Melani Caron
As announced at the January Coffee with the GM, the board of directors has authorized changes to the Vacation Watch Program.
An audit of the Vacation Watch Program revealed that the majority of homeowners using the program already have a friend/neighbor or third-party service watching their homes during their absence. A much smaller number of homeowners rely solely on the POA for vacation watches. The cost to maintain this complimentary service is passed along to all homeowners through their POA dues, whether they use the Vacation Watch Program or not. With more than 600 homes signed up annually, additional patrol staff would have to be hired to keep up with the demand. The cost of the increased patrol payroll would need to be passed on to all homeowners.
As a result, the POA will continue to offer vacation watch services with the following guidelines:
The homeowner must be gone a minimum of seven (7) days to no more than thirty (30) days at a time. The POA will no longer provide vacation watch services for homeowners gone longer than one month.
As a part of this complimentary service, the POA will provide the following three steps as a part of the visit and will call the point of contact on the Vacation Watch form for any of the following:
1. Check front door to make sure it is locked
2. Visually look to make sure the front windows are closed, windows are not broken
3. Visually look to make sure the front yard does not have an irrigation leak
Patrol will no longer enter the backyard as part of the vacation watch. The vacation watch is street-facing inspection of the property only.