Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1462234
16 | THE COLONY NEWS | APRIL 2022 | COMMITTEE NEWS I'd like to clarify what the Landscape Advisory Committee does and its place within The Colony. The LAC's charter states that we are an advisory committee to the HOA Board, and to the Landscape Superintendent (Anthony Reynoso) and Assistant Landscape Superintendent (Avel Walker) regarding landscaping issues in common areas, including front yards, or any special requests from the Board. We provide input on the estimated budget. We provide input on the condition of common areas (ground and vegetation). We provide input on landscape contract renewals. If requested, we review Landscape Change Requests and other proposals to determine the need and price of these extra costs. However, there is a protocol for us to follow as LAC members. We base our recommendations to the Board on the Landscape Standards and Guidelines (located in The Colony Homeowners Telephone Directory, pp. 64-70). The only time the LAC gets involved in a resident complaint is if the Landscape Superintendent requests our investigation into it. The Landscape Standards and Guidelines may not have addressed the specific problem. Any landscape concerns a Colony resident might have are first directed to the Landscape Superintendent. Sometimes he replies to general questions a resident might have, e.g., "when is my yard scheduled for mulch?," "my front yard plant is dead," "a palm frond is hanging over my porch," but if residents want work done, there is a form to fill out for that, available at Reception. The reason the Landscape Department is so focused on filled-out forms is that without them, phone conversations are sometimes lost or not remembered quite the same way. The Assistant Landscape Superintendent is charged with keeping track of those request forms, and so the Landscape Superintendent can schedule the work. Thus, if a resident calls the Landscape Department, he can receive a reply as to where the work order is on the schedule. Since this procedure was instituted several years ago, it has been working smoothly. The resident should not call the Landscape Advisory Committee. Please note that the Landscape Advisory Committee is not in charge of scheduling landscape work. The LAC does not supervise our landscapers. These are employees of Environmental Concepts, which directly reports to our Landscape Superintendent. The LAC only interacts with EC at our monthly meetings, where EC updates us all on what work has been accomplished in the previous month and tells us what they are working on now. We are free to ask questions of the company at that point and address any concerns we have. Otherwise, we do not interact with the landscapers themselves, nor should residents. These employees have a supervisor they must report to, and they are not allowed to act independently on resident requests. If you are having an urgent concern about what a landscaper is doing, contact our Landscape Superintendent immediately. Do not confront the landscapers. The only other time the LAC members interact with EC's site supervisors would be during our annual Area Walks. Each LAC member is assigned a "territory" within The Colony, an Area. Each spring, hopefully after the last winter frost damage is over, the member walks his/her territory along with Anthony, Avel and representatives of Environmental Concepts' site managers. During this time, the plants to replace are documented and put on the schedule for pricing, authorizing, delivery and planting. Therefore, any landscape complaints must first be directed to the Landscape Superintendent's Office, not to the Landscape Advisory Committee. When there are irrigation emergencies, the place to call is the Landscape Department during office hours. If it's NOT during office hours or is on a weekend, please CALL THE GATE. There is a procedure for the Security team to contact the EC person who is on-call to come and address the issue. Sometimes when calling the Gate, it has gone to voice mail, but that doesn't mean EC isn't already on the way. Sometimes the irrigation program shuts off the valves within several minutes anyway. In any case, the Landscape Advisory Committee doesn't turn off valves. Hopefully this information will help everyone get on the same page and issues can be addressed smoothly and in a timely manner. Would you like to join us? We have several openings on the Committee at present. LANDSCAPE ADVISORY By Jan Foster