Coronado Cays HOA - Announcements - Jamaica Village Director- March Newsletter

Jamaica Village Director- March Newsletter

3/2/2018

Hello,

I can not believe just over four months ago I took on this job to be a part of our Community. I have worked diligently to achieve some key goals. I am proud to announce we are meeting these goals. Here is a recap of what we have achieved.

Jamaica Village HOA Dues:

We are doing ok. We might be the only Village NOT facing a Dues increase. Leaving a bit of money on each reserve has helped. Getting our operational budget to stay on track, and yes, a big thank you for our Dock Revenue. We did lose 6 vessels which most will not return, but we have addressed some of the problems our dock renters were facing. Now lets tell our Neighbors in the Cays about our docks!

Reserve Spending:

Instead of ripping out all the existing plants, we opted for saving some older plants, refreshing with some new plants and transplanting/propagating our existing large plants to complete some areas. First: We looked at the entire Village to see what really needed addressing. We removed dead planting beds, old sprinkler systems, and tackled the Common Areas which only had dirt. Frank and I decided to refresh the ivy geraniums in our Entrance Areas along HMB and a couple areas on the waterfront. We had enough roses to transplant around the Parking Lot by our Clubhouse, and to minimize the South Mall burden to our maintenance staff. My goal was to get each Maintenance Day equalled out, this insures we do not pay for extra teams to maintain the harder areas on unscheduled days. This is very important as the minimum wage and benefits package continues to rise through 2021. I would love to say we picked extravagant succulents, tropical palms and blooming plants for all new areas, but we need to realize the cost of landscape/employees will be the largest operational budget issue we face in the coming years. Right behind employee costs, is the cost of water. We simply can not afford to cover every bit of dirt unless we raise our Dues. I will not do that. I will continue to try to work within the budget we have set in motion.

Tree Removal:

It is always sad to see trees get cut down, but the facts are clear, we live in a tight area in a City. If you do not live by a tree that is being cut down, understanding seems to dwindle. We have had to cut Coral Trees down and in the past, entire malls were redone due to roots, size and liability of the trees. We have a reserve for tree removal because we are the oldest Village in the Cays and we need to keep our Village Safe. We also have some trees hindering the dock income. We lost 5 vessels on one dock area due to nesting, palm seeds and fronds falling. We paid CCHOA Maintenance to come and power wash our older railings, sidewalks and docks. We are presently painting some of the stair areas leading to the waterfront. As a tree lover, these decisions were hard to make, but it had to be done. On the flip side of the cutting down old trees, we were able to save some nice deciduous trees from the South Mall and move them over to the mid-mall. These will help shield the parking lot view to some.

Palm Skinning:

My idea was to always look at the entire Village and add something to each area. That is why Frank and I have picked the Palms in the front of Jamaica Village to be skinned. 21 palms are on the schedule in the coming months. I am also scheduling the Palm skinning for the following 18/19 budget year in August. It is very hard to schedule the Palm skinning. Green Leaf is a busy company

GATES:

I put a motion before the Board to change the lock on GREEN TURTLE waterfront to a MEDCO lock. This company has a patent on their keys and they can not be duplicated. It was approved and we are moving forward. In the next 30 days you will be told to get a key in the office. I wanted the first key to be covered by our JV Budget. Everyone will get a key. You will need to go to the office with identification and sign for your new key. Any lost key replacement will be 100.00, (as the handbook states). This Gate will be strictly for JV Residents. Lets hope this cuts down on some of our issues with visitors. The MONTEGO Gate was more difficult to deal with. Keys were only given to Montego Residents. An understanding was reached with the Montego Director and I that we should just lock this gate up and give the office the only two keys. We have the next ten years to replace the waterfront railings, and cracked cement. We need to have this a safe environment to achieve our reserve spending goals. On a side note, Some people have asked if we are painting the railings. It seems other Villages have tried this, but the railings are power coated. The paint does not stay and it makes the power coated paint chip. We will have to deal with sections of cement replacement and new railings over the many years to come. The first New cement is along the waterfront by the Green Turtle Gate.

LOEWS Employee Parking Issues:

Upon being elected I made an effort to communicate with Loew’s management regarding this parking issue. It was clear I would have to talk to our Fire Department and the Port Authority . I have received assurances from Loews we will not be dealing with their employee parking issues. Loews has a contract with the State Beach for parking issues. If this should start up again, please let me know.

STRAND STATE BEACH PADDLE CLASSES ON OUR BEACH:

I have called, written and spoken to the Supervisors and instructors. It is now going to be in the class curriculum : THE SMALL BEACH IS A PRIVATE BEACH. If they get off the paddle boards, security should be called. Ownership of a beach is established at LOW Tide. That is the corners of the Seawall. This issue is also addressed in our Handbook now as well. It is not a landing for Cays Boats. It is Jamaica Village Private Beach. I am also having Dan Get a quote for handmade PRIVATE BEACH signs to notify others along the waterfront.

CLUBHOUSE AREA:

I have spoken to our Advisory Committee regarding charging for our Clubhouse. This would be much like Bahama’s schedule. 1-20 is $25.00 21-35 is 50.00 36-50 is 75.00 and 51-68 is 100.00. This is common amongst our Villages. What is not common is that we have the nicest Clubhouse now and everyone is asking to use our Clubhouse. The majority of users are our JV renters. The Clubhouse and bathrooms are cleaned every day. We also pay the City of Coronado a sewer and drain fee of over 1300.00 a year now. It used to be half that amount. This fee is due to the bathrooms and kitchen in our Clubhouse. Each Village with a Clubhouse is charged these fees. We have the issue of the Grills needing cleaning and care. Steam cleaning for each grill is 175.00. Our Gas and Electric bill has grown. Our grills are heavily used by many for day parties. Even non JV dwellers. These expenses are not going down. Some have suggested a timer on the bathroom lights. Others want the hot water turned off to the outdoor shower. I am thinking about a spin timer for the gas on the grills. We have had many nights with the gas left on. These are just ideas, but please think about how many times you have used the clubhouse, the grills or the pool. I am hoping to address the pool remodel in the coming budget. Most of the people in the outer parts of the Village do not use the Pool or Grill. Which is why some seem to get angry when we get new items for this area. Please remember we all signed up for the care of most of these items. We just need to talk about how we fund them. Just some thoughts for you all to think about. Do we need a new survey? I would appreciate feedback to some of these items. Please remember we all live in a different area of this Village, so what is the utmost importance to one, will not be for all. I can say, we all want our HOA DUES to NOT GO UP.

POOL OUTDOOR LIVING FURNITURE:

We will be getting new loungers, tables and chairs soon.

PAINTING:

We have completed a cycle in the trim painting of our Village. Our 18/19 Budget will address the next cycle. Dan and I have addressed the chipped cement on the waterfront stairs. The patching, stucco and paint has been completed by our in house Maintenance. The Gazebos were completed and the Maintenance Crew fixed the lights to the waterfront and Gazebos.

TENTING:

The clubhouse has been tented for termites. The attic had an infestation. We also have put a line item on future budgets to address this. We had the expenditure paid for in our operational budget this year.

SOCIAL EVENTS:

We will be scheduling some Social Events in the coming months. Brenda is planning some great evenings. Colleen and Brenda are planning a Wine Night.

Thank you for your hard work. Donna will be getting ready for Thursday Happy Hours soon. We will keep you posted.

FINANCE COMMITTEE:

I have been attending these insightful meetings. Grace is doing a great job on this committee. It is wonderful to have Jamaica Represented on this very important committee. If anyone wants to volunteer for any future openings to our larger committees, please let me know.

In closing I would like to say, Thank you for entrusting me with our Village. I plan to continue what I started in this short year, by running again. Coming in late in the game has demanded a great deal of work, which I feel has all been worthwhile. Getting to know the Staff and the Board of Directors has really helped me get a foothold to what needs to be completed. I would like to Thank all past Directors and the Volunteers in our Village who have donated their time to make this the greatest place to live. Please walk around our Village and ENJOY IT!

Karen Farmer

Jamaica Village