Annual Meeting

Twenty-three owners attended this evenings annual meeting at the Irving Library, South. It was a recap of the many accomplishments of the last 10 years and the exploration of solutions for a chronic community problem - scarce volunteerism that threatens the continuity of community services. The meeting was a call for the community to shift from its 35-year-old management model to one of a co-op with many owners making small contributions of management time and skills consistent with their capabilities and lifestyle. A comparison was made to an old-fashioned barn raising.

It’s important that more people have a greater understanding of the community systems so that we can vote wisely. Historically, as owners, we have depended on one or two people to understand and run the Associations each year. In the last 10 years, six people did 99% of management work and four of them quit because of the lack of appreciation for the hours they invested. Very few people fully understand how to plan and run this community - it wasn’t even common knowledge that we owned our streets until 2009 (25 years after the community was built). Eighty-nine percent of owners, collectively, contributed to less than 1% to the volunteer effort in the last decade.

Additionally, there were discussions about the following initiatives: a security camera, a security gate, a package management computer or lockers, and porter/trash service.

Security Gate: A polite and respectful controversy - there are simply some honest and legitimately differing opinions on this matter. Some owners have strong feelings about having a conventional entry gate (we have the infrastructure in place already). Some have strong feelings against this. Some would like a rear gate to stop the drive through traffic and that wouldn’t create traffic problems when the gate is broken (all gates have some down time). Some don't want to invest in a gate and its ongoing costs/service. There have been 2 surveys and 1 vote on the matter which have not brought the community to solution, but have better characterized the diversity of opinion. The board agreed to re-vote this item in 2018 in a way that would sort out the diversity of community interests and determine a majority backed direction.

• In community interest surveys, interest in a community entry gate was high; 60% were for it in 2015, 61% in 2013.
• An exit gate (an owner based initiative from 2017) was defeated 40%/60% on the 2017 ballot
• 20% voted for a $11.00 a month dues increase and installation after 1 year, 
• 20% voted for a $2.85 a month dues increase and installation after 3 years.

Sanitary Sewer:  The meeting had a guest speaker from the City of Irving, Elijah Dorminy, addressing to the owners on how to maintain the sanitary sewer system. There is reasonably clear evidence that there is a developing problem in the line on under Wilshire Dr. (between 1910-1916) that needs evaluation. There are no main blockages or backups at this time, but the City has encouraged us, in general, to consider proactive measures such as water-jetting the lines to break up grease or particulate matter that may be narrowing the lines or camera inspections for possible breaches. This work would require a commercial contractor.

The meeting slide presentations are available here: