I would like to know the status of the upgrades we discussed at the last HOA meeting. Specifically, I would like to know why we are still paying Riepenhoff for the landscaping when it was agreed that Bob Ellis would take care of it from this point forward. I would also like to know the status of the fence along Dublin Road. If any members of the board would like to enlighten us, that would be appreciated.

Landscaping Contract

The landscping contract with Riepenhoff is on a yearly basis, January to December. The current contract expires on 12-31-06.

RE:Status of neighborhood upgrad

Oct 3, 2006
Hi Ron,

Thank you for your comment. Speaking on behalf of the Limestone Homeowners Board, I'll try to answer your questions:

First of all, no vote was actually taken during the August 24th meeting on Bob Ellis' proposal to take over maintenance and landscaping of the Dublin Rd common ground. (See meeting notes posted on this website from the previous HOA Board.) In addition, no competitive bids were available to review by the Board during the annual meeting. There is also the perception of a conflict of interest if a Board Member bided against outside contractors, potentially knowing the other bids submitted to the Board. (Bob Ellis is a current Board Trustee.) Furthermore, it wasn?’t truly determined whether Riepenhoff broke their end of the contract for us to abruptly end our agreement with them.

The Board, as elected members representing the HOA, determines which vendors to hire based upon competitive bids and the company's credibility and standing with the community. Yes, the annual meeting allows for members to voice their concerns to the Board, but it is the decision of the Board which vendors to hire or fire. It is the responsibility of the Board to review contracts with vendors in the interest of our members. So the short answer is, we will review the current Riepenhoff contract to see if they violated it; plus check if we should amend the current contract to include trash pick-up as brought up during that meeting. The current contract with Riepenhoff is up at the end of this year, and then we'll collect more bids to determine who will get our business next year.

As for the Dublin Road common ground fence proposal, we will get bids on the total cost of moving and repairing this fence to review with members. Moving or replacing the fence is a major capital expenditure not projected to be paid out by our Reserve Fund; provided that any such assessment shall have the assent of two-thirds (2/3) of members who are voting in person or by proxy at a special meeting on this topic. A quorum must be present at this meeting for the vote. Either way, if we hire out the job or do it ourselves, it will be an expense over-and-above our projected budget. We will look into this carefully since 137 HOA members missed the August 24th meeting to voice their opinion on this and other topics you mentioned in your comments.

Since Bob, Carol, Kristine, Rob and I are all newly appointed Trustees to the Limestone Pointe Board; we are somewhat new to this process ourselves, but have been involved with the previous Board enough to be able to pick-up where they left off. We also hope to increase awareness of the Association, as well as the covenant that governs it, to keep our neighborhood looking great. This website is one example, and a newsletter will also be sent out shortly.