Residents of GHPOA were mailed a letter earlier this month asking for their feedback on whether or not the 2,380 member association should pursue the purchase of the Geist Clubhouse facility and accompanying 10+ acres. In the letter, residents were informed that the purchase of the facilities would entail a special assessment of “approximately $300 per lot owner” plus a dues increase and possible future assessments to cover the ongoing costs associated with running and maintaining a clubhouse.

Included with the letter was a “Geist Harbours Recreational Facilities” information sheet which was jointly prepared by the proponents and opponents of the purchase.

From the 12 neighborhoods, 1,348 votes were cast which equates to 56.6% of all the homeowners. Of those 1,348 votes, 882 residents voted against the purchase of the Clubhouse (67%) compared to only 435 residents that voted for the purchase (33%). Thirty-one feedback forms were returned and deemed invalid.

If you break out the vote by neighborhood, the vote to pursue the purchase carried in the Admirals (Woods, Pointe, Sound, and Bay) while the other neighborhoods all voted against the purchase (Crossing South, Diamond Pointe, Feather Cove I, II, and III, Masthead I and II, and Beam Reach). Directors voted in line with their individual neighborhoods with the exception of Jonathan West of Admirals Sound and William Longardner of Diamond Pointe who was not present. West cited that he was voting in line with the popular vote of all residents when questioned by an audience member.

By subdivision, here is how the votes came in from the feedback response forms:

Clubhouse Vote Summary (PDF)

Most of the GHPOA streets were originally installed in the early 1990s and are nearing the end of their useful life. With Ginny Cain’s help, one of the older, high traffic streets in Beam Reach was paved in 2008 as the first of this long-term project. City officials cautioned the budgets are extremely tight but are appreciative the GHPOA Board was able to provide a priority list. They also discussed the long-term need to consider improvements to the 79th/82nd Street corridor to Hague Road.

With budget resources being tight in Indianapolis, GHPOA President West believes the plan to repave GHPOA streets will take years; however the meeting is a good first step to build their awareness of the repaving needs of the GHPOA community.

With the onset of pothole season, neighbors are encouraged to report potholes to their GHPOA Board members. The city officials also noted the Mayor’s Action Line is in the process of being upgraded to allow more prompt reporting of potholes.

2007 Financial Review from Comer, Nowling & Associates (PDF)

Volunteers canvased and contacted 34% of the GHPOA residents accumulating 719 signatures in favor of the purchase. Only 5% of the residents were needed to call a special meeting of the board.

Felli recommended to the board that a special meeting be called and the issue of purchasing the clubhouse, which they have now termed the Geist Community Center, be taken to a vote of the GHPOA residents.

Two opponents of the purchase, Ron Tuthill and Jim Sweeden of Feather Cove I, spoke briefly against the purchase. In short, they argue that the Geist Clubhouse has little or no impact on their property values given their distant proximity to the facility.

Afterwards, board members discussed moving forward with a referendum to poll residents on their views. It was decided that a smaller group of the board consisting of Jonathan West, Tom Britt, Sandy Willis Bryant, and Terry Fulk would work with the GHPOA legal counsel to draft the language of the resident mailer and outline the guidelines for the special meeting to be called soon.

In other business, dues for GHPOA residents in 2009 will remain the same as the last two years at $425 per household.

Letter to Residents 4-4-2008 (PDF)

Many of you received an anonymous flyer from a GHPOA resident about the proposed amendment to our bylaws. You have to understand the intent of this amendment and the rationalization of why we are doing this.

First of all, the GHPOA board could “use your funds to sue you” now if we wanted to. We only take this measure when it is the last resort to bring a non-compliant resident into compliance with our covenants and bylaws. The problem is even if the GHPOA board is in the right and the resident is clearly in the wrong, we can not recover our legal fees in the event we take a matter to court and win. One such case cost the GHPOA, you the homeowner, almost $30,000 in legal fees that we could have recovered had we adopted this amendment two years ago.

Our board is comprised of volunteer residents that donate their time to make our neighborhoods better. We do not “work for” anyone; we represent our neighborhoods that we live in and receive no compensation for that. We are not out on a witch hunt to sue people over satellite dishes or mailboxes.

Neighbors violate the covenants often, and most people after they are told of their violations remedy the problem promptly. Good neighbors make honest mistakes and fix them quickly. Then there are other neighbors that blatantly disobey our covenants, and even after being notified by our association management company, make the decision to not remedy the problem.

Voting “no” to this amendment is essentially handcuffing our GHPOA Board of Directors. I hope you will vote “yes” to this amendment and take the financial burden of subsidizing legal fees away from the GHPOA residents and putting it back on the covenant violators that clearly have no regard for our neighborhoods.