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- 2024 Dues and Annual Meeting Announcement
The mailing with the 2024 dues bill and announcement of the 2024 Annual Homeowners Meeting was mailed on November 30th and should be arriving in mailboxes any day now, if you haven’t already gotten it.
The executive summary:
- Dues will be $236 and are due on January 1, 2024. See further down this page for a FAQ about how the dues amount was determined this year.
- Trash service is still required to be handled by Republic, in order to get our cheap group rate, but each homeowner will now pay Republic directly instead of it being paid through their dues.
- The Annual Homeowners Meeting where we will elect the next board will be held Tuesday, January 16, 2024 at 6:30pm at Searchlight Ministries Church on the corner of 22nd Ave and Quincy St.
In order to save printing and mailing costs, a number of things which were not required by our bylaws to be included in the physical mailing were uploaded here instead of included in the envelope, and the cover letter in the envelope asks you to come here to get them.
- Copy of the cover letter (PDF) – this includes the information about how to pay your dues and when and where the meeting will be.
- Letter second page (PDF) – communication from the HOA to go with the mailing
- 2024 Final approved budget (PDF)
- (coming soon) Draft Agenda for January 16, 2024 Homeowners Meeting (PDF) – Contact Claire if you would like something added to the agenda.
- Proxy Form (PDF) – if you can’t attend in person
- If you would like to be put on the ballot to run for the Board of Directors, please fill out this online form. See also an overview of the duties of board members (coming soon).
2024 Dues Overview
We’re making three major changes that affect how you pay dues this year.
- We are continuing to mandate everyone use Republic for trash pickup service so that we can get a much cheaper group rate, however, we are shifting from paying it through your HOA dues to each homeowner paying Republic directly. This eliminates billing issues with bulk pickups and bin deliveries, and vastly reduces the number of mistakes Republic’s customer service is likely to make when dealing with you. It also spreads your trash payment out across the year with quarterly payments instead of paying it all at once.
- We are discontinuing the use of Waveland Property Management effective April 30, 2024. We are returning to being self-managed. This will result in a significant decrease in collected dues (in the long run), however it depends on us continuing to have active board members and other volunteers in the future. We are investigating the possibility of retaining access to AppFolio for the member portal and accounting services, as they will sell directly to HOAs as well, and suggested we could retain our existing data.
- We will be replacing the signs at the Quincy Street and 22nd Avenue entrances, as the existing ones are rotting and will soon disintegrate. The assessment for this is being split over two years, with a significant portion of the cost coming out of our reserves in 2024, and an assessment to replenish the reserves will be collected in 2025. For 2024, this will unfortunately counteract the savings we get from dropping Waveland. Of note: if we had opted to keep Waveland, your 2024 dues would have been $292 for a total out-of-pocket of $401 once you include trash.
So how much is this actually going to cost me?
The trash payments will be paid quarterly, so you won’t have to pay it at the same time as dues. Your first payment for 2024 trash should be in December. If you haven’t been contacted by Republic by mid-December, please contact them to make sure you are set up correctly.
The below chart shows how the dues and trash fees will combine for a more accurate year-to-year comparison. Yes, your out-of-pocket cost actually goes up by $30 in 2024, but as mentioned above, it doesn’t have to all be paid at once. The bulk of the additional cost is the assessment for the sign project. Starting in 2025, your total cost gets significantly cheaper.
The total cost of the sign project is estimated to be roughly $159 per lot. An assessment of $95 per lot is included in your 2024 dues, with the remaining $64 per lot ($9805) of the cost being taken out of our reserves. The 2025 dues will likely contain a $58 per lot assessment to replenish the reserve account.
Note that the amounts listed here for 2025 and beyond are estimates based on the existing budget, and are subject to change (and probably will) based on vendor pricing changes and other unforeseen community needs. But this will still give you a good idea of where it it trending.
Year HOA Dues Amount HOA-mandated out-of-pocket (includes dues + trash) Notes 2023 Actual $315 $315 Trash was included in dues 2024 Actual $236 $345 1st sign project assessment, last 4 months of Waveland 2025 Estimated $170 $279 2nd sign project assessment 2026 Estimated $113 $222 Normal dues going forward - Minutes from the November 14, 2023 public board meeting
A public board meeting was held at Searchlight Ministries Church on November 14, 2023.
The primary item of discussion was the proposed 2023 budget from Waveland. The budget was shown to meeting attendees and discussed, but final approval of the budget was deferred to a future board meeting to allow the final decision of whether to continue with Waveland to be factored in.
Also discussed were the age and state of decay of our entrance signs, and moving forward with replacing them this coming year.
The full minutes are linked below.
- Rolling Meadows Summer 2023 Newsletter
FINANCIALS
Waveland is in the process of collecting delinquent association dues and late fees or restriction violations fines from several residents. Due to urging by the community at the annual meeting, Waveland will continue to be levying fines in accordance with the fine schedule. Please check the Financial Operations folder in the Google Drive for up to date association finance details.
COMMON AREAS
The Board has been happy with Devries’ continued maintenance and mulching of the entry areas. They have brush hogged the common area between Phase 1 and 2 in early July.
The drain commissioner has removed some mature trees and rocks in the common area between phases 2 and 6 for the ability to access the parcel.
The Board has put together information regarding the reasons and frequently asked questions regarding the brush hogging. Please refer any questions to this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yumTA-HBV8czGyewIwVlFqtqpYHrAii4_-7q5BGdPoY/edit?usp=sharing
WAVELAND
As many of you may have already been notified, Waveland has a new software to assist in their tracking of financials and violation reporting. Dues, tickets, concerns, and reportings can be handled through this new software. Please reach out if you need assistance setting up an account.
DEVELOPER PROGRESS
Allen Edwin is finished with Phase 4 and has started on several lots in Phases 5 and 6. All ARC requests in Phase 4 should now be directed to Waveland.
BOARD MEETINGS
The board plans to have an open meeting regarding the 2024 financials in November and then the 2024 annual meeting in January.
ASSOCIATION DOCUMENTS
All association related documents can be found on our website: https://rmjhoa.org/
Please familiarize yourself with these documents. They contain all information regarding how the association and board operate, and contain all details regarding the restrictions, drainage easements, and other valuable information. If you have any questions regarding the operation of the board, association, or the restrictions, etc, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We are happy to discuss any questions or concerns.
- Rolling Meadows Spring 2023 Newsletter
FINANCIALS
Waveland is in the process of collecting delinquent association dues from 3 residents and restriction violations fines from several other residents. All fines help offset the cost of Waveland’s management fee for monitoring compliance with the restrictions.
DUMPING IN COMMON AREAS
We are seeing an accumulation of garbage and yard waste in the common areas. Please be advised, anyone caught dumping on HOA property WILL be subject to fines. Anything dumped outside of your legal property lines is NOT allowed. This includes grass clippings, dirt, Christmas trees, brush, tree limbs, old plants, bricks, trash, rocks, mulch, wood, dog poop, etc. The HOA could be subject to fines from the county for waste clogging up the drain easements and ravines. The HOA has already paid unbudgeted professional fees multiple times to clean up what others have dumped in common areas. The annual HOA budget does not include monies for this additional clean up. Each time the HOA has to hire out clean ups, this increases the annual dues for everyone. Let’s do better.
Republic Services offers paid yard waste service available April through November. If you have excess waste and need a place to dispose of it, you might consider contacting them at 1- 877-698-7274 for assistance.
*If you have placed any materials or waste outside of your legal property lines, please remove it immediately to avoid fines.
COMMON AREAS
We expect Devries to mulch the entries before June. Also, the first brush hogging of the common area between Phases 1 and 2 will likely be before July. An independent landscaping company completed the removal of brush from the county in March. We are running low on perennials in the entry areas, so any donations of similar plants to what we already have installed would be appreciated!
We are seeking volunteers to help clean up the common areas of trash and debris that have blown from yards and trash bins. There have been some young volunteers out picking up trash this spring, but we could use some extra assistance. The HOA would like to save money by not hiring professionals to clean up what has blown out of our neighbor’s recycling and trash bins. (We don’t want to believe people have been intentionally littering.)
WAVELAND
- As many of you may have already been notified, Waveland is implementing new software to assist in their tracking of financials and violation reporting. It doesn’t appear things will be up and running until sometime in May. You can still direct questions, concerns, and report violations directly to Waveland through the current ticket system.
- Please ensure you are well versed in the restrictions provided in the Covenants of Rolling Meadows. We continue to get notified of several infractions, which require Waveland to do a lot of work to resolve. Due to the community support at the annual meeting, Waveland will be levying fines in accordance with the fine schedule.
DEVELOPER PROGRESS
Allen Edwin is nearly finished with Phase 4 and has started on several lots in Phase 6.
BOARD MEETINGS
The board plans to have an open board meeting late summer and late fall, however, we may need to upload another newsletter as an alternative depending on scheduling and workloads. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out with any questions.
- Community Handbook updated
The Community Handbook has been updated. You can get a new copy here:
Changes:
- A table of contents was added
- Covenants and Bylaws section:
- Reference to the name “Purchasers Booklet” removed, as that document name was specific to Phases 1-3. It generically refers to it as a documentation packet now.
- Now points at the website instead of the Google Drive to obtain copies of the documents
- Annual Meeting section updated to note that the notification will be mailed to your tax address on file with the county if that differs from the lot address.
- Communication section:
- Updated the cost of sending a printed mailing to reflect the current costs with increased postage and more lots to mail to.
- Added more details about what can be found on the HOA website
- Removed reference to the Google Drive since that information can now be found via the website.
- Moved Community Activities prior to Park Areas to make the Park Areas section fit on one page.
- Added a checklist of things to do when you sell your home
- Dues ACH Payments Clarification
After confirming the details with Waveland about how the ACH (direct debit) payments are being handled this year, we wanted to pass along the information to avoid any surprises.
- If you already signed up for ACH payments last year, your payment should automatically debit on January 6, 2023 (one day after the due date). If you don’t remember if you signed up and want to check, please send email to ACH@wavelandpm.com and ask. You will be responsible for late fees if you turned out not to be and didn’t send a check.
- If you newly sign up for ACH payments this year, and Waveland receives your form by December 15, 2022, then your payment will debit on January 6, 2023.
- If you newly sign up for ACH payments this year, and Waveland receives your form after December 15, 2022, then the ACH debit will be effective with your 2024 dues, and you will need to also send a check to cover this year’s dues.
- 2022 Year in Review
A lot has happened with Rolling Meadows this last year.
A little background about how we got here for those who may be new: The HOA essentially started over from scratch in 2020, due to lack of records handed over and an almost empty bank account left by the previous board. Most of 2020 was spent rebuilding old records, reviewing legal requirements, and just figuring out the current state of things. By early 2021, it was evident that the amount of work required to get the HOA back in a proper operating state would exceed the capabilities of the board members, so we began shopping around for agencies who could provide professional management help. While we thought in the long term we might be able to handle managing it on our own, we would need professional help in the short term to get back to that point again. After getting bids from five different agencies, and reviewing their capabilities and offerings, we settled on Waveland Property Management. One of the main selling points of Waveland, besides being one of the cheaper options, was that they had a lawyer on staff, and we knew our current state of existence was going to need legal help to clean up.
Early 2021 was spent doing knowledge transfer and getting Waveland up to speed. In Late 2021, not much happened at all. And we weren’t happy about it. At the beginning of this year, when Waveland’s contract was due to be renewed, we almost didn’t renew it. We had until the end of February to back out of the contract. The outgoing 2021 board in January voted to table the decision to the incoming 2022 board, due to be elected at the end of January, to better reflect the will of the member homeowners. The January Association Meeting when the new board election would occur failed to achieve quorum, however, and by the time the board election was achieved, the deadline had passed, and it was too late to back out of the contract. (Side note: if people had showed up to that meeting or submitted proxy forms, we might not have had a management company this year.) But we got lucky: the issues we had with them turned out to be one employee, who by this point no longer worked there. And our new manager has been fantastic. The current board has had a 180° turnaround in our opinion of Waveland over the course of this year.
Thus, most of the real cleanup from the association restart happened this year (2022).
Here are some things that Waveland has accomplished on our behalf this year:
- Cleaning up records and filing tax returns for the past 8 years (2015-2022) with the IRS, since no federal tax returns had been filed since 2014.
- Reviewing the Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions (CCRs) put in place in the new phases by Allen Edwin to find out if any amendments could be made to reduce differences between those and the CCRs from the earlier phases.
- Working on grading and drainage issues in the Phase 2 open space that was never completed by the original builder. The surface grading in that open space does not match the building plan that was filed with the township when it was built, as Holwerda Homes went bankrupt before it was completed. Waveland is currently working with the township to determine if there are sources of funding to complete the job, and thus resolve some of the drainage issues around the houses on the north side of the open space.
- Legal consultation on property violations since new land was deeded into HOA hands in November 2021 which were previously owned by the developers, and had property encroachments by resident homeowners (fences, sheds, etc, that were on the common land instead of inside their own lots).
- Managing enforcement of violations of the CCRs by residents. This was a really hard one this year. In addition to the above-mentioned new property which had encroachments, there were a number of other violations of the CCRs in the community, some of which had been left unenforced for a number of years. 340 man-hours were spent on this line item this year. Much of it in followup with residents who ignored or claimed not to get the original notifications of their violations, or otherwise stalled in resolving their issues. There were fines collected. Drawing a line of where to begin enforcing is hard. On the one hand, we don’t like being mean to our neighbors. On the other hand, leaving anything unenforced is a slippery slope. To keep everyone on a level playing field, and remove any questions of playing favorites, if anything is going to be enforced, everything has to be enforced equally. If anything seems petty, then we need to get it removed from the CCRs rather than failing to enforce it. I will put up another blog post in a few days detailing the process for amending the CCRs.
- Provided us with legal advice surrounding various provisions in the CCRs and for procedures required to make changes or remove them in response to homeowner questions about the legality of them.
In addition to the above special work done this year, the following “general course of business” items were handled by Waveland on our behalf:
- Managing our relationships with lawn care vendors, utilities, and the trash company
- Managing title verification work as homes (new and older) are sold
- Manage mailings of violation notices and community information mailings
- Manage the collection of dues
- Collecting and acting on complaints from homeowners
- Forwarding some of the above complaints to local law enforcement and following up with law enforcement on them (vandalism that affected multiple houses, etc)
Waveland as a whole this year has handled countless hours of work trying to get us up-to-date after so many years of nothing being done. The unpaid board of 5 would not have been able to keep up this year without them, and, as it was, have put in a huge amount of hours helping Waveland.
The Board of Directors participated in or oversaw the following projects this year:
- Clearing the access easement into the Phase 2 open space off of Jesslee Drive
- Clearing debris left over from county drain maintenance
- Meeting with various vendors to solicit new quotes for land clearing or lawn maintenance (We do this instead of Waveland so we can walk them through the property and show them what they’re supposed to mow/clear/etc)
- Comparing and noting differences in administrative and operational provisions between Phase 1-3 restrictions and Phases 4-6 restrictions
- Soliciting new management company quotes (with Waveland raising prices this year, it would not make sense to not check around for a better deal, but we decided to stay with Waveland in the end)
- Soliciting quotes for new entry signs, since the existing ones are about to rot away
- Researching various resident questions regarding Township HOA requirements, nonprofit annual meetings and minutes requirements
To sum it all up, we made a LOT of progress this year towards getting the HOA back to a state where it will be easy to manage again, and hopefully after this coming year, we’ll get to that point again.
- 2023 Dues and Annual Meeting Announcement
The mailing with the 2023 dues bill and announcement of the 2023 Annual Homeowners Meeting was mailed this last weekend and should be arriving in mailboxes any day now, if you haven’t already gotten it.
The executive summary:
- Dues will be $315 and are due on January 5, 2023 (note: this is a different date than stated in the mailing; we extended the deadline to be 30 days out from the December 6 postmark due to the mailing being postmarked late)
- The Annual Homeowners Meeting where we will elect the next board will be held Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at 6:30pm at Searchlight Ministries Church on the corner of 22nd Ave and Quincy St.
- We need people to volunteer to run for the Board of Directors
In order to save printing and mailing costs, a number of things which were not required by our bylaws to be included in the physical mailing were uploaded here instead of included in the envelope, and the cover letter in the envelope asks you to come here to get them.
Copy of the cover letter (PDF) – this includes the information about how to pay your dues and when and where the meeting will be.
2023 Final approved budget (PDF)
Dues Direct Debit Authorization Form (PDF) – if you have any questions about the enrollment process or whether you’re already enrolled, please email ACH@wavelandpm.com
Draft Agenda for January 24, 2022 Homeowners Meeting (PDF) – Contact Dave if you would like something added to the agenda.
Proxy Form (PDF) – if you can’t attend in person
- Minutes from December 1, 2022 Board Meeting
A board meeting was held on December 1, 2022, with the primary purpose of approving the budget which was tabled from the November 15th meeting. We also discussed preparation topics for the upcoming annual homeowners meeting including setting the date, and reviewed additional quotes and ideas surrounding replacing our decaying/rotting entrance signs.
The minutes are available below:
- Minutes and recording from November 15, 2022 board meeting
A public board meeting was held at Searchlight Ministries Church on November 15, 2022.
The primary item of discussion was the proposed 2023 budget from Waveland. The budget was shown to meeting attendees and discussed, but final approval of the budget was deferred to a future board meeting due to Waveland not getting it to us until the morning of the meeting, so we didn’t have time to do a deep dive on it prior to the meeting.
Also discussed were the age and state of decay of our entrance signs.
The full minutes are linked below.
For those who could not attend, a video recording of the meeting is also available below.
RMHOA Board Meeting 2022-11-15 Minutes (PDF)
RMHOA Board Meeting 2022-11-15 Video Recording (via Google Drive)