Utopia Homeowners’ Security Association – Message From the President

Dear Utopia Security Association Members,

      As 2018 winds down, as does my first year as president, I thought I would reflect on what a busy and eventful year it has been for our organization.  First, I would like to acknowledge the board for its tireless work and dedicated focus on doing the business of our association.  Whether it is new membership recruitment, oversight of the books, organizing events like Movie Night, working with our Lt. to insure consistent and proper patrol coverage, maintaining our website as well as all other technology upgrades, compiling our meeting minutes, answering the various members’ questions and communicating to our membership with updates like this; it all gets done in a professional manner.

Second, I want to thank two board members that resigned their positions early in the year, Hardy Katz (treasurer) and Vicki Katz (member at large).  They both played integral roles during their tenure on the board and continue to be strong supporters of our organization.  And, I would like to welcome two new board members, Annette La Greca and Matt Dillon.  All of this goes on behind the scenes to support and keep our organization strong.  So thank you to both current and former board members alike.

Last but not least, I would like to thank our long time members as well as new members because without your continued support there would be no association.  Our patrols are the heart of deterrence; they secure our safety and are the envy of many.  We are often asked how do you do it?  The answer lies in all our members’ unwavering support.

Finally, as we end the year I look forward to next year as we further strengthen and grow our organization.  I hope to see you at the Annual Members Meeting on January 27, 2019 from 4:00 – 6:00 at in the park at La Playa and Ventura.

Sincerely,

Corinne Collins

President

Utopia Homeowners’ Security Association

 

2018 New Members Festive Celebration


The New Members Cocktail Reception at the home of Glenn and Gale Patron provided an opportunity for new residents to meet each other and the board of Utopia HOSA.  It is truly delightful to welcome so many young families to the association including Nappa, a 4 month old chocolate lab who attended the festivities with glee.  Providing safety and security for the “little people” of community is especially gratifying to us and the patrol officers, many of whom are parents of young children as well.

View New Members’ Cocktail Party pics on the website
[flagallery gid=7 name=’New Members’ Cocktail Party’]

2019 Board Elections Coming Up

 

At the upcoming January 2019 Annual Members’ Meeting the board of directors will be voted on for 2019.  If you are interested in running for one of the board director positions (President, Vice- President, Secretary, Treasurer, Member Coordinator,  or Police Liaison), please contact us with your interest.  You can do this by clicking contact just above on this home page of our website and sending us an email.

Thanks again for supporting the monthly dues increase

As you are all probably aware, the long-studied, discussed and awaited monthly dues increase finally kicked in on Oct. 1, 2018, bringing our long time $100 a month fee to $125.  Without repeating too much detail, this was all brought about by the unusually large police pay increase mandated by the city.

Some of you may have also noticed a disruption in our billing process.  During the spring and summer we transitioned from our original accounting firm  to a new firm (Ivy Accounting).  This was necessitated by a change in personnel and accounting systems at the former firm.  So while Glenn Patron, who so wonderfully stepped in once again to be our treasurer, took over the helm, he found the shift to the new accountant was a bit more problematic than we had anticipated.  All in all though, we seem to be back on track.

So with the new rate now in place, we will be increasing patrol hours.

Thank you to the membership for the unanimous support for the increase.  Always know that administrative costs are kept to a minimum and the vast majority of revenue goes to support our hourly patrols.  Any increase in our fee is predicated on keeping and increasing our patrols.