Orenco Station

Orenco Station

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About our association

Contact Northwest Community Management for HOA issues

For any issues you wish your HOA Board to address, please contact NWCM. You can reach them via email at either eric@nwcommunity.com or steve@nwcommunity.com

Minutes - 10/03/2002

Orenco Station Homeowners Association Board meeting
October 3, 2002


1. Call to Order 6:30 PM

2. Roll call—Attending, Don Otterman, Stephanie Hertert, Shirley Huffman, Lyle Truax, Colleen Hein

3. Comments from Homeowners. None

4. Approval of Minutes from the September Board meeting- Approved

5. Approval of the Oct. 1, 2002 financial statement –Approved.

6. Review of the Draft Budget for 2003
The proposed 2003 budget shows an increase from 144,000 to 211,000. If adopted, it will be an increase to the homeowners of approximately $8-$10 a month. The Board explained that the original 2002 budget was set up by the builder and did not include sufficient dollars to maintain the community as needs arose. Some of the reasons for the increase are:

Electric rate increases: There is an increase in the electric rates. Electricity runs the pool filters, the Rec area lights and heat, the pumps for the watering system throughout the complex, etc. The Board is looking at ways to keep the increase at a minimum, for locked cages over the heaters in the pool bathrooms, keeping the room at 65 degrees. (People have been putting them on high and just letting them run 24/7).

Water rate increases: As more homes are built, there is more common area that needs to be watered. The Board is looking into sensors being added to the sprinklers to cut down on unnecessary watering. Homeowners are asked to please report to the management company if they see sprinklers running unnecessarily. One homeowner asked that we look at how much water is being spent watering the alleyways.

Landscape cost increases: Again, as we build out there is more area to be maintained. The Board is interviewing 7 different landscape companies to try and find the most cost effective landscape care we can get. At the same time, one of the draws to our community is the well-kept landscape. We have also asked for volunteers to be on a landscape subcommittee to help the Board look at additional landscape needs that have been proposed. Anyone wishing to serve on this subcommittee should contact the Board. This subcommittee will help the Board evaluate additional costs.

Pool area maintenance costs: The pool gets a tremendous amount of use during the 4 months that it is in use, requiring an increase in the maintenance contract. The spa needs to be maintained year round and we must ensure that it meets health and safety codes.


Pool oversight: There has been a great deal of vandalism in the pool and the Board is looking into various security systems to help with this problem. Homeowners are again encouraged to help monitor abuse of pool rules and call the 24/7-phone number of the management company to report problems. That number will be posted at the pool/and spa area.

Contingency budget: This line item has been added to the budget this year. As cost come up that were not anticipated, the Board needs to be able to address them

Janitorial services has actually gone done due to the Board contracting with a new janitorial service

Management company fees: The Board is getting bids from different management companies. But so far these have come in significantly higher than our current management company, NWCM. At the same time the Board is not satisfied with NWCM’s current level of services. The board will be interviewing each management company and make a decision in the near future.


The Board is setting up a joint study session with the Town homes Association to see if we can work together on several of these budgetary and management issues.


7. Review of the reserve schedule for common area

The reserve account is accrued to pay for common area needs to be address from three year to thirty years in the future, for instance painting, and roofing the building in the Rec are common areas. One homeowner suggested that other HOA put a resale assessment charge on the sale of the home to help support this need. There will be a professional assessment done with in the next few months to get a final recommendation as to what the annual reserve allocation should be. One option the Board came up with the help reserve cost might be to have a community workday to spread bark dust. In the reserve study this item costs the community $11,000 a year if we hire it done

8 Presentation of Tuality Hospital: Dick Stenson, the President of Tuality Healthcare, gave a short presentation letting the community to know that Tuality is working toward a change in the city ordinances that would affect the future development and location of healthcare facilities in Hillsboro. Any change that occurs would not affect the current Providence applications before the City of Hillsboro.

9. Approval of herbicide to be used in common areas: The Board is looking at a replacement herbicide called Trimec Classic Broad Leaf Herbicide by Gordon, to use in the common areas. Homeowners are encouraged to go on the Web and read about this product.

10. Intel Report. All work on the burm and the road and parking lot at the 65th entrance should be done by November 18th.

11. The Annual Board meeting will be December 4th at 7:00 PM. Location will be announced later.

Adjourned 7:45 PM

A letter from the Board. re: 2003 Budget

Dear Neighbor

Enclosed is your first statement for dues for the 2003 calendar year and a copy of the budget that was approved by the Board of Directors. For those that were not in attendance at the annual meeting, we felt that we should include a short explanation of why the assessment will go from $96 per quarter to $128 per quarter for the year 2003.

As you can see from the attached budget, there are a few major line items that make up the budget along with several minor categories. By far, the largest categories are: Landscape Maintenance, Management Fees and Transfer to Reserves.

Landscape Maintenance: The Board obtained seven proposals from landscape companies for maintaining the common areas. Showplace, our current landscape company, submitted the lowest bid and their proposal has been accepted and a contract executed.

Management Fees: The Board received proposals from three management companies for day to day management of the association responsibilities and have executed a contract to continue with Northwest Community Management. They provided the lowest cost proposal.

Reserves: The transfers to reserve account is increasing by almost $10,000. This amount is based upon an estimate of the costs to maintain association property and equipment that have a long life span. The Board has placed in the budget funds for the preparation of a reserve study that will be used in the future for allocations to reserves. If the funds allocated to reserves prove to be too high, the budget will be adjusted next year.

Utilities and pool maintenance are other areas of the budget that have increased substantially. These increases are justified by the heavy use of the facility and the added common area responsibilities.

Your board spent two months reviewing the proposed budget, accepting input from homeowners who attended the monthly board meetings and trimming where possible. We are confident that we have made a bare bones budget that will meet the basic needs of the association.

Sincerely


Don Otterman, President
Stephanie Hertert, Secretary
Colleen Hein, Treasurer
Lyle Truax, Board Member
Shirley Huffman, Board Member

Email us
eric@nwcommunity.com