Presidents Annual Community Review 2003/2004

0 Introduction

Ladies and Gentlemen, it has been an extremely difficult year, and the demands on my time have been enormous. I propose to begin this Annual Review with an outline of the main developments, achievements and obstacles, together with the current situation. The first year of any new operation is difficult and we have had more than our fair share of teething problems. This report will be in more detail than you may think necessary. This is because a lot of owners were not here at the inaugural meeting last year and many new residents have joined the Community in the last 12 months. I want to start this General Meeting with the Introduction of the Committee Members….

I Committee Members

a.) Michael and John have resigned and will not be standing for re-election.
b.) During the year as different phases were released bi-elections were held for phase representatives to be elected on to the Committee.
c.) The current Committee consist of:

President: Stefan Pokroppa Nº 557
Vice-President: Michael Anthony Farmer Nº 217
John Kerr Nº 495
William Harry Allen Nº 571
Mags Harris Nº 269
Carol Brookes Nº 419
Roger Hudson Nº 70
Secretary: Kath Allen

You may wish to note that the only stipulation that I made last year in accepting the Presidency was that each Phase had a Representative (or Vice President) who should be approached in the first instance with your concerns. They would then come and report to me at the appropiate time. This has not happened. So now if this Committee is re-elected – and of course there is no guarantee that this will happen today – then here is an opportunity for you to see who your representative is. If the Committee is re-elected, please always contact the representative of your phase in the first instance, or better still, put your complaint in writing and place it in the Community letter box.

II Legal Obligation of Formation of Spanish Communities

a.) First I must tell you, for those that don´t know, that it is a legal requirement under Spanish Law to form a Community of Owners. When you received your Escritura you accepted this law. This is so the public areas of the Urbanisation are administered correctly for the benefit ot the owners.

b.) Your individual problems with your house, or indead a neighbourly dispute are not community concerns. Only public, that is general community facilities, such as green areas, the swimming pools and streets, lighting and so on are included in the work of the President and Committee. For example “We had a dead dog on Dream Hills, and it was not a pleasant experience, so I called the Town Hall for them to remove it and clean the area”.

III Swimming Pools

a.) Installation and Control of the Swipe-Card System

First of all I want to explain why we actually installed a Swipe-Card System. Like I mentioned before, we have a lot of new owners in Dreamhills who were not at the first official meetings of our community. And I think I should also explain to them the idea of the Swipe-Card System.

In the beginning of our community we had to make the decision between giving each neighbour a key for the door or installing a Swipe-Card System. The problem with the keys is that you can easily make a copy and after a certain time you do not know who else, apart from the neighbours has a key and access to the pool. It would have been impossible to control. The other option could have been to hire life guards for the whole time of the opening hours of the pool area which would have been extremely expensive. The best solution was the Swipe-Card System. With this system only the habitants of Dream Hills have access to the Swimming Pools and the community can control the access easily. For example we can deactivate Swipe-Cards if the owner has not paid the community charge or he or his rentals misbehave inside the pool area. I had the idea (and this is also written down in the rules and regulations for the swimming pool area) that neighbours can write a Complaint-Form which should be signed by at least two people. These forms can be given to a Vice-President, or put in the Community Mail Box. The committee will collect the forms and the president will then approach the person to talk about the complaint with him or her. If the misbehaviour continous we can then deactivate the Swipe-Card for a certain time.

Problems in the beginning with the Swipe-Card System:

The gates did not automatically close correctly and sometimes the pool areas were open because pool visitors did not close the gates properly. - It was therefore neccessary to arrange for the installation of spring loaded gate closers, which automatically close the gates.

The button to open the door for the exit was fixed right next to the door People were reaching this button from the outside without a valid Swipe-Card. I had to order a builder to install an obelisk and to change the position of the button. Now it is impossible to reach these buttons from the outside.

For the top pool, which has two entrances, we only installed for economic reasons one Swipe-Card System. We quickly realized that people were crossing the green area to shorten the way to the pool area. I had to communicate this problem to Torrevisa several times. Finally they built some steps reaching the entrance. This they were kind enough to do without charge. Because of this there was a cessation of the destruction of the green area

I have had Continuous Communication with the maintenance technician in case of technical problems with the Swipe-Card-System (Failure of the timer, door is not opening correctly etc.)

b.) Pool furniture and installation

Ordering and putting benches and sun umbrellas inside the pool area. Installing bins inside the pool area. I have also ensured that the pool rules are now in such a position that they cannot be missed. I have had built a concrete base which has the rules firmly placed on them right at the entrances to the pools.

c.) Hooligan problems

In view the problems experienced last year with hooligans, we decided to employ a security guard at night during the summer. The hooligans cut the fences several times, they fouled the pools, they broke the rules and regulationes of the pools and they created a nuisance therefore spoiling the enjoyment of the pools for other people. If you rent your property to holiday makers, make sure that your rentals read the rules and regulations for the swimming pools.

d.) Maintenance

I have had continuous communication with the maintenance team and the gardeners for the pool area. That includes complaining if something is not made correctly, or has to be done. For example the lawn has to be cut, the water is not clean enough, the bins have to be emptied and so on. We had to re-soil and re-grass the top pool (I suppose because some people used the lawn like a football pitch). Broken and missing tiles in the pool areas were replaced. - It is really a continuous dialogue otherwise things would become completely out of control. We need to monitor the performance of the contractor and we shall review the position as the year progresses.

IV Urbanisation Problems

Before I start with the Urbanisation Problems, I want to point out again, individual problems with your house or a fight with your neighbour is not a community concern. Only the problems with the public facilities like the green areas, the swimming pools and streets are included in the work of a president and committee.

a.) Rules and Regulation appertaining to Dream Hills

We created with the members of the Committee the Rules and Regulation of the Urbanisation and the Rules and Regulation of the Swimming Pool area. Every owner received these rules when they picked up their swipe cards from the administrator. Please keep these rules in mind and I mention it here again, show them to your rentals also. - When the English version was done I translated theses sheets into German and also into Spanish. All versions were put inside the Community messageboard by the mail boxes.

b.) Message Boards installation and use

I ordered and ensured the installion ot the Community message boards which are by the mail boxes and the entrances to the pools. This was mainly to put up the list of the owners who have not paid their community charge therefor enabling some control of the access to the pools. In addition to this I have now ensured that there is a further message board which you will find on the wall of the Community Centre.

c.) Mail Box water problems

We had water problems with the mail boxes. With heavy rain we realized that water went inside the mailboxes so I ordered doors for protection . A lot of keys for these doors are floating around and I personally gave all the neighbours who are living close-by keys and asked them to open in the morning and to close at night. - I had a lot of communication with Torrevisa to make the boxes nicer, finally they put andalusian style tiles around the boxes. I want to emphasise here that this was free of charge.

d.) Waste Bins

We ordered and installed bins for certain private streets of the Urbanisation, particularly the pedestrian area in front of the Swimming Pools and at our mail boxes.

I have had a great deal of Communication with the Cityhall of Orihuela to receive more Community bins in the main streets. This communication is on going. We will eventually receive more bins at the entrance of Dreamhills and also a Green Point (Recycle Bins for paper, glas and plastic)

e.) Chain Barrier installation

I was asked continually by some members of the of the community for chain barriers across some of the roads. Despite my reservations we went ahead but the idea of closing each street with chains failed. We closed five streets to test the idea but it did not work, as people did not operate them. They were also stolen and broken. For security reasons, the approach of the police or emergency vehicles, we did not put gates on private streets. This is quite apart from the enormous costs for such an installation. There is an exception to this which I will come to later.

f.) Plant pots stolen and Pedestrian Area car parking

Last summer cars were using the pedestrian area as if they were streets especially in the area of the bottom pool. After realizing this problem I asked Torrevisa to put some planters to close this area. Torrevisa enlarged the fence of the future commercial area and put two big planters free of charge on the pedestrian area in this zone to avoid cars using it. The planters provided formerly by the community placed in the street between Via Park III and Dreamhills and at the bottom of the first private street have disappeared or have been destroyed.

g.) Dumping of construction rubbish. Torrevisa cleaned twice.

Now to the Dumping of construction rubbish. This rubbish was placed in an area which should not have been used for such rubbish. Torrevisa cleaned the area twice. Private constructors (and we have a lot in Dreamhills) can order a container for aproximately 60 Euros each. Also the cityhall of Orihuela provides containers for free. If you see neighbours or other people dumping rubbish inside our Urbanisation or at the borders, please take their number plate or try to find out from which house the rubbish is coming from. I will be happy to accompany you to the Cityhall of Orihuela Costa to inform the official about this crimal act. Please, please…do me this favor I want to get these law breakers!

h.) Post Office Communication and Mail delivery which is now active

I have communicated with the Post Office in Playa Flamenca and I gave them a list of all owners of Dream Hills and a plan of the Urbanisation with particular reference to the area where our mail boxes are. We are receiving post in Dream Hills now. There is a post box between the 500 and 600 numbers which is marked Correos. In this mail box you are supposed to drop post which does not belong to you.

i.) Via Park III and resultant problems

We held an Extraordinary Meeting with the neighbours close to Via Park III concerning the problems with noise and alcohol abuse inside certain bars. I spoke with the Cityhall of Orihuela Costa who gave me permission to close the nearby private street with a gate. I have obtained quotes for a fence between Dreamhills and Via Park III and the other Urbanisation nearby. Since then I have approached the Presidents of these Urbanisations to split the costs of fencing. The administrator and President of the Residencial Villas del Duque has agrred to split the cost, but I await the response for a financial contribution from Via Park III - The planters provided formerly by the community placed in the street between Via Park III and Dreamhills and at the bottom of the first private street have disappeared or have been destroyed.

j.) Street Light Problems

Now to the Street light problems: Recently we have had a lot of problems with the street lights especially at the weekend. Coincidentially the lights seemed always to be off at the weekend. I spoke with the manager of the electricians and it is possible that people are manipulating the fuse boxes. He showed me all the fuse boxes in case the lights are off we can attempt to correct the problems ourselves. The Vicepresident Roger is assisting also because he is also aware of where the fuse boxes are. For the future: If there is a light problem do not forget to contact the committee representative of your phase. But please ensure that you do this at a reasonable hour, preferrably when the lights are due on - early in the evening. We have often been called out very late at night - and often in the pouring rain! You will appreciate that this is unnacceptable. I maintain continuous communication with the electrician because light bulbs do not work or other technical problems always occur. Also sometimes the lights are going off too early or too late. (The last approach to him, for example was to tell him to fix the lights inside the swimming pool and the street light at the Via Park III area).

k.) Other issues. Street water drainage and private road temporary access

Whenever a problem has been given to me, for example water on some streets is not going away because of heavy rain, or vans are passing through private streets and so on, I have tried to solve these problems. I have arranged for Torrevisa to put asphalt on certain streets to help water fluidity. This, I am happy to say, has now be done. They asked me as a favor to leave one of the bottom private streets open for only a further month as they have done some many extra things for us free of charge. Under the circumstances I have agreed to this.

l.) Continous Communication

Last but not least I have meetings with the administrator on a regular basis to discuss many of the problems that I have already mentioned. In addition I have to sign the paychecks for the maintenance company or other workers who work in Dreamhills. This has to be done each month. As you will appreciate it is necessary for me to have continous communication not only with the Administrator, but the Cityhall, the Maintenance Company, Iberdrola, Aquagest, Muñoz & Espinosa, Pastor Medina, Torrevisa, the Committee and so on.

m.) Communication Difficulties

We have received a lot of feedback from owners, particularly those who are not fully resident in Spain, that they feel insufficently informed. You will appreciate that it would be an almost impossible task to notify everyone who is resident abroad for most of the time in advance of each meeting, or decision and solicit their views on every aspect of the running of the community. We do try and do this as much as we are able without incuring huge costs to the community and the AGM and its prior notification is an example of this. However, if you have any suggestions about improvements we can make without additional cost, we would be happy to hear them. On the other hand if the situation was reversed and you had a holiday home in the UK, for example I wonder how much you would be informed about what was going on on your estate! There is, however a website which gives information about our Urbanisation at www.dreamhills.co.uk in which you can find the minutes of the committee meetings and other news about our estate. We hope that this will go someway in alleviating the problems of communication.

V The Community Centre for the Urbanisation Dreamhills:

a.) Communication with the builder and the Cityhall for approval of construction

I had many Meetings and communications with the Cityhall of Orihuela Costa to receive permission to build a Clubhouse for the community. Several suggestions of the position of the Community Centre were denied by the Cityhall. Finally after more than 6 months they agreed to have it built on the green area which belongs to the top pool.

b.) Extraordinary Meeting for final approval and to consider neighbours concerns

We organized an Extraordinary Meeting specifically to deal with the Community Centre because certain neighbours were not agreeing to the position of the clubhouse and were prefering not to have it built. After a democratic vote in which the majority expressed a yes vote for the clubhouse, it was finally built by Torrevisa and I received the keys as they promised before Easter. The building of the Community Centre was free of charge.

Please keep in mind: that Torrevisa has built a lot of Urbanisations in this area but in no other Urbanisation have they built a Centre for the community. It is the first time that an Urbanisation built by Torrevisa has received a clubhouse free of charge.

c.) Furniture purchase and development of the project

Since the Community Centre Project has been completed we have bought tables and chairs and we plan to enlarge the kitchen area by putting in a counter and refrigerator. The Centre is in the early stages of its use and so far we have yet to come to an agreement on its final function. We will definately be having the Neighbourhood Watch and the Community Committee Meetings there.

Next to the clubhouse they have built a playground area for children.

To the left of the top pool there are four petanca pitches, which are now in use.

And finally the lights in the green area and close to the pools are on one network and will be turned on when all the lights are installed.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen for you attention. That concludes my report on my and the Committees activities over the last 12 months. And now I hand you back to Ana Rosa to continue the meeting.

Stefan Pokroppa