Marc McQuary said...
As many of you can see from reading the Spring update, the possibility of this being the last year we have a pool is a grim reality. For many years the Board of Directors for the Home Owner’s Association has struggled to find ways to keep our swimming pool open and operational while meeting the safety requirements of Gwinnett County. From my perspective we are now in a crucial situation that will likely necessitate we close the pool permanently after this year and eventually fill it in, doing away with it permanently. THIS HAS COME ABOUT COMPLETELY AS A RESULT OF LIMITED FINANCIAL SUPPORT IN THE WAY OF RESIDENTS CONSISTENTLY PAYING THEIR DUES ON AN ANNUAL BASIS IN ORDER TO BE MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. Put simply, we will not have the money to pay our taxes, maintain and operate the pool, keep the clubhouse in good repair, be attentive to continuing beautification of the front entrance and doing proper upkeep on the commons areas in the neighborhood if we continue on the path we have been on for the past several years. As is the case with any “business endeavor”, when income is exceeded by overhead, some sort of eliminations have to occur. With the pool being one of the largest liabilities we have, it is at the top of the list for many reasons to be the asset we do away with. Having been one of the initial 40 or so families that got the developers to build the pool, tennis courts and clubhouse, I can say this reality saddens me greatly. While I do not want to anger anyone I do have to state that it is my opinion that that serious apathy on the part of the majority of homeowners in Mountain Cove has created the situation we now face. There are consistently only a very small percentage of residents that can always be counted on to put forth effort, money, sweat and toil to keep things running in this neighborhood. As one member of this small percentage of people that seem to do all the work and show deep concern I feel it necessary to say that I find it unfair that so few are willing to put forth the commitment so others can enjoy the pool, clubhouse and have a nice looking neighborhood. I am certain I speak for the others that are always shoulder to shoulder with me in paying dues and carrying out the work that is required to keep things going. For those of you that were at one time in this group but have now given up, you deserve all the thanks that can be given for the commitment you gave and I have to say it is understandable why you have “thrown in the towel”. As a community we ALL should feel obligated to take pride in where we live and do whatever we can to make it as nice a community as it can be. Yes we are in tough economic times and many of us are out of work or have been hurt financially one way or the other. However, the very small annual dues of $200.00 for what we could have with our swim and tennis facility if 75% to 90% of the residents would commit is an incredibly small price to pay. In fact if you do the math it works out to an annual commitment of less than 70 CENTS A DAY! I know that I most likely am offending some; if that is the case I apologize. It’s just that my sense of pride in where I live requires that I be open and straightforward, being direct and honest in stating what I see as our problem as well as the solution. We all have to commit to the community; both as much as we can financially and also in terms of the personal time that we give to it in order for it to thrive. No one is going to bail us out! If collectively we don’t care then know that the value of our largest investments, our homes, will suffer as we see our pool close, the clubhouse fall into a state of disrepair and the overall appearance of our neighborhood deteriorate. I urge anyone that wants to see Mountain Cove continue to be all it can be and protect the investment you have made in your home, please take my words to heart and step up and become an active member of your community. We need EVERYONE’S support to make it happen!
April 15, 2009 5:46 PM
2 comments:
I second all the comments Mark has made. I have lived here since 1994, have served on the board for 5 years and have participated in all aspects of maintaining this neighborhood. I have seen years when the pool was packed every day of the summer and the community had 6 tennis teams playing out of here. This was when we had people who cared about the community; however now I am one that has somewhat "thrown in the towel" although I will ALWAYS contribute my dues no matter what decisions are made. $200 is nothing compared to what most thriving communities charge and it is a absolute shame that now only a small portion of the community commits this money on a yearly basis. Hopefully we can turn things around but I am slowly loosing hope.
All, I want to be sure everyone is making an informed decision about whether or not to keep the pool open. The fact is that the pool needs major and extensive repairs made to it to keep it open past this year. If we choose to keep the pool open we will basically deplete the funds that we have (including the windfall we received from overpaid taxes) and still have no guarantee that the pool will remain open. Unless we receive 75% participation from the neighborhood for the next 3-5 years the pool will need to be closed regardless of what we do this year. Let me tell you we have not had that type of participation for the last 5 years and I don't see that there will be a drastic change in the years to come. The fact is the board has had to beg the homeowners for the past 5 years just to get by with 40% participation and the other 60% just don't care and will not care in the future. Sooo...do we deplete our funds now to keep the pool open and then have to close it in the future anyway?...or do we stop the bleeding and put the money we have towards fixing up the amenities that can be more easily maintained. We could fix up the clubhouse so that it would be available to members for parties and gatherings, possibly sponsored by the homeowners assoc. Repair the tennis courts to ALTA standards so that we could again have tennis teams play out of Mountain Cove. Provide nice landscaping to the front entrance to make our neighborhood more attractive. Have piece of mind that we have money to pay to maintain the common areas, keep the lights on and pay the taxes. All these repairs are non-seasonal meaning that there is no timeframe in which they would need to be completed which means we could perform them as we receive the necessary funds keeping the required money in the account to pay the mandatory bills. Yes it will be a sad day when we fill in the pool (its not a matter of if its a matter of when) but we need to be realistic here. You also need to ask yourself is it right to keep asking the board to beg the neighborhood to pay their dues? Are you willing to do the begging? I know I'm not and that is why I am voting to close the pool so that we can again begin to enjoy the neighborhood without the financial burden of the pool.
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