I have not written a newsletter message to you in three months, and during this time I continued to appreciate what we all have living here in Shadow Hills. I smile at the sunrise, then sit and enjoy the sunset every night if possible with Karla – a moment of time that seems to stand still while we enjoy the most important and sometimes simplest things of life. It is perfect!
The Board election will conclude on March 5 after two months of campaigning on the part of the candidates. Many forums, many speeches, many flyers, and many doorbells, all to show residents who should represent them on the Board. Congratulations to the new members of the Board, and a special thank you to all who volunteered to run.
It is not easy standing in front of 200 people explaining the merits of any question. It will be my hope that we all agree that the election is over, and now is the time for the new Board to work on the matters at hand. Clearly, there is always something that needs to be done.
One of current items is the upcoming vote for the proposed changes to the CC&Rs and By-laws. We anticipate mailing the ballots and documents along with instructions to the residents on March 12. There will be two separate envelopes with the information.
In one envelope you will receive a computer flash drive which will contain all the documents. There will be a red-line version and a clean copy of the changes for both the CC&Rs and By-laws on the flash drive. This was done to save the cost of mailing the entire document to each homeowner (a cost of about $10 per home). Mailing a flash drive with the documents will save more than half that cost.
In a separate envelope you will receive the ballot and the instructions for filling out the ballot. So be looking for two different envelopes.
After many comments from residents, the Board decided to present the following four items for a vote:
- Item 1 addresses the bulk of the document. These changes will remove Pulte from the documents where appropriate and will make changes because of new laws with new requirements. Because Pulte is no longer here, it seemed responsible to remove them from the documents wherever possible. The other changes are required because of changes in the law. If item 1 passes, the documents should become clearer without Pulte being listed where applicable, and since we must implement the new law anyway, the documents would reflect that which is required by law.
- Item 2 is a vote to remove term limits on committee members. Currently, there is a two-term limit on committee members. Some have felt that some committee members should stay longer if they are willing because of their expertise. You will now vote to remove term limits or leave them in place.
- Item 3 is a vote to remove cumulative voting for Board member elections. Currently, the HOA uses cumulative voting every other year in the election process when three candidates are up for election. When only two candidates are up for election, regular voting applies. In regular voting you may not put more than one vote on any one candidate. In cumulative voting you may put more than one vote on any one candidate. This is the difference between the two voting methods.
- Item 4 is to change the minimum rental period from 90 days to 45 days.
These are the four items to vote on for the changes to the CC&Rs and By-laws. Hopefully, whoever is President beginning March 5 will hold more Town Hall meetings to explain the changes and how the ballot will work. Please vote so we can conclude this process, which began about three years ago.
I look forward to seeing everyone once again, and I wish the new Board nothing but success. Once again, I reflect on another beautiful day, all the kind people that smile when we meet, and I say to myself, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”