Your HOA Manager’s Report By Kathe M. Barnes, CAAM, LSM, PCAM Executive Director
Are you looking for the opportunity to build, maintain or enhance your neighborly bonds in your subdivision? At the heart of every community association is the people. But the question on everyone’s mind is how do we bring them together in smaller sections of the community. For decades, SRCA has looked at ways to engage residents, to provide avenues to strengthen friendships among neighbors, to offer ways for them to connect and have fun. We have our big signature events but what else is there? The concept of a providing our residents a block party trailer filled with equipment emerged many years ago. It was a way to provide a moving party on wheels. The trailer is stocked with tables, chairs, tents, coolers, drink tubs, BBQ grill, trash bags and receptacles. You reserve it, we bring it to you! The cost is FREE so long as a minimum of 5 families from the neighborhood sign up for the event. Only a small refundable deposit is required at the time of the reservation. It gets better, SRCA will reimburse the neighborhood up to $125 for food and drinks for the event. Many of you have utilized the trailer already for your block party. What can we do to enhance the trailer? What are some things that we can add to make your block party even more special? Games, equipment? We would like to hear from you as your feedback is important. We are always looking at ways to improve and take it to the next level. The weather will be cooling off soon. Call the office to reserve for your party. 4 August/September 2022
Board Briefs May 2022 • It was approved to poll the homeowners of St. Tropez on the use of concrete roof tiles in addition to clay tiles. • House wall color variance was denied. • Board agreed that it was not in the purview of the HOA to conduct any sound studies for road noise. • The 2023 Annual Homeowners Meeting will be conducted in March in an attempt to solicit more attendees. • The board voted to cancel the July board meeting. June 2022 • Adopted a rule to only allow Mexican sand cast clay roof tiles in St. Tropez. • Upheld Architectural Committee’s approval of HVAC screen walls with the stipulation that the walls are stucco textured to match the surface to which they are affixed. • Adopted revised language relating to Play structures. • Appointed Dr. Pamela Chambers as a member of the Architectural Committee. • Approved the Property and Liability insurance renewal as recommended by the Finance committee. The SRCA office will be closed on Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day.
President’s Message By Matt Metz SRCA Board President
You may not know that I am a member of the Community Association Institute, an international organization dedicated to building better communities through homeowner associations. I also have the honor of serving on CAI’s Homeowner Leaders Council (HLC), an advisory group whose charter is to bring the perspective of homeowners and HOA board members to CAI. My participation on the HLC has provided a unique opportunity to meet and share ideas with HOA board members from across the country. Every time the HLC meets and shares ideas, I come back to Scottsdale Ranch with a stack of great ideas and best practices to assist SRCA in its unending pursuit of improvement and – yes – excellence. What has impressed me from these experiences is that when I come back with these inspirations and share them with our Executive Director, I learn that Scottsdale Ranch has already implemented most of these improvements. It turns out that under the leadership of your prior boards, and our very experienced and respected Executive Director and her staff, Scottsdale Ranch is already among not just the best HOAs in the Valley, or in Arizona, but is actually one of the best operated large-scale HOAs in the country! That isn’t to say we don’t have room for improvement. In fact, in the few cases where I bring a new idea that hasn’t already been implemented here, our board and our staff don’t shy away from the new and challenging. Our leaders actually embrace the opportunity to become even better; to improve our quality of life; to deliver better and more frequent social events; to control costs while improving the level of services we, the members, enjoy as part of living here. In short, I hope you are as delighted, and proud, as I am to be part of this premier community we know and love, called Scottsdale Ranch.
