Author: timberwoodparksa

Thanks to all the neighbors who were able to attend the August HOA meeting to learn more about the previously board decided new clubhouse build which has since been modified/retracted. Your attendance was greatly appreciated and a sign to the board that the neighborhood is not comfortable with what was at the time, the already made decision by the board to build a new million-dollar clubhouse. There was no documented information, research or financial disclosure provided to you, the property owners of Timberwood Park for this previously made decision. Not to mention, there was never an opportunity for the entire community to provide a vote either supporting or disagreeing with this proposed substantial expenditure (even if this vote was not required, as the board has stated in the September newsletter issue, it would appear a good business practice toward open, transparent management to allow community participation and understanding of the project). It is noted that the board has indicated in the September newsletter their willingness to allow a vote by property owners on this project following discussion at the August meeting.

And as a result of the August meeting, we now have the September issue of the newsletter, which speaks in large part to the August meeting. The board discusses the topic of the relevance posts which have taken place in the past using social media resources and indicates that those resources cannot and should not be trusted when communicating with you the property owner. Yet the board uses social media on several fronts like Crime Watch, Music in the Park, etc. to communicate with you, the property owner as a legitimate means of doing so.

Additionally, we are back to the “if you want to know what is going on come to a meeting” quote which we can all agree is not only not always possible, but sometimes conflicts with other responsibilities we all have in our personal lives. It is not reflective, however, of a lack of interest in our neighborhood.  So apparently unless information is brought to property owners by the board through social media, it may not be correct or accurate according to the board in the September newsletter.

Let’s review what has been posted recently through social media sites and what, if anything posted was inaccurate:

1. The posts alerted you to the fact that the board had previously decided, and announced that decision publicly in HOA meetings and issues of the newsletter, to build a new million-dollar clubhouse. The September newsletter, unlike earlier editions, changes the board’s position and now states they have “begun preliminary planning on a clubhouse project”.
2. The posts alerted you to the fact that to date there had been no written supporting research, written documentation, written due diligence on behalf of the neighborhood, written financial detail, that would support making such a large decision on behalf of the community.
3. The posts alerted you to a discussion that the board used wherein approximately 600 responses to an electronic survey which was put out seeking “what improvements property owners would like to see in the existing clubhouse” were the basis for this decision.
4. Do we know if the 600 responses were in fact from 600 different homes or repeats since the survey went out 3 times? What didn’t that survey do?
   • No mention of a new build.
   • No financial plan to support a new build
   • No feasibility study to quantify why the need for a new build and its size, design, etc. as it applies to how it supports our community
   • No money saved by the HOA board over the last 5 years since turnover took place to make this project a reality without obligating the community to a debt service for a want not a need or essential
   • No question asking if you, the property owners of Timberwood Park, wanted a new clubhouse
5. The posts alerted you to other issues in the community which property owners should be aware of:
   • Like the lack of adequate reserve funds established in spite of the fact that dollars available over and above our operating needs are spent for new improvements on a regular basis each year rather than save money to afford the luxury of a want down the road.
     • If we commissioned and paid for a reserve study, why in the world wouldn’t we follow its recommendations and ensure that fundamental maintenance was possible for existing assets and improvements before we spend money on extras?
     • And, even if you felt it was not necessary to fund the entire projected figure to completely fund the reserve account (which is discussed in the newsletter as well), why wouldn’t we put away a reasonable number of funds to ensure we can maintain what we already have in existence properly before we add more to maintain? If approximately $560k is reserves according to the study for everything, why not reach for at least 50% of that covered as good stewardship and management of the property owners existing assets and fees spent to assure those are maintained? Do you believe $120k is adequate after 5 years of operation given the total dollar amount the study outlined?
     • An independent audit performed the same year outlined the same dollars and also discussed supporting good business practice which includes setting aside enough dollars to support maintenance and upkeep of our existing improvements and assets. Have we done that?
6. The posts alerted you to the fact that several large projects already undertaken by our current HOA board have been poorly planned for and have had less than favorable results:
   • If we are building a new clubhouse, what about the thousands just spent remodeling the kitchen? The exercise room upgrades/remodel?
   • The lake repair project – the lake leaks
   • The tennis court expansion project – now one court is resurfaced into a basketball court after the expense of building the additional tennis court(s) which are almost never used, and almost never completely full as witnessed by numerous property owners on a regular basis.

Anything listed above inaccurate or untrue?

A variety of opinions and discussion on any large scale project is a positive sign that there is ample participation and involvement by the group it impacts. Likewise, feasibility studies determining actual need versus want or “what would be nice” make great use of facts and statistics to work toward the best decision on behalf of all property owners for whatever is being studied on behalf of the community it will serve. And of course, thorough, written financial analysis of costs associated with a project are essential for property owners to understand why something costs what it does and whether or not it is affordable and reasonable. Transparency means that all these steps are followed and publicly reported to all property owners to ensure that those represented feel as though they are valued and a part of the decision making process and that their dollars are being spent in the best manner possible on behalf of the entire community and in keeping with general HOA standards and practices. What would it take to reach the funding goal of the project? Is it saving a certain dollar amount each year for a number of years to pay cash for the project? Is it finance the project at an additional cost to property owners in financing fees, etc.? So many questions unanswered and still needing to be addressed for the best interest of the entire community.

Of course we aren’t all going to agree on what the best plan is, but open, frank discussion is a cornerstone to transparency and inclusion of the entire population of Timberwood Park, not just a small sampling of it when making large scale decisions impacting everyone in the neighborhood. To date, have you felt that this whole process has been transparent to all property owners?

Food for thought:

Unless we as a community of property owners are interested in turning our private park into a commercial entity do we need a clubhouse of this expense built? At this point that remains to be seen with actual factual presentation of statistics, feasibility, financial obligation, etc.

If the goal is ultimately, in addition to use by property owners, to rent out the clubhouse, park and pavilion for public events which are not property owner use of the facilities, like private weddings, parties, business gatherings, etc. as an income source then the feasibility study should include what that does to our park. For example, if that is one of the reasons to build new and double the size of the current building, is it because it will be used as an income source? If not, is a clubhouse of this size and cost is necessary or needed for this community?

Likewise, if we are discussing renting the facilities out commercially, this can signal a change in the park’s tax exempt status, and a change to our association taxes because we are now actually using the common areas as money making venues rather than for the use of property owners only and as a private park not open to the public.

At the end of the day, it may well be determined that a new build is the right approach to this project. However, until enough research is completed, the actual scope of the project determined in full, and property owners have had full opportunity to review and participate in the discussion regarding this project, it seems like it shot out of the gate rather pre-maturely as a “new build of 8,000 square feet” before any real tangible research was completed to warrant such a decision.

On another front:

The September issue of the newsletter provides a number and variety of candidates running for office to fill 3 slots which will be coming up for election this December. The slate of candidates includes 3 incumbents seeking re-election. It’s amazing to see so many people step up to run for office when in the past we have had few candidates to choose from and thanks to each person who took the time to decide they could offer their time and talent to volunteer on behalf of our community!

Cycling representatives in our community on our HOA board is not only an opportunity for someone new to have a chance to help shape our neighborhood, a fresh perspective can be gained by the addition of those who have not served previously. It also allows those who have served for a period of time already – 3 to 5 years in most cases – an opportunity to take a break knowing they have served our community and moved it forward from turnover to present. Please take a look at all the candidates and if you have the time, come to the October meeting to hear them all speak to the audience about what they might be interested in accomplishing on behalf of the neighborhood if elected to serve.

The purpose of this post, as has always been its purpose, is to continue to provide property owners with information regarding community wide issues and concerns which may be of interest to the reader. It is up to the reader to determine whether the information is factual, relevant, and appropriate to them. It has never been intended nor has it ever conveyed it was the only source for information to the neighborhood.

It is important as discussion continues about any and all topics of interest to our community including our upcoming elections that everyone is heard, regardless of opinion, and no one uses personal attacks or intimidation to make their point. We are a great community of wonderful, caring neighbors. Let’s continue to work to keep it that way and work toward everyone remaining civil in all dialogue and opinions regardless of their position on the topic of discussion.

Join the Timberwood Park neighborhood at the clubhouse on August 2, 2016 for the August HOA meeting at 7 pm. This meeting is important if you own property and pay assessment fees in Timberwood Park!

If you are concerned about the board deciding to build a new clubhouse, estimated to cost at least one million dollars ($1,000,000.00), without adequate property owner input, without financing details provided, without budget considerations, without adequate reserves established to cover the assets we already must maintain, without a comparison regarding remodeling the existing clubhouse vs. building a totally new structure, without your vote to approve or decline this large expenditure of your money, please plan to attend this meeting and voice your concerns.

As has previously been noted in earlier blog posts, according to a board commissioned independent reserve study completed by Armstrong, Vaughn and Associates in 2014, the TPOA Board of Directors has not adequately funded the reserves allocated according to the study results to protect and maintain our existing assets and improvements. That study concluded replacement of our existing assets as they end their useful life and wear out would top $588,000.00. That same year an independent audit, completed by Gregory & Crutchfield, also cited the same $588,000.00 replacement costs for existing assets. The audit indicated that our reserve fund at that time was funded to 13.6% or $80,000.00 in the account. Our current balance in reserves is now $120,000.00. Even if we funded to 50% of value, we aren’t even close at this point!

It is good business practice, and in keeping with protecting member assets already in existence, to reserve monies for repair and replacement of those assets, which means to hold or “reserve” funds in a savings account of sorts away from regular budgetary use. Reserves are typically funded to protect members/property owners from unnecessary sudden special assessments to make those repairs/replacements as assets wear out. In other words, it shows good stewardship of funds available. Reserves can also be used as a savings account to ultimately fund future improvements and investments being made on behalf of the community to curb the need for special assessments or hikes in HOA fees.

The study shows a process to reach adequate protection to property owners, but the board has not followed its own commissioned study and has not funded reserves accordingly. If we to date have not adequately funded planning for upcoming repair and replacement of existing assets, how can we fund a new clubhouse which will cost approximately one million dollars ($1,000,000.00)? Where is the comparison of remodeling the existing footprint versus a new build for property owners to make an informed decision? Where is the financial research to show property owners how this can even be considered good management of our assessment dollars, much less how the project would be paid for? A new clubhouse is a “want” — Not A Need or Essential!

Without adequate reserves we leave ourselves wide open for inadequate funding to cover necessary repairs and maintenance which will naturally occur in addition to our annual operating budget. This is not good stewardship or good management of our funds. It is careless. When you budget for your personal operating expenses, do you anticipate or save for large expenses that might be coming up? It’s really basic, we don’t currently have the dollars available to either build a new OR remodel the existing clubhouse!

The two biggest reasons we are ranked so high in the greater San Antonio area as a desirable place to live on several sites which explore those places are we have a non-annexation agreement in place until 2032 which means no city property taxes and we have an extremely low crime rate compared to the rest of San Antonio and surrounding areas! Timberwood is one of a kind and we have an awesome neighborhood! Let’s keep it going in that direction by making well thought out and planned for decisions for the future of our common areas!

Improving or replacing the clubhouse may ultimately be something as a neighborhood we should consider and whether it is a rebuild or a remodel should be determined by including solid input from all property owners before starting either project. Capital improvement projects should be prioritized according to need and/or necessity in the case of wear out or useful life end, not wants. Until we have funds available to actually make a specific project a reality, there should not be a final decision for one. Good stewardship, transparency, adequate information and formal bids should be a part of the overall planning process in order to assist property owners in seeing that a well rounded, well thought decision has been made on their behalf and that our neighborhood can actually afford what is being proposed effectively. Further, for a capital project of this size, members/property owners should be afforded the opportunity to vote what they believe is the right course before the decision is ultimately made. After all, it’s your money!

Please go to the August HOA meeting! It is important to the future of the neighborhood as well as how your assessment dollars are being managed and spent. Let’s have a civil conversation sharing pros and cons respectfully about what priorities should be and must be to keep Timberwood a great place to live!

In the last blog post, decisions being made by our current TPOA Board of Directors affecting all Timberwood property owners were provided.  The last blog post was subsequently posted to https://timberwood.nextdoor.com where neighbors were able to comment and discuss the matter further.  If you haven’t joined the timberwood.nextdoor.com feed, you may want to which will allow you to post your comments and continue discussion with your neighbors.

As a recap, in June 2016, the decision to build a new clubhouse, double the size of the current one according to the discussion held at the meeting (current one being approximately 4,000 square feet – so 8,000 square feet), was verbally announced by the TPOA Board of Directors to those in attendance at this June meeting.

Among the reasons cited for this new build decision suddenly announced in June:  a special meeting held in May, where approximately 60 property owners, along with the board, attended to hear discussion and express their opinions of a survey sent out by the TPOA Board of Directors asking for input to determine what “improvements” property owners might/would like to see with regard to the existing clubhouse.  There were no figures of cost provided, no designs shown to the audience, no formal information provided at the May meeting.  The special May meeting concluded with the TPOA Board of Directors stating this would be a long process, with no decisions being made at this time, and that future meetings, opportunities for property owner input, etc. would be sought as the discussion continued.

Surprisingly, even though the May meeting indicated this was still in the early stages of discussion, the June 2016 decision to build a new clubhouse was announced, and further comment by the TPOA Board of Directors stated that the decided new build would be a one story build to lessen ADA additional requirements for a 2-story build, meetings were being planned to determine what City of San Antonio design build requirements might be and so on.  This blogger attended both of the above referenced meetings (May and June).

As a result of the discussion above, a group of concerned property owners feel that the TPOA board of directors are making extremely large scale decisions which could impact all property owners well into the future financially without proper research, due diligence and documentation to support these decisions.  By large scale, this clubhouse build could potentially cost $1,000,000.00 or more!

There are not enough reserves set aside currently to cover our existing improvements/assets as they wear out or need to be replaced, let alone a new financial commitment of this size.  That could potentially leave property owners in a deficit position if this project is begun prior to establishing adequate funding in our operating budget — do you want to collectively borrow to fund a new clubhouse if this project is begun prior to establishing adequate funds?

A petition has been formed which is seeking to remove/recall the TPOA Board of Directors.  You can find the information for this effort by following this link  to Archived Docs and clicking on the “petition” button located on this page.  Interested in signing or supporting the petition?  Comment back!

The next TPOA Board of Directors meeting is August 2 at 7pm in the Timberwood Park Clubhouse.  If this concerns you, please mark your calendar and plan to attend the next meeting!

 

 

At the HOA meeting held June 7, 2016 we had approximately 35 people in attendance including board members.  The meeting started with an abbreviated treasurers report and a social committee update.  A food truck was stationed outside the clubhouse to feed those in attendance “free of charge”….translation our assessment dollars are being used to fund this benefit.

There was a projects update which included some of the ongoing improvement projects underway in some form throughout the park.

IMPORTANT!!

The board launched a verbal discussion about the clubhouse and started it with a recap of a special meeting called May 10th where about 60 people were in attendance.  The discussion continued indicating that through a good discussion between those in attendance and the board, the board came away with the opinion that the community wanted the current clubhouse demolished and built new, not remodeled.

At the June 7th meeting, the board announced to the audience that the decision had been made to build a new facility and not discuss remodeling any further.  This in spite of the June newsletter which hit all our mailboxes about 4 to 5 days earlier and indicated that there had been no decision made and it was still being researched in articles published there.  Future meetings would be established for property owners input and feedback.

The board further announced that work was being done to get meetings arranged with the city to establish design criteria for the new build but when asked by audience members, they did not have estimated costs for construction, for the cost and/or placement of temporary or portable buildings while the clubhouse is being built which was something suggested as a means to deal with the clubhouse being demolished.  They did know that they wanted to build approximately 8,000 square feet (double what currently exists) with an expanded exercise area, more bathrooms, including bathrooms which opened out to the pool for wet suits to be covered properly, an office which would be moved from the caretaker quarters into the new building, a kids gaming area, a large group meeting area, and small group meeting area, and a new, expanded kitchen (which by the way was just remodeled and upgraded in 2014 with assessment dollars).  They also stated they did not have any completed design sketches of how a building might look for the neighborhood to review. Further it was determined that the best placement for the new clubhouse would be in its existing location because of close proximity to the parking lot, etc.  It would be a one story build because building a 2 story requires much more ADA requirements in order to be compliant with regulations.

Property owners – this is important to you!! A MAJOR decision is being made which will impact each property owner for which little or no due diligence has been done to date to even begin to prepare the neighborhood to make an informed decision about whether remodeling or building new is the right choice.

No property owner feedback has been sought other than an electronic survey sent out around early May which asked what “Improvements” you might like to see in the clubhouse if they were done (not if you supported demolishing the existing structure and building a new one), along with a meeting held for general discussion where the board repeatedly said there were no decisions made and this would be a long process with lots of feedback asked for by owners as they moved along in the future.

No solid numbers have been provided as to projected total cost of this project for the property owners of Timberwood Park. However, the number tossed out has consistently been around $1 million dollars — documented in a “proposed” 5 year plan developed by the board in 2014 and presented at an HOA meeting through a PowerPoint presentation,  but not consistent with the 5 year plan developed by property owners and board members working together in 2012 which was formally approved at that time.

No solid discussion about how that project will be funded.  We currently have about $120k in our reserve fund — but that is what it is — a reserve fund.  That means it should not be touched and should be set aside without being used for anything else.  According to a reserve study commissioned in 2014 and an outside audit done in 2014 that fund should actually be larger to cover the needs of usual wear and tear and wear out of assets.  This is without ever considering a new project or improvement, much less building a new clubhouse.

Financing it, which would be the only way to undertake it at this time, means two things:  first, financing would have to be sought and approved, and second, each property owner is responsible for that debt collectively.  You should take note and get involved in this large decision which impacts the entire neighborhood!

Please forward/send this blog note to your neighbors who might not subscribe to it and let them know that large scale decisions are being made on their behalf by our HOA board.  This is important to all of us!