Board Communication The Board’s communication to members on the status of the Home Owner Association’s activities is weak at best. Until last week when, after homeowner prompting, minutes from December and February meetings were posted on the Real Support web site, the most recent set of minutes was November 22, 2005, over seven month ago. California State Law requires Board minutes to be made available within 30 days. This special member’s edition is an attempt to fill in the gap and keep you better informed on vital issues of current interest. This edition of the HIGHLAND HOWER has been produced in an effort to keep you informed as to the status of activities in our association, the Highlands Recreation Association. This is entirely written and edited by your fellow members and is not a communication of the association’s Board of Directors. We believe that ongoing communication on current issues is essential in a community of the nature of the Highlands Recreation Association. It is our most local level of government as it provides many of the services to our members that we rely on including recreation, security, landscaping, and infrastructure maintenance. The Board of Directors has the power to levy taxes on its members and to enforce the payment under the laws of this State. This edition is a revival of the Highlands Howler which had kept us informed about our association for over 25 years. ———— Financial Activities Update The laws governing homeowner associations are very specific in setting limits on the powers of the Boards in the area of assessing members. The single overriding restriction is contained in Civil Code 1366.1: Excessive Fees Prohibited “An association shall not impose or collect an
assessment or fee that exceeds the amount necessary to defray the costs for which it is levied.”
Our Board raised the dues in 2005 by $15 a month while the Pro-forma Budget they sent to the Members as required by law showed a decrease in costs for that year. According to the Treasurer a surplus of $60,000 was transferred to the Reserve at years end. This represents more than 25% of the Associations Budget. The Board again presented a Pro-forma budget for the current year showing operating requirements that were over budgeted since the plan was clearly to close the facility for renovations and not perform the services projected for a substantial part of the year. When brought to the board’s attention, the Board justified their action stating that the funds were needed for the center renovations, since costs had escalated, despite assurances given six months ago that they had a sufficient cushion. This rationale is both a violation of the Civil Code and a usurpation of members’ decision making prerogatives. ———— Members Input We would like to make this an ongoing communication of the community and keep you updated as to the progress of the construction. We want your involvement as members. If you have any material that you would like to submit to this newsletter or any suggestions to help the process, please let us know. We have established a web site at www.pphra.com where we plan to retain copies of these and other correspondences as well as links to other sites we believe are important. You can email us at members@pphra.com. You can also call Joe Halper at (310) 454-7487. | CCR Revisions This edition of the HIGHLAND HOWER has been produced in an effort to keep you informed as to the status of activities in our association, the Highlands Recreation Association. This is entirely written and edited by your fellow members and is not a communication of the association’s Board of Directors. We believe that ongoing communication on current issues is essential in a community of the nature of the Highlands Recreation Association. It is our most local level of government as it provides many of the services to our members that we rely on including recreation, security, landscaping, and infrastructure maintenance. The Board of Directors has the power to levy taxes on its members and to enforce the payment under the laws of this State. This edition is a revival of the Highlands Howler which had kept us informed about our association for over 25 years.
| The Board’s attorney has recently sent us a package containing a revised set of governing documents for our association. The changes proposed will enlarge the Board’s powers and significantly changes the election process. Rules for increasing membership dues, fines, assessments, number of persons per home, number of pets, building height, private street and slope maintenance, and membership meeting requirements are among the many changes proposed in the restated CC&Rs. To paraphrase the cover letter sent with the proposed changes, what is important to the Board may not be what is important to you, the homeowner. The new document is larger and more complex than the current one and deserves public discussion and understanding before we agree to the community laws that we must abide by. Once we all better understand what we are voting on, we can adopt restated CC&Rs and Bylaws. It is strongly recommended that you respond to the Ballot with a NO vote on all items at this time. Included you will find a ballot and a pre-addressed stamped envelop that will allow you to vote your preference to preserve the current CC&Rs and Bylaws. Be sure to fill in your name and street address, then sign, date, and mail your ballot by July 10th. That way they will be sure to have it by the July 14 deadline required. ————
Recreation Center Renovation The good news from the Board in Febrary 2005 was that they finally received approval for our plans for the center and the project would take four months. Had they started as projected after the summer season in September 2005, they would have completed by January, 2006 While the construction on the new Recreation Center is progressing, the work on the swimming pool has not yet begun. -
Members approved assessments for Center rennovtions on February 9,2004.
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Board advises members in February, 2005 that it had all required City of LA approvals and that the project would take four months.
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In September all permeits were received except one for the retaining wall. That permit was submitted to the City on September 29, 2005.
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In December 2005 the construction time changed from four to eight months. The Center Closed.
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LA City build and Safety Dept. reports the status of permit application for construction of the retaining wall had not cleared as of July 5, 2006.
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This is the first summer in 29 years that the pool and tennis courts have been closed to our community. 
Photo taken at entrance to Highland Recreation Center on July 5, 2006.
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