Summary
This is the 176-page board meeting packet prepared by Association Partners, Inc. (API — Marjorie Comber) for the October 1, 2026 regular (budget) board meeting, 7pm at Aurelio’s Pizza, Winfield, IL. It was ingested the same day, before the meeting, so it is preparation material and not a record of decisions made; outcomes will appear in the October 1 minutes.
Contents: agenda (p.1); July 16, 2026 minutes (pp.2–3, duplicate of the already-ingested minutes-2026-07-16); August 2026 financial package (pp.4–7, see financial-report-2026-08); manager’s report and contract log (pp.8–9); a filled-in CS&R Collections Policy Questionnaire (pp.10–13); Peerless Fence repair bid and two split-rail replacement bids (pp.14–17); the revised Reserve Advisors study (pp.18–48); the proposed 2027 budget (p.49); the ACC approvals list (pp.50–52); five hearing requests (pp.53–56); and a 120-page violations log (pp.57–176).
Agenda: quorum; minutes approval (July 16); August financials; committee reports; management report (Marjorie); old business — collection policy revision; new business — ratify Peerless Rt. 59 repair, split-rail replacement, reserve study revisions, November meeting to adopt collection policy and budget; ACC list approval; homeowner forum; executive session (request for hearings); next meeting November (date TBD).
Key Provisions
- Collections policy — deadline and process. The new Illinois requirement means the Board must adopt a written Assessment Collection Policy before January 1, 2027. CS&R charges $650 for the policy and an accompanying Board Resolution. The owners must be given 30 days to review it before adoption, and the attorney requires a separate owners’ meeting to adopt it, so a quick owners’ meeting plus a Board meeting is planned for November, held together with adoption of the 2027 budget (agenda item 8d). Detail and the questionnaire answers: assessment-collection-policy.
- Collections Policy Questionnaire — filled in (answers as shown, not yet adopted). Assessments due annually; delinquent at 30 days; late fee $25 (percentage left blank); payments applied “per Board approval”; returned-check charge $50; turnover to attorney at 90 days; covers assessments with late fees and chargebacks; payment plan payoff “per Board approval” with a 25% down payment; if a payment plan fails, the attorney proceeds immediately; no second payment plan; late fees and fines waivable “per Board approval,” attorney fees not waivable (“no”); evictions yes; foreclosure — monitor and send 30-day notice only (to secure the 6 months’ pre-sale assessments), further steps only on the attorney’s specific recommendation with Board approval; bankruptcy (Ch. 13) — pursue post-petition default if the owner falls 90 days behind; personal judgment — pursue remedies (including garnishment) only on a specific recommendation from the attorney’s office. The packet does not say who completed the form.
- Proposed 2027 budget (p.49) — see hoa-annual-finances: assessments $77,357 (2026 adopted $68,374); reserve contribution $8,000 (2026: $7,799); total income $89,166.40; management $15,873; landscape contract $18,784; Lake/Pond-Dam $15,900; cost-share income and landscape-cost-share expense both $3,809.40 (labeled “54.42%”); fence line $0; reserve expenses all $0. The packet states no per-unit assessment. Assessments plus reserve = $85,357; at 216 units that is roughly $395/unit versus $352.65 in 2025 and 2026 (wiki arithmetic, not a figure stated in the packet). The manager’s report only says “Board to discuss whether any additional revisions need to be made.”
- Reserve study. The packet contains the revised Reserve Advisors study (cover: inspected February 17, 2026, revised September 25, 2026), identical in content to reserve-study-2026-revised — 5 components, $492,918 over 30 years, recommended 2027 contribution $2,000. It is not re-ingested; see reserve-study-findings. The manager’s report summarizes the change as “remove all retaining walls which reduces the reserve contribution significantly.” The excluded-components pages state the lot-line retaining walls (about 6,500 sq ft, about $300,000 to replace) are owners’ responsibility “per Management and the Board,” and the frontage-road retaining walls belong to the adjacent commercial development. The proposed 2027 reserve contribution ($8,000) is four times the study’s $2,000 recommendation.
- Rt. 59 fence repair — ratification. Peerless Fence proposal dated August 4, 2026: remove two panels, one steel post and footing; install about 15 LF of 6’ cedar shadowbox with a galvanized post set in 36” concrete; $1,980 (50% down). The damaged section is just south of the entry monument at Heritage Woods Drive and Rt. 59. The July 16 minutes say a car, not the landscaper, is the likely cause (auto parts found at the scene) and that police suggested opening a report; no police report or insurance claim is recorded in the packet. Compare the earlier car-damage repairs ratified in October 2024 ($1,890 + $2,290; see board-packet-2024-10-24).
- Split-rail fence replacement — bids. Classic Fence Inc. (dated 9/4/2026, handwritten): 2-rail cedar split rail, $6,390, 50% down. Peerless Fence (9/28/2026), 260 LF of 2-rail: treated-pine “Old English” style $4,730, or Western red cedar $7,230 (the rep says the pine will last longer). Both bids describe replacing about 260 LF behind three lots; Classic’s handwritten scope also seems to read “340’” for the new run, and Classic’s job-site line says “Hemlock” where Peerless says “Heritage Woods Drive.” The July 16 packet listed the same area as behind 264, 278 and 297 Hemlock and 1438 Snowberry (see board-packet-2026-07-16); the new bids name only three lots. reserve-study-2026-revised assumes 300 LF at $7,500 (2026 dollars; $7,748 in 2027), condition “Poor,” on the north perimeter of the pond area. See fence-regulations.
- Contract log (as of Oct 1, 2026): API $15,872, 11/1/2025–10/31/2026, self-renewing; Alan Horticulture (landscape) 4/1/2025–11/30/2027 at $17,880 / $18,784 / $18,784; Fisher Burton mulch 2025 $4,585 (stale entry — Yellowstone did the 2025 mulching at $4,505); Cukierski $2,000 / $2,100 / $2,100; Travelers crime $1,857 (2/11/2024–2/11/2027); State Farm $3,864 (8/15/2026–8/15/2027, auto-renew); CAIS workers comp $601 (5/10/2026–5/10/2027); Hey & Associates wetland maintenance $15,500 for each of 2026, 2027, 2028. Unchanged from the July 2026 log. See vendor-contracts.
- ACC / A&A approvals (7/9–9/25/2026) — 3 approved, “Approved w/o Conditions”: solar panels at 423 Post Oak Circle (request 9/14/2026); fence stain and trim touch-up at 379 Laurel Lane (9/17/2026, approved 9/22); cedar board-on-board fence replacement at 364 Hemlock Lane (8/18/2026, approved 8/25). The manager’s report says there is no work-order report. See alterations-and-additions-process and solar-panel-installations.
- Hearing requests (5, executive session item 12a) — details generalized per Hard Rule 11: four written hearing requests plus one emailed request. Subjects: peeling garage-door paint and rotting trim; garbage cans left out and a fence in disrepair; items stored outside (garbage cans, tools, a lawnmower, bags); debris stored in front of a garage plus rotting trim boards; and a garbage-can fee the owner says was corrected after the first warning. Timing against the 10-day request window printed on every notice: of the four requests that carry both a notice date and a signature date, one was signed about 4 days after its notice, while the other three were signed about 11, 14 and 34 days after theirs (the receipt stamps are later still). The fifth request (by email, 9/16/2026) cannot be dated against its notice. API’s resident services manager noted the emailing owner had discarded the notice and advised him to bring a photo. The Board has not yet ruled on timeliness or merits.
- Violations log (7/9–9/25/2026) — aggregate only. About 82 violation records across about 43 accounts (parsed from the text of 120 pages, so approximate). By type: about 46 trash/garbage, 29 maintenance, 5 parking, 2 exterior. By current level: 46 first warnings, 24 first fines, 11 second fines, 1 third fine. Notice dates: 31 opened in July 2026 (the July 14 sweep), 27 in August, 15 in September, plus a handful carried from 2024–2026. Fine amounts printed in notices: $50 (first fine) and $75 (second fine), each with a separate $25 fee; one at $100. No names or addresses recorded. See violations-and-fines.
- Other agenda items: 2026 meeting dates confirmed (Jan 15, May 7, July 16 annual, Oct 1 budget, November TBD); the October meeting date of 10/1 reflects the move from 10/15 confirmed at the July 16 meeting (minutes-2026-07-16).
Topics Covered
hoa-annual-finances, reserve-study-findings, assessment-collection-policy, vendor-contracts, violations-and-fines, fence-regulations, alterations-and-additions-process, solar-panel-installations, management-company-comparison-2026
Notable Details
- Questionnaire versus existing wiki policy. The questionnaire gives a flat “$25” late fee with the percentage left blank. The wiki records the Declaration §7.03 18% interest from day 30, the R&Rs’ $25 documentation fee plus 18% after 90 days, and the July 2022 Board policy of 18% plus a $25 monthly late fee. It also gives 90 days for attorney turnover, while the API Management Agreement §5.5 allows referral at 60 days. These are unresolved — see Open Questions in assessment-collection-policy.
- API management contract term ends 10/31/2026 and is self-renewing; the contract log does not state a non-renewal notice window. Relevant to management-company-comparison-2026.
- 2027 reserve contribution decision — the study recommends $2,000, the July 16 minutes assumed $11,100, and this packet’s budget proposes $8,000. No Board decision is recorded.
- Rt. 59 repair already contracted (added after ingest, per user). The $1,980 Peerless repair shown as “ratify” on the agenda was signed by Board President Mike Coker on 9/18/2026 and delivered to Peerless by API on 9/21/2026 (handled by email), so the 10/1 item is after-the-fact ratification. The split-rail replacement was not part of that contract and is still under discussion. See peerless-fence.
- The split-rail replacement is not funded in the proposed 2027 budget (fence lines are $0), although the study schedules it for 2027 at $7,748.
- The July 16, 2026 minutes reproduced on packet pages 2–3 are consistent with the already-ingested minutes-2026-07-16 — confirmed duplicate, no new information. Attendance and the Hard Rule 13 summary were already updated when those minutes were ingested.
- Homeowner names and addresses in the hearing requests, violation notices and violation log are redacted or generalized per Hard Rule 11. Street addresses are kept only for the three A&A approvals above, which fall under the Hard Rule 11 A&A exception.