Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Lost Ring
Our neighbor Paige Cox is missing a ring. The ring is rose gold with pink mother-of-pearl and three diamonds. The ring is very sentimental. She may have lost it near the mailboxes on 229th while taking her gloves off. If anyone finds the ring, please see Paige or email the blog. Thank you!
Live Wire Danger - Please Warn Children
We have a serious vandalism problem with people stealing the wire for the street lights in Phase 3. They stole another block of wiring since Sunday afternoon. The street lights are now out in 4 blocks.
PLEASE ADVISE THE CHILDREN NOT TO TOUCH ANY OF THE WIRING IN PHASE 3. It is safer to tell them ALL WIRING than to tell them that just the high voltage street light wiring may injure or kill them. Tacoma Power told Jim Ehnborn that the HOA must hire an electrician to test for “live wires” and fix the problem because Grand Firs is a private community and Tacoma Power is not responsible for maintaining the street lights or power lines. We own all of the street lights, wiring and power transformers.
A Tacoma Power Electrical Inspector was taking a break this afternoon in Phase 3. He was the inspector during the installation of the power in Grand Firs. He graciously offered to help us resolve the problem. The wires he tested were “live” and carrying 220 volts of electricity. He showed Jim Ehnborn how to turn off the circuit breakers. Since we are not able to stop the vandalism, we agreed that a safer solution is to turn off the power to the street lights in Phase 3 and lock the circuit breaker boxes. None of the boxes are currently locked. If he finds that Grand Firs has not paid the electric bill for the street lights, he will work with us to have the power remain on for the street lights in Phase 1 and 2.
Phase 3 is scheduled to be auctioned on March 5, 2010. Mastro Properties currently owes over $18 million to the bank. The lots in Phase 4 were combined with Phase 3 earlier this year for a total of 202 lots.
PLEASE ADVISE THE CHILDREN NOT TO TOUCH ANY OF THE WIRING IN PHASE 3. It is safer to tell them ALL WIRING than to tell them that just the high voltage street light wiring may injure or kill them. Tacoma Power told Jim Ehnborn that the HOA must hire an electrician to test for “live wires” and fix the problem because Grand Firs is a private community and Tacoma Power is not responsible for maintaining the street lights or power lines. We own all of the street lights, wiring and power transformers.
A Tacoma Power Electrical Inspector was taking a break this afternoon in Phase 3. He was the inspector during the installation of the power in Grand Firs. He graciously offered to help us resolve the problem. The wires he tested were “live” and carrying 220 volts of electricity. He showed Jim Ehnborn how to turn off the circuit breakers. Since we are not able to stop the vandalism, we agreed that a safer solution is to turn off the power to the street lights in Phase 3 and lock the circuit breaker boxes. None of the boxes are currently locked. If he finds that Grand Firs has not paid the electric bill for the street lights, he will work with us to have the power remain on for the street lights in Phase 1 and 2.
Phase 3 is scheduled to be auctioned on March 5, 2010. Mastro Properties currently owes over $18 million to the bank. The lots in Phase 4 were combined with Phase 3 earlier this year for a total of 202 lots.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Grand Firs Insurance Coverage
On Dec. 18th, the CFO of Mastro Properties informed Jim Ehnborn and Jim Selden that Michael Mastro let all of the insurance policies expire for non-payment of premiums. We are checking with the banks owning the vacant lots if they have an insurance policy that will cover the Grand Firs HOA or merely their property. Jim Ehnborn’s homeowner’s policy will not cover him for a loss assessment for a lawsuit against the HOA law suit or assessment if there is no master insurance policy enforce for the HOA. The lack of the master insurance policy may place each homeowner at great risk for a personal liability without reimbursement by the home owner’s policy. Each homeowner should verify the insurance coverage with their insurance agent.
Jim Ehnborn will be meeting with the bankruptcy trustee and the CFO this week to discuss the issue. We have a quote from an insurance agent for an HOA Master Policy with a $250,000 property damage and $2 million liability for about $1,500 premium per year for Phase 1 & 2. We are getting a quote for all 3 phases. We are requesting the courts to consider this gross negligence act committed by Michael
Mastro as sufficient cause to remove him as the President of the Grand Firs HOA. We are discussing with the banks the method of operating the HOA in 2010.
Jim Ehnborn will be meeting with the bankruptcy trustee and the CFO this week to discuss the issue. We have a quote from an insurance agent for an HOA Master Policy with a $250,000 property damage and $2 million liability for about $1,500 premium per year for Phase 1 & 2. We are getting a quote for all 3 phases. We are requesting the courts to consider this gross negligence act committed by Michael
Mastro as sufficient cause to remove him as the President of the Grand Firs HOA. We are discussing with the banks the method of operating the HOA in 2010.
More Vandalism, 2010 HOA Issues
I received the following information from Jim Ehnborn:
Phase 3
We had the chain cut on the drive thru gate yesterday afternoon. Two neighbors rechained the gate last night. The bolt for the manual release cover was broken and the trespassing sign torn down several weeks ago. The street light wiring has also been stolen from 3 sections. Two storm sewer covers have been removed from the sewers. Please use caution when walking back there. Several bolts are missing from other storm sewer covers in Grand Firs. We have contacted the Sheriff about the 29 acts of vandalism. Please report all suspicious activity to the Sheriff – 911 for ANYTHING in progress (no matter how small it may seem.. we need to catch who is doing this) and 253-798-4721 (option #1) for crimes not in progress.
I think it's time to look into establishing some type of neighborhood watch. Is anyone interested in getting that going?
We are also working with the 3 banks about control of the HOA for 2010. Jim Ehnborn met with Jim Selden for over an hour on Dec 18th discussing solutions for our issues and concerns. We also wrote to the banks and Michael Mastro on December 1st and 2nd regarding our issues and working on a transition plan. It has been very difficult
to coordinate action during the Christmas holiday. Follow up meetings are planned for this week.
Main gates
We are working with the banks and the bankruptcy trustee for a solution to collect the 2010 dues. We do not want them payable to Michael Mastro or his corporations. When we have some money collected we can have the gate repaired and closed 24 x 7.
Phase 3
We had the chain cut on the drive thru gate yesterday afternoon. Two neighbors rechained the gate last night. The bolt for the manual release cover was broken and the trespassing sign torn down several weeks ago. The street light wiring has also been stolen from 3 sections. Two storm sewer covers have been removed from the sewers. Please use caution when walking back there. Several bolts are missing from other storm sewer covers in Grand Firs. We have contacted the Sheriff about the 29 acts of vandalism. Please report all suspicious activity to the Sheriff – 911 for ANYTHING in progress (no matter how small it may seem.. we need to catch who is doing this) and 253-798-4721 (option #1) for crimes not in progress.
I think it's time to look into establishing some type of neighborhood watch. Is anyone interested in getting that going?
We are also working with the 3 banks about control of the HOA for 2010. Jim Ehnborn met with Jim Selden for over an hour on Dec 18th discussing solutions for our issues and concerns. We also wrote to the banks and Michael Mastro on December 1st and 2nd regarding our issues and working on a transition plan. It has been very difficult
to coordinate action during the Christmas holiday. Follow up meetings are planned for this week.
Main gates
We are working with the banks and the bankruptcy trustee for a solution to collect the 2010 dues. We do not want them payable to Michael Mastro or his corporations. When we have some money collected we can have the gate repaired and closed 24 x 7.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
No News
We've been receieving a handful of emails from neighbors regarding updates to the legal issues our community is facing. As of now, Jen and I have nothing new to share. I emailed Jim to see what the latest is (if there is anything) and I'm waiting to hear back. I just wanted to let everyone know that we haven't abandonded the blog :)
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Missing Cat
Karen (8308 229th) is missing a cat. Buddy is a fluffy black cat and is just over 1 year old. He is fixed and declawed in the front. If anyone knows of Buddy's whereabouts, please contact Karen. Thanks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
