To:  Signature of Solon Home and Property Owners

From:  Signature of Solon Homeowner's Association Board of Trustees.

Re: Signature of Solon Gates

The purpose of this letter is to update homeowners of the gate operating status.

As you are aware the gates have not operated since the middle of June. The suggestion was made by some of our neighbors that we should open the gates because they were operating inconsistently and constant repairs did not improve reliability. After discussion at the June Board of Trustees meeting, we acted on the suggestion, opened the gates, and asked the Streets and Safety Committee to research options available to improve gate operations. One member of the committee volunteered to lead the investigation.

While a lot of information has been gathered regarding the gates and their operation the following conclusions have been drawn to date:

• Most gated communities have two to four gate operators.  Our community has twelve.  This increases the chances that one or more operators will experience a mechanical failure and operate inconsistently.

• Our neighbor, Barrington is a gated community with four operators.  They experience the same challenges as we have with their gates.  Their repair history indicates we should expect to pay about $1,500 per operator per year for maintenance and repairs.

• The Streets and Safety Committee made several recommendations, which they feel will improve gate reliability.

Action Door has quoted us a “not to exceed” price of $4,000 to make the recommended repairs and re-commission the gates. The Board of Trustees has approved the expenditure and work will begin as soon as possible.  The agreement with Action will be more proactive than in the past in that they will perform more preventive maintenance in an effort to keep the gates operating effectively and reduce emergency repairs.  Our goal is have most of the gates re-commissioned and running by October 1st.

The Trustees want to thank the homeowners for their patience while we addressed this challenging problem.  If you have any further questions or comments please contact a member of the Board of Trustees at your convenience.

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This News Update brought to you by: Bill Fiorilli, Loan Officer at 1^st Union Banc 1-800-647-2720 Extension 221