September 13, 2008

Aloha West Molokai Resort Condominium Homeowners (Kepuhi Beach Resort).

Re:       Annual Meeting of your Association (November 15th, 2008).

The Annual Meeting of your Association will be held Saturday, November 15th, commencing at 9 am.  The Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors will be held on Friday, November 14th 2008, at 9:00am. All Homeowners are cordially urged to attend both meetings. These will be held at the Maunaloa Community Center in Maunaloa.

The roofing project is being completed as I write this letter. It started in April and with a hiccup or two has progressed relatively smoothly. The roofs look great, even the sheds are done. The last nail on the last building should be driven during the week of September 1st. The hammering, sawing, scraping, machine noise will fade into the past to be replaced by the lawn mowers, blowers and hedge trimmers. Those, however, will happen only periodically. The grounds suffered as the roofing project progressed. In order to keep the larger machines from sinking into the grass we were not able to water the lawn and some of it went dormant and looks a little brown. We lost a number of watering heads and will be repairing a sidewalk or two. The highest priority is to fix the sprinklers, repair the rest of the damaged landscaping and bring the complex back to it best (green).  We will also examine each upper unit for nails and we will be cutting off any that protrude. The owners who have painted their ceiling will have some touch up to do; even those that did not paint their ceiling may need a dab of stain here and there.  

The Molokai Ranch/Properties closing continues to be felt by the community and the AOAO. The two public utilities (Molokai Public Utilities for water and Mosco for sewer) are separate companies although owned and operated by the Molokai Ranch. The Molokai Public Utilities appeared headed for bankruptcy. The Public Utilities Commission granted the Molokai Public Utility a temporary rate increase from $3.18 per 1000 gallons to $6.04 per 1000 gallons. Mosco was not granted a rate increase. The rate increase will begin September 1st and last until February 28, 2009. This will have a significant impact on the AOAO budget for water, which is currently running $46.000 per year; it will double. The West Molokai Association continues to work with Maui County to take over the two public utilities. If you have any questions, please direct them to the WMA.

Jeff Kent and I are still working on resolving the Hotel Lot maintenance issues. The Ranch is responsible for the hotel lot, common property and the pool. The pool is currently being maintained (some would argue poorly). The level of maintenance of the hotel lot and common area is the issue. So far we have seen minimal maintenance of the common property and hotel lot. We have documented the lack of maintenance. Those of you that have been on property recently have noticed that the maintenance of the common areas has deteriorated to the point of neglect. The AOAO has established the degree of neglect by the Hotel of the property with documented photos. The current maintenance level is unacceptable. The next step will necessitate that the AOAO take over some of the maintenance or we will lose all the plants and landscaping. We will bill the Ranch for this maintenance. We currently anticipate that litigation will be necessary to establish a level a maintenance that is acceptable to Kepuhi Beach Resort owners and the Ranch. I will continue to keep you informed about the status of our discussions with these monthly letters.

Some of you unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, will not be able to attend the Annual Meeting.  If you cannot attend the meeting, or even if you are attending (just in case), will you please take a few moments to fill out and return your proxy. Save your AOAO money by returning the proxy as soon as possible. You have 4 choices, i.e., either Box 1 or 2 if you elect to support your Board of Directors.  You can choose somebody who is going to attend the meeting by checking Box 3.  Or, if you elect not to appoint a proxy, please check Box 4, i.e., for Quorum purpose only.  Remember, we must have a quorum to hold a meeting.

You may return your proxy in the enclosed self addressed envelope or FAX it to Castle’s corporate sales office at (808) 521-9994.  Please remember that all proxies must be received before 4:30 pm on Thursday, November 13, 2008.

I am very truly yours,

James R. Drehle

President WMRCAOAO