Babysitting

From Cynthia:

Are any of the adults in the neighborhood available to babysit our 1-year-old on occasion either at their house or ours? Our daycare is closed every last Friday of the month so we are looking for someone who would be available from approximately 8:30-3:30 on occasion. Please let us know if anyone knows someone that babysits on occasion or runs a daycare in the Grand Firs area so we can talk further. Thanks.

Cynthia Davis
253-846-8464

Lights

Quick note: a couple of neighbors have let me know about street lights that are still out. Please keep passing those along to me (leave a comment or email me) so I can let Lindsey know. If you could include the nearest house address, that would be great. Thank you!

Welcome New Neighbors

Lina Beltran, the agent working for Freestone, has the following message:

Freestone Homes would like to wish everyone at Grand Firs a Happy and Prosperous New Year. Freestone Homes sold 20 homes in Phase 3 and closed 13 of them in 2010. We are proud to introduce and welcome the following families into the neighborhood: Garcia, Wolfe, Crispin, Ford, King, Christensen, Rocha, Kirk, Stanfield, Fleenor, Juarez, Heller, and Kirk.

Also, congratulations to Garcia who brought in a new neighbor, Juarez to Freestone Homes and Grand Firs. They both received $500 from Freestone Homes for the referral. This is a great referral program and a great way to be in a community where your neighbors are your friends or family.

HOA Board Meetings

As discussed at the December meeting, the HOA board is welcoming neighbors to sit in on meetings. The meetings are conducted via conference call and are held on an as-needed basis.

When a meeting is put on the calendar, I'll notify neighbors through email and post the time/date on the blog. If anyone is interested in dialing in, please email me at grandfirs@hotmail.com so I can send you the phone number and dial-in code.

Just a couple of quick requests from the board: we ask that neighbors who dial in refrain from speaking until the end of the meeting (conference calls can be a little confusing with so many people). And if you have something you'd like to bring up, please notify me ahead of time so Mark can add it to the agenda.

Thanks :) Hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

Bulbs Replaced

I was excited to see MCE outside yesteray replacing our light bulbs. So excited in fact, that I took a picture :)

Christmas in Grand Firs

A sampling of our homes, all beautifully decorated for the holidays!
Personally, I love how a couple of neighbors have decorated the lamp posts. We should do all the lamp posts next year :) Merry Christmas to all!

Dec 9 Voting Results

Grand Firs homeowners voted on several items at the Dec 9 meeting. The results are as follows:

2011 Budget - Approved
Homeowners Yes: 32
Homeowners No: 5
Banks/Builders Yes: 290
Banks/Builders No: 0
Total Yes: 322
Total No: 5

Amendment to change quorum requirements to 34% - Approved
Homeowners Yes: 29
Homeowners No: 8
Banks/Builders Yes: 290
Banks/Builders No: 0
Total Yes: 319
Total No: 8

Amendment to change meeting notice requirement to 14-30 days - Approved
Homeowners Yes: 28
Homeowners No: 9
Banks/Builders Yes: 290
Banks/Builders No: 0
Total Yes: 318
Total No: 9

Amendment to ban BB guns in all association common areas - Approved
Homeowners Yes: 34
Homeowners No: 3
Banks/Builders Yes: 290
Banks/Builders No: 0
Total Yes: 324
Total No: 3

Amendment to delete provision for vinyl lap siding - Approved
Homeowners Yes: 35
Homeowners No: 2
Banks/Builders Yes: 290
Banks/Builders No: 0
Total Yes: 325
Total No: 2

Speed bumps along 231st (opinion poll) - Rejected
Yes: 17
No: 19

Dec 9 Meeting

Huge thanks to those who attended last night's meeting, to those who sent in proxy votes, and to those who brought cupcakes and cookies to share. We had two great hours of discussion and debate. It's clear that we've put the Mastro mess behind us and we're all excited about moving forward.

I'll post meeting notes within the next week.

Year In Review

As we inch closer to the end of 2010, I find myself thinking about all that has been accomplished in our neighborhood. Some of the items are visible and speak for themselves, but many things have happened behind the scenes. I've tried my best to pass these accomplishments along via the blog, but I thought I'd list them all again:

1. Mastro is no longer associated with our community.
2. We were able to take control of our HOA.
3. We created a Board of Directors and elected officers.
4. The board hired a property management company.
5. The board developed a budget.
6. The property management created and distributed a Good Neighbor Policy and sent out letters to collect 2010 HOA dues.
7. A landscape company was hired and has done a phenomenal job of restoring our common areas.
8. We re-established water and phone service and kept the lights on (just barely!). We're all caught up with our bills.
9. We are insured.
10. Both gates are running and fully functional.
11. Sections of the Phase 3 lighting have been fixed. Sections of our entrance lighting have been fixed. Light bulbs for all of Phase 1 and 2 fixtures will be replaced soon.
12. Our CCRs are being enforced.
13. A neighbor is working on getting a Neighborhood Watch program started.
14. Quality homes are being built/sold by two builders.

I'm sure I'm leaving some things out, but these are the items that come to mind.

Hope to see everyone at the next meeting! If you can't make it, remember to send in your proxy form so you can still vote. Also still looking for a couple of people to bring some snacks.

Fun in the Snow

Here are a handful of pictures I took of the neighborhood kids (and a few adults) enjoying this week's snow.