Keystone Manors

November Newsletter

Nov 26, 2006

President?’s Report

Do you believe a year has gone by already? Your 2006 Board had much to do. We started the year off with a survey from the homeowners. You wanted the park cleaned up and made safe for our children. You wanted the guardhouse made respectable and you wanted to spruce up the common areas, landscape, cut trees, plant flowers and make the neighborhood prettier. Your Board accomplished all of that. We had some set backs. Lightning hit the guardhouse and blew out the circuits, the sprinkler system, A/C units, phones, gates, etc. Also, we leveled the large mound of dirt in the park and lost the sprinkler system there. Keeping the 118 oak trees trimmed and cutting the vines on the wall is costly but we have them under control. This month we will be trimming the oak trees on the north wall. This holiday season you will see seasonal flowers at the front entrance and the islands on Keystone Crossings. We are going to put up some seasonal lighting at the front entrance as well. Some good news is that we requested a ?“Neighborhood Grant?” from Hillsborough County for security equipment and we got a grant of $1500.We will be installing another light pole and security cameras in the pavilion area in the near future. We are still having problems with the gates since they got hit by lightning. We are working on getting them fixed. We are also changing the gate poles from yellow to white. We also took over the negotiating of contracts for work done in our community. This saved us over $12,000 since contractors sometimes double their costs when dealing with a property management company that manages a community like ours. We still have more to do. That is why your current Board, Tracy Califar, Dick Kepner and Jim Gibson are going to run for the Board one more year. We want to finish your requests. If elected to a second term, we will again send out a survey for you to prioritize what you want done next. Being a Board member is not always fun. Our main jobs are to make sure the community property is maintained and to enforce the covenants. The Architectural Control Committee drives thru the community every two weeks and reports violations of the covenants. Most issues are taken care of quickly, but there are some that are not taken care of. Please, help us keep our neighborhood looking at its best. It was an honor working for you this year. Have a safe and fun Holiday Season.




Treasurer?’s Report

The HOA budget as of 8/31/06 vs. the start of the year is:
1/06 8/31/06
Operating $14,547.68 $4,127.07
Reserves $72,948.94 $63,203.87
Other Assets $6,887.17 $6,062.54

Total $94,383.79 $73,393.48
Difference ($20,990.31)

Annual Meeting

The Keystone Manors Homeowners Association annual meeting will be held on Thursday, December 7th at 7:00 PM at the Hillsdale Baptist Church on Ehrlich Rd., just east of the Veterans Expressway. This is a change from the notice that University Properties sent to each homeowner. The agenda will be to approve the 2007 annual budget, announce the results of the election of Board Members and other new business as appropriate. All homeowners are encouraged to attend.

Architectural Control Committee

The Keystone Manors Design Standards are currently being reviewed. Look for the revised version on the web site in the near future.

Ponds

We have worked on the pond issue for the last three months and have come across some road blocks. The good news is that we have convinced the county to come out the first week in December and do an assessment on how to clean/dredge the main pond, plant the right plants, figure out how much the county will help and how much it will cost to get this center piece of our community looking right.

Assessments

As of October 19th there were 34 homeowners that were behind in payment of their monthly assessments. This totaled $4,625 in delinquencies. These delinquencies make it very difficult to prepare a 2007 budget without raising every homeowners monthly assessment. Please, pay your monthly assessment by the first of each month.

Reclaimed Water

We have been working with Randy Sears, manager of RWIU and Jim Duncan, head engineer for Reclaimed Water Planning. The latest is: Keystone Manors is second on the waiting list to get reclaimed water behind Cheval West which has 776 homes. The county cannot release reclaimed water until they have the capacity to do so. In other words, they have to have enough people making waste water in order to make reclaimed water. More people have to move into new developments in northwest Hillsborough County before we can get it. Reclaimed water is totally dependant on growth. It could be as long as 2 to 3 years before Cheval West gets reclaimed water and we come after them. It takes 51% of the homeowners to approve getting reclaimed water. When and if we do get reclaimed water, it will cost us $500 to $700 per year for twenty years or around $3,000 for a one time payment. We will have no restrictions, unlike wells who have to follow the same guidelines that regular water uses. Each month the flat metered rate is about $9.00. Watch the web site for updated information. We will also investigate political means to get the process moving faster.

Keystone Manors Web Site

We would like to remind all HOA members that there is a web site for the HOA at:
www.neighborhoodlink.com/tampa/kmhoa/
You are encouraged to post any information you think the members or visitors to the site would be interested in. Please contact Craig Fones at cnk4evr_211@hotmail.com.

Pavilion

Phase one of the pavilion is nearly done. What is left is gutters and security cameras. This will be done in the first quarter of 2007. If you want more done to the pavilion/park, put it on the survey which will be coming out early next year. Examples are: closing the pavilion in and air conditioning it; more playground equipment; lighted tennis courts; workout room; etc.







Neighborhood News(Gossip)

Our thanks goes to the Perez family who owns Bucks Wholesale Plumbing(we have three families of Perez?’s in our neighborhood). They donated all of the sprinkler system pipes and fittings for the park, which saved us a couple of thousand dollars. They also negotiated for the new well and the labor in the park for us.

Halloween was safe, fun and the weather cooperated. A lot of homeowners decorated and they all looked great.

John Hersey ran into the exit gate while talking on his cell phone. (Is this a joke, Tracy???)

If you have any ?“gossip?” e-mail us and we?’ll put it in the Newsletter.

Landscaping

With the shortage of water for irrigation and hurricanes being main concerns in Florida, George Kish, who has a lot of expertise in landscaping , has volunteered to help us keep you informed as well as help us review the Design Standards. Some articles and booklets on these subjects are on the web site and others will be posted in the following months. Thanks for your help, George.

Contacts

Tracy Califar Day: 926-0276 Eve:926-5013
President TCALIFAR@AOL.COM

Dick Kepner Day/Eve: 920-6179
Vice President POOLSIDEINODESSA@EARTHLINK.NET

Jim Gibson Day/Eve:920-1957
Secretary/Treasurer SPSGIBSON@AOL.COM

Angela Hester Day: 980-1000
Association Manager
University Properties, Inc.
7001 Temple Terrace Hwy.
Tampa, FL 33637