As reported in The Weakender....
As requested by a member, I have published this notice for discussion.
The member had concerns about disposal of material that is required by the tree height covenants.
In response to this cancellation, perhaps some alternatives could be considered:
Suspend height restrictions.
Allow waste material to accumulate on member property.
Encourage burning before burn bans take effect.
Allow members to transport the material to Peninsula Sanitation at association expense.
Association provided drop boxes.
Other methods.
SURFSIDE FIREWISE UPDATE
Surfside Chipping Program 2020 and COVID 19
Surfside’s volunteer-run Firewise Chipping Program has been available during the summer months to members for many years. Unfortunately, this year is different. In March 2020, in response to state and county orders to manage the spread of COVID19, Surfside announced cancellation of all non-essential activities, including all committee meetings, until further notice. This ban included the Firewise Chipping Program.
Our primary concern is for the safety of members and volunteers, as well as the avail-ability of commercial vendors that support this program. We are waiting for further directions from the State and County Officials on lifting the stay at home ban. Surf-side will continue to monitor and assess the potential opening of the Chipper Site for member use during summer 2020. Until then, dumping any material at the site is prohibited.
19 comments:
I assume with committee meetings postponed, there will also be a postponement of tree and lighting complaints?
I've suggested that the Tree restrictions be given a moratorium for a year considering the lack of any urgency to continue enforcement of this policy. The eagerness with which this has been enforced in the last couple of years has created a very obvious wasteland of a landscape in Surfside. Last year saw over 200 "complaints" filed, with at least one Trustee having filed nearly all of them.
This policy assures that for many properties that have trees west of the ridge, topping will be required by the HOA about every other year if not annually. This generally requires professionals in a "cherrypicker" to be hired at a minimum of $500, so most such jobs costing several hundred dollars on to a couple of thousand.
ALL members will be hit hard financially, with those who have lost jobs maybe losing healthcare as well. Retired members are likely to have investments that have tanked, and many, wages lost. Married couples will receive $1200 from the Fed, most or all will go to paying to top their trees if this silly policy is not given a rest, or done away with altogether.
I've suggested this in 2 comments on the Blog, with only one member commenting they favored a moratorium also. But this should be given more serious consideration by the BOT. we all know that this enforcement has made wreck out of the community and serves no practical purpose. These complaints are NOT based on blocked views, and this has become a compulsive power trip by J Place interests.
It makes sense that the chipping will no longer be available, and we have experts telling us that the Pandemic will likely linger in the world for a couple of years or more as researchers seek to find treatments and a vaccine. The outlook for our collective finances and national economy are grim. The BOT needs to show it has a conscience and put this all on hold for at least a calendar year.
I have also presented the suggestion of a moratorium on lighting and cutting trees, but no response or any knowledge of what’s actually transpiring right now! If we can forgo so many activities of our daily life, surely we can call a timeout on the travesty of the trees!
I’ve also voiced my concern over the chipping activity this year. Surely we won’t need it so much if the tree covenant takes a pause. Plus the question of the budget ? How can you justify an activity that was in the red last year? Money from reserves? That’s getting tapped a lot!
Just wondering!
I find it pretty hard to swallow that we have a BOT that cant operate with the funds allotted them. Didn't their moms and dads teach them basic finance?
3:02 - This statement about the Government allocation sounds like a rumor. I don't see what the criteria would be to apply for bailout funds. If it IS true, I agree that it is entirely inappropriate for the HOA to be taking advantage of funds intended for struggling businesses.
The Office chose to close to public traffic, while they have a barrier shielding Office workers from the public, and don't have much walk-in traffic. If Water Dept. employees are furlowed, they can apply for unemployment. The community has huge Reserves, and it isn't apparent what grounds there would be to apply for emergency assistance.
If this is true, and I do think the Bus. manager would lack the scruples not to file for such funds, it is surely fraud.
Fact Check..
No Rumor. As reported in the current Weekender:
"As a precaution, an application was submitted to the Small Business Administration for a COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL). A $10,000 forgivable Advance has been received. It will be used as needed to support payroll and obligations that result from the economic slowdown."
Wow! Time for investigations to begin with SHOA!
This makes me ashamed to be a member of Surfside. I am going to tell people that I live in Ocean Park, not Surfside. Knowing this, who would want to buy property in a place like this. Biggest mistake I ever made was to buy here. It wasn't this corrupt when I bought here five years ago. How did this happen?
I was realizing that they could have legitimately filed for this on the basis of the Payroll Protection Plan that is a part of the stimulus packages. But to say the "business" has had losses is not accurate. Water Dept. employees are too valuable to lose, so hopefully their wages have been paid to prevent them having to file unemployment. Once unemployment ins. is filed for, the claim runs for a year, and you are ineligible until the next year, until you have earned a specific amount of wages.
So in this respect, it could possibly be rationalized, if the HOA intends to pay wages during furlows beyond the first month or so. There may be some dues and assessments paid late or not at all, but the HOA is guaranteed most of the incoming funds will be paid. so this still seems a bit shady. Why should HOAs be allowed to file, when all small businesses will not receive funds by any stretch ?
Our budget is based on members dues,therefore the salaries should already be guaranteed as approved in the annual budget. We don’t rely on revenue from other sources, so how would we ever be impacted financially by this pandemic? Doesn’t seem correct to me, but maybe I’m missing something! ‘This money belong to small businesses who depend on daily revenue from customers!
How can a non-profit organization qualify for a small business loan?
Mr. Malley....You are jumping to conclusions. I have already stated that it seems entirely inappropriate that Surfside should be awarded emergency assistance. I have just been trying to figure out how they managed to get this. I am also aware that there have been so many HOA issues that have been misrepresented, kept secret, and at times lied about, that we become suspicious of every damn thing they do.
I think it is obvious that Surfside in no way deserves this money, but they have managed to get the funds awarded anyway. Take a look at the Asbestos statement in the Weekender. This is as close to an explanation for what occurred that brought the EPA down on the community, as we have heard. The violations were cited and fined nearly 2 years ago, and the BOT has remained mum on this. The only way we knew about it was through George's Blog, and the Chinook Observer's article a year and a half ago.
The statement is not an honest explanation of what brought on the EPA scrutiny. Water Dept. workers were not properly trained or cautioned about handling the pipe, and the pipe was not immediately disposed of, but became an open dumping site for many months, exposed. It was the buried beneath what was intended to be a holding pond for Water Plant waste water.
I find this explanation that the EPA doesn't routinely send written correspondence of the results of an investigation, to be a fabrication, and a misrepresentation of the results of their research. We can only guess. An inquiry of the EPA would be a start at getting to the truth of the REAL results.
So here we have an un-named author stating what the HOA attorney said, that the EPA told the attorney. So how did the attorney get this information, if the EPA doesn't send written correspondence ? Does it seem believable that what they would not put in writing they would share in a telephone call to someone who claims to be the Surfside attorney ? What may explain the scenario is that what WAS documented in a letter to the HOA cannot be shared with the membership. Legal issues are always documented, and the explanation given in the Weekender isn't at all believable. It's what we want to hear.
If they were so impressed with the HOA's response to the violations, there would be documentation. It may also be, that what the HOA said led to the violations, and what the EPA determined to be the case, were not consistent with one another. There may not be an end to their continued scrutiny because they found the HOA to be deceptive, and explanations contradictory.
I'm just saying the Weekender statement doesn't ring true by any standard we are familiar with.
I asked the question on the SHOA FB page and here is the response I received...cross-posting here for those who may not use FB:
Surfside Homeowners Association
Mr. Crooks: As a private non-profit corporation, SHOA is eligible to receive an EIDL loan (not PPP). EIDL is an existing SBA loan program which has been augmented by the CARES Act. My Surfside Weekender article stated that over $260,000 from member fees are still owed, out of a total member-approved annual budget of $1.7 million. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown people out of work or reduced their working hours. Retirees receiving IRA or other investment income are also impacted due to stock market losses. This includes some SHOA members. If member fee payments are reduced in the coming weeks and months, important Association programs such as those listed in the article, and associated payroll for 17 employees, will be impacted. SHOA member fees are based on the approved budget. There are no contingency funds built into the budget. The EIDL Advance received is sitting in an Operational checking account, to be used when needed.
Thank you for your interest.
Rudd Turner, SHOA Trustee and Treasurer
Most people don't care about all the minutiae around the EPA investigation. The important info was stated, that there was no criminal or civil violations and the case is closed. So it appears that no Trustee's are going to be hauled away in handcuffs like people had said and/or wanted to happen.
Time to move on but of course some will not.
They should publish the EPA letter that gets the association off the hook. There are still individuals that were under investigation also. Neal, Gil and others. EPA is not going to tell Reber the status of those investigations. No matter what the EPA said, all those involved, are subject to law suits from individuals or a class action suite. This is not over by a long shot.
The Turner statement smells of fraud. 17 employees? I don't think so. Must be counting the board. Something is fishy here.
Anonymous...Most owners don't vote, read the biannual newsletter, or follow Surfside politics or events. We can't say for sure why because the HOA doesn't care enough to take surveys of community opinion. Given the disengaged majority seems to have no opinion about what decisions are made by their HOA, our Board of Trustees has developed a disengaged secretive and self-righteous attitude toward governing.
With only about 12 % of the membership voting annually, we have a sense of how many members are actually paying attention to the slight of hand so common in our HOA. So while your initial comment is true, of THINKING members, no one really wanted or expected criminal charges but wanted the BOT to admit to what had actually happened, explain it in detail, and see it resolved. We have wanted the truth, and to know that the HOA recognized the significance of this management failure, and was willing to be honest about mistakes made.
The explanation does not qualify as entirely honest, nor does it make sense. As for punishment doled out to any individual, what good would that do ?
As to the Federal award of $10,000, in the grand scheme of things, few small businesses have a Reserve bank account of nearly 2 million, but at the same time, HOAs are NOT a business, and reserve accounts are required by the State. But credit is owed to the HOA over the decades of its' existence - a robust Reserve acct. has been built.
Rudd is a very honest guy, and the fact that the HOA was technically eligible for applying for the funds makes the choice to apply a smart thing to do under normal conditions. We don't know exactly who decides how to dole out these public dollars or what the criterion are. So in a sense this was good management of our finances, and the sum was not great. In another sense, we know that this money would be much more precious to a small business that may not receive a dime.
We will see huge sums of money go to special interests in the next few months, and in many cases, money just thrown at the crowd without much real systematic dissemination. That is my speculation, and I think it is many citizens concern.
Good management of finances? You sound like a board trustee. They would not know good financial management if they saw it. It appears that you don't either.
Well stated 3:44 pm...I thought that I was the only one who looked over the financial reports. You did exactly what I was about to do...Compare last year with this. The figures don't lie. Liars figure.
Plenty of money is budgeted and collections are right on track. There are a lot of members who are paying on the installment plan. They have several more months to pay. I don't know what kind of song and dance thing was presented to get the non-payback loan, but it is questionable if the true facts were presented. I agree with someone about the number of employees. If we do have 17 as Turner stated, it sure looks like we have way to many. Do we have 12 employees in the Water department?
I have to admit, I was surprised by all the comments against getting the 10,000 dollars free. It does give me more faith in the good people of Surfside. The majority are fair and honest.
I hope people here will go back and look at the financial comments expressed by 3:44 They are factual and true. Thanks 3:44, keep up the good fact based comments. We need more of that.
Post a Comment