Presidents Message September 2009

President’s Message – September 2009

 

The Taberna community picnic will be held on September 26th.  The details on the picnic and a reservation form are included in this edition of the paper.  We hope you can come out and enjoy a fun afternoon with your neighbors, talk with the New Bern Police and Fire Departments, see a K-9 demonstration, and enjoy some fine food.  

 

Volunteers needed for the Board and Finance and Crime Watch Committees.  We still need volunteers to fill Board vacancies beginning in January 2010 and vacancies on the finance and crime watch committees.  We are particularly interested in finding someone who would fill the Board vacancy for Treasurer, a position presently served by Suzanne Forsythe.  This person is the custodian of the funds, securities and financial records.  The Treasurer’s duties include overseeing the accounting firm that manages the invoicing and collection of assessments, coordinating with the Finance Committee in developing the annual budget, reporting financial status to the Board, and managing other financial aspects of the association.

 

Working on the Board and the committees can be a valuable and rewarding experience as you are helping to serve your neighbors and to protect and enhance our community assets and property values.  Please volunteer to serve on the Board or one of the committees to maintain Taberna as one of the premier communities in New Bern.  Contact Steve Harman or any of the Board members to inquire about serving on the Board.

 

We recently experienced door to door solicitation that generated lots of concerns and questions.  Hopefully, the following information will help you to understand HOA policy regarding solicitation by homeowners and non-residents.

 

Homeowners - the HOA covenants prohibit a homeowner from using a residence for commercial purposes.  Our attorney has reviewed this and determined that this restricts in-home commercial/business activities involving the buying, selling and exchanging of articles at a residence.  Thus, based on advice of our attorney, the HOA does not allow in-home sales activities such as clothing sales, Tupperware sales, jewelry sales, product distributorships, garage sales, etc.  An attempt to change our covenants in 2006 to allow garage sales and Tupperware type parties was unsuccessful.   Thus, a homeowner who sends out flyers, goes door to door, or by other means of solicitation pursues sales activity involving the buying, selling and exchanging of articles from a home for commercial purposes would be violating our covenants.

 

There are some forms of solicitation that are recognized and viewed by the HOA as being non-commercial and are not violations of our covenants.  Examples of these are individuals soliciting donations or support for charities, children going door to door for school related activities, and the Tab Mail type advertisements and sales.  The HOA also recognizes that some people may be doing internet or real estate type business activities from their homes. These are non-visible activities and are not considered violations when they do not involve the buying, selling or exchange of articles at the residence or vehicle traffic to and from a residence.

 

Non-Residents - the streets in Taberna are city owned and maintained; accordingly, the HOA cannot control or restrict people coming into Taberna to solicit.  As we saw in the recent case of the girl selling planners, she had a peddler’s license and was legally entitled to go door to door.  The only power we have is as individual homeowners with privacy rights.  All residents have a right to tell anyone coming onto their private property that they do not wish to be solicited at home and request they leave the premises.

 

We recently received inquiries regarding what the HOA could do to address neglected properties abandoned as a result of foreclosure or other issues.  Fortunately we have not experienced significant foreclosure problems in the current economic downturn. 

 

When the HOA becomes aware of a problem property we determine the bank that is holding the deed of trust for the home loan and send them a notice of covenants violations.  From an HOA perspective, the new owner of the property is the bank and the bank is required to comply with our covenants just like any other owner. 

 

Unfortunately, as the foreclosure process plays out to establish the bank as the legal owner, the grass and weeds are growing.  The HOA cannot legally go on that property and have it mowed.  Our covenants give us that power only for vacant lots.  The other option for us is to get the city involved.  The city ordinances permit the city to mow neglected properties and charge the owners.  We will do all we can to get problem properties fixed as soon as possible.

 

The monthly Board meetings will be held at the HOA office at 5:30 PM on the 2nd Wednesday of each month.  The next meeting will be September 9th.  The office is located at 3950 US Highway East (Route 70 and Thurman Road).  If you need directions to the office, call one of the Board Members or myself.