The new year began both peaceably and with acceptable noise levels for the Memorial Northwest community. Well, I suppose the latter was true except for the usual spate of fireworks around midnight as well as a very well-attended New Year’s Eve party at our own Community Center. I’m not sure, but I believe the fireworks were drowned out by the music and merriment inside the building. We had a capacity crowd that was energetic, loquacious, and focused on enjoying the food, friends, and music. Our dance area was fairly well crowded most of the time, but I was mildly disappointed that I saw no one dancing with a lamp shade on their head. The term “and a great time was had by all” is a mild understatement. The success of this evening was possible for the countless number of people who contributed to the planning, but among those, our CC manager, Ann Kidney, should be singled out for special attention. She did a wonderful job, and as a special treat for the MNW HOA, Ann not only did not require any of the allocated funding from the HOA but returned a modest profit of $100. Thank you, Ann, from the entire community. Now, what are you going to do for next New Year’s Eve?

Our monthly meeting in February will be a General Homeowner’s Meeting to be immediately followed by our monthly Board meeting. While we have several agenda items, the most pressing issue is the swimming pool. As with any facility, repairs and maintenance are a fact of life, and a necessity. We have reached the point that some significant repairs are required to the pool. During recent Board meetings, however, there were suggestions about the scope of the repair proposal. These ideas ranged from doing nothing to revisiting the master plan presented to the community in 2012. The Board will consider four options at the February meeting before deciding the most appropriate course of action. The timing of the decision is important. If we proceed with repairs, construction must begin in February in order to avoid a negative impact on the swimming season. Therefore, the Board needs to make a decision in February.

Any decision by the Board concerning the pool, except for doing nothing, will impact the current budget. The dollar level of that impact depends on what is ultimately approved by the Board. Currently, funding options range from paying with available cash and no impact on homeowner assessments in the next year or so, to a loan and still-to-be-determined amount of increase in assessments starting next year. Due to the sensitive nature of household budgets, I believe it is necessary that we make informed decisions that reflect the needs of the MNW community. We solicit this input from you at the February general meeting.

If you attend the meeting, and we certainly hope you will, there will be a summary sheet that encompasses the four options along with the estimated cost and funding method for each option We will have an open forum for questions from homeowners, with the forum lasting approximately an hour or so. Individual comments and responses will be limited to no more than three minutes each in the interest of allowing as many as possible to address this issue. With the adjournment of the general meeting, a Board meeting will convene to evaluate and discuss the various options with the intent of reaching a decision about the pool facility. During the Board meeting, comments or questions from the floor cannot be entertained during the Board’s discussions. I ask that each of you honor this procedure as we move forward with this agenda item.

As several, or many, of you are aware, we have experienced, and continue to experience, some problems with facility access with the biometric reader system. Since the nature of these problems are recurring, with an apparent increase during cold weather, we will issue reader cards for homeowners who request them. The cards do not appear to be affected by weather changes, and the card issue is without cost to the homeowner.

Two street lights were recently replaced by Center Point after homeowners notified us the lights were out. I sincerely appreciate the notifications I received from homeowners about these lights. Security throughout the MNW community is perhaps the primary concern for all of us, and it takes active involvement by the community as a whole. We take seriously these concerns, I want to assure you the Board shares your concerns. Any comments or suggestions should be sent directly to our 2nd Vice President for Security, Mr. Bill Burton, who has done an admirable job. Alternatively, please express your ideas and concerns to your area director.

Finally, two additional items of interest. Thank you for your patience concerning recycling and trash pick-up during the holiday period. In the future, we will try to address the recycling issue to avoid the need for three weeks of storing recyclables. Second, Consolidated Management, our property management company, recently relocated offices. Some homeowners have experienced return of their assessment payments by the US Postal Service, and this is in spite of a valid forwarding order entered by Consolidated Management. They have addressed this issue with USPS and, hopefully, the problem is corrected. Regardless, no late fees will be levied until assessments are received after the end of January. Also, please remember that you also have the option for assessment payment by credit card.

Roy May
MNW Board President