My goal even before joining the WROA Board has always been to share everything that I know about property management with anyone who wants to listen. The Boeing Company invested millions of dollars in me and I’ll gladly give everything I’ve learned away for free. Dr Joyce Brothers told me that there are two different ways to have the biggest house on the block, build yours up or tear everyone else’s down.

I’m the nicest guy that you will ever meet until you lie to me or conduct yourself in an unethical manner as the Board’s secretary continues to do. Why is it that anyone who knows her uses other real estate firms, especially our current and former board members? I’ve been instructed to contact Oregon Realtors Ethics Board on several occasions. It’s on my list. My current focus is to take care of our roads, mailboxes, forest, fire egress, border fencing, sign elimination, etc.

Here is what I know, along with assumptions about our roads.

First Assumption. 1. The first paving of Wild River Roads occurred in the mid 70s. The primary purpose was to keep the dust down in the sparsely occupied neighborhood.

Assumption #2 In 2005 it was decided by the majority that our roads should be repaved.

The cost would be $300k (rounding up for simplification) which required an assessment of $600 (rounding up) per lot.

The agreement was that we would bank $10k a year into a “Road Fund” so that in 30 years we, those remaining, would have a better jump on the next “repave“.

The deposits into the road fund have ranged from $0 to $15k a year since 2007. We have also used road funds for road maintenance, appropriate in my book.

The premise that you could throw down a third layer of asphalt was severely flawed. Especially when starting with a poor repave.

In the summer of 2006 Vic Russell has at it, with zero oversight by anyone in WROA! The quality of asphalt was very inferior to commercial grade road asphalt that the county would use, using much less oil. That is why you see cracks every few feet as there is less flexibility without the oil. In many areas there is now a severe crown in the road making it impossible for a 3rd layer

In 2009 we funded the replacement of the road shoulder gravel. The 2006 complement had settled and where people cut the corners the gravel had blown out.

We, Brian and I, installed road markers to help reduce the blow outs, but it didn’t help whatsoever. Get rid of the road markers as it hampers snow removal and many have faded and are heeled over. Less is more.

So it’s been since 2009 on shoulder gravel and about 12 years since an expensive and wasteful seal. I have been asking for 10 years for a reserve study to be conducted to understand what are all of our future expenditures, especially road replacement.

On many occasions I’ve asked at our annual meeting, “Do we have enough in our road fund?” is it too much or not enough, only a professional paver can give you that answer!

Finally, under the cover of darkness, or maybe it was in a newsletter that I never received, a road study is conducted indicating that by 2036 WROA will need to spend $1M ($880,000) to completely replace our 2.5 miles of roadway.

A far cry from $300k! What a legacy to leave!

Early financial analysis indicates owners will need to pony up around $2k in an assessment charge! That assumes we neglect all other assets like forest, mail stations, the list of neglected assets is too long to list here.

First, the majority needs to agree on what is the right number for an assessment. Then we back into that number deciding what maintenance we aren’t including.

Once again, majority rules! After that information is sorted out we can then go about forecasting everyone’s dues for the next few years. It ain’t gonna be pretty!

Budget Analysis

Here is the contact information for our Board & Secretary, please start calling or writing today!

This forecast for expenditures should have been completed by the 1st of June!

https://wroa.org/wroa-owners-resources/wroa-board-arc-contact-information/

Incompetence or negligence?

With declining rainfall in our region it is time to take drastic steps to preserve our forest. We can either wait for our trees to begin dying due to draught and insect infestation or we can take action now to begin thinning and dead limbing.

• All trees under six inches in diameter at chest height need to be removed.
• Increase spacing between remaining trees as necessary
• Remove all dead limbs
• Removal of Bitter Brush below tree drip lines, leave the rest for the deer.

Oregon Drought Monitor

Before I was asked to join the Board in 2008, I’d listen to people bitch at our “monthly” meetings about exterior lighting and forest conditions with no one volunteering. Makes me gag! Whiners!

Having never shied away from an honest day’s work, I raised my hand and said, “I’ll do it!” “You’ll do what?” I’ll put together a plan for our exterior lights and a comprehensive forest plan.

Sticking to the forest plan, I met with the Oregon Department of Forestry, Fish & Wildlife, Wild & Scenic/Bend Parks and Recreation to understand their needs as much of our property is governed by Wild & Scenic. And since we live in the middle of a National Forest, fitting in is preferred.

After meeting with the experts, I put together a scope of work, breaking that scope into three bite sized chunks for budgetary considerations. I then got on the phone to see who was interested in bidding for the work. My background says get 3 bids but 2 bidders was the best that I could muster. I held a bidders’ conference and we walked the property me setting expectations along the way. Any questions asked later were shared with both parties.

By this time I’d walked the 40 acres 4 times, marking trees with surveyor ribbon based on Stuart Otto’s (ODoF) spacing recommendations. After marking all the trees to be removed I informed the residents that if they felt the plan was too radical that they could feel free to remove any ribbon of their choosing. Most ribbons were left remaining.

Once again, the intent was to perform this work statement over 3 years but after the first year “our membership” decided to fund the remaining 2 phases by moving money from our reserve account, which we no longer have, to our operating fund.

Having depleted a significant amount of our reserve funds, the board asked the membership to make a decision on increasing our dues by $25, $50 or $75 per year per lot. The membership agreed to increasing our annual dues by $50 a year with the understanding that those funds would be held in reserve for common area forest maintenance. Where’s the money?

Our secretary says that we hired a professional arborist and that arborist says our forest is in top notch condition. Get a Refund!

This is why I can’t stress enough hiring professionals and taking the personalities out of the formula!

I’ll be putting together a comprehensive budget plan shortly based on all of the shortfalls I’m aware of. All member input is imperative.