Creekwood Clean Up

At the May 25th Creekwood Master Board Meeting, the Board approved the following items to clean up our community and fulfill requirements for maintenance of common area amenities:

• The Pool House will be cleaned and painted by Pro Clean for aprox. $300
• The light pools at the recreation area will be painted by Adams Paint for approximately $95 per pole.
  
• An application will be filed with Manatee County to obtain a matching Grant for approximately $2,500 to provide improvements in the community. Suggested improvements included a Veteran's Monument at the Recreation area, benches along Creekwood Blvd., a new light for the Basketball Court, some general landscaping improvements
  

Creekwood Master Board Meeting tonight.

Regular Scheduled monthly meeting of the Creekwood Master Board is tonight, May 26th, at 5:30 pm at the AMI offices, 9031 Town Center Pkwy, Bradenton, FL. As always, this is open to all Creekwood homeowners.

Summer Storm Predictions are in!

The predictions for the 2009 Summer Storms came out today form NOAA. In short, there is a 50% chance of an average year. Gotta love the precision on that estimate. Here is the meat and potatoes quote from the NOAA website:

"Forecasters say there is a 70 percent chance of having nine to 14 named storms, of which four to seven could become hurricanes, including one to three major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5)."

Below are links to the NOAA news release and corresponding reports.

NOAA.org - "NOAA Issues Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook, Encourages Preparedness"

CNN.com - "NOAA predicts 'near-normal' Atlantic hurricane season"

Reuters via Yahoo.com - "NOAA sees average 2009 Atlantic hurricane season"

Here is the forecast for the nation from AccuWeather.com
"AccuWeather.com 2009 Summer Forecast"

Creekwood Master Board Response to Westbrook I Secessation Petition

This past weekend homeowners in Creekwood received in the mail a response by the Creekwood Master Association President, Michael Walley, to the signature gathering efforts of Westbrook I residents interested in secession from the Master Association. The letter disputes many of the statements made in a Question & Answer info sheet distributed to Westbrook I homeowners by the secessionists. Both Mr. Walley's response and the initial petition flyer are available here on the Creekside at Creekwood website. Please read all 4 pages and share your thoughts on the Creekside message board.

Creekwood Town Hall Summary

Last Saturday, May 9th, the Creekwood Town Hall was held at Braden River Library. It was quite an event. Clearly the 2 main issues were 1. AMI as the management company for Creekwood and 2. Efforts of Westbrook I to secede from Creekwood. These 2 issues comprised the majority of the discussions at the meeting, with it becoming quite heated.

1. Many homeowner's expressed their discontent with AMI as the CMA management company, specifically focusing on lack of communication from AMI. The Creekwood Master Board (CMB) assured those present that the bidding process for the property management contract would begin in earnest this summer. Previously at the March 24th Creekwood Master Association (CMA) meeting, Creekside submitted a written letter of complaint regarding AMI to the CMB. If you would like to share your thoughts on this please visit the Creekside Message Board.

2. There is a group of residents in Westbrook I seeking to break away from Creekwood based on their disapproval of recent actions of the CMB. Clearly a major issue for these homeowners is the maintenance of the Community Pool with some of the attendees from Westbrook I calling for its removal. As expected the CMB was highly resistant to such secession discussion as this would be quite a large change in expenses for all homeowners throughout Creekwood. This would increase the cost for the remaining homes in the CMA for all expenses as they are spread among fewer homes. Michael Walley, president of the CMB, pointed out that as the sub associations do not have any claim to any common property such as the monument walls, stormwater drainage system (lakes), recreation area, open grass areas, lighting, etc., there would be extensive costs to the sub association purchaser of any of these items were they to be divested by the Master Association. There was little discussion of the legal expenses that may be incurred to handle this issue. If you would like to share your thoughts on this please visit the Creekside Message Board.

Fossils found in Creekwood Lake

From the Bradenton Herald a few weeks ago:

Fossil-rich Creekwood lake offers teachable moments
Friday, Apr. 24, 2009
By RICHARD DYMOND

Click the title for the full article.

Since the article, some of the fossils have been identified by a local museum official as being from ancient Dugongs, a relative of the manatee, dating back even further than the 10,000 years discussed in the article and ancient sharks. Click here for some more info about ancient Dugongs in Florida and here for info on fossil hunting in Florida.

If you haven't noticed the signs already...

Creekwood Town Hall Meeting to be held this Saturday, May 9th, at the Braden River Public Library at 10:00 AM. This is open to all Creekwood Homeowners to attend. Hope to see you there.

Creekwood Clean Up

At the July 28th Creekwood Master Board Meeting, the Board approved the following items to clean up our community and fulfill requirements for maintenance of common area amenities:

• The Creekwood Boulevard Fence will be cleaned by Pro Wash Cleaning for aprox. $1,530
• The Monument Walls, both stucco and brick, will be cleaned by Pro Wash Cleaning for an amount not to exceed $500.
• The Pool area decking will be cleaned, painted and cracks repaired by Pro Clean for aprox. $2,500
• The Pool will be updated with Pool Filtration Covers as required by recent Federal, State and local rulings by G & S Pools.
  

Also as required by SWFMD, the lakes throughout Creekwood will receive their annual Inspection and Certification as our Stormwater management system.

Lighting for Creekside Monument Sign

At the April 28th Creekwood Master Board Meeting, the Board accepted the bid from Moonlighting to install solar powered lighting at the Creekside Monument Sign. For details on the light and the expected cost please click on the image to the left.

Crime Watch meeting Tuesday at Trinity United Methodist

From the Bradenton Herald.com website-

Crime Watch meetings at Trinity United Methodist
By VIN MANNIX - vmannix@bradenton.com

BRADENTON — The first of two Neighborhood Crime Watch meetings will be held Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church, 3200 Manatee Ave. W.
The topics are residential security and how Crime Watch works.
The second meeting is May 12 and the topics are personal safety, identity theft and scams.
It is presented by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
The target area is 20th Street West to 51st Street West, north of Manatee Avenue, but all citizens are welcome.
For details, call (941) 747-3011, ext. 2500 or 2587.
Or call Trinity at (941) 747-3704

2 Creekwood Master Board Open Seats

As of this morning, there are currently 2 vacancies on the Creekwood Master Board.

During last nights Master Board meeting, in a 6-0 vote, the Directors approved legal counsel's opinion that Ms. Elizabeth Sullivan was ineligible to be elected to the Board at the Creekwood Annual Meeting that took place on March 21st and is therefore not a Director.

This morning Director Carl Hartley notified the Board via e-mail that he is resigning effective immediately.

Based on these events there are currently 5 remaining Board members with 1 individual from each Sub Association. It is expected that the Board will be deciding to either fill both positions with appointees or continue with only 5 members. Creekside News will keep you posted on the outcome.

Creekwood Master Board Meeting Tonight

Tonight is the April meeting of the Creekwood Master Board. As usual this meeting is held at AMI's office (9031 Town Center Parkway Bradenton, Florida 34202) at 5:30 pm and is open to all Creekwood members. The Creekside president will be in attendance to hear what steps the Creekwood Board has taken regarding Creekside's letter of management accountability. An update will be posted in the Creekside newsletter coming soon.

Heads up!

I went to the Bank of America by Publix, on state road 70 today to transact some Creekside at Creekwood business. I was very pleased with the response from them. In addition they told me there had been reports of mail being stolen from mailboxes in Creekwood as recently as several days ago.

This is not new but is a recurrence of desperate measures by desperate people in times of economic stress. Be vigilant and do not put mail in your mail box for handling as postage that contains personal identifiers such as date of birth, social security number etc. OR any financial instrument such as a check or money order that could be used as a vehicle to steal money from you or your account(s)

Thanks from the treasurer

The assessment for Creekside at Creekwood is due on May 1st. I sent out 58 letters to homeowners who were current with prior years and have already received payment from 42! Thank you so much.

I also sent out 41 letters to homeowners who were delinquent at least one of the last two years and have received payment from 14 of those homeowners! Thank you so much also. The letter, which I posted here previously, was designed to elicit cooperation from homeowners who were delinquent. As seen above, there has been marginal success.

Those folks who are delinquent from previous years and those who choose not to pay this year's assessment by June 2nd are subject to lien. That is expensive to the homeowners as they will incur the cost of filing the lien and removal when they pay their fees. That seems strange compared to just paying the fees, don't you think?

We have four homes in foreclosure and will discuss, as a board, whether or not we want to file liens against those properties and collect the assessment fees from the banks.

We, as a board, have contacted the Bank that collects fees for the Master Association and may enter into a deal with them to collect our fees at the same time. This was requested by a number of you and we are listening to your request and attempting to make this a reality.

Thanks again for your cooperation. Be blessed and be a blessing to others...

2009 Creekside @ CreekwoodAssessment

The 2009 Creekside Assessment Letter and a sample invoice are included in this post. In addition to the homeowners who are current for previous years 2007 & 2008 there are some homeowners who are delinquent and the invoice was designed to address both. The sample invoice below is one where we are collecting for 2009 only. Those with delinquencies may have data in 2007 & 2008 fields filled in on their invoice. Please click on the image to view it full size.

On or about March 24, 2009 I mailed an assessment letter and an invoice specific to each residence to every homeowner in Creekside. even though the assessment is not due until May 1, 2009.

I have received a significant response. The letter is an attempt to inform you as to why we have a Creekside @ Creekwood Board. Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to the mailing and/or this post.

We have begun investigations to have our nominal fee collection included in the mailing that goes out to every homeowner for the Creekside Master Association dues. This would standardize the process of notification and collection and be more efficient.

Have a blessed day.

David W. Herrington
Treasurer
Creekside @ Creekwood

Creekwood Master Board Meeting Tonight

Tonight is the First meeting of the Creekwood Master Board as elected at last Saturday's Annual meeting. As usual this meeting is held at AMI's office at 5:30 pm and is open to all Creekwood members. The Creekside president will formally present the letter to the Master Board detailing Creekside's frustration with the current management company for Creekwood as discussed at the Creekside Annual Board meeting on March 14th. The letter will be delivered via certified mail, return receipt, to AMI's office as well as posted for viewing on the Creekside website following tonight's meeting.

Creekwood Master Annual Meeting Tomorrow

Last Reminder that the Creekwood Master Association will hold its Annual meeting tomorrow, Saturday, March 21st at 1 pm at the Braden River Library. The meeting will include the election of 3 Directors for the 2009 Creekwood Master Board of Directors. No agenda for the meeting has been posted on the Creekwood/AMI website. The list of currently named nominees can be viewed below. Other nominees may be added from the floor. You are highly encouraged to attend.

Sheriff's E-Watch Meeting Tomorrow

The public is invited to the monthly Neighborhood Coalition meeting tomorrow Thursday, March 19^th at 1:30pm. The meeting will be held in the Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention conference room located at 600 301 Blvd. W. Guest speaker will be Deputy Dawn Stroup presenting information on Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)

New Creekside Board for 2009

Thank you to everyone who attended or provided voting certificates for the Creekside at Creekwood Annual Meeting this past Saturday. We had a very good discussion of issues affecting Creekside and plans for 2009. Below is the newly elected Board of Directors and the officers as determined in the Organizational meeting that followed:

Sami Bisharat - President
Steve Yanics - Vice President
David Herrington - Treasurer
JoAnn Voorhees - Secretary
Gary Rouse - Compliance
Jim Voorhees
Leonard LoCastro
The Creekside Delegate Voter is Jim Voorhees.

Thanks again to all our volunteers for these positions as well as those from 2008's Board. Your contributions to the betterment of Creekside are greatly appreciated.

Creekside Annual Meeting Tomorrow!

Last Reminder that the Creekside at Creekwood Association will hold its Annual meeting tomorrow, Saturday, March 14th at 1 pm at 4649 72nd Ct. E. in Creekside. The Agenda for the meeting can be viewed below. The meeting will include the election of the 2009 Creekside Board of Directors, discussion of the 2009 Budget and appointment of officers and Delegate Voter. If you are unable to attend, please contact a current Creekside Board member or e-mail CreeksideNews@yahoo.com and you will be contacted regarding a Voter Certificate.