Greetings Homeowners,

Happy New Year to everyone in the Village (and to everyone not in the Village who wishes they were here).  Here are some updates for from your VAW Board of Directors:

Finances:

• The Village ended the 2025 year with a surplus of $18,238.Obviously, having extra money at the end of the year is a good thing. This was mainly due to our maintenance and repair expenses running $20,101 under budget. The board voted to put $12,500 of that excess into the reserve fund. The rest will carry over into this fiscal year. I can’t thank Jeff Coughlin enough for his leadership in developing maintenance and inspection plans that have helped drive down our expenses.
• At the January 13^th Board meeting, a homeowner suggested that we look at making HOA fees proportionate to each unit’s square footage. The premise is that a larger unit generates more overall expenses.We will add a non-binding survey question to the Annual meeting election to get homeowner sentiment.One thing to keep in mind is that many of the HOA’s expenses (like pools, admin, gas, clubhouse maintenance, and to some extent insurance and landscaping) are not dependent on the square footage of any unit. Regardless, if there is strong support for this approach, we will investigate it over the next year and consider it during the 2027 budgeting cycle.
• The semi-annual reserve study is now in the hands of our partner (Association Reserves).They will analyze our financials and current state of our assets and let us know how we’re doing with our savings.For example, the report may say something like “Your asphalt roads will need to be repaved in 15 years at a cost of $440,000.” They will do that for all 122 of our funded assets. Once that’s done, we will know if we’re on track to have money for future large capital expenses when we need it. As a reminder, the buildings in the village are valued at roughly $25 million.
• PayHOA has raised their monthly charge for autopay processing from $1.95 to $2.45. The VAW absorbs this cost as it eliminates the work of handling the physical check, but due to this 25% increase, we would like to strongly encourage everyone to set up Zelle for your monthly HOA dues payments. As I mentioned last month, 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 would set 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: 

• Each phase is painted once every 8 years and 2026 is the year for Phase 1.As the cost of painting the stucco in phase 1 is fairly reasonable, we will also be painting the paintable parts of all of the carports at the same time.Additionally, we are trying to have them do the warranty work in Phase 4 while they are here. The general plan is to schedule this work for February.
• All the roofs in the Village have now been serviced and are now under various warranties. This is great news for homeowners as repairs (in units) due to a roofing defect are now the responsibility of the roofing company.
• The effort to provide homeowners with the opportunity to have individual water shut-off valves inside their unit is continuing. In some of our buildings, there is a single shut-off valve for multiple units.This makes it impossible for some homeowners to shut off their water completely when they are not in residence.Jeff Coughlin will be starting with a couple “test” units in building 2 to get a better understanding of the work involved and the total cost.The board has tentatively agreed to split the cost with homeowners who would like to add this extra protection to their unit. Look for announcements in the future if you are interested in this option.
• We have yet to resolve the electrical issue in the cul-de-sac. The two lamp posts and the irrigation timer in the cul-de-sac do not have power. We will continue to have the electrical professionals address the issue until it is resolved. They have been contacted and will get here and continue work on it as soon as possible. We have been monitoring the ground moisture in phase 4 and it seems to be okay thanks to the recent rains. However, if you notice a plant looking stressed, please consider watering it. Remember, we want to water plants deeply, so if you use a garden hose, turn it down to a trickle and let it run very slowly for an hour or so.
• We did purchase an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) for the clubhouse, and it should arrive in the next 2 weeks.We will be scheduling training for anyone interested once the device is delivered. For those not familiar with AEDs, they are devices that can be used in cases of sudden cardiac arrest to give life-saving aid to the victim.

Committees: 

• The board of directors approved the following members of the 2026 Landscaping Committee: Marilynn Weinreich (#31) / Chair & Secretary, Jim Nielsen (#32) / Treasurer, Terry Campbell (#2007), Greg Thompson (#42), Gloria Howells (#1004), Dave Guise (#67), Mary Lanphere (#1044), Joan Killgore (A9) and Steve Patton (#43) / Board Liaison
• The board of directors approved the following members of the 2026 Social Committee: Raejean Warren (#3036)/ co-chair, Renee Rettig (#35) / co-chair, Donna Patton (#43) / Secretary, Terry Campbell (#2007), treasurer and Jean Mills (#1032) / board liaison.

Pools: 

• The new pool covers are scheduled to be installed on January 21^st and 22^nd.
• We have found a new person to work on our pool gates.They will all be getting new closure springs as well as having the locks moved up to the new required height. Once that’s done, we will be reinstalling all the various pool gate signs at their new required height.

 
Landscaping:  

• Rock Renewal day is this Monday, January 19^th. Once a year, the Landscaping committee organizes a day for spreading the crushed granite rock in areas around the Village that need it.  The work will pick up where it left off last year with units 45-61 and then other areas in need around the Village.  Volunteers are welcome to show up near the clubhouse at 9:30am on Monday.  This is not an attempt to solve every single rock erosion issue around the Village in one day.  We just do as much as we can with 10 tons of rock each year.  Special thanks to Neil and Terry Campbell for organizing this work.

 

Board of Directors Meeting:

• At the board of directors meeting this week, we discussed the variance in the pool and spa temperatures. The North pool has been hovering between 88° - 90°.The South pool has been between 86° - 88°. Both pools will be set at 86° going forward. The target temp for the spas is 104° and the North Spa has been consistently maintaining that temp.The South spa heater is running on borrowed time. When it’s cool out and the cover is off and the spa is running, it does not seem to be able to maintain the set temperature. The board has decided not to spend the $5000 on a new heater to keep the South Spa consistently at 104°. Please try to keep the spa covered when it’s not in use.
• We bought a new laptop for the office from Costco for $549.The VAW one that we’ve been trying to use is an antique and would better serve as a doorstop.
• 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:  tkQaTJ7+

 

Annual Meeting:

• Our VAW homeowners’ annual meeting is at 6pm on February 17^th. Please put the meeting on your calendar.You will be able to attend in person in the clubhouse or via Zoom if you’re not in the Village. Invitations will be going out on January 19^th.Arizona law requires that we print out hard-copy invitations for homeowners so as in past years, we will have the packets available in the clubhouse next week. We ask that everyone in residence pick up their packet so we can save on mailing costs.

 

General Reminder:

• It always seems like I have to end my update with a general reminder. This month it has to do with parking. Please avoid blocking sidewalks when you park your vehicle.There are many legal parking spaces near sidewalks where it’s easy to inadvertently block part of the sidewalk if you pull all the way to the curb. We have handicapped residents who need to utilize these sidewalks so please be considerate.

Steve Patton and your Village at Apache Wells Board of Directors