1	Century Farms Neighborhood Association What you always wanted to know about our neighborhood in 30 slides or less… Prepared by: Fran Bixler, CFNA President November 16, 2006 No guarantee or warranty is implied against errors or omissions. I am just a volunteer who loves my community and tries my best to make Century Farms a complete neighborhood – one with social events that are eventful, one where our common areas are safely enjoyed by all and are in healthy condition and look nice, not necessarily perfect. Meeting a basic level of standards out of a Naperville subdivision with our market value is something I think we all expect. I doubt that this presentation will be read by the majority of the homeowners due to their understandably overscheduled lives. However, if we don’t schedule in the time to care for our community, our very own neighborhood, then this neighborhood will reflect it with poorly maintained common areas and possibly even lawsuits from other subdivisions. If you purchased a home here primarily for it’s location and you don’t have time to get involved, then please respect the homeowners who do spend their time researching the information, obtaining the bids, and doing all the work. If you don’t like what this presentation holds, I plead you to become involved and help the board construct a plan for the future of Century Farms that you feel is fair. After all, you get what you put into it.
2	Century Farms Neighborhood Association The Basics…
3	Who we are… 5 Volunteer Board Members. Two Terms Expire in Odd Years. Three Terms Expire in Even Years. Volunteer Committees, 6 with members. Communications; Newsletter; Ponds & Common Areas; Social; Welcoming, 253 CFNA Members (homeowners). The Declarations in Section 1 of Article V indicate the Association shall have a Board of “not less than 5 directors…”.
4	Who we are… 253 Owners / Home Sites – The Approximate Breakdown: 145 Home Sites – Interior (not backing to the following) 42 Home sites back to ponds/natural area 41 Home sites back to Cress Creek or CC Commons 18 Home sites back to the business corridor 7 Home sites back to park Of the 43 sites backing to ponds and the natural areas: 26 Homes Back to pond 1 14 Homes Back to pond 2 (Lot# 177 also sides to pond 3 but is counted here). 1 Home Backs to pond 3 1 Home Backs to the Natural Area and a portion of pond 3 “Backs to” is defined as the majority of the back property line being adjacent to specific feature, not specifically siding to a feature. As most ponds are surrounded by natural areas or common areas, some homeowners will have more common area backing to their home then pond and vise versa.
5	We Currently Have… 5 volunteer Board members. 6 active volunteer CFNA Committees. Defined Mission, Vision, Values & Beliefs Statement. Defined Purpose. Defined Policies and Procedures Manual. Defined descriptions for board members. Defined descriptions for committee members.
6	We Are Regulated by… The CFNA Declarations. The CFNA By-Laws. The CFNA Rules and Regulations. The CFNA Fence Resolution. City of Naperville rules and regulations. State of Illinois laws. US laws.
7	We Currently Offer… A Neighborhood Website. A Neighborhood Chat List. A Quarterly Newsletter. Neighborhood Annual Events. Management of Common Areas.
8	We Know We Need… Timely and effective communication. Managed expectations and goals. Clear, concise operating procedures. Defined processes and implementations. A Financial Committee* -first initiated in 2002, dropped due to lack of participation. More Volunteers. *Also referred to as a Budget Committee.
9	We Know We Struggle With… Continually playing catch up. Increasing Community Awareness. Promoting Neighborhood Participation. Implementing the Vision for Century Farms. Bringing Unity & Spirit to the neighborhood. Finding leaders to take charge and motivate. It has been the same people volunteering. We need new blood to revitalize this neighborhood. Getting residents to look at Century Farms as a collective neighborhood rather than a grouping of individual homes.
10	We Embrace: Email Communication via board email address: cfna-board@yahoogroups.com . Email Communication via CF Chat List at cfna@yahoogroups.com . Communication at Quarterly Meetings. Communication at Neighborhood Events. Communication through CFNA committees.
11	The Budget
12	2007 Budget Has Not Yet Been Adopted. The Board chose not to vote on the budget until we were able to listen to the homeowners at the meeting. We postponed the vote to our December meeting so that more dialogue could take place via and email. The next Board meeting is December 12^th, located at the Naperville Township Offices at 139 Water Street. The Board is required to adopt a budget before neighborhood association assessments can be sent out in January 2007.
13	The Process of Creating a Budget Use current year budget as the baseline. Analyze dollars actually spent in current year. Forecast anticipated rise in costs (~by 5%). Contract expenses from return vendors. Get bids for future anticipated needs. Ask: What will be the consequences if we wait? Address the needs of the committees.
14	The Process of Creating a Budget Compare proposed budget to actual cost. Did the cost reap the anticipated results? Did the vendors we used meet the performance and skill anticipated at fair market price? Get bids from multiple vendors. Select vendors that provide the most value. Does the budget meet the requirements dictated by: The Declarations, The By-Laws and The Mission, Vision, Values and Beliefs Statement?
15	Did you know that… The board is permitted to raise the assessments by 15% each and every year according to the declarations? For 4 years (1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001) the assessment stayed the same at $179.60? If you really looked at our assessment history, from 1998 to 2006, our assessments have only gone up 2.87% per year – that’s just $5.60 per year? If we added the proposed budget into this calculation, that dollar amount would only change to $16.71 per year?
16	FINANCIAL INCOME As you can see from the previous slide, the board’s conservative approach to spending and raising assessments has proven to be shortsighted in the long run. As a new neighborhood, just like your new home, we have to make some fundamental improvements at the beginning so that we can benefit from those improvements. Pond maintenance and landscaping are crucial but fundamental. Without first establishing a healthy ecosystem, we will continually be plagued by invasive species taking over these areas. Without preventative maintenance, it will only get worse and therefore much more expensive to overcome.
17	ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES Administrative Expenses represent 16.15% of the budget.
18	OPERATING EXPENSES Operating Expenses represent 5.17% of the budget.
19	MAINTENANCE EXPENSES Non-Pond Landscaping Needs represent 44.95% of the budget. Pond Maintenance Needs represent 30.32% of the budget.
20	TAXES & INSURANCE EXPENSES AND THE SUMMARY Taxes and Insurance represent only 3.76% of the total budget. Summary, if we compare the percentage of each portion of the budget to earlier budgets, it will correlate within a few points. However if we compare this to the first budget I was able to find from 1999, the entire maintenance assessment represented 61.26% and that did not even include pond maintenance. It stipulated GROUNDS Maintenance only!
21	The Basics of the Budget The Declarations state: Article V Century Farms Neighborhood Association Section 6 Maintenance Assessments (excerpted paragraphs) (e) Both annual and special assessments must be fixed at a uniform amount for all Lots. (j) The regular yearly assessment shall be determined by the affirmative vote of the majority of the members serving on the Board. Article IX General Provisions, Section 6 states (excerpted paragraphs) “…by a 2/3 written vote of all Voting Members, revoke, modify, amend or supplement in whole or in part any or all of the covenant and conditions contained in this Declaration and may release from any part or all of such covenants all or any part of the real property subject thereto. … Any such changes shall be effective only if expressed in a written instrument or instruments executed and acknowledged by each of the consenting Owners, certified by the Secretary of the Association and recorded in the Office of the Recorder of Deeds of DuPage, County, Illinois.
22	The Basics of the Budget The By-Laws state: Article IX (excerpted paragraphs) 9.03 ASSESSMENT PROCEDURE. “…If an adopted budget requires assessment against the Owners in any fiscal year exceeding 115% of the assessments for the preceding year, the Board, upon written petition by Owners with 20% of the votes of the Association filed within 14 days of the Board action, shall call a meeting of the Owners within 30 days of the date of filing of the petition to consider the budget. Unless a majority of the votes of the Owners are cast at the meeting to reject the budget, it is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present…”
23	Here’s what happened…
24	Homeowner Feedback from Meeting Confusion over the agenda. Some attendees liked Sean Flaherty’s presentation, some thought why is Sean Flaherty giving a pond presentation – isn’t this a budget meeting? Confusion over purpose of meeting. Only after the meeting, did the board realize that a circulation was widely received door to door. This misinformed homeowners & implied that they must come to vote at the meeting or the budget will be passed. Who ever circulated this flyer, misunderstood the declarations and the cover sheet that was sent with the budget proposal. To clarify, only AFTER a budget that exceeds 115% of the preceding year budget is adopted by the board, can homeowners petition the neighborhood. Then only after receiving at least 20% of the homeowners signatures (with only 1 owner signature per unit) or 51 signatures within 14 days after the adoption, can they request another meeting to have the board reconsider the budget. AT THAT MEETING, owners are allowed to cast their votes. Please refer to slide 22, to reiterate, “Unless a majority of the votes of the Owners are cast at the meeting to reject the budget, it is ratified, whether or not a quorum is present..." Left feeling frustrated. Some homeowners upon hearing that the board chose to postpone voting for the budget walked out. Some homeowners thought that they were not going to get their chance to “vote” once the board clarified this position. Feeling frustrated some homeowners left thinking that their voice would not get to be heard.
25	Board Feedback from Meeting The agenda. We asked Sean to offer his presentation so that all the attendees would be made aware of the conditions of the ponds and the natural areas. This was to provide the homeowners with more information because these were large areas in the budget that the homeowners had voiced concerns. To see his presentation and perhaps more importantly to view the minutes from our July meeting, visit our website at www.centuryfarms.org. Purpose of meeting. At the beginning of the meeting the agenda was handed to everyone. Our agenda stated our purpose, and to be perfectly blunt, we knew this was our one and possibly only chance to get so many homeowners in one place to listen to what is happening in our common areas. The board’s intention was to listen to all the attendees voice their concern. We postponed voting on the budget to benefit everyone, so that we could spend more time in the days to come listening and re-evaluating the budget. We stayed and continued to listen to those who did want their opinions heard. Expectations Were Not Met. Simply put, they could not be met, since most came into the room with different expectations. For all us to do our job, we all need to learn how to clarify our expectations in advance, giving the homeowners and the board the opportunity to at least know how to prepare for the next meeting. The responsibility for clear communication lies within each of us.
26	How We Will Move Forward Complete review of this process. Try to define expectations prior to board meetings. Plan to communicate more effectively. Post budget information earlier. Provide Annual Statement after the close of each fiscal year.
27	What We Need From You Become Involved: Come to Meetings/Join a Committee. Continuous feedback and suggestions. Get to know the issues before criticizing. Enthusiasm and positive vibes. Understand CFNA Governing Documents: The Declarations The By-Laws The Rules and Regulations The Fence Resolution The Policies and Procedures
28	What We Need From You Take a Turn on The Board. Vote/Turn in Your Proxies at Elections.
29	What You Can Continue to Expect From Us: To listen to your suggestions and feedback. To provide feedback, positive and constructive. To respect you and your opinions, even if we choose to disagree. We will make mistakes, but that’s how we learn! Whatever else you may think, one of the board’s main responsibilities is to ensure that Century Farms continues to be a highly desirable neighborhood. And as such it is one of our primary fiduciary duties to enhance and to protect the values of the entire community.
30	THE CFNA BOARD AND I THANK YOU SINCERELY FOR READING THIS PRESENTATION.