Answers from Ducharme
Thanks for the email. I will do my best to answer your questions here.
QUESTION: The assessment letter says: "...Nearly $1,000,000 has been spend over the past 5 years". That would be a minimum of $200,000 a year. The By Laws of Pollard Brook - Part II Board of Directors item (vii) states "May purchase such equipment and other personal property as is necessary to properly accomplish the purposes of the Association, except that board should have no power to expend in excess of $4,000 in any one (1) year for the acquisition of personal property or for capital improvements w/o majority vote of members present and voting at a duly held meeting of the members association." Can I have a copy of the minutes from the meeting where expenditure of amounts in excess of 199,999 was approved?
ANSWER: The section in the same documents that authorize the management company to do this is as follows:
Title II, By-Laws of the Pollard Brook Unit Owners' Association, Part VI Accounting, Section 5 Special Assessments, states:
a. Each owner is liable for those expenses directly related to his period of occupancy of a condominium unit assigned to him, which shall be billed to him as special assessments.
b. Expenses billable as special assessments include, but are not limited to, the costs of repairing damage done to the condominium unit, equipment, and furnishings during the use period, other than ordinary wear and tear: telephone charges over and above the basic charges; and such other services rendered during the use period at the request of the owner or guest not included as an item in the budget.
Title III, Timeshare Management, Part III Management, Section 5 Special Assessments, states:
Each owner is liable for those expenses directly related to his period of occupancy of a condominium unit assigned to him. These expenses include, but are not limited to, the expense of repairing damage done to the condominium unit, equipment, and furnishings during the use period assigned to him, other than ordinary wear and tear: telephone charges over and above the basic charges; and such other services rendered during the use period at the request of the owner or a guest not included as an item in the budget.
As part of our due diligence in implementing this assessment, the management company's legal counsel, as well as the NH Attorney General's Office reviewed this action prior to its implementation.
QUESTION: 2. The By Laws of Pollard Brook - Part IV Meetings Section 1 states
"(c) The president, with in (30) days of said meeting shall cause a copy of the minutes there of, including the budget adopted thereof to be mailed to each member".
I received the special assessment in mail, but have never received a copy in the mail of the operating budget.
Questions: Can we receive (in mail) the annual meeting minutes and operating budgets for each year going forward?
ANSWER: Yes, you can (and will) receive this information going forward. I have attached the latest Board of Advisor minutes for your review.
CONCLUSION: Although your questions are excellent, it is important for you to know that until recently, the Board consisted of only the developer, and its appointees. The developer owned the majority of the intervals, and consequently the majority of the votes for any action. During development stage, and during the first 80% of the sales, a Board is not required. As soon as over 80% of the inventory was sold, it was then that a Homeowners' Association (HOA) was required. Currently, there is an interim Board of Advisors, which is the first step in constituting a full-fledged HOA, with its attendant Board of Directors, made up of owners elected by other owners. Having said that, in the future, the developer will continue to be an active member of the Board, because the developer continues to own approximately 1100 intervals at the property, with the same number of votes in any Board election.
Thank you.
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Dennis M. Ducharme, RRP
Board of Directors
