Editorial: July 2026 HOA Meeting
I am resurrecting the column for summarizing the General HOA Meeting. These are not to be considered as minutes, nor does it include all the business that took place. It is my opinion of what I observed.
At the Meeting
The meeting started with only four board members: Cheri Estrada, Mike Peduzzi, Mary Williams, and Vojin Damjanac. The property manager, Dianne Campellone, facilitated the meeting via her tablet. Eight HOA members attended. No one was on Zoom.
Tablet Issue
The property manager tried to hook up the Owl camera to her tablet for better recording and zooming of the meeting. This was unsuccessful. My comment is that a company as big as Associa PCM should provide its manager with equipment to host the meeting.
Announcement
Because “Call for Candidates” was delayed for mailing reasons, even though it was posted in the Town Square App on July 8, 2026, the Declaration of Candidacy deadline has been changed from July 31 to August 31, 2026. The elections will now be held on November 19, 2026.
Running for the Board
Jill Perez, Chat Tran, Rick Manning, and Michael Barto as of this meeting had already submitted their “Declaration of Candidacy” for this election. After being asked, the Board announced that all current Board members will be running for re-election, also.
Open Seat
Our HOA Board should consist of five members, but since March 26, it has only consisted of four members. No one attending the HOA meetings in April and May remembered any announcement for this open seat. Also, this announcement was not in the April or May minutes. It is over four months since this position opened. With the election now at the end of November, and at least four non-board members declaring themselves as candidates, why hasn’t the Board filled this open position?
Open Forum
The big issue at the open forum was parking. Residents with multiple vehicles are parking in guest parking, so other residents cannot find parking spaces. Parking outside the property has been resulting in the City ticketing or actually towing vehicles. The vendor who is performing balcony and patio repairs is using some of these spaces to store their equipment and staging. Complaints were made that the HOA parking committee is not doing its job.
Committees
The parking committee seems to have a manpower issue for Blackbeard, Cabana, and Lago sides. It should be pointed out that the President, Cheri Estrada, has worked a lot of volunteer hours to do so much HOA business including monitoring parking. But for the parking, it was obvious that she needs help. At the meeting, HOA member Jill Perez volunteered (as she has done in the past) for the parking committee. Sometime after the meeting, her participation was accepted.
Defense of Spending
A complaint about the current Board is that it has dwindled the HOA reserve of $800k down to practically nothing. I do not want to go into the financial details, but the lack of reserves prevents the HOA from getting bank loans for emergencies. For some reason, the President spent time explaining why this had happened. Balcony and patio repairs were required and re ongoing. A member, after asking the Board at three consecutive HOA meetings, that her balcony be repaired because she had children and a soft area. The wood repairs vendor put her on a schedule. This was not satisfactory, and she called the City. The City threatened the HOA with fines. Money was spent. The President then explained that they are now evaluating cash flow for the other wood repairs to build up the reserves. Also, costs have skyrocketed because of structural issues.
Financial Report
The financial report for the end of June was presented by the property manager. She reported negative cash flow for both operating funds and total assets. By the way, HOA members have the right to obtain a copy of the financial reports. Simply contact PCM.
■
Note: One reason there are many candidates running to replace the entire Board has been the negative financial reports for several months. An entirely new Board wants to obtain information about it and see if the Board was justified in its decision. |
