Latest News

Welcome neighbors and friends.

The Village of Oak Lake HOA Board of Directors has created this website as a form of communication and an avenue of homeowner involvement. The HOA Board of Directors is made up of five volunteers and we are here to serve the community in any way we can. We are always looking for motivated individuals who want to have a positive impact in our community so please consider joining us. You can reach board members and our Association Manager by using the Contact Tab. Sign up with your email address to get monthly information, which includes meeting notices, community events and other important HOA news.

To All Residents of VOL:

The annual election held on February 8, 2021 has been recalled. Because of the Covid pandemic, Sterling Association Services Inc. chose to host the annual meeting via Zoom this year to provide a safer environment for residents. Sterling ASI also placed restrictions on the Solicitation of Candidates, Notice, and Proxy/Ballot by including the statements “No voting will be done at the Annual Meeting” and “No nominations will be taken from the floor at the Annual Meeting” due to the fact that the meeting would not be held face-to-face. Sterling ASI also removed the typical write-in section for candidates on the Proxy/Ballot, because the Solicitation of Candidates stated that in order to be considered for the open Board positions residents had to submit their name and information to be on the ballot by Wednesday, January 20, 2021.

On Friday, February 5, 2021, numerous proxies were turned in to Sterling ASI with two write-in candidates. The Board was made aware of this shortly before the annual meeting on Monday, February 8, 2021. We were very surprised to learn of this and were confused on how to proceed since none of us thought this was allowed. Sterling ASI consulted the HOA attorney and informed us that the proxies with write-in candidates were considered valid and should be counted as votes for the write-in candidates. Thus, the two incumbents, Carla Wingerson and Siraj Parmer, were voted out and the two write-in candidates, Karen Powell and Kent Sheffield, were named as the new board members. We (the “old” board) were very unhappy about this advice and felt that it was unfair that the election could proceed in this manner.

Shortly after the meeting, Sterling ASI started to receive complaints from some homeowners regarding the annual election. Some residents felt they were misled by the instructions on the proxy/ballot and didn’t vote since there were no other candidates running against the incumbents. Other residents voted for write-in candidates since this has been allowed in the past. Some residents questioned how two Board members could be voted out if there was to be no voting and no nominations taken from the floor as stated on the proxies/ballots. Still other residents thought this was acceptable since the ballot read to “Vote for no more than two candidates.” Other residents said that they never received the Notice of Solicitation in order to be placed on the ballot. Because of these valid concerns raised by our homeowners, the “new” Board voted to seek legal counsel regarding a recall election.

The HOA attorney found that the restrictions Sterling ASI placed in the Solicitation, Notice, and Proxy/Ballot prohibiting nominations from the floor and voting at the annual meeting conflicted with the provisions in our By-laws. The attorney also stated that all nominees should have been announced from the floor at the meeting per our By-laws which was not done. Although we realize that Sterling ASI was trying to make safer accommodations due to the pandemic, it did not have the authority to do so per the provisions in our By-laws. Because of the homeowners concerns and the findings by the attorney, the Board decided to recall the annual election that was held on February 8, 2021. We feel that this is the only fair way to proceed so that all homeowners have a clear and equal chance to vote and the nominees are elected to the Board in a transparent and equitable manner.

We want to apologize to all homeowners that this has happened. We have been dealing with this chaotic issue since the election last month and have really tried to make decisions in the most honorable way possible.

A Nominating committee will be formed made up of one board member and about four other homeowners who would like to participate. Sterling ASI is currently working on a new Solicitation of Candidates for our review that will include instructions on how to run for the open board positions and ask for volunteers for the Nominating Committee. We will update the website when this document is mailed to all residents.

We encourage you to exercise your right to vote.

Recall Election: Monday, April 26, 2021 (time and place to be determined)

Sincerely,
Joe Hernandez, Leo Furman, Khalid Razvi, Karen Powell, Kent Sheffield
VOL HOA Board

The Village of Oak Lake Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, February 8^th via webinar.  You will receive the agenda and information on how to connect from Sterling ASI.

The VOL Board of Directors met via Zoom on Monday, January 11, 2021 at 6:30 p.m.  All board members, except Siraj Parmer, were in attendance along with Becky Salinas from Sterling ASI.  We had several homeowners join the meeting.  One wanted to listen in to see what is going on but also had concerns regarding inspections done by Sterling.  We discussed with this homeowner that inspections are indeed still being done on a timely basis and fence issues are part of the inspection process.  One homeowner had concerns about the crumbling inlets at Maple Downs and West Airport, the lights out at Kidz Village and the vacant lot on Mellow Oaks.  We discussed with this homeowner that we would refer the crumbling inlets and the vacant lot to MUD 41 because it falls under their scope of work and not the HOAs and that Becky would get someone out to check the lights at Kidz Village.  One homeowner asked about a sidewalk extension on the westbound side of West Airport to Highway 6 and again this was referred to MUD 41 as part of their scope of work.  One homeowner was concerned about various items on the budget so we discussed his issues and were able to address his concerns.

The county is currently working on repairing the pothole at the entrance to the neighborhood at Highway 6 and West Airport.  This work should be completed soon.

The board discussed having the tennis courts cleaned and several of the brick monuments throughout the neighborhood cleaned and repaired.  Becky Salinas will be providing bids to the board in our March meeting for further discussion. We will also be discussing some new landscaping proposals and will provide updates on all of these items in future messages.

The Board has been notified that there have been people sleeping in Kidz Village Park for several nights.  We have asked Becky to contact the Sheriff’s office so they can send a patrol around in the evening to check the park.  If you see someone loitering or sleeping in the park, please contact the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office non-emergency number (281) 341-4665 to report it.

The Board discussed whether or not to schedule an event in the Spring and it was decided that we would not.  With the recent uptick in Covid cases in Fort Bend County we will not be scheduling any Spring events.  However, we are discussing dates for the garage sale in April and a pool opening event at the end of May.  Dates and details on these events will be finalized in our March meeting and updated on the website and message board.

We have recently had new, larger No Soliciting signs installed in several places along West Airport.  We were told that two additional signs need to be ordered but they should be in and installed soon.  We are hopeful this will cut down on some of the soliciting.  If an unwelcome solicitor comes to your home, feel free to point out to them that we do not allow that in Village of Oak Lake.

LMC performed an irrigation inspection recently and informed us that there are several issues.  We hope to have the proposals soon with an outline of the problems so the Board can discuss and take care of them as soon as possible.  LMC recently applied pre- and post-emergent weed control in the green spaces which should give us nice turf in the Spring.  They will be applying fertilizer soon and also refreshing the mulch and applying new mulch as needed throughout the neighborhood.  At the end of March, they will go back to a once a week maintenance schedule.

We hope your new year has gotten off to a good, safe start.

VOL Board of Directors