Third Mutual Business Plan August 10, 2018
Good. Morning, and, welcome. To a special meeting of the third Board of Directors, today. We, are reviewing. Our. 2019. Business plan, I. Use. The media present yes okay I'm acknowledging the, media I need. A motion to, approve the agenda so. Move second. All. Those in favor I. Guess. We're not using screen, voting we use that from time to time, not. A whole lot of voting for I gonna happen today well you never know you. Never know okay Jerry marks, um, I would. Like to and and, I will we will give. Brad. And Betty the opportunity. To present all of this information, but. I do want, to thank. The, members of this board. Profusely. For, the many meetings that we had. Before. We. Even met with staff so, that we could gather. Together our ideas, for the future and, make. Sure that we kept our expenditures. On line in line so. I would, like to thank all, of the board members and then I would like to thank staff, for. Its. Especially. Your nesto for, putting up with us and. Betty, and Brad, for. Working with us so. We did a great job Betty. Was amazed, at how prepared, we was we, were and. This. Will give us greater ownership, to work to the future so. I thank, you all at, this point we would have member comments. And. Do. We have any members, who, would like to make a comment. Okay. And please remember as, member you are allowed to come up and comment. Once. During, the term of the meeting not continually. Well. I'm not saying that you, burped I. Just. Noticed. That. For. People to comment, after. The fact on any of the items that are, there or missing. From the. Program. And, I would think that there, would be a provision, where. I could get up when maybe. Perhaps at the end to comment, not, now but later well. If. Anyone, has any comments I am sure, that we will give, them the opportunity to. Give their comment but being that you already made your comment for today. We'll, have to have will have to vote especially to, allow you to comment again thank, you. Okay. So, we have the member comments and thank you very much. And. And. Really before we start I would like to, remind, the people who, are watching that we are still accepting. Applications to. Run for the board and. This. Is a very rewarding experience. And if you have an inclination to, do so please go up to the executive office and get an application and, we have a team of people who are willing. And able to help you if you have any concerns, with the paperwork, so, thank you August. The. Deadline, is August the, 15th, yes. So. Few more days please thank, you okay, so, who's gonna go Brad. Or Betty this is not this is my baby thank you well. It's. Your baby probably adopted, thank you. Honorable. Man, president. Members of the board, third community it's always a pleasure to chat with you about, what. We're up to here as, a as. A community, and the kind of activities. And programs we, want to share with you before I go. Through this and I. Didn't. Want to thank particularly. This board you. Have worked so hard and. Your. Policy guidance has, been so. Clear that it's been quite easy to put this together. You've, had. Really. Significant, policy debates, over which. Programs, should be funded in a 1 +, and. You've come to a consensus. And I can tell you the body of work that you've outlined in, this, budget is. Significant. And it, really. Pinpoints. All. Of the areas were historically. There's. Been some, deferred maintenance and, deficiencies, and and, it really provides.
I, Think a very robust, program that, is balanced. And, will serve this community well, for years to come so I I do applaud. You also. I'd like to thank staff I know. Certainly. Betty and her, team and her nesto, Bruce, others, are. The. Primary, folks you deal with on, your budget and I know they've they've, been very responsive, and and. Worked well, with you and and, with I as well so very pleased. With, that effort, and then, of course the number of residents and advisors participate. As well through. The many many meetings we have and and, I see Lynne here I know she's a a big, part of all I think our success with the Garden Villas the communication. In the need is pretty, clear, and. She. Helps with the. Board in, terms of prioritizing, various, programs. And projects, and I think that. Has been very successful as, well so. With that and I thought prior, to. Talking about, what. We'd like to do next year maybe we ought to share a little bit about what we're doing this year and so, with. The help of the Steve and rosemary I put together some slides here and and, I'll just, this. Is sort of what I'm gonna talk about but I have slides for each of these there's so many things that you've worked on I'm sure we've. Left off somebody's. Special project, that they individually, contributed, a lot to and I apologize, for that there's just you're doing so much it's hard to talk about it all or we'd be here a very long time but I wanted to hit a couple, of these things again. If this these are. The, number of projects, and programs well I think the pictures do. Better. Justice, to this. For. Next year we've anticipated a, lot of slope improvements, but we're not waiting we've done some this year and so there's, this. Project, which is at gate. 9 that. We completed but we're also in, the midst of a, major, slow, program, as well that that this board has funded and I anticipate in the next I think they're starting August, 16th, and so, you will see. Starting. Off really. Along the western edge of the. Community, as we cut, a pretty big fire break in there to, protect the community, and that's a an order of the fire, authority but it needs to be done anyway and then there's, other slope work as well along El Toro in the community, that, will occur as well to, to, reduce the height.
Of. The vegetation, that's there remove vegetation. That shouldn't be there, and then also to raise the height, of the tree canopy so they're not so close to the ground so all those things, mainly. Designed for, for. Fire mitigation but we'll certainly look. A lot better as well. Excuse. Me Brad so our, focus. Just. To be clear is slope. Cleanup. Yes, because, we, would be very. Remiss. In, our responsibility. If we, were doing slope planting. At this particular point, with. The. Water. Shortages. Right well we planted this piece here just right yeah it was barren, I'm not major Bryce, you're really focusing. On clean up clean up and and, really reducing, the amount of fuel on these slopes. And, then this, is sort of the. One. Shot it's a large area of the sort, of fuel, fire. Medic. Modification. Area where we'll be reducing and, lowering a, lot, of this vegetation. To, protect the, community, a lot. Of that here's. Another and and. The pictures are even more dramatic, now, these are taken a week or so a few days ago anyway but, you can see that this, is a long ridge route where. Over, behind the commercial. Businesses. There where there's quite a little force and. It's very long forest and it, provides harborage. For, folks. We don't really want camping out on the edge of our community, and and so this has been an attractive, nuisance for, the, homeless and vagrants and and other, near dwells and, so we're cleaning. This all out and then putting, in the Shepherd's crooks so, I think it's going to be big. Security enhancements, for the community and. The crews over there working very very well my. Anticipation, is we'll probably these same folks who are working here they're. Gonna go over and do, the the, fuel, modification. Area on the western edge of third and I hope so because this. Is a hard-working crew right here I don't if you've been over there it's near ROI there whoo, yeah. There they're really moving through that quick I'm very happy with with that production. Again. There's so many of these again. Probably one of the bigger complaints, I hear about is is is, low-level, lighting and walkways, and things and so we've we've. Done, a, lot of work there there's a lot more to do and you've put. Some of that in next year's budget as well so I think that's just something that we'll be working on for a while, sometimes, the improvements, are easy to do sometimes, they're. Not there's no electricity there and so you're struggling with with the challenges, of that but, everybody. Knows that that's a huge, issue and we're working on it and and I applaud the board for tackling that because it's not an easy one. These. Signs are great, you. Know Ernesto, was here trim and see hold. It's. Coming. Ernesto. Held up the old signs and the new signs at the M&C meeting you really see the, difference, and when you drive around you see one of these news lines you can actually find a building that has a new sign on it and, so this is a program I take, a while to get this done but. I think the board's taken an appropriate, approach. To that and we're getting these put up and and I think it's going to help a lot. You, know we did a few of these is a pilot project. I think you've got another 20 or so lady in your budget so we've. Got these little waste areas, they don't hold, landscaping. Very well because they don't really get the right kind of Sun they're in between two structures and so to, add an extra golf car parking space there, was pretty reasonable and I think a good, approach to this so we did a couple we're gonna do some more. Probably. Your the, biggest issue you have really to deal with there are others but these. Major, beam. Replacements. For, the dry rot program, and this is actually is really one of the bigger ones I've seen some that are a lot bigger and, but. You can see how, much work it takes to remove a big beam and put another one in. You've, been tackling this program very aggressively, there's. Still a bit of work left to do it'll probably several years before we get, to the bottom of this. But. You've, made some wonderful investments, and we're continuing, that as well here. This, is kind of the smaller, level dry rot but which can lead to some of those bigger problems, by some.
Of These corbels, that stick out that are made of wood basically, act as a straw, to. Draw moisture into. The interior. Of. The structure and to cause, problems, with the larger structural. Components, and so, by, eliminating those, and sealing them off it's. Kind of a preventative way and and are prior. To paint folks are doing a number of these sorts of things, with. Some of these these. Wooden. Architectural. Features, and I'm sure they were very interesting. When they first put them in but they, didn't really understand. That the. Travel. Path of some, of the. Dry rot organisms, that are causing problems for us. Yet. Another kind of example here with a. Rotten. Bridge that had to be replaced. And. Then probably one, of your other really big programs, is the, the. Waistline. Remediation. Epoxy, lining, and so take the existing pipe. And line. It with this this. Coating and it really creates a new very slick, pipe. That. Is, far, less prone, to any, kind of blockage. Or backup, and so we've found these to be this be very effective it's expensive it's not a cheap thing to do but it's a heck of a lot less. Expensive than ripping, up the infrastructure, in your community, and replacing. With a brand new pipe and so this is proven to be pretty effective so, the picture on the left is a waistline, with with, roots and things in it yes and then this is the one on the right right is they put a noose board. It out and put a new sleeve in yeah they've coded that with the epoxy. Right. They clean it out and they run the epoxy, down there and to, create a a, firm. And, slick. Surface. That. Will move material, faster, without. Likelihood. Of stoppage, so. Yeah I think it's important, to note they, cleaned it out because people who might. Not be into pipes know that's nice still in there that Benson, been the part so, you could, you what are you calling what did you call it, when.
You, Could use roto-rooter or not okay. Okay. And then, you. Know we tried this is a pilot program and. And I think. Both. Aesthetically. In terms, of how, water is handled, on these surfaces. As. Well, as the maintenance that. It's. A big improvement in so many ways I. Know. We've got some more of these budget for next year it's. It's. Not an easy this looks like oh they, just painted, the floor no, they're it's quite, a bit more complicated, than, that, they're drainage, issues. And. You've got some lightweight concrete you're filling up some recessed areas, and then and, then. Creating. Some. Barriers, to prevent moisture from getting into these buildings. So. You don't get more dry rot than you already have so when. You factor all that together I, think it's it's a worthwhile endeavor. And I know you're you could say you're doing more of those are in the budget and. Then just on the, Garden Villas you know we've really stepped, up our effort, there and, applaud. Ernesto, and in certainly. Availa nian some of his staff Adric who have taken. This challenge, on that we're gonna fix these things up and so. The. Board's allocated, resources, and and, staff has worked aggressively and, these are the elevators but they're many more but, doing a lot of these mail rooms I know if we have any Lobby dummy lobbies in here but we've done a lot of lobbies, we've got a, lot, of these rec rooms I know there's a whole. Program, of activity. For, next year that there. Must be a hundred items on that list I you guys all saw it it, was a big list that Vella knew that. This year okay and, so, well it will do more next year to I'm sure there'll be another list of 100 items so it's, a. Lot. Of this and it's kind of been kicked down the road for a long time it's just time to clean it up and and so your board is authorized, for resources, and we're working on that I wanted. To throw a. Couple, of other things in here. You. Know these, some of these things don't take a very good picture but. I know Burt and his committee, have been working, so hard for so long, on. Looking, at our, operating. Rules whether it be for caregivers, or occupancy, or leasing, or, sales. I mean everything you name it. They've. Been working on it and they made, a lot of good, changes, to the operating rules that that serve. To to. Secure, our. Community, and, to make it a safer. And a more regulated. Environment, which our residents expect and so I I I, would feel remiss if we didn't talk about that body of work. We. Always have to stress, that we, did not add. Operating. Rules. Fix. Modernize. And, simplify. The ones that we had to. Make them, be. You know be part of our life, in. In this century versus, when the communities, both because, some of the operating, rules are really very very old yeah, I think. The next, one alteration, standards, is the same way the architectural, committee has been going. Pretty hard and, I gonna praise Kurt for his work with that committee I think that we've taken a lot of these old all, creation standards, and updated. And made, it easier, for residents, to understand, and process alteration. Requests, and so, I think, I would applaud that. Committee as well and then. Generally. Bill. Had something you wanted to say well you, went, fast overall all the all of the wonderful things that staff has been improving. Like the garden. Villa buildings, and everything I also want to point out that. This. Board. Removed. A significant. Amount of red curbing, to, improve parking, Nicole, de sacs and. Ernesto. And Bruce, Hartley in combination, have done a marvelous, job in. Catching. Up with all of the the at, the backlog all of the concrete. Work in the. You. Know in the in the walk, you know and the Kerr the, sidewalks, and that. What. Do you call those the. Approaches, the apron that approaches. Right, coaches and it, really makes a significant, difference just. Walking around here like I do I don't know about the other board members I'm sure they do too. You. Know I see. I see a big improvement and we really want to thank you for that I know, that's probably a big one. Of the biggest success, stories I think we have is is the the concrete crews, and the work that they've been able to, to. Complete with some new leadership and, and and, supervision. They've. Really done quite well and I think that is where I had on my front slide I really, should hit that again is. You. Know we created, you, know somewhere, around 700, spaces, of, parking, through, our you, know resetting.
Our Red, curbs and, and eliminating. Red, curves where they're not required, or needed, have. We had to add three, or four back inch or we have I mean there's been places where we took them out and then we went back and look that's who that's not a good one but still. 700. Parking spaces isn't, really something, that 750. There you go isn't something to sneeze about. When. You have such parking, challenges, like we have in the community and and, I suspect, that will, be something we'll be working on forever. It's. Just a. Shortcoming. Of the development. Itself in. This environment there's not enough parking spaces and then, you. Know we have these operating, rules we're making, them easy to understand and better but at the end of the day you. Have to enforce those and the board has. To be willing to enforce them and you have been and you've, directed us to step. Up our effort, and I, think, mostly we have there certainly, always room for improvement but we've gone. From and. This isn't just third this is community-wide, but about, 1,400. Cases, in, 2015. This. Year we'll play to 5,000, and, so that's a pretty big increase in compliance, cases 90 probably, 95, or better percent, of those are. Just resolved, with a letter or a warning, citation, you, see unfortunately. The. Worst of the worst, these, are the people that despite. Letters. From staff and visits, from security. Sometimes, even visits from Tim himself they. Won't do it and so, it requires the authority, of your board to, enforce those rules sometimes. And. And, we know, that really, takes an extra, day or two a month of your time, Steve. Thank you for sharing that to sit in there and and, to, to hear, these very difficult cases. Again. If they were easy we would have already taken care of them so I do applaud that extra effort I know many of you serve on that committee. You. Know it's interesting you say about, 5,000. Cases and you think that, they're 5,000. Cases they're 11. 11,000. Or 12,000. Homes does, that mean every other home has a case no. No no. No it's. No there you know maybe it, was like this same lots, of times it's the same. Cake. Same, unit, that has, come, as one violation, two violations, three violations, which thanks. To staff is, so hurtful. To their neighbors you know because they're just doing whatever they want so so, that's what a lot of the work is is trying to get. The the constant. I don't care about any rules I don't care about my neighbors into, lime so that this we do know most, these people that come in on a very personal level. And, I, would like to say. That. We have you know 20 people out there hunting down every, violation, but that's not really the case most. Of these cases, come, to us by the neighbor or somebody. Who's been affected by. Maybe somebody having a dog off leash or whatever it is they're. Either, the victim, of some sort that has contacted, us and said hey, this isn't right and so then we take, it from there I don't. Think the building captains have helped a lot absolutely, and then. The other. The. Other thing. I think where we've stepped it up and I you know I know rosemary, you and Steve have been instrumental in this and probably. Way meeting before that but we've, you know just try to take. A more aggressive approach. Towards. Collecting. Amounts. That are due that, are unpaid. Almost. All of our we have a very, very. High collection, right here our, residents pay their dues very. Good about it and then, you have a few that. Don't and then. For, those folks we, need to pay their fair share as well and this board has been very good about. Enforcing. That and and I think, that the, results are in the collections numbers, themselves, we're. Collecting a lot of money that we weren't collecting before and then. This. Probably. Requires. A lot more discussion than I can give it here and and I've been involved in many of these before and I, think it's going to be so good for the community, but acquiring. These street. Lights from, Edison. Converting. Them to LED. Providing. Better, maintenance. Of them, is going to be a huge, huge, benefit, from the community and I don't think. Even. With you, got an acquisition, costs and you've got the rehab costing like something well, well. Worth it again I've done a lot of these and and they're your residents are really gonna going, to appreciate this you, know Edison has highly must have a million, street, lights probably, a couple million and. The. Fact that twenty, or thirty of them are out in third it, doesn't really bother them too much.
But. For me if a resident calls, and says hey the street lights out in. Front of my house if we, own them I'm gonna get somebody over there that day and get it fixed, so, that's, the difference and and, then also having. A brighter. More. Energy-efficient. LED. Fixture. Will, save money in terms of how much you're spending on energy as well so I just a win-win and. I think one of the themes that's run through this and with this board is. Is. Safety we. All, of these things are. Most. Of these things are. Focused. On making this a safer, place to be and. From. Address science to lighting to fixing. Sidewalks all, of that it's. All part of that yeah. Excuse. Me Brett in the past I'm, going to talk about so, it maybe three or four years ago if, you, a street. Light getting. It repaired, could. Have taken months months. We know that months. Years. And I. Know that our staff under. The leadership of, Ernesto has been much more aggressive but. They, really, have to spend so much time chasing them, to. Try to get it done and so. It, was just okay, well it takes years, or months and that's how it is and we've been trying, to be much better but. The, the new approach is going to be magnificent. Especially, to. Upgrade. Them in the areas where they really need to be upgraded that's. A great thing and. Then I did want to touch on though really, a grf project, the. The Mutual's have pushed very hard on. The gate security issue and, I know, it came up because we. Discuss a merger of a couple of gates and and so, that didn't. Pan out for us for so, many different reasons. We, have very complicated reasons, to. That. We're. Putting. Gate, 10 back, into an individual. Design, and, we'll have that ready to go as well so I wanted you to have that information and we anticipate I think we're at the city right. Now for, approval on the various designs I mean, it's it's. Basically, nine. Different designs now so. If. It's a more complex and you would think and particularly, we, had the problem at gate six I think a gate for where. There. Was no legal electric, service there was just bootleg, you know and well there's, the pole right there just get some power and so, we. Have to go back and establish. Legitimate. Electrical, service at those gates and we've done that and so that's, just part of the process is. Kind of correcting some of the self-help. Projects. Of the past and and I think you're very gonna, be very very happy. Not only with with. The security. Of folks coming in and out but, we can use, the. Data to, determine, you know how long people are staying if, there's you know folks. That are coming, in but not leaving, and they're only have a one-day pass I mean we you know we can we. Can figure that out through. That it'll, take a little work but I mean the data is all there we have to mine it and we can really, aid our compliance efforts as well so I think there's a lot of things to.
Like About that read. I think a lot. Of residents, has been asking, about the timing of this so. When do you envision, this. Will be done yeah so you want to get that. Yeah. Madam, chair madam, president. Yeah. I'm. Just talking softly, that. We will ready submitted hard. To tell what, the conditions, that are gonna come back from the city are I don't, anticipate, very. Much so. Once we get there we finalized, the drawings and we complete the package ready to advertise, it we're looking at a couple months to advertise, and that the contractors. To get on board and all that so, I'm anticipating, I. Was, hoping to get it done this year and, we may spill into next year a little bit but definitely, get the project started this year so November around. November, December. Yeah. The the, vendor. Has already been selected the only thing that really has to be constructed, is the conduits, in the very, elements, and then California gates will use those conduits, to put in the. Technology, and the gates that. Opens. Bets so I think that's going to be a great project and I look forward to getting that done. So. How. Many because, you have taken. Us away from, spending. Over, a million dollars, per gate house which. Had been done in the past and, imagine, how many millions, that would have been if we did all of the gate houses, and you, have gone through a program working with Ernesto where, you are. Refurbishing. Updating. Whatever terminology we, want to use the gate houses are, they all done they. Are the last one is gate gate, house four and, so, that's underway right now, yeah. That is correct we just completed gate 12, and. These are the gate houses yes, yes yes so they're all refurbished, we're just working on four which is essentially, a small Shack so, that should go very quickly the only delayed. And a four will be that Edison, bringing, the power right. Now we're still in it from. Yeah. But somebody's. House. That's. Completed, actually. That was. That. Is the, civil portion. Won't. Be as costly as skate pipe I guess, if I was a big, learning experience brother. So now we're doing it right or going to bring things, with them a lot less cost, them than, gate five than what we experienced to get by and Game five so, how.
Many Houses are there. Altogether. Fourteen. How many gates and a few houses, the. Houses yeah. Five. No. You're. Talking about the entire, community how. Many gate houses, do we have oh. You. Must be wanted every gate I think there's a lever yeah everyone. Except for 16 so. Basically, what I'm saying is, is we were you were looking at a price tag at the rate we were going up over eleven, million dollars. Because. We, know how much this is so and. How much are you spending per, guess it's, not gonna be anymore no no I know we these are these are 25,000. A pop it's a couple. That. Was you. Know sometime and, I bring this up sincerely. Because being. Out in the community I sometimes. Hear. Grumblings. About you know well things used to be better etc, and I don't and I keep saying well you really have to understand. Where. We were what, path we were going on and just. Things would have come must only gone up and we weren't getting stuff done and I bring that up is one of our primary things, I'm not talking about the gates cuz that's a cost that we would rather spend but if we kept, doing the gates like what. Is the gate across from gate 14, I always blonde okay so, that was a million-dollar, gate there yeah for sure and I keep thinking and, every time I Drive over that bump I want. To like put the bottom of my car guys we're, taking that out the bump is gone. But. I'm, just like someone. Refer. To it because, we could have without all, of the work and care and said I'm not spending this kind of money this, would have been money that we would have spent unnecessarily. And it's very important, that we have to remember that. Although we're not. Perfect. We're, really trying to to. Make better decisions thank, you. So. That's kind of some of the things that the. Third board been up to and it's been a very very, busy year and I think next year we'll be busier I've when I go through this work program you know you guys all know if you've been working on it but it. Will be readily apparent. These. Are sort of the scheduled. Public meetings, that we we. Had for the budget process and again, I. There. Are so many meetings of of a member or two, that, were more private, to, discuss various elements, that aren't even on here so I mean I know there's been many. Many meetings and this board has worked very very hard, to. Put together work plan that will serve the community. So. You, know when. You're putting these things together you kind of want to there's. A lot of requests, from, residents, from staff from. Other board members on what, they think you ought to do for next year so you have to put them through some sort of prism, to to. Get to what's really important, and so, these. Are sort of I think the the, principles, that. And. The programs that the the board is really focused, on and obviously security is is, the highest priority here, and you can see that with, the fire mitigation with. The Shepherd's, crooks with the streetlights I mean it really, permeates. Just about everything we do here with, all the work that Burt, his committee is done on compliance, and operating, rules it all deals with with security, this. Work put a huge premium on communication. And and we've, made great strides there's, much more work to be done and I certainly, having. Eileen here has been a big help in that regard and I just paid much more from her, a. Landscape. Again huge issue for, us, for. So many different reasons but a lot of having, to do with. Really. Some of the techniques and priorities of the past the. Huge head, edged trimmings, with, chemicals, so that the mowers can move faster, and faster and faster and so. You. Know some of those techniques, just have to be changed, we. Have a new kind. Of grass that we're dealing with now you've got a new, kind of water you're, gonna have to deal with with has its own impacts, to the lawn and this, turf has. To be managed, now it just can't be mowed and so. It's a it's a total different. Approach to this and and and we've talked about it a lot and we'll talk about it some more and I anticipate. Pretty. Big improvements, in that, again. That, you. Know our, property, our houses, or manors, in. Many cases, they're suffering from years and years if not decades of, deferred maintenance some. Of the things we're, doing have, never been done before like. Some of the chute work I mean it when's that been done the. Waste lines the chutes dry, rot there's just things that just, were never some. Problems. Can. Seem too big to, take on and this. Board has, not had that problem, I, think, you've said the bigger the the, bigger the effort I mean that's the way it works and so I think at times.
I. Think, boards, have shied away from some of those more entrenched. Difficult, problems, and, you. Have not done that as. I talked about earlier, collections. And and making sure that, everyone's. Paying their fair share and, that we're billing everyone. Who, owes and mutual money and. Not making judgments. On well this is that or it's, too small to try to collect we just treat everybody the same and if they owe they owe and, that's what we've done. One. Of our efforts, because, it's very difficult, for us to sit in a meeting and and. Be, for, trying to pull Betty's hair out about why, hasn't, that person, paid for their water heater you, know and. So. So. Part of our collections because we don't only refer, to. Assessment. Collections, it's everything so, we're. Really going to I know I'll, be moving next year into. The ability now, maybe somebody is not paying not, because they don't want to pay but maybe they might be short that month or at that time when they get the bill so. We're going to be we're working on using. Credit. Cards and that's so, that maybe someday, in the real world somebody comes to my house and say they're, getting their water heater and, they could actually put. It on their credit card you know so we're trying to working. Towards that, to. Try to make it less, work for. Accounting. Less work for the Steve's and the this the, finance. People from our boards but it's make it brings us into, life. Today you know, and that world is approaching, very rapidly the, land. Of plastic. So. And so we're going to join that land I guess if people want, to they, don't have to so. That's a great effort that will be coming up next year thank, you and, then, we're working, on. So many different offici, efficiency. Initiatives, whether it be you, know replacing, building, lights with LED streetlights, with LEDs, or just. Processing, things more efficiently. You know, handling. Though. The reason for it is maybe not so nice but you, know changing, out something, simple like like, changing. Out the boxes in the laundry room so. You only have five, or six keys, instead. Of a hundred and fifty keys to all those, and. We've reduced the old day I think out of the out of the collections. Process. You, know thumbing around 150. Keys there's a little bit of work and. You know having you know a handful is quite, an easter so the little things like that and big things like. Some. Work centers are paperless. Now and so, we can you. Know we want to spread that out to the whole organization. One, of the things I know it's very important, to your board it's the Sales and Leasing process. And and one of the challenges, there. Is that. There. Are about 20 work centers that. Feed, in, to. Sales and Leasing whether it be you know compliance. Or inspections. Or you can see where the connection points are in. That process. Membership. And so, those, systems. Kind. Of have to be fixed first and so, that's been what we're doing is going around getting the periphery, and then, then. You can plug all that into an automated sales. Leasing, process which, is the plan so I didn't, want you to think we're not I don't, want you to think this is something that's been ignored it's very thoughtful but. There's just so many different elements that go into that it's probably the most complicated thing we do here. It. Has it's, like 900 steps and trying to which, is to get rid of about 500, of my opinion but maybe more so, anyway that's, that, fits into the technology, and there's a lot we're doing there as well so, when.
We Try to analyze what does it make sense to. Do a, particular. Activity, and we kind of put it against this prism, and ultimately against the prism of of, customer, service, well the resident actually benefit, from all this stuff that we're doing that's. The bottom line and that's probably the most important, thing. And. Thank you Chris while you were and, I know we worked on this list but we knew that this. List as, we were talking we would, think of things. Because other, things that are part of our continuous. Improvement is, resident. Services and. You. Touched on that and changes, that have been made in resident, services in the past that we have service, on Sundays, we have plumbers on the weekend my goodness, and we. Have, resident. Services does enclose on the Wednesday, before Thanksgiving and. Reopened on Monday that we, realize, more and more that that. This is a seven, day a week 24. Hour a day senior. Community, and so. You you, I know that you're working on resident services continually. And we're always very impatient. And also. You, have a very. Well. Put together and, Siobhan. Did fab fabulous, outline, of the responsibilities. Of you, you don't call it an mo D what do you call it. Executive, on duty executive, on duty program. So, in the past everything. Went, through security, and now, with the changes, and that's our, continuous. Improvement with, the changes, you always have an executive, on duty who. Can't be in China when it's their time to be on duty and. And. So you've outlined it very well and we thank you Siobhan but those are all things that are part of our budget too. And part of our continuous, improvement commitment. To the community, so. If there's anything that I missed I'm. Sure there's a million things we're, doing so much but. You're. Right. Having. A resident. Services function. That is available 24/7. 365. Right. Now security. Dispatch. Kind, of serves that role but, they're not really trained for it the. Idea of moving security, dispatch into this building, alongside, resident. Services and, making sure that they're fully trained, in all the resident, services function. As well as emergency, services, so. That they can serve in that capacity at. 3:00 in the morning when. Somebody calls this gee I got this problem with that problem and they're able to handle it properly. Again. I think I've talked about most of this maybe. The budget highlights, here. Yeah. We'll continue for, next year want to continue the 2018, projects, I think I've talked to well I didn't talk about the, energy consultant. But we we've. Retained one village wide there's. A lot of very. Interesting. Technology. Out there and, ways. We can, do. Things everything from emergency. Generators. To, to micro grids, to. Acquiring. Energy, independent. Of, Edison. And his production, of energy there's so many things we can do and the consultants going to look at all those and primeur and come. Back some ideas for us to become, more independent. And, self-sufficient, and, not so, much under, the thumb of Edison. And. We're also we're, also being, forced to look at our electric infrastructure, because, more. And more people are coming into the community wanting, to have. Electric, automobiles, or high electric hybrids, so our. Electric infrastructure, is being stressed right now just by electric golf carts in many places so, by. Adding adding electric, vehicles onto the top of it got. Some got. Some challenges. I had. A guy come into my office the other day just you just bought a.
Tesla. And. He was so proud. Buying, a green vehicle and, bringing into the community, and, came. In and got all his appropriate. Stickers, you, know registered. The vehicle, got the charging, sticker. Took. It to his carport, and plugged, it in and kaboom. Yeah. Yeah. And so. You know that we. Had to tell well you know you you're, charging time is probably from 2:00, to 4:00 in the morning you know I don't know that we, just don't haha we, did we that's a big priority and you're seeing more and more. Electric. Vehicles out there and, there's so many different, offerings, now, I just saw. An x5, plug in a vehicle I never thought would be electric, and here you go there it is so, there they're. Out there they're coming and we need to get prepared and. I think we have some good options, at least for interim solutions, but. I think the long-term solution is we gotta have a little better infrastructure, on the electric side so we're gonna have to address that. Anyway, on. To budget here I just, want to these are the highlights, here is that. Based. On this proposal, I'll be showing you the, assessments. Or schedule. To increase, basically. 4:53. A month which is a 1%. Increase. Again. Why. Are things going up well I mean there's a lot of reasons why a list issue here I mean there's there's, inflation things, cost more that we have to buy to provide service to the residents last month in. Orange County the CPI was 4.1, percent and so. We're starting to see as, this economy is heated, up you're starting to get some inflationary. Pressures, as well and so I'm, sure they'll be doing things about that you. Know water, sewer, and electric rates they just go up, you. Know I I've, run you. Know utilities, before and we never come in and say you know what we, collected, a little bit too much let's, drop those weights never. Happens, never seen it happen it doesn't happen if, it does happen it means there's something coming around the backside that they're, trying to sneak by you so. Those. Go up and. I think we've done a pretty good job certainly. With the solar project, we put pressure down there and we watch our water use very carefully. And. Things. Still, what the residents can certainly help us by. Not overusing. Water because it is a mutual expense, so if you're taking a half an hour shower well that that's that's, costing, money or, excessive, watering out in the landscape, and that can happen as well so we just asked residents to. Help us out this. Next one is, the the illegal right. We are if. You have the opportunity, if we, know that a water meter is attached, to a unit. Or a number of units and the. Water usage is very high, working. With, lene we've. Developed, we advise the residents. Unfortunately. Because, of our CC and ours etc. As much, you can't penalize a. Resident. For. Using excessive, water but. I don't believe you can but, we can keep. Reminding, them of it's really the responsibility to, the community because sometimes. You see people outside watering. Their. Collection. Of 50. What how many plants. And it's like oh my goodness so is there some people are racing. In and taking cold showers to. Save water and, from. One minute and I, and we said we have to just be so aware because we are spending, quite. A bit more on water. Because. Just because of usage is that correct Betty yeah so we really have to watch our usage it has to be a a, tremendous. Joint. Commitment. And effort on the part of our residents, because, we all share. In that cost. Yes. James well I. Don't. Know when was the time Betty. To, talk about this. Water. Budget. Well. We'll come to that point later ok. Well we'll discuss that, later. Then, but, but, I in our effort, I guess, so we on. The irrigation side, we're hoping, we're, hoping, next year will well what, things would do we. Did put some budget. Out for turf, reduction. Hopefully. Once, we start that and. We'll. Reduce, the water usage, on irrigation, site, but. That. Brad. We need your help too to. Reach a new. Agreement was. Was. Unique so we can contract. More work out, to get those extra. Contracting. Work for for. Maybe. Turf. Reduction. Or other landscape, projects. No angry I agree, um I hope that. That. Will focus on areas. We're grass just doesn't, grow well. You. Know if you've got two giant ficus, trees in front of your Manor, you probably don't you're, not gonna get grass you, got a pick and.
So, In those areas, we can put something else in because you, know we keep seating, it and watering, the heck out of it and it's just not gonna grow there and so we, should survey. The community, I've talked to Bruce about this come up with those areas where we just know grass. Fails and not, give it up and, put something in that won't fail and it doesn't use much water and. So I think that's I think it's easy to do also. Yesterday, from. The Elterwater. Quarterly. Luncheon, they, realized. That this, is a, turf. Reduction. Rebates, to available, in. Fact it's $2, per square foot for. Homeowners. One. Dollar per square foot for commercial. I don't. Know whether it's our HOA, is considered, to be commercial. Or homeowner. We. Typically, treated commercially. So. Yeah anyways. Least, a $1.00 per square foot so, we should, catch. That opportunity. Before they're running out of money. Good. Of. Course and then the other area where where, residents could probably help us out is you know we, have a two. Full-time guys, driving around in a truck, picking. Up all of the, items. By the dumpster, that are illegally, disposed, of typically. TVs. Microwaves. Mattresses. Furniture. Construction. Materials, other stuff that that, really. Don't. Belong in the dumpster but they don't belong outside the dumpster for sure and so. We, ask that you, stop doing that and that. We're, talking 40 40, cubic yards a day right now is, what we're now. If I had four, guys doing, it instead of two and fry be 80 so just so you know there's a lot of material, out there and, so. We, ask residents if. If. You, have bulky, items in your home you want to dispose of coal. Resident, services we'll send somebody to pick it out right from your manner, don't have to drag it down and throw it next to the dumper we'll come get it right out of your house the, wheel is really not us isn't it it's free yes sir, so instead, of people. Calling. Resident, services, where, we can get a free, service of, our trash company, going to their house and picking it up people. Instead, decide, to, drag, their stuff out and leave it in front of the dumpster, and the, trash company won't, pick that up we have to pay so we have to pay for it and if, we and, we. Talked about this if, we said well, we're. Just not going to pick it up because we can't afford to, have two people racing, and when I thought it was only one and a half, racing. Around picking, stuff up all day then. We. Do a disservice to our to, our community, because it looks so junky. You know what it's like if. In front, of your truck there's a chair, there lamps. I mean. It's, just looks really so so, it was sort of like so what do you do you know so we have a responsibility. To the appearance of the community, and that is, something that, is totally, totally. In, the hands of our residents, it's a new service we added this year doing, we've never used to do that but it's gotten so bad I can't. Leave it there anymore yes Jules. I. Recently. Called, the resident service to pick up a recliner, they. Told me that I had, to take it down and, put, it in the trash area. And. And. Then, they forgot that I scheduled, it for because they are supposed to pick up every Wednesday and, they, never picked it up well. That's not a good story no, they're, the proper response, their, resident. Services told. Me what. I went there when I called, them that I was, the one that had to take all that bad. Furniture, you know down to their area. Then, you should have called Brad no, that's what I say, yeah. I have. Any of you ever had the internet before. Has. Anybody ever had him home you have Steve. Yeah. Waste management. Right. Well. That's what our folks do here if you call, resident, services, or they'll, coordinate and they'll call waste management, for you to make sure they they get there and get back to you with the time so. And if they don't if. Some you know unfortunately. Something. Is always so good as all of its component, parts and occasionally, an employee, might be best informed, if somebody, gets the, wrong answer, what should they do I always, laugh and say call Brad don't call me yeah that's what you do so if a resident murder case you really bacon. I they call. They. Should call catherine they shall call our our, next. Line. Of service, I mean if you know that you're getting the wrong answer I mean don't, accept, the wrong answer, and. Then. Lastly, folks, right but, just a note why. Don't we simply put. Signs at, the dumpsters. And. Many. Of them have, signs right on the dumpster that says don't do this and don't say no I mean I'm talking about just calling for a, bowl, right. Yeah, we just say maybe, couple. We still do the third Saturday. So a lot of people. Hosted, and, the, garden bill is that sign is posted in all of the laundry, rooms so, to, remind people of the day of the pickup I think I do think that that's, something that needs a constant, reminder because.
I Always forget what Saturday, it is so. I think that they need people need a constant, reminder as, to that or how to call resident services and, what the right answer, has to be because. It you. Know it could. Help us yes, Dee, I think something else' needs to happen with us I like Jules idea but. We, need some things made in foreign languages for our major, foreign. Groups because, there's people here that basically know how to say hi goodbye and that's about it and you'll. See them taking paint. Out to the dumpster and, just leaving it they have no clue how to suppose of it hazardous. Waste or anything like that and we've got to reach those folks somehow, got. That Siobhan I agree. And. Then lastly as I talked about her we have a lot of compliance cases, they're, expensive, to. Process. And, you know it it, may take, thousands. Of dollars, to process, a compliance, case yet you know the fines may be 500 bucks or something and so it's not a moneymaker. Coris is a money loser and so we really don't. Want to prosecute these cases we, just want, folks to comply, and if they do, that then. It, will save a lot of money for the community so, I asked that offer that as well like, you know a, number, of the compliance things, are having to do with, illegal. Construction. And, that. Is something that is. Very important, to the community because. People, are could be going in and with, working without permits. Removing. Beams. Doing. You know doing you, you've had a lot of situations with that so you know compliance, is is, something, that has to be done to. Really protect the residents we've had asbestos scares. Because, people aren't doing it so it's really a a, trying. To take care of the community well. Yeah it is but we're we're, spending you. Know probably. Close. To a million bucks a year, that. If, people follow the rules we wouldn't need, just. Like we're spending a couple hundred thousand. 125,000, on this, helical dumping that we probe and that's that's.
Getting A break from waste, management on, emptying, the 40 cubic yards too so it'd be really another 100 grand on top of that if we were paying a full boat so. Yeah. But residents can help in, many ways as we've articulated here, to keep the assessments, down I, was. Going to go through just maybe, I just go through the numbers pretty quickly and they'll and if you want detail you can ask Betty on that, so. I just want to share the staffing levels you, can see. 764. Staff. In 2010, and, with the 14, I've suggested this, year at, 7:41. So. That's, generally, in the rain, of what you would expect, and, then. Of, the 14 positions where, were they added, although. Other than the two I've got here, which really, are people that are already here one of them being Eileen, and. The other. The. Other is Whitney, our assistant. Corporate secretary, they've been here a long time those, were positions, that, I basically swiped, from other departments, and now the, department heads have asked that I give them back and so I'm keeping the people but I'm going to give new positions, to them essentially, and then. You. Can see resident services. Landscape. And. Security, are, the areas that we're adding staff for the most part, and. Then, here's, the. Computation. Of your your basic assessment. Here. With. The increase of. 453. For, third, Mutual for 26, for grf for a total of 879, again. Your increase is about 1%. And. Then. This, shows you a little. History, here you can see assessments. Have, been pretty flat and actually. When you throw the grf assessment, on top of that it. Gets even flatter it's over the last five years it's been 1% total. Assessment. Growth, in, third, Mutual, for the last five years, 1%. In total, not 1% a year 1%. So. Residents. Have not been paying more and you, know what they're, getting a lot more because. You're insisting, that that we do more and perform better and and, I know. Residents. Appreciate, that but they worry that, we're. Overspending, and that, is so, far from the truth you're not overspending. Assessments. Have been kept down and in fact. Look. At your reserves, they're. Higher I. Mean. That that's the beauty of, efficiency. And doing it together and, working hard is, we're. Getting a lot of stuff done. Assessments. Are flat, five. Years and you've. Got more. And. You've incurred a lot of extra cost as well that. Things, like earthquake, insurance that we never had here before that, you've recently, procured, so things like that are. Now, taking. Place within. Amounts. Of money that we used to spend to not get much done so, fixing. The sidewalks, fixing, sidewalks, fixing. Garden, Villas. You. Know dry rot, waste. Lines you. Go on and on adding. A giant solar, installation. And saving residents, money every day all, those things are, happening, with the same assessment, you use to charge and at. The same time building the reserves up I don't, know that's a pretty good formula for me so. This. Is rather difficult. To read slide which I'm going to change for next year. Sorry. Betty I, just. Look at the bottom line here I think that's that's the important part of this thing is well gee whiz what's, the basic assessment, you see it's. Gone up a bit. Most, of that related, to reserved contributions. But. Over. That period of time. It's it's been not. Flat but certainly has been going up very much I. Want. To talk about revenues, just briefly, I mean you can see where where. Your non, assessment. Revenue comes from most. Of it is fees. And charges lease. Processing. Fee, laundry. And resale, processing, fee and those are the big big, enchiladas, I suspect, this electric, cart golf, cart fee and the in the PV charging. Fees are going to grow, over time as more and more and more electric. Vehicles come into the community assuming. That we, put the infrastructure, in to actually charge them a. Big. Assumption at this point but so. Quite. Frankly non. Assessment, revenue is a very, small. Portion, of your total budget as, you, can think, of. Now. I mean, it's I think it's of, a fairly. Large budget, it's a little over a million dollars so. And, then, on. The, expenditure side you. Can see that employee. Compensation and. Utilities, are, really the the. The, big pieces of, your budget. And. Then. Here we, can talk about. Individual. Expenditures. By. Line item you. Can see employee.
Compensation. Has. Gone down a bit that that's, a little bit. Misleading. Because things have been moving around a little bit but but, we, haven't we've had fewer people on board than we had a few years ago. And. So. That would account for giving. Some raises, along the way but there's fewer, people so it kind of balances out, expenses. Related to compensation it, has been very, positive we have some good things going on there again, most of this you. Can see your electricity, has, gone down as a result primarily of the solar, and LED installations, that's. Pretty obvious. Water. And sewer or, going. To be, challenges. Moving forward and, they are currently. Again. Not a lot of this is particularly. Remarkable. I think I think. For the Mutual probably, the reserve, expenditures, or maybe more interesting, you, can see your property insurance went up a, tad, and that is. Because of the earthquake insurance that, was procured I think. A reasonable prudent. Decision. Of the board in keeping, with your fiduciary, responsibility. To the community. So. I think this is probably a little more interesting, here where you get down to actually the nuts and bolts of the services provided, to. The community, again. You. Can see. Lawn. And shrub bed maintenance are pretty pretty. Important, and. Expensive, features. Of your your. Operating, fund and then, most. Of this is fairly, unremarkable. I. Would. Note, the increase in janitorial, service. That is primarily. The result of the. Two guys running around picking. Up the bull he items are in that line item and, there. Were certain expenses like some carport cleaning and garden, villa breezeway, that, had previously been done by landscape. And. We've, discontinued. That practice, that's now done by janitorial. Staff and so those costs are reflected, here we're really during, the drought we. Weren't watering, anything, things. Weren't growing and so. It. Seemed prudent, to go ahead and take a lot of those landscape. Resources. And apply them to other services, that the community wanted.
And. That probably worked fine until it rained again and then we got behind the eight-ball really quick because our landscapers, were out cleaning car parts instead of keeping up on the grass and the shrubs of the trees so we've discontinued, any. Practice, that uses landscapers, for anything different than landscaping, gonna make that clear but, that's reflected, in this budget item, here again. Most of this is is, fairly, unremarkable. In, terms of you, know your. Over year cost I would note that, the. Mutual's put and this board has put more emphasis on a lot of the concrete repair. And replacement, and that really goes hand in hand. Particularly. With. Your paving program you, know you, take care of those bad sidewalks. And curbs, and things, right. Before you do the paving and then it when you're done it's all all. Ready to go so that's. That's just a best practice, in the industry or Nestle knows that and that's what he's doing. Well. You're not, not anything too remarkable, here's our relatively. Small. Items, here, and then here. It's. Not that we're not doing these things anymore, a lot of these were moved over. To. Your reserve fund so you're. Well aware of that switch so not a big big, change there other, than where the money is coming from. And. So, here you can look, if anybody has any questions on these they're pretty straightforward you've, gone through these numbers a lot, of this these, service, levels are. Pretty consistent. With what we've historically, done, I would note there's a little. More on. The elevator. Fund, and replacements, for in repairs, basically, for. 419, and. Then. Here you've got a number, of reserved programs, and trying to think which of these might be of interest there. Some of this consistent, you've added, additional. Funding for exterior, lighting. 300,000. Over the current year I think that's that's remarkable. And, then, landscape, modernization. Which is a huge increase. From. 250, f2 to over a million and. So I think that's that. Will allow us to do a number of things including. Some, of the things that that the James had talked about as well, slopes. Fire, protection. Many. Many things route droughts whatever. Yeah, drought. Tolerant. Landscaping, conversion. All that so, that's all good, stuff that we should should, do and. Then here. You've got, a. Little. More prior, to paint and here quite a bit more four hundred thousand again. That's. Reflective, of your commitment, to addressing dry rot issues for the most part. And. Then. Everything else I think is not that, remarkable. Very similar, to what we've done this. Year your tree maintenance, that's. Very cyclical so, some years it might be a million. The next year might be a couple hundred this just happens to be a little, bit of a down year for, third. There's more in United, so gives, you an opportunity to take those resources and apply, to other priorities, that you have and and you've done that and I think you've picked. The right areas, to address, so. With that. That. Would. Conclude. The basic, presentation, and we would certainly entertain any, thoughts or questions that you have any any, changes, you might want to suggest coming. Out of this meeting it would be our hope that you would. Endorse. And. Again generally. By. Kind of mutual consent, here that yes this is what, we want to do or if it's something different than this we're. Okay with that too, long. Shoe all agree and tell us to bring you a resolution, after September, meeting yeah because, we do have very strict. Timelines, for. Notifying. The residents, of any changes, that might occur. Mailing. Information all. This budget information has to be mailed to each and every resident as well as you, know. Assessment. Books and all those sorts of things that that have to be done so. Again. We I would. End by just saying thank you again your, policy direction, and your hard work has been very clear and it has not been difficult, to. Figure out where you're coming from and to put it in a kind of a new numeric sort. Of. Presentation. Document. That you can can. Consider, and vote upon at your September meeting so, again thank you so, before. We would. Say. That this, meeting is adjourned. I can. Go around. Stay. Calm James I.
Could. Go and. You. Know first, the board members get to speak so stay calm Bert. So. I could, go around the table and if anyone has a comments. I mean. You've already made so many comments not at this meeting that if you don't have a comment that certainly, does not indicate that you were without comment, on many other meetings so, I'm gonna start with you cush any comments. Well. It's today, or Never, no he, made them all already, yeah we've discussed. Okay. I'm good with it and thank, you very much for joining our, board we're very excited to, have you with us Jack. Thank, you I am thrilled with the reserved number, okay. Well that's great and we're thrilled that you're feeling better and now we attend, to work you very hard, okay. Buddy. All. Right thank you always for all you do John, betting. I've just one, quick question there's five categories, of reserves the last one is unappropriated. What, is the. What. Is unappropriated. If you were a smaller, association. In, your operating, budget your. Last line you'd include. A contingency, and you. Would just have a contingency line-item, for unexpected, things that come up during the year but, because your operations, are so large you actually, set aside money, into, a, special. Fund, or savings, account for, anything that comes up that, is of an operating, nature, that, you didn't include in your budget so, it's, not related. To your reserves it's, for any supplemental, funding needed for, your operations, and it's only spent at board direction, by. Resolution. If you do a supplemental, appropriation for. A study, or a a. Special. Expense. That you weren't anticipating, thank, you, so. Is there any any example. Of where we've used that in the past year, yeah. You've done well. In the last year I don't know but I can think of a time when you had maybe a special litigation. Issue, and, that was above and beyond your normal legal fees and you would appropriate, money out. Of this fund for that you. Used it quite a bit for some unexpected, drainage. Issues. And you built a, drainage. Tunnel, that, wasn't reserved for so you use some contingency, funds for that, okay. Good question John, Steve. Yeah. The, only thing that I saw was. On. Slide 38 under, Solar maintenance, we're, dropping from 40,000, to 25,000. Is, that gonna be redressed, or we in a study, mode on that I. Know. I I believe that that adequately, addresses, the operations, and maintenance portion, of this of this project you have a brand new system. It, doesn't really need any work. At this at this point we'll, put funding in the reserve due for. Replacement items. But as far as your. Operations, that's, all you really need to keep the system does that include cleaning also that's the cleaning yeah yeah. And. If for some reason, we had to clean it and we were advised to clean it I'm sure we, would, figure.
It Out. Yeah, that. Would be an example of going to Betty and, say I'm. Saying we need the money okay thank you very much for Nesta thank you Steve. Okay. James, Wow. I'm gonna get to my turn. Well. Sing. Somewhere where I'm on th
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