President Blog v.7 - Professional HOA Management

Kingsgate!

Now that Julyuarary is nearly over, we can get to trying to absorb as much vitamin D as possible between now and the end of September!

Changes are ahead for Kingsgate 3&4. In February, at the annual membership meeting I mentioned that I felt strongly about our community having a comprehensive plan for our future. The Board had a reserve study done, which is intended to indicate how much money we need in savings to be able to support future capital improvements and to sustain our facilities. This number is not trivial. There are differing opinions on the percentage of funding required to absorb capital costs, and several methods by which that funding can be secured. That conversation is for another day, however.

The result of our reserve study left several Board members concerned that while our facilities have been adequately maintained, many of them are in need of material upgrades and/or overhauls that have not been done since the community’s inception in the late 1960s. Generally, some members Board were further concerned about the prospect of having an all-volunteer Board, that’s members have busy families, jobs, and other commitments attempt to navigate planning and execution of large-scale capital upgrades in the park and common areas. This kind of planning and project execution requires professional assistance.

I agreed with this assessment and personally believe that the right professional project management would ensure for the most efficient use of the community’s resources. Early in the year, I began to do some cursory research on this type of project management service and realized that this is something that professional HOA management companies offer, in addition to financial or full-service management. Further investigation into HOA management companies gave me the understanding that nearly all large and medium sized HOAs (Kingsgate being an exception) utilize professional community management services. I have to be honest, I did not even know that professional HOA management was a thing until I began this process in February and while I can’t say for certain, I’m pretty sure a large portion of the Board didn’t know this either.

I brought the idea of professional HOA management for Kingsgate 3 & 4 back to the Board and in the May, 2020 meeting the Board voted unanimously to authorize an Exploratory Committee to study professional HOA management. Since that time, the Committee chaired by Chris Dwyer and staffed by myself, Derek Tucci, and Chris Adams has been hard at work evaluating professional HOA management. To date, the Committee has interviewed (10) separate HOA management companies, received proposals from (8) companies, invited (6) companies to participate in an RFP, and is now down-selecting (3) companies to give presentations to the complete Board. Following these presentations that Board will vote in the August 18, 2020 meeting to select one of these firms for financial management, full-management, or to continue without the assistance of a professional HOA management company.

Before this vote, the Board needs your feedback! We will be hosting a series of virtual Town Halls via WebEx the week of August 3rd to explain the details behind this concept to you and solicit your feedback. We want to understand your questions and comments. Please go to the website and comment on this post so we can gather as much feedback as possible. Talking directly to a Board member or sending an email to KG34.Board@gmail.com is ok, but commenting on the website works even better.

Please see below for a schedule