A special HOA meeting was held on Wednesday, July 13. Five members attended along with three HOA Directors: President Michael Barto, Treasurer Yolanda Rangel and Member at Large Jill Perez. This meeting was to discuss the Edison “zero cost” pilot program where they would install the EV charging infrastructure and provide rebates for charging stations installed by the HOA. Edison representative Jonathan Van attended the meeting and lead a discussion about Edison’s EV charging pilot.
Edison Proposal
The Edison proposal installs at each HOA address a “zero cost” a level 2 EV charging infrastructure. The HOA has 10 addresses for this purpose. The HOA will be responsible for purchasing, installing and maintaining EV charging stations attached to this infrastructure. But the pilot also includes a one-time cash rebate for each station. With quantity discounts for charging stations, the Edison rebates in most cases will cover the station costs and installation of the new charging stations.
HOA Set Fees
The HOA will collects the charging fees via a credit card system at each charger and will pay Edison directly for all power used. The HOA will set the rates to the user to cover the energy, maintenance and so forth. The charging stations cannot be converted to solar or removed from the system for 10 years. There is no minimum usage requirements.
Zero Cost
President Michael Barto stated that any plans to install charging stations at Habour Vista should not cost the HOA any money. There are not enough EV’s at Harbour Vista (approximately 11) to justify any funding at this time. But the number of EV’s is growing by one a month. Edison’s “zero cost” proposal seems to meet this these criteria.
No Discrimination
The President also stated that he would not support any plan that would take parking spaces away from homeowners or resident, or limit them for special purposes. The only fair way to do this would be to install charging stations at the majority of parking spaces-both assigned and unassigned with no changes to the parking regulations.
First Step
To become eligible to participate in this pilot, Edison requires that the HOA submit a signed request. This will initiate a “no cost” engineering feasibility study. If everything is acceptable, the HOA will then be asked to sign a contract to begin the installation. Prior to this second signing, there is no financial obligation to the HOA. The three Board members all agreed that they would vote in favor of the Engineering Study at the next General HOA meeting on July 28.
Further Discussion
The meeting was then opened to a general discussion. Those attending felt that the HOA will have to implement some type of modernization for the community for EV Charging. ■
Editor Notes:
Those attending this meeting were surprised to see none of the people who expressed concerns about this proposal in the HOA_Discussion Mailing List, attended this meeting.
There is a misconception, that EV Charging Stations will take away parking spaces. This may be a misconception created by public parking lots that do assign parking spaces for special use. The HOA has never suggested that they would do this.
posted 21 April 2022
EV Charging
Changes for EV Charging
At the Board Meeting on April 7, the Board adopted new Rules and Regulation and new Architectural Guidelines for 2022 that now allow members to charge their vehicles in their garage. These documents are being mailed out for comment and should be ratified at the May 26th HOA meeting.
EV Charging Now Allowed
Both the Rules and Regulations and Architectural Guidelines now state that electrical vehicles can be allowed to charge in the owner's garage, providing they have obtained permission from the HOA. That last part is important as there is discussion that members may be allowed to use the common area electricity, but must reimburse the HOA for its use. None of that has yet been defined as the Board is waiting for such a request from the membership to implement a policy (e.g., pilot).
Installing Garage Charging System (level2)
Members are allowed to install their own level 2 charging system with the HOA permission. The charging system must be independent of HOA-provided electricity. Power is run from the member's power panel where the electric meters are installed. Quotes from qualified electricians have been in the $3000 range including running the cabling inside the property. For garages on the outside perimeter, required boring under the roadways will increase the expense.
Using Level 1 (Trickle Charging)
Plugging a portable charging adapter into the 120 outlet can be allowed under the new changes and will also require permission from the HOA. This permission will probably come with an assessment for using the HOA electricity used. The monthly amount has yet to be determined. The 120 volt outlet in the garage is limited to use 15A with a charging adapter. This will provide level 1 charging which is 4 miles/hour. ■
posted 26 July 2022
HOA Special Meeting Summary
SECURITY CAMERA SYSTEM
A special HOA meeting was held on Wednesday, July 20 to discuss the procurement of a wireless Security Camera system for Harbour Vista. Six members attended along with three HOA Directors: President Michael Barto, Treasurer Yolanda Rangle and Member at Large Jill Perez. A presentation was given by Golden Eye Surveillance System (GESS) — one of the two vendors that provided quotes for this project. Safety Committee Member Rick Manning, who had researched this project, lead the meeting.
Presentations
Cory Safford from Golden Eye Surveillance System (GESS) gave a presentation with slides and a live demonstration from another HOA. A Harbour Vista map was displayed showing where the cameras would be placed. GESS proposals consist of forty-six wireless 4K cameras with four video recorders. This include surveillance of all pools, mailboxes, roadways and both the vehicle and pedestrian gates. Each video recorders will utilize 8TB of storage and will retain the recordings for approximately 30 days before being overwritten. All wifi setup and network repeaters are included in the installation. Most of the cameras will be attached to buildings. One pole camera system will also be required. Monitoring of the camera system will be responsibility of the HOA.
Safety Committee Update
The Safety Committee Chairman Robin Smith requested that two more camera system be added. One covering the Grunion fire gate and the other to cover the pedestrian gate near the corner of Heil and Green. Cory said that these additions would require another camera pole light system. An updated quote was requested.
Financial Impact
This proposed system was not part of the budget for this year. President Michael Barto suggested that to support the Harbour Vista’s cash flow, the HOA might consider installing this system in stages. One member of the audience expressed concern that all of it should be done at one time. The vendor mentioned that all of the cameras could run off the current lighting system as the Harbour Vista lighting system has surplus power because they were converted from incandescent to LED lights. President Michael Barto suggested that funding of approximately $10,000 for any additional electrical work, also be approved.
Conclusion
The three Board members at the meeting said they would support installing such a system. The Finances Committee was tasks to evaluate the cash flow and funding issues. This will be on the agenda for voting for this Thursday, July 28th HOA Meeting. ■
posted 8 March 2022
HOA Meeting
Selection of
New Property Managment
At the last Executive Session Meeting of the Harbour Vista HOA, held on February 24, 2022, the Board approved the selection of Progressive Association Management as our new Property Management Company. They will assume responsibility for Harbour Vista starting May 1, 2022. Powerstone will continue acting as our Property Management Company through April 30.
Ad Hoc Community
For some time now, there have been concerns from the homeowners and the Board about the level of service that Powerstone was providing. Powerstone had many opportunities to correct these deficiencies, but failed to do so. The HOA determined they had to look for a new Property Management Company starting at the end of last year. An ad hoc committee was formed headed up by homeowner Robin Smith, with Jill Perez and Mariette van den Bersselaar also participating.
Proposals
The ad hoc committee contacted several Property Management companies and requested proposals from each. Subsequent to the proposal, committee members and a few Board members attended candidate presentations via Zoom. Requirements and evaluation criteria included management of vendor, specifically vendor payment processing and vendor sign-up costs, proximity of company office and the person that would be the property manager, understanding of our maintenance needs, given our complex landscaping and the age of the buildings. The committee compared services and costs and checked references.
Look for Something Different
Because Powerstone is considered a very large Property Management Company, the Board and the evaluation team started looking to mid-range property management companies where Harbour Vista would be a more important customer.
Final Decision
For the final evaluation, it came down to two vendors. Both met most of the requirements, so it was a close race. Cost was a factor in the final decision, as well as the promise of giving home owners access to work orders, but also comfort level with the person that would be the property manager for Harbour Vista. ■
posted 10 March 2022
FYI
Why Powerstone was Replaced
The following is a discussion of the problems and issues that the HAO and the membership have been experiencing with our current Property Management Company Powerstone and the reason we terminated their contract with Harbour Vista HOA.
Not Paying Our Vendors
The most significant reason to why the HOA decided to replace the Powerstone was their increasing problem of not paying our bills. Vendor invoices were misplaces or lost entirely. Vendor were being forced to submit invoices multiple time. Vendors started contacting the HOA to complain. This included the HOA legal counsel. This negligence resulted in two liens being filed against the HOA. Vendors started requesting down payments to start work. In one case a Board member issued their own personal $3000 check so work could continue because Powerstone could not issue a check for a week in a reasonable time frame after they had created the delays.
Falling Through the Cracks
Many requests by homeowners and the Board to Powerstone had fallen through the cracks. Jobs requested a year ago just started happening - mostly becuase of hard work by the HOA beyond what they HOA normally are required to do. Repeatedly at the HOA meeting, the same request was presented again on the agenda. Poor return of calls from Powerstone to members was becoming worse and worse.
Revolving Door
Powerstone has replaced the Harbour Vista Property Manager about every month and half. We are now on our fourth Poperty Manager since August. Each new property manager had to be brough up to speed. Once again memberships were asked again to explain their issue to someone new. This revolving door caused lost jobs orders, lost invoices, badly planned work and duplicated job orders for the same problem.
Termination
A 60 day termination letter was sent to Powerstone on February 24, 2022. On the same day, a copy of the termination letter was also delivered in person to their representative at the Board Meeting. Powerstone will continue acting as the Property Management Company through April 30. See Selection of New Property Management. ■
posted 12 February 2022
HOA Special Meeting Summary
New Landscaping Service Approved
The HOA Board held a general meeting on February 3 in the Cabana Clubhouse starting at 6:30 pm for the purpose of approving a new Landscaping service. Board members in attendance were President Michael Barto, Treasurer Yolanda Angel (via Zoom) and Member at Large Mary Williams. Five members of the HOA attended the open meeting.
Proposals and Results
Our current landscaping service S&A Landscaping is retiring from the account on February 15th. There were three proposals:
Andre Landscaping
Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance
Harvest Landscaping Enterprises, Inc
After discussion, the vote was two for Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance and on vote for Harvest Landscaping Enterprises, Inc. Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance was selected.
Inspection and Review
The Landscaping Committee physically inspected properties served by the three vendors and reviewed the contracts. Andre Landscaping seemed to not meet our requirement. The Committee had mixed suggestion with the remaining two vendors. It was also stated that none of the properties looks like Barbour Vista.
Disclosure
It was disclosed that member of the Landscaping Committee Jill Perez husband’s partner wife’s father is the owner of Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance.
Discussion
Member at Large Mary Williams said she preferred the larger company Harvest Landscaping Enterprises, Inc whereas the President Michael Bart preferred the smaller company Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance. The Treasure Yolanda Angel said she preferred the less expensive vendor Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance.
Finance Committee
The Financial Committee reported that both remaining vendors were basically equivalent. Harvest Landscaping Enterprises, Inc costs are $1839 more per mouth than Ever Green Landscaping Maintenance. For the first year, Harvest would provided some free plants, but the cost to the HOA would still be $1214 per month more than Ever Green.
Legal Council Additions
The HOA Legal Council provided a review of the contracts for both the remaining vendors and minor changes and clarification were requested. ■
posted 12 January 2022
HOA Meeting
Lukewarm Water Special Meeting
The HOA Board held a special meeting on Thursday January 6, 2022 at 6:30 pm. Board members in attendance were President Michael Barto, Treasurer Yolanda Rangel, Secretary Mikel Borzi and Member at large Mary Williams. Vice President John Briscoe was not able to attend. Two HOA members attended in person and five members attended via Zoom.
Boiler Infrastructure
RayPak
Laars
Steps Taken
Steps were taken to bleed air out of the water lines and clean or replace shower and faucet valves in homeowner’s units. A new larger pump has been installed on both the Grunion boilers. This did improve hot water for the one and half buildings temporarily, but was not a complete satisfactory solution. Magnesium strips inside the reservoirs have also been replaced and calcium deposits were noticed.
Presentation by Pro Star
Pro Star Mechanical Services is the vendor taking care of the Harbour Vista boilers. The HOA has employed other vendors, but when the quality of work started to deteriorate we enlisted Pro Star to take over nine months ago. The CEO of Pro Star Laila Karamally gave us a presentation via Zoom and made the following suggestions:
Increase the size of the circulating pumps to get more hot water to the units faster.
Replace magnesium strips in the reservoir on a more aggressive schedule.
Perform regular maintenance on the boilers and flush the tanks.
ProStar would like the size of the lines going into the buildings to be reevaluated.
Poor water quality may be addressed by cleaning Wye strainers more often and adding an optional water conditioning system.
The Board unanimously voted to go forward with these suggestions.
Reservoir Does Not Match
Pro Star also brought this to our attention: Each of the boiler systems at Harbour Vista consists of a one or two boiler units and a reservoir. Think of the reservoir as a water heater without the heater part. It stores the heated water and delivers to the units.
Current Boilers
The RayPak boiler system consisted of two RayPak boilers which are rated at 399,000 btu’s each and work in tandem (total 798,000 btu’s). The replacement Laars boiler system is one boiler rated at 12,250,000 btu’s. There is a rule that a reservoir tank should be rated with the size of the boiler. Evidently when these replacements were made, the reservoir tanks were not updated and remained at 119 Gal to support only 798,000 btu’s.
Too Small
Because the new boilers have smaller reservoirs, water is heated much more quickly, causing the boiler to go on and off in shorter time cycles as compared to when the boiler was smaller and matched the reservoir. With high demand from the hydronic heaters and showers, it is possible that the water in the reservoir is never allowed to fully heat to the proper temperature in the tank. Therefore residents would experience lukewarm instead of hot water.
Engineering Service
Pro Star did say they are only qualified to evaluate the boiler systems. Because the buildings are experiencing air in the pipes and large sediment issue, they suspect there is a problem with the delivery system into the buildings. At the meeting and with two preliminary bids, the Board voted to fund the services of a plumbing engineer to evaluate the root cause of this problem. One of the items on the table for the engineer to review, will be the recommendation for larger reservoirs to match the boilers.
Meanwhile
The Board recommends that when residents experience lukewarm water in their unit they contact the plumbing company DryMaster. DryMaster works hand and hand with Pro Star and is the only vendor allowed to drain the pipes or touch the boiler and they have knowledge of the history with the boilers. DryMaster will be able to determine if the problem is caused by the boiler, at which point the resident can call Powerstone to report the problem. DryMaster will also replace/clean faucets and shower heads, replace valves and clean cartridges. This is at the homeowner’s expense. ■
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directly for all power used. The HOA will set the rates to the user to cover the energy, maintenance and so forth. The charging stations cannot be converted to solar or removed from the system for 10 years. There is no minimum usage requirements.
outlet can be allowed under the new changes and will also require permission from the HOA. This permission will probably come with an assessment for using the HOA electricity used. The monthly amount has yet to be determined. The 120 volt outlet in the garage is limited to use 15A with a charging adapter. This will provide level 1 charging which is 4 miles/hour. ■ 
wireless 4K cameras with four video recorders. This include surveillance of all pools, mailboxes, roadways and both the vehicle and pedestrian gates. Each video recorders will utilize 8TB of storage and will retain the recordings for approximately 30 days before being overwritten. All wifi setup and network repeaters are included in the installation. Most of the cameras will be attached to buildings. One pole camera system will also be required. Monitoring of the camera system will be responsibility of the HOA.
For some time now, there have been concerns from the homeowners and the Board about the level of service that Powerstone was providing. Powerstone had many opportunities to correct these deficiencies, but failed to do so. The HOA determined they had to look for a new Property Management Company starting at the end of last year. An ad hoc committee was formed headed up by homeowner Robin Smith, with Jill Perez and Mariette van den Bersselaar also participating.
