First, please let me say thanks to all those of you who helped to make this summer pool season a great success! There were plenty of new faces to welcome to the neighborhood, and we hope everyone had a great season. The park/pool final cleanup will be coming up in a few weeks, and after the last of the parties, we will close up the cabana for the season, likely toward the middle of October. Stay tuned for a call for volunteer ‘winterizers’!
The big announcement for this week is that a fall annual meeting has been added to the community calendar. Our official documents have always asked the board to hold two annual meetings, one in February and one in October. Our annual fall meeting for 2018 will be October 11, at 6:30 at the park. If the weather doesn’t cooperate for an outdoor meeting, we have booked the library for the following week, October 16th at 6:30.
The focus of this meeting will be the legal document rewriting project in anticipation of a vote (hopefully) early in 2019. The board has worked hard over the last year to get more homeowners ‘in-good-standing’ to hold a proper vote, and as of the end of this year, we should be up to at least 90%. That is outstanding, but needs to be as close to 100% as possible. Please keep in mind that this number may never be exactly 100%…we must account for houses going up for sale, new transfers, foreclosures, wills and bequests, and more. There will always be a small percentage of our neighborhood in some kind of ‘transition’. That being said, a 97-98% ‘in-good-standing’ rating would be great!
The board has been taking suggestions from residents over the last year and implementing a majority of suggestions into the new version of the documents with our attorneys. So, to make the discussion more fruitful on October 11, please take some time to review the most up to date copy of the proposed documents. They are available for download here:
*Please note, the downloads above do not include previously removed statements and clauses from the previous copies. There are additional proposed changes in these documents that will be discussed in detail at the October meeting.
When reviewing these documents, please keep in mind a few key points that should help guide your reading and commentary:
First, these documents are not finalized. There are still opportunities to make suggestions and changes that will benefit the entire community. If there is something you are passionate about, please bring that to the attention of the board at this meting or via email.
Second, this proposed set of new documents will supersede all other existing guiding documents and amendments for Bretton Ridge HOA. The new documents would replace our existing documents and all other amendments previously filed.
Third, these new documents will eliminate many contradictory statements in our old documents, and allow for more guidance by North Olmsted city ordinances, the Planned Community Act, non-profit law, and the Ohio Revised Code for planned communities. These existing legal entities are better equipped to ‘write the rules’ than we are, and draw from decades of experience. Defaulting to city or state codes also takes the enforcement of violations out of the hands of neighbors, and places it with the more proper authority.
Lastly, there have been a few times in the past where the enforcement of assessments has become a legal battle. Because the organization did not have an extremely clear pathway to collect assessments, the legal battles that ensued have muddied the waters and created mixed messages about homeowner’s payment obligations. The hope is now that the new set of documents will make it clear for the future what the obligations are for the board, and for each property owner in Bretton Ridge.
We’re all in this together – and when each pays their share, we can maintain and improve all of our common elements; the park, the pool, entryways, the cabana, parking lot, and tennis courts!
Thanks again for taking the time to go through the documents once again. Making everyone’s voice heard in this process is really important, so please let any of the board members know your specific concerns and suggestions. You can always email the whole board at once by sending an email to: board@brettonridge.com.
Thank you! See you in October!