Snow Plowing

Dear Members,

A few concerned members took the time to reach out and ask a few questions about our current policy of no longer doing work for members privately. For those who took the time to reach out, we would like to thank you for your concern and support.

We have decided to share what was discussed with the rest of the membership to clear up any possible misconceptions. It is always better to address concerns directly in this matter rather than rant on social media.

The board does not feel it is proper to provide services or goods for what would be considered “less than their actual value/market value” and have seen this not work out so well in the past. The amount of money the association took in for plowing in the years prior would not appear to cover the cost we incur to pay the employee and the equipment. This led to all members paying for a service that only a few utilized and this just did not seem fair to the masses.

The same was true with other services such as gravel deliveries where the monies taken in were not enough to cover the actual costs of the manpower, material and vehicles.

Additionally, we did not feel a price increase was a viable solution. Snow removal is not as simple as it may seem. The variety, types and styles of landscape contained within our community are each very unique and makes the task extremely complicated. If the individual plowing was not entirely familiar with what was contained beneath the snow, problems would occur. This led to complaints about having to repair and replace rocks, gravel, as well as other features on properties and led to springtime repair requests.

On the other hand, with a limited number of available staff and an overwhelming number of projects that need attention, using association manpower to complete association related tasks seemed to be the best decision for the community as a whole. Currently, membership is the highest it has ever been, and that directly raises the amount of maintenance required to keep things running smoothly.

This announcement that private work was no longer going to be taken on was already made this summer and the most recent announcement was only a reminder. We wanted to give the membership ample time to contact and secure one of our numerous local vendors for their snow removal needs before the season is upon us. If one was paying the association for snow removal, we did not think it would be such a challenge to pay a local vendor instead unless we are missing something.

Moreover, for those who felt snow removal was a financial windfall and heavily requested service for the community, we are happy to provide the following statistics.