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HOA Elections

Date: February 11, 2025

As you probably saw late last week, the candidacy forms went out for the upcoming HOA Election. I wanted to send out a note to let you know how important it is that you make reasoned and thoughtful decisions, about who you vote for in the elections, based upon their qualifications to accomplish the work we have ahead of us.

In 2023, we increased the HOA Board from 5 to 7 members. Four positions will be up for election this cycle. Three of those positions will be for 2-year terms that expire in March of 2027. One position will expire in March of 2026. This will enable us to avoid having all new board members by electing 2 one year and 3 the next. Everyone will have 2-year terms beginning with the March of 2026 election.

It is important to note that 6 of the 7 HOA Board Members will be Homeowners and 5 are elected by homeowners - even though the declarant has the right to appoint a 2/3rds majority on the HOA Board! That is HUGE! (Please note: that since I am now appointed, I will not be voting on or involved with any activities associated with the Golf Course).

In general, all Board Members work on, and contribute to, all aspects of HOA business. However, the workload involved in running a 20 (+) year old HOA with aging infrastructure that has NOT been well maintained, 610 (+) homes, LOTS of refurbishment, LOTS of new construction, LOTS of new residents, miles of private roadway, even more miles of borrow ditches and drainage outlets, 3 gates (soon to be 4), 24x7 Guards, surveillance cameras, an access control system, a Golf Course, a clubhouse, a restaurant / bar (with employees), 2 pools, a gym, 2 islands, 3 bridges, multiple ponds, canal walls, a boat ramp, a picnic area, acres of common area, miles of protected habitat, and a really big lake requires that each Board Member take on a primary area of responsibility (again, supported by other Board Members and Committee Volunteers).

It is vital that we have a Board that is made up of people who care about and will work for the general welfare of the entire Resort and its residents. There is no room for people who have a singular focus and are not interested in doing whatever it takes to keep The Resort a nice place to live and our property values rising.

Here are the areas that I would like the newly elected Board to focus on in 2025:

Secretary: Our governing documents have evolved over time, resulting in a patchwork of rules that may not fully align with the needs and priorities of our community today. Once the Declarant transitions out, making any updates will require significant homeowner participation, which can be challenging given the high threshold for approval—getting a substantial majority of 610+ households to agree on changes would be a considerable effort.

To proactively gather community input, I’d like the secretary to form a committee in 2025 to facilitate discussions through town halls and online surveys. This will allow us to better understand what residents want in our governing documents—whether it's policies on boats in driveways, addressing habitual speeders, or regulations around feeding wildlife near roadways. These are just a few examples of the types of rules and guidelines we can review as part of this process. While any potential changes would still follow the necessary legal steps, this effort will help ensure our governing documents reflect the community’s priorities.

Treasurer: As you saw from David’s presentation at the last Homeowner’s meeting, The HOA is very much in transition from a Declarant-Controlled Board to a Homeowner-Controlled Board. This transition will not be complete until buildout but, in the interim, we need to get our finances under control and on a track that will allow us to meet the unforeseen challenges that are inevitable as outlined in the Reserve Study. We are on a constant search to try and find areas where we can economize, and that work needs to continue. This will require a very tight working relationship with our managing agents.

Security: In 2025, we will meet all our financial obligations to Securitas for the existing security contract and its amendments. This opens the door for reassessing the needs of the community and determining the best path forward to meet the requirements. This will involve input from the community on capabilities and require additional research of options available to present to the board

Communications: The single hardest part of this job is timely communications! We have some homeowners who are technology-challenged. We have other Homeowners who are in technology overload. Some want Snail Mail, some want email, some are ok with TownSq, some are NOT. A communications committee/task force needs to be formed to determine the best way to extract information from the board in a timely manner and establish a way to communicate via the website, email, or in some physical form.

Other Tasks the Board at large will need to manage on an ongoing basis include:

Compliance: Ensure consistency of enforcement of rules and regulations across the community to include parking, lawns, and all items exterior to the home. Requires working closely with the compliance sector of the management company. Needs to include backyards, verification of ACC approvals, addressing fencing and other encroachments on common areas.

Maintenance: Requires periodic driving through the neighborhood on all roads to identify anything needing attention - Roads (washout, repair), barrow ditches, canal walls, mowing, trash emptying, landscaping, light replacement, clearing of debris from roads, sprinklers, boat ramp washout, etc. This requires consistent follow-up to ensure all tasks are addressed and satisfactorily completed.

Click here to download and read the The Resort HOA Elections Communications

The Resort at Eagle Mountain Lake HOA