not to leave the Board in the lurch. Sue resigned her Committee Chair of the Master Database and the Newsletter. Even so, both Bob & Sue did not abandon their friends and neighbors nor this lovely community to those few with bad behavior.
In addition, many HOA’s today lack the dedicated volunteers to keep up with the year round tasks and have had to hire professional management. This is an expensive, less efficient and less satisfactory alternative to a volunteer workforce. Few large HOAs are blessed with such a committed team with the rare skill sets to lead and manage this complexity.
President Vaughan’s goals and efforts have been directed toward maintaining the volunteer work force so SMVE HOA does not have to employ full time professional management. He and the Board have worked diligently to spend wisely and keep Association dues as low as possible while replacing the community infrastructure and simultaneously accumulating reserves. Hiring Chris Bruyn as an administrative assistant (not a property manager), to handle some detailed and difficult aspects of HOA paperwork, is certainly a positive step in maintaining our self-management nonprofit organization. Chris is also an experienced manager and excellent source of advice for the Board.
Whatever the goals of those who perpetrated this disruption, they succeeded only in bringing us a step closer to the day when professional property management will be necessary for SMVE but at a big cost. Henceforth, such behavior must be rebuffed at every opportunity.
The current Board members look forward to continued community cooperation and support. Much remains to be done and it will be done much better with dedicated volunteers who are engaged in the work effort not just collecting position titles. Our Community Board and Committee members have enjoyed working together in Tucson year-round for their neighbors and we welcome those who would like to serve on committees and become familiar with our procedures.