Keep the Wave

While visiting a friend who owned a farm in Michigan, I took a long walk on a country road and each time a truck or car passed the driver gave me a wave. I thought that was curious given I was a complete stranger. When I started walking Oak Hills regularly I noticed that same phenomenon and I would wave back. Some folks I could recognize quickly and others not, but it was nice to see people showing their recognition that while I was walking, the vehicle was not going to be a danger. Perhaps the driver recognized me but nonetheless, whether I recognized them or not, I appreciate it. \

During these days of the pandemic distancing still allows us acknowledge our passing and the wave fits the bill to passing cars or fellow walkers. It has been said civilization is habit. The wave is a great habit to practice and keep.

Wear it with Pride

As has been reported everyone in Oak Hills has the opportunity to order a hat, t-shirt and sweatshirt with the Oak Hills name and logo with color choices. It is very easy to order by visiting oakhillshoa.org One of the tabs to the right of the President’s blog is OHHA Merchandise. Once the weather gets warmer, I look forward to seeing fellow walkers emblazed with community pride.

Rules of the Road

The Board formed an Architectural Review Committee (ARC) last year. There can be no more than 5 members total and no more than three Board members. According to the CC&R’s this is a core committee that regulates and reviews all structures such as fences, pools, spas, storage units, sheds, decks, etc. Before any of these structures is built, the homeowner must present plans to the ARC.

Another committee to be formed is the Restrictions Committee that reviews all policies in place and create new ones when needed.

None of this should create anxiety in the minds of home owners. It is actually rare for plans to go unapproved as most regulations are set by the County of Monterey. The ARC is developing guidelines with a broad spectrum of recommendations for painting that is meant to maintain the harmony of the community. The Board will always welcome the input of all members at the monthly Zoom meetings.

Yours President,

Tom Dominy

Oak Hills Website Overview

President’s Blog

November 2, 2020

There is something new all Oak Hills Homeowners should check out sometime: the OHHA website https://www.oakhillshoa.org/. It is rich with information such as emails of Board members, phone numbers for services such as numbers to call for reporting dead or stray animals, streetlamps that aren’t working or even speeders.

Let’s start with the Home page. It opens with a brief description of your community with a deck of pictures (just point and click to the arrow on the right of the picture). At the top are the various tabs that you can navigate easily for what information you are looking for.

Place your cursor arrow on the Community tap and a drop-down list: Resident information, Fire Safety, Parking, Landscape and Greenbelt, Pets and Wildlife. You will be able to access policies and procedures regarding how to maintain community standards for your home landscaping and how to access the Greenbelt when needed. You can find out the what to do about noisy pets. It’s all right there in that one tab.

The Amenities tab informs you about Pool/Hot tub, Playground, Tennis/Pickle ball courts and basketball hoop and whatever policies and rules to follow with their use.

Documents tab includes all Board minutes that have been approved, Legal Documents such as a copy of the new CC&Rs and Bylaws, Reserves studies for residents on certain streets that share driveways and annual documents such as budgets. Everything you need to know as far as how your money is spent is all right there.

Under News tab is Announcements, Board meeting Schedule, New Calendar and copies of the Greenbelt newsletter since 2005. Find out what is happening such as pool opening or spa closing or even the playground reopening. If something is planned to happen it should be here.

The Photos tab offers an abundance of awesome photographs of our community. Check out the first one which is an aerial view taken by a drone owned by one of our neighbors.!

The Contact tab is all you need to directly contact the President and other Board members or just use the handy suggestion and comments box below.

Before contacting the office or Board member, make sure you stop at the FAQ tab first. More than likely your question can be answered there.

The Members tab offers each household to set up an Oakhill’s email.

The newest tab is the President’s Blog that offers more current information about what is on the mind of the President and the Board sharing plans, goals, activities, vision for the future or perhaps just some observations to share with the membership.

It looks like there needs to be work on the final tab More as it is redundant for Fire Safety. Please offer any suggestions to make your website more useful to you.

Your President,

Tom Dominy

President's Blog

September 24,2020

Dear OHHA Members:

The past two weeks have reflected the relentless hard work of your Board. Last week against great odds your pool center was opened with all the Coronavirus guidelines. Every household with a pool key should have received the necessary waiver and behavioral requirements expected of everyone using the pool. I believe a shout out for several people are in order who worked on the Pool Committee: Michelle McLeod, Fernando Munoz (Board), Michael Kelly (Board) and Todd Fridey (Board). Another special thanks go to our Administrator, Steve Naslund and your new Maintenance Person Mitch Lemos who both contributed their intelligence and muscles to get the job done.

Today we can celebrate a great victory by the overwhelming passage of the new CC&R’s and Bylaws. Out of 240 garnered 227 voted yes for the new CC&Rs and 222 voted yes for the updated Bylaws.

A few of the Board members began working on this project in 2008. In 2009 there was a general membership meeting with about 30 in attendance with lots of questions for the attorney Paul Gullion. The Board went back to the drawing board and then the tennis courts needed replacing (a $200,000 project) and later the pool and spa needed resurfacing (recently done again this year), the deck needed to be replaced and a rash of other issues, etc. The CC&R update lost priority. Sometime in between then and 2014 I left the Board and rejoined because I wanted the Board to complete this task of replacing the CC&Rs and Bylaws but I was confronted with restructuring job descriptions, evaluations and other personnel matters that could not be ignored. Once again, the CCRs lost significance.

During Cathy Garza’s term of President members of the Board put their noses to the grindstone and got back to work approving line by line the replacement language by attorney Anne Secker. By October of 2018 the work was completed and sent out to the homeowners for a vote. Indeed, it has taken us two years with a final push the last three months to get us over the finish line of 202 votes.

I want to thank everyone who was ever involved in this historic event for all their extraordinary efforts on the phone and away from home and family walking the streets from door to door requesting, explaining and cajoling for a yes vote. Everyone on the Board contributed in the past or recently but I want to give a special shout out to Dana Suverkrop and Steve Naslund for the shear volume of votes they garnered.

Your President,

Tom Dominy