I know we haven’t presented a blog question in awhile.  Perhaps our controversial issues have subsided during the winter months, but I would like to hear from you on security.

 On May 1^st we changed Security Companies to the Centurion Group.   They promise higher professional standards and better customer service than we have had in the past.  What are your thoughts so far?  Are you delighted with their attitude and professional manners?  Do you have any suggestions for upgrades?   

If you think it’s too early to respond, check back in a few days and add your thoughts.

Pat Pope

President

Sorrento HOA

The results are in.  http://www.sorrentohoa.org/2008%20Survey%20Results.pdf

Were you surprised? 

Do you think this reflects a consensus of our residents?

Do you agree or disagree with your neighbors?

How do you think the Board should react to any of the topics you and your neighbors responded too?

The verbatim comments are being compiled now.  We can discuss those next week after they are all posted.

Pat Pope

President  

What do you think of the 2008 HOA Survey?

Pat Pope

President

What do you think of more security patrols?  You can answer now, and answer later after you have seen the patrols if you like.

Pat Pope

By now you have all received a ballot for the Porter Ranch Maintenance Association Annual Meeting on January 15, 2008 at Shepherd of the Hills.

The Porter Ranch Maintenance Association maintains our slopes on Mason and on Rinaldi, but not on Browns Canyon.  They also maintain other common areas in Porter Ranch near the Town Center and outside of some of the other gated communities.  This is what you pay $32.70 each month for.

Make no mistake, the Association is organized and run by S&S.  The two candidates for Director are S&S employees.  S&S has enough voting power in the Association to control it, and they will for years.  They do request that you send the ballot back though so they have a quorum for the annual meeting.

I found out that as President of the Sorrento HOA, I am a “Delegate” for our HOA to the meeting.  After I made a few phone calls, I found out that the Delegates just help count the votes at the meeting. 

However, this will give me a good opportunity to express any opinions or ask any questions Sorrento residents have about the Porter Ranch Maintenance Association.  I know our slopes look a little sparse right now, for one thing. 

I have found that when I reach the right person at Accell Property Management, they have taken care of the matters in a fairly reasonable time frame.  What do you think?

Pat Pope

The speed hump on Vercelli is a prototype.  Before we start installing them everywhere we need to hear from you on what you think of this one.  Your input is important for the Security Committee and the Board to make decisions on reducing speeding. 

I am sure some people will find the current speed hump wimpy, while others will find it to be too aggressive or in the wrong spot.   Let us know what you think.  We won’t have any money to add any more speed humps until next year.  So we’ll watch the blog and look for constructive comments before we add more.

In general the Board of directors will give more consideration to known residents who use Vercelli than anonymous posters.

Pat Pope

You have now received the 2008 Sorrento HOA Budget.   It has our first budget increase in the seven years that the HOA has existed.  I listed the reasons the increase is necessary in the cover letter you got with the budget.

Believe me, all of the resident Board members considered the service improvement requests of the residents and the committees before we finalized the budget.  Unlike the government we cannot spend any more money than we take in.

The budget had to be completed by November 30^th for the new fiscal year.  I personally believe that unless we have a larger than expected number of defaults and foreclosures in 2008 we will have a balanced budget at the end of 2008.  At this point, I cannot think of a reason we would need another increase, especially one of this size, in 2009.

No budget, just like no answer to the speeding problem, will please everyone.  Yet your Board of Directors has to make the tough decisions.  We hope to meet the needs of the majority of the residents.

Every member of the Board of Directors reads the blog.  We all pay attention in the meetings.  We all get copies of the correspondence to Marinel.  We would like to hear what you have to say about the budget. 

I usually try not to respond to attacks, or anonymous posts, but I will be glad to answer any other questions posed on the blog.  If I can’t answer a question another Board member can.  Please try to keep civil with your neighbors.

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

First let me explain that the blog is not censored.  The weird little letters you have to type in are to prevent “bots” from automatically spamming the site.  Occasionally, a spam entry has gotten through and they have been removed.  Nobody from the Board or the Website Committee has removed any comment about any topic facing our association.

Second, a few people have suggested that we hold all of our HOA meetings at the pool.  That just isn’t practical in the winter time.  There are too many scheduling issues that would have to be changed if it rained, or was windy or cold.   We will go back to the pool in June.   If the majority of residents would prefer a Saturday meeting, we can move the day after the next election.  Marinel and the recorder would have to be paid to attend those Saturday meetings.  The new Board would have to agree to give up a Saturday every month.

Third, let me say that I receive every comment posted to the blog.  I think the residential members of your Board take them seriously.  There have been several posts to the blog by people who don’t think that the Board or the Committees are doing enough to serve their needs.  Most of those people have the courtesy and courage to put their names on the posts.  

There are others who like to shout down others in meetings or post attacks to the blog anonymously.  I understand their concerns, even though they have little respect for the concerns of others.

I spend at least 20 hours a week on Board business.  The HOA and the Board of Directors cannot be concerned with just  one issue.  While some issues are more important than others there are many facets to our operation that must be tended to.  That is why we have committees.  I was appointed to the Board a little more than a year ago.  During that time the previous president attended one HOA meeting and missed 5.  Two months after the last election our treasurer resigned.  We have just now gotten back to a full five member Board.  Two of those members are S&S employees that do not work with our committees.  Despite being shorthanded during much of my time on the Board, I think we have accomplished a lot in the last year.

Accomplishments

We have acting working committees.  The people on those committees volunteer their time and expertise to improve the neighborhood.  Before I was president there was one committee that had little guidance from the past president.

We have a new property manager, Marinel Agbunag.  Replacing the old ineffective property manager was one of my first priorities.  If you have ever had to call Ross Morgan before Marinel or since she has been here you know the difference

We have a web site and this blog.  I believe they have been a great source of information.

We have a Hospitality Committee that has put together great events to bring your neighborhood together

We put up arms, and improved video collection at the Torino gate.  S&S offered to pay for the arms to the previous Board for over a year before I was on the Board.  It takes time, leadership and people skills to accomplish projects with many vendors involved.  It is true that the arms have been smashed a few times, but the camera system has caught who did it, and the people who damaged our property have been caught or volunteered to pay for the damage.

We have forced a change with the Security Service.  The previous security company president knew that we were considering a change due to residential complaints about customer service.  He sold the business and we have new level of customer service from Ace Security.  It far from perfect today, but we are making progress.

We have a new look and more neighborhood content in the Newsletter.  The old Newsletter often had one article of news and a bunch of filler recipies.  For the last several months we have had to decide which news articles made the paper and which had to be left on the cutting room floor.

Challenges

Still, like most of you I am not satisfied. Speeding is an issue here.  We have long downhill streets. We have people with low profile, high performance cars.  We have residents who have no regard to the safety of others.  We have kids in the neighborhood.  These problems aren’t new or unique to our association.  The same people speeding down Vircelli speed down Mason and Rinaldi too. 

The speeding problem was not addressed by previous Boards or Association Presidents. I think it is a little disingenuous for the anonymous posters on the blog to blame this board or me personally for a problem not address for the previous five years.   We are making progress, but like many problems it takes time and money.  Speed humps, stop signs, and security enforcement of the rules are part of the answer.  Some residents don’t like speed humps.  Some residents still think LAPD will place a 7 x 24 motor officer here.  There is no excuse for driving 50 miles an hour on residential streets.  There is no excuse for rolling through stop signs.  There is no simple answer to the problem that will please everyone in the community.  If there were simple solutions  this would not be an issue facing this Board or myself, the previous president would have dealt with it.   We are working on reducing speeding here.  We will reduce speeding here.  It is highly unlikely that we will completely eliminate it.

I have mentioned the budget in several notes to the Association and on the blog.  There are demands on the budget from several directions.  Several things will drive up our expenses next year.  The current mortgage crisis will have an impact on revenue.  As long as I am on the Board, we will continue to have a strong collection policy.  We will continue to hold down costs.  We will look for new sources of revenue.  We will continue to maintain beautiful surroundings.  We will make the neighborhood safe and secure.  We will do our best to reduce dues increases, but we aren’t Congress.  We don’t print money here.  So rising costs and increased demands for service and infrastructure improvements by our residents will mean some sort of dues increase in 2008.

Board of Directors

There will be a Board Election next summer.  There will be four seats up for election, including mine.  The new Board will elect the officers next year.  I hope you have seen more action from this Board of Directors and from me than the previous Board and president. If you haven’t seen the improvements you think are necessary or would like I encourage you to run for the HOA Board yourself.   I’m sure there are several residents have very good ideas on improvements and how to manage our budget and safety.  If I am not re-elected or choose not to run again I know that I will be supportive of the new Board and President the tough decisions they will face every day.

Thank You

Finally, I want to thank Shahla Sadighi, David Sobel, and Neil Estrin for working with me to improve our HOA.  I also want to thank Gigi McGregor and Debbie Montero from S&S.  They have worked with us and helped us in many ways to increase safety, and improve our already beautiful neighborhood. 

I also want to thank all of the Committee Chairpersons, and all of the Committee Volunteers for volunteering many hours in their area of interest.  I think together we have made a huge improvement in a great place to live.

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

This month we held our first HOA meeting at Sierra Canyon School.   Attendance was much lower than at the meetings we held over the summer at the pool.   Although it made for a much shorter and less acrimonious meeting, I was wondering why people didn’t show up.

Was it the day, the date, the time?

Was it because you where still dealing with the winds?

Were the directions to our new location unclear? 

Was it because you have been discouraged by all of the complaining by a few people at the meetings?

Do you feel your views have been shouted down by others?

Was it because you don’t feel your concerns have not been given fair consideration?

Or are you just generally content with the HOA right now?

The Board, and I personally, want to give every resident a chance to be heard on topics that concern them.  That’s why we have an uncensored blog.  That is why I changed the meetings from what seemed like a random schedule to monthly.  That is why I changed the meeting time to after the Executive Session at 7:00 PM.

Believe me; I don’t like getting yelled at about problems that have not been addressed by previous Boards. I think we are turning things around.

So, if you just don’t have the time to come to the meetings, that’s perfectly alright.  It’s the Board of Directors’ and the Property Management Company’s job to take care of the day to day concerns of the HOA.  But if there is another reason you didn’t come this month, post a note here.

Pat Pope

President

Sorrento HOA

In the next couple of months the Sorrento HOA Board of Directors will be setting the budget for 2008. 

There are several issues that will have to be factored into the new budget.   I will list some of them here, but seek your input on what you as a resident want the Board of Directors to consider when we set the budget and the dues for 2008.  I want to hear from any resident that has a thought about the budget.  This issue could clearly become more volatile than speeding, or parking, or any other issue we have faced here.  Please don’t snipe at your neighbors who have a different point of view than yours.  I personally will give more weight to those who are thoughtful concise and are willing to put their name on their posts.  It is quite clear that your Board of Directors cannot please everyone and will have some tough choices to make.

Here are just some of the issues:

• The dues have been the same since 2000.
• There are several residents that are not paying their dues.  The HOA has taken aggressive collection efforts, but a few people are over their head and may go into foreclosure.
• The drought continues.  The DWP has asked the City Council for a significant rate increase.
• S&S has turned over more land to the HOA including some very large plots of hillside on Browns Canyon Road that we must maintain and water.
• There was significant dissatisfaction with the pool service, the janitorial service, and the security service this year.
• Speeding is a very significant problem here.  It will be addressed.  We probably will have to install several speed humps and pay for a speed patrol.  
• The Budget Committee recommends that we increase contributions to the reserve fund by 5% for the fund to remain solvent.
• Our existing suppliers have asked for rate increases.
• Our legal expenses have been very high in 2007.

Those are current facts.  I know some residents were told by the person that sold them their home that as we became more built out dues could go down.  The Board did not make that sales pitch.  Not even Alan Greenspan predicted the current mortgage mess.  Not even Fritz Coleman predicted the current drought. 

I personally am looking for other ways to increase revenue at least a little.  We will be advertising on our website and possibly on the maps that security hands to visitors, but quite honestly, that revenue will do little more than cover the expense of the website and the maps. By the way, website expenses should be less in 2008 than 2007.

This Board has tried to save money this year.  We moved our summer meetings to the pool to save rent at the church.  The future winter meetings will be at Sierra Canyon to help save on rent.  Through the effort of this Board we have new gate arms on Torino, and got most of the money for the arms reimbursed by S&S.  We have used the Internet more effectively and saved on mailings.  We have many more committees consisting of volunteer residents working on their own time to improve our community.

Nobody wants to pay more for dues.  Everybody would like our HOA to be clean, safe, and well maintained.  What do you think we should do?

Pat Pope

President, Sorrento HOA

As you may know by now, our Treasurer, Shahla Sadighi has resigned, because her new job with the Voice of America will keep her posted in Washington longer than she expected.  We will miss her, and her very hard work to improve our community.

The Board of Directors will appoint a successor to fill out Shahla’s term. The current Board would like to here from you on what you would expect from your representative on the Board.  We will face many hurdles over the remainder of the new person’s term:

• We will own and maintain more of the common areas. 
• We will continue to see some residents default on their mortgages and not pay their dues because of the credit crunch. 
• We will have to address speeding down the hills in our neighborhood. 
• We likely will face a continuing drought and water use restrictions.

At the same time we want to continue to make our community a great place to live.  A place where we can go for a walk at night.  A place with well maintained grounds and common areas. 

So what do you think the Board should look for in the new member?  Remember, we all just regular working volunteers.  Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Martin Luther King Jr. don’t live here.  All of the people that volunteer deserve our consideration.

What do you think about the condition of the physical plant here in Sorrento/Meadows?  Are the common areas and landscaping in good condition?  What do you think about the slopes on Mason and Rinaldi?  Are we over watering an area or under watering someplace?  Are the pools, pool decks, furniture and restrooms well taken care of?  Do the guard houses give your guests a good first impression?  Do you have issues with fences, gates or irrigation?  Do you have suggestions for improved maintenance?

What did you think of the community luau?   Do you think we should have community events like this regularly?   What did you like?  What could we have done better?  Did you get a chance to meet a neighbor you did not know before?

Who does your gardening?  Is their price fair?  Do they do a good job?  Do you have to keep after them every week to pull the weeds or do basic things?  Will they do something special for you if you ask?  Would you recommend them to your neighbors?

Who did your landscaping?  What do you think of the job they did?  Was their price fair?  Did they keep their promises?  Did they understand the architectural guidelines of the HOA?  Would you recommend them to a new resident?