Pollard Brook Unit Owners Association, Inc.

September 2012
Message from Your Board President
Three years ago when I first ran for the Board of Directors I
stated to all of you that I had 3 main goals. They were to:
Pollard Brook
Unit Owners Association, Inc.
ANNUAL MEETING
OF OWNERS
NOVEMBER 3, 2012
1) Upgrade and maintain the property so that our collective
investment in our vacation resort is preserved as well as help
with future sales and rental income which reduces required
assessments.
2) Aggressively manage our operating budgets so that we
contained expenses and invested in green initiatives to lower
future long term operating costs.
3) Seek a fair and equitable way to help delinquent owners
either become productive again or take back those weeks so
they can be resold to a productive maintenance fee paying
HOA member so our delinquencies become more manageable.
In regards to the first item, your Board has approved and spent
about $2 million in the last 3 years making major improvements
to all aspects of your vacation experience whether it be the
common areas like the indoor pool, outdoor pool and Jacuzzi
and camp fire areas, or the unit accommodations like new
kitchens, furniture, and appliances, or to government mandated
improvements like new deck railings, carbon monoxide detectors
in all the units or the ADA required handicap pool lift, or to
antiquated but critical infrastructure components like our phone
system, security systems and, my favorite, wireless internet access
in all units free to owners, but charged to guests.
In regards to the operating budgets, our proposed operating
budget for 2013 is $4,135,681 which is $248,361 higher than
the budget proposed in 2009. This budget is 6.4% higher than
it was 4 years ago or shows an annual average growth rate of
1.3% annually. Your overall maintenance fees increased 0%
in 2010, 2% in 2011, and 5% in 2012, and we are proposing a
3% increase in 2013. This is a total increase of 11.2%
continued on page 2...
Inside This Issue
Board Candidate Data · 2011 Annual Meeting Minutes
Proxy/Ballot
Reminder Notice: Our Annual Meeting is scheduled for
Saturday, November 3, 2012 11:00 A.M. at the Lincoln
Town Hall Conference Room, 148 Main Street (Route 112
East) in Lincoln, NH (across from Flapjacks Restaurant).
If you do not expect to attend the meeting in person, it is
vitally important that you mark, sign, date and return the
enclosed Proxy/Ballot to reach us no later than November
2, 2012. If you later find that you can be present or for
any other reason desire to revoke your Proxy/Ballot, you
may do so at any time before the voting commences. This
Proxy/Ballot is for two important matters and we must
meet the quorum requirement: 1) Election of Director;
2) Adoption of Amended and Restated By-laws. Please
complete and return the enclosed Proxy/Ballot to reach us
no later than November 2, 2012.
AGENDA
I.
Welcome and Introductions/Call to Order
II.
Approval of Agenda
III.
Approval of 2011 Annual Meeting Minutes
IV.
Message from the Board
V.
Elections
VI.
Management Report
VII.
Financial Review
VIII. Communications and Interactions
IX.
Election Results
X.
XI.
Open Discussion
Adjournment
Message from Your Board President Continued...
compounded over that time period for an average annual
increase of 2.8%. The differential between your actual
assessed maintenance fee increase during these 4 years and
the lower increase in our actual operating budget increases
can be mostly explained in the increased delinquencies which
have risen during this difficult economy.
This brings me to my third major goal as your only owner
represented member of the Board of Directors, which was to
preserve our family oriented business model but at the same
time in order to be fair with all owners equally, find a way to
either get those who are delinquent to pay up or get those
weeks back into the HOA for resale to another owner who
can pay the maintenance fee or transfer the ownership to the
InnSeason Vacation Club Trust where the maintenance fees
to Pollard Brook Homeowners Association is guaranteed. By
having the ownership of intervals in the InnSeason Vacation
Club or the HOA Trust, these weeks are also protected from
ever being put out to pasture in a Viking Ship potentially
permanently preventing us from collecting maintenance fees
on those intervals.
In 2012 we foreclosed on 168 weeks of the roughly 700
weeks that are delinquent. We only foreclosed on owners
that were at least 3 years in arrears for maintenance fees
and only after proper notification and warning that we were
going to do so and after giving those owners every possible
way to either work out some kind of a payment plan or pay
our legal costs and deed the week back to the HOA. Our
2013 budget includes plans to foreclose on an additional
75 intervals and we will continue this practice for the next
several years to help clean up the long term delinquent
properties. I want to stress to everyone that I believe in
meeting one’s responsibilities and although I consider myself
a compassionate individual, there is a point when running
a business you have to make the difficult and hard decisions
that affect all of us collectively even if it further complicates an
individual’s financial situation.
As an owner, the value of your property and the amount of
money you pay in annual assessments to use your vacation
time is valuable to you. All of us on the Board realize that.
We also realize that we must make some substantial changes
in the way we provide services to you in order to reduce
ongoing operating costs as overall revenues are not expected
to increase anytime soon and uncontrollable necessary costs
continue to increase.
We are 2/3rds the way toward the vote count we need in
order to adopt the new condo docs. Adoption of these condo
docs is very important. If you haven’t voted to allow us to
expand the Board with more owners and align our condo
docs with the state requirements as yet, we ask you to do so
and submit that with your ballot vote for a Board member this
year. Our Owners’ Annual Meeting will be held at the Lincoln
Town Hall on Saturday November 3rd at 11:00 AM and I
look forward to seeing as many of you there as can make it,
and we look forward to your revenue enhancing and cost
cutting ideas.
Bill Scanzani
Pollard Brook HOA Board member and President
Board Candidate Data
*William Scanzani
Interval Week: 29, 33, 46
Education: B.S. in Accounting- Lowell Technological Institute, Masters in Management – Boston University
Qualifying Experience: Served on the Pollard Brook Board of Advisors for two years and currently the owner’s only member
of the Board of Directors for the last 3 years. I’m a seasoned operations and product manager in the food industry for many
years. I have experience in budgeting, operations, managing a staff, purchasing, coordinating major projects, and customer
service. Additionally, I have excellent communications skills and the ability to think outside the box to find innovative solutions
to problems that need to be solved.
My objectives for the next three years have not changed: 1. Maintain the resort property and owner values along with
helping in future sales and rental income to reduce assessments. 2. Sustainability of the resort’s services and budgets
and invested in green initiatives to lower future long term operating costs. 3. Seek fair and equitable ways to help
delinquent owners or acquire the delinquent weeks back and sell to fee paying owners. Be an advocate for good owner
representation on the Board.
2
September 2012
POLLARD BROOK OWNERS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
November 5, 2011
DRAFT
I. CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL
IV. BOARD REPORT
William Scanzani called the meeting to order at 11:00 a.m.
Bill Scanzani stated he would like to touch on the collection
of maintenance fees and the effect that the economy is
having on that.
He introduced himself as the first owner representative on
the Board and has been serving as Board President for the
past two years.
II. WELCOME AND INTRODUCTIONS
Bill Scanzani welcomed the owners, thanked them for their
participation in this important forum and introduced the
following:
Board of Directors:
William Scanzani
Billy Curran
Dennis Ducharme
Vacation Resorts International and Resort Management:
Scott Dravis, Vice President of Resort Operations, VRI
Joel Bourassa, Resort General Manager
Staff:
Alana Hamm, Front Desk Manager
Angela Willey, Housekeeping Inspector
Bill reported that quorum requirements are 25% of the
owners present either in person or by proxy.
The current owner roster records 6236 owners (25% =
1559 required) of which 2809 are represented in person
or by proxy, so the quorum is met.
III.APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES
MOTION: A motion was made and seconded to approve
the 2010 annual meeting minutes as presented. The motion
was approved unanimously.
September 2012
Every resort has a delinquency factor or, in other words, the
percentage of owners that don’t or can’t pay their annual
assessments.
Here is what we do to address the problem:
• Factor bad debt into the budget – this raises necessary revenue but all owners have to pay a little more.
• Bad debt collection – go after delinquent owners.
• Rent delinquent weeks – the revenue raised reduces the
amount other owners have to pay. A long term solution
is to foreclose on delinquent intervals and resell the intervals and get a “paying owner” in the week.
• Since the recession of 2008, the delinquency factor increased by 4-5%.
• This year into 2012 we will be foreclosing on up to 270 intervals. Many of those weeks will be absorbed by the InnSeason Vacation Club. The Club pays maintenance fees like other owners and that will immediately turn those intervals into performing weeks.
Bill reminded everyone that we will always work with an
owner in setting up a payment plan for maintenance fees.
He also reminded owners that a monthly advance payment
option is available. He uses it for his weeks and by the time
the annual maintenance fees are billed, he is already paid
in advance.
Bill closed in stating his commitment to the owners:
• Continue to manage the operating budget aggressively to hold the line on expenses whenever possible.
• Continue the process of recovering non-dues paying inventory.
• Aggressively market recovered inventory to bring in dues-
payingmembers.
• Continue to work with ARDA and other industry
professionals to promote realistic timeshare resale opportunities.
3
V. MANAGEMENT REPORTS
Bill Scanzani introduced Scott Dravis of VRI to present a management report. Scott reviewed some key financial reports
starting with the income statement for 9 months ending 9/30/11.
Category YTD Actual
Revenue 2,576,936
Combined Expense 2,303,680
Bad Debt
287,148
YTD Budget YTD Variance
2,609,262 -32,326
2,395,879 -92,199
191,388 95,760
Net Income -35,887
In review, while Joel Bourassa has done a fantastic job in controlling expenses ($92,199 YTD),a combination of being
behind in revenue by -$32,326 and increased bad debt has led to a loss of -$35,887 so far YTD.
2012 Budget
Scott Dravis reported that two main factors have led to an
increase in the 2012 budget; increase in bad debt (owner
delinquency) and an increase in property taxes. Overall,
the fees increased by 5.3% over 2011.
One Bedroom Example
YEAR MAINTENANCE FEE
2009 $499
2010 $499
2011 $510
2012 $537
3 year average INCREASE
0%
2%
5%
2.33%
General Manager’s Report
Scott Dravis introduced Joel Bourassa to deliver the
General Manager’s Report. Joel reported that over 1.9
million dollars in resort improvements have been performed
in the last 5 years.
Projects for 2011 included:
• Indoor pool renovations.
o New wall tiles.
o Pebble tech floor treatment.
o New state-of-the-art dehumidification and heating
system including a new duct system.
o Structural work.
o New sauna room.
o New pool water heating system.
• Wi-Fi in all guest units available free of charge.
• Kitchens updated in Woodland Building.
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• 37” flat screen TV’s in all living rooms.
• Exterior of Mt. Washington building painted.
• CO detectors in all units.
• I-home clock radios in all master bedrooms.
Total 2011 Capital Expense through 10/31/11: $375,762.
2012 Capital projects under review:
• New front entrance Porte Cochere.
• Continue kitchen replacements in Streamside Building.
• Replace old fitness equipment.
• New upholstered chairs in Jackman Building.
Joel updated the owners on news about the resort
departments:
Engineering
Efforts were made during the last year to utilize the
knowledge base and experience of the maintenance staff
to perform as much work in-house as is practical.
Examples of those efforts include several new exterior
staircases, including one on the outside of the Mount Liberty
Building.
Housekeeping Services
Efforts within the Housekeeping Department included:
• Reorganization of staff.
• New inventory control procedures.
• Focus on increased customer service scores.
• Reducing staff turnover.
September 2012
In addition, a new ozone cleaning system was installed in
the resort laundry and has made a dramatic improvement
on the laundry product, with the additional benefit of
providing significant savings on energy costs.
enhancing the ownership of vacation resort properties.
Front Desk
Your 2012 maintenance fee invoice includes a voluntary
$3 donation to ARDA ROC and Scott encouraged owners
to consider making the $3 donation. More information on
ARDA can be obtained at www.arda.org.
Joel noted that rentals have increased since 2009. He
attributes that to a slight improvement with the economy as
well as the efforts of the front desk staff.
Joel spoke about program known as “Catch Me Doing
Something Right” which encouraged owners and guests to
share a positive experience they may have had with a staff
member.
That program has proven to be popular with the staff and
the staff looks forward to the report each month to see if
they are named in those reports.
Joel also reminded owners about the Adventure Concierge
program and encouraged owners to utilize Eric to help
them maximize the enjoyment of their vacation experience.
Green Initiatives - Joel was pleased to report that the resort
received two separate awards in recognition of efforts of
Pollard Brook in “going green”.
The first award was given by the NH Lodging Association.
The award is the highest honor given to a NH Lodging
establishment for Green initiatives.
The program is instrumental in helping many associations in
New England, including Pollard Brook Resort.
VI. ELECTIONS
Scott Dravis noted that there was one 3 year position open
on the Board of Directors and that there are two candidates
running for the position.
One is William (Billy) Curran, who is an incumbent Director,
and timeshare owner Roland Robillard.
Scott called for any other nominations from the floor;
hearing none, a motion was made and seconded to close
nominations and approved unanimously.
Two owners were appointed to assist with tallying ballots
collected today to add to ballots already received in the
mail.
Scott noted that election results would be announced later
in the meeting during the question and answer portion.
VII. OPEN DISCUSSION
The second recognition was awarded by Governor Lynch
for initiatives in Eco-Tourism.
Questions from the owners were answered by management
and the Board.
Scott Dravis was introduced to moderate the 2011
elections.
VIII.ELECTION RESULTS
Scott commented that before proceeding to the elections,
he’d like to take a moment to speak briefly about the
American Resort Development Association (ARDA).
Election results were announced as follows:
William Curran 120.5 votes
Roland Robillard, 90 votes
Scott explained that an important part of what ARDA does
is promote and lobby for the timeshare industry and many
owner issues. To do that, ARDA has set up a program
called ARDA ROC.
Mr. Curran was announced as the winner of the election
and elected to a 3 year term.
The ARDA ROC (Resort Owners’ Coalition) is a nonprofit program dedicated to preserving, protecting and
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned
at 12:40 p.m.
September 2012
IX. ADJOURNMENT
5
PRST FIRST
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
CURLEY
DIRECT
c/o Vacation Resorts International
P.O. Box 399
Hyannis, MA 02601
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
Important Numbers
Pollard Brook Unit Owners’ Association, Inc.
and
Vacation Resorts International (VRI)
Pollard Brook Resort
Fax
Website
Exchange Information
Interval International
RCI
VRI*ety
(603) 7
745-9900
45-9900
(603) 7
745-8233
45-8233
www.innseason.com
www
.innseason.com
(800) 828-8200
(877) 87
874-3334
4-3334
(888) 203-1044
203-1044
Vacation Owner Services / VRI
(800) 999-7140
999-7140
Maintenance Fees
Payment Plans
Changes/additions to Ownership
Email
[email protected]
Central Reservations
(800) 228-2968
Information and Assistance
Fixed W
Week
eek Reservation
Float W
Week
eek Reservation
Bonus Time
Rental Program
Deposits with Exchange Company
Email
[email protected]
Still Need Assistance
VRI Corporate Services
Services
VRI Fax
Managed by Vacation Resorts International
Perfecting the Art of Hospitality
www.vriresorts.com
(508) 771-3399
771-3399
(508) 775-6396
IF YOU MAY BE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE ANNUAL OWNERS’ MEETING, please note your
preference on this Proxy/Ballot and return it to reach us no later than November 2, 2012.
Pollard Brook Unit Owners’ Association, Inc.
Proxy/Ballot
This Proxy/Ballot will be voted according to the instructions indicated below. If you own multiple weeks, only one
Proxy/Ballot is required. Please indicate unit/week(s) owned below.
PROXY: Solicited on Behalf of the Board of Directors for the Annual Meeting of Owners to be
held on November 3, 2012.
The undersigned hereby appoint(s) (check one only):
❑
❑
Billy Curran, Treasurer
Other: Only current members of the Unit Owners Association may act as Proxy
to act as Proxy with power to vote for and act on behalf of the undersigned on any business that may properly come before
the Annual Meeting of the Owners of Pollard Brook Unit Owners Association, Inc. to be held at the Lincoln Town Hall, 148
Main Street (Route 112 East), Lincoln, NH on Saturday, November 3, 2012, 11:00 a.m. or any adjournment thereof.
BALLOT:
Matter 1: Election of Director
Vote for no more than one (1) Director to serve for a three (3) year term.
* Indicates Incumbent
*William Scanzani
Write in
Matter 2: Adoption of Amended and Restated By-laws
SUMMARY OF BY-LAW REVISIONS POSTED ON THE ASSOCIATION WEBSITE
❑
❑
Approve the adoption of the Amended and Restated By-laws.
Reject the adoption of the Amended and Restated By-laws.
Signature:
Interval Owner
Date:
Signature:
Interval Co-owner (if applicable)
Date:
Please Print Name(s) Legibly:
Unit/Week Number(s):
PLEASE FOLD OVER AND RETURN IN ENCLOSED ENVELOPE
Thank you for your participation!
Please complete and mail in time to reach us no later than November 2, 2012.