Warm Weather Tips - Why?

Here's a copy of the unpublished "Warm Weather Tips" for BLMH.

These were never published. I discussed the merits of such tips with the board early in 2018 and it was agreed they might be useful.   As usual, the Rules & Regulations Director didn't want to do this. So I  prepared them and they were presented to the board. After I got some feedback I revised these tips, but they were never used.

One concern was the fact that these tips were primarily about our rules.  However, that was intentional. In the warm weather violations go up. Flower pots are rested on second floor balcony railings above other owners heads. We have extensive grounds and some owners want to move into the common areas for the summer. They would love public parties, firepits, BBQs, sports games, and even portable pools.   Some would enjoy flea markets and so on.  Some store their cars on the street or parking areas and then leave for weeks or months.  That causes serious problems for maintenance crews and contractors.

However the rules prohibit all of the above.

Experienced board members, or those members who walk the grounds or interface with maintenance, management and contractors know of all of these issues. They are very visible. There are work stoppages in the summer while management attempts to locate the owners of automobiles parked while seal coating is underway, or a water main issue occurs and so on. Sometimes management gets calls from "out of towners" to advise them that "Our vacation is over, we are returning and could you check our car and put air in the tires for us?"  Etc.

Under my leadership there were frequent board discussions about fairness wherein all owners are treated equally. There were also discussions of issues from owner interference with contractors, both accidental and deliberate.

The summer tips were designed to answer questions and provide guidance to owners. In an association where we have difficulty getting a quorum of owners to vote, and seldom did more than six attend monthly meetings from the period 2011-2018, these types of newsletter communications made sense.

However, our most senior board member argued against these communications.  The position was basically "owners who are interested should come to meetings." But they don't! That attitude is why these tips were never published.

Nevertheless, I do think communications has merit. I pointed out to the boards of 2010-2018 that it would be preferred that owners be informed this way, rather than showing up in small numbers at meetings to simply ask the same questions over and over. Residents also call management office and do the same this.

But the rebuttal was "No one reads the newsletter."  That's a very self serving opinion, isn't it?