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Your 2019 Highgate HOA Board – Sharon Madison (Secretary), Steve Ratz (Board Member), Dale Yutsyk (Treasurer), Roger Spring (President), Jud Jones (Vice President).

Your New 2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Roger Spring

roger.spring@evergreen-efficiency.com Vice President: Jud Jones, jjgolfer44@gmail.com Secretary: Steve Ratz, StephenRatz7@gmail.com Treasurer: Dale Yutsyk, dyutsyk@msn.com Director: Chris Crandall, chrisecran1@comcast.net

ANNUAL MEETING NOTES – DEC. 17th

2019 Highgate HOA Board Comments

Looking back at 2019, who are we? Two brand new Highgate HOA Board members (Sharon Madison & Steve Ratz), two Board members with one year experience on the Board (Jud Jones & Roger Spring) and one original Highgate homeowner with several years’ experience on the Board many years ago (Dale Yutsyk). We learned a lot, and especially Roger, as first year as president. Our focus has been on addressing not only the normal day to day functions of managing a small HOA business operation with a $43,000 budget, but also on reviewing and making meaningful and prudent investments in our community assets. We all mutually desire to live in a place that is updated,

relevant, friendly, visually appealing and with a unique vitality that preserves our special “gem” of a community, well into the future. Thank you for supporting us! It’s been a busy year with significant actions: Roads – continuing a tradition of planful street

maintenance, we had the roads crack sealed in April (after securing six different bids). We will look to invest in 2020 with resurfacing our roadways, as our budget allows. Thank you, Dale for leading this effort.

HIGHGATE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION

Winter Newsletter January 2020 AME Management, PO Box 68011, Oro Valley, AZ 85737 (520) 742-3018 amemanagement@comcast.net

Association Manager: Chris Bruyn

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Pool – The Board felt strongly that investments were needed to bring new life back to our most visible community asset. As such, we selected Classic Pools to clean and Sealcoat the areas around the pool (after securing five different bids). To preserve this investment, we also purchased new pool furniture (the previous furniture was 15+ years old and looking tired). Other investments included new handrail covers for both the spa and the pool, LED pool lighting, and cleaning of pool tiles. Items you may not have seen include replacing a failed backflow valve pool storage door, cleaning the dirty/smelly storage room (yeah, no more packrats!), clean & seal two metal entry gates, and replaced an ageing and leaking spa sand filter. Thank you, Dale and Steve for your work with the pool!

Before and after photos of the pool decking – new tiles too!

Landscaping & Grounds – we continued with Southwest Grounds to provide service and they have done a nice job. We will be looking at addressing the sizable cracks in the entry gate walls that are caused by the large trees that have grown considerably over the last 20 years.

This will be a significant project in 2020. Thank you Jud for your coordination and communication with the landscape crew!

Entry Gate – our gate has worked reasonably well this year. We replaced a failed fire department access switch early in the year as well as installed a new set of LED lights to shine on the keyboard at night. After we received a price increase from our previous gate company in November, we secured several bids and selected a new company, Arizona Automated Entry Systems, to provide enhanced services. This decision also helped our HOA budget with a reduced annual cost of $1,200.

Trash & Recycling – we renewed a contract with Titan Recycle & Trash with a new service schedule that reduces truck traffic, uses smaller trucks that more “lightly touch” our roads and provides three years of service with no increase, while saving our HOA budget nearly $1,700 annually. We have been extremely pleased with

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the customer service that Titan has provided our community!

Yes, Titan’s trucks are smaller & do provide bigger service

Communications/Sense of Community – a new website was developed (thank you Nancy Magelli and Chris Crandall + thank you Jerry Matlock for the previous site that had served us well for nearly two decades), provided informative quarterly newsletters, convened several traditional and new social activities such as Wine down Wednesdays and Progressive Hors D’oeuvres (thank you Jean Baxter and Sharon Madison), and provided frequent mailbox updates

Jean Baxter and Darla Yutsyk at a recent social

on community activities (which are also posted on our website). To save costs and increase

“readership”, we’ll use more emails versus mailed information.

Neighborhood Clean-up on McCarty/Dawn Roads in April

Association Management – after receiving notice from our former management company in May (Platinum Management), we researched six different companies and selected AME Management who started work with us in July this year (and has done a great job).

Our new Association Manager, Chris Bruyn

Budget Management – the Board confirmed a current total reserve of $50,000 (which was previously recommended by an internal reserve study committee of Jerry Matlock, Daryl Birnie, & Tom Hackney) and invested these funds into several CD accounts. Previously they were in a savings account earning very little interest. We established a budget for 2020 that essentially is the same as the past two years, with some potential cash in savings accounts as “liquid assets” for the future. Given the investments made to address several significant capital improvements that were not budgeted this past

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year (crack sealing the roads, pool decking & furniture, pool storage door replacement, new spa sand filter, etc.) the Board used nearly $8,000 from our savings account, which was above and beyond the 2019 operating budget. For reference, the 2018 Board also tapped the reserve account for $9,400 to pay for shoring up our drainage basins. A complete set of 2019 financials as of December 31, 2019 are now available on our website. The 2020 budget is also on our website.

Asset Investment Schedule – we are considering a financial investment schedule for all our HOA assets for next five+ years. In some cases, we should not invest in items until they fail (if it’s not broke, don’t, fix it). In other areas we should invest in preventative maintenance that essentially preserves the life of assets such as for our roads, pool decking, etc. Finally, we should prudently invest in items that increase the value of the visual appearance of our community such as landscaping, entry walls that are cracking and painting. More to come on this front as the new Board considers these investments as well as the funds, we currently have available, and reserves that should be preserved for the future emergencies.

Thanks everyone for a great year! Roger Spring

THANK YOU TO THE “FIRST FOUR”

A special thank you to the first four homes on the right side of the street as you enter our community. They were all repainted this spring and fall by Bobby Pintor’s crew. Please say thanks to the Cameron, Birnie, Friedman and Baxter families!

Also, thanks to the Cohen, Preston & Yutsyk families, they have been painted in the last year as well (let us know if we missed anyone!) . . . If your home has not been painted in the last five years, it probably needs to be addressed soon. A complete set of approved colors and samples for exterior painting is in a notebook in the pool resource room.

HOMEOWNER DIRECTORY Please review the Homeowner Directory located on our website to verify the information is correct. Homeowners are encouraged to provide contact information including phone numbers and e-mail addresses to enhance communication, as well as in the unlikely, but always possible event of an emergency. You will need the Login and Password noted on the first page of this Newsletter regarding our website, to access the Homeowner Directory. You can access the directory here (if you have set up your access to the Highgate HOA website).

UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER Monday, January 13 @ 5 pm – Highgate HOA Board Meeting at Roger & Debbie Spring’s residence, 8357 N Starfinder Place A Wednesday in February – To be planned & announced, a potential Wine Down Wednesday at Highgate Community Pool A Saturday in late March – To be planned & announced, our annual Breakfast Social @ 8:30 am at the Highgate Community Pool

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DID YOU KNOW . . .?

Three homes in the Highgate community were sold this summer ranging in final sales price from $262,500 to $339,000. According to current real estate listings, one home is still on the market at 8341 N Starfinder Place (advertised at $369,500).

If rumors are correct, a new planned 17 lot residential subdivision on McCarty Road, located immediately north of the new Sonoran Desert Reserve subdivision by Kachina Homes, will begin grading and infrastructure work soon!

The new four bedroom, 2,773 sq. ft. home located

immediately south of our community at 8283 N McCarty Road is still on the market for $785,000.

Titan Trash & Recycle Schedule on Mondays:

January 13 – Trash & Recycle January 20 – Trash January 27 – Trash & Recycle February 3 – Trash February 10 – Trash & Recycle February 17 – Trash February 24 – Trash & Recycle Recycle bins that are placed on the curb during a “trash only” day will be disposed of as “trash”.

Thanks to Steve Magelli for changing out the rechargeable batteries at the mailboxes and to Steve Ratz for purchasing and installing the new solar lighting on the saguaro cactus by the pool!

Current bylaws indicate all Highgate HOA

Board members serve one year terms. Chris Crandall (below) begins her first term as a 2020 Board member (while also managing our Highgate HOA website).