Learning about this website

I learned many things yesterday about the Wildewood Springs Condo Association website and one was a big surprise.

When I post the blog entry to the website, the entry immediately goes out to everyone on the Google email list used by the office. I practiced with 3 posts so 3 emails went out: one needed spell check, one with a picture and one that I kept on the website saying hello. If I had known they would go out as emails I would only have posted the final one.

I hope my emails were not a problem for you and now we all know how this works. I had experience with a website I had years ago, I use other websites and I think I have figured this one out so I’m going to the hot tub.

Have a good weekend and we still need volunteers for committees.
Bob McDevitt

Hello from the President.

Hello. It's good to finally be "on-line" with the residents of Wildewood Springs Condominium Association.

I'll be updating this area soon, thank you for your patience.
Bob McDevitt

WWS 2010 Preliminary Budget Distribution

The WWS 2010 Preliminary Budget is being prepared for distribution to the owners. Next week the cluster advisers will be delivering the preliminary budgets to each cluster. Out of town owners will receive their packets in the mail.

The 2010 Preliminary Budget shows a reduction over last year's figures. Annual maintenance fees will be approximately $360 ($90 per quarter ) lower than last year if the BOD approves the budget as proposed. The major portion of this reduction comes as a result of a proposed revision in reserve accounting. The Budget Committee has recommended the adoption of a method known as 'pooling' that will combine our multiple reserve line item accounts into one fund.

Once the 2010 Preliminary Budget is accepted with the pooling of reserves, the owners must approve the transfer of existing reserve funds to the new pooled reserve fund. This must happen at a Special Meeting of the Owners. We have scheduled the Special Meeting to convene immediately after the November 23, 2009 BOD meeting.

Look for a voting proxy and return envelope in your budget packet. Each owner must vote to approve the transfer of reserve funds from our current line item accounts into the new pooled fund. Please complete and return your proxy to the office ASAP. This will insure that your vote is counted in the event you cannot attend the Special Meeting on November 23.

The BOD recommends you vote 'YES' on this item.


Director Terms. Déjà vu
I've had some discussion with a few owners about the following statement in my last post:

We have ten remaining Directors who were elected prior to the effective date of this law. Since the law is not retroactive, those ten Directors are allowed to complete their terms.

Some people have read that statement to mean that those 10 Directors are not up for election in March 2010. I included the statement to explain why only 5 Directors were elected in March of 2009 and not all 15. Those 10 Directors were allowed to complete their terms.

As another year passes, 5 of those 10 seats will be up for election in March 2010. Remember that our BOD had staggered 3 year terms until the law changed. So as each year passes, 5 more Director terms come to an end until all 3 year terms are gone.

Consider the following information:

We have 15 Directors on our BOD with the following status:

5 Directors on 3 year terms expiring March 2010
Elected 2007 - prior to the new law

5 Directors on 3 year terms expiring March 2011
Elected 2008 - prior to the new law

5 Directors on 1 year terms expiring March 2010
Elected 2009 - after the new law

A total of 10 Director seats are up for election in March 2010.

So the original statement as it was presented is correct. We have ten remaining Directors who were elected prior to the effective date of this law. Since the law is not retroactive, those ten Directors are allowed to complete their terms. 5 of those director seats will come to their natural term end in March of 2010 and will be open for election.

If nothing else, this highlights how confusing the whole issue can be.

Special Meeting November 10, 2009

The materials for the Special Meeting (November 10, 2009) have been mailed to all owners. You should be receiving them shortly. Along with the meeting details and the letter of explanation there is a voting proxy for the two Documents amendments we'll be voting upon. Please complete your proxy as soon as possible and return it to the office. That will insure that your vote is included in the event that you cannot attend the meeting.

The BOD recommends a 'YES' vote on both amendments.



Play it Again - Director Terms Amendment

It appears that there is some confusion about the links I provided in my last post since the two condominium associations referenced in those links each used two year director terms, not three as WWS did. As you can imagine, many Florida condominium associations are faced with a similar question on how to proceed with existing 2 and 3 year director terms on their BOD. These two decisions by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation set the legal precedent for the handling of existing 2 and 3 year director terms.

From the Olympus link, I refer you to section 10 of the response (starting at the end of page 7) ... "The amendments (718.112(2)(d)1) are prospective in application. Therefore, for directors elected to two-year terms in February 2008, the amendment will not apply retroactively to terminate the positions mid-term. "

And further down on page 8: " Allowing currently elected directors to complete their terms will have the least disruptive impact on the association's administration."

From the Brickell Bay link, I refer you to section 10 of the response (starting about midway on page 7) ...Directors presently serving a two year staggered term who are not up for election in April 2009 may serve out their terms as the law is prospective in application and the legislature did not express an intention to make the amendment retroactive to elections held prior to its effective date or to truncate terms of validly elected directors.

We have ten remaining Directors who were elected prior to the effective date of this law. Since the law is not retroactive, those ten Directors are allowed to complete their terms.

So whether the director term in question is two years or three years:

• The amendment is prospective and not retroactive.
• Directors elected prior to the amendment's effective date may serve out their terms.

But for those remaining naysayers, Mr. Chad McClenathen, our Association attorney (who provided these references) will be available at the Special Meeting on Tuesday November 10, 2009. You may ask him directly.

Director Terms Amendment Information

I'm providing this information for those in attendance at the BOD workshop today who asked for clarification on the status of the remaining 3 year Director seats on our Board.

The links listed below are found on the
Florida Department of Business & Regulation Site.

From the section on Condominiums you can find these links under year 2009 of the Declaratory Statement Index.

Olympus Condominium Association

Brickell Bay Club Condominium Association

In both cases the state agency in charge of condominiums has ruled that the statute would be applied prospectively only. In other words, the statute would apply to directors elected after October 1, 2008 and would not apply to persons who were elected prior to that date. If elected to a multiple year terms before that date, the person had the right to serve out his entire term.

We have 15 Directors on our BOD with the following status:
5 Directors on 1 year terms expiring March 2010
5 Directors on 3 year terms expiring March 2010
5 Directors on 3 year terms expiring March 2011

Therefore 10 Director seats will be up for election in March of 2010 no matter what the outcome of the vote on the Director Term amendment. The outcome of the vote on the Director Term amendment will determine only whether those 10 Directors are elected for one or two year terms.

Vote 'YES' on the Director Term amendment to allow for two year director terms.

Here's the link to my original post on this topic:
Original Post on Director Terms

WWS2010 Budget - Operating Accounts

The budget committee meetings on Saturday 9/26 and Tuesday 10/6 were a review of operating accounts since 2000 and the preliminary budget for 2010.

The chart below is a visual representation of how each maintenance dollar is allocated in the proposed budget. As you can see, over 50% of each maintenance dollar is spent on the uncontrollable items of insurance, utilities, and cable tv. Those are the big ticket items where rates are determined by municipalities or single service providers.

The preliminary budget as presented shows an average decrease in maintenance fees of over 7% for 2010. A large portion of that decrease is a result of the change in reserve accounting that is being proposed by the Budget Committee.

The proposed budget must now be reviewed by the BOD. There may be further adjustments before the numbers become final.

The complete presentation including the chart shown above is available at the link below and on the President's Blog.

2010 Budget Presentation

The BOD will consider the preliminary budget at the October BOD meeting on 10/26. All owners are invited to attend.

WWS 2010 Budget - Controlling Costs

The major portion of the budget is devoted to operating expenses. These are the day to day costs of running Wildewood Springs and include items such as insurance, cable tv, utilities, administration, grounds and landscaping maintenance, pool maintenance and water/sewer.

Many owners have expressed concern about the rise in maintenance fees since 2000. David White, the budget committee chairman has provided an informative analysis to explain the reason for the rise in fees over the past 8 1/2 years using historical expense information supplied by Dennis Bucher, our Property Manager. In a nutshell, uncontrolled costs have risen from being 40% of our operating budget to 55% of our operating budget. Remember, uncontrolled costs are the big ticket items of insurance, utilities and services (water, gas, sewer, trash, electric), and cable tv. These are items where the rates and terms are dictated by a municipality or a single service provider (i.e. insurance) and we have little control over the charges.

Insurance cost alone has risen 818% (yes, you read that correctly!) since 2000, from a low of $65,384 to the current cost of $535,037 and comprises 24% of our operating budget. In other words, roughly one quarter of each dollar paid in maintenance fees goes toward paying our insurance bill. Remember, the bulk of our insurance is provided by Citizen's Insurance, the Florida State Insurance Provider. Citizen's Insurance is our only insurance option because no other insurance carrier will insure a community as large as WWS.

On the other hand, our controlled expenses tell a better story. Controlled expenses are the items Dennis Bucher, our Property Manager, and the BOD manage directly. Examples of controlled expenses are: administration and office expense, grounds and landscaping, building maintenance, pool maintenance. These items have been well managed with an increase of approximately 2.8% annually since 2000. That's less than the rate of inflation for the period.

The presentation is available at the link below and also on the President's blog on the right column.

2010 Budget Presentation 9/15/2009

The next budget committee meeting is scheduled for Saturday, September 26th at 10AM. Location to be announced.