What’s Going on With the Gates?    

Most of us can’t imagine our world without technology. Our cell phones always are nearby and are linked to our computers and tablets to make sure we don’t miss anything. We open our garage with the push of a button and turn the lights in our home off and on from an app on our phones. But when that technology fails, and inevitably it will, the convenience we know and love can seem threatened, resulting in a very bad day.

Your Association has been experiencing some of these bad days lately as we work through damage caused by a recent lightning storm that occurred in July affecting hardware at some of our gates and resulting in connectivity issues. Simultaneously, we already had planned to replace RFID readers and Call Boxes around the island in 2024 and were in the process of preparing to change out the Call Boxes at our five unstaffed gates (i.e., Deer Creek McWhorter, Deer Creek North, Marshview Landing, Moon River Landing, and Oakridge), as well as the North gate, which is not staffed fulltime. 

Staff have been working with our IT Provider to restore connectivity and replace damaged switches and hardware, with this work now being completed. At the same time, we worked with our gate vendor to identify what hardware was damaged and begin the process of replacing the Call Boxes. Along the way, we’ve encountered some delays, including supply chain issues, with items being out of stock -- a seemingly common issue since COVID-19. However, we are happy to report that at the time of this writing, most of the new RFID readers have been installed, we’ve been successful in getting the new Call Boxes covered by warranty, and work has begun on the Call Box installations.

We share this information so that members are aware that your Association realizes the Gate/Call Box issues we have been experiencing lately are both inconvenient and frustrating, and we apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as we worked to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.