2021 Substitute Annual and Special Meeting
Tuesday, November 2, 2021, 7pm

Click here for MEETING NOTICE

You should have received your official meeting notice via email and/or mail on or after October 3, 2021.
The meeting will be virtual. See your meeting notice for attendance details.
Voting will be by written ballot (electronic or paper) AFTER the meeting.

Please be on the lookout for an email to be sent after the meeting which will contain the link to the electronic written ballot and supporting material for the election. The email sender FROM address is: Westpark Condominiums Homeowners Association Inc <invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com>. If we have your mobile phone number, you may also receive a text message from 18772258712 with a link to the electronic written ballot.

If you desire to cast your vote using a paper ballot rather than electronic ballot, please email board@westparkhoa.org or contact Board member Dan Christoff at (919) 523-7005, or Deanna Zolfo at (919)815-4755.

Please note that you must vote AFTER the Nov 2 meeting. Your vote must be received no later than 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 9, 2021.

Check back here for updated meeting materials.

Links to 2021 Meeting pages:

• Meeting Notice 

• Main Slide Deck 

• Treasurer Report 

• Special Agenda Items 

• Professional Reserve Study 

• 2020 Meeting Minutes

• Board Nominations

• Election Results 
  
  

Links to archived 2020 Meeting pages (for reference):

• 2020 Meeting Main Page 

• 2020 Meeting Notice 

• 2020 Notice of Written Ballot

• 2020 Pre-meeting Survey 

• Professional Reserve Study 

• 2020 10 Year  Budget Forecast 

• 2020 Information Session 

• 2020 Meeting Results

• 2020 Meeting Minutes

Please review this and the linked pages in preparation for casting your vote for our 2021 Substitute Annual and Special Meeting ballot items. The ballot will include votes for several special agenda items including an increase in Annual Assessments and a proposed amendment to our Bylaws. Both are related to funding for our capital reserves to allow us to continue necessary major repair projects (including critical safety issues).

Who are we and why is this important?

Please keep in mind that in a condominium association you are a full owner of your particular unit(s), AND you are a part owner of all the buildings and land in Westpark ("Condominium Common Property"). As a group of owners we are ALL responsible for funding the operation of the Association, including all repairs and improvements for the Condominium Common Property.

Here are the documents that define our legal responsibilities as a group of owners (the members of this Association).

• Declaration of Condominium  (Book 003504 Page 00457)
  services.wakegov.com/booksweb/PDFView.aspx?DocID=487309&RecordDate=06/26/1985  (PDF)
  services.wakegov.com/booksweb/DocView.aspx?DocID=487309&RecordDate=06/26/1985  (Image viewer)

• Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws (Book 003504 Page 00487)
  services.wakegov.com/booksweb/PDFView.aspx?DocID=933689&RecordDate=06/26/1985  (PDF)
  services.wakegov.com/booksweb/DocView.aspx?DocID=933689&RecordDate=06/26/1985  (Image viewer)

• Chapter 47A - Unit Ownership Act
  www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatuteSections/Chapter47A

• Chapter 47C - North Carolina Condominium Act
  www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatuteSections/Chapter47C

• Chapter 55A - North Carolina Nonprofit Corporation Act
  www.ncleg.gov/Laws/GeneralStatuteSections/Chapter55A

Our Association has financial needs that are not currently funded

As a condominium association, we should not try to fund major periodic expenses like roof replacement, paving, etc. on an as needed basis. Some of you from your experience here or with other homeowner associations may recall “special assessments” being levied for roof replacements and the like. This is like being asked to pay in advance for using something over time.

Let's take the example of roof replacement. Our roofs are likely the highest priority maintenance item we have in order to protect our investments in our units. Roofing shingles generally last for 20 years or so. The way our condominium association is structured, as soon as a roof replacement occurs, we should immediately begin collecting reserve fund contributions for the next replacement over the next 20 years. This allows funding to already be available in reserves when the next roof replacement is required. This is not only more financially responsible, but is far more fair to all owners. For instance, if you became an owner 2 years ago and are asked to pay a “special assessment” for roof replacement this year, and let’s say you sell in 2 years, you have “used” the roof for only 4 years, but have paid for 20+ years of use.

In fact, our Association governing documents do not even provide a mechanism for these types of "special assessments." Our only available funding source is through Annual Assessments.

Our Association had a Professional Engineering firm do a reserve study back in 2018. The reserve study looked at the long term financial responsibilities of our Association for major necessary repairs and improvements. The study concluded that our current annual assessment level can not fund necessary major repairs and improvements without significant assessment increases. 

Below is a link to the Reserve Study.

• Professional Reserve Study 

We used most aspects of this study along with some quotes we solicited from vendors to form the basis for a 10 year budget projection. That projection estimated that we need to collect and spend an ADDITIONAL (meaning over and above normal operating expenses) approximately $550,000 over 10 years for major repairs and improvements. Please also note that this amount includes only $25,000 for landscape and lighting improvement projects.  And under some funding scenarios, those would likely not be possible until 2029 (and we could certainly use and benefit from them much sooner).

Critical current needs

We have a number of critical current needs related to safety. These include malfunctioning and failing windows in many units, and decks which may have structural issues and/or whose surface boards are failing or have become very slippery due to lack of routine maintenance.

Intermediate term needs

Among our intermediate term needs are pavement resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, vinyl trim repairs, new roofs in 2028-2030, and landscaping improvements.

How did we get here?

In a nutshell, past years annual assessments have not been increased enough to build our reserve fund to an adequate level. Since 2004 there have been 4 years where the annual assessment was not increased at all (0%), not even by the bare minimum Consumer Price Increase (CPI) allowance. There were 3 years where the increase was not to the maximum allowed CPI allowance. And there were 2 years where the annual assessments were actually reduced, one of those reductions was over 16 percent. These decisions may have seemed reasonable, and favorable to owners at the time. However, collectively and over time they have had a significant negative impact on the Association's financial position. If the annual assessments since 2004 had been increased each year only according to the available CPI increase allowance (which averaged only 2% per year over that period), the Association would have collected an additional $180,000 in income. To put this in perspective, if these minimal (about 2% annually) increases had been allowed to take place, the additional $180,000 would have been enough to fully fund the critical current needs mentioned above. Thus, we would either not be having this conversation, or having a very different one because we would be discussing a much smaller annual assessment increase request.

Below is a graph that illustrates this history, our progress given the Owner approved 2020 annual assessment increase, and projection going forward (assuming only current and projected future CPI increases and no additional Owner approved increases). Please keep in mind that the lost income or recovery shown does not factor in loss of buying power due to inflation over these years.

Please note that this is not about questioning these past assessment decisions. They are in the past and can not be changed. And they were likely made in good faith at the time. However, we do need to learn from them going forward and understand that we are now playing catch up with our finances and maintenance obligations.

In order to continue funding necessary major repairs and our operating budget over the next 10 years we will need to raise the annual assessment over and above the Board allowed CPI increase defined in our Bylaws. The amount of this increase will determine several things, including how fast we can complete current critical major repairs, and the level of annual assessments that will be required for years 2023-2031.

For more information on some of the different funding options being considered for 2022, please refer to the Special Agenda Items page.