Presidents Letter

It is amazing how we all take things for granted and assume that important matters are taken care of. With the fire department doing yearly inspections and requiring us to do things like move a fire extinguisher by a few feet and straightening up a storage closet, I am surprised that they never informed us that there were no smoke detectors or a sprinkler system in the office. I watched a documentary on smoke detectors that covered both photo electric and ionization (the most common one in houses). The photo electric detect smoldering fires, which create smoke but little actual fire. Ionization are best for rapidly spreading fires where there are lots of flames, but little smoke. Most deaths related to fires are from smoke inhalation rather than people being “burned to death.” I decided to change the ones in my house to photoelectric and went to check on the type in our buildings. To my surprise we had none- nor was there a sprinkler system. I had Josh check into putting in a sprinkler system and found it would cost well in excess of $50,000 to put one in. Needless to say one would question why it was never put in during the remodels of both buildings years back. We will be installing photoelectric smoke alarms to start with and will be looking at a sprinkler system in the future.

Having lived here for 10 years now I have also taken for granted our “warm” weather. I traveled to Fort Collins Colorado in late March for a week to be greeted by 8 inches of snow and 30 degree temperatures. I came home and thawed out then spent a week in Kodiak Alaska and another week in Palmer Alaska in mid April doing some training classes for the Operating Engineers Union. The high temp in Kodiak was 41 and we never got out of the 30’s in Palmer- needless to say I was glad to return to my home and our wonderful weather. I guess I have become a “desert rat” and would not trade it.

There are lots of rumors being spread about this BOD that are nothing more than that. Let me remind you that your BOD members are also homeowners and receive no compensation for the time they spend on association business, other than the satisfaction of making CRCA the best it can be. We all take our position seriously and attempt to look out for the community as a whole and not just the vocal few.  The big picture is what counts. Our home values are affected by association actions like everyone else and we all have a vested interest in CRCA.  Some rumors claim that covenants are not being enforced, by directive of the Board.  This is a bit farfetched, especially when over 800 notices were sent out in two months this spring which is almost 25% of the number of residences here.

The last scheduled BOD meeting did not include a homeowner forum. Because of travel, job demands, medical issues, illness, and prior commitments amongst Board members, there has been no quorum for the BOD meetings since February. I did not add the forum to the agenda in May, because I was concerned that after several months of no meetings, there would be more business than usual needing attention. With the meetings exceeding two hours in a normal month it was decided to not have the forum until we get back to the norm of making quorum for our monthly meetings. This did not eliminate input from homeowners on any agenda items but limited the points of discussion just to business related items. The forum has not been eliminated forever, just postponed until the pending regular business gets completed.

We were hoping to have Windmill Park open for Memorial Day weekend but the leveling and preparation was more involved than anticipated and did not allow this to happen. Have a safe and enjoyable summer- the pools are in good shape so enjoy them.

President’s Message

Peggy Bracken – 1^st Vice President

With the hot weather approaching the pool sure seems to be busy! I think we have such beautiful pools here and it’s always terrific to see so many people enjoying them. Something we all need to be cognizant of is the pool rules. The pools are a great benefit and enjoyment to a lot of people, but abuse of the rules ruins that. Breaking these rules will now result in loss of pool privileges for a month and also a fine. In previous years our association has spent as much as $60,000 per year for pool monitors, which are essentially “babysitters for adults”. Hopefully with stronger penalties for breaking the rules, everyone will simply behave themselves and we can conserve our association funds. If you observe inappropriate behavior please report it to the office with the specific time and day of the occurrence so we can review the security tapes to see if any action is required. With that said, I hope this leads to a more enjoyable pool experience for everyone — Cheers to a great summer ahead!

Recently there have been several false rumors spread about the current Board of Directors and association business. You may have read about this in the March Windmill Newsletter. This Board has worked extremely hard over the years to improve the atmosphere in Continental Ranch and has made great strides in an effort to improve the values within our community. There is currently a small number of individuals circulating false and misleading statements. How much does this cost the Association? Well, so far the Association has been forced to spend $4,000 of your money on defending the unfounded allegations of these individuals, who continue to spread false rumors to an otherwise peaceful community. Those of us who have lived in Continental Ranch remember when there were hundreds of unhappy homeowners attending Board meetings, now there are many who complement this Board for the work they do. The intent of this Board is to maintain the values of properties within this community and make it an enjoyable place to live. We feel we have accomplished this goal and done so without any increases to our association dues. The Board would like to thank all of you who have worked in making this community a great place to live at this moment and in the future.

Our landscape committee has worked very hard in making our community nice and colorful. The committee will be working in identifying what plants did not make it through the harsh freeze this past winter. The committee wanted to give ample time to see what plants would grow back before making their decision on replacements. The board would like to thank everyone for their patience while there are some missing plants in the area.

On Saturday April 20^th the area enjoyed the first (of many to come) block party held at Windmill Park. Food trucks were located in the parking lot area, at the end of the football field along Coachline. The trucks are self-contained and do not cost the community anything to enjoy these events. I’m really looking forward to seeing these become a monthly community event! A reminder that HOA assessments are due May 1^st, with a 15 day grace period to help folks get paid up. A late fee is applied after May 15^th. We understand that some people have financial difficulties and so we try to make everyone aware that CRCA will accept a payment plan to help those people stay current. Please contact the office if you need to work out a payment plan, the management staff is happy to assist.

Spring is finally here and things are starting to recover from our last frost. The landscape committee will be watching very closely to see if some of our plants did not survive the winter and will make sure that any replacements are more frost tolerant. The Texas Mountain Laurels and Tombstone (Lady Banks) roses are in bloom along Twin Peaks and are a pleasant distraction until the lantana and other plants recover from the winter.

The pool was very busy during spring break but along with being busy came a few issues. People without keys were being let into the pool by people inside and there were a few groups that felt they were above the rules for the pool. Please remind everyone in your family that there are rules to be followed while at the pool so everyone there can have a pleasant experience. Just a reminder that if the rules are not followed that your pool key can be turned off for 30 days and you could be fined $100 for an infraction. The pools are a great benefit and enjoyment to a lot of people but abuse of the rules ruins that. If you observe inappropriate behavior please report it to the office with the specific time and day of the occurrence so we can review the security tapes to see if any action is required.

The Easter Egg hunt was another success with over 500 kids this year, and I’d like to extend a job well done to Jocelyn and all the volunteers who participated in this annual event, especially the boy scouts. Something is being added to another annual event in CRCA. The annual yard sale will include the first (of hopefully many) Block Party Food Truck Roundup at Windmill Park (from 11AM to 3PM). Try to stop by after the yard sales to sample some of the eats being offered by these unique vendors. There will be a jumping castle in place for the little ones as well as lots of great food.

Hopefully we have seen the last hard freeze for this winter- at least it wasn’t as bad as two years ago. Even then there were a number of plants and trees that were affected and will require some time to come back. The feather trees were really affected and the mesquites also- dropping a lot of their leaves due to the cold temperatures. The Swan Hill Olive and the Texas Mountain Laurels along Twin Peaks were not affected and neither were the Swan Hill Olives around Windmill Park- congratulations to the landscape committee for choosing them.

With all of the upgrades that have been done at Windmill Park we are seeing more residents using the park as well as organized teams from outside CRCA using the field. I can understand wanting to use the Windmill field with it being so green and well kept but Windmill Park is a private park for CRCA residents with the upkeep paid through our dues. If I had a choice between using the field at Windmill or the fields offered by the Town of Marana I would go to Windmill also, since we use winter grass for year-round green. The town charges $5 to $8 an hour to use their fields with the dead grass in the winter so Windmill is very tempting. CRCA requires that organized groups supply a certificate of insurance to the association because of liability issues for the association. If you have an organized group planning on using Windmill Park please go to the office so we can get the required documents in order. In the past, the BOD has required is that any team using the field have 75% CRCA residents on their team for them to not be charged a use fee. There are costs associated with maintaining Windmill field to the standards the landscape committee and BOD require and they are paid with our dues.

There is an ad in this newsletter for the Easter egg hunt for this year. Easter is earlier this year- the 30^th of March- instead of April and Jocelyn has been busy getting things lined up for an even better event than last year’s. As is always the case we need volunteers to help support this well attended event. Please consider volunteering to help for a couple of hours. It provides an opportunity to meet your neighbors and see the children enjoying the activities- IT IS WELL WORTH THE TIME.

The BOD was able to move forward with a number of projects called for in the Reserve study for CRCA this past meeting. The reserves that the association has accumulated over the years allows us to maintain items within the community that have a useful life span and require replacement or updating on a planned schedule. This keeps the properties owned by CRCA in great condition without having to raise assessments to do so. We were able to update the lighting at the Community Center pool and parking lot last year to energy efficient LED lighting with a savings in electrical usage of around 30%- we approved updating the lighting at the Windmill pool and office at the December meeting to the same type of LED fixtures and expect similar savings. The parking lot at the West end of Windmill Park was also on the list for replacement and will be pulverized and a new lift of asphalt laid with new striping to give it a much needed face lift. A new AC unit for the office, sealing the flat roof at the office, redoing the deteriorated electrical wiring at both pools for lighting, sealing the office parking lot and numerous other projects listed under the reserve study were all approved at the last BOD meeting.

I would like to welcome Karie Westpahl as the newest member to your BOD. She was appointed unanimously to replace Gladys Pope who resigned with one year left in her term. Karie will be a welcome addition to the BOD and as a young mother will bring another opinion to this BOD.

With the holidays behind us I would like to thank all who participated in the caroling at Windmill park and the holiday lighting contest. A lot of work was put into the lighting displays and appreciated by a large number of people. The homeowners living on Victory Court did one better- they placed luminaries all along Victory Court spaced about four feet apart and were observed walking up and down the street with their charcoal lighters relighting the tea lights the wind blew out. Great job and a great idea by those homeowners.

Our landscape contractor- DLC Resources- has closed their Tucson offices and will no longer be doing the maintenance of CRCA’s landscaping. The Landscape committee interviewed three firms and recommended Titan Landscaping which the BOD approved at the last meeting. The quality of our landscape maintenance should not suffer as Titan was formed by employees of the DLC Tucson office and we will have the same crew and manager that were DLC employees here in CRCA. There should be no “learning curve” as these people are already aware of the nuances with our irrigation and landscape needs. As a side note- the Windmill Park grass has never looked better.

Have a safe 2013 and we hope to see you at one of our committee or BOD meetings. This association is only as successful as the people involved in decision making.

Hopefully everyone had an enjoyable and festive Thanksgiving. We are in the same predicament with the Activities committee as we have been over the past years. The last two members have resigned until more people step forward to participate. The BOD has again committed to personal support of the Christmas light contest and the Adopt a Family for this month. Given that there was no planning done for the Adopt a Family from CRCA by the committee we cannot put a wish list for donations to a family struggling at this time in this newsletter. If anyone knows a CRCA family who could use a little “help” with Christmas please contact the office with the information. A giving tree will be in the lobby of the office with “wishes” on the tree from the family or families we are trying to help at this sometimes not so joyous time of year for some. Please, try to find the time to try to help someone not sharing the blessings some of us have and make a wish come true for a neighbor by stopping by the office and picking up a wish.

It is with regret that we had to accept the resignation of Gladys Pope from the BOD. Gladys informed us she has “commitments that will take more time and make it impossible…to give the BOD the time and effort required.” Thank you for all the time and effort you put in Gladys- CRCA is a better place because of you.

I would like to congratulate the new member elected to the BOD-Bob Vollbrecht; as well as the returning members Connie DeLarge, Roxanne Ziegler and myself. I would also like to thank the other candidates for participating and wish them well. I was re-elected as president with Peggy Bracken- 1^st Vice, Marilyn Stimpson- 2^nd Vice, Connie DeLarge- Secretary and Roxanne Ziegler- Treasurer. With another election behind us and the holidays around the corner it is a busy time for all of us, but the BOD is still faced with a number of challenges.

It is really disturbing to see people ignore paying their HOA dues. While we understand that some people have financial difficulties we try to make every one aware we will accept a payment plan to help those people stay current. Once your assessments exceed $327.00 it is turned over for collections and is out of our hands. Please, if you are having financial difficulties, contact the office to make arrangements so we do not have to send it to collections.

Have a safe and wonderful holiday.

I hope that you have been able to visit Windmill Park since the brickwork has been completed. It has made the picnic areas a lot more inviting and accessible to everyone now that the walkway is complete. The BOD approved redoing the grass surrounding the picnic area as there were high and low spots after the brick work was completed and it will level out the high and low spots. A number of BOD members have looked at the condition of the concrete pads in the picnic area as well as the picnic tables and have management getting bids improving those items.

There have been remarks heard within the community about there being too much money being spent on landscaping of the common areas (Windmill Park, entryways, Twin Peaks, etc.). I would first like to thank our landscape committee for working hard to present much needed improvements to the BOD and spending time actually touring the community to come up with their proposals. The governing documents require: “The Association shall use a reasonably high standard of care in providing for the repair, management and maintenance of the Common Areas…” The current budget for landscape is the same as it was before the current BOD was elected in 2008 and has not required an increase because of the hard work of the landscape committee, the BOD and management.

The ballots for the election of the BOD should have been received by you now and I urge you all to voice your choices for the direction CRCA takes. You have probably noticed that the process has changed a little. We were informed by our attorney that the State of Arizona now requires that all ballots cast can be identified to the person casting the ballot. You used to have to sign the envelope and your ballot was put inside with no way to identify who voted. With the new requirement the BOD decided to require the signature on the ballot but we also have hired a CPA firm to handle all counting of the ballots received by them. No one within CRCA will ever see who voted for whom under this arrangement. The ballots once counted will be sealed and held by the CPA- only to be released to the court if an election result is challenged. Please vote your choice.

I asked the homeowners attending the last BOD meeting to please let the office know if the lights at their entryways are not working. After touring CRCA on a Saturday night I noted that a lot of the monument lights were not working and had management look into why they were not. The electrician reported that the locks on the battery boxes had been drilled out and the batteries and controllers had been stolen. Mountain Shadows had both boxes drilled out but only one side had been vandalized. I can only assume that they were scared off by a resident entering the parcel. It cost the association over $90,000.00 to install the new lighting a few years ago and it troubles me to see this type of theft occurring. If you see suspicious activity, please call Marana police and report it. This type of theft not only affects the appearance of CRCA but it also costs all homeowners money.

The budget for next year (starting November 1, 2012) was approved at the BOD meeting on August 16^th. The Finance Committee did not submit a proposed budget for the next year to the BOD so the BOD discussed and prepared the budget at a study session. The budget for next year will require no increase in annual dues and still meet the requirements of maintaining our common areas and facilities to the high standard the BOD has set. Even with some costs increasing (the contribution for the reserves went from $143,000 to $160,000 for next year) we were able to have a balanced budget by careful consideration of all elements of the budget. CRCA has some of the lowest dues in Pima County and more amenities than most other HOA’s.

The new brickwork at Windmill Park is completed and will give better access to all homeowners as well as providing a bigger and nicer picnic area. It is a great addition to the park and the whole BOD hopes it will be enjoyed even more than in the past.

I urge you all to attend the “meet the candidates” meeting on October 2^nd. It is an opportunity to hear what each of the candidates has to offer and their ideas on how CRCA should be run. There are varying ideas being presented this year and it will affect how the association does business and interacts with you the homeowners! Please plan to attend.

How quickly things change, and we all begin to forget the past. It seems like just yesterday that driving eastbound on Twin Peaks Road was a dusty dead end. Thanks to the Town of Marana, connection to the interstate was finally completed last year and is a great time and distance saver for many of us- not to mention no longer having to deal with the Cortaro Road interchange traffic by AZ Pavilions. The landscaping changes on Twin Peaks Road have made it a real gateway to our community that welcomes visitors and homeowners alike to a community with high standards of care. The landscape committee did a great job on this project and deserves a thank you from all of us.  Something else that comes to mind is when we used to walk our dogs down Coachline Blvd to Windmill Park- I got so tired of ducking down to get under the trees over hanging the sidewalk and even took to carrying my own pruners to trim the trees overhanging the sidewalks. Since changing the landscape company to DLC Resources, those problems are no more and our common areas have never looked so good. All entryway lights have been restored at the 25 monuments and the landscaping at the monuments has been updated to reflect the high standards of care that your BOD has come to expect for this community.

Four years ago I stated that I was working with the Town of Marana to try to improve the landscaping along Silverbell Road. This has been a long and involved project. The areas along Silverbell are owned by the Town. When associations such as CRCA are formed nowadays, the Town requires that the developer provide landscaping in areas like along Silverbell Road and the association is required to maintain it thereafter. For whatever reason, this was not the case with CRCA and Siverbell.

This Board decided that this project came with too high of a cost for the Association to assume responsibility over, which would undoubtedly force dues to go up.  Nonetheless, Silverbell Road is not the “landscaped parkway” described in the Town’s strategic plan for this corridor in CRCA.

Over the last few years while working closely with Gilbert Davidson, town manager, it became apparent that the downturn in the economy restricted the Town’s abilities to tackle such a project. Gilbert had his staff looking into grant monies and other possible ways to improve the landscaping on Silverbell Road. I am very happy to report that I met with the town on July 17^th and that the town council has approved $100,000 to start improvements along the Silverbell Road corridor. The existing trees are slowly dying because of no irrigation and the dust blowing from the unrocked areas are real concerns. What has been decided is to start at the south end of CRCA on Silverbell Road (by Fry’s) and get irrigation, some landscaping, and rock added; hopefully from River’s Edge up to Wade Road or as far as the budget will allow. We are hoping to be able to get the town to continue funding this project every year so that Silverbell becomes a real asset to both the Town and CRCA. No homeowners assessment dues will be used to fund any aspect of this beautification project; the Town is backing this effort. I would like to thank Roxanne Ziegler, town council member and a member of your BOD, for helping to champion this project with the council. Without her and Gilbert’s help on this we would not be where we are with improving the landscaping along Silverbell Road. The spirit of partnering between the Town and the CRCA Board of Directors can only make Marana and CRCA the type of community we all want.

On a side note, please remember school will be starting again shortly so please watch out for the kids along our streets. The elementary age children are out really early so be extra careful as they can be preoccupied and not paying attention to cars.

I reported in last month’s newsletter that the shade structure at the community center pool was never designed for usage in a pool area, that corrosion had occurred because of exposure to water resulting in it being unsafe and that the BOD made it a priority item to replace it ASAP. Management went right to work on investigating the replacement and I am sorry to say that this project will take longer to complete than we had hoped. Between engineers designing it, permitting required by the Town of Marana, and the 6 to 8 weeks to build it, we were informed that the replacement of the shade would take until at least October. The BOD decided to wait until the pool is closed and to perform the work then. The BOD did approve relocating the existing shade structure to the Mountain Sky pocket park.

We were able to move forward with a few other projects that have been under consideration for some time. The security lights as well as the parking lot lights at the community center will be replaced with low energy usage LED bulbs. We are anticipating our electric bill for just replacing the parking lot lights with LED’s will be reduced from a monthly cost of $440.43 to $37.36 a month. It is safely projected that we will receive back our full investment in this project in 5 years with energy savings. If TEP reinstates their utility rebate program we will be eligible for a rebate of $3670.00 as well.

Access to the Windmill Park Ramada’s and the park itself will be enhanced for the handicapped as well as all residents by the continuation of the brick walkway from the office to the ramadas.  A culvert will be installed with a raised walkway over the drainage swale in the grass making this fully accessible to all residents and the area between and around the ramadas will be bricked. It should be a great improvement to our community.

As most of you are aware CRCA has had numerous incidences of vandalism and trespass after hours. A number of monument lights were destroyed with rocks smashing the cages and lights recently. The BOD approved replacing the lights with a different fixture in hopes of stopping this type of vandalism. The BOD also approved upgrading of the security cameras at the community center as well.

All of these projects are within budget and will add great benefit to this community as well as future cost savings. This BOD has been able to complete a large number of projects that have enhanced CRCA with no dues increase required. The finance committee will be preparing next year’s budget to present to the BOD- hopefully they will present a proposed budget that sees no increase in dues or cuts to existing goals.