New Board Member

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Created: Thursday, 25 January 2018 22:33

With great reluctance and our sincere appreciation for his long and remarkable service to this community, the Board of Directors of the Silver Valley Condominium Association accepted a formal letter of resignation from our good friend and neighbor, Paul Shope. For 15 years, Paul has served as Treasurer and then President of the association. His skill with numbers, solid business sense, and attention to detail have kept a close eye on our finances. If you see him, a smile and a thank you are in order.

At the same meeting, unit owner, Ray Shroyer, was named as an interim Board member. He will complete the balance of Paul Shope's term and, hopefully, seek a full two-year term in May of this year. Ray brings a wealth of practical experience and formal training to his Board service: He is retired from the aerospace industry where he worked as a mechanical engineer; additionally, he has a good grasp of construction practices and contracts, having acted as his own general contractor in the building of a previous residence. Please join us in welcoming him.

The Help Button and the Unit Owner Portal

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Created: Sunday, 07 January 2018 17:15

The red Help button at the upper right of the web site home page now links to the APM Portal. Now, when you click on the button, you'll be directed to the Portal gateway page where you can log in to your personal account (if you have already registered), or register to set up a new account.

The Help button has been in place for some time now as a fast way to make a maintenance request, but the new link provides additional information and services to unit owners. Moreover, we have welcomed several new residents to our community in the past year, so the Help button will be new to some of you.

If you have a maintenance request, simply click on the maintenance tab after logging in, fill out the request form, and click on the submit button when done.

The Portal offers additional features compared to the old maintenance request form: while you are logged in, you can also review and edit your personal contact information, make payments, view the payment status of your account, and access other features, some of which may be added in the future.

If you are uncertain about how to proceed, or have questions or a problem, call APM at 330 722 3000, or email .

New residents may have aditional questions about Portal. Please see the next article, originally published in August 2017, for a Portal Q&A.

Thanks

Caliber Portal Q&A

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Created: Wednesday, 02 August 2017 14:01

Notice of the new Caliber online portal has been both emailed and snail mailed to all unit owners. The addition of the Caliber portal gives both unit owners and Board members faster access to information about account status, and allows individual unit owners to ask for assistance with maintenance concerns. When this was originally discussed, the Board submitted several general questions to APM regarding cost and data security.

We encourage you to explore the portal and learn about the kinds of unit owner input and information available through its use.

1) How soon will this be fully functional? Our goal is to have Caliber fully functional by 9/1/17.

2) How much does it cost each month? per unit? for the entire association? The total cost to Silver Valley is $20 per month. This is a flat monthly charge to the entire association, not a per-unit charge. Unit owners will not receive any bills for this service.

3) Is the monthly cost billed to SVCA? The cost is billed to SVCA on their management fee invoice.

4) How is this better than what we do now? How do I benefit from using it? Why not just do what we always did? Owners will now have 24 hour access to information concerning their own account, including access to invoices and financials. Board members will have access to their own personal records, and also to association business data. Unit owner maintenance requests (Requests for Change, maintenance requests, etc.) can be submitted through the portal; they provide a tracking system for the Board and property manager.

5.) Can I opt out of having my data accessible online? Unit owners can call APM and request to be opted out of Caliber, altogether. Unit owners can also use the portal itself to opt out of specific information or make changes to certain individual account preferences.

6.) If I set up and make payments online, is it safe? Is the site secure and how is it protected? All payments are made through 3^rd parties, just like online banking and credit card payments. All financial transactions are made on a bank or a payment processor website, not directly in Caliber Portal.  To better protect account data, Caliber.Cloud uses SSL for all web services, including Portal.

7.) Is the database where all our personal data are stored secure? The database itself is secured with multiple usernames and passwords, and sensitive data are encrypted within the database.

New Retaining Walls Complete LTD

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Created: Friday, 17 November 2017 17:21

The two new retaining walls behind Lake Terrace Drive are now complete. A split rail guard has been added to both for added safety. The muddy area surrounding the walls has been seeded and mulched to better retain soil.

In areas too steep or narrow to mow, gravel over a layer of landscape cloth has been added to reduce maintenance.

We haven't replaced all of the walls yet, but with the new wall behind Olson Spur added earlier this year (see previous news item), at least there are three fewer of the old ones falling over.

Retaining Wall Update

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Created: Friday, 13 October 2017 18:24

The original, 30-year old retaining wall between Silver Valler Blvd South and Olson Spur has been replaced.

Additional erosion control measures are being completed there as well, including: mulch, a new gravel drainage swale, and large water diversion boulders. Grass and pine mulch will be added to keep soil in place and make the area more attractive.

Next on the 2017 SVCA project list, we'll be replacing two more original retaining walls, and adding similar erosion control measures behind Lake Terrace Drive. To learn more, download our 4-page pdf progress report, complete with photos and descriptions.

Look for more updates on this site in coming weeks.

Miscellaneous Ramblings

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Created: Thursday, 24 August 2017 14:47

Here's what's been going on the last few weeks:

• Arrangements were made to allow the city to install the final three wireless water meters. Our sincere thanks to the affected residents for their patience and cooperation in upgrading their inside water shutoffs.
• Trees/bushes were planted at two units where trees had been previously removed.
• Common area landscaping was repaired and upgraded at two units.
• Landscaping crews continued to repair and re-plant select hillside areas to help limit the severe erosion we have experienced in these areas.
• The badly rusted mailbox support at Ridge Side Court and Damon Drive was reported to the USPS. (Hopefully this will be addressed before another mailbox topples.)
• The Board has requested bids to replace the three worst retaining walls: two behind Lake Terrace Drive and another between Silver Valley Blvd. and Olson Spur.

Unit owners living near the old retaining walls know that they are litrerally falling apart, and may best be described as "termites holding hands."