Site search Web search

powered by FreeFind

| 04 Sep 10

February 2008 Newsletter

Topics Discussed

• Thanks
• Welcoming
• Be safe
• Ice melt
• Conserve
• Garbage
• Dumpster
• Budget / fees
• ByLaw Committee
• Next Meeting
• Budget

Thanks

We, as a committee, would like to thank you for all every one does and is doing to help us. We are proportionally effective as the help we receive so thank you.

Welcoming

Gerald Smith has headed our welcoming committee. This has proven to be a monumental task, as you might have guessed. We need your help in greeting new residents and letting us know about them. Please inform Gerald or your building representative by phone or just an e-mail will do. The purpose of the welcoming committee is to ensure that every resident gets all the needed forms, documents, and feels welcome in our community. Thanks for your support.

Be safe

This season can be hazardous with the ice, snow, and cold. Please be safe.

Ice melt

We have noticed that some buildings are using more ice melt than others for the same level of snow. Please use the ice melt prudently. The ice melt is for ice. If used on snow, it uses too much ice melt to melt all of the snow. Using the ice melt sparingly will help save money. The more ice melt we waste the more money we have to spend. This is not telling you not to use it when it is called for. By all means use as much as needed for the job.

Conserve

Help us conserve. In looking at all the bills we noticed that some of the bills are subject to all of our use - similar to the ice melt. We need everyone to help conserve on our utilities to save money. Beware of a dripping faucet. If one third of the units had a dripping faucet that dripped once every 3 seconds we would waste 126 gallons of water every day. That equals to 46,287 gallons per year. This is not the only area where we can help conserve just the only one sited as an example.

Garbage

We have been reviewing our bills and have revised our garbage contract. We are now using Waste Management. Making this switch is a 50% savings. We had also revised the number of collections per week, and the size of the bins. In order to make this work we need to conserve our waste. Try not to cover the opening of the bin. When filling the bins fill from the back of the bin to the front. This will help others that cannot throw their waste over the top to the back and will optimize the space in the bin. Also it will help if large items are broken down before being put in the bin.

Dumpster

We are looking into getting a large dumpster in the spring for spring cleaning. We would like some feedback on whether it would get used if we ordered it. Please let us know.

Budget / fees

Once again we are bringing up the topic of budget. You already know that we have be scrutinizing our bills trying to get us in the black. After months of bids and revision to the budget we have decided to raise the monthly dues by $10 a month. This raises the dues to $135. This will begin on April 1st 2008. Attached is the budget and the explanation of the raised fees.

ByLaw Committee

We have had several people already volunteer for the bylaw committee, but we are need of some more help. We could use two more people for the committee. If you are interested please contact Doris Ellenburg or someone on the committee. Thank you to those who have already volunteered for the committee.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on 21 February 2008 at 7:30PM. Contact Tom Powell to be on the agenda.

Budget

As the committee of Garden Park, we have been examining the bills we have to pay each month and have succeeded in lowering some of them. We have put together the budget on the left for this fiscal year, Sept 2007 - Aug 2008. We will try very hard to remain within this budget even though 5 months of the year have already passed.
We plan to install turtle vents on the roofs of the buildings so that the attics don’t get as hot in the summer. The excess heat hurts the shingles and the trusses.
We will begin re-painting the buildings in the Park. This year we will mainly work on getting the black trim looking good again. We will paint as many buildings as time and money allow.
We will continue fixing the pool so the tiles will look good when it opens.
We hope to seal the worst leaks on the carport roofs.
We plan to smooth off the worst places on the sidewalks around the Park.
Even with all the cutting of expenses that has been accomplished, we cannot pay the bills and keep Garden Park looking nice without raising the monthly fees. The last fee increase was $15 a month starting March 1, 2006. The CURRENT FEE INCREASE of $10 will begin April 1, 2008 making the monthly dues $135 per month.
Thank you for your help with Garden Park.
Tom, Norm, Gerald, Larry, and Reeding