Letters to the Editor

+ CDD took action with good reason
Dear Editor,
After reading the story about the Heritage Harbour CDD retaking landscaping responsibilities from the HOA in the March 13 issue of the East County Observer, I felt it was important for the public to know the other reasons I encouraged the CDD to reassume landscape maintenance of the properties with the CDD’s boundaries.

No. 1: Contract Problems
When the CDD became resident controlled in January of 2013, we noticed that there were independent contractors who had provided services to the CDD for more than 10 years.

They had never submitted bids to provide services from the time  they had been originally selected for their work by the developer more than a decade before.  This flies in the face of well accepted business practices, which require the submission of proposals for the ongoing work that must be done for the community.  That means in more than 10 years, no comparisons were made as to pricing or the quality of services.

Contracts were renewed year after year without the benefit of this important information. The new CDD started making changes by bid letting, and in every case, the benefit to the community was substantial, because we saved tens of thousands of dollars.  

Landscaping was one of our areas of concern, and we were shocked at what we learned.

In the case of the Heritage Harbour landscaping services, for more than five years, the landscaping contractor has been working for the HOA without a contract — hardly the way to run a community of this size and complexity.  The needs of the residents have not been protected by the terms of a current contract for many years. This is completely unacceptable because residents are paying an amount stated in the HOA budget for landscaping for which there is no corresponding contractual amount from the vendor.

As the landowner, there is no way the CDD could stand by and let this indefensible situation to continue.

No. 2: HOA Landscape
Committee Problems
There are ongoing landscaping problems that the HOA has not been able to resolve.  One issue is the noise and lights from State Road 64, which residents near the perimeter of the development, have been concerned about for more than 10 years.  The HOA landscape committee has not been able to resolve this with adequate landscape screening.

Another issue is that there are 10 cul-de-sacs containing plant beds that require attention, according to residents. One resident voiced his continued frustration at the March 10 HOA meeting.

He indicated that nothing had been done to improve the plant bed appearance, even after a year in which he had submitted pictures and written letters. Obviously, the current situation of HOA maintenance of CDD property is just not working. The HOA landscape committee of residents is a well-meaning but sometimes unsuccessful middleman. These are two current examples of issues they have not been able to resolve.
Contrary to what you printed in your last issue, the HOA to date has never owned any property in Heritage Harbour.  The CDD, the golf course, the developer, and Aquaterra own the major parcels of land and lakes within the CDD boundaries.

It is essential that the CDD, as the steward of the land it owns, puts forth every effort to fulfill it’s fiduciary responsibility to the residents by eliminating the faulty relationship with the HOA landscape committee which is acting as a middleman, and begin working directly with a landscaper chosen through the bidding process in a contractually based, one-on-one relationship.  

This landscaper will have advantage of support of the engineers and landscape professionals on the CDD Management staff.

No. 3: Elimination of Controversy
Last, but not least, let’s move on and work together to make this change in the process a huge success. We all want the same thing. We want to live in aesthetically pleasing surroundings that enhance our property values. A dysfunctional setting of feuding residents does nothing to move us toward this desirable end.

To continue the controversy would be counter productive to the achievement of this goal.

These are three important reasons why we must change the way we contract our landscaping services.
Thanks,

Joyce Sandy, Heritage Harbour South CDD chairwoman