Aloha
Welcome to the April 2023 edition of the Makaha Valley Plantation newsletter! The aim of this newsletter is to bring you the latest MVP news, project updates, and help build community here on the westside.
Update on the Solar PV Project
There were some questions in our recent owners meeting about the Solar PV project so we want to clarify things for the rest of the community. As a reminder MVP is not paying anything for the solar installation and upgrades – all of the capital expenditure is coming from a set of investors, and implemented by our contractor Hawaii Unified. Sounds to good to be true? Well they will be earning money on all of the energy that is collected, which is why they are investing in the project. There are many benefits to our community, such as upgrading our electrical system, enabling EV charging stall updates, enabling mini-split air conditioner installations, and improving our water heater systems (finally!). We have also locked-in our electricity rate at $0.28 per kWh for the next 25 years, which is already cheaper than what HECO is charging, so this will save home owners a lot of money in electricity usage.
You can find these answers, and many other details, on our website’s Solar FAQ section: https://makahavalleyplantation.org/solar_faq/ – If you have other questions or concerns please get in touch!
New Trees
There were several trees that posed problems to the buildings at MVP. Those trees were taken out and as promised new trees are being relocated and planted with better types of trees for our community. Here are some pictures of trees that have been planted in the last couple of days. We are excited about these new additions to the complex and we hope you are as well!
Employee Retention Credits at MVP
If you attended our annual meeting you may recall that our Treasurer, Greg Sokolowski, mentioned he was working on the possibility that MVP might qualify for an Employee Retention Credit. This is a program run by the IRS that recognises, via a tax deductible credit, businesses and organizations that continued to pay their employees while shutdown during COVID. The program offers upwards of $26,000 for each employee which, given our 34 employees, would have been very helpful! Unfortunately, MVP didn’t qualify because we did not actually shut down, but we can be glad that we were able to continue operations and did not face a reduction in maintenance. It’s worth noting that we were not shut down by a government agency as we are deemed an essential operation and the employees were needed to continue operation. So, no big tax breaks here, but in the spirit of communication we wanted to update you of the result of this project.
Safety and Security
Given the shooting in Maili the other weekend it seems like a good time to remind the residents of MVP about their own security. Our security staff are not policemen but there are things they can do to help ensure your safety. If you are being, or feel, threatened you can and must notify HPD as well as our security. Our security will come down to your unit and bear witness to whatever is occuring, which greatly helps us in future prosecution or legal action. It is against the law to threaten people and that is a police matter. It is important that you report this right away and not wait hours or days to act on this situation.
In the case of noise complaints, you need to report them when it happens, so that our security can get down to your unit and witness this complaint. We know that the noise or arguing may well stop before our security gets there but over time they will catch incidences and we can take further action. It sometimes takes time but the people who violate the House Rules always do get caught. We understand that in the moment it is frustrating but our security team needs to follow proper procedure, so please do not be shy and reach out if you feel something is amiss.
If you see anyone feeding the cats or chickens, you need to report that to security also. Nobody wants to smell the odor of the cats or chickens when they defecate or urinate around their units. You may say to yourself that security doesn’t get to your unit fast enough to catch the people feeding the animals but what does happen is that security is now on notice that it is happening and when they are making their rounds, they will be looking towards those units that have been reported feeding the animals. These people do eventually get caught and are fined, which does a lot to deter this behavior. We are aware that some of them change where they feed the animals but security is aware and looks for this when making their rounds.
So if you see something wrong, then please report it! Our security team is here to help, and they need our help in order to do their jobs and keep our community safe and harmonious.
Seeking Volunteers
As you’ll see below we are still struggling to get enough votes to update our election bylaws update and H06 insurance requirements. This is likely partially due to owners being off-island and not being fully engaged with the community, but we are seeking volunteers to hit the pavement and do some door knocking to help engage with owners who have not responded to these votes. If you are interested in improving your community and life here on the westside then please reach out to mvpcommunicationcommittee@gmail.com – mahalo in advance!
Election Bylaws Update
As we’ve mentioned in previous emails we are eager to update our bylaws to make our elections effective and efficient, such that the members of the community who receive the most votes can join the board. We have received votes from 30.4% of the community, well short of the 67% we need to make this change. As such the front office will be reaching out to all owners to update their contact information, as we suspect that many of our emails and contact addresses are out of date. If your contact information has changed, be it your email, phone or postal address please let the front office know!
HO6 Insurance Resolution Reminder
As you’ve heard we are looking to pass a bylaw that makes H06 insurance a requirement. We have received votes from 44.98% of owners, which we are grateful for, but we need push a little further to get the 50.1% approval needed. This helps protect all owners in the event of flooding, water leakage, and a range of other accidents that can happen. It also allows the association to purchase more competitively priced insurance, which will help us avoid association rate increases.
You should have received a letter about an amendment to the bylaws, making H06 insurance mandatory, but if you have not received this or know of another owner who hasn’t we encourage you to contact Touchstone and get a new packet sent out!
If we are able to pass this motion we will be able to obtain more competitively priced insurance, which goes a long way to keeping all of our HOA fees down!
Moving back to Zoom for General Association Meetings
During the heights of the COVID-19 lockdowns we moved our general association meetings to Zoom. There were some technical challenges but it was a helpful way to keep the community together while everyone was remote. Since the lockdowns have ended we had moved our meetings back to in-person at the Kiana pools, however we found that this was difficult for owners to attend, particularly owners who live off-island, so we have moved back to doing Zoom meetings for now. Our next meeting will be on June 20th so look out for Zoom meeting information from the front office closer to the time.
Communicating and Community
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our property manager, Chester Reeves, the front office, or the board directly. All of the phone numbers and emails for the front office and management are available at: https://makahavalleyplantation.org/contact/
You can also find the email addresses of the board of directors at https://makahavalleyplantation.org/association/. Most boards do not make themselves so accessible, but we believe that community and communication are important, so please contact us if you have any questions!
Mahalo,
MVP Board of Directors