By Chuck DeCoste, Chair

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You might not have heard about the new Infrastructure Committee, but we’ve been an active workgroup since late last year, as a part of the Transition Working Group, or TWG.  We became an official committee soon after our new homeowners association Board of Directors was elected, and we recently added two members.  So, the full committee now includes Mike Crean, Kevin Devaney, Rex McCallum, Dennis Steil and me.

 

Our mission is to advise the board regarding the condition of all infrastructure in the community and to make recommendations about proper management. We especially focus on high repair-cost and high maintenance-cost items, such as the retaining walls and the stormwater control measures, also known as ponds. The idea is to keep all of these items looking good and functioning properly for many years, at the best cost to residents.  

 

We also keep an eye on other infrastructure, such as fencing, sidewalks, roads and some structural parts of our amenities.

 

An example of what we’ve been up to is walking the retaining walls, looking for things that don’t look right, so we can ask the developer to address them. We’ve completed this for the newer section — Phase 2 — and submitted a report with recommendations to the board. Since these still are in the warranty period, the board used our report to make a warranty claim. We’ll look at the older walls next and let the developer know about issues and concerns that need addressing.

 

Another example of our work is a proposal to the board concerning hiring a stormwater control measure pond maintenance company, as well as to have the required annual report to the City of Durham completed by a professional engineer. We recently made these recommendations after assessing the capabilities and cost proposals of a few local companies. Fortunately, we don’t have to pay to maintain these ponds until they are turned over to the HOA. This will be a while — possibly years for the Phase 2 ponds.

 

As a part of the TWG, we contracted with an engineering firm to conduct a reserve study of our neighborhood. The report from this study tells us how much we should expect to pay for maintenance, repair and replacement over the years. It also gives recommendations — already being used by our board and Finance Committee — for how much money we need in our budgets and reserves to handle these items. This is much better than being surprised.

 

Next, we are planning a more thorough technical study.  We’ve recommended our new board initiate a transition study as soon as construction is complete on the new amenities. This includes engineering assessments of the structures, not just assuming they were built correctly. We’re hoping this study gets kicked off within the next few weeks!

 

Have you noticed I keep saying we make recommendations? As a committee, we serve “at the pleasure of” the board. So, we don’t have authority to sign contracts or commit/spend any HOA money. We can only tell the board what we have learned and suggest what we think are the best actions. So far, the board seems to appreciate our help and has taken most of our advice.

 

Other things we do include consulting with the board or other committees, as requested, with regard to other infrastructure items in our community. We’ve been called upon on a few occasions already.

 

As you can see, it’s been a busy few months for us. But we feel that we, like many of our neighbors, are contributing to efforts to keep the Courtyards at Southpoint a great place to live.

 

Did I miss anything?  Probably. You can help us out if you see something that doesn’t seem right. Let us know; we’ll check it out and look for the right way to address it. You can reach us via email.