Greetings Homeowners,

With the annual meeting scheduled for this week, I’ll try not to duplicate anything that will be shared at that time. As a reminder, this meeting (for all homeowners) is this Tuesday (2/17) evening at 6pm (Arizona Time) in the clubhouse or available via Zoom (see below for details).

Finances:

• We ran a bit over budget ($2,202) in January due to a few Annual expenses that are paid in advance (like $1,137 for our annual subscription to QuickBooks).
• We received our completed reserve study from Association Reserves. I’ll talk about the reserve study results during the Annual Meeting, but here are the overall numbers:
  • 2017 – Reserve Balance: $334,501, Fully Funded Amount: $905,641, Percent Funded: 37%
  • 2024 – Reserve Balance: $375,089, Fully Funded Amount: $1,402,617 Percent Funded: 27%
  • 2026 – Reserve Balance: $511,670, Fully Funded Amount: $1,498,095, Percent Funded: 35%

 

Although we keep putting money away, the cost of the materials and labor keep increasing.  We have 117 “funded components”. One component, for example, encompasses the 41 black lampposts with globes around the village. Those lampposts have a life expectancy of 30 years and have about 5 years left of useful life.  One way that we deal with being underfunded is by stretching this “useful life” as long as possible and by repairing and repainting them as necessary.

• Thank you to everyone who has switched to Zelle for monthly HOA dues payments. As I mentioned in the past, Zelle is a payment system like PayPal and Venmo offered by US Banks such as Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank and others.Each homeowner sets this up from their own bank account to automatically pay the $275 monthly HOA dues.

To identify the VAW HOA, you can use the email address (vawhoa@gmail.com) or the phone number (480 -830-2180) or the Village tag (“thevillagehoa”) to set up the payment.   Please make sure that you include your unit number in the “Message to Recipient” field.

Buildings and Maintenance: 

• We were notified by our insurance company that we need to come up with a plan to ensure that there are no gaps in our fencing or railings that are greater than 4”.Currently, we have a lot of railings in the stairways of the 2 and 3-story buildings that do not satisfy that requirement.Jeff Coughlin will continue to work with Maricopa County, Farmers Insurance Group, and contractors to come up with a plan.Depending on the cost of this project, we may need to defer other reserve spending that we had planned for 2026 (such as resurfacing the pool decks).
• The effort to provide homeowners with the opportunity to have individual water shut-off valves inside their units is continuing. Parts have been ordered for the 2 and 3-story buildings.The current expectation is that the VAW will split the cost of the project with individual homeowners. We don’t have that exact amount determined as of yet but will keep in contact with those involved.
• The Automated External Defibrillator (AED) that we ordered arrived and will be mounted on a pillar near the center of the Clubhouse. The goal is to make it equidistance from all three doors.Donna Patton is also working on setting up training sessions for those interested in learning how to use this life-saving device.
• The board approved the following members of the Buildings Committee: Brian Glowa (1043), Jim Vandergriendt (3011), Kelly Urban (2008), Neil Campbell (2007), Tim Cronin (3014) and Jeff Coughlin (2040) - Board liaison. The board also thanks them all for their volunteerism.

Pools: 

• The required pool gate modifications are almost complete. Once the gates are adjusted to meet the county closing requirements, we will be reinstalling all the county-mandated signs.

Landscaping:  

• The Landscaping Committee purchased two colorful pots and rolling bases with some of the money that they raised last year. These pots will be placed in the South Pool area to add color.The committee will be buying and planting some colorful annual flowers to put in the pots soon.

• The project to spice up the entrance to the Village off of Stockton is continuing. Last month, volunteers helped remove the large rocks from the area and this month, irrigation was reinstalled and tested.Volunteers also cut down the two remaining Chinese Elms that were 80% dead. In their place, three Oleander trees were planted.Over the next few weeks we will be planting a Boxwood Beauties between the Oleanders and some colorful bushes on the ends.

Board of Directors Meeting:

• A recording of this month’s Board of Directors meeting is available here.  If you want to watch it and are asked for a passcode, it is:  s7^z1?n%

Annual Meeting:

• Our VAW homeowners’ annual meeting is at 6pm on Tuesday, February 17^th. Please plan on attending either in person in the clubhouse or via Zoom by clicking here or by starting Zoom and entering the following information:

Zoom Information: Meeting ID: 824 655 9860 Passcode: 738762 

 

Steve Patton and your Village at Apache Wells Board of Directors