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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.