MOWING DELAYS: Dir. Tunna Advocates New Landscaping Committee To Address Deficiencies

At the May 8, 2023 Regular Board Meeting, Director Tunna advocated for formation of a new Landscaping Committee to address the fact that year after year, we cannot seem to get timely landscaping service on the backlots (drainage ditch) or in the “natural area” along Overland Trail. Control over landscaping decisions has been taken over since 2019 by one household: Clay and Gloria Jones.

While we had a functional Landscaping Committee from 2017 through 2019, Ms. Jones decided to shut down the committee in September of 2019 in favor of her simply making all the landscaping decisions. Over the next year or so, she reported on the landscaping as though there were others meeting and acting, but in reality, everything from the scheduling of sprinklers, decisions on replacement of dead bushes or trees, and the scheduling of mowing was largely if not entirely made by Ms. Jones. Upon re-joining the Board (by appointment), the Board decided without a vote that the Board itself was the Landscaping Committee, which at least in theory, allowed others to vote upon such decisions.

When President Gloria Jones resigned in May of 2022, however, the new Board had a curious motion made at the June 15, 2022 Special Board Meeting: The Motion to make her husband, Director Clay Jones, the Treasurer had attached to it this concept that the Treasurer was the “sole contact with contractors”. It was recorded in the signed Meeting Minutes:

While the wording indicates that Treasurer Jones would be the sole person communicating with contractors, in practice, Treasurer Jones has someone either assumed or been passively allowed to make all decisions in regards to contractors, including with the landscaping contractors.

Now, this motion to make Treasurer Jones the “sole contact” was NOT renewed when Officers were elected in March of 2023.

And, either as a result of that decision, or because of new Directors recognizing that Actions (either at meetings or without meetings) must be recorded with votes, the new contract for the backlot mowing resulted in an Action Without A Meeting (AWAM) document that indicates Treasurer Jones needed approval to sign the contract with E&W.

I wrote to the Board to ask whether or not Treasurer Jones retains his “sole contact” status with contractors because that power given in June of 2023 carried over (and whether all future Treasurers then had such powers and authorities), or whether it no longer was the case. The Board responded to the email, but did not answer that question (along with several others).

For the short period I served with Director Tunna in December and January of 2023, we recognized that the mowing of the backlots and the natural area have been deficient for several years. Not only is this an issue of aesthetics, but in one year, grasses were allowed to grow to 5-6 feet high and dry out, creating a fire hazard. And, in several years, including this one, one area blocks access to a fire hydrant serving at least 7 homes, including 5 in adjacent subdivisions that could create significant liability. Weeds have been allowed to flourish and go to seed, resulting in additional expenses from contractors to treat them chemically (which then poses risks to human and animal health for a short period after application).

I wrote an article on this in 2022: New Board Diddles While Front Landscaping Goes To Hell

Director Tunna and I discussed the fact that we probably need to have a new Landscaping Committee. Unfortunately, I had to resign because of the dysfunction of the Board on January 25, 2023. But, Director Tunna remained committed to the effort. It finally got its turn for consideration on May 8, but the Board essentially gave lip service to maybe sorta kinda being OK with it, but took no action, in the end.

Treasurer Jones stated explicitly at the May 8 meeting that he wanted to wait until July to mow the backlots. His rationale was “fireworks”. His logic is that shorter grass ON Independence Day was somehow a fire-wise strategy. The problem with his logic is that everyone knows fireworks begin going off WEEKS ahead of the holiday, and if the grasses brown out in advance, they can be set off by a spark and spread rapidly with a cedar fence feeding the fire that is immediately adjacent.

Another problem is that it COSTS MORE to wait. When the grasses get fully mature, they develop thick stalks which then takes more FUEL to cut, and leaves more long-strands of grass that dry out. Our new contractor uses equipment different than the contractors used 2004-2019, which fully mulched the grasses. The result is that you wind up with more fuel on the ground that is just as susceptible to fireworks, or any other ignition source.

It appears that whatever efforts Director Tunna is making behind the scenes is working. We can observe that because some mowing was done along the North Fence, we have an incremental improvement on getting started on the work compared with past years. But, after more than a week, no more mowing has been completed.

When I returned from a trip to Chicago for my Dad’s 90th last weekend, I noticed while driving down Overland that the backlot area on the North side of POHOA had been mowed. When I went over there, however, I noticed that only one side (the cedar fence side) had been mowed, and the homeowners still had grasses higher than their fences next to them. And, there was a huge tree limb that had been moved since the prior week.

As I continued to survey the area, I realized that not only was this area along the North fence mowed, but also the areas right behind Treasurer Jones house – where no one walks. In fact, when I went over to take a photo of this area, one of the homeowners came out to inquire why I would be there!

This raised the question of priorities. And, in particular why the one area where we are in a Larimer County Code Violation (for blocking a fire hydrant) wasn’t the FIRST area mowed – even if the mowing had to cease due to weather.

According to Steve Christen at Poudre Fire, this is a code violation that needs immediate attention. He sent an email earlier in the week that POHOA has not yet responded to.

From: Steve Christen <Steve.Christen@poudre-fire.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 11:37 AM
Subject: Backlot Mowing
To: Andy Mowery <pohoaandy@gmail.com>

“Thanks so much for the update concerning the un-mowed area of your neighborhood common area. The grass covering the hydrant is a problem. It is the HOA’s responsibility to keep hydrants accessible and visible in the common areas per the fire code.

2021 adopted International Fire Code

507.5.4 – Obstruction: Unobstructed access to fire hydrants shall be maintained at all times. The fire department shall not be deterred or hindered from gaining immediate access to fire protection equipment or finer hydrants.

507.5.5 – Clear space around hydrants: A 3-foot clear space shall be maintained around the circumference of fire hydrants, except as otherwise required or approved.  

Please pass this on to the HOA members who are responsible for mitigating this matter. If they have any questions, please have them contact me.

Steve Christen
Assistant Fire Marshal”

Now, were Treasurer Jones to have his way, this hydrant would remain obstructed for 4-6 weeks (one year, it was over 2.5 months). If Treasurer Jones has absolute control over these decisions, and Board majority or leadership foot-dragging on creation of a Landscaping Committee that could avoid the liability issues created by such failures to prioritize this work. It appears that Treasurer Jones is preoccupied with the landscaping adjacent to his home, which coincidentally is the open field of irrigated grass that we spend about 2/3 of our budget on.

Prioritizing those aesthetics while creating fire risk and violating code is a question I put before the Board, and have yet to receive a response. Combined with the sad state of our “natural area”, it appears that we have Directors who make decisions based upon their personal preference, and those who support them politically. The rim of the irrigated grass field (where we held our Board meetings last year) is dominated by those who are the regular controllers of our association.

The “natural area” received its first mowing at the beginning of the week, but left behind are once again many weeds that are going to seed.

While it is fair to say that it is not as bad as last year, when Treasurer Jones did not send a contractor at all until AUGUST FIRST, this is still below the standards that I believe many expect.

So why not allow Director Tunna to form a Landscaping Committee and take over this responsibility? Has he done something wrong to prevent him?

When I offered last year to lead the effort, the campaign to paint me as a villain was successful. I have been systematically prevented from participation as a matter of routine. But, Director Tunna? What’s wrong with him? Why is HE being treated this way?

It is my personal opinion that we need to stop buying Treasurer Jones excuses. His latest is that the landscaping would not be a problem if we had a Property Management Company. He wishes to blame the contractors for being lazy, difficult, or to simply fail to get work done in a timely manner. But, this is not the case at all – it has ALWAYS been a simple lack of organization, forethought, and planning – even when we had Trademark in 2021.

The problem then, as now, is that the Jones household has been in control. Even attempts to participate remotely at meetings was denied over weak excuses back then.

Finally, while we have had over 7 inches of precipitation in the past 30 days, Treasurer Jones has refused to release the usage data for watering that irrigated grass in the open area in the center of the neighborhood. We know that the bill for that area was $357 in May, when it probably needed no water at all. It was just over $500 mid-summer last year, so this is undoubtedly excessive.

We need to either install a rain detector, or manually turn off the irrigation when we get this much rain, and Director Jones appears to have sole control over this as well (the contractors, in the past, say that they cannot or are forbidden – but we can’t know now since Director Jones has “sole contact” privileges). We appear to have a Treasurer/Director who simply does not care that the Front Range is literally in a water crisis (in spite of the rain), as he is a denialist on all things that are opposed to his Qanon beliefs. So, we waste tens of thousands of gallons of water for . . . HIS PERSONAL AESTHETICS because he has merged his front and back lawns with the common area.

It is time for homeowners who share the concerns about common area landscaping (backlots and natural area, in particular) to support efforts to form an independent Landscaping Committee. I urge all homeowners to contact the Board in support of this change.

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Photos of the affected areas below

What it looks like adjacent to the Treasurer’s home, where the lawn is over-watered and is blended into his own front lawn – and mowed weekly.

The aesthetics behind and across the street from the Treasurer are held to a different standard than the rest of the HOA. His backlot grasses are cut first, and the only common area sidewalk that is maintained is the one across the street from him or adjacent to him.