ECA and VCA ELECTIONS are Coming up - Serve as Your Neighborhood's Voting Member!
We are getting closer and closer to having every ECA and VCA neighborhood represented by a Voting Member this year and don't want your neighborhood to be left out! Voting Members represent their neighborhood by casting the votes for their entire neighborhood at the upcoming VCA Board of Directors election at the Annual Meeting on September 28. While a few residents have stepped forward to serve as Voting Members, we are still seeking volunteers from a few ECA and VCA neighborhoods. This is an ideal opportunity to become involved as a community volunteer in a role that requires a nominal time commitment.
ECA Voting Members are needed in the Copper Ridge II and The Trails neighborhoods. VCA Voting Members are needed in the following neighborhoods:
- Avalon Terrace
- Cielo
- Eagle Ridge
- Golf Villas
- Hidden Hills
- Lucero
- Mission Hermosa
- Saguaro Canyon
- Segovia
- The Fairways 95A/95B
If you are interested in serving as your neighborhood's Voting Member, fill out this ECA Voting Member application or this VCA Voting Member application by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 19; it will be reviewed by the ECA and VCA Boards of Directors at the upcoming July 27 Board Meeting. We will be in touch with you after the meeting to advise you on the status of your application.
After you are approved to serve as your neighborhood's Voting Member, we strongly encourage you to join us for a free “Voting Member 101” presentation on Tuesday, August 3, at 6:00 p.m. It will be offered at the Presidio Sports Lounge and virtually via Zoom. In addition to answering any questions you may have about the upcoming elections and the election timeline, more detailed information about the Voting Member role and the 2021 election ballot will also be provided.
If you have any questions about serving as your neighborhood's Voting Member, please feel free to contact Sharon Thunstedt of our office at 623-386-1112 or sthunstedt@ccmcnet.com. Our goal is to have every ECA and VCA neighborhood represented by Voting Members this year. We look forward to hearing from you!
PLANNING AHEAD
While it may seem like it’s a bit early to be planning for September elections now, there is a lot of preparation and planning already in progress since both the Estrella Community Association (ECA) and the Villages Community Association (VCA) elections will be conducted at the Annual Meeting in September. Both Boards have two positions that need to be filled by residents of each Association. Residents who are elected to fill these positions by Voting Members of the ECA will serve two-year terms and work with the two sitting resident Board Members and the Declarant representative from the community’s developer, Newland.
The VCA election will be held at the Annual Meeting in September, as well, and two resident Board Members will be elected by the Voting Members. However, these positions will serve until the Transition Election, which will be held within 90 days after the Control Period ends on December 31 of this year.
At the end of this year, the VCA will transition from a Declarant Board (where a majority of Board positions are held by Estrella’s Developer, Newland) to a Resident Board (where a majority of Board positions are held by VCA residents). The VCA Bylaws stipulate two important steps in this process:
• That the “Class B” or Declarant Control Period ends on 12/31/2021; and
• That an election be held within 90 days after this date.
At that election, which will be held in the first quarter of 2022, VCA Voting Members will elect three resident Board Members to serve on the VCA Board. The Declarant will appoint two members to serve on the VCA Board until the Annual Meeting in September 2022. Terms of the Resident and Declarant Board Members will expire at the 2022 Annual Meeting held in September. At that meeting, the VCA Board will increase to a seven-member Board of Directors, with six resident Board Members elected by the Voting Members and one Declarant-appointed Board Member. The terms of the elected resident Board Members will be staggered as follows: three Board Members shall serve terms of two years and three Board Members shall serve terms of one year. Terms will be determined by the highest vote count, so the three resident Board Members who receive the most votes will serve two-year terms; the next three resident Board Members will serve one-year terms.
The Nominating Committees of both Associations will hold a series of meetings in May and June to solicit candidates for the September Annual Meeting. These meetings will be publicized in our weekly emails and on the LifeInEstrella website when they are scheduled. In the meantime, if you are interested in serving your respective Association as a Board Member, please contact Sharon Thunstedt at sthunstedt@ccmcnet.com.
As you can see, there is a lot to prepare for in the next few months and in the next stages of governance in Estrella. This is an exciting time in the community, so be sure to stay tuned to upcoming issues of Life in Estrella magazine, log in to the LifeInEstrella website, follow our @LifeInEstrella Facebook and Instagram Pages and sign up for our weekly newsletters to learn more about the upcoming elections and the transition of the Villages Community Association.
