If you live at The Villages at Huntington, you should have received an important email blast on Friday, January 12, 2018. Below is the content of that email:

Dear Residents,

As a follow up to our last email blast, dated Monday January 8, 2018, we met with our snow removal company (Fiorini Landscaping Inc.) and Christine Tonetti (our Property Manager) to discuss the snow removal during this past blizzard event including the problems encountered. On a positive note, the roads were cleared and salted/sanded for safe vehicle passage, despite certain basketball hoops (still not removed) and vehicles still parked on the roads. The job would have been even better if the aforementioned obstacles had been removed.

The discussion was interesting and productive. Below are the highlights for the various topics covered:

Pool Parking Lot – Vehicle access to the pool parking lot was not provided until Friday afternoon. This was a disturbing issue for the board, since, as the snow message all residents received from NAI noted, it is mandatory that all vehicles are off the street during snow removal in order for adequate plowing to be accomplished, and  that the pool parking lot and Wendell Court be utilized for excess vehicles. We as residents, need to take some responsibility in the difficult matter of snow removal, particularly when the storm is a blizzard.  Vehicles were parked too close to the entrance and exit of the parking lot blocking snow removal equipment from gaining access. Care must be taken to not damage vehicles. This was not communicated to Christine until Friday morning by Fiorini so the problem was not rectified until the afternoon, which was late.

Conclusion – (1) Fiorini needs  to communicate a problem as soon as it’s identified to Christine, so we have a chance to fix it; In this case, those extra cars blocking the entrance way could have been parked somewhere else; (2) Forini will tell us the cut off for where vehicles can be parked without affecting parking lot plowing. It is most important that this be adhered to.

Driveways – This is a crucial personal issue for many, creating the most anxiety because one does not know when their driveway will be done and how they will be able to get out to their workplaces, or wherever they need to be. We get it, but one has to understand that not everyone can be first and someone has to be last. The schedule is rotated.  From the time it stops snowing and the streets are cleared, it takes eight to ten hours for the three skid steers to clear the driveways of our 248 residents (190 double driveways and 58 single driveways) that reside in our lovely 90 acre community. As noted further down, we are considering adding use of more skid steers to speed up the process. The extra cost needs to be considered. Lesser storms may not need more equipment.

Equipment  – There was not only a lot of snow, but the temperature in the low teens was also affecting the operation of the skid steers. They run on diesel fuel and although an additive was added to guard against cold weather, the fuel was gelling causing the paraffin (found in the fuel) to solidify making the machines inoperable. This knocked out two of the three machines.

Missed/late clearing of  driveways – Friday morning the skid steer clearing  driveways in section 3C, left a little before 10 AM and went to Herrels Circle. This is where the other two skid steers were inoperable. We did not receive a satisfactory answer why it left Section 3C in the first place, but we speculate that when the operator left this section around 8:30 AM and returned about 9:10 AM that he lost track of what was left to be done. Operators, by law are allowed breaks, and that is what occurred at 8:30 AM.

Residents interfering with snow removal efforts –  It has been reported that residents continue to impede the clearance of driveways, creating hazardous situations, by approaching the skid steer operators clearing the snow. Trying to bribe the operators with money is unfair to your neighbors and will result in the firing of the operator. Don’t do it!

Snow to be cleared – Driveways should be cleared to the width of your garage door and leave approximately two feet of snow from the door. Cars parked in the driveway will have the snow cleared from the apron to within two feet of the back bumper of the vehicle. If a vehicle is parked on a driveway and the skid steer’s snow bucket cannot safely remove the snow, it will be skipped. We ask residents to park an individual vehicle on a driveway as close to the home entrance way as possible to give the skid steer as much clearance as possible.

Communication with the community – Email blasts can only be sent by certain NAI personnel which hinders communication. Robo-calling ruled out due to receiving calls at late hours.

Those that cannot wait for HOA snow clearing – We all need to understand that we have 248 homes and we cannot cater to any one resident because of their occupation, or situation. We are all equally important in the community. If you have specialneedsand need to leave at a certain time, we suggest that you make your own arrangements. Depending upon your circumstances, the arrangements will vary and are out of scope of this blast.Of course, in case of an emergency, we will do all we can to help.

Conclusion: (1) When heavy snowfall is anticipated a fourth skid steer will be considered for an additional cost to the HOA; (2) Better supervision by Fiorini of skid steer operators was agreed to; (3) At least one back up, operational, easily accessible skid steer was agreed to;  (4) Driveways inadequately cleared should be reported to Christine and residents should not try to lure operators back because that hinders the effectiveness of the snow removal;  (5) Christine is requesting the ability to be able to send blasts from her personal laptop for snow updates; (6) We are requesting access to the NAI system so the board can send its own blasts; (6) We may add a text messaging system, if the blasts prove inadequate. We are actively working on better more rapid means of communication.

Fire hydrants and mailboxes – According to the contract, within 36 hours of snowfall the fire hydrants and mailboxes should be cleared. The fire hydrants and mailboxes that were inadequately cleared, were revisited on Sunday,

Conclusion:  Fiorini agreed they could do a better job in a more timely manner. Damage to mailboxes or other property by Fiorini will be taken care of by him. The damage will be assessed then repaired.

Front and Back Gates – It was agreed that the front and rear of community need to be cleared to allow access by vehicles. The length of the storm, temperatures, and wind velocity resulting in banking of snow and ice need to be anticipated and addressed by Fiorini. These areas may need to be cleared multiple times. In this storm, the rear arm caused some problem because it was inoperable.

Social Media:  Most board members do not read the Facebook group posts on a timely manner, if at all. We suggest that you continue to contact Christine directly to report problems either through email ([email protected]), or by phone (631- 270-3037). If complaints, or comments are posted on Facebook related to the HOA, we would appreciate it if they are accurate and hopefully not exaggerated. For example, the snow clearing company that we are using this year is the same one used as last year. Also, please walk around before posting that not one driveway in Section 3 was plowed when many were and they were still plowing. Words can be powerful. Keep in mind, board members are volunteers doing the best we can. We experience the same inconveniences that you do. Thank you for your kind words to those residents who seem to understand. Yes, in the discomfort and frustration of a blizzard we can tend to be less tolerant and quick to anger.

We budgeted $95K out of a total operating budget of $892K (including reserves) for snow removal. Our largest expense is security budgeted @ $198K, while $190K goes towards our Repair & Replace reserves. Of the $300 paid monthly, $66 is for security and $64 is for R&R reserves, while $32 is for snow removal. Considering that out of the $300 monthly HOA dues, $64 is reserves we probably have one of the lowest HOA dues around with 24/7 security, a pool on 90 acres of property. We encourage all residents to run for the board that have skills that would be useful to a HOA. Our next election is in May 2018, so please consider it.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding in all of the above.

Sincerely,

Board of Directors