It is that time of year for elections at BLMH

Once each year our HOA holds elections for the board. I'm currently the association president, and I will run again for office. Why not make a contribution for as long as I am here? If the owners choose otherwise, that's their prerogative and it will free me up to pursue other commitments.

I prepared my "Candidates Form" and sent it to management. My form is a mission statement. I have specific goals:

"NAME: Norman _____________  BLMH ADDRESS: _______________

QUALIFICATIONS: Purchased (closed) my unit in February 2002. Served on the board November 2010 to present. Proven track record. Current president of the BLMH board and also served as Architecture & Maintenance director. I have expert knowledge of this association, and of business operations as founder, president and systems engineer for several high tech industrial automation firms from 1978 to present. Expanded these businesses during severe recessions and never laid off or docked the wages of a single employee. Received extensive communications, leadership and human potential training and trained the trainers. As a volunteer I am the recipient of the BSA District Award of Merit “for rendering service of an outstanding nature at the district level; this is the highest award at the district level” and I successfully completed Wood Badge. Currently I am also a published and paid free lance writer (on retainer) on matters of personal finance, retirement planning and investment. I am an entrepreneurial case study in a published book on personal financial planning. I am an advocate of continuous learning and personal improvement.

Since 2010 I advocated responsible, appropriate and necessary fees which have allowed the work achieved to date and maintained reserves, currently above $1 million. I voted for the recent, lower fee increases using extensive fact based financial analysis of the current, changing situation while acknowledging 30 year future projections with condition analysis. This includes frequent condition surveys. I converted problems into opportunities, spearheaded or reactivated numerous programs and worked with or on the teams that got the job done, despite some great difficulties. I practiced proactive leadership to deal with the fireplace issue and liaised with the city on this matter. I realigned priorities and openly encourage others to join the board and committees. I prepared the “newsletter” for about 5 years, which expanded with responsible, concise articles on association finance, procedures, priorities, planning, maintenance and projects. Projects completed included the replacement of Lakecliffe with a street engineered for 30+ years of service. Other projects included the proactive replacement of about 300 feet of water mains, stream repairs, excess soil removal with sod installation, substantial rain water handling improvements throughout the property and as part of the roofing project and others specifically designed to handle standing water, remediate muddy areas and so on. The roofing project will be completed in 2016; about 70% of the roofs were completed in 6 years. Replaced numerous garage floors, decks, patios, driveways, portions of walks, bridges, etc. Documented and published the extensive issues with surrounding COD and Wheaton storm water systems.

POLICIES/OBJECTIVES: I am in favor of reasonable and appropriate fees using realistic and fact based knowledge of the condition of the infrastructure of the entire association, while acknowledging the value of our units and the financial impact of fees on our owners. I advocate creative solutions to keep fees as low as possible today and in the future. Expand the owner participation recognizing that these are volunteer positions and we all have other things to do, and I encourage all including younger people to join the board and committees and strengthen our community. We each do make a difference. I want to expand the possibilities for this association. I advocate the expanded use of technology in our association and improved communications. I want to maintain the grounds and streams, establish priorities, improve our planning, preparation, project management and cost accounting. Continue frequent reserve study updates recognizing the extensive work that has been done. Maintain continuity of maintenance and replacement programs and avoid suspending or stopping them; it is so very important to maintain momentum because incompletions will accrue and will become costly breakdowns for future owners to deal with next year and beyond. I want to strengthen our liaison with all professionals including with management and our contractors. Use engineering professionals to solve long term issues and realign priorities. Improve our liaison with the city, recognizing that we are at least 1.25%of the city population.

TIME CONFLICTS (working/retired, etc.): I am 70 years of age and I currently work part time and I do have other commitments. I also travel extensively, yet I met or exceeded all objectives and requirements for a board member 2010 to date."

Wheaton Gets an A+

Niche released its list of 2016 Best Suburbs to Live in Illinois. Wheaton was ranked #14 and was given an A+ rating. The summary stated "Wheaton is a suburb in Illinois with 53,406 residents. It has very high home values, high rent costs, and average unemployment levels. Its citizens generally have high education levels and high income levels."

There are other reasons to live in Wheaton. It is more manageable than nearby Naperville, which also got an A+. Wheaton is 11 square miles while Naperville is 39 square miles. To determine more about the rankings, one has to go to the "Show Details" on the Niche website. I've included a link at the end of this post.

Nearby Warrenville and Lisle also got high rankings and were also ranked higher than nearby Glen Ellyn, which received a slightly lower A grade. Nearby Lombard also got an A grade.

Wheaton was ranked #14 and Glen Ellyn #37. Here are the rankings and grades of communities nearby Wheaton and in DuPage County:

Naperville, Grade A+, #1
Wheaton, Grade A+, #14
Warrenville, Grade A, #24
Lisle, Grade A, #27
Glen Ellyn, Grade A, #37
Lombard, Grade A, #39

Itasca at #96 was the lowest ranked DuPage County community in the top 100. It was given an overall grade of A- and was #96. The lowest overall score in the top 100 was an A-.

Naperville was noted as having "very high home values [and] very high rent costs." Wheaton was noted as having "high home values [and] high rent costs."

Niche includes reader reviews. I got a chuckle from this one about Wheaton. Obviously, this was culled from something several decades old: "It can be a little "dry", both literally (no alcohol sale) and figuratively (with not many exciting options nearby). Otherwise though, it has a very "nice" feel to it and you can definitely enjoy yourself with some good friends." Niche gave Wheaton an A- for nightlife, and yes alcoholic beverages flow freely in many restaurants. However, there is not a single bar in Wheaton city limits. There are "taverns" which serve food and beverages and at least one establishment that describes itself as a "gastropub."

I also suggest readers go to the link at the end of the post to compare details. Here are some interesting differences between Naperville (Ranked #1)  and Wheaton (Ranked #14). I'd suggest that the difference in rankings is about weightings, and for many of the communities in the top 25, the details need to be scrutinized. For example, what's more important? Nightlife or Crime and Safety? Overall, Naperville and Wheaton are ranked very closely, but one is 39 square miles and the other is 11 square miles:

                                                         Naperville                     Wheaton
Cost of Living:                                        C-                                C-
Education (BS or higher):                        A+                               A+
Public Schools:                                        A+                               A+
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Real Estate (strength of market)               B-                                B-
Diversity                                                 A-                                B+
Health and Fitness                                   A                                 A
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nightlife                                                  A                                A-
Shortest Commute                                   B+                              A
Crime and Safety                                     B+                              A-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Family Amenities (parks, libraries, etc.)     A                              A
Jobs                                                       B+                             B
Outdoor Activities                                    B-                             B-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Weather                                                     C+                              C+

Here is the link to the Niche website, and clicking on "show details" will give more details on the grading:

https://local.niche.com/rankings/suburbs/best-suburbs/s/illinois/

For more on the Niche website about Wheaton, go to this link:
https://k12.niche.com/t/wheaton-dupage-il/

After removal of the fireplace

I've just about completed the work to remove the fireplace. Here's a photo of the main living area. The fireplace was on the right. Removing it was a good choice, with a significant real estate tax reduction. I wanted an electric fireplace, but when I discovered this appliance would be listed as a "replacement" with the attendant tax increases, I decided to remove the original gas fired manufactured fireplace. Some day I might install a wall mount unit, but I can not see paying real estate taxes for an electric appliance!

Stream #1 is up and running

A lot of of work had to be done to replace four decks with major issues. These had been built nearly 40 years ago with wooden pilings sunk into a stream. Of course, the pilings which I'm sure were not treated timber eventually rotted. The decks were removed, and treatment beneath was made to minimize water incursion. The new decks are supported on new concrete piers.

After the new decks were built we did grading of the stream bed, added a new pond lining material and crushed stone was placed on that. Water is expensive, and we don't want to waste it.

A couple of days ago an owner complained about the work. "It's taking too long." Yep, 12 rain days which means 24 if we let the saturated soil drain. Streams aren't to be up until late May. My opinion? Condominium living isn't for everyone. Neither is home ownership. Some might be best in an apartment.

Fireplace Saga

Back in the late 1970s when this area of DuPage County became a real estate "boom town" a lot of residential construction occurred.

Some of it was shabby and even local communities made mistakes. Did you know that Naperville didn't meet the Federal standards for evacuation streets? Probably not.

Here in Wheaton, the city made some terrible mistakes. These included the retention ponds including #1 through #4, which it seems were inadequate. It also approved and inspected the installation of at least 500 defective manufactured fireplaces. They were defective because of improper installation, but the code inspectors didn't catch even one flawed installation!

It took two serious fires to bring light to the fireplace issue, and the city condemned the few ostensibly defective fireplaces it could find. "Better late than never."

I've spent a few $thousand having the fireplace in my condo removed to meet city requirements. That included an architectural drawing mandated by the city. Go figure.

The final step is tearing up portions of a $5,000 floor to repair it so it looks like new. Here is a photo of step one; removal of sections which ended at the now removed fireplace. It is a "floating" floor comprised of interlocking bamboo sections and on top of an underlayment which meets HOA guidelines and was approved by management in writing for installation about 5 years go. This type of floor makes this relatively easy. Only $500 in materials to do this simple job. But we had to find a distributor in Georgia who carries this particular floor, as it is no longer manufactured. I'm one of about 330 people in this HOA who have had had to go through this process.

962,668 Words

In recent months I've slowed the pace of posts for this blog. There are a number of reasons for this.

1. With 962,668 words published, there is a lot of content on most of the relevant subjects which is already published here. It's very easy to scroll down the list of topics on the right to get to just about every post. 
2. In recent years the HOA has improved the newsletters and many are on the web. So there is no point in duplicating content. 
3. All meetings of the HOA are open to all owners, and that includes the October budget meeting. Budget meetings are now regularly scheduled and discussed during the HOA annual meeting as well as during normal HOA meetings. 
4. As a current member of the HOA board, I am restrained from what I can publish without getting prior board approval. This has had a profound impact on depth and breadth of this blog. 
5. I do have an additional 141 posts which have not been published. Some are placeholder posts which I expand from time to time and which will eventually be published. Others are partially complete. Quite a few were not published because they became irrelevant or I considered them to be too "sensitive" for some readers. 

Comment: 

Just typing at 80 WPM would require over 200 hours to type the content of the published posts. I've also got hundreds of photos, charts and spreadsheet content. Add the research and so on, Writing articles for the HOA newsletter has been a trivial task compared to doing this blog! The difficulty with the newsletter has been getting board members "on board" and to provide articles.