February 1st Update
By: Jim Hilker, President Caribbean Village HOA
I hope you all had a good week. I do enjoy sharing what goes on in the community each week. I know that you would have no way of knowing the dynamics of our community without this weekly update, and for me and the rest of the Board, we feel it is very important that you all know what goes on in CV every week, as well as what is coming up in the near future.
Our Board meetings each month are where we as a Board gather to formalize and vote on things we discuss, examine, and decide on during the previous weeks. Myself, Karen, Ramona, Joani, and David communicate with each other daily each week as we run the business of CV.
Our next Board meeting is Monday Feb 3rd at 5:30 PM. We welcome and encourage you to attend the monthly meetings, but our goal is to keep you regularly informed each week so that if you are unable to attend a meeting you won’t feel as though you missed anything. If you have any questions or concerns at any time, please use this website and the web forms on many of the pages to reach out to us. When you submit one of the forms, we immediately receive it in our email, and will respond very quickly.
Website Updates
There are two updates made to this website this past week:
New email addresses for each Board member added on the HOA Board page
Changed the Events calendar to a Google calendar for better display and efficient management.
Community Garage Sale
A CV community-wide Garage Sale is scheduled for Saturday February 22nd. 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM. All residents are invited to participate and sell, but please note that you MUST register to be a seller. Here is the informational flier you will need to read and take immediate action on if you intend to sell at the Community Garage Sale. You can still register even though the flier states a Feb 1 deadline.
C.E.R.T Committee Meeting
Community Emergency Response Team
February 12 there will be a meeting of the CERT Committee at 6:30 PM at the Clubhouse Meeting Room (see events calendar). This is the annual meeting to review and recommend any changes to the CERT document. The CERT Committee is in need of more volunteers and Street Liaisons. Please come to this meeting if you would like to help out the folks that are working to provide safety and security communications to the CV Community in times of natural or man-made emergencies.
Community Pool
Just a quick follow-up on the pool heating topic of the previous week. Currently two of the three pool heaters are non-functional, and the third one is very near the end of it’s life-cycle as well. We are currently seeking quotes to replace all three. We’ll update you on this as progress happens.
The county did an inspection this week. Things are good for the most part. We have a few things to address, but our pool remains compliant and open at this time. I spoke with the county inspector yesterday and she made a comment that it is good to see a community pool operational these days as she said so many others are closed down and awaiting major repairs since the hurricanes of 2024. It is yet another reminder of how blessed we are here at CV.
Landscaping Changes Coming
As we all know too well, Brightview has not provided our community with professional level service. We have tried over and over to get them to remedy this, but they just are unable to conform. Their service contract clearly states that they will provide us with industry-standard professional service, and they have failed that agreement for 13 months straight. For this reason, the Board agreed to locate a secure a new Landscaping company, which we have successfully done. On January 30th we sent the required termination notice to Brightview in accordance with the terms written in the contract. The contract mandated a 90-day notice, which we informed them we will abide with, however we have asked (encouraged) them to end sooner so that we can move on to a professional service company.
I have personally vetted the new company, Mint Condition Services. This is a small, local, owner-operator firm out of the Bradenton area. They service a few smaller communities, but are in a growth stage and in need of a slightly larger community for this growth. We will be their largest community and they are super-excited to be on-board with us and intend to display their professional work at Caribbean Village as their “ marketing showcase” as they slowly grow their business over the next couple of years. I have visited and spoke with a Board member of the second-largest community they service, and I was totally satisfied with everything I saw and heard. A side benefit is that we are saving over $12,000 in annual costs with Mint Condition Services, matching ALL services currently provided by Brightview, and they voluntarily locked in that price for 2026 as well, should we opt to renew with them at that time.
When Trey Brocke, owner of Mint Condition Services, met and toured CV with me, he saw the tipped-over tree in the common area by the Billfish-Parrotfish intersection and commented that he and his crew remedy those minor issues each week, rather than just mow around them. Of course I assumed he would charge extra for that, and he said “no, that’s just part of our professional service”.
It is our hope that Brightview will terminate and withdraw quickly. Mint Condition Services is standing by ready to roll in here and take over when we give the “okay”.
Mint Condition Services also offers professional pressure washing and exterior painting services at a discount to homeowners in the communities they provide landscaping service to as well. They will even give greater discounts for bulk packages, so we will be exploring how we can bring you all additional savings with this opportunity.
Did You Know?
The Declaration of Covenants, Section XI Maintenance, chapter 11.03 stipulates our homeowner responsibilities regarding broken irrigation components on our individual properties, and what we each are responsible for regarding out-of-pocket cost to repair?
It’s really important that we’re all aware of this so that if you have a leaking drip-line or sprinkler-head that you report needs fixing, you’ll know ahead of time if you will be assessed the cost of repair or not.
Download the Covenant document.