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| THE COLONY NEWS | FEBRUARY 2024 | 9 I would like to clarify what the Landscape Advisory Committee (LAC) does, and its place within e Colony. e 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. Most recently the request from the Board was to research rabbit control methods and costs to implement. We don't make decisions, we only submit recommendations to the Board. We provide input on the estimated landscape budget, input on the condition of common areas (ground and vegetation), and 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 to follow for us as LAC members. We base our recommendations to the Board on the Landscape Standards and Guidelines, which are located in the Homeowners Telephone Directory, or now also online at e Colony website (https://thecolonyatcaloaks.com). For research, sometimes we take field trips to examine pertinent landscape procedures. Sometimes we consult experts in pest control and the CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. Our Landscape Department is also instrumental in providing results of procedures tried by other companies where they or their compatriots have worked. Between our Landscape Department and Environmental Concepts, there is a vast amount of landscape experience in what works in this area. e only time the LAC gets involved in a resident complaint is if the Landscape Superintendent requests our investigation into the complaint. In such circumstances, most likely 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 from a resident (e.g., "when is my yard scheduled for mulch?," "my front yard plant looks dead," "a palm frond is hanging over my porch," etc.), but if a resident wants work done, there is a form to fill out for that, available at Reception, called a Property Service Request. e 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. e Assistant Landscape Superintendent is charged with keeping track of those request forms so that the Landscape Superintendent can schedule the work. us, 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. e resident should not call the Landscape Advisory Committee. At our monthly meetings we receive a written report of all work which has been requested on forms. e report includes what date it was first reported, what the issue is, when the work was completed and the date done, or what is not yet completed (which continues to be on the report until completed). e LAC is not in charge of scheduling landscape work. e LAC does not supervise our landscapers. ese are employees of Environmental Concepts, which directly reports to our Landscape Superintendent. e LAC only interacts with EC management at our monthly meetings, where EC updates us 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. Environmental Concepts' 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. Please do not confront the landscapers. e 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," i.e., an area, within e Colony. Each March, the member walks his/her territory along with Anthony, Avel, and representatives of Environmental Concepts' site managers. We look at every front yard and every greenbelt. We document the plants to replace and put them on the schedule for pricing, authorizing, delivery, and planting. is work takes a while to prepare and present to the Board for approval. If anything slows the process, planting has to wait until the cooler weather of fall. I hope you can see that any landscape complaints must first be directed to the Landscape Superintendent's office, not to the Landscape Advisory Committee. When there are irrigation emergencies (i.e., you SEE gushing water, SEE sprinklers staying on for hours), the place to call is the Landscape Department during office hours, which is Monday through Friday from 7 am to 4 pm. If it's NOT during office hours or is on a weekend or a holiday, please CALL THE GATE. ere 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 may shut off the valves within several minutes. New security employees are supposed to be made aware of the aer-hours procedure. In any case, the Landscape Advisory Committee doesn't turn off valves. On another note: Please make sure any electrical wires, or irrigation controller wires and irrigation hoses in your front yard are firmly fastened to the side of your house, or else buried. ey can't interfere with the pruners, and you don't want them nicked. Hopefully, this information will help everyone and issues can be addressed smoothly and in a timely manner. And if you see us next month standing in your front yard with a clip board, relax. We're only here to help you! LANDSCAPE ADVISORY By Jan Foster, 951-698-0170

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