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Posted By ElaineI on 04/14/2023 3:42 AM
Good Morning,
You guys have been amazing so I figured I would reach out again. We have a problem in our community with people using the pool that don't live here. We know the fence needs to be higher but that is an expense at this time that is not in the budget sooooooo.. What kind of security do you have? What type of locks do you have on your gate? We have a Key fob in the front but the back has a Push Bar and people can actually can reach over and open it on the backside.
Any suggestion will be helpful so I can pass it along to the Board.
Thank you in advance.
Apologies for being late to the party on this - ironically, I've been busy with pool stuff: negotiating and scheduling lifeguards, setting up hours of operation, working 'bugs' out of the gate access system, etc. Our pool is typically closed on Mondays for maintenance, but we make an exception for Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Independence day when they include a Monday. I've been using the local school district calendar for a reference - then I noticed on my iPad calendar that Juneteenth (19 June) falls on Monday this year. So we're opening up the pool for Juneteenth, too! The weird part to me is that it wasn't on the school district calendar. Oh well.
Re OP's questions: we've got a key fob system, too. And we have issues with people climbing the fence. And a BIG issue earlier this year with a homeless fellow who took to wrecking stuff. We're looking at getting fence extensions to discourage climbing, but (sorry) I don't have much I can report about it.
It's funny that you mention 'reaching over' and opening the gate: while dealing with the homeless fellow, I chanced to see an unrelated incident play out on video, where a woman reached over with a short piece of 2x4 and banged the push bar and *voila!* she was in. I was like "wow, I gotta try that!" so I did - I found it was more difficult than it looked. We're looking at covering up the gaps in the gate that allow this trick, but - it's not a high priority.
We lease security cameras from a local provider; the provider has been great, but the value of security video is, IMHO, highly overrated. One thing I'd advise is testing that you can ID people by their key fob access. Last year we had an 'incident' at the pool where some residents threw a wild party that made a huge mess. We had video, we asked our mgmt company to ID the people who fobbed in at such and such a time, and - essentially, our mgmt company let us down. We've got a new mgmt company, and they've been much better.
One last thing: we've got lifeguards again, after not having lifeguards for the past couple of years. There is thought that the mere presence of lifeguards may inhibit a certain amount of gate-crashing and other uncivil behavior. We'll have to wait and see how it plays out, but I'm hopeful.
Several summers ago, I witnessed a car full of teens cruise past the pool. They stopped and an attractive young woman in a swimsuit got out, the car drove away, and she tried but couldn't get the gate open. Until a young neighbor fellow gallantly opened the gate for her. And 5 minutes later the car returned, parked, 4 or 5 people in swimwear got out, and the aforementioned attractive young woman opened the gate and let them in. I thought it was hilarious.
I understand that this kind of thing is 'wrong', but I don't really have much problem with it in small doses. It's summer, they're teenagers. Better they spend the day swimming than taking drugs or getting drunk or listening to that demonic rock 'music' stuff that teenagers nowadays are all into. Also, to be blunt, they're a lot easier on the eye than the usual neighborhood pool crowd.
Bill
HOA Board ex-President
Austin, Texas USA
âYou canât put too much water in a nuclear reactorâ
