A PUBLICATION OF THE SILVER RIDGE HOMEOWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC. ORLANDO, FLORIDA

SILVER RIDGE - A DEED RESTRICTED COMMUNITY

RECONVENED Annual Meeting/Election Thursday. May 17, 2001

The Association's annual meeting will be re-convened on Thursday, May 17, 2001. This is necessary because we did not have enough participation at the meeting on March 8^th. Please make every effort to come to the meeting, or send your proxy form if you can't attend.

At this meeting, the Board of Directors will inform the members of the state of affairs of the Association. In addition, the members of the Association (owners of homes within Silver Ridge) will elect directors for the Association’s Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors controls the budget and policies of the Association. Therefore it is important that the members carefully elect responsible Directors. The Board answers to the members of the Association via the election process. The Officers of the Association (who are not necessarily members of the Board) implement the budget and policies set by the Board, with the help of the professional manager (Don Asher & Associates.)

The Board consists of five Directors, whose terms of office last one, two or three years. The terms of office are staggered, so that all do not expire in the same year. We will be electing two Directors to fill the terms that expire this year. The terms which expire this year are: a three-year term held by Johnny Greene, and a one-year term held by Tony Greene.

To comply with Florida law, and with the Association’s By-Laws, we must have a minimum of 10% of the members represented at the meeting, either in person or by proxy. To ensure that we indeed have a quorum at the meeting, the Board of Directors has authorized a prize drawing for a $50 Home Depot gift certificate, to be held at the meeting. To be eligible for the drawing you have to own a home in Silver Ridge, and either: attend the meeting, or send/mail in your proxy by the time of the meeting. The prize is. Members of the Board of Directors are not eligible to participate in the drawing.

Here's What It Costs

Each time that you "forget" or just don't have enough time to come to the annual membership meeting, it costs. Not only does it cost the Association, but guess what? You're the one paying the dues. Yes, it's true that the cost is fractional, but added up, the projects that could be accomplished with just the cost of postage, copies and meeting room rental are substantial.

For instance, the cost of the re-convened annual membership meeting is as follows: 4 pages for the actual mail-out for the notice of the meeting is 442 x 40 cents = $176.80; postage for the mailout is 442 x 55 cents = $243.10; the meeting room is $75.00 each time. This is a grand total of almost $500.

Now let's go one step further: the annual meeting is required to be held once a year. However, due to your (yes, your) lack of involvement and participation, the Board holds this meeting 2 (two) times. This is due to the Board's belief that the community must be involved in decision making (electing the Board members) versus just continuing to do business with the status quo. This makes the cost the better part of $1,000.00. This would buy quite a bit of landscaping for the front entrance. Do you really wish to continue with not being involved? That is a question that you really need to ask yourself and continue to ask yourself as the age of the neighborhood progresses.

On average 80 to 100 violations are sent out each month. Most of these violations are for very simple items to many, but they detract from the community as a whole. This affects your property values! For the violations notices that are ignored, (15 just last month), the board is making all efforts to enforce these violations. This requires legal action, which requires money. Any ideas on where that comes from? Yup, once again, it's from the dues that you pay.

Would you like to maintain your property value, or better yet, see it increase? If your answer is yes, we strongly encourage you to come to the annual meetings, and the Board meetings and get involved. Remember, Silver Ridge is your community and it requires your efforts, not just the effort of five Board members who volunteer their time to keep the values up.

Violation Letters On The Rise

In response to increasing complaints by many homeowners in our community, the Association's Board of Directors has taken the action to increase the frequency of its "compliance patrols". The purpose of these patrols is to insure that property values in our neighborhood remain at the highest levels possible. We accomplish this by verifying that everyone in the neighborhood abides by the deeds and covenants as outlined in our Association documents. This includes things such as proper yard and house maintenance, parking restrictions and structure improvements or renovations to name a few items.

The result of these increased "compliance patrols" has been a significant increase in the number of violation letters that are mailed out to residents. These letters point out the infraction, and request that the homeowner rectify the situation immediately. Failure to correct the deficiency results in the Association having no other recourse than to seek the aid of legal counsel. This is an expensive proposition for the Association, but an even more expensive proposition for the homeowner, as they are usually responsible for paying the Association's legal fees.

We ask that if you receive one of these violation letters to not take it personally. Our only desire is to make sure that our neighborhood remains beautiful and that our property values remain as high as possible. For many of us our homes represent the single biggest investment we have, and as such we want to protect it. Please see to the matter immediately and if you have any questions or problems put them in writing and mail to:

Silver Ridge Homeowners' Association

C/O Don Asher and Associates

52 E. South Street

Orlando, Florida 32801

The purpose of moving into (and living in) a deed-restricted community is to enjoy the benefits of living amongst a group of people who work equally as hard as you do to maintain the proper appearance of their home. It is the duty of the Association to insure that you will not have to be concerned about those who decide not to properly maintain their homes, or decide not to abide by our rules and covenants.

Choosing Paint Colors

Color. It makes our world so much more interesting. Many of us probably still remember our family's first color TV. Wow! What a difference!

Color is important in the fashion, decorating and design professions because it has subtle but powerful effects on our emotions. Yes, colors are directly tied to our emotions. This is why it's important to carefully pick new colors when you repaint your home.

Many of us can pick color combinations that don't clash - colors that look OK together. But, do you want a house that just looks "OK" after spending all that time and/or money repainting it? Wouldn't it be better if it looked GREAT?

What's the answer? Many of the paint chip brochures now have professionally matched color combinations. For the most pleasing results, use one of these combinations. Ask about them at the paint or home improvement store. (And don't forget to get your new paint colors approved by the Association!)

Important Guests to Speak at Annual Meeting!

Let's all attend the meeting, and show our local officials that we are care about our community.

Yikes! Where's the Sign?

By now you've noticed that the big concrete "Silver Ridge" sign at the front entrance is GONE! There's just a big empty space there now. The sign was removed in preparation for the widening of Silver Star Road. The end of the island where the sign used to sit will be shortened quite a bit, so the sign had to be removed. This also put the irrigation system out of commission, so the landscaping may begin to suffer if the dry weather continues. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable.

But this is a great opportunity for us to give our main entrance a complete makeover. After the road widening is completed, the island will probably be too small to put up a replacement sign. Instead, the Board is investigating building new signs on both sides of the entrance. These signs would be angled so that they can easily be read by traffic passing in either direction on Silver Star. Another part of this makeover will be re-landscaping the entire entrance, to give it a much more "welcoming" look.

Spruce-Up for Spring!

A Properly Designed Sprinkler System Saves Water!

One of the many benefits of a well-designed sprinkler system is that it actually saves water. The system should have 100% overlap - in other words, the water from each sprinkler head should reach all the way to the neighboring sprinkler heads. 100% overlap distributes the water more evenly. So you don't have to over-water one area to get enough water to another area. Which means that you don't use as much water overall.

And even watering means that the grass grows more evenly, so it looks better between mowings.

2001 Financial Summary – Income and Expenses 1/1/01 – 3/31/01

The 2001 year-to-date income and expense figures are shown in the following table: