Steiner residents’ concerns heard at first town hall (read about it in Four Points Newspaper delivered tonight): Second town hall tonight
Tom Jacobs, 82, voiced his concerns at last week’s town hall meeting. He wants the SR Master Association board to be more transparent in making big decisions that affect the community. Photo by Lynette Haaland
By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News
The Steiner Ranch Master Association town hall meeting on Thursday, Sept. 14 drew a crowd of some 60 homeowners who came to hear plans and give feedback on the board’s consideration of changing its current in-house community management.
Craig Smyser, who resigned from the board on Friday, started the meeting by sharing with the audience what the consultant provided to the board and his recommendations, which the board received the night before.
The consultant, who is based out of Pennsylvania, recommended a new onsite management model along with integrated software tools.
Board treasurer Robby Roberts also addressed the audience and shared a different perspective about the process so far. He feels the process is being rushed to make this big decision, especially when the board so recently received full control of running the community after Taylor Morrison’s exit.
Lake Travis Cleanup to clean up tons of trash
By HARSHITA AVIRNENI
Four Points News
The 23rd annual Lake Travis Cleanup takes place Sunday, Sept. 17, and is the largest scuba diving and shoreline cleanup in Texas. It has been growing over the years since 1994 when it was originally founded by scuba divers, and to date 114 tons of trash has been collected.
“Lake Travis supports the greater Austin area through flood control, water supply, electrical power generation, and recreation,” said Shaun Auckland, conservation coordinator Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources. “This cleanup is a way for the greater community to demonstrate their deep connection to the lake by removing marine debris.”
Last year alone, 5.17 tons of trash was removed from Lake Travis during its annual cleanup. Common things such as plastic cups, glass beer bottles, and sunglasses make up most of this load.
Through the years, outrageous items like a prosthetic leg and a generator full with gasoline have been found.
“Lake Travis is a beautiful watershed we can all enjoy,” said Jennifer Idol, scuba diver and volunteer. “Over time, I’ve observed increased trash, decreases in wildlife population, and an increase in chemicals in our water. I want to leave a positive contribution. Helping improve some of these problems helps us continue enjoying our natural resources. It is something we can all do.”
Steiner to host two town halls, Community management to be discussed
The Steiner Ranch Master Association board of directors meeting on Aug. 29.
By LYNETTE HAALAND
Four Points News
The Steiner Ranch Master Association board of directors has scheduled two town hall meetings to update residents on their progress regarding Steiner Ranch community management transformation options.
Leading up to these two meetings, information was posted on social media in late August about the possibilities of outsourcing community management and the potential of hiring and firing of community staffers.
At the Aug. 29 board meeting, the board vaguely discussed some of these concerns, saying that some of the information was confidential and too premature to disclose.
An open letter to Steiner Ranch Master Association Board and Steiner homeowners
The Steiner Ranch Master Association board of directors meeting on Aug. 29.
Read at the Aug. 29 board meeting at Towne Square
Dear SRMA Board and Fellow Owners,
As a homeowner, and former Board member, I came to (the Aug. 29) meeting to express my opinion on the recent communications regarding the HOA’s consideration of changing management structures. In the various communications that I have seen regarding the change in management structure, the communications from the SRMA Board appear to be misleading, and seemingly attempt to hide what the Board has done and continues to do in non-open sessions.
First, to those who don’t know, whether to change the management structure was put forth to last year’s SRMA Board and was soundly rejected. Without speaking for the rest of last year’s SRMA Board, my opposition was based on the lack of a clearly stated need to change the management structure, the poor comparables to any other similarly-sized community, and failure to survey the community-at-large to understand what service levels the owners expect from the SRMA.