A Little Update for the Community

Hello Everyone! Here's an important update the Board and Officers wanted to give everyone on some topics that have been brought up over the past few monthsjuh b, but have not necessarily been explained in detail. These topics have come up in previous meetings, gatherings, and in questions posed on Facebook.

We have found that there were several thousands of dollars being transferred from the HOA funds to personal PayPal accounts with no invoice or receipts to support the transactions. We worked to investigate these transactions. Unfortunately, due to a lack of records being released to us we were unable to find any further information on these transactions. At this time, we can only definitively report that HOA funds were transferred to an individual’s personal account. We have opted to forego using PayPal to conduct HOA business. To provide clarity, transparency, accountability, and accurate record keeping, assessments, dues, fines, and fees can be paid through your PayHOA homeowner's portal or via check.

When we received the access to Quickbooks, the former accounting software of the HOA, it only went back to 2023. Unfortunately, we have no accurate record of finances prior to 2023. Further, it was clear that the records in Quickbooks were not accurate. We found more than one instance where payments were made, but not recorded accurately which resulted in delinquencies and liens. We were unable to accurately substantiate the vast majority of fines levied against homeowners. This is why the Board chose to honor the prior Officer’s decision to waive liens and delinquent accounts.

We found evidence that previous Boards had long standing issues and concerns with the previous landscaper for the front islands. They chose to go with this landscaper due to being the cheapest option. Unfortunately, there are years of complaints of the quality of work being done at this price. Further, this landscaper worked with a homeowner to create plans to redo both islands and at their request later attempted to charge the HOA for work that was done by an individual and not with authorization by a Board. Given all these details and with knowing they chose to repossess our flowers earlier this year, we chose against renewing a contract with this company. We have been working to secure a contract with a company that will take care of the maintenance of our islands in an honest and professional manner. At this time we have relied on homeowner involvement to maintain our islands and common areas while we work to find a good landscaper to handle the maintenance.

Unfortunately, we were unable to secure the beautification award for this year. The process for receiving this award includes submitting to be judged by a specific deadline. This deadline occurred prior to the current Board being elected and gaining any access to emails and/or records. No information was passed on to the current Board from previous Boards or Officers regarding this process. We looked into the process to retain the beautification award and found the specifics on the City of Madison website. While we empathize with the community regarding this loss, there is nothing we could do to remedy it for this year. We are working to ensure we are able to participate in judgment for 2026.

At our quarterly meeting, it was discussed to rent bush hogging equipment and have a member of the community clear the back lot of brush, tall grass, and weeds. Unfortunately, this equipment is not able to be rented at this time. Our Vice President, Jonathan Bush, took upon this task on his own. He has mowed a large portion of the grass field, raked the tall grass that was thrown out from mowing, and trimmed tree limbs. We will continue working to get the back lot common area cleaned up.

Vice President, Jonathan Bush, discovered that the underlying issue with our roads may be sewer trench failure. He has spoken with the City of Madison Public Works regarding the repair of the streets within our community. We were advised that if the problem is sewer trench failure, the work to repair would be more than patch work. Public Works informed us that they are behind on checking things due to weather related issues; however, the crew chief took down the specific street information and said that he would have sewer inspectors run through the sewers to check for any issues. He stated that Public Works would be putting our community on their list for repair.

We hope this information helps to answer a lot of questions that have been brought up either publicly or privately with the Board/Officers. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us through your PayHOA homeowner's portal!

Have a wonderful week!