My name is Brad Giessinger. I am turning 48 years old, I am married and have 5 children and 7 grandchildren. I do not live in Castlegate Community any longer however I do still own a home there. You might be asking yourself “now why would anyone want to be on a HOA board in which they don’t even live in the Community”? Well because I still own a home there and I have many friends that still live in the Community. When I moved into Castlegate I thought it was a great area. Seeing the Community start to fail, with poor management, both on the board and community management really bothered me.
After attending several HOA meetings, asking questions and usually receiving a answer but not to my question, or so obscured that no one could make heads or tails of it, I decided it was time to do something. After being made to jump around obstacles and seeing an attorney and jumping over more hurdles only to have Oasis still come back with “nope your petition is not valid”, I decided I would run for a seat on the HOA Board.
The Community needs to be run like a business. Not like this is your house and what do I want to do to make it more pretty. It is a business. Assets, Debits, expenditures, liabilities, cutbacks and improvements. I was self-employed for 17 years, so running a business is not new to me.
If elected this is what you can expect from me:
I would like to look into each contract that we have with any ongoing service. I would like to make sure they are completing the services that are outlined in the contract. Hence, if the contract for tot-lots says they will remove any graffiti on the play equipment, this will be done. Or they DON’T get paid.
This next one some people might like and some might not. As far as I am concerned Oasis will receive a 30 notice as it states in the contract, YOU’RE DONE. Sorry you started with us as a NEW company; however we paid you the normal rate of any other well established company. Oasis has failed in many ways and many times. I personally do not think Oasis has done the job well enough to keep them.
Since Castlegate Community is a company, I would like to suggest a onetime relief of penalties on past dues HOA dues. All past dues would still need to be paid, but the penalties and/or interest would be waived if a new payment plan would be made with the homeowner. I am hoping this would gain enough interest in the homeowners to start paying the HOA dues again. The past due HOA dues could be spread out for a period of time.
Another big area in which everyone has concerns of is our water bill. We have a few options so far. One being just keep paying the $150,000.00 per year for water and water reclaim fee. Two take out the grass in most of the areas, leaving one or two areas for the kids to play on. I have no idea what this might cost to remove the grass and place crush rock, could be tens of thousands. Three continue to look into a well. I know we have a few bids on this idea, somewhere around $35,000.00 would take care of a large percentage of our current grass. This would bring our watering bill down considerable. Only one problem with this solution, we don’t have the funds for it. The funds could be gained by a onetime assessment. Yes not everyone in Castlegate will pay their assessment. But to spend $35,000 now to save possibly $75,000 the first year seems like a good idea to me. Keeps the Community green and pays for itself in less than one year. This would help us get back into the black much quicker. No HOA dues being raised? It’s a possibility. Now we could obtain this same result with taking out all the grass also. Again we do not have the funds for this, and a assessment would need to be imposed. We would be more of a desert Community with hardly any play areas for the children. Any action of this sort would need to be voted on by the Community.
I also would like to have a term limit set on all HOA Board members. I personally am not a fan of what was placed on the Ballot. 3 year term? Seems a bit long. I do think we need to have staggered terms, possibly 2 year terms, spilt 3 Board members and 4 Board members.
If anyone has any questions for me, either reply here or e-mail me at brad.giessinger@gmail.com
Thanks for your time and I hope to see a good turnout at our upcoming Annual meeting on September 30th at 7pm, Simonton Elementary. Please tell your neighbor, come together :)
