High Desert Living

What do a fuzzy Chistmas reindeer antler, a Sunset Mesa second grader's report card, and an endless number of Albertson's receipts have in common? 

They are all items found during our recent Adopt-a-Highway event, where a record breaking number of High Desert residents volunteered on Saturday, April 24, to clean up miles 9 and 10 of Tramway Blvd. We started at the Albertson's, with half of the volunteers working south from Academy to the bridge at Bear Canyon, and the other half working north to the bridge at Simms Park Road (the Wolinskis even opted for extra credit, going all the way to San Rafael!). We accumulated 25 full bags of trash, as well as some large pieces of lumber and other construction materials. 

Please join me in thanking the following volunteers for their efforts:

Dan Kropp (Canyons) 
Bob and Kitty Lind (Chaco Compound)
Meghan List (Chamisa Trail) 
Curt Jacobson (Desert Song) 
Susan Camp (Desert Highlands) 
Charlotte, Donnie, and Jadyn Trone (Desert Mountain) 
Ed Arata, Ashley Harvey (Legends) 
Janet Brierly, Theodore Arriington, Geoff Schuster (Sunset Ridge) 
Sandy and Ralph Jacoby, Julie and Steve Hartig, Shirley Scott, Jackie and Mike Thompson, Tom and Sofia Wolinski, Jake Lesher (Overlook) 

To keep our adoption active, we are committed to holding a formal event twice a year. I am thinking our next cleanup will be sometime in October 2021. If you are interested in volunteering, please email at mlesher222@comcast.net and I will add you to my list! 

Michele Lesher

We owe a big debt of gratitude to the following people for contributing fabulous photographs to our homepage slideshow. They give it life and show us all how beautiful High Desert is. We'll change these pictures as time goes on and new seasons emerge.

Thanks to:
John Ledwith
Kathryn Lombard-Thomas
Judy Pierson
Raychel Sanner
Singletracks.com photo by Michael Paul

March 26, 2021
Subj: Notice of Termination of Landscaping Contract

The HDROA Board of Directors has provided 60 days’ notice of termination of the Professional Services Contract between High Desert Residential Owners Association and Leeco Grounds Management, Inc. The notice was given pursuant to Paragraph 1 of the Professional Services Contract.

The Board reached this decision after much consideration. We will be pursuing a new contract in the next 60 days.

Reg Rider
Board President
HDROA

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are well and looking forward to Spring! I would like to have a Tramway Cleanup Day on Saturday, April 24th. I think this is an activity that can be done in a socially-distant manner (it is outside, and folks are very far apart). However, if you are at high-risk for COVID OR not feeling well the day of the cleanup, please sit this one out. We will have another Tramway Cleanup Day in October. I've been scoping out our 2 miles and there is no shortage of trash out there!   

We will start at 10:00 a.m. at the Albertson’s parking lot. If you will be able to make it, please let me know so I have enough supplies. Please bring a pair of gloves and a mask. I will have the bags and stylish orange vests for everyone! You will be doing a great favor for awesome Tramway Blvd, which has the beautiful Sandias as its backdrop! 

Also, please share this news with anyone you think might be interested.   

Thank you!  

Michele Lesher 

Tramway Cleanup Committee Chair and NM 556 Miles 9-10 Adopt-a-Highway Lead!! 

At the March 16, 2021 High Desert ROA Board of Directors Meeting the Board will discuss the proposed by-laws amendment to bring High Deserts documents into compliance with state law.

Board President Reg Rider has begun a new way to communicate directly with High Desert residents. For the first time in association history, regular Town Meetings are being held each month for the Board to hear directly from homeowners about their concerns. Unlike Voting Member quarterly meetings or Board monthly meetings, which use an agenda, Town Meetings (now held via Zoom) are generally more free-wheeling with Reg and other Board members who might attend fielding questions from homeowners as they arise.

“We only ask that people be civil and not bring up personal issues and complaints that do not concern the association as a whole,” Reg said. Residents can email their questions before the town meetings if they prefer.

More than 50 homeowners attended each of the two previous meetings in December and January. Topics ranged from gate malfunctions to the spate of recent vehicle break-ins at High Desert Park and the trailheads.

“I was hearing that these vehicle break-ins were of major concern,” said Reg. “I asked Ray Berg (Board Treasurer) on the spot if we had enough money to pay for extra patrols for a trial period. He said we did. I brought it up the next week at the Board meeting and we voted to have extra patrols for a 90-day period. We will evaluate after that. The input we got from the January Town Meeting was instrumental in getting things moving.”

Reg, a retired brigadier general with the Air Force, said he decided to use the forum of an open Town Meeting while he was serving as a Wing Commander at an air force base that was closing down. “Closing a base is difficult and everyone had concerns and questions,” Reg recalled. “We decided to hold a base-wide town meeting and I stood up and just fielded questions. We got great input, people were satisfied that they were being heard and we were able to solve some pressing concerns. I wanted to use the same forum here and so far, it has worked just as well.”

Check our Calendar for upcoming Town Meetings. Residents should contact HOAMCO at 505-314-5862 to register to receive a Zoom meeting invitation.

(A longer version of this article first appeared in the February 2021 Apache Plume newsletter.) 

The Board of Directors will meet on January 19th 2020 at 2pm via Zoom. Policy Discussion is as follows:
 
1.       Policy Discussion to suspend the HDROA Investment Policy
2.       Policy Discussion to suspend Roberts Rules of Order
3.       Policy Discussion to adopt the drafted policy regarding: Gated Village Entrance Area, Wall and Landscaping Maintenance

Gated Village Maintenance Policy

High Desert Residential Owners Association

Policy on Gated Village

Entrance Area, Wall, and Landscaping Maintenance

I. Authority

This policy is adopted in accordance with

Section III.C. Paragraphs 3.15 and 3.16 of the HDROA By-Laws, which set forth the

general powers and duties of the Board of Directors with respect to the

administration of the Association’s affairs:

• Article V Paragraph 5.1 of the CC&Rs, which assigns to the Association the responsibility to maintain and keep in good repair the areas of Common Responsibility, including all perimeter walls and fences
• Article V Paragraph 5.3 of the CC&Rs, which assigns Village’s the costs of maintaining any signage, entry features, right-of-way and open space between the Village and adjacent public roads and private streets with the Village. References to “perimeter walls” and “community walls” in this policy shall be consistent with the definitions of such walls in the Guidelines for Sustainability for Village Homes and in the CC&Rs.

II. Background and Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish a common, equitable policy for addressing costs

of maintenance within and around Gated Villages in High Desert Residential Owner’s

Association. However, any process described in this policy is subservient to the High

Desert governing documents (ByLaws, CC&Rs, and Guidelines for Sustainability.)

III. Rules and Procedures regarding modifications and maintenance of village assets

Gated Village Maintenance. The High Desert Residents Owners Association shall maintain

common property inside and outside of the Gated Villages located in the High Desert

Residential Properties.

The costs of maintenance outside the gates of Villages shall be charged to the

Association, including:

• The monuments located at the entrance to each village that identify the name of the applicable village.
• Landscaping around entrances exterior to the gates.
• Structural features and surfaces of those portions of perimeter walls, fences and other boundary controls on top of and facing the exterior of Villages and that are not adjacent to Owners' lots.

The costs of maintenance inside the gates of Villages, including the gates and related

structures shall be charged to the Owners of Units within the applicable Village, including:

• All costs associated with gate maintenance, operation, inspection, repair, and replacement.
• Structures that are associated with the Gates, such as guardhouses.
• Structural features and surfaces of those portions of perimeter walls, fences and other boundary controls facing the interior of Villages and that are not adjacent to Owners' lots
• Maintenance of all other features within the respective Village that are common property

The costs associated with those parts of the interior sides of walls that are adjacent to

Owners' lots shall be paid by the respective Owners.

Adopted by the Board of Directors on January 19, 2021

Signature: ________________________________________________ For the Board

At the upcoming Board Meeting (via Zoom) on December 15, Board members will discuss: 

1. Policy on Community Wall Modification & Maintenance 

2. Statement of Investment Policy Regarding Operating & Reserve Account Funds 

3. Resolution of Right to Deviate from Robert’s Rules of Order

4. Transparency in Communications

At its October meeting, members of the Board of Directors passed a change to the signage policy in High Desert. In recent years, the Board has received numerous requests from residents for a policy that pertains to political signs being posted during city and national election cycles. Although the Board understands residents’ desire to display support for their candidates with signs, members agreed that political signs should be subject to limitations in our community’s governing documents, as are holiday decorations, realtor signs, and home security signs. 

The new addition to the sign policy is as follows:

Public campaign election signs: 2 campaign signs are allowed on a lot 45 days prior to an election. Signs must be removed 3 days after the election. Sign dimensions are limited to 3ft by 3ft or 9 square feet. Signs must be located in the front yard facing the street. Signs cannot be located on the sidewalk or rear of the lot facing open spaces or streets. Banners, flags, balloons, etc. are not allowed.

Please be sure to abide by this new change in policy beginning January 1, 2021.

Members of the Board of Directors voted at the October meeting to alter charges levied by the New Construction Committee (NCC). Since the early days of High Desert, prospective home builders were required to pay a “ deposit” (technically, a fee) to cover all of the phases that the NCC must monitor during a home’s construction. These fees are passed from builders to homeowners. For custom (Estate and Premier) homes, which typically take one year to build, the required “deposit” is $8000. For builder homes, which normally are completed within six months, the “deposit” is $4000. This “deposit” also covers professional fees, such as the cost of an engineer’s report and city permits. Typically, a significant portion of that money was returned from NCC to the builder after construction was completed. 

The NCC is responsible for monitoring all aspects of new home construction in High Desert, and the NCC used to be solely run by volunteers, who spent hours assuring that new homes conformed to standards laid out in our governing documents. The last volunteer chair of the NCC was Brett Rayman. When he moved out of state, the Board failed to find any volunteers to assume the mammoth task of chairing the NCC. Therefore, the Board was compelled to hire a construction professional (Rob Montoya) to perform the job. Rob’s hourly fees are commensurate with his qualifications and he carries his own insurance. The advantage of having a licensed professional chair the NCC is that it gives the High Desert Residential Owners Association an extra layer of protection from liability arising from misinterpretation of the governing documents. 
This shift from volunteer to professional chair of the NCC is a policy change. Therefore, the Board wants builders and home buyers (new construction) to recognize that there will now be additional expenses incurred during the NCC’s oversight of their home construction, meaning less of the “deposit” will be returned, as compared to the past.

The second change that Board members made to NCC policy applies to home modifications. As High Desert ages, more homeowners want to make significant modifications to their home, such as major additions. Some of these even require city permits. Up until now, the fees incurred were assumed by our Residential Owners Association, which is clearly unfair. Moving forward, significant modifications that are deemed outside of the purview of the Modifications Committee (MC), and therefore referred to the NCC, will require the fee be paid by the homeowner. This fee may be partially refundable. It will be based upon the size of the project and estimated construction and professional costs. 

Voting Members (VM) of the Association are appointed for two-year terms. Half of the villages in High Desert elect their representatives each year and this year the election cycle included the villages listed below.

Each VM and their alternate (AVM) represents up to 50 homes, so larger villages have more VMs. The number of positions available are shown in parentheses. Some positions were not filled. These are indicated below. 

The results of the election are as follows:   

Chaco Compound      VM  (1)  Joyce Lum

                              AVM (1)  Catherine "Kitty" Smith

Chamisa Trail            VM  (2)  Not filled

                              AVM (2)  Not filled

Desert Sky                VM  (2)  Not filled

                              AVM (2)  Not filled

Desert Song              VM  (1)  Norma Argo

                              AVM (1)  Stephen Vender

Enclave                     VM (2)  Roger Ames, Diane Green

                              AVM (2)  Paul Donahue, Maureen Truesdale

Legends                    VM (1)  Eric Frow

                              AVM (1)  Not filled

Overlook                   VM (2)  Thea Berg, John Ledwith

                              AVM (2)  Michael Shaw, Dennis Miyoshi

Piñon Point                VM (2)  Harrison Jones, Ashleigh Morris

                              AVM (2)  Not filled

Solterra                     VM (2)  Lynn Claffy, Nick Teske

                              AVM (2)  Margo Murdock, One not filled

Sunset Ridge             VM (2)  Camille Singaraju, Douglas Weigle

                              AVM (2)  Jed Faruki, One not filled

Tierra del Oso           VM  (1)  Jean Craven

                              AVM (1)  Jeff Todd

Wilderness Compound   VM  (1)  Kari Stevenson

                                 AVM  (1)  Not filled

Wilderness Estates        VM  (1)  Not filled

                                 AVM  (1)  Not filled

Wilderness Village         VM  (2)  Carol Welsch, One not filled

                                 AVM  (2)  Not filled

Albuquerque residents can attend government meetings remotely, including Albuquerque City Council meetings, on GOV-TV by clicking on this link:  www.cabq.gov/culturalservices/govtv

GOV TV is the local government television channel for Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. GOV TV provides real-time streaming video of local government programming 24 hours a day. Programming includes live coverage of government meetings, recorded news conferences, and a wide variety of locally produced TV shows about public services, facilities, employees, officials, and events.

Continue to monitor the news on these websites:
The office of Neighborhood Coordination
NewMexico.gov
cabq.gov
cv.nmhealth.org

Please be aware that the company High Desert Maintenance LLC is onsite making repairs to the stucco throughout the community. The work will be ongoing for several months. If you have any questions or concerns please do not approach High Desert Maintenance LLC. Instead, call HOAMCO at 505-314-5862. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation.

The annual High Desert Party in the Park event has been postponed until next summer. Brenda Gossage, homeowner and coordinator of the event, decided to postpone given the amount of pre-planning involved and the current coronavirus crisis and possibilities of extended closures. She consulted with Board President Clay Wright before making the decision in late April. 

Voting Members in High Desert are elected each year in September. Villages hold their elections in either an odd or even year (see list below). 

Odd Year Elections:
Aerie; Canyons; Chaco Ridge; Desert Highlands; Desert Mountain; Highlands; Mountain Highlands; Trailhead; Trillium; West Highlands; Wilderness Cañon

Even Year Elections:
Chaco Compound; Chamisa Trail; Desert Sky; Desert Song; Enclave; Legends; Overlook; Pinon Point; Solterra; Sunset Ridge; Tierra del Oso; Wilderness Compound; Wilderness Estates; Wilderness Village. 

Interested in serving as a Voting Member or Alternate for your village? Fill out a Statement of Interest.

Assessments Still Due During Pandemic But Board Issues Resolution to Waive Late Fees and Interest—Note: Annual Meeting Rescheduled for August 6

Hello everyone,
Thank you. Thank you for following the directives of our elected officials and health authorities. By doing what you are supposed to, you are playing an active role in fighting the virus that causes Covid-19. Keeping yourself mentally and physically strong during the pandemic is a service to our community. We are together in our isolation.

Please continue to follow the links on this page to the latest information from city and state officials. This information is updated continually.

Please know that your Board of Directors is working hard to keep things running. By adopting prudent measurers, we are managing to keep all our vendors employed. This is good for them, it is good for our economy, and it maintains a continuity of service to our entire Association.

One of the services we have been asked about is CC&R compliance. We are continuing enforcement activities and assessments. Many residents are using their newfound spare time to clean up their yards and fix other appearance issues. Keeping our property looking good is something we all agreed to when we moved into High Desert. It is one of the most important steps we can take in maintaining aesthetics and property values.

Another question concerns assessments. We are continuing assessments. Assessments provide the revenue necessary to keep our community functioning. That said, the Board does understand that the current situation does present a financial burden for some. To ease that stress, the board has adopted a resolution that offers relief by waving late fees and default interest resulting from late payment of assessments. The Association will temporarily defer sending delinquent accounts to the collection attorney. Read the full board resolution by following the attached link.

Board of Directors Resolution Regarding Late Fees and Default Interest

HDROA committees have adopted the appropriate measures and continue to do their work.

The Annual Budget will be mailed to all residents on time. This meets both state requirements and our own governing documents.

Thank you. Be safe.

Clay Wright
President, HDROA