Volume 2, Number 1 Spring 2014

                                 

THINGS HAPPENING AT THE MOORINGS  

Here’s hoping that each of you had a Happy Easter season and after a particularly harsh winter all across the nation, I hope this edition of the Moorings Newsletter finds you safe and warm and looking forward to visiting your “home away from home” here in Orange Beach! There are lots of exciting things happening here on the Alabama Gulf Coast, especially here at the Moorings.

OUR NEWEST BOARD MEMBER First of all, I’d like to welcome Sandy Sudduth as the newest member of your Board of Directors. Sandy was appointed to replace Carmen Kirchharr, who resigned in February because of time constraints.

ACTIONS TAKEN BY THE BOARD The first item that required our attention as a Board was to adopt and ratify the 2014 Budget for our Association. This action was accomplished in our Budget Ratification Meeting, which was held on December 14, 2013, the first time a Budget has been ratified prior to the year it went into effect in the history of the Association and your new Board is proud of that accomplishment! Speaking of finances, ever since the Budget Ratification Meeting we have been actively discussing ways to reduce the costs of managing our Association, all the while

trying to improve the “Moorings Experience” for our owners.

NEW FRONT GATE SYSTEM You’ll be glad to know that the Board has approved the project that was discussed in the Annual Meeting to replace the outdated front gate system with a much more secure, high-tech solution designed to limit access to our property by non-authorized personnel. There are many benefits that will come with this new gate system. 1) The new gate will be much more

attractive and secure than the existing pole-type system that we have now.

2) It will give the perception that that our Association is serious about the security of our property and will certainly add value to each of our member’s investment in the Moorings.

3) We are confident that once we have taken control of our front gate (along with the Pool and Fitness Center) we won’t have to hire “Boots on the Ground” Security personnel on a daily basis during the summer (except perhaps on “Big” weekends). That alone could potentially save us as much as $20,000 this year!

4) Here’s how the new system will work… every owner will have the option of purchasing (for $50) a remote activated (push-button) keyfob that will allow the

gate to be opened from inside your car (without having to roll down your window!).

5) Or…(for $15) you may purchase a simple keyfob that you wave in front of the magnetic pad (much like the Beach Express Toll Booth) to open the gate.

6) The best news is that whichever fob you choose to purchase, either one will activate both the Pool Gate and the door to our Fitness Center!

7) Also, unlike a regular “Brass” key, should you lose your keyfob, we will be able to disable it, preventing whoever has it from being able to use it. Then you can replace the lost keyfob with a new one, thereby keeping our property more secure in the process!

8) For those of you who are OK with the current system, (or if your rent your unit out) you (or your tenants) will still be able to open the front gate using a new, unique 4-digit code, specific to your unit, and y’all will still be able to use your existing “Brass” keys to access both the pool and the fitness center.

9) Finally, our current gate code will continue to work for opening the front gate until we have had the opportunity to notify each of you of what your new gate code is and/or get you your new fobs, depending on which method (or combination of methods) you choose to employ.

Volume 2, Number 1 Spring 2014

The construction and installation of our new gate is scheduled to begin this week (April 28th) so pardon the mess! The new gates should be in place by the week of May 11th, just in time for the summer season.

NOTE: It would be helpful if each of you would let Chris Allred (251) 948-2645 know whether or not you would like to purchase keyfobs (and how many and which types you want) so that we can go ahead and order a supply and have them available for you prior to the implementation of the new gate system.

NEW RULES & REGULATIONS On April 10, 2014 the Board drafted an amended set of Rules and Regulations that we feel better represents the way that we plan to govern your Association. This draft can be found on our website (www.obmoorings.com). There were relatively few changes to the old Rules, but here are a few of the changes that may be of interest to our members:

1) Under the heading of “Balconies, Windows and Doors”, we have added paragraph 4, which will allow our owners to hang a “Game Day” flag from their balcony to show support for their team. There are limitations on how big it can be and how long it may remain, but we hope that it will foster friendly competition between our owners who want to show their team spirit.

2) Under the heading of “Parking”, we changed the wording to allow our members to park any “Street Legal” vehicle (i.e. – a golf cart, as long as it is Street Legal) in our garage. Please note that we also added wording that prohibits any vehicle from being

operated on our property by anyone other than a licensed driver.

3) Under the heading of “Swimming Pool(s)”, we have changed the pool hours from 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. to accommodate owners and guests who have children who “just can’t wait” to get in the pool!

4) Under the heading of “Enforcements/Penalties”, in an attempt to make the whole process less confrontational and a lot more owner friendly, we changed the actions that can be taken by the Board when an owner has been accused of violating the Rules. Bottom line…there will be no Certified Letters sent to an owner until that owner has been notified by phone of the reported violation and given a chance to correct that violation. NEW LEGAL REPRESENTATION

After over two months of requesting critical information from our current law firm without any success, we have decided that we deserve representation from a company who is both responsive to our needs and who is willing to provide us with timely services. Daniel, Upton & Perry has demonstrated that they are either not able or are unwilling to do that for this new Board. Therefore, we have decided that it is in our best interests as a Board to terminate our relationship with Daniel, Upton & Perry and we have retained the services of Blackburn, Conner & Taupeka to represent our Association in the future.

SPECIAL BOARD MEETING NOTICE The President of the Association has scheduled a Special Board meeting to be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 3, 2014 in the 2nd Floor Meeting Room here at The Moorings. All members in good standing are invited to attend.

NOTICE FOR PET OWNERS Two things of note:

1) Last week, one of our owners was walking her small dog on the brick road behind the pool and suffered an unwarranted attack by another dog. The attacking dog was with it’s owner at The Sportsman Marina and was not on a leash, as is required by Orange Beach Ordinance. Our owner’s dog was seriously injured in the attack and is currently still being treated in the Emergency Animal Clinic in Pensacola. Please be vigilant when walking your pets!

2) Our Rules & Regulations require that all pet owners must register their pets with the Association. Even if you’ve done it before, it would be helpful if each of you would take the time to send in a pet registration form (it’s on our website) so that we’ll have an accurate record of what animals actually belong on our property.

CONTACT INFORMATION Below is a list of the contact information for our current Board of Directors along with the information on how to reach Chris Allred and Tony Jarvis for your records. Please feel free to contact any of us if you have any questions, comments or concerns or if we can be of assistance in any way.

Bob “Fatback” Green, President Unit #201 fatback444@gmail.com (251) 978-9988 Edwin Robertson, Secretary Unit #206 edwin.robertson@airgas.com (334) 412-2336 Holland Powell, Treasurer Unit #215 Holland_Powell@ajg.com (334) 412-8180 Greg Mosing, Vice-President Unit #420 gregmo@cox.net (337) 552-3296 Sandy Sudduth, Vice-President Unit #216 sandysudduth@yahoo.com (770) 298-9899 Chris Allred – Luna Beach Properties Bookkeeping chrisallred@gulftel.com (251) 948-2645 Tony Jarvis – Bama Coastal Services Building Manager jajjar@yahoo.com (251) 550-5490