Homeowners want to know: what’s taking HOA so long to fix the pool?

By Deborah Goonan, Independent American Communities

Summer in Las Vegas — daytime temperatures more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, overnight low temps above 80 degrees. In that intense heat, the main reason residents of Qunitessa at Mountain’s Edge dare to venture outside is to take a quick dip in the community swimming pool.

But this summer, according to an HOA Hall of Shame investigation by KTNV’s Darcy Spears, the pool has been closed for months, following an electrical fire in the clubhouse bathroom. Currently, the pool is bone dry, and the air conditioned fitness center is closed, too. For nearly two months following the fire, water leaked from a pipe that used to supply a drinking fountain, wasting 2,500 gallons per week. Quintessa HOA finally stopped the leak and capped off the pipe after Spears’ report.

Owners received a letter in May, informing them that an insurance claim has been filed, and payment has been made to the HOA. But so far, no repairs have been made.

So, where has the money gone? Why are residents paying HOA assessments for a pool and fitness center they cannot use? And why isn’t the property management company answering questions from HOA residents and KTNV?

Be sure to watch both the news report and Darcy Spears’ Raw Video of her conversation with Christine Greengrass of Camco, the management company for Quintessa I and Quintessa II HOAs.

 

Wasteful water leak woes leave residents without pool: HOA Hall of Shame

Darcy Spears
4:20 PM, Jul 6, 2018
11:47 AM, Jul 7, 2018

With water levels at Lake Mead approaching historically low levels, any amount of wasted water is a bitter pill to swallow. That’s why residents of one Mountain’s Edge community say their HOA belongs in the Contact 13 Hall of Shame.

Quintessa resident Jake Yamagata took the video below to show the water leaking from the walls. The leak began two months after an electrical fire in the bathroom area of Qunitessa II’s clubhouse. The leak is coming from a pipe that used to be connected to a drinking fountain. Homeowners say it has been running like this non-stop since March.
…
A dead bird, mosquitos and green larvae were spotted in the swimming pool. The Southern Nevada Health District fined the HOA for violating the state sanitation code. Instead of fixing the pool, the HOA drained it and it has been empty since May.
…
Rikki Martin showed us the letter that was sent to homeowners from Quintessa’s management company Camco. It apologized for taking so long to repair the pool and fitness center. The letter says the insurance claim check has been cut and should be received any day. That was on May 18.

We had questions for Camco and paid them a visit. Christine Greengrass, Camco’s Regional Director told us, “I agree and unfortunately from what I understand, there’s been some delay on behalf of the board making decisions for opening this pool.”

Read more (Video):
https://www.ktnv.com/news/contact-13/wasteful-water-leak-woes-leave-residents-without-pool-hoa-hall-of-shame?page=2

 

Honestly, the Raw Video is more informative than the news lead in! It’s a must see.

Darcy interviews Christine Greengrass, because the day-to-day manager for Quintessa (Ashley) has made herself scarce. Ashley’s supervisor, Joel Just, happens to be out of town. When Greengrass suggests contacting Joel, Darcy says that she has already done that, and he hung up on the KTNV producer!

According to Joel’s bio on the Camco website, he’s a former President of Red Rock Financial Services, an HOA collection company, and “Mr. Just is an accomplished public speaker, addressing CAI (Community Associations Institute) national conferences on the topic of debt reduction tactics for homeowner and condominium associations.”

So, while it’s of critical importance to promptly collect HOA assessments, it’s apparently not that important to provide prompt service to HOA residents.

Greengrass, listed as the General Manager of Camco’s Portfolio Division on LinkedIn, is quick to blame the HOA boards of Quintessa I and II for being indecisive and not providing clear direction for the manager to proceed with repairs to the pool and clubhouse areas damaged by fire. She suggests that the homeowners attend board meetings and put pressure on their board members.

Hmmm. I’m sure board members will happily hold meetings as soon as possible, and that they cannot wait to be confronted by angry homeowners.

Of course, Darcy also points out that, in emails she has read, board members have already provided direction to the manager, and they are frustrated by the delay in repairs. There has even been discussion of firing the management company.

So…who’s telling the truth, and who is misleading homeowners?

But, in my opinion, the most intriguing part of the interview is when Greengrass openly admits that the association-governance model is rife with bureaucratic “red tape” and that there’s “little common ground” amongst homeowners.

She points out that in addition to the competing interests of Quintessa I vs. Quintessa II, there’s a third “shared use” association for the pool and clubhouse in question.

Of course, the fact that there is pervasive disagreement among the three HOAs comes as no surprise to anyone who understands that conflicting interests among members is a fundamental flaw of  the “modern” association-governed common interest community.

Greengrass thinks the state Legislature should somehow fix the problems that ail HOAs. But she doesn’t explain specifically how state Legislators, most of them with little understanding of the association-governance model, might actually assist HOAs in fostering cooperation and agreement among members, or how to speed up the notoriously slow and cumbersome repair process.

Not surprisingly, Greengrass is also an active committee member of the Nevada Chapter of CAI, an industry trade group that represents the Legislative interests of its members — community association managers, HOA attorneys, HOA service providers, and a handful of board members nationally — but not the bulk of housing consumers.

It’s no wonder homeowners and KTNV have been unable to get any straight answers to their questions. Camco representatives seem more interested in protecting their company’s reputation by shifting blame to incompetent boards and apathetic members, than resolving the problems at hand.