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Cimarron Foothills Homeowners a.orgPhoto Benn IsaacmanTo prevent or resolve issues, your voluntaryBoard strives to maintain the CR&R’s that weall signed onto to help ensure the attributes ofour community; but of course it’s everyone’sjob whether working with the Board, in concertwith others, or alone. This is a great time ofthe year to remind ourselves to be kind to ourneighbors, friendly to our guards, involved inhelpful ways, and good to our environment.The issues, when they arise, can all be resolvedif we will be mindful of the ultimate goal—tomaintain the best of our Cimarron community.From the PresidentSense of community is a feeling that members have ofbelonging, a feeling that members matter to one another andto the group, and a shared faith that members’ needs will bemet through their commitment to be together.David McMillanIt is that time of year again when we come together withfamily and friends to celebrate our mutual connections,histories, goals, and all the other bonds that help defineus throughout the year. It is also the time of year thatour annual newsletter and upcoming annual meeting inJanuary remind us of our place in the Cimarron Foothillscommunity.As with all good communities, Cimarron Foothills has itsboundaries (that relate to an old ranch once here in thefoothills), provides us with a sense of safety and security(through our mutually funded security guards and Countypolice), and it represents personal investments (in ourhomes and our efforts to maintain our properties andneighborhood). Also, we hope that our neighbors feelas though we matter to one another and have someinfluence in the community (especially through our Board,its emails, our contacts with our neighbors, and the like).And our Cimarron community rewards us, by providing abeautiful environment in which to live, access to shops andPhoto Francis MorganWhat is the Cimarron “Community”?Winter 2015Happy Holidays Cimarron1Of course, in each of these basic ways in whichcommunities are commonly defined thereare likely to be issues: inevitable conflicts,frustrations with the rules, misunderstandingsbetween neighbors, differences of opinion andall the rest. It’s not necessarily easy to have acommunity, but in the end it should be worthour efforts in order to share the advantages ofliving in Cimarron Foothills.Volume 49 Issue 1schools within minutes, and stability/growthin our financial investments in our individualproperties.

Community RelationsRoles & Changes in the Board2This year, Board member, Ann Smiley, left thecommunity, and we added three new Boardmembers: Steven Hamblin, Larry Lewis, and ChrisPappas. To help you to contact the right personif you have concerns or ideas on any issue, I willsummarize the responsibilities of each Boardmember below. But don’t hesitate to email or phoneany of us at the addresses/phone numbers on theCimarron Foothills HOA website and we will be surethat the right people get involved.Winter 2015 John (Jac) Carlson is the current President of theBoard. Andrew Deeb serves as Chair for Safety & Security. Steven Hamblin has the role of Chair forArchitectural Review. Larry Lewis is the Vice President of the Board andalso serves as Chair for Community Relations andEnvironmental Affairs. Karen Lincowski is Chair for CR&Rs. Francis Morgan takes care of Communicationsand the Website. Peter Nestler serves as Treasurer. Chris Pappas is in the role of Chair for Roads &Medians. The board is supported by Cornelia Nestler asExecutive Secretary and ElDonna Eckhart asbookkeeper.Election to the Board - 2016Later this month, you will receive the ballots for theelection of Board members along with your annualdues invoice.The results of the election will be announced at theannual HOA meeting which will be held on January30, 2016 at the Catalina Foothills High School.Happy holidays! See you at the annual meeting,John (jac) Carlson, Presidentjac@cimarronfoothillshoa.orgCandidates for Election to theBoard for 2016Mike CarstenMike has lived in Cimarron since 2012. He movedto Tucson 1990, after growing up in Toledo, Ohio.He currently works as a Deputy Chief for theTucson Fire Department. Mike has been in the FireService for 25 years.Larry LewisLarry is currently Vice President of the Board andalso serves as Chair for Community Relations andEnvironmental Affairs. He has lived in CimarronFoothills since March 2006. He and his wife,Sue, moved to Tucson from Florida. Larry hasexperience working with community activitiesincluding Executive Director of Rio Nuevo andHOA president in Fair Oaks, California.Karen Egbert-LincowskiKaren is currently Chair for CR&Rs. she has beenserving on the Board since 2005 in the capacitiesof Financial Chair and CR&R Chair. She would loveto continue serving on the Board. Karen moved toCimarron in 2000. She received her engineering degreefrom New Jersey Institute of Technology and spentmost of her career in process control systems. Karencurrently is a Senior Merchant Services Representativefor LivingSocial.Francis MorganFrancis is the current Chair for communicationsand webmaster for the Cimarron Foothills HOA. Hehas been a Cimarron resident since 1989, when herelocated from the San Francisco Bay Area. Franciswas born and educated in Great Britain wherehe received a degree in graphic design. Beforerelocation to the USA, he worked in London wherehe managed BBC Educational Publications. Francisis the current President of the Board of Directors ofthe Environmental Education Exchange.Bobby TeneryBobby is a second generation Native Tucsonanand a graduate of the University of Arizona. Bobbyhas been in marketing, advertising, and publicrelations for the past 30 years with 25 years of thattime spent with USWest/Qwest/Dex.Complete bios for each candidate will be includedon the ballot which you will receive with your duesinvoice at the beginning of January.

TreasurerAssociation Budget andRising DuesAfter many years of being able to keepthe dues constant, the rising costs forthe services provided by the HOA haveput us into a situation where we haveto adjust the dues to avoid falling toomuch behind with our expenses.3For 2015, we have budgeted anoperating loss of about 3,000. Whilethe final number will not be knownuntil December 31, 2015 it looks like itmight be slightly lower due to the fiscalresponsibility of all the board members.Your annual dues have to be paid by January 31,2015. After that date, a late charge of 25 willapply and additional actions are outlined in theschedule which will be attached to your duesinvoice. We hope that all you will pay on timeto make your board’s life in this aspect easy andenjoyable.The rising costs for the guard service, waste collection,and the archival storage lead to a projected loss for 2016of about 9,000. Therefore, the board has decided to usethe authorization granted by the homeowners whichwould allow us to raise the dues up to 550. Based onthe projections such a raise will not be necessary and thedues will be raised to 525 (5%) for homes and to 160(3.25%) for empty lots. The increase for lots is lower, asthey don’t receive waste service. The raise should put usinto a situation where we end the year 2016 with a slightsurplus and where we should be able to keep the duesstable for some years.Photo Josephine LaiThe majority of our expense goes to the guard services andwaste collection. As we have been able to negotiate withboth service providers the costs to the homeowners areextremely competitive. The monthly cost for the guards isabout 29 and for the waste service about 12. In the lastannual meeting a question was raised about the amountof bookkeeping expenses. In addition to the bookkeeping,ElDonna Eckhart handles all real estate transactions fromthe HOA side as well as all inquiries by realtors and titleagencies. All other expenses are broken up into manycategories and cover operational costs of the HOA.Peter Nestler, Treasurerpeter@cimarronfoothillshoa.orgWinter 2015We have been able to buffer the lossas the association holds about ninemonths of operating expenses in reserves. This mayseem a lot, but a few years back, legal procedures put theassociation in a place where we had to up-front about 40,000 in legal expenses. As the association prevailed,we were able to recover the money, but it serves as anexample how quickly the cash reserves can be depleted.

Director ReportsSafe CimarronThis year, there have been very few issues relatingto the safety of our neighborhood. I recentlyread an article in the AZ Daily Star that therewere several home burglaries in the foothills,north of our neighborhood, but there were nonein Cimarron. I want to thank our guards fromCentral Alarm, and residents for keeping ourneighborhood safe.4Winter 2015Two garage thefts were reported in Cimarronthis year, and one attempted garage entry wasreported. An alert was sent from the HOA by emailto encourage homeowners to keep garage doorsclosed unless you are working in the garage.If you are on vacation the HOA encourages youto use Central Alarm for vacation checks. This isfree of charge, because the vacation checks arecovered by your dues.We hope to have the Pima County Sheriff speakat our annual meeting in January 2016. Cimarronis a safe community to live in, and I believe it willcontinue to be so in the future.Andrew Deeb, Security eWe all should want to be good and considerateneighbors. So before you start home improvementprojects please make sure you are following theguidelines listed on our Cimarron HOA website.Major outdoor construction on your propertyusually requires Board approval. These includechanging the paint color of your house, drivewayupgrades, room additions, as well as new poolsand walls. Projects follow an easy process andshould be submitted through me for review andcompliance.There are several issues everyone should be awareof this year. White roof coatings are forbidden bythe our CR&Rs. We have had to require severalhomes to repaint their roofs with a desert tancolor. Mail boxes also need to be painted black;their street lights should be lit at night. Drivewayswith erosion potholes also need to be repaired.Homeowners are required to maintain all of thesestructures according to our CC&R’s.We live in a wonderful neighborhood. Let’s taketime this year to make sure our homes reflect thebeauty of our desert surroundings.Steve Hamblin, Architectural Chairmansteve@cimarronfoothillshoa.orgCimarron RoadsThe Roads and medians in Cimarron are owned and“supposed” to be maintained by Pima county. We alldrive on our cracked and pot holed roads on a dailybasis. Please be aware that if a problem or potholegets bigger, please feel free to call the countyand point out this deficiency as often as you like.Eventually, they will get around to our subdivisionand patch the hole or crack , and/or sweep thestreets after a monsoon or hard rain.Patience & diligence here are the key words.Please email me with any concerns and I too will bugthe county representative for action.Here is the phone number for the DOT – roads:724-6410Chris Pappas, Chairman, Roads & Medianschris@cimarronfoothillshoa.orgAnnual MeetingCimarron Foothills Homeowners AssociationAnnual MeetingSaturday, January 30, 2016Catalina Foothills High SchoolHouse 1 Seminar Room9:00 – 9:30 am: Continental Breakfast9:30 – 11:00 am: ProgramBoard ReportsWe Look Forward to Seeing You at the Meeting!