Trash Service
Our pick-up days are Tuesdays and Fridays with our waste contractor, Texas Pride Disposal. We had a hiccup yesterday when the truck did not make it in. By 7:30 this morning, trash was being picked up so hopefully all is good.
We will not have another Tuesday pick-up until January 8, 2019 due to Christmas and New Years being the next two Tuesdays. Only Fridays for the next few weeks.
We are seeing too many residents' yard contractors leaving bags of trash at the curb days before the scheduled pick-up. This is unacceptable. Either your contractors need to take your yard waste with them (as ours does) or they need to place it where it is not viewed from the street.
To minimize costs during this tight budget time, Texas Pride Disposal picks up household trash at those homes that are occupied or have a unique need for service. (Remember, your contractors should be removing their debris/trash from your property.)
We have been pulling lists of the occupied homes from the guards as they are collecting that information and generally we provide an updated list every Sunday. If you have told the guards you are living in your home and have completed a Residents Contact Sheet, your household waste will be scheduled for pick-up. Otherwise it will not unless you contact me.
Landscaping As Mary Sergesketter noted at the Annual Meeting, the cul-de-sacs are being redone due to hard freezes the past two years and Harvey. What we have found is not only plants were lost, but deteriorating infrastructure was exposed with the die back. As an example shown in the photo below, the vertical wooden edging on Elk Run had quite a bit of rot. The wood has lasted for decades, but it was clearly on its last legs. That was true of much of the metal edging as well in the Thicket. Irrigation has also been another expense that Harvey is still exposing. We lost two controllers on the cul-de-sacs recently and, while a couple of significant leaks up at the front have been solved, another has now popped up.
Annual Assessment
(Repeat from Prior Newsletter)
The Memorial Thicket 2019 Assessment Fee together with the 2019 Budget have been mailed. If you have not received it, please contact one of the Board Members.
For the first time since 2011, the assessment has increased by $100 to $1,800. Payments received after January 31, 2019 incur an administration charge of $25 for each month thereafter.
Please pay before the end of January so that the time of our board volunteers does not have to be spent collecting assessments. Our board members have already committed to providing many volunteer hours to make our community a great place to live. Let's not place additional burdens on them.
Residents' Contact Sheets and Directory (Repeat from Prior Newsletter) The guards keep a book with the sheet that residents complete so that in case of an emergency, critical time is not lost in trying to make contact. We will also be using the sheet to complete our Residents Directory for 2019. So we would appreciate everyone filling out a new one if you have not done so post-Harvey and ensuring that it's kept up-to-date.
Memorial Thicket Video (Repeat from Prior Newsletter) Here is the link to the video about Memorial Thicket prepared by Energy Realty. Thanks to Sherry Campbell for putting this all together. It's a great piece.
Home Alarm Systems (Repeat from Prior Newsletter)
As mandated by Article IV, Section 2 of our DCCRs, "Each Living Unit shall be equipped, at Owner's sole expense, with a central and local burglar, fire and emergency alarm system. Said alarm system shall be connected to the master alarm system serving Memorial Thicket, Section One."
Our contracted monitoring company is Smith Thompson Home Security. The costs for monitoring will be billed directly to MTHA. If you would like to use Smith Thompson as your monitoring company, you may contact them by calling customer service at 713.492.1064 or 888.888.1695, or you may access theirwebsite. In order to receive correct and concise answers to any questions you may have, please direct them to the Smith Thompson professionals. When you call Smith Thompson, tell them you live in Memorial Thicket. This will allow them to add you to the billing for MTHA. In addition, please notify David Myres at dmyres@hotmail.com as we need to know which homes should be on our monthly billing statement. If you would like to use Smith Thompson for the hardware portion of your system, they have agreed to the following: Transmitter free, normally $89.00 Hardware 15% discount Installation 15% discount Monitoring paid by MTHA Smartphone Access $6.99/month, billed to homeowner Should you decide to use Smith Thompson, you may order service from the sales department. The sales department cannot know exactly what hardware you want or need in your home, although they can tell you the component prices. The inspection and recommendations will be done by a qualified technician onsite. These technicians have all equipment available upon arrival at your home and will complete installation that day. The system is an RF (radio frequency) wireless system. However, if you have a hardwired system now and you feel it is functioning effectively, Smith Thompson can use the hardwired system, if you wish, with their modifications. Smith Thompson will not be responsible for any failures of the hardwired system, but only its modifications thereof.
Architectural Control
(Repeat from Prior Newsletter)
As mandated by Article IV, Section 2 of our DCCRs, "No buildings or other improvements, including swimming pools, streets, driveways, sidewalks, drainage facilities, landscaping, fences, walks, fountains and statuary located in the front and side yards, outdoor lighting and signs, shall be commenced, constructed, erected, placed, or maintained in the Subdivision, nor shall any exterior addition to or alteration therein be made . . ." without the prior approval of the Architectural Control Committee.
Post-Harvey, the ACC wanted to ensure as minimal a disruption in the rebuilding process while still ensuring that our DCCRs are complied with for the benefit of every neighbor. To that end, the ACC announced a policy that if a homeowner was simply replacing as existed pre-Harvey, no ACC approval was required. However, if changes were being made that fall under the DCCRs, then approval was necessary. This policy is still in effect.
Over the past year over 85 approvals were granted to homeowners. But not everyone has obtained approval for work that has been done and was different from pre-Harvey. If you did not seek approval for your changes, you can still submit a request and the ACC will try to work with you in ensuring compliance with the DCCRs.
When you sell your home, the title company requests from MTHA a statement as to current status. If you did not obtain approval for your changes, the title company will be made aware of that failure.
The ACC is composed of Fred Plummer, Mary Sergesketter and Greg Sergesketter.
Dec 19, 2018
Greg Sergesketter
Director
815 Elk Run Circle
713.234.0604