Miscellaneous news and information. Do not use this if a post belongs in another category. This category is for “announcements” that do not fit into other categories well.

Heathlake’s Federal Tax Exemption Surprise – 501c4

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Heathlake and Tax Exempt Status 501 c 4.

Heathlake has claimed to have the 501 (c) 4 federal tax exemption for decades. We recently tried to take advantage of a free upgrade to our Slack workplace software and to do so needed to prove our tax exempt status. The current board had not been able to find proof so we enlisted our management company to help us gain a copy of the tax status approval.

Much to our surprise, when Graham Management contacted the IRS agent they informed us that the association did indeed apply for tax exempt status in 1995, but the application was declined. Unfortunately this information was ignored and lost throughout the years as successive boards have since operated under the believe that it had been granted. 

For the past 7-8 years we have been filing federal tax returns through Canady and Canady and each year assumed our tax exemption. The IRS did not correct or comment on the returns for past last 6 years at a minimum.

We have researched Heathlake’s options going forward and believe it is in our communities best interest to apply for a 501c4 tax exemption going forward.  Unfortunately there was not a simple solution for the back tax liability associated with claiming an exemption that was not granted.  We will learn more about the implications as our attorneys learn more and we apply for the exemption going forward.

We bid out the permitting and have decided on the attorney’s Holt & Young.  They are experts in the space, are familiar with our association, and were 3x cheaper than Canady and Canady.

Holt & Young will be researching and assisting Heathlake with applying for federal, state, developer and any other associated tax forms with a goal of reclaiming the exemption status that we believed to have had for the past 26 years.

This was an unknown and a surprise to us all and as such there is $2000 set aside in the 2022 budget to account for the costs of refiling. We do not yet have indication on the consequences, fines or tax liability that this mistake may imply. We will learn more as we apply for the tax exemption and take the misunderstanding to the IRS as opposed to waiting for the IRS to pursue the association. 

We did reconfirmed with the State of Texas that we are indeed exempt from paying sales tax!

If you have further questions you can reach Per at Treasurer@heathlake.org or Stephen at President@heathlake.org

Holiday Party Time is Coming!

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We have some great plans for our holiday party on December 3!

Holiday movie on the lawn:      We’ll be watching The Santa Clause with Tim Allen.    Kids will be on blankets in the grass. PJs, movies, s’mores 🙂

Food:   We’ll have a food truck available to purchase dinner (food purchase is optional. Feel free to bring your dinner or we will have a few snacks)

Drinks and desserts:   We’ll have desserts and some drinks from the community.  

Music:  We’ll have festive music and karaoke

So please plan to attend. It’ll be a good time. We do need some help from the community. So please volunteer where you can. Also, if you have teens that need service hours for school, this is a great way for them to get hours.

  1. Bakers: Who can bake cookies/brownies/pies? I KNOW we have skilled bakers out there.
  2. Bartenders: We already have tea and lemonade. We’ll need water, other non-alcoholic drinks (punch? or hot chocolate?), and alcoholic drinks (beer, wine, spiked egg nog?). While we don’t need to serve guests, we will need to keep an eye on the drink table and keep it clean and stocked.
  3. Decorating: Who has a keen eye for decorating? We just need simple decorations. table cloths, window clings, maybe battery operated christmas lights around the patio. If you have other ideas and are interested in helping, please let me know.
  4. Cleaning up: Don’t have kids that need to be in bed early? Then please hang around and help us clean up. We’ll need to fold all tables/chairs and sweep/mop.
  5. Other: Grill/fire master? Does someone want to set up a s’mores station and man a fire pit? The king of the party can help kiddos with a winter favorite treat.
  6. Patio heaters: Anyone have a propane patio heater. I imagine we only need 1 or 2 mid-size ones. We want to be safe under the cover. But we also want to be warm and be able to spread out. A heater or two might be nice near the movie lawn area (but must be stable and safe for the kids). Who can help us plan heat?

Reach out to Evelyn Nordin at eveadele@gmail.com to express your interest in helping in one of these areas.

Security Research Update and Upcoming Landscaping Maintenance Bid

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The HOA has made it a priority to look into each of our services throughout 2021.  Our goal has been to optimize and improve those services while minimizing cost and maximizing the community’s benefit. Our vision is for Heathlake to be the community of choice in West Houston. The services analyzed and/or in process of being analyzed in 2021 include landscaping, communications, web services, irrigation, cleaning,  pool maintenance, trash and our security services. 

We are in the midst of researching and improving security and landscaping, our first and third largest expenses. Currently we are: 

  • Preparing and bidding out our 2022 landscaping services. This is being led by Carlton Jones, our landscaping lead, and John Trahan, our landscaping board liaison.
  • Researching our security services. This is being led by Sara Mammadova, our securities liaison and vice president, and Stephen Read, our HOA president.

Due to our Security services being our largest expense, ~40% of our budget, extensive research has been done and we’d like to share a few of our findings with you.

  • Heathlake is part of a 11 member HOA Constable co-op.
  • Heathlake is paying for 1 of the 11 deputies in the coop at a cost of $85,000.
  • The co-op states that the members share costs by means of a $ / home.
  • The average cost per home in the co-op for security services is $208 / home.
  • Heathlake contributes $245 / home to the co-op.  (Heathlake is currently receiving a reimbursement of $10,000 from another co-op participating HOA, otherwise it would be $272/home)
  • Heathlake is paying 18% more per home than the average home in the co-op.
  • The participating HOA under our contract makes up 50% of the total calls (and responses) and pays 11% of the cost. This is an average over the last 7 months.
  • Heathlake’s contracted deputy patrolled our neighborhood 45% of the time for contract checks. This is an average over the last 7 months. 

The data thus far is painting the picture that Heathlake spends more and receives less than the average homeowner participating in the co-op. Sara, Stephen and the rest of the board are currently working with the Constable, Co-Op and surrounding communities to improve the status quo. 

If you would like to participate and/or give back by assisting with landscaping, security services or any other community activity please reach out to President@Heathlake.org or Vice.President@heathlake.org. 

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Community Holiday Party! Save the Date: December 3

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Please Save the Date (Friday Dec 3 evening) for a holiday party at the clubhouse. The details are being worked out, but we are working toward a community wide event!

Fall Family Fun REMINDER!

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REMINDER: Our Fall Family Fun event is approaching on Saturday, November 6 at the clubhouse. Please bring your kiddos to have a sweet snack and get to know the other kids in the neighborhood. 2:30 – 4:30pm We hope to see you there!

Heathlake Men’s Club – Taco Truck Crawl, Ping Pong and More!

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The first Thursday of every month, the guys have a little get together. We will be meeting at the clubhouse at 4:55 and leaving at 5 for a taco truck crawl. After tacos we’ll meet back up at the clubhouse for brewski’s, ping pong, and man talk.

If you want to join us in the middle of the taco truck crawl or would like us to pick you up some taco’s to eat back at the clubhouse give Stephen Read 309-253-7887 or Jamie Ewton 205-821-1455 a call.

2022 HOA Dues

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By now, or shortly, you will have received the HOA dues notices for 2022. Due to a procedural error and associated time constraint, the board will officially record the vote for the 10% dues increase at the December board meeting. This will be in addition to the annual meeting. These changes will be reflected in the meeting minutes. Also, please be on the lookout for the budget which will be shared in the near future. 

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to VicePresident@Heathlake.org

Book club

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The Heathlake Book Club is reading John Irving’s The Cider House Rules for our November 9th meeting at 7 p.m. in the clubhouse.  Anyone is welcome to join and don’t be worried if you haven’t had a chance to finish reading that lengthy book!!  We will still love to see you and have you join in the discussion!

We chose a fun and short read for December due to everyone being busy:  Murder at Melrose Court by Karen Menuhin, a mystery set in the early 1920’s.  It’s a pretty short book, very funny, and my strong recommendation is to listen to the book as the narration is so well done.  Also, periodically there is a barking dog!  I enjoyed this book thoroughly and have spoken with others who did as well.

Hope to see you in November!

Laura Leib, Book Club Chair

HOA Dues Comparison Research

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We have focused on keeping the dues low for many years.  In my opinion, this has led to the lack of adequate maintenance and infrastructure improvements.  These, in turn, have contributed to an image of an aging neighborhood in decline. To test this theory, I gathered the sales data over the last eleven years (2010 – 2020) for several of the communities in our area and plotted them versus time.

The following data show correlation between the money available to spend and the observed price increase.

Appraised Value Range1Price/sq.ft. Increase from 2010 to 20202Number of HomesHOA DuesPoolsTennis CourtsClubhouse + Common Areas3Dues/Amenities4
Heathlake260 – 56016%312700122$43,680
Ashford (ACA)210 – 65055%932625242$72,813
Yorkshire800 – 130078%150850001$127,500
Lakes of Parkway5600 – 120014%8732600122$453,960
Village Place350 – 90048%517800142$59,086
South Briar260 – 35065%803675142$77,432
Briar Hills240 – 37059%440700122$61,600
Westchester150 – 61554%486784112$95,256
Nottingham6440 – 77065%932650152$75,725
Notes1 Appraisal Value ranges were those reported by HAR and only provide an approximate range
2 Price/Sq.ft. increases are based on actual sales values per share foot for the year 2010 and 2020
3 In an attempt to quantify amenities in some way Common Areas that require landscaping were added   to clubhouses
4 In order to get a rough approximation of the money available to care for the amenities, the HOA dues times the number of homes was divided by the sum of the amenities (Pools+Tennis Courts+ Clubhouse+Common Areas)
5 Lakes of Lakeside is a gated community with 24 hour security and is, therefore, not comparable to other communities in this table
6 Nottingham Forest also collects a substantial amount of money from $450/yr Tennis memberships that is not reflected in these numbers

Heathlake has more amenities to maintain and collects less dues to do it.  The last column shows a simplistic ratio of the dollars we collect to the number of amenities that must be maintained, and does not mean to imply that each amenity costs this much to care for.

This post was researched and written by the Heathlake board member John Trahan and edited / approved by the rest of the board (Sara Mammadova, Stephen Read, Per Voie, and Mary Puccini)

Halloween!!

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Halloween is next weekend! We hope families with children head to the streets for old fashioned trick or treating. We love the adults who set up a block party every Halloween. Those are so much fun.

A few notes:

  1. Have fun and we hope to see many kiddos out there
  2. If you want to hand out candy, please turn your light on. If not, please turn it off so that our kids do not bother you with incessant ringing of your doorbell 🙂
  3. Please drive extra slowly through the neighborhood that evening. Some streets are quite dark and little kids in costumes are over excited and hard to see.

Have a spooktacular time!!

Remember the Family Fall Fun event is the next weekend on Saturday at 2:30 pm. Please sign up if you plan to attend or can bring some treats. If you need last minute family photos, we’ll have some hay bails and pumpkins etc. We may also have some Christmas props. I’m sure we can get a decent picture for you to use in Christmas cards, etc.

Sign up here: Heathlake Community: Heathlake Fall Family Fun (photo sessions!) (signupgenius.com)

Fall Family Fun UPDATE!

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ACT NOW! Heathlake families, our Fall Family Fun photo event is approaching on November 6 at the clubhouse. If you haven’t reserved a time slot or RSVP’d for the “cookie social”, please do so now so that we can have a good headcount. Since we have had the professional photographer time slots open to only Heathlake residents for over 3 weeks now, we are considering opening it up others outside the community as we still have many open slots. So please reserve your slot today before we open it up next week.

Professional photos are $175 for a 20 min mini-session (see sign up link below)

We will have props for amateur photos and cookies/drinks for all families from 2:30 – 4:30pm (see flier below and RSVP/volunteer at the link below)

You can sign up here Heathlake Community: Heathlake Fall Family Fun (photo sessions!) (signupgenius.com)

Heathlake Block Parties

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October 17, 2021, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Volunteers throughout the community are hosting block parties this weekend. We are excited to see you and gather as a community!

Not all streets had volunteer hosts, so if you have yet to receive an invite, please join the location closest to you.

Locations:

Club House Parking Lot

Heathwood Court Cul-de-sac

Lashbrook Cul-de-sac

Maple Rock West-End Cul-de-sac

Please consider bringing a dessert or side item to contribute to the potluck dinner.

Election of new board members

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The 2021 Annual Meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 1, at 6 pm. The board will inform you of the venue closer to the date–clubhouse, clubhouse grounds, zoom (online) or other location. The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to elect two (2) Board members to serve two-year terms starting January 2022, and to discuss the affairs of the Home Owners Association. 
 
If you would like to run for a position on the Board, please contact us before November 1st, 2021, so that we can place your name on the absentee ballot that will be sent to all property owners for voting purposes. Your name, property address and brief explanation for the reason why would you like to be on the board, can be sent by email to andjelat@grahammanagementhouston.com, by mail to 2825 Wilcrest Dr., Suite 600, Houston, Texas 77042, or by fax at 713-334-5055.

NEEDED – Volunteer for Clubhouse

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The community has lost a wonderful and dedicated volunteer, Kathy Clark, who helped manage and coordinate events at the clubhouse. She was instrumental in helping the HOA modernize certain features which help make our amenities more accessible and convenient for the community. We wish her well as she transitions to what’s next for her and her family.

As a result, the community is most graciously asking for a volunteer to step in and help manage the clubhouse. Main responsibilities include oversight of clubhouse event scheduling and follow up post events. If you are interested please email VicePresident@Heathlake.org.

HOA Comparison Research Report

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At the previous board meeting it was suggested that other HOAs in our area had larger boards, representing fewer residents. As a result, we looked into board sizes of neighborhoods near and similar to Heathlake.


The following table shows data regarding several neighborhoods in our vicinity. The data show that there doesn’t seem to be a pattern related to anything other than the type of governance dictated by their bylaws. The HOAs with a large number of Board members have bylaws that leave the Board of Directors size in the hands of their governing Boards. In the HOAs with large Boards, all members beyond the first five, have specific duties, in addition to voting: ACC (deed restrictions), landscaping, security, facilities, events, etc. In fact, Heathlake has these positions, but they are appointed by the Board and don’t have voting rights: they serve as long as they and the Board are willing.

Heathlake Car Break Ins – Mischief

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Neighbors,

It has become known there is a person who is walking around the neighborhood, approaching vehicles, and attempting to enter them. If the doors have been unlocked this person has either rummaged or ransacked the contents of the vehicle. These incidents have been reported to the Constable, and as a result, they will be patrolling our neighborhood at night for the next two weeks to try and obtain and deter this criminal activity. 

If anyone has been a victim of criminal activity, PLEASE, report to the Constable, or Sara Mammadova, Constable liaison. The Constables are unable to help our neighborhood if they aren’t aware of these incidents. 

Constables: (281) 463-6666

Sara Mammadova: (832) 727-4452 

Heathlake Mens Club – Oct Happy Hour

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The first Thursday of every month, the guys have a little get together. Come join us at the clubhouse on Thursday Oct 7 at 7pm (or when you can). If the weather is nice, we will probably be grilling. Bring your favorite beverage and come hang out with your neighbors.

Fall Family Fun!

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Fall Family Fun!

See the attached flier for a community fall event on  November 6, 2021 from 2:30pm – 4:30pm.  This is a get together where the families in our community can get to know each other.   We want to pull together some fall treats and fall photo props so that you can get some easy family photos during the nicer times of the year in Houston.

These events will only work if we get some participation from the community.    There are very simple ways to participate.

  1. We need some volunteers to provide snacks and help set up. 
  2. To have photo opportunities, we will need some props.  
  3. Cleanup is always needed afterwards.

Further, we have invited a professional photographer to our grounds earlier in that day to provide family mini-sessions.   There are limited time slots for the photographer and a fee for the session should you determine you want professional photos.  Each family will have a 20 min session (no outfit changes, outdoors).  The session fee is $175, and you will receive ~ 25 digital pictures to use any way you’d like.  

Please visit this link to 1. sign up to volunteer, 2. RSVP for the event, and 3. claim a professional photographer time slot if you choose to go that route.   Sign  up soon as slots will fill up fast.   

Heathlake Community: Heathlake Fall Family Fun (photo sessions!) (signupgenius.com)

Please contact Evelyn Nordin if you have any questions at eveadele@gmail.com.       

HOA-Fall-Family-Fun-2021-FINALDownload

Briar Forest Super Neighborhood Virtual Public Meeting Notice: Kirkwood Paving and Drainage from Briar Forest Drive to Westheimer Road

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The Briar Forest Super Neighborhood is inviting you to a virtual meeting on the Kirkwood Paving and Drainage Project. See details below.

As a valued stakeholder, you are invited to attend a virtual public meeting, where you will get a chance to learn more about the following project:

Project Name:  Kirkwood Paving and Drainage: Briar Forest Dr. to Westheimer Rd

Project Number: N-100029-0002-3

Project Webpage: www.engagehouston.org/kirkwood2

Meeting Details:

  • Date/Time: Thursday, September 16, 2021 at 5:30 PM
  • Location: The meeting will be virtual via (Microsoft Teams)
  • Meeting Link: JOIN LIVE EVENT

Any questions and/or comments prior to the meeting can be emailed to buildforward@houstontx.gov. Tell your friends and neighbors to join us!