The newly voted HOA BOARD Officers are asking for your help and support! We are looking for Members, in good standing, for several approved Association Committees. In 2018 a new process will begin to promote clearer communications and develop an input process for members to directly be active in all projects of the Assocaition. We need members on the Lakes Restoration and Maintenance Project Committee,Facilities and Common Properties Project(s) Committee, Community Security Project Committee and the Community Social Activities Committee beginning in January.
If anyone is interested in working with a new team of Directors in helping improve or community and present a higher quality of life to our membership, please contact Barry Hart by email or complete a Comments and Question Form on the the Laurel Lakes Website, In the Messages block tell us which committee(s) you may want to volunteer for and them submit the form. If enough Members volunteer, the Meetings will begin after the January 16 Board Meeting. Below is a listing of the committees and their general descriptions:
General Descriptions:
Finance and Budget Committee: This team will be assigned a Board Liaison Member and would meet to prepare and review the Annual Operational and Reserve Budgets. As a committee, their goal is to work with the Board in meeting its fiduciary responsibilities. Additional responsibilities would include: 1. Evaluate the past Reserve Study and planned Reserve Study as it applies to our repairs and maintenance projects, 2. Prepare proper bid proposals for future large contracts meeting Florida Statutes as identified, 3. Make recommendations to the Board on any submitted proposals concerning proposed costs, changes, invoices or fees associated with such proposals, 4. Work with Argus Management Company in the preparations of the Annual Budget, reviews and final documentation to be presented to the Assocaition.
Facilities and Common Property Committee: A Board Director will be appointed as the Liaison to this committee and will meet with the team members working on daily and planned projects associated with our Common Properties such as the clubhouse, pool, gym, tennis courts, roadways, roadway islands, lights, common property irrigation, lakes and exterior walls and other issues. The team will contact vendors, develop and schedule time frames for projects, and present information and bids to the Board staying within their Annual Budget requirements. As a project begins, they will monitor contractor's work until the project is finished and inspected with final approval by the Board or it's designated representative. They will work directly with the Argus Management Representative on completing projects throughout our community.
Sub-Committees for 2018: Lakes Restoration and Maintenance Committee: This committee (team) has been defined as a sub-committee and will work specifically on the evaluation, maintenance, planting, SWFWMD requirements and other issues concerning the Laurel Lakes retention lakes . This committee of Members will report to the Board of Directors and work as a team to help resolve current issues that have been presented and develop a unified strategy that can be presented to the Membership for final approval. Since the lakes are identified as Common Property the Covenants declare that they must be maintenanced and budgeted for over the life of community. Community Security Committee: This committee (team) has been defined as a sub-committee and will report to an appointed Board Director as their liaison. This committees responsibilities will be to identify, document and understand the the current security systems (Clubhouse, Video and Vehicle Access Control) develop an acceptable set of requirements for either an upgrade of the current systems or make a proposal for a Competitive Bid to completely change the current systems to a newer and modern systems. In each scenario, Town Hall Meetings will be established for vetting the information found, explain the findings in detail and several vendors to present their ideas to the Membership.
Community Social Activities Committee: A Board Director will be appointed as the Liaison for this committee and will work with this team to help create community events that can be enjoyed by all members of the community. This requires some creative thinking but we know there are individuals within our community who are very creative and have had good ideas. This team will help design, plan, schedule and market old and new ideas for community events such as shows, bus trips, clubhouse events, gaming nights... while trying to keep the costs to a minimal expense. Members have asked for more group exercise programs, pool programs like water aerobics and walking events. All of these can be accomplished through a Social Committee Team but we need members to plan these events, send out the information and do the registrations.
ARC/Covenant Committee (Architectural Review Committee): Every Association needs to have an ARC which is identified in the Covenants. This is NOT the "Neighborhood Snitch Committee"! A Board Director will be appointed as the Liaison , usually the HOA President, or VP. They will be working with this team, making them familiar with our Architectural Covenants. This Director will work with the team reviewing the current Covenants to make sure everyone is meeting the Covenants and Deed Restrictions that we all agreed to abide by when we purchased a home within Laurel Lakes. This committee team will be responsible to review ARC Request and either approve or deny such requests as specified in our Covenants. Yes, sometimes there are members who violate these covenants and that is why we have Argus Management working with this committee. Argus works with us to resolve issues with individual homeowners. This committee is not responsible to inspect anyone's property. It will be Argus Management's responsibility , as our property manager, to inspect possible violations and send official violation notices to our Members. This will include the processing and collection of any fines associated with the violations.
NEW ----Welcome Neighbor Committee: This committee is being created to welcome new members into the Laurel Lakes Assocaition. Its goal is to make sure that new Members and Residents are welcomed into the community and have a contact representative for general information. Information such as Entry Call Box registration, access to the website, a copy of the Association Declarations with Rules, community keys for the pool/gym/tennis court entry, vehicle access fob/cards and other information they may need or want.
Clubhouse Rental Committee: Currently only one person serves on this committee and we are looking for a couple of additional members who wish to volunteer their time to help with this committee. As a committee, the team will continue to prepare contracts for clubhouse rental, collect rental fees, schedule events and place them on the Community Calendar System. For each event, this committee will inspect the clubhouse before and after each event making sure there are no damages and secure the clubhouse after use. If damages are incurred, it will be up to this committee to present their findings and documentation to the Board for resolution. This committee team usually reports directly to the President or VP of the HOA.
Neighborhood Watch Committee: This team will work under the Board Director Liaison for Facilities and Common Property Committee. As a separate committee, they will continue their program as it has been defined over several years. New members are always being asked to volunteer to help ride around at night to keep an eye on our neighborhood. The HOA never will request anyone to place themselves in harm's way. The members of this committee just observe and report anything, to the Board, that may be suspicious so that we have documentation of possible events.