Voting & Elections – Quail Creek Homeowners Association

Homeowners Approve $825 Special Assessment for Street Repairs

Posted on October 14, 2015 by QCHOA Posted in Membership Meetings, News & Notable, Street Damage/Repair, Voting & Elections

Homeowners voted overwhelmingly (93%) in favor of a Special Assessment to finish the major repairs to the streets at the front entrance and make preventative maintenance to the streets throughout the neighborhood. The $825 Special Assessment is in addition to the Regular Annual Assessment, which the Board voted Tuesday to keep at the current rate of $319 (the Board may, without a vote of the homeowners, raise the annual regular assessment 10%).

Quail Creek Neighborhood’s annual assessment is among the lowest in Rockwall County, which makes it necessary to propose special assements from time to time, especially when it comes to street repair and maintenance.

Another development with a very low regular annual assessment is Kentwood (south of QC along 1139), which has just 17 homes, but is facing more than $116,000 to repair their street, which is in serious state of disrepair! Our ability to split repair costs among 69 owners is a true advantage over other developments.

The $825 Special Assessment, voted and approved by homeowners during the October 6 Annual Meeting, will be billed in January. Homeowners are encouraged to pay the full amount, rather than pay in three annual installments, which was proposed for homeowners who may be on a fixed income or where it may cause undue financial strain. The Board will make repairs as funds come available, which is why it is so important for as many homeowners as possible to pay the full amount in January.

“No Soliciting” Sign WILL NOT Prohibit School Fundraising from Neighborhood Children

Posted on October 7, 2015 by QCHOA Posted in Membership Meetings, Voting & Elections

At Tuesday’s Annual Meeting, homeowners overwhelmingly approved authorizing the Board to post a “No Soliciting” sign at the front entrance to Quail Creek. This will not inhibit school kids and the fire department from going door to door to raise funds for their worthy causes, however, but is intended to dissuade door-to-door solicitors from outside companies and organizations.

Homeowners should understand that a sign is legally unenforceable as there are no laws regulating door to door solicitation, which means that even with a posted sign it is not a criminal offense for people to solicit door to door. This means that the Sheriff will not come out to our neighborhood and arrest, fine, or even throw out a door-to-door solicitor because of our neighborhood sign.

A neighborhood “No Solicitation” sign, then, gives homeowners leverage to inform a solicitor of the neighborhood sign as reinforcement of the desire of our community to be free from this kind of solicitation. It actually works better than a law because sales people will be less likely to continue after a number of homeowners make this point to them.

Annual Meeting Summary

Posted on October 7, 2015 by QCHOA Posted in Board Related, Governance, Membership Meetings, Neighborhood Park, News & Notable, Street Damage/Repair, Voting & Elections

This year’s Annual Meeting was one of the highest attended since the completion of Phase II, where 70% of the Membership was represented, either in person or by proxy. A new Board was voted in and many motions were considered.

The Board Officers for the 2015/2016 term are
- Shana Nalls, President
- Casey Berley, Vice President
- Rhonda Smith, Treasurer
- Brad Peters, Secretary
- Architectural Review Committee
  - David Hoye, Chairman
  - David Fuller
  - Ken Daulong
The treasurer’s report is posted below under Budget 2015/2016.
President’s Report
- Bob Steinhagen, outgoing president, spoke about the many accomplishments of the Board, which include:
  - 1. Improved communications with homeowners including a new website, the newsletters, and email correspondence for important matters.
    2. Amending the governing documents of the HOA, which include the CC&Rs & Bylaws to bring the Association into compliance with new state standards, through a Ballot initiative that the Board created & developed, as well as many new policies, most of which were state mandated.
    3. Improvements to the neighborhood streets, which include the opportunity for homeowners to consider a Special Assessment for preventative maintenance and major repairs to the front entrance of the development.
    4. The decision to place a mailbox at the front entrance of the neighborhood for HOA related matters, which included a detailed explanation of the option between a decorative metal mailbox, which, while it would not conform to neighborhood standards, would be more cost effective verses a brick mailbox, where homeowners voted, via a poll posted on the HOA website, for the brick mailbox.
- Mr. Steinhagen also thanked the current board, Vice President, Brad Peters, Treasurer, Shana Nalls, Secretary, Glenna Brown, and the ARC, Ken Daulong, David Fuller, & David Hoye, for their tireless support to help reinvigorate homeowners confidence in the Board through their tireless and dedicated efforts.

A Motion to post a “No Soliciting” sign at the front entrance to the neighborhood passed, with the understanding that neighborhood school children may still go door to door to raise funds for their schools.
Motion to remove the two stop signs on Pheasant Hill failed by just four votes.
A Motion to sell the lot that currently is the park in the community and use the proceeds to repair the road near the entrance of Quail Creek failed overwhelmingly, with just six votes in favor of the motion.
A Motion to rename Mockingbird Hill Lane to Clint Packer Way was withdrawn.
A Motion for the Association to, on January 1, 2016, levy a Special Assessment of $825.00 for neighborhood street repairs and preventative maintenance, which shall either be due in full on the 31st of the same month or may be paid in up to three annual installments of not less than $275.00, where each installment comes due on the 31st of January of the installment year passed overwhelmingly (93%), with just three votes against the motion.

Homeowners Approve Amendments to CC&Rs & Bylaws!!!

Posted on April 7, 2015 by QCHOA Posted in "Covenants" CC&Rs, Ballot Initiative, Board Related, Bylaws, Governing Documents, Property Code-Texas, Records, Voting & Elections

It’s official! The Homeowners have spoken!

During tonight’s Board meeting, the votes in the Ballot Initiative were tallied and recorded resulting in at least sixty-seven percent (67%) of all homeowners in Quail Creek approving all amendments to the CC&Rs (Initiative #1) except for Amendments to Articles 4.8b, 4.8h, & 8.2. Seventy-one percent (71%) of homeowners also approved the newly amended Bylaws (Initiative #2). The amendment loosening the garbage can restriction (Initiative #3A) passed with sixty-nine percent (69%) support and the amendment to loosen the restriction on signs (Initiative 3B) also passed, capturing seventy-five percent (75%).

However, sixty-seven percent (67%) of homeowners rejected the amendment loosening the trailer restriction (Initiative #3C), where it garnered just thirty-three percent (33%), or one-third(1/3) homeowner support. Of the sixty-seven percent, twenty-seven percent (27%) voted to tighten the restriction with the rest preferring to keep the restriction as is. What is clear from the vote is that the overwhelming majority of homeowners do not support the storage of trailers in Quail Creek.

State law dictates that for any amendment to a declaration to pass it must have 67% approval of all homeowners (not those who vote, but all homeowners). Therefore, anyone that did not submit a ballot effectively voted to reject the amendments being proposed.

Remarkably, sixty-one out of the sixty-nine eligible members of the Association participated in this initiative including eleven of the twelve homeowners in Phase 1!

As part of the effort to protect and ensure the integrity of the process to tally the vote, all ballots were scanned & digitized. Only the voter signature pages (that include the homeowner’s name and ballot ID number) will be kept from distribution (both the digital files & hard copies of these signature pages will be kept on file indefinitely).

The Board hopes to have the revised CC&Rs & Bylaws recorded with Rockwall County by the end of next week, which will make the instruments official. Copies of the newly amended CC&Rs & Bylaws will be distributed to Homeowners soon. They will also be made available to homeowners on the “HOA Records” page on the HOA website.

“Recount of Votes Policy” Adopted in Advance of Ballot Initiative Vote Tally

Posted on March 5, 2015 by QCHOA Posted in Ballot Initiative, Board Meetings, Governing Documents, Policies, Property Code-Texas, Voting & Elections

A Recount of Votes Policy was adopted during Tuesday’s regular Board meeting to help ensure that the Association will not be responsible for the costs associated with such a request. The policy mirrors Texas Property Code Section 209.0057(b), which requires any party making the request to pay all costs associated with a recount unless the recount changes the results of a vote, wherein the Association would then be responsible to reimburse the requesting party/parties.

This comes on the heels of a frivolous open-records request by a homeowner who was demanding that the Association (fellow homeowners) foot the bill for the time and materials invested for “all” records in the Association’s possession. However, just days before the request the Board adopted the Records Reproduction & Copying Policy in accordance with Texas Property Code requirements, which would have cost homeowners several hundreds of dollars, had the policy not been in place. After standing it’s ground to require payment from the homeowner in accordance with the policy and after a final threat of legal action by the homeowner against the Association, the Board closed the matter when the homeowner in question failed to respond within 30 days to a certified letter demanding prepayment.

The vote tally will occur during an open meeting of the Board where homeowners may come and observe. The process to tally the ballots was reviewed during Tuesday’s Board meeting to help ensure that the process will be open and transparent to help alleviate the need for any homeowner to question the results.

Notable Changes to Texas Property Code

Posted on January 1, 2012 by QCHOA Posted in "Covenants" CC&Rs, Ballot Initiative, Board Meetings, Board Related, Bylaws, FAQ, Financials, Governance, Governing Documents, Meeting Agendas, Meeting Minutes, Membership Meeting Minutes, News & Notable, Official Notice, Policies, Property Code-Texas, Records, Voting & Elections

The 2011 Texas Legislature enacted major changes to the Texas Property Code, especially as it relates to HOA’s. These changes, most of which went into effect on January 1, 2012, have had a dramatic impact on Quail Creek and the manner in which we are governed. These changes have been highlighted in the attached document.