Posted: December 30th 2022
Hello Members,
Happy holidays and all the best to you for the new year.
Here is what is coming up:
- Jan 3rd meeting of the Board – This meeting will occur on Zoom. This Budget meeting is required in the JLV Documents to occur every year. All members are invited to attend. The sole purpose of this meeting and the only item on the agenda is for the Board to vote and to pass the “balanced budget.” There will be no open forum or other topics on the agenda. Since it will only last a few minutes we decided to use Zoom for a virtual meet. Everyone will get a link to the Zoom meeting in advance of the date. We have already voted to accept the new balanced budget a few Board Meetings back – this is just to enter the budget into the official records.
- January 29th – “Meet Your Neighbors” Cocktail Party – Sunday 3 to 5 PM. We are planning a gathering where everyone can come and get to know each other. It will be a Pot Luck / BYOB with tables set up in the parking area off the lake between units 2122 and 2123. You can have your fill of all the cocktails you bring yourself! Last time we did this (it was a while ago) we had a BBQ grill and people brought stuff to share. My band played that evening; I’ll ask them. If not, I have a DJ set up and can spin some tunes.
- February 9th – Annual Member’s meeting and election of the Board – This meeting will include the election of officers to the board.
Year in Review – Here are a few of the things your Board has been working on since the election last February. Please note you can follow most of these items and join in the conversation in your Member’s Open Forum on our JLV website. See attached document on how to access, register and join. Please if anyone tells you this board (of volunteers) hasn’t been doing anything – kindly show them this list.
The Board has made a commitment to total transparency. It is our intention to have everything open to all Members at all times. To this end we have created the JLV website at JupiterLakesVillas.org and within it an open “Member’s Only” forum when everyone can express opinions and discuss topics of concern within our community. We welcome everyone’s input and participation. See the attached “How to use the forum” document.
All Rules, Documents and Forms are now available online at the website. All previous Board Meeting minutes since this Board was elected are also available. All topics of concern within the COA are listed and available for discussion in the open Forum:
We have investigated and reviewed our costs to upkeep the existing failing lighting system within the community. The existing reserves that were put aside by previous Boards for the repair and upkeep was not enough to keep up with the failing system. The Board has signed a deal with FPL to replace all (7) our un-matching and outdated street lights with all brand new poles and LED lamps. There will be a total of 20 tall streetlamps installed throughout the community leaving no place in the dark. This will improve the safety of residents and visitors and reduce our legal liability should an accident occur. All of this has been budgeted to use the existing reserves for the cost of installation (due to occur by the middle of 2023) and FPL will be responsible for all future repairs and maintenance to keep them updated into the future. This removes the need for that reserve fund and places the cost into an affordable monthly fee to FPL. It also will reduce our streetlamp electric bills since all the lamps will be the latest LED technology.
We have been placing flyers and stickers on vehicles that have been breaking the rules. Mainly cars that are double parked and have wheels on the grass (possibly running over sprinklers). Cars that are in need of repair are not allowed to be on the community property. Commercial vehicles that have signs on them are not allowed to be on the property unless they are doing a service at one of the units – certainly not overnight. We have created a Compliance Committee of 3 volunteer members that review the violations and suggests to the board appropriate actions and fines. Fines go into the COA general fund. Since we have begun doing this we have seen a decrease in the cars double parked and less cars with wheels on the grass. We have renewed out contract with the towing company and they are ready willing and able to tow when we call them. This contract costs the COA nothing out of pocket. The towing company charges the person who owns the towed vehicle direct. I am happy to report we have not towed any vehicles as yet.
We have begun the process of creating a JLV Neighborhood Watch program. The street lamps will help a lot but we are calling on all residents to report things that they see in real time. Phone call, email or text to the Management Company with photos are prefect way to alert us when people are breaking the rules. You can also submit the information and upload photos direct to the management company in the contact form on the website. The rules apply to everyone: Owners, Renters and Guests. We have begun to track abusers on a shared spreadsheet between the management company, board and the compliance committee. All fines collected go into our COA general funds. Those who do not pay are sent to the lawyer for collection and then they also have to pay for the lawyers time.
We have replaced the failed signage around the lake. Some signs were missing others were bleached out by the sun. This will help with our insurance should there ever be a legal issue around the lake. We have also had all the sign posts in the community straightened. Most all of them were tilted to one side (who knows why?). New signs will be set up at the entrance to help people understand that there is “no through street” and to understand the parking rules.
Addressing the problem with unknown residents – We have begun an active letter writing campaign to contact all Investment Property Owners who rent out their units. We are not sure if previous boards collected information or required lease information from some of those owners. We have no records on some of them. So we are asking all those Investment Owners to tell us in writing who is living at their place and show us the current lease. Some of these owners who were non-compliant are now submitting applications and getting their leases in order. We still have not heard from some of them. By the COA Rules and Documents all would-be renters and owners must go through the application process and be approved before they can take residence. We have also increased the application fees amounts to the maximum allowed by Florida law. Those fees go into the general COA fund. The background/credit check fees go to the management company as they do the background investigation.
Addressing the Building Addressing System – We are reviewing prices on solar signage that will be attached to the buildings on the sides facing the roads. This will allow day and night time viewing of the building numbers at a lower eye level. The new street lamps will also help illuminate the existing upper numbers on the tops of the units. These solar address signs should be in place within the next few months.
Addressing the package delivery problem within the neighborhood: We created a QR code of the Map of the Community. We posted it on the bulletin board at the entrance so people can scan the image with their phone and find the building number locations more easily. We look to place a more prominent QR sign for delivery drivers to be able to scan the code upon their entrance. The code is also on the website along with a community aerial map of all the numbered buildings. This should also help those who are delivering food.
Sprinkler System Issues: We have approved a package installation to upgrade and repair the sprinkler system next to the lake. The old bracket holding up the entire system is rusted out. The electric box is missing it’s cover, it is a dangerous and a potential problem. The approved package will replace the bracket with a new one (not metal), replace the switchbox for that system and include all new electrical. We will also have rain sensors installed on all three of the sprinkler areas so we will no longer be watering lawns in the rain. We were able to get a great low price for all this work thanks to a connection from Bridgette at Realtime Property Management.
Addressing the garbage problem – We have become aware of a situation where someone (perhaps from outside) has been dumping their garbage (construction debris and large boxes of trash) on top of existing landscape trimmings and garbage left out for pickup. When the collectors come if the pile is too large they may not take it. Also some of the large piles have been left out for so long that it has begun to kill the grass in those areas. We are asking everyone to be on the lookout for anyone abusing the garbage areas. Please take photos and submit them to the Management company. If it is a vehicle – try to capture the license numbers. Please do not confront anyone – just get some photos. We will take care of the rest.
Addressing the nuisance Muscovy Duck problem – We have begun to look into ways to limit the population of these non-Florida ducks without having to pay a service to have them removed. Please feel free to look over the article that I posted in the forum all about the health issues and the community solution to get them under control. The Rules for Nuisance Muscovy Ducks – Forum – Jupiter Lakes Villas – – – Please DO NOT FEED these ducks or any of the wildlife on community property.
We have requested and are in the process of reviewing bids for all continuing services that are needed within the community.
- Landscaping – bids from $42k to $96k from more than 6 vendors for year round service. In the past landscaping was divided into several different small companies handling different areas. One for sprinklers, one for the rust proofing of the sprinkler system, another for the lawn mowing and yet a few others for tree trimming. We have accepted bids for all services to be handled by one company. One service company to be in charge of all aspects of the landscaping service. By grouping all those separate services together we can afford to have one quality company handle the entire process at about the same cost of what we have spent in the past. We have also been investigating the possibilities to have fertilization and weed control moved into a sprinkler based system and looking to use organic non-toxic chemicals.
- Lake repair and maintenance – we have accepted bids from several pond/lake repair companies to assist us to evaluate and determine the cost of repairs that are needed to the lake. It has come to our attention that there is a failure of one of the drainage bulkheads on the NE side. Unfortunately the previous boards didn’t place enough reserve funds into the budget for any kind of costly repairs that might be needed. In fact, we found that a past board that put in the sand bags around the lake as the bulkhead used a temporary system that is not supposed to be a final fix – thus leaving this project to future boards to have to deal with. And here we are. We have had an estimates of $9k to $160k to fix just the bulkhead failure alone – we have just begun to look at the overall bulkhead needs and possibilities. We have begun research into the installation of a fountain into the middle of the lake to aerate the water. This keeps insects and mosquitoes down, helps to keep vegetation from growing along the banks and will add a valued amenity to the community. We are talking with the town of Jupiter about a possible grant to help pay for this water feature upgrade.
- Insurance – The board will be begun looking at bids in January for the insurance coverage which is due in February. This is the largest portion of the JLV budget and it has almost doubled in the last year due to hurricanes and many insurance companies leaving Florida. The current budget is based on our existing renewal cost with the current insurance company. Our goal is to get the cost down without exposing the community to any hardships or unexpected assessments from being under insured. At the same time keeping our investments protected for replacement and repair should any unfortunate damage of any kind occur.
Besides the usual approval process of Sales and Lease applications the board has also discussed moving toward a paperless system by the end of 2023. Members will still receive invoices and required documents in the mail but most all other Board related items will be available on electronic devices in PDF format. Therein reducing the costs and waste involved with the printing out of large packets of documents for Board meetings. To keep our commitment to transparency these items will also be available to Members in attendance at the future Board Meetings and in the Zoom meetings. It is our intention that all Zoom meetings will be available live and recorded – to be made available afterward to any Members who wish to view them.
Savings on our Legal Reserves: By hiring a new lawyer the Board has been able to work with someone who is willing to charge less and streamline the legal processes. The savings should be enough to allow us to use the existing projected “legal funds” in reserves to update our Rules and Regulations Documentation (written around 1979) in the not too distant future. The documents are terribly old and outdated. The initial projected cost of this process was estimated at around $50k to $60k but our lawyer feels he can do it for about $5k to $6k. A huge savings and no need to increase the reserves budget (therein HOA fees) to include that future expenditure. We should be able to do it with money we have already set aside for legal by 2024.
Electronic Voting – We are in the process of reviewing various electronic voting systems. We hope to have a higher volume of voter turnout by making the process easy for every property owner. You will log into the system online and verify – then cast your vote.
News: Also it appears that they are installing Fiber Optic cable along Jupiter Lakes Blvd. This may indicate that there is soon to be Fiber Optic Internet Service offered to our community. This may very well open up an opportunity for the Board to see if we can get a community package deal. Fiber Optic is the fasted and most reliable Internet network.
All Board Members have completed COA/HOA Leadership Development and Certification Seminars and have their certificates.
We are not only your volunteer Board but we are also Owners and Members in the JLV community. We all want what is best for all of us.
Kind regards,
James Squires
Secretary of the Board