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posted 18 October 2019
Safety
New Pilot Pet Station
The Safety Committee has installed a pilot Pet Station near the Cabana Mailboxes and 16542 Blackbeard  Building. This station contains plastic waste bags (poops bags) which any resident is welcome to use.
Responsibility
This does not eliminate that residents walking their pets are required to bring their own bags and responsible for picking up after their animals. These stations are only for emergency purposes. Also, residents are encourages to add bags to these stations from any surplus bags such as vegetable and store bags from the market or a retail store. As a pilot, comments are welcome to the Newsletter, the Safety Committee, the Board or the Property Management Company.
We are All in This Together
We all part of this community and should all support keeping the grounds clean and safe. Yes there are lax person who do not picking up after their animal, and some might say they are only responsible for themselves. But this is also their property and even though is it might be someone else, the mess remains. You can report these persons anonymously to the property manager, and they may even get fined. This grounds at Harbour Vista is part of your home. We all need to take care of it by contributing surplus bags and picking up the pet animal waste even if it is not your own.■ |
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posted 6 July 2019
News
4th of July Block Party
Residents of Harbour Vista held participate in Jill Perez Annual July 4th Block Party at the Cabana parking area which was open to everyone. Pot luck food was provide and many residents brought their own chairs to sit down and enjoy the fireworks display from the surrounding neighbors that stated a dusk.■ |
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posted 24 June 2019
Community Garage Sale 2019 (beginning summer)
Garage Sale 2019
Harbour Vista held its annual "start of summer garage sale" on Saturday June 22. Starting at 7am, all electronic entrance gates were open along with the Grunion and Blackbeard fire gate. There were two new banners and plenty of signs. Residents participation with garages open for business was somewhat disappointing. But that did not stop buyers from attending this event mostly all day.
Most participants netted over $100 easily. Sellers were having so much fun, they wanted another one, soon! It is a great time to meet your neighbors. Many thanks is to the members who post signs and organize the event (e.g. Brenda Richardson) and the support of the Board for disable the electronic gates and opening the fire gates.
Lessons Learned
Some residents said they just discovered the Garage sale when they walked out the door and siad they would have participated if they would have known. Posting signs at the bulletin boards is not enough.Some Realtors said they would be happy to send out mailings at their expense to their mailing list. All Harbour Vista needs to do is asked. It was also suggest that our banners and signs be posted earily than the day of the event say the start of the week.
New Ad Hoc Committee
By default Jill Perez became the Chairman of an add-hoc Garage Sale committee. They intend to hold a meeting in the next two weeks to plan an "end of summer garage sales".Hopeful more members will know about tbhis one and will participate. Out Garage Sales are always great fun and they actually make money. Check bulletin Board and the Newsletter for announcements. All members and residents are welcome. ■ |
posted 5 June 2019
Attention ALL Residents and Members! |
HARBOUR VISTA
Community Garage Sale
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WHEN: Saturday June 22, 2019 |
TIME: Gates Open at 7AM |
The gates will be opened during this time for easy access to the garage areas. |
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Everyone is welcome to participate. |
We expect a good turnout.
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- Please join the community garage sale.
- Please spread the word to the family and friends.
- Simply opne your garage door and sell off your extra stuff.
- The gates will be open and signs will be posted for the day.
- Don't forget toi get small bills/coins for change and extra bags.
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Some good reasons to join the garage sale!!!
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Room to park car in garage |
Ready for summer guests |
Space for new "Wish" items |
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So come and join us!!! |
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posted 16 August 2019
2019 Elections
Election of the new Board for 2019-2020 was declaired at the HOA Meeting held on July 25, 2019. There was no "bated breath" waiting fo the results as the Board had disqualified anyone else by the non residents election rule. Hense there were only incumbents on the ballot. Even though, one write-in candidate who was one of those disqualified did receive a good showing of write-in votes.
Vote Count
| Candidate |
Votes |
Comment. |
Candice Shultz |
79 |
Incumbent Treasurer
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Mike Peduzzi |
61 |
Incumbent Vice Presiden
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Brenda Richardson |
45 |
Incumbent Member at Large |
Mary Williams |
45 |
Incumbent President |
Pier Santillo |
43 |
Incumbent Secretary
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Michael Barto |
35 |
Architectural Committee Chairmain (disqualified as offsite owner) |
62 Ballots Cast
Sixty-two ( 62) balots were cast representing only 34% of the membership. Each ballot can cast 5 votes. The previous election in 2018 had only 54 ballots cast so there was an improvement in turn out.
Surplus Funds
There were 50 yes votes, 2 no votes and 8 abstained votes that passed the ballot iniitiative to transfer end of the year surplus funds to the next the fiscal year.
Two Ballots Distributed
Originall, the election ballots were distributed to the membership shortly after the closing of candidacy declaration deadline on May 16th. About a week later these ballots was resinded because the offsite owner Mike Borzi was listed on these ballots and was disqualified. Though Bopard Secretary Peir Santillo had missed this first deadline to declare her candidacy and had not appeared on the original ballots, her name was added on the replacement balots when mailed to then membership.
Same Officer Again
After the election was certified by the Election inspector Kathy Collette from Majority Rules, the new Board held a short "Organizational Meeting" and assigned themselve the same position as they held for the 2018-2019 Board.■
Editorial Comments:
- Originally the Annual Election Meeting was schedule for the June 27th HOA meeting with the initial bvallot mailed to the membership. Later a replacement ballot was mailed to the membership which stated that that the election would take place on July 11th. This meeting never happen and the Annual Meeting was moved to July 25.
- The appearance of Pier Santillo on the replacement ballots reduced the possibility that the Board might have to acccept any unknown write-in candidate unless they were disqualified.
- According to the HOA ByLaws, for an election to be certified, you must have a quorum cast or 91 ballots a tteh Annual Meeting. If quorum is not meeting a that time, the Board must reschedule the Annual Meeting from 5 to 30 days later when the quorum will be reduced to 46 cast ballots.
- Besides MIke Borzi, two other offsite owners John Briscoe and Michael Barto had submitted their candidate declarations on time for the ballot. But they were disqualified by the election rule.
- To contest an HOA election requires funding legal expenses something which the average HOA member would not consider.
- The California legislation has introduce SB323 to make it easier to contest elections along with preventing creation of an election rules which arbritarily disqualified members from running for the Board. This bill has passed the California Senate and is in the Assembly.
- Your State assembly representative (district 72) is Assembly Member Tyler Diep (916-319-2072) Website: https://ad72.asmrc.org. His district office is at 17011 Beach Blvd, Suite 1120 714-843-4966.
- If any of you are disappointed in the Elections, remember member apathy is really the consequences of these outcomes.
- Recently the newly elected incumebent Treasure Candice Shultz placed her condo up for sale. When her sale is closed, she will need to resign from the Board as she will no longer be a member of the Association. This will leaves an open position on the Board which will require an appointment.
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20 July 2019
News
This Case Was Dismissed (updated)
On June 24, the plaintiff requested that this case be dismissed with prejudice. The trail has therefore been canceled.
Dismissal with Prejudice
A dismissal with prejudice is dismissal of a case on merits after adjudication.The plaintiff is barred from bringing an action on the same claim. Dismissal with prejudice is a final judgment and the case becomes res judicata on the claims that were or could have been brought in it
Trip and Fall Litigation
The Harbour Vista HOA LLC was named in a lawsuit entitled "Jorgina Urbana v. Harbour Vista Homeowners Association", filed in the Orange County Sup erior Court on February 9, 2018 as Case No. 30-2018-00972489-CU-PO-CJC. The Complaint alleges a Premises Liability cause of action. Plaintiff alleges she suffered serious injury as a result of the Association's failure to exercise reasonable care in the operation and maintenance of an elevator at the Harbour Vista community. The Association disputes the allegations. The Association's insurance carrier assigned counsel to defend the Association in the lawsuit.
Source
Public information about this case are on file at the
http://www.occourts.org/online-services/case-access/
It should be noted, that litigations with the HOA must be disclosed to a buyer and lender prior to the sell of a property at Harbour Vista. ■ |
posted 24 June 2019
IN MEMORY
Long time resident and dear neighbor Judy Kerenyi  recently passed away. She lived at Harbour Vista for 32 years. Originally from Hungary, she first came to the United Sates during the Russian Revolution in 1956. She returned to Europe in 1970 and came back to the US in 1987 at which time she purchased the condo in Harbour Vista. She leaves three children, two daughters and a son.
Born October 28, 1940, she passed away from heart surgery complications on June 7, 2019. She will be missed.■ |
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posted 29 July 2019
News (Two Real Estate Placards)
 Required by HOA CC&R’s which states that “the Board of Directors shall erect within the Common Areas a master directory of Units which are for sale or for lease“, the Architectural Committee as of July 25 erected two real estate placard signs. These were placed at the corner of Heil Avenue and Green Lane. Originally only one placard existed on the Phase II. This was torn down by a previous Board in 2013.
Proposed Criterial
The Actitectural Commitee Chariman has proposed the following criteria for using the placards pending approval by the Board:
- Only properties for Sale or Lease may be advertises on these posts.
- Only a maximum of 24 inch wide or smaller placards may be displayed.
- Except for the “real estate general information placards", all other real estate placards must be constructed with both two top and two bottom eyelets or hooks. ”
- The “real estate general information placards” which sumarizes listings is maintained by the HOA. These placards are always placed at the bottom of any other real estate placard in the coilumn.
- Once a property is closed, the realtor or property owner is responsible for IMMEDIATELY removing their placard. This is strictly enforced by the Architectural Committee
- Any “realtor” utilizing the placard post must be the currently agent representing the property as shown in the Master Real Estate Listing (MRL).
- Placards can only be placed on the appropriate post for the property phase where the unit is for sale or for rent-Phase I Post: Grunion side or Phase II Post: Blackbeard-Cabana-Lago side. A user cannot post their placard on the post that is not on the phase that is represented.
Email Contact
Currently the HOA does not own a domain or have a functional email system. Harbour Vista News has temporarily established an email:
for realtors and property owner to contact if they have any questions in using these placard posts.
Always looking for Advise
When the Phase II post was installed, an existing fern removed was removed. This was an oversight by “yours truly” and the Board. I have requested to the Board that a new fern be planted. I am also looking for a better sign method for the required “real estate general information” placards. ■ |
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updated 21 January 2019
PRESIDENT RESIGNS
Recall Petition Submitted
The HOA President Terri Piper-Johnson submitted her resigned from the Board on January 10th. Vice President Mary Williams assumed the duties as the acting President.
Lack of Quorum
With Terri resignation, the Board is reduced to two members: acting President Mary Williams and Member at Large Brenda Richardson. With only two members, the Board has no operating quorum as defined by our ByLaws and the Davis Stirling Act. With no quorum, there is a legal restriction for voting to pay bills and define policies. To correct this, the next "open Board meeting", must immediately appoint at lease one new member to establish a quorum. Automatically a Board is reorganized every time a new officer is elected, resigns or appointed.
Davis-Stirling Act
By statute, a board may continue its meeting once quorum is present notwithstanding the subsequent loss of quorum, provided any action is approved by at least a majority of the required quorum for the meeting. (Corp. Code §7211(a)(8).)"
This means that in Harbour Vista's case, a board of five directors needs three to establish quorum. It then needs two of the three to approve any motion. If one of the three leaves the meeting, business may continue as long as the remaining two directors vote in unison.
Petition
Terri resigned because of a pending recall petition that was submitted to the HOA on January 8th. This petition was authored by a former HOA President Gayle Poynter (2011-2014). The petition had collect thirteen members' signatures. Thirteen signatures is over 5% of the membership needed for a recall petition to be acted. The Board (acting with a quorum) must initiates a special Recall meeting which must be held at a minim of 35 day to a maximum 90 days after the date of receiving the petition.
Recalling the Whole Board?
The petition requested that the current Board be replaced and a new Board be elected. I reality, it only wanted to removed Terri Piper-Johnson and Brenda Richardson as the petition asked that Mary Williams (current Board member) be elected to the new Baord along with Candice Scuiltz, Mike Peduzzi, herself Gayle Poytner and Ron Roilewicz. These persons gave their permission to be on the petition as noninees, but only Gayle Poynter and Roilewicz (former Vice President (2011-2014) actually signed this petition.
Legal Requirements
The Board (acting with a quorum) has 20 days to provide a date for special recall election meeting after receiving the petition. Because the petition was submitted on January 8th, the Board must set this date by January 28 at the latest in an "Open Meeting".
Talking to Council
The Newsletter has been informed that the acting Board is talking to its legal counsel.
As of this writing, no additional information has been forthcoming except that the next public HOA meeting will be January 31, 2019.
■
References:
- Copy of Petition without Signatures
- Lost of Quorum
- Collapse of HOA
- Recall Dates and Notice
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posted 1 January 2019
| Notice
Ballot-Survey Not Passed
This notice was posted on the Harbour Visitor HOA Powerstone web site shorty after the Thursday December 27th HOA Meeting.
NOTICE
The Board of Directors met on Thursday,
December 27, 2018 at 6:00p.m. to open the
surveys regarding whether or not the Board
will move forward with initiating further steps
in purchasing the land lease currently owned
by Mr. Dickey and discussed at an open
meeting on October 27, 2018.
The results of the survey were as follows:
180 units were surveyed.
101 Homeowners responded.
28 Homeowners responded NO
73 Homeowners responded YES |
According to the HOA ByLaws, for an Ballot Action to pass requires 75% of the HOA membership plus 1 (136 yes votes) to pass. This action did not get even enough members to respond for any action to occur.
The large amount of "no" votes is contributed to vague and incorrect information. In the initial ballot, references were made to Sections in the ByLaws that did not exist and costs were not clearly defined. See Initial Ballot. ■ |
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posted 13 January 2019
Assessments Revisited
 As previous reported the new assessments seem to impact one bedroom units more than the other types. One bedrooms have over a 6% increase in assessments, whereas a three bedroom received less than 4%. Candice Shultz was asked by acting HOA President Mary Williams to perform an independent calculation of published assessment rate for 2019. The table below summarizes her findings.
Recalculation Summary
| |
2018
Previous |
2019
Current |
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2019
Recalc |
|
Diff |
| 1BD |
$516.48 |
$547.58 |
6.02% |
$535.14 |
3.61% |
-$12.44 |
| 2BD |
$547.08 |
$569.98 |
4.19% |
$569.93 |
4.18% |
-0$0.05 |
| 3BD |
$559.16 |
$581.39 |
3.98% |
$587.67 |
5.10% |
+$6.28 |
Candice assessment schedule is different that was previous one published by the HOA. It significantly adjusts one bedroom units. Her results can be see via this link.
Flat Rate plus Square Footage
The Board passed in November a 4% increase for the HOA Budget for 2019. But this does not directly map to a simply 4% increase in members' assessments.
The Department of Real Estate
The California Department of Real Estate (http://dre.ca.gov) publishes a 60 page manual (Operating Cost Manual for Homeowner Associations) in how to calculate assessments. The manual defines a process where part of the homeowners assessments are a flat rate divided equally among owners and a variable rate based on square footage of a owner's unit.
Fixed Flat Rate
Fixed expenses are defined in the new 2019 Budget consist of the General Administrative Expenses, Land Maintenance, and Repair Maintenance plus the monthly reserve payment.
Fixed Monthly Expenses
| Account |
2019 Fixed Monthly Expenses |
| General Administration |
$9.187.52 |
| Land Maintenance |
$8,050.00 |
| Repairs and Maintenance |
$40,350.03 |
Budget Total: |
$57,587.55 |
| Reserve Payment |
$17,000 |
Grand Total: |
74,587.55 |
This works out to a flat rate of $414.38 per property owner ($74,587.55 divided by 180 units).
Square Footage Rate
Variable costs are expenses allocated by square footage to each owner. They consist of Insurance, Water, Gas, Electricity, Garage and Phone.
Variable Cost Accounts
| Account |
Monthly |
Yearly Budgeted |
| Insurance |
$6,250 |
$75,000.00 |
| Water |
$6,250 |
$75,000.00 |
| Gas |
$5,166.67 |
$62,000.04 |
| Electricity |
$5,083.33 |
$60,999.96 |
| Garage |
$5,125.00 |
$61,500.00 |
| Phone |
$149.00 |
$1,788.00 |
Total: |
$28,024.00 |
$336,288.00 |
This works out to a budget amount or $28,024 total per month for the HOA. To allocate this by square footage, we need the total square footage of all the condos at Harbour Vista.
Square Footage Table
| |
Count |
Sq. Ft |
Total Sq. Ft. |
| 1BD |
36 |
885 |
31860 |
| 2BD |
72 |
1140 |
82080 |
| 3BD |
72 |
1270 |
91440 |
count total: |
180 |
Total |
205380 |
This works out to 205380 square feet fo rthe whole HOA. Dividing this into the Variable cost by the total square feet yields $0.13644951 per square feet as a factor.
Fix Costs plus Variable Cost
A member's new assessment rate is then the summary the sum of the fix month cost (the same for each member $414.38) and the variable costs factor multiple by the member's unit square footage.■
Conclusion
| |
Sq. Ft |
Cost per Sq. Ft. |
Variable Cost |
|
Fixed Cost |
|
Assmt
Recalc |
| 1BD |
885 |
$0.13644951 |
$120.76 |
+ |
$414.38 |
= |
$535.14 |
| 2BD |
1140 |
$0.13644951 |
$155.55 |
+ |
$414.38 |
= |
$569.93 |
| 3BD |
1270 |
$0.13644951 |
$173.29 |
+ |
$414.38 |
= |
$587.67 |
Editor Notes:
- The published HOA assessment increases for 2019 were prepared by former HOA President Helen Revalus and mailed to the members in late November 2018.
- I Basicall Reparaphase Candice report and place in spreadsheets to create the provide tables. Candice report may be easier to understand or visa versa. See Candice Report to the Board.
- Operating Cost Manual for Homeowner Associations (
 ) 1.8MB
- California Department of Real Estate Web Site
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posted 1 January 2019 (update 04 Jan 2019)
News Item
Assessments Do Not Match Approval?
At the "Special Open Budget Meeting held November 15th, the Board approved the new budget for 2019 with an across the board dues increase (or that is what was advertised to be) of 4%. But in a letter packet sent from Powerstone dated November 28th, the increase had changed.
| Type |
2018/mon |
Increase |
2019/mon |
sq ft |
% |
| 1BD |
$516.48 |
$31.10 |
$547.58 |
62¢ |
6.02% |
| 2BD |
$547.08 |
$22.90 |
$569.98 |
50¢ |
4.19% |
| 3BD |
$559.16 |
$22.23 |
$581.39 |
46¢ |
3.98% |
This represent a culminated rate increase 4.56% which is more than a a half of percent over the approved 4% raise. Mostly this discrepancy is contributed by the one bedroom unit owner. ■
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