Volume 1 No.

Bulow Village Homeowners Association Newsletter

December 2011

Rent & Market Rent Increases

Your Home Owners Association (HOA) working through its Statutory Committee of Five has been busy over the last several months and we wanted to let the community know our progress. At the Annual Meeting in January, 2011, we received overwhelming support to challenge ELS (the park owner) if they raised the rent or market rates for 2012. The Committee of Five began visiting parks in our area as well as the parks that ELS has used to compare to ours to gain information that we needed in order to build a position that rent & market rate increases were not justified. We have collected useful information, to support our positions. Rental increases, if any, begin in February each year. On October 18, 2011, we received the rent increases for February 2012 and Management posted new market rate amounts for 2012. ELS wants to raise the lot rent by 3% and raise the culde-sac market rate by $10.00. We contacted our Attorney, W. Richard Thoreen Esq., who is under retainer with the HOA and members of the Committee of Five meet with him in his office and confirmed the strict guidelines and dates required by Chapter 723 of the Florida State Statute dealing with manufactured housing, as it relates to negotiations, mediations, arbitration & legal action in the Circuit Court. Following Chapter 723, the Committee of Five requested a meeting to discuss managements rent & market rate increases and the justification for same.

We met with Management and received their documents that they feel justify the increases. We also requested that market rate classifications be changed on some homes on Osprey Lane that do not have creek access. The committee of five discussed with managements their documents and requested a second meeting with management on January 11, 2012, to which all agreed. (Required by Chapter 723) The committee of five met and reviewed at great length the documents submitted by ELS and compared them to the information we had gathered. We responded to ELS in writing disputing their reasoning for a rent & market rate increase, citing in part that the parks ELS used to compare to Bulow Plantation were not comparable. In fact Bulow had the highest market rates while all the other parks had much larger facilities & more amenities then we have. This was bourn out by the fact that Bulow received the lowest rating (55.5) of all the parks used by management in their comparison, (A response disputing ELS documents was required by Chapter 723). We will keep the Community apprised of our work to insure, for all our residents, that we do not continue to overpay lot rents and inflated market rate amounts. Should you want more detailed information on this issue, please contact me at penntown@comcast.net or my cell number 609-929-6041. Kenneth W. Carruth, Chairman Bulow HOA, Committee of Five

HOA GENERAL MEETING MINUTES, NOVEMBER 16, 2011

Board Members Present: June Kuhns, Ken Carruth, Hal Mesnard, Jeanne Widdis, John Cirello, Betty Pettibone. Absent: Carol Lex, Carol Giambalvo June announced that she was the Acting President until the January election was held, due to the resignation of Ray Ballou. Ray resigned because his part-time job became a full time job. The meeting was called to order with the Pledge of Allegiance. The minutes were accepted as e-mailed with a motion by Arline Gaines, seconded by Jim Pettibone. The Treasurers report was read by Betty Pettibone. Committee Reports: Committee of 5: Ken Carruth reported that he, Carol & Hal met with our attorney to determine what ELS could or could not do on a variety of issues. We now have this attorney under retainer. Ken Carruth and Carol Giambalvo attended the statewide ELS meeting with their parks. The session ran from 1 to 5 p.m. ELS regional representatives attended, along with Brad Nelson, National Vice President, and Jeff Fannon State V.P representative. Mr. Nelson encouraged residents or Board members to bring their issues and complaints first to Marta and Jeff. If there is no satisfaction, go up the ladder to Regional, State and National. Re Trees: If your Prospectus does not mention trees re trimming or removal, then it is the responsibility of ELS. Dead and diseased are a first priority or emergency. Trimming will be done as funds are available from the Capital Budget. Committee of 5 met with ELS on Friday, November 11 and received information ELS used to justify a 3% rent increase and an increase in Market Rate of the Cul-De-Sac sites. We must reply with our

positions by November 26. We have a 2nd statutory meeting on January 11 to discuss both positions. June said that if writing to Chicago, dont expect a written response. ELS operates a Top/Down Business philosophy and put their faith and responsibility in their Park Managers. Someone from another Park questioned can a Park Manager be fired. The reply was that there would be charges, then an investigation if there was a constant flow of complaints. Letters are best. We see them. Your HOA will do it and we encourage you to do the same. Sam Rudland, our FMO Representative, also attended the ELS meeting and commented that ELS said that their Park Managers should be pro active. Should be in their cars every day, driving through the community to evaluate possible issues. June explained why the Committee of 5 refused to sign the Long Term Agreement offered by ELS. There is language in the proffered agreement that would take away your right to a jury trial. If any individual wanted to sue ELS, their right to jury trial would be null and void, also, at the end of contract ELS could put us up to Market Rate. Ken said that he asked our attorney about a previous threat by ELS to take the entire Park to Market Rate. The attorney said that under 723, in order to raise the entire Park ELS would have to justify their decision by showing similar increases in equivalent parks or increases in their operational expenses, taxes and insurance etc. They would also have to show decreases in expenses. In comparisons with other Parks, we are the highest paying in rents and the lowest for conditions and amenities. In conclusion, they just cannot raise us to Market. We would go to Court. Linda Rudland asked if this information could be included in the Village View. Ken said that this would be forwarded to Jamie Ballou.

Web Site and Newsletter: No report. However, there is a new box in the mail area for the View and Jamie has been keeping the box replenished with View newsletters. FMO: Sam Rudland attended the FMO District Meeting on November 1. State legislators must get information re changes or problems affecting Manufactured Housing. Please communicate with your legislators by e-mail only. Snail mail takes 2 weeks and usually arrives too late for action. Find legislators e-mail addresses and much other information at www.myflorida.gov. New Business: Elections for the Board are held at the January General Meeting.. Expiring terms are John Cirello, Hal Mesnard and Betty Pettibone. John Cirello has decided not to stand for re-election. June stated that we need people on the Board and you must be a member of the HOA to serve. Nominating Committee: John Cirello and Jeanne Widdis. Betty Pettibone will start collecting dues at the end of this meeting. Open Forum: Hazel Stoltz asked for signs be posted that dogs should not be walked on the Clubhouse grounds, from the shuffleboard court to the mailbox area. Dogs are also being walked on the empty lots. The issue is that some people are not picking up after their dogs. John Cirello suggested either take a picture or describe the dog if you do not know the owners identity and to file a complaint with management with a copy to the HOA. Linda Rudland said that Marta gave up her identity on a complaint and the offending resident confronted Linda. It was explained that management should not have shared that information. The HOA needs copies of the complaints so we can follow up that the issues have been resolved. Size of dogs was in question and residents were asked to check their various prospectuses to see if a size is mentioned. It was determined that the next Board Meeting would be on December 7 and the General Meeting on December 14, due to the Christmas holidays.

June asked for volunteers for refreshment for the next General Meeting. Linda Rudland, Jeanne Widdis and Marilyn Jackson offered. John Cirello made a motion to adjourn and Linda Rudland seconded

SPECIAL NOTICE!
Your homeowners association is announcing a new column for the Village View. The column will be called BULOW Q and A. This column will address questions and provide answers that are submitted from our residents here in Bulow Village. A resident can summit a question by e-mail using our address (bulowqanda@yahoo.com), writing a note and giving it to one of our board members, or attending a monthly general meeting and raising the question to the board during the public portion of the meeting. We believe that there is a lot of misinformation floating about the community, and our residents have general questions that they would like answered. We believe the Village View is a great resource to deal with these issues and get the facts in a written form. Please, send us a e-mail, contact a board member, or best of all come to our monthly meeting and start the questions flowing in!! Keep an eye out for our first question to appear in the January issue of the Village View dealing with TREES, TREES,TREES.

HOA Board Members:

June Kuhns, Acting President 517-0040 Carol Giambalvo, Secy. 439-7537 Betty Pettibone, Treas. 439-7456 John Cirello 439-4774 Ken Carruth 609-929- 6041 Jean Widdis 517-6759 Hal Mesnard 439-2756 Carol Lex 856-495-9125

Editor of the Village Views:

Jamie Ballou 986-0780