letters sent to the hoa  9-3-2026

The HOA has responded to both letters with a statement  that they will reply before the meeting.

Screenshot below

Request for Clarification Regarding Proposed Special Assessment for Legal Collection Costs

LETTER 1 of 2

Dear Caley’s Mill Homeowners Association Board of Directors,

I am writing specifically regarding the proposed special assessment to collect money from all homeowners to fund the Association’s legal collection costs for delinquent accounts.

The August 15, 2026 notice proposes either a $34,000 assessment, approximately $244.60 per Lot, or a $15,000 assessment, approximately $107.91 per Lot. The notice states that this money is needed because, beginning January 1, 2027, the Association will have to pay legal collection costs upfront.

I understand the need for the Association to pursue delinquent accounts and to recover legitimate costs associated with collecting unpaid assessments. However, I have several questions about requiring all homeowners to provide the money upfront and what happens when those costs are subsequently recovered from the delinquent homeowners.

I respectfully request written answers to the following questions.

1. Why is a special assessment necessary?

The Declaration already contains provisions concerning unpaid assessments, collection costs, interest, liens, enforcement, and attorney fees, including §§4.09, 8.02, and 8.04.

Please identify the specific provision of the Declaration or Bylaws that requires or authorizes the Association to impose a special assessment on all homeowners specifically for the purpose of pre-funding legal collection costs associated with delinquent accounts.

Please also explain why the Association cannot pay these expenses as Association expenses and then recover the legally recoverable costs from the delinquent homeowner.

2. What specifically changed on January 1, 2027?

The notice states that beginning January 1, 2027, the Association must pay legal collection costs upfront.

Please identify the specific Georgia statute or other legal authority that creates this requirement.

Please provide the citation to the law and explain exactly what obligation changes on January 1, 2027.

If this conclusion comes from an attorney advising the Association, please provide the written legal authority or opinion supporting that conclusion.

3. What will the homeowners actually be funding?

Please clarify exactly what expenses the proposed $15,000 and $34,000 assessments are intended to cover.

For example:

• attorney fees;

• court costs;

• filing fees;

• collection letters;

• title searches;

• lien costs;

• foreclosure costs;

• other collection expenses; or

• some combination of these.

Please identify which expenses are anticipated to be incurred and which are merely possible future expenses.

4. How were the two amounts calculated?

The notice states that the $15,000 option is based on approximately 10 currently delinquent homes and that the $34,000 option is based on historical delinquency of approximately 34 homes.

The notice also states that the initial cost is approximately $500 per case and that total costs average approximately $1,500 per case.

Please provide the complete calculation supporting each proposed assessment.

In particular, 10 cases at approximately $1,500 each equals $15,000, which appears to support the $15,000 proposal.

However, 34 cases at approximately $1,500 each equals approximately $51,000, not $34,000.

Please explain the calculation used to arrive at $34,000.

5. What happens when the HOA recovers the money from delinquent homeowners?

This is my primary concern.

If all homeowners are required to contribute money through a special assessment to pay the Association's legal collection expenses, and the Association subsequently recovers those same legal expenses from the delinquent homeowners, what happens to the money that was recovered?

For example, if homeowners collectively provide $15,000 through the special assessment and the Association subsequently recovers $15,000 in collection costs from delinquent homeowners, the Association would have received the money from the homeowners who funded the assessment and then recovered the collection costs from the homeowners whose delinquency generated those expenses.

Please explain how the Association will account for that situation.

6. Will homeowners receive a refund or credit?

If the special assessment is intended to pre-fund expenses that will later be recovered from delinquent homeowners, will the amounts recovered be:

• returned to the homeowners who paid the special assessment;

• credited against future assessments;

• placed into a reserve;

• applied to the general operating budget; or

• retained by the Association for another purpose?

If the Association's position is that the recovered money will simply be retained by the Association as additional budget funds, please identify the specific provision of the Declaration or Bylaws that authorizes that treatment.

7. Is the Association seeking reimbursement or additional revenue?

Please clarify whether the Association considers money recovered from delinquent homeowners to be:

A. reimbursement of an expense actually incurred by the Association, or

B. additional Association revenue that can be retained after the expense has already been funded by the homeowners through the special assessment.

These are materially different situations.

If the homeowners have already funded the legal expense through a special assessment, I would like to understand the basis for the Association subsequently retaining the same amount recovered from the delinquent homeowner as additional unrestricted budget money.

8. What happens to money that is not needed?

If the Association collects $15,000 or $34,000 but ultimately spends less than that amount on legal collection costs, what happens to the unused money?

Will it be:

• refunded or credited to homeowners;

• carried forward;

• placed into a reserve;

• used for other operating expenses; or

• used for future legal expenses?

Please identify the governing-document authority for whichever treatment the Board intends to use.

9. Is the assessment intended to be a temporary advance or permanent funding source?

Please confirm whether this special assessment is intended to be:

1. a temporary advance to provide cash flow while collection cases are pending;

2. a reserve for future collection expenses;

3. a permanent source of Association revenue; or

4. some other purpose.

If it is a temporary advance, please explain how and when the Association will reconcile the amounts advanced against the amounts actually spent and recovered.

10. Accounting and transparency

If this assessment is approved, will the Association maintain an accounting showing:

• the total amount collected from homeowners;

• the amount spent on attorneys and other collection expenses;

• the amount recovered from delinquent homeowners;

• the amount of unused funds;

• the amount carried forward; and

• the ultimate disposition of those funds?

Will homeowners be provided with that accounting?

11. Why should homeowners who pay on time fund the collection costs?

Please explain the Board's reasoning for requiring homeowners who are current on their assessments to collectively fund the legal expenses associated with delinquent accounts when the Association's governing documents already provide mechanisms for recovering costs associated with delinquent assessments.

I understand that there may be a legitimate cash-flow issue created by having to pay attorneys before reimbursement is received. If that is the reason for the proposed assessment, please explain why the Association believes a permanent special assessment from all homeowners is the appropriate mechanism rather than another temporary funding or reimbursement arrangement.

12. Avoiding duplicate recovery

Please confirm whether the Board intends to ensure that the Association does not receive a duplicate recovery for the same expense.

For example, if a $1,500 legal collection expense is funded through the special assessment paid by the membership and the Association later recovers $1,500 from the delinquent homeowner for that same expense, how will that $1,500 recovery be treated?

Please provide the Association's written position on this specific example.

Request for Clarification Regarding Proposed Special Assessment for Legal Collection Costs

13. Board's legal authority

Finally, please identify the specific Declaration, Bylaw, or Georgia law that the Board is relying upon for all of the following:

1. imposing the special assessment on all homeowners to pre-fund legal collection costs;

2. determining the amount of the assessment;

3. retaining money recovered from delinquent homeowners after those costs have already been funded through the special assessment; and

4. using any excess or recovered funds for purposes other than the collection expenses for which the assessment was originally imposed.

I am not questioning the Association's right to collect delinquent assessments or to pursue delinquent homeowners. My concern is specifically with requiring all homeowners to provide the money upfront and then potentially allowing the Association to retain the money recovered from delinquent homeowners as additional budget funds.

Before homeowners vote on this assessment, I believe they should understand exactly where their money is going, what happens when the Association recovers the money from delinquent owners, and what authority the Board has to retain those recovered funds.

I respectfully request that these questions and the Board's answers be provided to the membership before the September 19, 2026 meeting and that the Association's final position be reflected in the meeting minutes.

Thank you,
Caley’s Mill Homeowner

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Request for Clarification and Records Regarding September 19 2026 HOA Meeting

LETTER 2 of 2

Dear Caley’s Mill Board of Directors,

I am writing regarding the September 19, 2026 meeting at which the Board has proposed voting on annual assessment increases and special assessments.

I have reviewed the August 15, 2026 notice, the Association Bylaws, and the recorded Declaration of Covenants, Restrictions and Easements. I am requesting clarification and supporting documentation concerning the authority, quorum, and voting procedures that will be used at the September 19 meeting.

In particular, Declaration §4.06(b) specifically provides that, for a meeting at which the Board proposes action pursuant to §4.04(c) or §4.05, the presence of Members or proxies entitled to cast sixty percent (60%) of the total votes outstanding constitutes a quorum. It further provides that, if the required quorum is not present, a second meeting may be called, with a required quorum of thirty percent (30%) of the total votes outstanding.

I understand that the Board has amended Bylaw §2.9 to reduce the general membership-meeting quorum requirement to ten percent (10%). Because §4.06(b) specifically establishes the quorum applicable to meetings concerning action under §§4.04(c) and 4.05, I respectfully request clarification regarding the basis for applying the amended 10% Bylaw quorum to the assessment matters scheduled for September 19.

Please provide the following before the meeting:

1. Please identify the specific provision of the Declaration that authorizes the Board, pursuant to Bylaw §8.2, to amend or supersede the quorum requirements specifically established in Declaration §4.06(b).

2. Please confirm whether the Board intends to apply the 10% quorum in amended Bylaw §2.9 or the 60% first-meeting / 30% second-meeting quorum specifically established in Declaration §4.06(b) to the proposed actions under §§4.04(c) and 4.05.

3. Please confirm the total number of votes currently outstanding in the Association. I understand there are 139 Lots.

4. Based on 139 Lots, please confirm the number of votes required for quorum under the procedure the Board intends to use.

5. For the proposed annual assessment increases under §4.04(c), please confirm that the required approval is a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the Members present in person or by proxy and voting.

6. Please explain exactly how the two-thirds requirement under §4.04(c) will be calculated, including whether the denominator will consist of:

   • Members present in person and voting;

   • Members represented by proxy and voting;

   • all Members represented at the meeting; or

   • all 139 Members.

7. Please also explain how abstentions and Members who are present but decline to vote will be treated.

8. Please confirm that if neither proposed annual assessment increase receives the required two-thirds approval under §4.04(c), neither proposed increase will be approved.

9. For the proposed CAPEX special assessments, please identify the specific provision of the Declaration authorizing each proposed assessment and confirm whether the Board considers these assessments to fall under §4.05.

10. Please provide an itemized breakdown of the $40,000 amount proposed under Option 1a and the $13,622 amount proposed under Option 1b, including the amount attributable to the currently required detention-pond work and the amount, if any, intended for future or unspecified capital expenditures.

11. Please provide any written documentation from the City of Powder Springs requiring the detention-pond trenching and dredging work, including any notices, inspection reports, correspondence, engineering reports, or other supporting documentation.

12. Regarding the proposed collection-cost assessments under Options 2a and 2b, please identify the specific provision of the Declaration or Bylaws that requires a special assessment before the Association may send delinquent accounts to collections.

13. Please provide the calculation supporting the proposed $34,000 assessment under Option 2a and the $15,000 assessment under Option 2b, including the number of delinquent accounts assumed and the cost per account used in each calculation.

14. Please confirm whether Options 1a and 1b are mutually exclusive, and whether Options 2a and 2b are mutually exclusive.

15. Please confirm whether the Association intends to conduct a separate vote on each assessment proposal and each proposed annual assessment increase, rather than combining multiple proposals into a single vote.

16. Please confirm that the meeting minutes will record:

• the number of Members present in person;

• the number of valid proxies represented;

• the total votes represented;

• the quorum calculation and the quorum provision relied upon;

• the number of votes cast for and against each proposal;

• abstentions or non-votes; and

• any formal objections raised concerning quorum, voting procedures, or the authority for a proposed assessment.

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I am making these requests so that homeowners can understand the governing-document requirements and the basis for the proposed assessments before the September 19 vote.

I would appreciate receiving the Board's written response 3 days prior and any supporting documentation before the meeting so that the membership has an opportunity to review the information in advance.

Thank you for your attention to these questions.

Sincerely,
Caley's Mill Homeowner