Our landscape contractor is currently installing evergreen trees along the berm to replace some of the ones which had died over the past few years. In early September, I surveyed the berm by first identifying all of the gaps in the tree line and then determining that it would require a total of 27 evergreens to fill them. Some gaps were larger than others and their locations were identified as such on my project sketch. Upon receiving the estimate from our landscape contractor, the three members of the Board of Directors decided to only fill the larger gaps, since our 2009 budget could not cover the $8,200 it would take to fill all of the gaps.
Based on the Board's decision, I re-surveyed the berm to re-confirm the number of trees needed to fill the larger gaps and we added 1 more evergreen tree to the project, resulting in the total of 15 evergreens which are now being installed.
Since the work has started, I have received several phone calls from co-owners complaining that a gap near their unit was skipped. I have tried to explain that there is only so much money available in our budget for this project and that the decision to proceed with the scaled-back plan was made by the entire Board, not just me. My responses seemed to fall on deaf ears and I have even had my integrity questioned by one complainant. If you are not satisfied with a decision of the Board, I would suggest that you put it in writing and address it to the entire Board of Directors, in care of Kramer-Triad.
I intend to remove myself from the process of identifying and prioritizing the locations of any future tree-plantings that need to be funded by the Association. I will propose at our annual meeting in January 2010 that a committee of co-owners be formed for that purpose, who would then make their recommendations available to the Board. The Board would continue to decide how much to spend (if any) on trees during any given budget year and the committee's prioritized list would be their guide for determining where the trees would be planted with the available funds.
