Emerald Management & Consulting LLC

I am writing to you as a representative of Emerald Management & Consulting in response to a complaint filed by [redacted] on or about January 12, regarding our business Emerald Management & Consulting was contracted by the Lakemont Ridge Homeowners Association to provide certain services to the Association as a wholeThese services include, among others, providing counseling and advice to the Board, then using reasonable efforts to implement the decisions of the BoardWe are also contracted to provide emergency services outside of regular business hours through the use of a third-party, independent service seven days a week, for the purpose of communicating with and assisting owners in response to emergency conditions which may involve a danger to life or property Emerald Management & Consulting presented the Lakemont Ridge Board of Directors with a proposed contract from Seattle Snow for snow removal services on December 2, and highly recommended that the Board sign the contract that would provide automatic dispatch for snow removal based on predetermined weather criteriaThe Board discussed the pros and cons of engaging a regular snow and ice removal service, but declined to sign the contract due to costThe Board President agreed to be the point person to call Seattle Snow if the Association needed serviceEmerald Management & Consulting reminded the Board that failure to sign a contract would result in the Association being served only after all regular contracted clients were served and only if time permittedThe Board agreed to take that chance On January 1, 2017, a weather event occurred that would have triggered the automatic dispatch of the truck to plow and/or spray deicer if the Association had a contract in place with a snow removal vendorThe Board President called Seattle Snow to request that a truck be dispatchedThe dispatcher agreed to send a truck to plow and/or spray deicer before checking to make sure that the Association had a contract in placeThey were unable to send a truck at that time due to the lack of contractNone of this information was relayed to Emerald Management & Consulting at the time Seattle Snow was contacted Emerald Management & Consulting was only made aware of this situation on January 2, 2017, by our emergency vendor as this was a holiday weekend and our office was closedWe asked our emergency vendor to go to Lakemont Ridge to spread granular deicer to the arterial roads and sidewalks, which was done on that dayWe then contacted Seattle Snow and negotiated a one-time contract on behalf of the Association to dispatch a truck to plow and/or spray deicerSeattle Snow sent a truck to spray deicer to the community roads on January 3, 2017, and as a courtesy, this information was communicated to all owners, including [redacted] via email on January 3, at 1:59pm On January 4, 2017, the Board approved and signed a written contract with Seattle Snow for an automatic dispatch snow plow and/or deicer serviceOn January 6, 2017, Emerald Management & Consulting asked our emergency vendor to return to the property to spread granular deicer in the parking lot between the cars, on the sidewalks and to fill buckets with deicer for owners to use between professional treatmentsOn January 7, 2017, and again on January 9, 2017, the weather criteria were met to automatically dispatch a truck to plow and/or spray deicer, which was done on each of these dates.The Lakemont Ridge homeowners each contract directly with Allied Waste for garbage and recycle pick upIt was brought to our attention by one of the homeowners that Allied Waste was unable to provide garbage and recycle piservice to the community and the surrounding area on January 3, 2017, due to icy road conditionsIt is our understanding that Allied Waste posted this information on their website, indicating that garbage should be brought back in by owners, and an allowance would be made for extra pick up on the next regular service dateEmerald Management & Consulting did not receive this communication as the Association does not contract garbage and recycle pick up for the community As regards to [redacted] ’s statement that “Emerald Management & Consulting has ignored requests from homeowners and created unnecessary and undo (sic) hardship to the community”, we have advised [redacted] on previous matters brought to Emerald Management & Consulting by [redacted] that all homeowner complaints and concerns are addressed with the Board of Directors by the manager, and the Board’s decision is then communicated to the owners via email, in person or by US postal serviceAs a former Board Member, [redacted] should understand that the management company works at the discretion of the Board of Directors and is not authorized to make decisions for the Board of Directors or sign contracts on behalf of the Association without Board approvalThe governing documents of the Lakemont Ridge Homeowners Association define the due process for owners to follow to be heard by the Board of DirectorsAs an owner and member of the Association, [redacted] has the option to attend Board meetings, request a hearing with the Board to address his complaints and/or concerns, and provide to the management company, in writing, items that are of concern [redacted] has chosen not to attend Board meetings or request a hearing with the Board of Directors, and all emails sent to Emerald Management & Consulting by [redacted] have been addressed in a timely manner with the resolution as determined by the Board of Directors Emerald Management & Consulting has acted as directed by the Lakemont Ridge Board of Directors, and they have assured us that they are satisfied with our actionsWe trust that our explanation will resolve this matter

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:The information in the letter from Emerald Management is not accurate or true. In their letter Emerald indicates response were provided in a timely manner when in fact on this occasion as with others, representatives from Emerald (example - [redacted] J[redacted]) never responded to requests. Furthermore, Emerald's letter misses the point of the complaint entirely. During this emergency situation instead of "leaning in" to assist the community they are paid to work for, Emerald ran from their responsibilities. Only when a formal complaint was filed did Jean and her team respond in detail about how contracts are managed, etc.Emerald failed the community by not providing support when the community needed it the most. The tone of their response, along with inaccurate and untrue statements validates their poor performance.I have many examples of emails sent to Emerald in which a response was either never provided by authorized representatives (example - [redacted] J[redacted]) or the response were far from "timely" as Emerald claims.Sincerely,[redacted]

I am writing to you as a representative of Emerald Management & Consulting in response to a complaint filed by [redacted] on or about January 12, 2017 regarding our business.
Emerald Management & Consulting was contracted by the Lakemont Ridge Homeowners Association to provide certain...

services to the Association as a whole. These services include, among others, providing counseling and advice to the Board, then using reasonable efforts to implement the decisions of the Board. We are also contracted to provide emergency services outside of regular business hours through the use of a third-party, independent service seven days a week, for the purpose of communicating with and assisting owners in response to emergency conditions which may involve a danger to life or property.
Emerald Management & Consulting presented the Lakemont Ridge Board of Directors with a proposed contract from Seattle Snow for snow removal services on December 2, 2016 and highly recommended that the Board sign the contract that would provide automatic dispatch for snow removal based on predetermined weather criteria. The Board discussed the pros and cons of engaging a regular snow and ice removal service, but declined to sign the contract due to cost. The Board President agreed to be the point person to call Seattle Snow if the Association needed service. Emerald Management & Consulting reminded the Board that failure to sign a contract would result in the Association being served only after all regular contracted clients were served and only if time permitted. The Board agreed to take that chance.
On January 1, 2017, a weather event occurred that would have triggered the automatic dispatch of the truck to plow and/or spray deicer if the Association had a contract in place with a snow removal vendor. The Board President called Seattle Snow to request that a truck be dispatched. The dispatcher agreed to send a truck to plow and/or spray deicer before checking to make sure that the Association had a contract in place. They were unable to send a truck at that time due to the lack of contract. None of this information was relayed to Emerald Management & Consulting at the time Seattle Snow was contacted.
Emerald Management & Consulting was only made aware of this situation on January 2, 2017, by our emergency vendor as this was a holiday weekend and our office was closed. We asked our emergency vendor to go to Lakemont Ridge to spread granular deicer to the arterial roads and sidewalks, which was done on that day. We then contacted Seattle Snow and negotiated a one-time contract on behalf of the Association to dispatch a truck to plow and/or spray deicer. Seattle Snow sent a truck to spray deicer to the community roads on January 3, 2017, and as a courtesy, this information was communicated to all owners, including [redacted] via email on January 3, 2017 at 1:59pm.
On January 4, 2017, the Board approved and signed a written contract with Seattle Snow for an automatic dispatch snow plow and/or deicer service. On January 6, 2017, Emerald Management & Consulting asked our emergency vendor to return to the property to spread granular deicer in the parking lot between the cars, on the sidewalks and to fill buckets with deicer for owners to use between professional treatments. On January 7, 2017, and again on January 9, 2017, the weather criteria were met to automatically dispatch a truck to plow and/or spray deicer, which was done on each of these dates.The Lakemont Ridge homeowners each contract directly with Allied Waste for garbage and recycle pick up. It was brought to our attention by one of the homeowners that Allied Waste was unable to provide garbage and recycle pick-up service to the community and the surrounding area on January 3, 2017, due to icy road conditions. It is our understanding that Allied Waste posted this information on their website, indicating that garbage should be brought back in by owners, and an allowance would be made for extra pick up on the next regular service date. Emerald Management & Consulting did not receive this communication as the Association does not contract garbage and recycle pick up for the community.
As regards to [redacted]’s statement that “Emerald Management & Consulting has… ignored requests from homeowners and created unnecessary and undo (sic) hardship to the community”, we have advised [redacted] on previous matters brought to Emerald Management & Consulting by [redacted] that all homeowner complaints and concerns are addressed with the Board of Directors by the manager, and the Board’s decision is then communicated to the owners via email, in person or by US postal service. As a former Board Member, [redacted] should understand that the management company works at the discretion of the Board of Directors and is not authorized to make decisions for the Board of Directors or sign contracts on behalf of the Association without Board approval. The governing documents of the Lakemont Ridge Homeowners Association define the due process for owners to follow to be heard by the Board of Directors. As an owner and member of the Association, [redacted] has the option to attend Board meetings, request a hearing with the Board to address his complaints and/or concerns, and provide to the management company, in writing, items that are of concern. [redacted] has chosen not to attend Board meetings or request a hearing with the Board of Directors, and all emails sent to Emerald Management & Consulting by [redacted] have been addressed in a timely manner with the resolution as determined by the Board of Directors.
Emerald Management & Consulting has acted as directed by the Lakemont Ridge Board of Directors, and they have assured us that they are satisfied with our actions. We trust that our explanation will resolve this matter.

A member of our community, [redacted], recently contacted the Revdex.com and the Washington Consumer Protection Division with a number of complaints against our property management company, Emerald Management & Consulting. His main complaint was that Emerald Management was unresponsive to the community during the early January snow/ice event, leaving our property in peril and disarray. As well as wanting the Revdex.com/CRC to have this complaint on record, he is demanding the Board of Lakemont Ridge withhold contracted payments to Emerald and terminate their contract with us.
The truth of the matter is that in early December we were asked by our designated property manager, [redacted] of Emerald Management, to sign a contract with Seattle Snow for automatic deployment of services in the event of ice or snow on our roads. Our Board President believed that auto deployment could cost our HOA extra money, and did not want a contract for services. He agreed to be the point person to liaise with Seattle Snow to ask for service on an as-requested basis. The Board agreed to try this. [redacted] advised us against it – she told us we would be Seattle Snow’s last priority if a major weather event occurred. Seattle Snow also told us that they could not guarantee service on an as-needed basis without a contract.
Unfortunately, we did have a snow/ice event over the New Year’s weekend. Our President did contact Seattle Snow, and as we were warned, they were unable to provide service to us. As soon as they were aware of the situation, Emerald arranged for some de-icer to be manually applied around the community. Immediately after the holiday weekend, [redacted] contacted Seattle Snow and arranged a contract for auto-deployment, which the Board signed. The Board regrets not following the advice [redacted] gave us, but we had the best of intentions in trying an option that we believed could save our Association money. Bottom line, this event was in no way the fault or responsibility of Emerald Management, they did everything right under the circumstances, and helped the Board remedy our mistake quickly.
Mr. [redacted]’s complaint regarding the missed garbage pickup is without merit. We as individual homeowners contract with the waste company, and Emerald has in no way any involvement or responsibility. The waste company is clear that in a weather event, they may not pick up on the designated day, but will take extra garbage the next week. Some homeowners left their garbage/recycling containers out for a few extra days with the mistaken belief that there would be service the next day. Mr. [redacted]’s description of the community as an unsightly mess is a gross exaggeration.
Mr. [redacted] is a disgruntled homeowner who has frequent complaints. He was on the Board of Directors for a short time, but abruptly resigned after having issues with the cooperation necessary to get work done in a group environment. His weapon of choice is numerous emails to the Board and Emerald, containing allegations of incompetence and neglect bordering on criminality. We have all tried to communicate with him in a reasonable and respectful manner, but his communications with us continue to escalate negatively.
We, as a Board, are very upset at the outrageous allegations Mr. [redacted] has made against Emerald. We hired Emerald to be our property manager after our previous management company’s incompetence led to neglect of our community. When Emerald took over, we were overwhelmed with deferred maintenance and inaccurate financial records. Emerald worked very hard to remedy our issues. Ongoing, they are responsive to requests from the Board and homeowners. The vendors they refer to us for projects have provided us with great service. They have given us sound advice and guidance as needed. Our community is a better place because of Emerald’s hard work and dedication.
We as the Board of Directors of Lakemont Ridge HOA ask that you disregard these complaints from [redacted]. They are without merit. Emerald Management & Consulting deserve to remain in good standing with the Revdex.com and CRC.
If you wish to contact us, we can be reached through our Vice-President, Suzanne C[redacted], at [redacted]@lakemontridge.com, or her phone number [redacted].
Sincerely,Lakemont Ridge HOA Board of Directors