First of all, I DO NOT expect to be treated rudely by anyone from Arlington Village and I sympathize for the resident.
Secondly, I expect Board Members to have all of the information about resident concerns before the meeting. Residents should not have to remind a board member what happened at the last meeting. What would you do if that happened to you? If you had an issue with the Board for 2 months and they had to be refreshed about what was occurring?
I plan on writing more about this issue since the residents' problem deals with Arlington Village rules and by-laws. These are issues that could could potentially become our issues! Secret things that no one tells you are responsible for until the damage is already done.
Now the Board is meeting (privately) this month to discuss changes to the rules...this could change current definitions of where your condo begins underneath, rules for vegetable gardens, parking, etc...
Thoughts????
I actually attended the board meeting the other night for the first time as an observer and owner in the village. I was actually disappointed. The board was very disorganized. They only gave 5 mins to a woman who had an issue with her unit but ended up talking about silly things for much longer than needed.
I also thought the Board was rather rude to the resident who came to the forum. 1) The resident pays condo fees and obviously was concerned about an issue (which I hope doesn't happen in my unit). 2) They didn't even give her time to state her case or address all her issues.
Rudeness from the board is completely inappropriate. It appeared to me that the President actually didn't like the Resident thus cutting her off when other board members wanted to here her concerns. The President should of abstained from voting on the issue.
Additionally, someone on the board said that our condo fees should go up every year. I'm sorry - what? Why? Explain your argument. Condo fees should not go up for the sake of going up.
9 comments:
I don't live in Arlington Village, but yes, condo fees should go up every year since your expenses, covered by condo fees go up.
In my condo, the fees didn't go up for 5 years (prior to me moving there), our elevators need to be replaced this year, and a special assessment had to be imposed to pay for the costs. The president put together a spreadsheet of increase of 5% condo fees of all the years that it didn't go up, and how if it had, earning interest in that money, etc, we would never have had a need for a special assessment, as our reserve fund would have been sufficient. Since it didn't go up, we didn't have enough on our reserves, since every year we put less in the reserves because we were covering the rising costs of utilities, etc in the building.
beach bum...good point...but does your condo association pay out $40,000 in grounds updgrades every year even when they aren't needed?
Agreed! It's very frustrating. We don't live in a park and I don't need "color" throughout the year in the village. Let's try some maintaing of plants and cutting back a little. The large increases we have seen are out of whack and we have a decent reserve. In the time of rising gas and food prices we need to look at some of the planned spending and reassess.
Can anyone else comment on the resident's issue? What was it and why did the board act the way they did?
It scares me to think I could have an issue, wouldn't even know it and would be at the mercy of the condo assoc.
Rather than wondering if Beach Bum should have looked into the financial health of the reserve fund prior to buying, or whether the condo association is guilty of ineptitude, mismanagement, or malfeasance; or make ridiculous statements like fees should be increased each and every year...
..why is no one questioning the current health of the Arlington Village reserve fund and the fiduciary responsibilities of the Board?
Does Arlington Village own the space occupied by the retail shops on Columbia Pike?
One of my friends who was at the same meeting said that there was a (pardon the phrase)very dumb blonde resident there trying to get the association to pay her damaged flrs which she caused. I pay enough in my condo fees now, let enough paying for someone elses stupidity.
no the stores are owned by someone else.
Please blog writers be respectful and don't name call other residents. We are too old to be acting like children playing in a sandbox. Thank you for your consideration.
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