September 2024 Community Newsletter

September 25, 2024 3:12 pm

Letter from the Board

Happy Fall!

We wanted to provide an update from the Annual Survey conducted the last few weeks. This year, a whopping 41% responded (that’s up from 19% last year). By any measure, that’s an astonishing response rate.

As you know, we’ve promised ‘transparency’ as a shared value, so we want to touch on the #1 issue of concern for 2023 and 2024: landscaping.

First, the numbers:

48% of residents are satisfied with our landscapers;
19% are indifferent; and
33% are dissatisfied.

That’s almost identical feedback from last year (34% were dissatisfied)—so the good news is more people aren’t unhappy. That’s pretty hollow ‘good news.’ Your comments revolved overwhelmingly around the topics of weeds, with a dash of brown spots and edging thrown in for good measure.

We hear you.

When we selected Lawn Co as our new vendor two seasons ago, we wanted a more responsive vendor with higher standards. We had concerns around sprinkler repairs, over-watering, weeds, and poor tree maintenance. We all know that landscaping is a tough business. There are not enough workers, inflationary pressures continue, and every community demands near perfection.

Lawn Co is certainly a more responsive vendor, and they’ve minimized some of our problems that could become long-term headaches. And while the IN-season weeds are no doubt improved from 2022, the EARLY-season weeds were far more out of control than is acceptable. And we’re still having to point out some areas of concern to them for action (which they quickly take). But long-term, we want a more proactive partnership.

So, during our ‘summer wrap up’ meeting with the landscapers, we were direct in our feedback. Just as we do during the mowing season, we passed on every comment we received. We’re not unhappy, but we’re also not thrilled. And we believe better results aren’t unreasonable. They want a long-term contract; we want to see RESULTS beforehand. If we expect a proactive partnership, that involves transparency in both directions. Lawn Co provided feedback as well. It turns out, we’re not unreasonable (well, 95% of us aren’t). There’s an efficiency that Bainbridge brings to Lawn Co, because they now service several neighborhoods around us. That’s a key advantage for both entities.

We’re going to have some challenges as our property ages. More and more of the decorative shrubs that were planted to grow quickly, look awesome, and sell homes are starting to die off. It’s also increasingly obvious that some of our common trees were planted poorly or in inappropriate locations. We need to remove and replace those bushes or trees with longer-term options. There’s also growth that is undermining our sprinkler systems, and that has to be corrected.

This is a long newsletter, but we wanted to be fully transparent in acknowledging the feedback we hear, as well as our strategy and the challenges we anticipate going forward.

We’ll touch on the other survey results going forward. We appreciate your trust, support, feedback and enthusiasm for our great community.

Questions or comments? We’re at HOA@BrightonCorp.com.

Wade Ramsey, President

Steve Elliott, Vice President

Nancy Pace, Treasurer

Shawna Green, Secretary

Irrigation Turn Off

The irrigation districts will be turning off water on Monday, October 7th, so this is your last week to get in any watering.

Getting Dark

Now that Fall has arrived, the nights are getting longer. To help keep our community well-lit and safe, please make sure your exterior lights are on and working. If you notice a streetlights not working right, please report them to the City of Meridian. If you notice any entries or decorative lights not working, you can report them to hoa@brightoncorp.com.

Holiday Decorations

The community annual survey will be going out in September. Please keep an eye out for this. Your participation is important to the Board and helps them to make decisions.

Lost and Found

It’s that time of year when so many people decorate for the holidays. We love to see all the festivity! However, we ask that you remember temporary holiday decorations may be installed 30 days prior to the holiday and should be removed within 30 days after the holiday, vendor scheduling and weather permitting.

Pools Closed

We had some kids hopping the fence to get in the pool area after it was locked down for the winter. Some residents let them know it was closed, and they left, but it’s a reminder of how easily kids can get into trouble. Please make sure your kids know that this is not acceptable. We don’t want any accidents to occur.