On my last post I indicated that I was not going to run for office as a Summit Ridge HOA Director again. However, no one else came forward. Dan Dore was the only candidate for election. There were not enough votes cast in the election to reach our quorum requirements. At the second phase of the election (the second meeting) still no other candidates came forward. In order to keep the board at three members I accepted nomination from the floor and was elected to another term. The board needs to have three directors and no one was willing to come forward.
Again, I hope that in the next year some other people will decide to become involved in our community and stand for election for the board.
Bill Kroshl
It is May, and again time for the elections for Directors of the Summit Ridge Homeowner’s Association. This is the end of my 5th consecutive year as a Director (I finished out the final year of the original President’s term, and now am finishing out my second elected term as a Director). I have decided that I will take at least a year off, and not run for a another term this year. I will continue to maintain the website if the new board wishes me to do so.
I hope that others in our community will step up to the plate and consider running as a candidate for Director. I have always had good relations with our Directors: they are a fine, dedicated group who are trying to make a difference in our community. I hope that some of you will become interested and run for office.
Bill Kroshl
You only have to live here a short time to see why our town is called “Mount Airy”: the wind gusts that regularly blow thorough our neighborhood are pretty strong. So strong, in fact that I often see siding ripped from the houses and encounter blown off roof shingles in the street. Every year we have to call the roofing company in two or three times to fix a spot where the shingles have blown off.
We live in phase I, and are the original owners of our home. After 11 years we have had so much roof damage that we have contracted to have our roof completely redone and replaced with 50 year, 90 MPH guarantee shingles. As far as I can tell we are the third family to do a complete roof replacement.
Has anybody else had problems with their roofs? What have you had to do to fix them?
We are setting up a system of web based voting as an adjunct to the paper ballot and proxy system we use now for our HOA elections. Hopefully, with this system we can avoid the delay and expense of extra election meetings just to meet our quorum requirements. It would be nice if more people would participate in the voting process: usually we have about 30 votes which is only 15% of the homeowners. I would appreciate any comments.
Today we almost had a tragedy occur in Summit Ridge. It was dusk, and a resident was driving home. She thought she saw something unusual in the road ahead, and so moved very slowly to see it. It turned out to be a elementary age child who was relying on his dark clothing to “hide” for a game of hide and seek by laying out on the middle of the road. (not in by the parked cars, but right out in the middle). Had it been a little darker, or the driver a little less cautious, the story would have ended tragically rather than having the childirate because the car “gave away his hiding place”.
Any of us who are parents realize that kids will sometimes forget themselves and run out after a ball or a dog: but younger children need reminding that the street is not the place for sitting, reclining or playing. It also points out how important it is to follow the speed limits.
Thanks
The 4th Annual Summit Ridge HOA picnic will be held on Sunday, October 29th from 1:30 to 4:30. See the main Summit Ridge website (http://www.summitridge-mountairymd.com) site for the registration form and details.
We were unable to obtain the required number of homeowners to vote in our election in June. Our bylaws require that we must have at least one quarter of the homeowners represented for a valid quorum: in other words we need to have ballots, people or proxies from 50 homes in order for the election to be valid. If we don’t get that number, then we must hold another election, send out new notices and ballots.
Therefore, another ballot has been sent out, and we must hold another election meeting. This meeting is currently scheduled for August 9th. We will take whatever votes we had at the first meeting, and combine them with whatever new votes we receive, and that will be a valid quorum for the election.
I just published a revised association website. I am still working on it, but I think it is better than the old one. Please take a look and let me know what you think of the changes. I would especially like to encourage people to send in photos for the photo album.
Our blog’s purpose is to enable discussion about issues and provide a place where people with differing points of view can freely express their opinions. However, we will not post comments which consist of attacks against individuals or groups. Our intention is to help communication, not throw fuel on a fire.
Does anyone have an opinion they would like to share about the town election? As a director of the association, I won’t endorse any particular candidate on the website or the blog (even though I have some strong opinions on which candidates I will vote for, and which ones I will NOT vote for). I would only request that your comments stick to issues, and not to personal attacks (They won’t get published anyway).
I have been working on a complete revision to our website. I put the first site up in a hurry using the “sitebuilder” tools provided by our hosting company. Right now I am working on a new site which will have more flexibility. I am looking into the possiblity of having a password protected section where information could be shared among the homeowners: things like a place where homeowners could voluntarily put their contact information for a community directory only available to homeowners here in Summit Ridge. We might also offer a directory listing for those people who have home businesses. I would like to make the website more interactive and more useful, but the problem is always time. Please comment on what sorts of things you might want on the website.
The Summit Ridge Elections will be held in June. The last election really didn’t seem like an election: we had one opening and one candidate. In the 2004 election we had two openings and two candidates. I really hope that we more people who step up and are willing to be candidates for the board.
I also hope that we get enough participation in our election. According to our covenants, we must have a quorum of 50 households represented in order to have a valid election. That means that the total of ballots mailed in to the office ahead of the meeting, proxy ballots carried by other homeowners to the meeting, and the number of households represented at the annual meeting must be at least 50 households. If we don’t get sufficient numbers, we must announce another meeting, mail out announcements a month in advance, and then hold the election. The last two years we have had to have a second meeting and additional mailings, which cost our association funds. It costs about $200 to do a complete mailing for an election.
I don’t know if the lack of participation means that nobody really cares because they view the HOA as irrelevant, or if it means that they are really happy and just want us to keep going as we have been doing. Or, it could mean that people just don’t care.
As a part of the new look for our website we have set up this blog. We hope that it will be useful and start some online discussion.
Bill Kroshl