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March 2012  President's Newsletter

Greetings!

Spring is Here!
 
If the weather has finally turned the corner from gloomy to golden and we are seing the first signs of spring. Flowers will soon be in bloom and the neighbors you have missed all winter will once again be out enjoying all that your community has to offer.

Seminar
The Knowledge Base
 
Keeping your Board Meetings Short and Sweet 

All Cummings managers attended the State of Michigan CAI Conference in Novi, Friday, March 9, 2011. "The One Hour Meeting" session presented by Craig Huntington was a real eye opener.

I'm sure many of you can relate to how tedious a long and drawn out board meeting can be. This session of the CAI Conference was very helpful in educating our managers and Directors who attended the seminar in keeping your board meetings to one hour. A copy of Huntington's presentation can be found in the Board Resources section of our website. This is a copy of his PowerPoint Presentation so please be aware that it is mostly bullet points. However it is helpful and if you would like to focus on running your board meetings more efficiently please contact Kay Bushey at CPM to discuss. 


Kay's Blog
Reasonable Rules and Regulations
Your association has a number of rules and regulations that you ask co-owners to observe so everyone can maintain their property values and quality of life. You always try to be reasonable with your rules by following the guidelines of your By-Laws. If you believe a rule fails the "reasonable" test, then you must take a step back and ask how you can modify it.

This month's blog post covers the tricky subject of developing rules and regulations and the criteria that you should consider in doing so.

Click Here to continue reading.

In the month of April Cummings will be hosting a seminar "Handling Violation in Your Association" at our Flint office and the "Brighton Area Condominium Legal Seminar" at the Brighton District Library.

You can register by visiting our Seminar Page at www.cummingsmanagement.com   

Visit our blog 

Community Spotlight
Clover Ridge South

The summer of 2011 brought with it a catastrophic event for one of our communities. Clover Ridge South, a 24 unit association located in Grand Blanc lost an entire unit to a house fire.

In the days, weeks and months that followed the disaster the Board of Directors were called upon to make some very hard decisions.They relied heavily on the expertise of others to help guide them in the right direction.

We share the experiences that the Clover Ridge South Board and Co-Owners went through in the wake of this fire in an informative article. You can access the article in the Resource Center of our website.
 
Click Here to View the Article.     


  Going Green in Your Association

In recent years the term "green" has been bandied about with regards to everything from automobiles to home building. As the industry becomes more and more familiar with the practices of going "green" and LEED Certification becomes more main stream it might make sense from both a money savings stand point as well as a selling point for your association to begin considering your options for becoming more environmentally conscious. 

Use this  Link to read more
 
This informative article highlights the benefits of taking the next step in greening up your condo association. In the event that your board wants to move forward in the process it will take careful planning. In June Cummings will be hosting a long format seminar on community planning. This seminar would be a great forum to begin the conversation. Community Planning for Your Condo Association
I hope your spring begins well and that your association fared well through our mild Michigan winter. Please keep in mind that we are still taking volunteers for our Community Spotlight section of the newsletter. We would love to help you share your thoughts on any accomplishments that your community has experienced or disasters that you have overcome. Please e-mail me for details. 
Sincerely,
 
Kay Bushey
Cummings Property Management
810-715-5310
www.cummingsmanagement.com

We are offering a bonus to all of our current partners. If you live in a Cummings managed community and would like to have your monthly association dues paid by us then we have a great opportunity for you.

 
Your Community Web Portal
 
We provide an online service to help make our relationships with the communities we manage more transparent and efficient. Have you ever wondered what it is exactly that you are paying for in that monthly management fee? Click
Here for a quick presentation on the new online portal for your community.
    
Upcoming Seminars

April-
Wednesday 4/11  Handling Violation in your Association
Register

Monday 4/30
Brighton Condominium Legal Seminar
Register

May
Wednesday 5/9 Flint Area Condominium Legal Seminar
Register

Visit Our Seminar Page to See All Our Upcoming Events