The President's Corner

Email Sent 01/23/2023 by President Stephen Meuler - Meeting Notice and Frontier Update

Good morning

The Board will hold a short special meeting on Thursday, Jan 26, 2023 at 3:30 p.m. to address a couple of items that were to be handled at the meeting last week. As this will be short meeting (no committee reports), it will be held at our Rec Center. An agenda is attached.

An update on Frontier and our new contract:
Frontier is running final tests this week on the connections for the improved internet service. We expect that homeowners will be able to start setting appointments beginning on February 1. We will give you the number to call for bulk services as we do not call their normal customer service line. In order to maximize the efficiency of this changeover Frontier will divide the community into sectors which each sector given a specific week to call for their appointment. It is expected that all homes will be taken care of in the month of February. Frontier assures us that this is possible. I realize everyone is getting anxious for this change. We are getting close! Thanks for your patience.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

As you know, we had a Board Meeting scheduled for last evening at 5:30. Paul McClain, our Secretary was absent but we had a quorum with four Board members to proceed. The meeting was called to order at the scheduled time. Shortly after the meeting began, Joe Trentacoste announced his resignation from the Board effective immediately. This was followed by John Santiago also announcing an immediate resignation. With only two Board members left in attendance, we were unable to proceed with our agenda and we were forced to adjourn.

First of all, I want to apologize to the homeowners who took the time to attend the meeting and show their interest in the community. Seeing as we are so close to our Annual Meeting and Election, we have decided not to appoint replacement Board members. Per our bylaws, the Board is able to function with three members. We will do so until the March meeting and election. In the interim we of course will hold a monthly meeting in February with the date and time to be announced very soon. We may also have to schedule a short special meeting to address some items needing attention that were to be dealt with last evening.

The upcoming election will fill three open seats - for these two who have resigned and also for Scott Brundrett whose term is expiring. You should have received a package from Sentry to solicit candidates for the Board I urge you to consider serving. It takes the efforts of many of our homeowners, Board and Committee members, to keep Willowbend operating smoothly.

Moving on to a different issue - several homeowners opted to utilize LMP for stump grinding (trees lost due to the hurricane) on their property. As noted previously, this was being done at the homeowner's expense. If you did not already make payment either directly to LMP or through Sentry the amount due will now show on your Sentry Account as a debit charge. If you had stump grinding on your property please check your Sentry account on their website for the amount that you owe. Cheri is available to assist you if you have difficulty navigating their site.

Again, my apologies to the Homeowners who attended the scheduled meeting last evening and indeed I apologize to the entire community. Rest assured that the remaining three Board members will continue with the work needed.

Regards,

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good evening!

This is to update you on a couple things. Nostalgic Lighting will be here tomorrow (finally!!) to begin the repairs on the street lights and sign posts that were damaged in the hurricane. They also have the list of those addresses that have requested to have their yard lights replaced.

LMP has replaced some of the sod that didn't survive from the last replacement. Because these were small areas, the irrigation was not set for extra watering. If you have an area of sod that was replaced in your front yard, please do you best to keep it watered - some water at least every other day for the first few weeks is best. Thanks for you assistance.

A reminder - our Board meeting next week will be an evening meeting to accommodate those who cannot make it to daytime meetings. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, Jan 18th at 5;30 p.m. at Our Savior Lutheran Church. All homeowners are invited to attend.

Stephen Meuler
President Willowbend HOA

I have an update on the status of the change to Frontier service. Previously I had said that homeowners would be able to call to set up appointments to have their service changed beginning at the first of the year. There is going to be a delay (hopefully a short one). Frontier has discovered that more engineering work is needed on our property than they had anticipated. A portion of Willowbend is still on very old technology.

The entire property will be updated with capability of handling our new service speeds but also to have the capability to accept further improvements as they become available in the next few years. At this point, Frontier expects this delay to be just a few weeks. We will let you know when the window opens to schedule the changeover at your home. In the meantime your service remains as it is with no interruption. Our current billing with Frontier will also remain the same with the new rate being charged as each house is changed over during the ramp up period. At the end of that period the HOA will be charged the new amount for the entire property.

For those of you who are currently paying for increased internet speed or other additional services, these will be addressed as you schedule the changeover.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all of you! Stay warm this weekend.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

The Willowbend HOA Board meeting scheduled for next Thursday, Dec 15th has been canceled. We have a few schedule conflicts and no "pressing" issues that need to be addressed. Our next Board meeting will be an evening meeting held on Wednesday January 18th at 5:30 pm at Our Savior Lutheran Church.

LMP began the stump grinding work today - finally! They are working first on the stumps in the common area and then will move on to those on homeowner property for those who have requested them to do the work. Thanks to everyone for their patience.

On behalf of the entire Board, I wish all of you a most happy holiday season. Enjoy your time with family and friends. May the New Year bring us all good health - and no hurricanes!

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

At the Board meeting this week, the budget for 2023 was approved. Beginning in January the monthly dues will be:
     Villa - $351
     Club - $372
     Exec - $387

Frontier - Cable/Internet
Our current contract with Frontier expires at the end of the year. January will be the transition month. All homeowners will need to contact Frontier in January (we will provide contact information prior to the end of the year) to set up an appointment for them to install the new equipment needed. The HOA will be billed the new rate starting in February. If you are currently paying an additional amount to Frontier for faster internet speed you will be able to drop that extra expense.

Social Committee
We are in need of volunteers to join our Social Committee and someone to Chair the committee. Joyce Cekander has chaired this committee for the past few years and is resigning from that position. Many thanks to Joyce for all that she has done. If you are interested in chairing this committee or just helping with it please let one of the Board members know.

Work Requests Sentry Management
If you have a work order request to be submitted to the HOA (for landscaping or other services) please email the request to Cherie at Sentry Management. Do not contact LMP directly. Cherie's email address is: cherie.colvin@sentrymgt.com

Stump Grinding
LMP is planning to begin the needed stump grinding in Willowbend the week after Thanksgiving

I hope that all of you have a wonderful, safe and healthy Thanksgiving!

Stephen Meuler
President Willowbend HOA

This is a reminder for all homeowners. A Willowbend Board meeting will be held this Thursday at 1:30 p.m. at Our Savior Lutheran Church. This is the meeting for the Board to consider and vote on the HOA Budget for 2023. You all should have received a copy of the proposed budget via mail. As always, all homeowners are welcome to attend the meeting. We will listen to all homeowner comments but keep in mind that the Board alone votes on the Budget.

I would also like to remind everyone of another issue that has been brought to my attention. Any non-residents of Willowbend should only be using our recreational facilities when accompanied by a resident. Do not ever give your gate entry fob to someone not residing in our neighborhood for them to use our rec center without you. Thanks for your cooperation!

Stephen Meuler
President Willowbend HOA

Homeowners

You should have received the mailing from Sentry with the proposed budget for 2023. Attached you will find a corrected copy. There is a small change which does not affect the monthly assessments. A summary of the changes:

• the proposed assessments would give us a total income of $1,198,260 as opposed to the $1,198,018 as shown in your mailing
• addition of $242 to the Contingency/Special Projects account for a total in that account of $30,242 as opposed to $30,000 This was done to balance out with the income numbers
• this then give us a Total Operating of $1,133,705

This was entirely my error as I did not transfer the latest document to Sentry for the mailing. I apologize for any confusion that this has caused.

Stephen Meuler
President Willowbend HOA

Well, we are now a month out from Hurricane Ian. The year continues to fly by and the holidays are upon us.

LMP's cleanup work continues with work now primarily being done on the loose branches in the large trees. They will be starting the stump grinding and removal soon. All stumps will be removed from the common areas. Per my previous email, if you requested LMP to do the stump removal on your property they have been given your address on their work order. There is still time to be added to their list if you would like them to do the work. Please let me know by email.

As part of their normal work cycle, LMP will begin fertilization of the lawns and shrubs this next week.

We still don't have a set date for repairs to the street lights from Nostalgic Lighting. They are aware of the scope of the work needed and have ordered the necessary repair parts.

Sentry has put out bid requests for the repairs needed to the aluminum fence along Habitat. As yet we have not found a contractor with time available. Sentry will stay on top of this.

We also need repairs to one corner of the wall outside of the Luminary entrance. This is a very small job for a contractor and will likely have to wait.

I sincerely appreciate everyone's patience during this past month.

Stephen Meuler
President Willowbend HOA

I wanted to provide everyone with an update on several issues.

Hurricane Recovery
LMP has finished with the majority of their cleanup. What is remaining is not deemed to be urgent and thus will take some time - and patience from our homeowners. Their crew is back doing the regular weekly work and they have several other communities that they service that still require much more cleanup. They need to direct some of their additional manpower to those communities. We have a few uprooted trees remaining that still need to be removed. Many trees have large broken limbs that are hanging in the trees. These will be removed. We also have some areas behind homes that require some debris removal.

Stump Grinding
LMP will be doing the stump grinding as needed in all common areas of the community. Stump grinding on homeowner's property will be the responsibility of the homeowner. Obviously each homeowner is free to hire any contractor to do this work. LMP will grind the stumps for $50-$75 per stump plus a $45 per hour charge for clean up of debris associated with the grinding.

Be extremely cautious if you choose to hire a contractor other than LMP for stump grinding on your property. Utilities need to be marked off prior to any grinding work. Also, many of these stumps have irrigation lines wrapped around them which will need to be removed and capped or re-routed. if you wish to have LMP do this work on your property please let me know.

Rec Center
Our long time cleaning person at the rec center is out with a serious medical condition. In the meantime we will have another cleaner but this may present a problem with trash removal from the area. I would ask all who use any of the amenities at the rec center to please take all of your trash with you when you leave. This will help us out until we can resolve the trash collection issue.

Frontier - Cable/Internet Contract
Our current cable/internet contract expires at the end of this year. The Board has approved a new contract with Frontier. We will have some upgrades to our current service. Internet speed with be increased to 1G with each home supplied with two high speed wireless routers. For the video package we will have the Prime package and each home supplied with one HD DVR and one HD Playback Box. This will operate two separate TV's.

Next Board Meeting
Our next Board meeting will be Thursday, November 17th at 1:30 p.m. at Our Savior Lutheran Church. This will be the meeting to approve the Budget for 2023. A copy of the proposed budget will be mailed to each homeowner prior to the meeting.

Stephen Meuler
President Willowbend HOA

The spa at the rec center is now open and available for use. Galaxy Pools has advised us that the chemicals are now properly balanced and the spa is safe for use. Thus, the entire rec center is now open once again. Thanks for your patience.

Good morning,

I finally returned to Sarasota last evening. I wasn't sure what to expect from all the pictures that I saw during the last week. Indeed, what a difference in one week! All of our lawns have even been mowed. We owe a great deal of thanks to LMP and all of their crew. They had 50 people in here this weekend to get in shape to be back to a normal schedule of maintenance.

If you still have trees that are uprooted and haven't been removed or if you have large trees with large loose branches, please send an email to Debbie Tinney with the landscape committee.

The removal and grinding of stumps on homeowner property will be the responsibility of the homeowner. The HOA will of course take care of stump removal from all common areas. I am sure that these companies will also be very busy right now so it may take some time. A reminder to all that before you have any stump grinding done on your property you need to call and have the utility lines marked in your yard. You should also notify LMP prior to stump grinding so that they can remove any irrigation lines that may be around the tree stump and cap them off while the work is being done.

According to the County website, recycle bin pickup will resume next Monday Oct 17th. Thus we will NOT have recycling pickup again this week and our first pickup would be Thursday Oct 20th. Please do not place the blue bins at the curb this week.

We here in Willowbend were so fortunate in how our community weathered this very damaging storm.

Today LMP will be focusing on removing the piles of debris from the fronts of houses. They will be staging some of the debris in the large open field off of Habitat until they can arrange the needed trucks for removal. Keep in mind that they have many communities that they are servicing in addition to Willowbend. They will also be looking to remove loose branches that are hanging in trees. If after today, you still have large loose limbs hanging from trees please send an email to Debbie Tinney with our landscaping committee who will then coordinate with LMP. Her email address is: siestagal@me.com

I have received several emails from frustrated homeowners concerning trash collection from Waste Management. We have no information other than what is posted on the publicly available website. They were to start regular collections this week. If Willowbend trash wasn't collected yesterday on our collection day I assume they are running behind with the large amount of trash that is needed to be picked up. I would ask that you please do not put trash out at the curb unless it is in a closed container. If loose bags of trash are placed out they will likely be ripped open by animals and create quite a mess.

As each day goes on I am sure patience gets thin. We are just one week out from the storm and I think much progress has been made in the cleanup. Please continue to be patient. Every contractor or supplier that we use is overloaded with work right now. We will get this done.

Good morning

Nostalgic was out yesterday to begin assessing the damage to the street lights. They will also be able to replace any yard lights ( the standing yard lights in every front yard - not lights on the garages) that have been damaged and/or destroyed. As we could guess, they said that these yard light will be in great demand due to the storm. it will take approximately 8-10 weeks to get the replacements and the cost would be roughly $335 installed. They would need to know how many we need for the community so as to place an order. This cost would be the responsibility of each homeowner. Of course you are free to use someone else if you want. A reminder - each yard is required to have one of these yard lights and they must be the approved style.

If you would like to have Nostalgic replace your yard light please let me know. Make sure you include your address. I would like to give Nostalgic a count by early next week. We will work out a way to collect the charge from each homeowner. Thanks! We are making great progress one week after the storm.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good morning

According to the Waste Management website they resumed normal service for garbage collection as of Monday Oct 3. Trash in Willowbend should be picked up tomorrow (Thursday) as usual. HOWEVER, their website states that pickup of recycling is suspended until further notice. Therefore please do not put the blue recycling bins at the curb this week. They will not be picked up and they will just be in the way of continued cleanup efforts. We will have to watch for further notice from Waste Management as to when recycling pickup will resume. If anyone sees a notice in the newspaper on online let me know and I can send an email to all homeowners.

I have heard that FPL trucks are on the south end of Crane Prairie this morning! Let's keep our fingers crossed that our neighbors in that area have their power restored today.

Good morning

Nostalgia, the company that services our street lights and mailboxes, will be out today to assess the damage to those items and determine what needs to be done. It may take some time to get these all operational again as they service many communities that have a need. I have asked them to also look at the yard lights as many of those were also damaged. They will let me know if they can handle those as well. The cost to repair the yard lights will be the responsibility of each homeowner. If Nostalgia is able to handle these we will figure out a way to address this. Of course each homeowner is free to hire anyone they choose to repair or replace their yard light. Keep in mind that each home is required to have a yard light and it must be to the neighborhood standard.

Sentry Management's office is still without power. I have been in contact with Cherie, our property manager, and her home was hit hard by the storm. She also has no power at her home and so has had limited access to emails, etc. If you have submitted a request to Sentry and have not had a response please forward the request to me and I will attempt to address it.

The community pool will be open as of 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning! Final work will be done today on the pool and preparing the area. I am not sure of the status of our Janitorial service right now. Please, if you are going to use the rec center - the pool as well as the gym, take some extra care to help keep it clean. Clean up after yourselves. If you have trash take it with you when you leave. I would ask that you also help to keep the restrooms clean. Thanks for your cooperation.

Again, I would like to say a special thanks to John Bobianski. John has gone above and beyond in getting the rec center secured before the storm and now in preparing it to reopen. I would also like to thank Ellen and Tony Nacinovich who spent several hours cleaning up and bagging debris from the pool area. Ellen has also worked very closely with the County addressing the water issue behind Thornapple and Crane Prairie. Many many thanks to John, Ellen and Tony!!

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good morning

LMP is moving on the back of houses. There is a significant amount of work to do there. They are also working on removing the debris from the lawns. Later this week they will be bringing in front end loaders and trucks to begin removing the piles of cut trees and other debris from the neighborhood. They also have their irrigation folks on site to begin to assess any damage. The weight of large trees that have fallen may have caused some underground main pipes to have breaks or leaks. It does appear that our irrigation pumps did not sustain any damage. Their goal will be to resume normal service (mowing and trimming) to our community next week.

LMP services some communities south of us - some as close as Venice - that have sustained incredible damage. We were indeed very fortunate.

Stay well and stay patient!

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good afternoon

I received an email from FPL stating that they were now able to give estimated times for power restoration to those households still without power. If you are still without power, you should be able to find information for your specific address on their website. If you need power to charge your phone or laptop the power is on at the rec center.

We have had some people using the pool. A reminder - the pool and spa remain CLOSED! The water is not yet chemically balanced and so not safe for use. Galaxy Pools will advise us when the pool is safe and ready for use.

The gym is available for use but please do not use the pool or the spa.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Good afternoon

LMP is making progress! The streets have been cleared and much of the debris in front of the houses has been cut up and collected. They are moving on to the rear of the homes.

Unfortunately, as of the last that I heard, some houses on the south end of Crane Prairie still do not have power. If the power has been restored, please let me know.

Galaxy Pools has been out and started the removal of all of the debris from the community pool. They have advised us that it may be a couple of weeks before the pool can be used. Please do not attempt to use the pool before we give an "all clear' for use. Currently the gym as well as the restrooms are where the pool furniture was stored during the storm. Once we have the deck area around the pool cleared of debris we will move the furniture back outside and the gym will be available for use.

For those of you who may still be without power the power is on at the rec center and you may want to use it to charge your cell phones. I have had several reports of neighbors assisting in the cleanup not only around their own home but assisting their neighbors. Your efforts are much appreciated and go a long way to getting our community back in order.

Watching the pictures from the Fort Myers area on the news should make us all very thankful. While we may have some minor inconveniences right now, we indeed dodged a bullet.

Once again, I thank you all for your patience and for your assistance.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

LMP has made some progress in clearing the downed trees. This project will take some time. They are committed to assisting us until the project is complete.

According to the Sarasota County website, Waste Management will resume regular trash pickup on Monday. Our regular service day is Thursday. Please do NOT place trash receptacles at the curb now. They will only get in the way of LMP doing their work. Trash should not be placed out until Wednesday evening - as is usual. Please refer to the County website - scgov.net - as they have outlined specific instructions for the trash placed at the curb. Due to the expected large increase of trash that they will be dealing with, the trash not in containers must be prepared a certain way for their pickup.

We have not yet been able to make contact with the company that services our street lights. As several of them are down, I would urge everyone to use extreme caution around these downed lights as they may still have live exposed wires.

The County is aware of our issue with the flow of water between Thornapple and Crane Prairie. They are supposed to be sending someone out to assess the situation.

A homeowner has also made me aware that we seem to be getting a mosquito problem due to all of the water. Many of our homes have lost their lanai screens so the outside areas are not protected from pests. Please do your small part to eliminate any standing water you may have around your homes from pots, etc.

Continued thanks to everyone for your patience and cooperation.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good morning!

Unfortunately we still have some homes on the south end of Crane Prairie Way that are without power. FPL is unable to give an estimated time for restoration.

LMP is on site and starting on the work of cutting trees and clearing the roadways. As I said, they will be stacking the debris at several locations and hauling it away at the end of their cleanup. LMP will be removing ONLY landscape debris. Do NOT put any other trash on these piles of landscape debris. This includes screening from lanais that may have blown loose. Anything other than landscape debris will have to wait for Waste Management or you will have to dispose of it on your own. Please cooperate with this and don't make LMP's work any harder than it is.

I have had many homeowners voice concern over the water behind Thornapple that runs from the preserve area. The water has obviously risen and is full of debris which complicates the movement of the water. This is a Sarasota County issue. The flow of this water behind our houses is as designed by the County and they are responsible for keeping the water flowing. Unfortunately for us I am sure they have much bigger issues to deal with right now. This is not an issue for LMP and as this runs through a preserve area the HOA is prohibited from any attempt to alter the flow of this water.

We have made contact with Galaxy Pools who maintains our community pool. They have several employees that sustained major home damage and are unable to return to work. This has left them very short handed. We will have to wait for service to clean up the pool. This is what we are likely to hear from many of the contractors that we need to assist us with the cleanup and restoration. Once again I remind you - please be patient!

As I am still away and won't return to the neighborhood until Oct 9, let me know if you notice anything that needs to be brought to the attention of the homeowners.

Stay well! We will get through this. As bad as things may look right now in the neighborhood we sustained no structure damage anywhere. We have indeed been very fortunate.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Please be extremely careful entering and exiting the community. One side of both of our entrances - Habitat and Luminary - are currently blocked by fallen trees. One lane of each of the streets is open. Clearing these streets will be the first priority of LMP when they begin the work tomorrow.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

To clarify - LMP has some staff on site today to assess the situation so that they know what equipment is needed. As I said they are also bringing additional resources from their operation in the northern part of the state. Full scale cleanup will begin tomorrow.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

The rec center remains CLOSED! Please do not attempt to use the gym. The pool is full of debris and will need to be cleaned. It may not be possible to get someone out quickly.

I want to say a special THANK YOU to John Bobianski who is the chairman of our rec committee. John did the work to secure the area before the storm and has always been available to help when asked. It is much appreciated.

I understand that the tops of many street lights have blown down. We will have to work with Nostalgia lighting to have them repaired but again - be patient. They will also be the company that will repair/replace any damaged mailboxes. Yard lights have also come down at some homes. I will check on the availability of those posts and advise you when I have some information.

I will probably repeat this many times but PLEASE BE PATIENT as we work to restore the neighborhood

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good morning everyone! It is a good morning as it appears that Willowbend came through the storm better than expected. Power was restored at my house as of about 2:00 am and hopefully all of Willowbend has been restored. At this point I know that we have tree damage and some damage to lanais. I am having an assessment done of any other damage.

LMP will be out today to begin cleanup. They are sending additional help from their branch in the northern part of the state. Their first priority will be to clear the roads in the community. They will also be checking the storm drains today to be sure they are clear. They will be able to handle any downed trees including any large oak trees. They will cut up debris and stack it. The last thing they will do is haul things away when they are finished with the clean up so please be patient with having the stacked piles of tree debris.

I hope all Willowbend families stayed safe yesterday.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

Good morning,

Sarasota County remains in the projected path of the hurricane. As I stated earlier, the rec center will be closed this week so that the area can be prepared and secured for the storm.

LMP is not doing trimming today but is on site gathering and removing any loose debris that they see from the property. They are also preparing to do storm clean up for us if needed. They have assured me that WIllowbend will be a top priority for them for any cleanup needed. If you have any landscaping related damage from the storm you will need to contact Sentry to put in a work order for LMP. Please do not contact LMP directly.

Another reminder - please look carefully outside your home for any items that could become flying debris and move those items indoors.

Everyone please stay safe - and let's hope for the best for our area and all of Florida.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

The latest hurricane forecast (while very early) does not look good for Sarasota. Let's hope that the forecast changes in the next couple of days. This is a reminder for everyone to be prepared. All outdoor items, including on your lanai, that can fly around in a storm need to be secured indoors. Flying debris can cause a lot of damage. If you are not currently home and you know that you have items that need to be secured, please contact a neighbor or other friend to assist you in preparing your property for this storm.

Unless there is a major change in the forecast, we will be closing the rec center as of Sunday evening. We need to get this area, particularly the outdoor furniture, secured. John Bobianski, our committee chair for the rec center, has agreed to lead the effort to secure this area. Many thanks in advance John!

Please look carefully outside your home for any possible "flying debris."

Above all, stay safe! Let's all hope for the best!

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

It has come to our attention that some homes in the community that are vacant for the season have their power turned off from inside the house. Please be aware that if the power in your home is turned off when you leave for an extended period of time, the irrigation cannot run to your property. The HOA cannot be responsible for any damage to your lawn and other landscaping due to lack of irrigation if this is the case.

Stephen Meuler
Willowbend HOA

I hope that everyone is well and surviving the hot summer! You have probably noticed that the project to replace sod is continuing and many homes have had sod installed this past week. More homes will be completed in the next week. The irrigation has been set at each of the homes with new sod but due to the intense heat we are having we are asking for your help as well. If your front yard has had new sod installed - and if you are able to do so - we ask that you water the new sod daily for the next couple of weeks. Five minutes of water in the morning would be most beneficial. Thanks for your help.

Stephen Meuler
Willowbend HOA

An update to my email this morning - the company that works on our pumps is telling us they cannot be here until Wednesday. We need your help during this time period - especially for the people with new sod. If you are at all able please make the effort to water this sod so that we don't lose it.

I also want to make you aware of another issue. Sarasota County is seeing a disease that is affecting the palm trees. The disease is called Ganoderma and it is killing palm trees. Although this disease can affect other trees, it is primarily affecting palms. Unfortunately the disease has been identified in our neighborhood. The infected trees will die from this but they must be removed NOW! The HOA is already removing infected trees from common area property in the community. You will be notified if a tree infected with this disease has been identified on your property. If so, the tree and the stump must be removed. In addition, this disease affects the ground such that no other palm may be planted in that same area. If you receive a notification letter for your property we ask that you take immediate action so that we can stop the spread of this and preserve our landscaping.

As always, many thanks for your help.

Stephen Meuler
Willowbend HOA

Our irrigation pumps are currently not working. The pumps did not function to provide the usual Thursday watering. We are calling for service and hopefully can have them repaired today.

URGENT - if you have had new sod installed recently at your home please check on it if you are able to do so. We ask for your assistance in watering the sod until we can get our irrigation system working. We do not want our investment in the new sod to be wasted. Thanks for your help!

Stephen Meuler
Willowbend HOA

July 17, 2022

To All Willowbend Homeowners:

Earlier this month the USPS once again increased the cost for first class postage. We are all well aware of increasing costs everywhere. Our HOA will be faced with some significant cost increases in the coming year as our two major contracts - Landscaping and Cable/Internet are both up for renewal. Postage is one small area where we have an opportunity to reduce costs if we can move to email as our primary method of communication from the Board as well as from Sentry Management.

We still have quite a few homeowners who opt to not provide us with an email address for communication. I am asking everyone to please reconsider and allow us to utilize your email address. We do not ever give your email information to any outside company and indeed even when we send a “mass email” to the community, the email addresses of your neighbors are not revealed. We will instruct Sentry to cease mailing out ACR approval letters and any other communication where we have an email address on file. This is one small area where we can work together to reduce some cost in these challenging times.

You can check the directory on the Willowbend website to see what email address if any we have on file for your address. If you wish to update your email address or add a new address please provide that information to Marsh Hestenes, our website manager. His email address is hestenes@msu.edu. Thanks for your cooperation.

Stephen Meuler
President, Willowbend HOA

The Willowbend Board is ready to proceed with the sod replacement project. You should see the work beginning before the end of this month. We will be starting with the front lawns on Habitat Blvd. We ask for everyone's patience as we work our way through this project. Please do not interfere with the work being done by LMP. They will have their instructions as to where the sod is to be replaced and in what order. Do not try to redirect their employees. Do not contact Sentry asking when your yard is to be taken care of. Let us complete the project. We will advise all homeowners when the work is completed. If at that time you believe there is still an issue with your yard then contact the landscape committee or a board member and we will address your issue. Thanks in advance for your cooperation and patience.

You may also have noticed that the weekly mowing of the lawns is being done on two days with the fronts of the houses on Wednesday and behind the houses on Thursday. This is due to the ongoing staffing issues that LMP along with many companies is experiencing.

The Board has discussed the schedule of our monthly meetings. We realize that our community has many people that work during the day and thus are not able to participate in these meetings. Thus, we have decided to hold some of our meetings in the evening. The Board meetings will still be held at the same location - Our Savior Lutheran Church. Due to their scheduling, evening meetings will have to be held on a Wednesday rather than a Thursday. Our next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held on Wednesday June 8th at 5:30 p.m. As always, the meeting notice will be posted and a reminder sent. We will likely hold one evening meeting per quarter. This will be done on a trial basis to see if we have any community interest in attending.

I want to thank everyone for the encouragement and support that has been shown to the new Board!

Stephen Meuler
President
Willowbend HOA

After the election last week, the new Board held their organizational meeting to select officers for the coming year. The Willowbend HOA Board and their positions are as follows:

Stephen Meuler - President
Joe Trentacoste - Vice President
Scott Brundrett - Treasurer
Paul McClain - Secretary
John Santiago - Director at Large

We thank Jack Berkowitz and Carmine Vitolo for their service this past year.

We have a lot of work to do this year. Major contracts are up for renewal, notably the contracts for landscaping and cable/internet. We have work remaining to resolve open issues related to the reserve accounts for Willowbend. Our governing documents still reference Lee Wetherington (developer) and as we saw with the recent election, several areas of our documents are quite vague and indeed some areas may be contrary to current Florida statutes that govern HOA's. These documents need to be re-written with the assistance of an attorney and then taken to the entire membership of the community to be voted upon.

Willowbend is a wonderful neighborhood and a great place to live! Our home values continue to rise with some homes in our development now selling in excess of $800K. Amazing!! The Board is committed to doing our part as managers to maintain our high standards. I am well aware that the number one complaint is the condition of the grass in many areas. A significant amount of money has been spent on sod replacement in the past few years only to see it once again die in many areas. We will be working carefully with LMP to get to the proper solution. It doesn't make sense to just replace sod without addressing soil conditions, fertilization, pest control and irrigation.

We also ask that each homeowner take seriously their part in maintaining high standards for the neighborhood. Is your roof being kept clean (as required by our rules)? Does your house perhaps need painting? Does the yard light on your property need to be painted? Has your driveway ever been cleaned?

It has been so encouraging to see many homeowners doing renovations to their landscaping. Believe it or not, shrubs have a life span! Dead trees and shrubs should be removed. If nothing has been done to your landscaping since the building of the property. Please take an honest look and see if perhaps it is time for some refreshing. All of these small things will help to maintain the property values for all homeowners and protect our investments in our homes. It really does make a difference!

Lastly, I want to assure you that I am committed to seeing that Board meetings are held with all members showing respect for each other. We can (and will) disagree without being disrespectful. As always, homeowners are invited and encouraged to attend Board meetings. All of us on the Board look forward to working for and with all of you in the coming year.

For the Board,

Stephen Meuler
Willowbend HOA President

Dear Homeowners.

The Willowbend Homeowners Association, in conjunction with the Landscape Committee and the Board, are extending the moratorium on requests for any additional sod. Sod will no longer be considered as a replacement for any shrubs, bushes or trees on ARC requests. Effective immediately if a homeowner replaces an EXISTING AREA of sod or grass, the HOA will be responsible for the irrigation and maintenance of the area.

This moratorium conclusion is based on the following: First, our 20+ year old irrigation system cannot support any new areas planted with sod or grass. Second, the county allots only a certain amount of water to each community for landscape purposes. Willowbend must not exceed this amount. Sarasota County has been in the first stages of a water shortage for the past several years.

As we all know Florida does not have a limitless water supply. Therefore, the HOA and Landscape Committee strongly recommends that areas be improved with water efficient landscaping such as the use of ground cover or mulch. Any landscape changes will continue to require an ARC approval as stated in our By-laws.

Thank you for your cooperation with this matter.

Willowbend Landscape Committee and the Willowbend Board of Directors