Citizens Energy has just informed us that the Water in the community will be shut off Tuesday, 7/15/2024, from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM to repair the water rupture in front of the clubhouse.
Sorry for the short notice. The Board of Directors were informed at 5:30 PM Monday, 7/14/2024. We are at the mercy of Citizens Energy and their schedule.
Sec. 531-203. – Dog and cat curbing requirements.
(a)No person knowingly shall allow a dog or cat which is kept by that person to defecate or urinate on a public street, byway, municipally owned or public land or building, or upon private property, in the city without the prior permission of the owner of such property; however, if an animal defecates on property described in this subsection, the animal’s owner or keeper promptly shall remove any feces to a waste container, or otherwise dispose of such material in a manner inoffensive to reasonable public sensibilities.
Sec. 531-102. – Animals at large prohibited; penalties.
(a)An owner or keeper of an animal commits a violation of the Code if that animal is at large in the city.
(b)Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, section 531-501 or section 531-727, the first violation in any twelve-month period shall be subject to an admission of violation and payment of the designated civil penalty through the ordinance violations bureau in accordance with Chapter 103 of the Code. All subsequent violations in a twelve-month period are subject to the enforcement procedures provided in section 103-3 of the Code and a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100.00) per violation.
(c)If, while the animal is at large in violation of this section at a location other than its owner’s or keeper’s property or in the public right-of-way, it:
(1)Attacks another animal; or
(2)Chases or approaches a person in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack;
then the violation shall be subject to the enforcement procedures and penalties provided in section 103-3 of the Code, and the fine imposed shall not be less than two hundred and fifty
dollars ($250.00), or five hundred dollars ($500.00) if another animal or person is injured as a result of the animal’s actions. If the violation results in serious injury to any person,
the court upon request shall order the animal forfeited and/or destroyed.
The Cities definition of at large means being loose and free roaming, not being on a leash and under the control of a competent person, or any portion of the animal’s body not being confined within a pen, corral, yard, cage, house, vehicle, or other secure enclosure or structure or by other means that prevents escape.
Wildwood Board of Directors encourages all residents to follow City Ordinances. Animal Control
Wildwood insurance rates have gone up substantially over the past two years. On June 24, 2021, a highrise condo collapsed in Flordia. Since then, insurance companies have raised their rates and cracked down on a lot of things. Our insurance company is now asking for the following;
1) BBQ Grills and Open Fires – They have to be 10 feet from a building wall. In the Wildwood Handbook, we originally said 1.5 feet. Pike Fire Marshall, Jonathan Kempler, says that the State of Indiana Code requires 10 feet away from building walls. It will be changed in the Wildwood Handbook. Please let your BBQ grill cool first before putting it next to a building wall. Any damage done to the building walls will be repaired and the cost charged to the condo owner.
2) Wired smoke detectors in buildings – From Jonathan Kempler, “Indiana law does not require existing buildings to have hard-wired smoke detectors (The law only applies to newly constructed buildings.) That said, the Board would like every unit at Wildwood to have smoke detectors. If you can not afford or need help installing a smoke detector, go to the following website, and scroll toward the bottom of the page where it says “Smoke Detectors”. You can either call the number or fill out the form (top right) to get the process started.
https://visitpiketownship.dream.press/community-involvement/
3) Sprinkler System in the Clubhouse – The clubhouse was built 50 years ago and was not designed for a sprinkler system. To install/retrofit one today would be an enormous expense. Fortunately, from Jonathan, “The clubhouse is not required to have a sprinkler system if the maximum occupancy is 99 or less.” The Board has decided that we will limit occupancy to 75 in the clubhouse. This will be added to the rental contract for the clubhouse.
The Board of Directors tries to keep Wildwood’s costs as low as possible. We anticipate more insurance rate increases next year. Following the above standards will help keep our costs to a minimum.
Wildwood trash has not been picked up in two weeks. It stems from Waste Management buying Ray’s last fall.
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Here is the full statement from Waste Management:
In September, WM purchased key assets of Ray’s Trash Service, the largest independent recycling and waste disposal operation in the Indianapolis area.
As part of this transition, WM has made it a priority to focus on streamlining operations, equipment, technology, and service – to keep safety at the forefront of all that we do, in addition to cultivating a people-first culture.
Safety:
WM has zero tolerance for unsafe actions/conditions – and makes safety a core value without compromise.
A key-area of focus as part of this transition is replacing the existing Ray’s fleet with new, WM assets. Nearly 30% of the fleet was not safe to operate as part of WM’s strict safety standards to ensure employee and community safety. The local team has been working diligently to replace assets, and currently has several rental trucks on the road to help keep service as timely as possible. Currently, 75 trucks are either received or in transit to support the Indianapolis area.
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One would think that Waste Management did not do its due diligence before buying Ray’s.
Today, January 4th, Ray’s (Waste Management) has been in Wildwood picking up dumpster trash. Wildwood’s hired trash guy will be here to clean up around the dumpsters. Waste Management will not pick up any trash that is not in the dumpsters.
The current fencing around the dumpsters is over 20 years old. The Board decided to have it replaced. This is similar to what the Board ordered;
The cost for all 9 dumpster enclosures is about $43,000. It will be paid for out of the Reserve Fund.
The clubhouse kitchen had not been updated since the early 1970’s. The Board decided it was time to do something about that. The project is done. Unfortunately, the Board has decided not to rent the clubhouse yet because of COVID. See the pictures below…
A continuing discussion about updating the clubhouse kitchen was held. Estimates were given as to counters, cabinets, lighting, flooring, backsplash etc. The kitchen has not been updated in over 40 years. Here is a picture of how it looks today.
We would gut the whole kitchen and everything, including appliances, would be new.
Wildwood was built between 1972 and 1980. The developers ran this ad for section 3 which was Wildwood Court.
A Homeowners’ Association is run by a board of directors that is elected by homeowners to oversee the common assets of a property/area, manage its finances, run business affairs, enforce and set rules, and see to the maintenance and upkeep of the area. It is for a given term, they can accept no pay and, volunteer their time and services.
At our annual meeting in February, a long time resident/owner complained that the monthly dues were too high. The Board responded that looking at all the condo communities in Pike Township, our dues were average. There were many more communities that had higher monthly dues.
One thing to consider is that the older the community, the more maintenance costs are going to be. Newer communities have less maintenance and repairs. Wildwood is approaching 50 years old.
One thing that the Board has had in the years past is that the lower bid was always taken for vendor work. That may help keep costs lower at the time BUT you get what you pay for. Lower bids usually mean lower quality work. That means that you will have more costs for maintenance and repairs in the future for the same maintenance and repairs that were done in the past.
Once a year, usually in September, the Board decides on which vendors we will use for the following year. The Property Manager gets bids from several companies and the Board decides which ones they want to contract to use. Good vendors will get their contract year after year as long as their prices are reasonable and the Board does not get legitimate homeowner complaints.
Unfortunately, the bids come in higher and higher every year. There is little the Board can do about that. What the Board can do is consider what can be done now to reduce costs in the future.
One example of that is closing and removing the pool. On average the pool costs the homeowners association about $15,000 a year to run and maintain. That comes out to about $8 in monthly dues for each homeowner. If we had kept the pool and maintained it, the costs would be higher and your dues to pay for it would be about $10 a month higher.
Wildwood Swimming Pool
Another example is the fake rod iron fence that was on the property line between Wildwood Court condos and Coffman Road properties. It was constantly being destroyed by people that trespassed between properties. The rods were bent and broken, sections were bent and torn down and trees were growing through it. By replacing it with vinyl fencing, our repair and maintenance costs are much lower. Another factor is privacy. The vinyl fence provides privacy between Wildwood Court and Coffman Road properties which increase property values.
Old fake Rod Iron Fence
New Vinyl Fence
The Board recently had the cracks in the parking lots sealed at a cost of $2,500. This will increase the life of the blacktop.
The Board spends about $8,000 a year on gutter cleaning. We are currently looking at filtering systems that keep gutters clean.
In 2016, the city enhanced Georgetown Road with sidewalks. Because it was in the way, the old Wildwood signage was taken down and thrown away. The Board bought new signage in 2017 and had it installed. Shortly after that, property values in Wildwood started rising from 10 to 20 percent. In order to pay for that signage in one year we would have had to raise the dues $10 a month. That did not happen. The Board carefully watched its expenses and paid for it in other ways.
Old Wildwood Sign
New Wildwood Sign
In 2015, the homeowner’s association receivables (money owed to the association by homeowners) was over $140,000. Today it is about $17,000. Because of this our association attorney costs are much lower. A savings of $1,000’s of dollars.
One cost that the Board has no control over is litterbug trash pickup. It costs the association about $1,200 a month. It seems that if we don’t have our independent trash man here 3 times a week that all the common areas would be filled with litterbug trash all the time. Also, the city will not pick up anything that is not inside the trash dumpsters. So our trash man hauls away things sitting around the dumpsters and charges the association extra. These costs have to get passed on to our homeowners in the dues. Although our video surveillance camera has helped, it has not solved all the problems. It is not always Wildwood residents. Sometimes people dump their trash around our dumpsters that don’t live in Wildwood. If you see this happen, please get a license number and type of vehicle and report it to Jeremy Madriz, Wildwood’s Safety Officer at http://livinginwildwood.com/security-non-emergency/ or his pager at 317-327-7676 ext. 4960. This expense is over $7 of your monthly dues.
This Costs The Association
The Board is constantly looking for ways to reduce association costs now and in the future. If you have any ideas, please let Julie Schaefer know or attend our association meetings. They usually occur on the third Wednesday of each month in the clubhouse at 6:30 PM.
Clubhouse New Flooring
It seemed that the ongoing challenge for the Board was to keep the carpet clean in the clubhouse. After almost every rental of the clubhouse, we had to get the carpet cleaned. The cost of cleaning was about twice the amount of the deposit we collected for the rental.
It was determined that we should remove the carpet and install vinyl flooring which is much easier to clean and will last longer than carpet. This was done in the last week of April at a cost of about $6,800.