News

The BOD approved a number of items at the last meeting: buying new “padded” chairs to replace the metal folding chairs at the community center, resolving the standing water surrounding Windmill Park in the retention ponds by redoing the ponds (as well as bring us into compliance with Marana code)and having the backwash water from the pools pumped into the sewer instead of the ponds, and purchasing new and upgraded security cameras and security system to deal with vandalism. Unfortunately Terry Paschen had to submit his resignation due to personal circumstances. We would all like to thank Terry and wish him and his the very best.Your current BOD has worked very hard at not raising dues by being very budget conscious. Something we do not budget for is vandalism. That does not mean that we do not have to pay to have things repaired or replaced because of vandalism. Senseless acts of vandalism continue with ever increasing cost associated with these acts. The Association has incurred tens of thousands of dollars in costs to repair or replace items in the last year and it still continues. We have just completed installing new lighting at the monument entry ways and have had one  light fixture destroyed completely and another protective cage kicked in. Rocks in the urinals, new plantings stolen and destroyed, play structures broken by teens jumping up and down on them, light fixtures tore off of buildings, kids climbing on the roofs of the ramadas at Windmill Park and the list goes on.

New security cameras are currently being installed at Windmill Park that will allow us to have very clear pictures of any vandals to give to the police. We will also be posting any pictures in the newsletter  as well as posting them on bulletin boards throughout CRCA so those performing these acts might be identified. A large portion of the vandalism exceeds $1000.00 in damages and is a felony offense under AZ Statute. This BOD will convict any and all acts of vandalism to the fullest extent of the law allowed. I urge everyone to read the article in this newsletter on penalties for criminal damage under AZ Revised Statute 13-1602 and realize the seriousness for those who are caught.

Parents might be interested in reading: AZ Revised Statute 12-661. “Liabilities of parents or legal guardians for malicious or willful misconduct of minorsAny act of malicious or willful misconduct of a minor which results in any injury to the person or property of another, to include theft or shoplifting, shall be imputed to the parents or legal guardian having custody or control of the minor whether or not such parents or guardian could have anticipated the misconduct for all purposes of civil damages, and such parents or guardian having custody or control shall be jointly and severally liable with such minor for any actual damages resulting from such malicious or willful misconduct.” Parents may also be ordered to attend counseling or community service with the minor. This BOD is very serious about stopping this destruction of Association property and will take any means necessary to see it stopped. Please report any acts of vandalism to the office and or police so we can stop this before we need to add a new budget item to cover vandalism and in turn raise dues.   

This past month the BOD was faced with some decisions affecting use of some of the common areas. The pool committee recommended closing the Windmill Park pool at 6PM instead of the 10PM closing. The reduction in hours was necessitated due to vandalism to the pool and bath room fixtures, pool rules being disregarded and a need to protect our amenities for all homeowners. It is unfortunate that the actions of a few individuals necessitated such action. The new pool hours will commence on January 7^th and be in effect until the pool monitors are hired again in May. Another outdoor toy was destroyed at one of the pocket parks- the fourth one at the same park- and it was decided to not replace it due to the continued vandalism. The month before the association had to spend over $6800.00 replacing vandalized portions of the play structure at Windmill Park. The security cameras are in the process of being updated and we hope to be able to positively identify those people costing all you homeowners so much money in vandalism. This BOD has committed to prosecuting those caught to the fullest extent of the law as well as restricting their common area privileges as well as fining them to the extent allowed under the CC&R’s. 

The BOD approved the budgeted monies to scan and digitize all the association files that were previously “stored” in card board boxes in a rented storage unit. While moving the boxes from the storage unit; “files” on homeowner improvements and other information that should have been in  homeowners files already were found scattered throughout the boxes. It will be interesting to see what is found in the boxes to be organized.

The monument lights that were previously installed have been replaced with new fixtures due to the poor quality of the fixtures spec’d out by the lighting design company. The new Twin Peaks monument will be lighted as part of the monies budgeted for the new entry way monument and landscaping of the same.

A special thanks to the Town of Marana Police Dept. for the enforcement of the speed limit on Twin Peaks Road. While we all looked forward to the opening of Twin Peaks it brought with it increased traffic as well as increased speeds in our community.

I would like to thank the homeowners in CRCA who gave so generously to the Adopt a Family program our association sponsored. The two families “wishes” were met and it was nice to be able to share the Christmas spirit with them. Thanks again to all who were able to share.

I would like to thank Gus Lipins for the time he served on the BOD after his resignation in November. The BOD would like to welcome Gladys Pope who agreed to serve the community as the newest member of your BOD. Gladys is a long time resident of CRCA and will bring a wealth of knowledge to the BOD.

With Thanksgiving behind us now we have the Christmas season in full swing. While most of us were lucky enough to share good times please remember there are some people who are not as fortunate. The association is sponsoring Adopt a Family again this year in an effort to share with families less fortunate. You will find a list of “wishes” from the families in this newsletter, please consider donating something to these families. It is sad to think of a child not getting at least one Christmas wish fulfilled.

Santa will be at the Community Center on Saturday December 11^th from 10AM to 4PM. Bring a non perishable food item to be donated to the Marana food bank and receive a free 8X10 photo with Santa.  There will be a bake sale with popcorn and hot chocolate so bring the kids and pets to support the food bank and Lady Shriners and get your picture with Santa.

Hopefully you have noticed the new plantings at Rivers Edge, Richmond Estates and Desert Sage. These three entries were refurbished as part of the Landscape committee’s plans to refurbish all the entries. They were only able to have these three completed because of the oncoming winter weather. Look forward to the others being completed sometime in March or April.

I am looking forward to having Twin Peaks open during the Christmas rush at Arizona Pavilions- it is a really nice addition to CRCA. The BOD wishes you a happy holiday and merry Christmas.

While the BOD election only had three candidates running for the three positions we were not sure that we would meet quorum requirement. Our By Laws require 10% of the membership to participate in the election. The quorum requirement was 476 and we received 796 ballots. The three BOD members elected for two years were Connie DeLarge, John Lambert and Larry Lemieux. It is really disheartening to me that less than 16% of eligible homeowners took part in this election and even less participate in committees or attend BOD meetings. This Association is only as good as the homeowners who participate.The BOD met and elected officers the night after the annual meeting (October 21, 2010). The officers are as follows: President- John Lambert; First Vice President- Peggy Brachen; Second Vice President- Gus Lipins; Secretary- Connie DeLarge; Treasurer- Larry Lemieux; Directors- Marilyn Stimpson and Terry Paschen. They will hold their respective offices for one year until the next election.With the new fiscal year comes homeowner assessments or dues! We did not have to raise dues for the coming year but we always have people forgetting or having financial problems. If you are having financial difficulties- please contact the office and talk with Dale DeMen the manager to work something out. This Association is here to help you the homeowner- not penalize you.As most of you, I have been looking forward to the opening of the Twin Peaks interchange. I would like to commend the Landscape committee for the plantings they put into the median to welcome people to CRCA. It really looks good! They plan on attacking the areas outside the roadway with next year’s budget among other projects planned. They were able to do all the projects for 2009 and remain under budget. As I write this letter, it looks like CRCA as a whole was able to operate approximately $15,000.00 under budget for 2009. As your BOD we still have a number of issues that we are facing but will deal with them as we have over my last two year term on the BOD- with openness and transparency. We have nothing to hide from you the homeowners and only wish we had more participation. Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the cooler weather- along with not having to use Cortaro to get home at night.