Meeting was moved from Carriage House to Ranch House due to Knolls meeting and event.

 

No quorum, only two committee members present.

AAA our new landscape vendor was present.

 

The new company seems very organized and on top of things. They presented their Strategic Planning Overview which is a 32 page living document which outlines their implementation plan based on feedback furnished to them by the HOA which is apparently based on community feedback. The plan is in four phases. Maps will be provided to the community when AAA will be in a particular neighborhood.

 

 

Note: I asked if I could ask questions during the AAA presentation. I was asked to refrain until the end of their presentation. Committee was allowed to ask questions during the presentation and went first at the end. Questions were allowed from observers afterward. They did not cap my questions or time limit me or my wife in any way. I was good with it.

AAA introduced themselves

AAA briefly discussed the current state of the landscaping. My opinion, our last vendor was phoning it in and not very professional.

 

Keep reading…

Phase 1: Research. Also includes Irrigation and Water Management.

Phase 2: Implementation

Phase 3: Didn’t catch that.

Phase 4: Also didn’t catch it.

 

This seems like fairly standard project management implementation practice.

 

There is a 32 page document which I did not get outlining the plan.

 

A: Yes.

Water management and asset management are very important to them. Simply put, they do not want to over water or under water because when plants die, that is an asset loss. When things look dead, that is a property value loss.

 

They are assessing the life expectancy of our irrigation systems.

 

They are currently working on inventory of irrigation systems in the North neighborhoods.

 

A: Yes.

Property maps are in the packet showing each neighborhood. This will be published to show when work is being done in each of these areas so residents will know when to expect to see AAA employees.

 

Speaking of AAA employees:

They are not allowed to smoke while on duty.

 

Breaks will be taken in designated areas only.

AAA employees will have their own porta-potties and will not use PR facilities.

 

Lunch will be off-site.

 

All vehicles are GPS enabled.

Employees check in on an app which is geo-fenced (i.e. you can’t check in unless you are actually on-site.)

 

Employees will wear a company uniform. White shirt, green writing.

 

Employees are not allowed to have phones unless they are company phones.

 

They apparently heard an earful about our previous vendor and employees smoking, vaping, talking on their phones, taking breaks in the parks or the tunnel.

 

AAA offers HOA and resident training on when to plant what. This is training and not a mandate.

 

AAA will provide a weekly report of any vandalism discovered by employees.

 

AAA is working on a tree database including GPS locations. There are ALOT of trees and this task will take 6-9 months to complete. Trees will be tagged and locations recorded. This will help track the condition of trees and help landscapers find trees when reports are made of issues.

 

A: No, not really. They had some data apparently but no details.

 

A: Yes, they use data provided by the county on what is HOA and what is private property.

AAA they are working with the committee on a “Plant Palette”. We saw some pictures of some of the plants. They discussed planters at the monuments and what works best. They also mentioned perhaps signage in planters when flowers and such are being transitioned (Yes, communication from a vendor!)

 

Lots of focus on water conservation by January 1st 2025. They are concerned about some overwatering that may be happening. Apparently we need to reduce our water usage by a certain percentage by the date above.

 

Overwatering could be an easy win. Not watering areas where things just will not grow is another (not much grows in the shade.)

 

If you made it this far, you should probably know that AAA brought pizza, pasta and salad from Oreganos. Don’t you wish you had attended?

AAA addressed residential tree trimming which Four Peaks could do for a fee. AAA will not be doing this since they are self insured and not worth the risk. If this is an issue for residence they will revisit.

 

AAA purchased all new equipment for this contract. Not sure how I feel about this. It does make sense on some levels.

 

AAA addressed the security of irrigation boxes. This is something they will be working on.

 

AAA mentioned that they found 68 irrigation valves which need replacing. This is not a huge number considering there are about 1600 valves in PR. (68 = about 4%)

 

AAA will use an application called BaseCamp for document storage which can then be shared with committee members, the board and management company.

 

AAA has been in business for 48 years. They also have good customer retention.

 

I spoke with Steve, one of their biz dev guys afterward. He was glad to see the community coming out. Word got around fast about that last board meeting.

 

That’s about it. I left with a good feeling about this company. I think the committee made a good choice based on everything I saw and heard tonight. I think this new company has their act together although the bar is low. We’ll see how they do once the honeymoon is over but I think they will do well.

 

The pizza was good too.

Information provided by Mike Stone, Power Ranch Homeowner, Mountainview Neighborhood since 2010.