Meeting minutes from HOA Meeting, June 8, 2024

June 8th Rio De Bella HOA Meeting – Notes:

·         The meeting started @ 10:04 am with welcome and introductions.

·         Discussion of website, and updates to be posted there:  HOME | Rio de Bella | HOA | Oklahoma City, OK, USA

·         Financials:       

o   Current in bank:  $104,535.  

o   Current delinquent dues:  $ 26,420, plus $19,984 from previous years.

·         Communication venues currently:

o   Main goal for communication – Better and more timely communication, along with better transparency regarding projects and financials.

§  Website (listed above).

·         Check out the news section for updates.

·         Links to the HOA Partners as well, to pay dues or ask questions.

§  Facebook Pages

·         There are 2. Our official HOA Page (Rio de Bella HOA BOARD), and the social non-official neighborhood FB page (Rio de Bella Neighborhood).

§  Email:

·         riodebellaokc@gmail.com

§  Newsletter

·         Will be created quarterly.

·         The first one was mailed. Moving forward, we will not be mailing these due to the cost of printing.

o   Will be posting on the Website, Facebook, and emailing them out.      

o   It was brought up to consider a neighborhood text system.

§  Great idea, we will start looking into possible free texting services, and see if this is feasible for us.

·          Current projects:

o   New project “guidelines” moving forward:

§  For every project, we will obtain a minimum of 3 bids per project, then vote on those. 

§  We are also adopting a new project contract. This requires the work to be done first, before the contractors get paid.

§  We will consider neighborhood owned businesses in these bids as well, but they will be treated the same manner as other contractors and will be held to the same standards and expectations.

o   Sprinklers – these are now updated and working correctly.

§  We will soon be replacing the dead trees in the entrances that died due to the sprinkler systems not functioning.

o   Landscaping:  

§  New company – Dean Beebe Custom Lawns.

·         They are currently working on the stump grinding and removal, as well as removing the dead trees around the pond, as well as mowing and maintenance of the common areas.

§  Several other tree concerns were brought forward by members – We will look into these, and if they need removal, will obtain bids:

·         There are several dead trees along the Greenbelt, on the north side about to fall. Would like these removed.

·         There is a tree on the North side, in the middle pond. Would like the limb trimmed, but not to remove the tree.

·         Two trees are dead and falling into the creek (Called Cow Creek) on the NE corner of the South side. This was brought up as a potential flooding concern.

o   Some discussion was brought forth about the Dept of Environmental Quality potentially helping with this issue.

·         There is a dead tree about to fall into a drainage ditch on Lerida, as well as unkept lawn on that property as well.

o   Fencing:

§  We have elected to move forward with the current fencing company, based on bids obtained.

§  We are currently working with them to complete the remaining area of fence that was already agreed upon, then will enter the next contract with them to finish the fencing replacement for the south side of the neighborhood along Rockwell, up to the pond.

§  There are other fencing projects that we will be evaluating and bidding on moving forward, as funds allow. Other projects on the agenda include:

·         Re-staining the fence that was not replaced, along SW 119th,  SW 104th, and Rockwell.

·         Fencing in the NE corner of the north side, near 104th and Rockwell, to update that area to match the existing fencing around it.

·         Removing the white brick wall on the SW most corner entrance on the south side. This is unstable, and currently a safety hazard. Looking at tearing this down and replacing with columns and fencing to match the remainder of the neighborhood.

·         Considering adding columns to the fencing on the North side as well to match the rest of the neighborhood fencing.

o   Pond maintenance:

§  South side, near NE corner – the pond there is not holding water.

·         Concern for sand run-off in the area. TurnPro Aquatics is coming to do a soil evaluation on this area to see what can be done.

§  Thoughts of getting water wells for these ponds were brought up as well.

§  Possibly asking the Dept of Wildlife to stock these ponds with fish?

o   Other issues brought up:

§  Michael is looking into creating a Community Library Box

§  It was asked if there would be an entrance sign placed along the East entrance off Rockwell (near 104th) to the North side of the neighborhood?

§  Covenant Rules Enforcement was brought up:

·         Specifically, one member had concerns about shops not having minimum brick requirements, and not acceptable shop colors.

·         Also, black shingle color was also brought up.

·         At this time, unless we get a 70% in-favor vote of all residents, we would not be able to start assessing fines for these issues.

·         Placing a lien on homes is currently our only avenue to enforce restrictions. That said, this is a very costly option (about $2,500 per lien placed), that the HOA would only recoup at the time the house is sold, IF the resident decides to sell their home. It could use a lot of funds, that would be “tied up” and possibly for several years. Basically, this is an option – but a last, very expensive resort.

·         Lastly, it was mentioned that the Okc Jail is once again considering building at SW 74th and Rockwell.

o   There was a KOCO.com news article posted 6/10/24 that mentions that the Okc Jail did move forward with purchasing the property that was not approved by Okc zoning for the jail. They plan to use this site for a mental health facility. This could potentially allow them to build onto that site for the jail at a later date.

§  Therefore, for now, it looks like the site @ 74th and Rockwell is not at the top of the list. However,  this still does not completely eliminate this possibility.

o   If you know anyone that can help get the SW 74th and Rockwell site off the short list, please reach out.

o   Please consider reaching out to our county representatives as well.