Planning for a Smooth Transition: Mueller Property Owners Association (POA)

Brian Gramling Front Porch Flyer

Provided by Karen Sharp, Chair of the POA Transition Committee

The Mueller POA is the legal entity that owns and maintains the common elements in the Mueller development, such as the parks, the pools, the row home exteriors, and the POA also makes and enforces the rules that apply to all properties in Mueller. Since Mueller is a neighborhood with both residential and commercial property ownership, we actually have three associations that make up our POA. The Master Association includes all property owners, both residential and commercial. In addition, there are two geographically based sub-associations:  the Mixed Use Association (primarily residential) and the Employment Center/Town Center Association (primarily commercial), known as the EC/TC.    

Planning for Transition

Our POA is currently managed by the developer, Catellus, but over the next few years, control of some, and then all, of the POA will transition from Catellus to the property owners, both residential and commercial, within Mueller. To prepare for this eventuality, the Mueller Master Board formed a Transition Committee a few years ago to start working through issues that will need to be addressed for a smooth transition. The Transition Committee includes members of Catellus as well as residential and commercial property owners.

Seeking Community Input on Governance Options

One of the most important issues that the Transition Committee is tackling is the issue of governance, that is, mostly, how the Board of Directors for each of the three associations will be selected in the future. The Transition Committee has identified three potential approaches to the governance structure and will be seeking input this summer from the Mueller community.  

The first opportunity to provide input will be an interactive webinar hosted by Kathy Sokolic and Joe Freeland. In the webinar, the details will be provided on the governance options under consideration and community members will have the opportunity to submit questions during the webinar. Following the webinar, a community survey will be released so that the Transition Committee can receive input and opinions on the governance options under consideration from a larger segment of the community. The third opportunity to provide input will be in the form of a focus group (or groups) held after the survey. The focus group(s) will provide the opportunity to reflect on the survey results and dive deeper into topics that would benefit from more dialogue.

Stay tuned…

Be on the lookout for more information and specific dates to participate in the community input events. The Transition Committee will put out the word broadly through the POA weekly e-newsletter, the Mueller Messenger, through the Mueller Facebook Group, and through the Mueller Neighborhood Association newsletter and website. If you are not receiving the weekly POA Mueller Messenger via email contact [email protected] and request to be added to the distribution list. If you have questions about the information in this article, please contact Transition Committee Chair Karen Sharp at [email protected].