2023 TSHOA Assessments
Dear Neighbors,
Our annual assessments were sent out in December and many of us received them this week, with a due date of 1/1/23. Due to this delay, assessments will NOT be considered late until February 4th, 2023.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Thanks,
Annette Micho
Goodwin & Company
Community Manager
(737)253-9397
Christmas Tree Recycling Event
The City of Round Rock will host Christmas tree recycling events on Saturday, Dec. 31 from 9 a.m. to 6p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 7 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Round Rock Brush Recycling Center located at 310 Deepwood Drive.
Small tree seedlings (100 per day/one per vehicle) will be distributed and volunteers will be available to help unload trees during these special events.
Additionally, residents may bring Christmas trees for recycling to the Round Rock Brush Recycling Center during any regular operating day.
Residents must remove all decorations, nails, wires, ornaments, tree stands, lights, and tinsel before bringing in their tree to the recycling center. The trees will be shredded into a fine, usable mulch and made available free-of-charge to Round Rock residents for pickup at the recycling center. The mulch can also be purchased by contractors and non-residents for $5 per cubic yard.
Local businesses can also drop off Christmas trees, and for a small fee ($15 per truckload) businesses that sell Christmas trees can recycle their leftovers as well.
For more information, contact the City of Round Rock’s Forestry Manager Ricci Strayhorn at (512) 218-5540.
Round Rock Brush Recycling Center Holiday Hours:
Friday, Dec. 23 – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday Dec. 26 – closed
Tuesday, Dec. 27 – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 31 – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday, Jan. 2 – closed
*Regular business hours are Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Temporary Suspension of the Pond Remediation Plan
Dear neighbors,
After receiving feedback from the Association’s legal counsel, the TSHOA Board is temporarily suspending the vote for the Pond Remediation plan. We will take the necessary time to streamline the plan in order to bring it into better compliance with the current Deed Restrictions and Bylaws, while exploring cost sharing options for ongoing responsibility for electricity as well as possible opportunities for outside assistance. We appreciate so much the enthusiastic interest that many residents have already demonstrated in this initiative, and promise to submit a revised version of this plan as soon as we are able! Thank you for your understanding and patience.
We wish you a happy and safe New Year’s celebration!
The TSHOA Board
Holiday Light Contest December 19th, 2022
The Social Committee will be traveling through the neighborhood to judge the second annual Holiday Light Contest. There are 3 categories of awards: Best Traditional, Best Griswold, and Best Themed.
Signs will be staked in front yards on or around the 19th and picked up after Christmas by the Social Committee.
Happy Decorating and Holiday Season!
Contest Winners
Best Themed – 1801 Possum Trot
Best Traditional – 1709 Blue Heron
Best Griswold – 3614 Arrowhead Circle
Luminaries Display December 24th
In celebration of this special time of the year, Luminaries will be placed throughout the neighborhood by the Social Committee on the afternoon of December 24th.
If you are interested in joining this fun, please contact Jan Vargas at jan.vargas@yahoo.com.
Please enjoy! AND Happy Holidays!
2023 Funds Expenditure Ballot
Dear Tonkawa Springs Neighbors,
Thank you to those who joined us for the Community meeting this past week to review the Pond Remediation proposal. We have summarized the four options for supporting our beautiful community ponds with HOA funds on the enclosed ballot.
The remediation efforts each include – 1. clean-up on the ponds and a one-time haul off fee, 2. phoslock and herbicide treatment to remove the algae strangling our ponds and consuming the oxygen from the water, and 3. Aeration equipment that is purchased by the HOA at bulk pricing but paid for by the Pond Homeowners primarily, varying slightly by option and 4. the electricity to supply to the aerators, again varying by the option.
The Funds Expenditure ballot is a one-time request to amend the 2023 budget adding Pond Remediation. The only exception is the electricity for Ponds 4-5 would be an ongoing HOA expense. We are NOT asking for a special assessment or payment by non-Pond Homeowners.
It’s also important to note that the majority of Pond Owners have already agreed to fund this project with their personal funds. They support the pond remediation efforts knowing that the power of the Community is greater than their individual efforts on their part of the pond(s).
The HOA will assume management of the installation, service, warranty, dam repair and common electricity for submersed aerators. This effort will be primarily managed by Goodwin under our existing contract. No additional fees.
If you are interested in donating to the Friend of the Ponds fund, please let us know your interest by sharing it at the following link. https://forms.gle/NZtC82DTpjxBPAES6 Once the account is established, we’ll reach out with information on how to make the payment. Thank you in advance for your generosity.
If you have specific questions you’d like answered about the pond remediation efforts before casting your vote, please call any Board Officer. We’d be happy to walk you through it in detail and answer your questions.
Ballots may be submitted electronically at https://forms.gle/8LQsDzjVgTGyBwtA9 beginning December 14 or via paper at 3201 Fox Hollow Street no later than 8:00pm CST on Monday, January 16, 2023.
The 2022 Tonkawa Springs Board
Board Meeting Tuesday December 13, 2022
Neighbors,
Our next TSHOA Board Meeting is Tuesday December 13th at 6:30 pm at the SouthStar Bank, 3025 Ranch Rd 1431, Round Rock, Texas 78681. Please see the agenda below.
This is the last Board meeting for 2022. We will welcome new Board members in January 2023. In the meantime, we want to express our deep appreciation to those Board members rolling off the Board at the end of December: Dan Isenhower, Stefani Zolper, Jan Vargas and Jenny Halley.
Pond Remediation Meeting Thursday December 8th
You are invited to a Neighborhood Pond Remediation discussion this Thursday at 5:30 pm at the Tennis Courts. We will share updated information along with the latest DRAFT Proposal. Nick McIntyre, former HOA President and consultant with TECQ on dam remediation will join us to share his assessment of the dams and the options available to us for their remediation.
Hope to see you there!
New Location!!! Cookie Exchange Saturday December 10, 2022 at 1pm
The holidays are coming and we are excited to hold our annual Cookie Exchange.
What to bring:
3 dozen cookies of your favorite recipe to share
An empty container to fill with new cookies
Copies of your favorite cookie recipe
We will have an official judge to determine the best cookie and prizes for the top 3 winners!
Rain is expected so please come to Melinda Hester’s home, 1801 Lost Spring.
Happy Holiday!
Dear Neighbors,
The TSHOA Board continues to progress on the Pond Remediation proposal expected to be taken to a vote on or before our December 13 Board meeting. Here’s a brief update.
On November 10, a meeting of Pond Owners, the TSHOA Board, and interested stakeholders was held to discuss in more detail the Pond Remediation proposal, and to take questions from this group pertaining to it. The meeting was well attended, with roughly 50% of the pond owners represented. Alex Arrequin of Aquatic Features Inc presented the technical part of the offering, explaining first the conditions that have created the decline of our ponds, and then the 3-prong approach of Clean-up, Phoslock Treatment, and Aeration as the recommended approach to remediation. Neighbors, Larry Jolly and Tony Garrant, filled in the details related to Tonkawa Springs, and Jolly wrapped it up with an overview of the proposed options under consideration.
The overall mood was supportive and enthusiastic. Good questions were asked, and lots of discussion of various issues ensued. An overwhelming majority of pond owners present indicated they would support some form of the Pond Remediation proposal, which we were very excited to see! Thanks to all who attended. A community-wide meeting is being planned for Thursday, December 8 at 5:30pm.
An updated Q&A is included herein that contains much of the content discussed in the meeting, and information gathered since. A few items of note:
• It was acknowledged that there may be a leak in the dam/spillway just in front of the park. We discussed necessary steps to determine any presence of leaks (dye chasing, etc.) and remediation measures depending on our findings. It was determined that since this is likely an infrastructure issue and on the HOA property, initial efforts toward remediation of any leaks should be shouldered by the HOA. We also acknowledge that though a potential leak should be part of the overall Pond Remediation effort—and fixed before anything else is done—it does not materially affect the rest of the Rehab/Remediation plan as presented to the neighborhood for consideration.
• It should be emphasized that regardless of which plan is chosen for HOA involvement, the greatest financial and material burden for pond remediation lays appropriately on individual pond owners.
* We acknowledged that the scope of the project at hand is far larger than any homeowner or group of homeowners can manage alone, and that without HOA support the effort to help our ponds would likely fail as history has shown.
• We also acknowledge that in spite of heroic efforts of some pond owners to keep their portion of the ponds tidy, over 40 years of systemic neglect have brought us to a tipping point of choosing to do something together, or together watching our ponds die. In spite of what a heavy rain and crisp temperatures do to temporarily mask things, we agreed our ponds are in trouble. The results if we do nothing – algae continues to grow, absorbing all the oxygen leading to fish kills, putrid smells, and more mosquitos, and an embarrassing visual mess that will repel future homebuyers for any home in Tonkawa Springs, rather than attract them.
* Therefore, we acknowledge that all property owners in Tonkawa Springs—pond owners and non-pond owners alike—will benefit from healthy, beautiful ponds, and that we ALL bear some responsibility for good stewardship of them.
* Finally, though there are many levels of participation in this cause, we are not asking for any kind of special assessment or additional dues to support this effort. However, because a number of residents who don’t live on ponds have expressed a desire to help contribute to the cause, a Friend of the Ponds Fund will be set up to accommodate these heroes! Many thanks to these people for stepping up!
* Following the meeting, the Board met informally to review the current reserves. Based on our current reserve and the expected need for repairs to the dam, the Board revised the options for consideration.
We invite you to read the attached Updated Pond Remediation Q&A, and join us on Thursday, December 8 at the tennis courts at 5:30pm for a community meeting. We look forward to taking your questions. The Board continues to canvass individual pond owners to assess interest, and of course looking at appropriate, fiscally responsible, levels of resource commitment.
Tonkawa Springs HOA Board
