Well, winter has not yet left Wheaton. Southwest Airlines has cancelled all flights at Midway Airport.
Above: Intermittently, for a time, boards informed owners of association finances
Newsletter 2008 excerpt is an example of earlier board willingness to communicate with owners.
The boards of 2019-2021 prefer not to do so.
https://tinyurl.com/BLMH2021
Life and observations in a HOA in the Briarcliffe Subdivision of Wheaton Illinois
Best if viewed on a PC
"Briarcliffe Lakes Manor Homes" and "Briarcliffe Lakes Homeowners Association"
Updated Surplus Numbers
Updated Surplus Numbers: Actual surplus 2018 per audit was $85,163.
Boards 2011-2018 implemented policies and procedures with specific goals:
stabilize owner fees, achieve maintenance objectives and achieve annual budget surpluses.
Any surplus was retained by the association.
The board elected in fall 2018 decided to increase owner fees, even in view of a large potential surplus
Average fees prior to 2019
Average fees per owner prior to 2019:
RED indicates the consequences had boards continued the fee policies prior to 2010,
BLUE indicates actual fees. These moderated when better policies and financial controls were put in place by boards
Better budgeting could have resulted in lower fees
Better budgeting could have resulted in lower fees:
RED line = actual fees enacted by boards,
BLUE line = alternate, fees, ultimately lower with same association income lower had
boards used better financial controls and focused on long term fee stability
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
February Winter Storm
Well, winter has not yet left Wheaton. Southwest Airlines has cancelled all flights at Midway Airport.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016
Dog Poop Dilemma
It's that time of year when the snow melts and all of that doggie doo is left behind. It's been suspended in layers of snow since December.
Some of our residents don't follow the rules. That's the way it is in America. We're all special and the rules don't apply to me!
Some think that their fees are best spent paying a maintenance company to go over our 15 acres of turf and pick up their crap. These are sometimes those who complain about fees and maintenance.
This is a problem all over the U.S. Here's how some deal with it:
Sunday, January 17, 2016
Brrrr! Cold Weather Warnings
Wind Chill Advisory
URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO IL 232 PM CST SUN JAN 17 2016 ILZ013-014-019>023-032-033-039-INZ001-002-010-011-019-180500- /O.CON.KLOT.WC.Y.0002.160118T0300Z-160118T1800Z/ DUPAGE-COOK-LA SALLE-KENDALL-GRUNDY-WILL-KANKAKEE-LIVINGSTON- IROQUOIS-FORD-LAKE IN-PORTER-NEWTON-JASPER-BENTON- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...WHEATON...CHICAGO...OTTAWA...OSWEGO... MORRIS...JOLIET...KANKAKEE...PONTIAC...WATSEKA...PAXTON...GARY... VALPARAISO...MOROCCO...RENSSELAER...FOWLER 232 PM CST SUN JAN 17 2016 /332 PM EST SUN JAN 17 2016/ ...WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM CST /10 PM EST/ THIS EVENING TO NOON CST /1 PM EST/ MONDAY... A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM CST /10 PM EST/ THIS EVENING TO NOON CST /1 PM EST/ MONDAY. * WIND CHILL VALUES...EXPECT WIND CHILLS TO RANGE FROM 20 AND 30 BELOW ZERO...WITH THE COLDEST WIND CHILLS OCCURRING AROUND 6 AM MONDAY. * IMPACTS...THE COLD WIND CHILLS WILL CAUSE FROSTBITE IN AS LITTLE AS 30 MINUTES TO EXPOSED SKIN. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT COLD AIR AND THE WIND WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. FROST BITE AND HYPOTHERMIA CAN OCCUR IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN. MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A HAT AND GLOVES. $$
Hazardous Weather Outlook
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL 306 PM CST SUN JAN 17 2016 ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032-033-039-INZ001-002-010-011-019- 182115- WINNEBAGO-BOONE-MCHENRY-LAKE ILLINOIS-OGLE-LEE-DE KALB-KANE- DUPAGE-COOK-LA SALLE-KENDALL-GRUNDY-WILL-KANKAKEE-LIVINGSTON- IROQUOIS-FORD-LAKE INDIANA-PORTER-NEWTON-JASPER-BENTON- 306 PM CST SUN JAN 17 2016 /406 PM EST SUN JAN 17 2016/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS... NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. WIND CHILLS OF 20 TO 30 BELOW ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT. ICE JAMS ARE POSSIBLE ON AREA RIVERS DUE TO COLD TEMPERATURES. IN ADDITION...PORTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER WILL REMAIN IN FLOOD. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. WIND CHILLS 20 TO 30 BELOW ARE EXPECTED THROUGH MONDAY MORNING. ICE JAMS ARE POSSIBLE ON AREA RIVERS DUE TO COLD WEATHER. IN ADDITION...PORTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER WILL REMAIN IN FLOOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NECESSARY THROUGH TONIGHT. && $$
Thursday, January 7, 2016
An El Niño Year
It's an El Niño year. However, the pattern has been reported as peaking. By Mid-January the pattern should be more normal. The coldest day of the year usually occurs sometime during the last three weeks of January.
Meanwhile, temperatures dip and sway and hover both above and below freezing. That makes for some unpleasant conditions in the vicinity of BLMH. Currently there is the following outlook for today by the National Weather Service:
Hazardous Weather Outlook
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHICAGO/ROMEOVILLE IL 349 PM CST THU JAN 7 2016 ILZ003>006-008-010>014-019>023-032-033-039-INZ001-002-010-011-019- 082200- WINNEBAGO-BOONE-MCHENRY-LAKE ILLINOIS-OGLE-LEE-DE KALB-KANE- DUPAGE-COOK-LA SALLE-KENDALL-GRUNDY-WILL-KANKAKEE-LIVINGSTON- IROQUOIS-FORD-LAKE INDIANA-PORTER-NEWTON-JASPER-BENTON- 349 PM CST THU JAN 7 2016 /449 PM EST THU JAN 7 2016/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS... NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. AREAS OF FOG WITH PATCHY DENSE FOG ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT. PORTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS AND KANKAKEE RIVERS REMAIN IN FLOOD. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS LIKELY FOR MUCH OF THE OUTLOOK AREA SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. A HIGH AMOUNT OF UNCERTAINTY REMAINS WITH THIS WEATHER SYSTEM TRACK AND THUS THE DURATION OF ANY SNOW. CONTINUE TO MONITOR FUTURE OUTLOOKS AND FORECASTS. PORTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS AND KANKAKEE RIVERS WILL REMAIN IN FLOOD THROUGH THE WEEKEND. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NECESSARY THROUGH TONIGHT. && $$
Friday, January 1, 2016
The Essential Internet
 |
| DSL Modem, Wi-Fi Router and 50 ft of cable |
I guess the internet has become one of those things we take for granted. Back at BLMH, I understand some of the neighbors are unhappy with the Cable Service Provider. The City of Wheaton has a contract with one provider and the only other TV options are satellite and over-the-air. The HOA being a PUD does maintain the water mains and sewers on the property. That's all. Electricity, natural gas, telephone, internet and cable TV are all the responsibility of the various utilities. The HOA is not involved.
That's not unusual. Arriving in my alternative location on December 22 I had only a few days to make utility arrangements before everyone "made merry" for the holidays.
I had little time to contact the various utilities and get things hooked up. First, I had to get a phone line, because you can't have DSL without one. This facility is a hard wired "PUD" sort of like BLMH. But they have their own cable TV system and phone system! There are some advantages to that arrangement but it isn't "free." Local telephone service costs about $25 per month, but onc can call anyone on the property for free. There is no cost to me for incoming calls or calls on the property.
The ISP provider is on a contract basis, just as in Wheaton, and BLMH has AT&T DSL or cable. However, the ISP here is a DSL system and one must have a phone line to get internet service. This service is slower than the high speed cable at BLMH.
Upon arrival I did all of those things necessary to get back into communications. My arrival was delayed and so we were right up against the holidays. A lot to do in only a few days. But everyone came through. I had brought a plug-in phone with me and 100ft of telephone cable, so I could connect to the pole. I got signed up for the phone and then after it was "turned on" I was able to hook up to the jack on the pole and verify it worked. Then I could call the ISP to order a DSL account. In between all of this there was the Christmas holiday.
I'd been running on my Verizon jetpack hot spot since the 22nd or using one of two internet "chat rooms" with wi-fi for residents. To get around one of the other things I had to do was get a bicycle. So on the 23rd off we went into shopping madness. But we found two bikes and now I had additional transportation.
The tech was scheduled for the afternoon of the 28th, but at 6:30pm we decided to postpone until the 29th. We finally got the DSL modem and a tech that evening. He hooked it up and I connected my laptop to it. Communications didn't work and he concluded their port was bad, and so it took until the following morning to get an account established. Finally at about 11:00 am on the 30th I had a working internet connection. But I needed to set up Wi-Fi to get my technology to work. I drove to a local electronics/computer store and purchased a Wi-Fi router and hooked it up and set up security, etc. I also purchased 50 ft of telephone cable to replace the 100ft spool I brought with me.
On December 30 we finally had functional internet here and I was able to enable the security on our tablet, two laptops and three smart phones.
Haven't had a lot of off time yet. Currently planning the CA business trip.
Monday, December 28, 2015
Another Year Comes to a Close
As December 28 approaches we are nearly upon the end of another calendar year. It is a time to pause and reflect. We might be inclined to wonder if 2016 will be more of the same, or better or worse than 2015.
I'm of the opinion that we should not expect things to be better unless we have put in place those things that are required to make 2016 a "better" year. In a HOA, if the boards, owners and other residents operate the same as they did last year, then it should be expected that the results will be no different than the previous year. Of course, there will always be circumstances beyond our control. I won't be worrying about those in 2016.
As for BLMH what is to be expected in 2016? It will be whatever we create as owners, residents and board members. Added to that will be a few breakdowns and a few surprises.
Living in a HOA is community living. If we think of life as having "ups and downs" and accept this as normal, then we discover that community living is like a heartbeat:
Community living involves certain risks. We assume our neighbors will be good neighbors and they assume we will also be good neighbors. We assume everyone will pay their fees, will keep the rules and will cooperate with management and the board.
We assume some people will show up to perform the tasks of board members. We also assume things will proceed smoothly. As the above graph demonstrates, even the blood flowing in our veins and arteries does so with some inconsistency.
Our heartbeat becomes smooth and unchanging only after death. So it is with life in general; only after we are dead will the chart be a straight line:
I expect 2016 will have ups and downs and more of the same as did 2015.
The attitude and involvement of our owners follows the classic bell shaped curve in which there are several distinct groups and most fall into the center. Here is an example of such a curve for grading tests; as can be seen, most test scores would be a "C" or average. There will be a few "A"s and at the other extreme a few "F"s. The curve shows the percentage of students who received each grade:
For example, there is the keeping of rules. That is measurable. Paying fees in a timely manner is a rule, completing census forms is a rule, cooperating with the neighbors in a community is a rule and so on.
Some owners don't keep the rules in any month. They may fail to pay their fees, may fail to move their vehicle preferring to store in on the street, leave their trash receptacles outm or may get into a feud with a neighbor. They will be the small group to the left of the curve. Most owners pay their fees in a timely manner, cooperate with the HOA management and the board and in general are nearly invisible to others and could be described as "good neighbors." They are the group in the middle. To the left of the curve are the group that doesn't vote at annual elections. To the right of the middle of the curve are those who do vote during annual elections. To the right is also a smaller group which attends HOA meetings, those who participates as committee members and further to the right are the members of the board (currently numbering 6 out of 336).
What we cannot predict is in which group each of our HOA owners will fall, beyond that obvious central group. In that group most owners will pay their fees and will be more or less invisible. Similarly if we charted events at our HOA, we could conclude that most will follow last year's events and fall within that central group of "C's".
If the above is correct, then why would we ever expect 2016 to be any different than 2015? Another way to say this is to state that if owners expect a "better" 2016 they will be the one's who create it. It won't happen by itself. In fact, entropy is the nature state of the universe. Unless we create a better future it will most likely be worse than the past.
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