By: Robert LaMontaqne, MBA, CMCA^®

So often I hear people quote the Robert Frost Poem Mending Wall.  They are fond of quoting the hackneyed phrase: “Good fences make good neighbors.” 

What many people don’t know is that Mending Wall is not about fences making good neighbors at all.  In fact, Mr. Frost responds to his neighbor’s contention that fences make good neighbors with the question: "Why do they make good neighbors?”  He goes on to give, what I believe, is some good advice.  He writes:

Do good fences really make good neighbors?  It’s hard to say.  But I can tell you how to keep your dream fence from becoming a bone of contention between you and your neighbors.

By: Dr. Michael McAleer
Pathways Mediation Services
www.pathwaysmediation.net

I am old enough to remember Laurel and Hardy.  One of their stock lines was “Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into.”  As an HOA Board member or just a homeowner have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever just looked around and suddenly said: “How did we get here?”  All of us have and all of us have scrambled then to get out of the mess.  Peter Senge in The Fifth Discipline mentions a few laws of how systems really work.  In my last article I mentioned three things that sometimes indicate an organization has a learning disability.  This article deals with some of the “laws” or processes that may be operating around us.

By: Dr. Michael McAleer
Pathways Mediation Services
www.pathwaysmediation.net

Everyone knows that HOA’s and HOA Boards are often in a continual dance for “which one is right.”  Sometimes that spills over into lawsuits, open revolts by homeowners, or worse.  How can HOA Board members act proactively to stop some of that dance of near death?  I am a big fan of The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge.  In the Chapter entitled “Does Your Organization Have a Learning Disability?” he mentions three problems I see might affect HOA Boards.  Now, before you say, “that isn’t us,” read the next three paragraphs.

As a result of several high-profile pool accidents involving children, Congress passed the "Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act" as part of a larger energy bill late last year.  Virginia Baker was the granddaughter of former Secretary of State James Baker who died when she was trapped by the suction of the pool drain at her neighbor's pool party.  She was one of more than 750 children who died in pool-related drownings in 2004.

The act attempts to address the hidden danger posed by filter intake drains in pools and spas.  A little known danger is that such drains and intakes can exert incredible pressure when covered, and horrific injuries ranging from drowning to evisceration have been reported.  The act requires that all public pools and spas take affirmative steps to mitigate intake-entrapment issues by the end of 2008.  The act also imposes a set of minimum state law requirements for pool safety.

Sure, you may know how to use a fertilizer spreader, but do you really know how to fertilize your lawn?

Your lawn needs 16 different elements to survive, most of them are already provided by the soil. However, three primary elements need to be added to your lawn in the form of fertilizer. These are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.

Emerald ash borer (EAB), Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, is an exotic beetle that was discovered in southeastern Michigan near Detroit in the summer of 2002. The adult beetles nibble on ash foliage but cause little damage. The larvae (the immature stage) feed on the inner bark of ash trees, disrupting the tree's ability to transport water and nutrients. Emerald ash borer probably arrived in the United States on solid wood packing material carried in cargo ships or airplanes originating in its native Asia. Emerald ash borer is also established in Windsor, Ontario, was found in Ohio in 2003, northern Indiana in 2004, northern Illinois in 2006 and western Pennsylvania in 2007. Since its discovery, EAB has:

• Killed more than 20 million ash trees in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. Most of the devastation is in southeastern Michigan.
• Caused regulatory agencies and the USDA to enforce quarantines (Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania) and fines to prevent potentially infested ash trees, logs or hardwood firewood from moving out of areas where EAB occurs.
• Cost municipalities, property owners, nursery operators and forest products industries tens of millions of dollars.

Learn More  

If everyone understand the fundamentals of how community is organized and how it operates, we will know how the communication system works and what to do if we have a question or concern. Also, from this informed position, we can ponder - together - the more intangible "bigger picture" issues such as long range planning, transition, quality of life, safety, enhancement, beautification, property values and how to create a sense of community.

Perhaps by reviewing the basics in the article ahead and considering the possibilities, we will understand why it is important that individual residents become involved and then, let us be motivated to do so.

LOSS ASSESSMENT COVERAGE:
IT CAN COVER THE COSTS OF SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS--WHICH ARE INCREASINGLY COMMON--YET MANY OWNERS DON'T CARRY IT.
By: John C. Hebden

Special assessment is an unmentionable word for many community associations. Boards of directors, however, are starting to mention that word more frequently. As boards wrestle with a variety of unforeseen problems--natural disasters, roofing and plastic plumbing defects, newly discovered environmental hazards--they are often faced with the unpleasant option of assessing their neighbors.

Homeowner associations are often portrayed as the detached governed by thankless volunteers. It's the blind leading the blind....the clueless in charge of those that could care less. So how should this union of the unwilling go about acquiring the wisdom it needs?