1 YEAR: 17,000 PAGEVIEWS

We're getting close to the anniversary of our first blog post on March 7, 2012. (We actually created the blog in February of last year.) The fact that we've had 17,000 pageviews since then leads me to believe that we're reaching quite a few residents at Farmington Woods with our little blog. 

As long as you keep reading, we'll keep writing.

STORM RESPONSE: NEGLIGENCE OR MISPLACED PRIORITIES?

We all know this storm was a bad one. It caused us all some inconvenience and for many, a healthy dose of anxiety. But this woman's experience, shared with others in her four-plex, is downright scary and inexcusable. 

This is what happens when Farmington Woods uses funds that should be available for the safety and security of residents to shore up two losing operations at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. It's really a sad, scary tale.

Farmington Woods Snow Storm of February 8-9, 2013

I am very grateful to our grounds crews and road crews for working long, hard hours with insufficient equipment and too small a staff. I am grateful to staff members who took calls from residents and worked hard to keep residents informed and to coordinate snow removal.  I am grateful for their efforts to free doctors, nurses, first responders, and residents who had important medical appointments.

Let’s thank them as soon as we can and, then, start to honestly look at the risks we faced during the February 8-9 snowstorm.  Although this was record-breaking storm, we were warned of it several days in advance. While weather reports forecast 30 or more inches of snow and hurricane force winds, which they warned would cause serious problems with drifting snow, governors and mayors all around New England put their emergency plans into action.

We should have been prepared. We should not have had at least 2 snow blowers broken and one truck out of commission. Rather than plowing a parking area around an empty Club House, we should have been clearing the walkways to the homes of people.  Instead of subsidizing the golf course, and continuing to make plans to re-design/re-decorate the Club House, we should be fixing equipment when it breaks down and purchasing or leasing whatever is needed to keep residents safe.

I live in a 4-plex, and those of us who were at home on the night of the storm were literally trapped inside our building.  The two doors to the building were blocked by more than 30 inches of snow and could not be opened more than two inches. Had there been a fire, or had one of us suffered a medical emergency, we could not have gotten out of the building, and any emergency response crew would probably have taken 30 - 60 minutes to get into our building. Those are precious minutes in the event of a stroke, a heart attack, a fall which breaks a major bone.

In my courtyard there are two 4-plexes, and two buildings with 2 side by side units in each.  Not all units are occupied at this time, but I know that 4 of the 11 occupied units are home to people who are physically compromised and who might require considerable assistance in an evacuation.  In any case, our homes were firetraps --- deathtraps.

On the second night of our confinement, using a Loctite penetrating oil and some tools, I was able to detach the screen window on the building’s front door, move the Plexiglas windows, and stick my hand through the door to scoop away enough snow that I could push the door about 7 inches and squeeze through.  Once outside, I was able to shovel off our front doorstep, so that in case of an emergency, we could escape the building, or open the door to a rescue crew.  On the third day of being so confined, my neighbor dug a 60 foot path away from the building and another path to a neighbor’s home, while I dug the path to a second neighbor’s home.  On the third night, working well into the dark of night, our road crew came to dig out our garages.  We can return to work now.  Hopefully the rest of our community will be freed soon.

Now it is time to ask, “What can we learn from this experience?  Do we prefer subsidizing an expensive irrigation system, cart paths, and other golf course improvements to keeping ourselves and our neighbors safe?  Do we prefer a fancy Clubhouse entrance or even an elevator, or would we rather feel we have provided for the safety of everyone? What are the prudent decisions we need to make to protect our community?”

Lucinda Hannon           

73 Mallard Drive

THE REAL DISASTER? THE RESPONSE TO IT!

Seems like the storms keep getting bigger and the disastrous ones more common.The last disaster to devastate Farmington Woods was Alfred, the Halloween Storm of 2011. It was an experience so dreadful that I hope to never repeat it again. We were without power for 10 days, those that stayed the course were tired and irritable, especially when they learned that the clubhouse had a generator but wasn't available for residents. In years past, the clubhouse has been a "refuge from the storm" for residents without power but not so much anymore.

By noon today, myself and the many residents I spoke to had the sinking feeling that no plows were coming to free us from the grip of Storm Nemo. So a group of neighbors, mostly women, started shoveling the driveway and clearing two feet of snow from in front of garages so that we could get our cars out. Five women and one man shoveled out a total of 6 garages and the driveway. And, as happened during the Alfred disaster, one neighbor took issue with our communal efforts; this time, however, we kept our heads down and continued working. We hoped this would send a strong message. By 2 :00 pm  we were all out of our garages and offering assistance to others who needed it. 

At 3:00 pm I decided to walk the neighborhood to see what other residents were doing and what they had to say about the storm. Everyone I encountered was "pissed", as one man said, with the plowing, or lack of it. Some talked about times in the past when the plow woke us at 4:00 am scraping a mere dusting off the driveway between our units. At one point a resident confirmed our previous fears of being stranded when she told me she received an email blast stating we would not be plowed out until Tuesday. She was concerned because she had to work on Monday. I later received an email blast that said the clubhouse would be closed and that “all snow removal efforts were on resident units.” 

My walk ended at the Clubhouse and I was flabbergasted to see that all the parking lots had been cleared, for a restaurant that was closed until Tuesday at 6:00pm, while residents were digging themselves out in order to get to work on Monday.

The clubhouse was closed and not scheduled to open until Tuesday but when I spoke with the plow driver he told me that he was told to clear the clubhouse parking lots. So he did. All of them, lower and upper. Then I saw three trucks on Heritage with their plows up. There was only room for one car at a time and yet clearing snow from the closed Clubhouse parking lot took precedence over widening the road. I saw two plows parked on Mallard with no driver in sight, but garages and driveways blocked by deep snow. I saw snow blowers running but no operators.  Below is a a picture of the units on Heritage two driveway’s down from the clubhouse taken on the same walk.

 The contrast is striking, isn't it?

Farmington Woods needs to be accountable to unit owners, especially during disasters. Not every resident is retired; some of us are professionals who have to work nights and weekends. We don’t have 9-5 , Monday through Friday jobs. Plowing should have taken place all through the night of the storm. If there are power outages, the clubhouse should be made available to residents without electricity. When will the board wake up to the real needs of residents?

BTW: Matthew’s is OPEN!

JANUARY BOARD MEETING: HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM 1998!

Cicero wrote: “To remain ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain always a child.”

If you missed the January 7^th Executive Board meeting you missed the repeat of a scenario that caused an uproar at the November meeting due to its sequence: comments from the floor were taken after our president, Sara Harrigan called the meeting to order.

Because she called the meeting to order and then took comments, those comments should technically appear in the minutes because they were presented inside the convened meeting. Normally, comments are not included in the minutes, which is why it’s so important to go to the meetings:you actually get to hear the concerns of residents.

And the comments came. The Farmington Woods Young Mothers’ Group representative spoke first. She asked the board to consider a playscape for children, a very good idea which many of us have wanted for years. Another brave soul made a request to ask questions at the end of the meeting, which I guess is a no, no. She was told the board would “think about it”.

Another gentleman was very concerned about speeding in Farmington Woods, especially on Heritage. He wants radar during peak times: early morning and late night commutes. He wants the security patrol officer to hide to catch as many speeders as possible. He believes paying a steep fine for a first offense will boost our bottom line. Not sure if that would happen. It would probably cost more in salaries between Murphy Security and Farmington Woods office staff to catch and process the speeders. But I do agree people should slow down. A lot of people walk here. And if you've ever walked in the "imaginary" walkway on lower Heritage you know what I mean.

Last, but always troubling was the subject of garbage. One district rep commented on garbage on street corners, in driveways and on top of the garbage bins. He complained that residents in his area are tired of seeing it for days on end. He was told to call the MA and someone would pick it up but he wasn’t happy with this solution. It certainly is a common and unsightly problem in Farmington Woods.

We heard the usual social reports: Connect, Community Awareness and Communications. Most reports were like other month’s except the announcement that Farmington Woods proposes to enter the 21^st century by developing a Face Book page even though the board thinks they reach most residents with the monthly “In the Woods”. The sad fact is that they are delivered to our doors, but most residents, at least in my neighborhood, take them directly from the mailbox and deposit them in their recycling container. I watch my neighbors do this every month.

The Farmington Woods website, with its registered users and over 700 email addresses was brought up but it seems to be used more for golf/clubhouse marketing purposes than to deliver important information to residents like the change of location of last month's executive board meeting.

According to the board we also use the Valley Press, Avon Patch, Farmington Life and the Valley Press to get our message out regarding golf and I assume, the joy of residential life here. There was one in Avon Life's October edition. (See  blogpost "He Said, She Said Journalism" October 7, 2012 .)

There was no mention of this blog but our stats show an average of 1500 monthly visits from residents and non-residents alike. In the last ten months we have received scores of unsolicited emails from prospective buyers asking very specific questions. We try to answer them as honestly and positively as possible. We are not here to bash Farmington Woods as a community. We like living here and when people ask, we tell them so.

The most disturbing event at the meeting was the budget discussion. It started by the board declaring that “we need to pick a number from 1 to 100 but we need a start somewhere.” At first, I didn’t understand what "picking a number" had to do with the budget. It soon became very clear when Finance Chairman, Brian Petrovitis  stated, “I don’t really need a number, just a place to start. Last year we worked hard on the budget and in the last hour had to scramble to adjust it for the vote.”

Now, I understood. The discussion involved picking a number to decide the percentage raise residents would incur for the next fiscal year, in both district taxes and condo fees. As a professional who manages budgets in my job, I was shocked to hear we pick a number and then work towards it!

One board member suggested a 3% starting point! What was wrong with starting at a 0% growth budget and reengineering Farmington Woods working processes? Why not look at what we spend and decide if we can spend smarter? What projects are needs versus luxury wants?  There are other approaches available before we just “pick” a number as a starting point.

For the umpteenth time a board member brought up the “fact” that we have never had an assessment here at Farmington Woods. This is categorically untrue. Read your documents (or read “Reassessing Assessments below.) We’ve had an ongoing monthly assessment called a restaurant minimum since 1998! It started out at $20/month for ten months and went to $25/month for twelve months a few years later. It’s now $30/month and if some board members have their way it will be increased in the new budget.

So yes, you, me and every resident of Farmington Woods has a monthly assessment, one that will only go up and that allows the clubhouse the luxury of $562K in staff salaries in this budget year alone. (I wonder if four star restaurants like Matthews, Apricot's or Cuginos pay that much in staff salaries. It would be interesting to know.)

In our fourteen years here the minimum assessment alone has cost us over $5000! I think if I were representing Farmington Woods as a board member I would be careful about spreading false and misleading information to prospective buyers. There may be legal ramifications for distorting the truth. 

We just received a survey with our monthly statements. I encourage everyone reading to complete it. Farmington Woods is trying to get a handle on the population, needs and wants of the community. There was much discussion about what we get for our money: pools, clubhouse, golf, tennis, sidewalks (or lack thereof) to name a few. One board member said “We should ask what residents don’t want.”

I’m not sure what residents don’t want, but I can tell you that based on the Focus Groups held roughly two years ago in 2011, what they do want. Of all the concerns and suggestions coming out of those groups one thing stood out quite clearly: the overwhelming majority of Farmington Woods residents want the golf/clubhouse operation to be a self-sustaining enterprise. We need to work towards that.

The meeting closed without any report on golf or clubhouse activities. That produced major groaning and grumbling from the crowd as they exited the meeting. I happened to overhear a comment regarding the playscape. One resident wanted to know who would be watching the kids (my guess would be their mothers) and what would happen if a kid got hurt. I guess we would just follow the same protocol we do for any other accidents here at Farmington Woods, (resident sidewalk or clubhouse falls, slips at the pool): liability insurance. Every resident pays for it.

A closing note: Thanks to the many friends and neighbors who showered us with Christmas cookies and email Holiday cards. As for the cookies, we enjoyed every one we ate and cursed the scale the next morning. Worth every bite though.

NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING: NOT A(N EMAIL) BLAST

The location of November’s executive board meeting was changed from the master association to the clubhouse but most residents were unaware of this because there was no email blast to notify us in advance. As a result, attendance was very low and familiar faces were missing. I guess email blasts are reserved for important announcements, like farewell parties and such.

The meeting started off with an important announcement. Our new president informed us that if conversation between residents were to take place during the meeting it should take place outside of the room. She then called the meeting to order. From there she announced there was a quorum and asked if there were remarks from the floor.

Why is this sequence so important you wonder? In past meetings, comments from the floor always came first so they weren’t included in the minutes. As a result, residents’ ideas, concerns, frustrations and complaints never appear on the record. But tonight, they were included in the meeting itself.

A newly elected board member expressed her gratitude for the change and that’s when things heated up. Both the president and former president put their hands up in a stop motion and said almost in unison “now wait a minute” as our president explained that she had no intention of including comments in the minutes due to legal reasons. Discussion went back and forth until the new board member retreated.

And then came the second wave. While trying to approve the last two months of minutes, the newly elected board member asked that the minutes be changed to reflect that Roberts Rules of Order had not been followed during a special session meeting. Once again, the president and another board member erupted. The discussion got so heated that at one point the board member shouted, “What’s your point?” to the requester.

She continued to press as to why the minutes couldn’t be updated to include a statement reflecting Roberts Rules of Order had not been followed. Boldly, she asked the new GM to take off his manager hat, put on his legal one and tell them the correct way to state that the rules weren’t followed. He had no response. It was finally decided that a blanket statement would be made to correct the minutes.

There was a report from the clubhouse committee regarding the restaurant survey. Results were published in the December “In the Woods” Some 320 residents responded and most comments were favorable. There was some dismay about the stairs, service, décor, and hours but overall, this committee saw the results as a favorable. Interestingly, no one mentioned the fact that 800 residents chose not to respond at all.

The survey showed the age range of those using the restaurant to be 56 years and older. The committee reasoned that this finding was an indicator of younger residents not having discretionary funds to spend at the clubhouse.

But here is the overlooked reality. The younger crowd doesn’t want to sit at a bar drinking, watching golf and rehashing the glory days. We would much rather be at the Olive Bar rooting for our favorite basketball, baseball, or football teams, drinking with our peers and discussing the latest technology and advancing careers.

We also spend our discretionary funds on season tickets at local colleges, area comedy clubs, and on massages, manicures and pedicures. We like gourmet coffee and will pay $5.50 a cup several times a day without giving it a thought. We occasionally drop $125.00 per ticket on a good concert. In case you’re not familiar with the latest statistics, most young Farmington Woods residents are young professionals with decent incomes.

It was revealed at the meeting that. we are on track to lose $120K as budgeted on the golf operation. The golf committee initially voted a dues increase and then suddenly, rescinded that vote. There will be no increase in golf dues because current members indicated that any increase would cause them to find other places to play. And we all know, we cannot afford to lose more members. I am a little surprised by their lack of loyalty to Farmington Woods Golf Course though.

On the brighter side, there are plans in place to bring in new members that include corporate memberships (The Hartford?) one day a week during the golf season. They did stress the need to bring in younger golfers to Farmington Woods and are actively wining and dining some private school golf teachers. I hope it all works.

There was also discussion on the siding of units, a project that is coming to an end. Apparently 20 years ago Farmington Woods made the commitment to rehab all units and little by little it is being done. The project was anticipated to take 20 years and now 20 years later we find that we need more time. The timeframe will be extended but it was revealed that when the program started there were a dozen or so carpenters. As of today we have four due to budget cuts. (The scheduled $120K loss to the golf course could pay the salaries of several carpenters and be a boost to our infrastructure at the same time.)

This report began by criticizing the board’s lack of communication skills: the location of the meeting was changed but residents were not informed by the email blast system. So it was nice to hear our new president announce several times during the meeting that all residents can log onto the Farmington Woods website membership tab and receive updates including draft meeting minutes.

This is a first at Farmington Woods and we applaud her decision to do this. If you are having trouble logging into the membership page which does require a password, the MA office can help. If you would like hands on help board members are offering to come to your home to assist.

The meeting closed with awards and gifts given to Farmington Woods volunteers. A nice gesture and certainly we are all glad to have them and appreciate their work.

The next meeting is scheduled Jan 7, 2013 due to holidays.

REASSESSING ASSESSMENTS

ARE WE BEING ASSESSED OR NOT?

Assessments are a fact of life endured by residents of many condominiums. But not at Farmington Woods Condominium according to our leaders:

In her letter of January 5, 2012 to all unit owners, Irene Loretto, President of both the tax district and executive boards assured us that “There has never been an assessment at Farmington Woods” and as recently as last month tax district director Nancy Landwehr made a similar statement in an article about Farmington Woods in the Avon News. I have heard the same claim from other board members as well over the last year.

I finally decided to check the accuracy, if not the veracity of those statements and quickly discovered that our leaders are either ill informed or prevaricating. It didn’t take a whole lot of research to find the truth.

The following document is from Amendment Number 3 to our Bylaws adopted March 30, 1998. It refers to our restaurant and the newly created minimums. Without even reading it you can see that the word assessment appears in one form or another 5 separate times!

(I highlighted the only section you need to read to see how we’ve been hoodwinked.)

History fascinates me. From what I’ve been able to ascertain from residents who were here in 1998 the restaurant was doing poorly and residents were asked to bail it out. So why can’t our leaders just own up to that. It’s one thing for them to remain ignorant of the history of Farmington Woods but trying to convince us that there’s never been an  assessment here is just plain dishonest.

Section 7.2. Powers and Duties. The Executive Board may act in all instances on behalf of the Association, except as provided in the Declaration, these Bylaws or the Act.

aa.        (1) Operate and maintain the premises and facilities leased from the Farmington Woods District for the benefit of the Unit Owners, their invitees and members pursuant to terms and conditions of membership as set by the Master Association.

(2) Provide for non resident and resident membership in the golf club.

(3) Maintain a Club liquor license under the Liquor Control Regulations of the State of Connecticut within the Clubhouse leased from the District.

 (4) Levy assessments against the Unit Owners and members of the golf club who so agree as a condition of membership, as a charge or fee for goods and services purchased or other charges incurred by Unit Owners or such members for use of the facilities or membership in the golf club but not paid for at the time of purchase, and for any additional fees or charges incurred by a Unit Owner or golf club member in the use, leasing, renting, or purchasing of goods and services from the Association in connection with the premises leased from the District or other services provided directly to the Unit Owner by the Association or its staff. The charges for membership in the golf club and use of the Clubhouse may reasonably differentiate between golfing and non-golfing memberships.

The levy can include a separate assessment per Unit Owner or golf club member as a minimum periodic charge for the fixed costs of operation and overhead of the restaurant in the Clubhouse, against which the costs of meals purchased during such period can be credited. This uniform restaurant assessment shall be established by the Executive Board after Notice to the Unit Owners and an opportunity to Comment. Pursuant to Section 47-258(a) of the Act, such charges may be assessed against the Unit of any Unit Owner incurring such charges, and enforceable as a common expense assessment.

THE COSTS OF NOT RUNNING A BUSINESS AS A BUSINESS

The State of Connecticut passed the Common Interest Ownership Act in 1984 and amended it in 2009. It governs what executive boards can and cannot do and puts limits on how much they can assess unit owners in any given year. It turns out that if an assessment does not exceed 15% of the association budget “the special assessment is effective without approval of the unit owners.”

So, if the association wanted to assess all 1,084 units $1,000 each for new roofs the total of nearly $1.1M would require the approval of owners since it exceeds 15% of our yearly budget of $6M. That's a one time assessment.

When I moved here in 1999 the restaurant assessment was $20/mo for ten months. That soon changed to $25/mo for twelve months and was raised to $30/mo several years ago. That's an ongoing assessment, one that never ends and only goes up.

In 1998, when the assessment first went into effect, the total came to about $220K, well under the 15% threshold for unit owner approval.That $220K has grown to nearly $400K, still under the 15% limit for owner approval. 

But if you figure what that 1998 assessment has cost residents since its enactment, it comes to roughly $4.7M, about 78% of this year’s budget. And if you add the $2.1 it will cost residents over the next five years (barring increases), we’re looking at $6.8M over a twenty year period which amounts to an assessment of $6,273K for each unit owner! 

That $6.8M figure sounds oddly familiar. Oh yes, it’s the total that the bonds we rejected in May would have cost us with interest over the next 20 years.

Tax district board elections are today. We have directors who are either unaware of what I just summarized or blatently lying to us about it. These are the same directors that were ready to spend $6.8M over the next twenty years to shore up the money losing golf/clubhouse operation. 

They were so sure we were behind it that they spent $50K of our money planning this boondoggle with it's horseshoe bar.

Let's face it. We need honesty and transparency from our leaders, which is why we need to elect the three candidates I endorsed in my last post: Peter Janus, Joe Chudecki and write-in candidate Harry Dermer.

Public Act No. 10-186

AN ACT CONCERNING THE COMMON INTEREST OWNERSHIP ACT.

Sec. 47-261e. Adoption of budgets. Special assessments. Loan agreements.

(b) The executive board, at any time, may propose a special assessment. Not later than thirty days after adoption of a proposed special assessment, the executive board shall provide to all unit owners a summary of the proposed special assessment. Unless the declaration or bylaws otherwise provide, if such special assessment, together with all other special and emergency assessments proposed by the executive board in the same calendar year, do not exceed fifteen per cent of the association's last adopted periodic budget for that calendar year, the special assessment is effective without approval of the unit owners.

THREE OPENINGS, THREE EXCELLENT CANDIDATES

We survived a hurricane, a nor'easter and the finale of a grueling presidential race in the span of a week. We can rest now right? My aching back and jangled nerves could use it.

But hold on. There's one more thing we've got to get through before we start resting up from the madness and mayhem we all just experienced. We've got our own election to attend to: there are three openings on the Tax District Board coming up for vote tomorrow night and we have some really great news to share from a reader:

Harry Dermer has agreed to be a write in candidate in the upcoming Farmington Woods Tax District vote on Monday, November 12 at 7pm.  Registration begins at 6:30 pm. 

As many of you know, Harry most recently served on the MA Executive Board.  He is currently serving as a member of the newly appointed Clubhouse Task Force.  He, with the other Task Force members, has been instrumental in identifying improvements which have already had a positive impact on Restaurant revenues.

I urge you to write in Harry Dermer and vote for Peter Janus and Joe Chudecki in the upcoming election!  Together, these individuals will help bring fiscal accountability and financial transparency to FW. 

Please share this news with all your Farmington Woods friends and neighbors.  You need to vote in person.  Every registered Avon or Farmington voter, living in Farmington Woods and/or owning a Farmington Woods unit is entitled to vote.

I've lived in Farmington Woods for more than thirteen years now and must say we've never had a more urgent need for new leadership than we do today. Please, if you care about the future of Farmington Woods, show up and vote Monday night.

And if you want the board to be more responsive to the needs of all residents and not just those of one special interest group, vote for Peter Janus, Joe Chudecki and write-in Harry Dermer.

See you there!