2015 Mendenhall Village Management Report

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April 26, 2015

Dear Mendenhall Village Homeowners,

In accordance with the Mendenhall Village Homeowners Association Bylaws, the 2015 Annual Meeting has been set for Tuesday, May 12th from 7:00 PM to 8:45 PM at the Hockessin Fire Company’s Memorial Hall.

The Bylaws provide for homeowners in good standing to vote in person or by Proxy. In order to assure that a Quorum is achieved, The Board respectfully requests that every homeowner in good standing, complete and return the enclosed Proxy Form no later than Friday, May 8th , even if you plan to attend the Annual Meeting. If you attend, your Proxy will be returned to you and you will vote in person on any issue requiring a vote of the members.

It has been over 10 years without an increase in the Annual Assessment. The costs to properly maintain Mendenhall Village’s open spaces, private property, and to provide adequate winter snow plowing and salting services, have all steadily increased to the point that we can no longer provide the level of service we all desire, expect and deserve.

We have cut as much as possible, for as long as possible and can no longer avoid increasing the Annual Assessment. Quality doesn’t come cheap and in order to meet residents’ expectations, we must hire quality service providers. Again, ten years at the same rate is remarkable, especially when you consider that we have some residents that have not paid their assessments, which now total about $20,000 (with penalties, interest and legal fees). The Board has committed to pursuing all legal means available to us; in an attempt to recover all monies owed the Association.

With A2Z Property Management’s expertise and guidance, we’ve been able to hold expenses and in some instances, better manage vendors to control costs. However, we can no longer obtain the desired level of quality at those price levels. The Board values the community feedback received on this past winter’s plowing and we all agree that a higher level of responsiveness and detail is needed. Therefore, we will be soliciting bids in the coming months for the 2015/2016 Winter Plowing and Salting contact.

We want to stress the importance of maintaining the open space and common property for the benefit of all homeowners. Having a well-kept neighborhood reflects positively on your property (home) values and makes Mendenhall Village a desirable neighborhood.

The Board has worked diligently with our management company to establish service level requirements and specifications so that new vendors could be solicited to provide bids for the 2015 open space, entrances, landscaping and street trees.

The Board is pleased to announce that a new open space contractor has been selected and will begin refreshing all of the landscaped areas and addressing the street trees along Village Drive and Middleton, starting the first week in May. All the trees will have new edge perimeters cut and established and fresh mulching completed shortly. At our request, A2Z Property Management was able to prepare detailed Request for Quotation and contract documents and solicit detailed bids from four (4) highly qualified vendors for the open space maintenance.

We will continue to make necessary improvements and address needed repairs, but must plan for unexpected occurrences, such as last year’s extensive tree damage in our common areas which resulted in expenditure of $7,000 to properly trim and clean up the debris.

The Board thanks you for your continued support of our community and looks forward to receiving your completed Voting Proxy Form, and seeing you at the Annual Meeting on May 12th.

Sincerely,

The Mendenhall Village Homeowners Association Board