Bed bugs have been a growing threat in community environments. The City of Chicago's response was to pass a new ordinance on June 5th. It will go into effect on December 2nd of this year. Bed bugs have been declared a public nuisance and specific actions will be required of community associations.

 Condominium and cooperative communities will be required to have a pest management plan in place for the detection, inspection and treatment of bed bugs by March 2, 2014. Condominium unit owners and lessees with a proprietary lease in a cooperative will be required to notify the governing organization of their community of any suspected or real bed bug threats in their unit. Full cooperation and collaboration with community government must be provided to assure the control, treatment and eradication of bed bugs.

The ordinance provides details regarding treatment methods to be used as approved by the Department of Public Health rules and regulations. This is very important to understand because the eradication of bed bugs is very difficult. It is important that community associations become familiar with this ordinance and put a pest management plan in place as required. The full ordinance can be found at
www.cityofchicago.org

The Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshall withdrew their proposed mandate to require residential high rise buildings made up of one and two family dwellings within community associations to install automatic fire sprinkler systems. The proposed rules were issued to the Illinois Legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR). These rules were also to be imposed on building communities built before 1975.

Objections to the proposed rules were voiced by many community associations as well as industry related organizations and businesses. An angry capacity crowd turned out at a town hall meeting that took place at Roosevelt University in Chicago on July 31st. State Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) thought he had confirmation that State Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis would appear. Instead, Kathy Stasiak an Engineer for the Fire Marshall's office was present. She tried to do a presentation for the angry crowd but was shouted down.

The expense of installing fire sprinkler systems within the next three years would have been a crushing and overwhelming financial burden. Installing these systems in older buildings is a major project. In some cases, there are other ways of insuring fire safety that work well with less cost for some communities. Many community associations have already spent money on less stringent systems as mandated by local municipal law. The mandate proposed by the IL State Fire Marshall, if it had been approved, would have overridden any local regulation.

Community associations should take the initiative to do what is reasonable to protect their communities against fire. Collaborating with local fire officials is a great way to start. Inspections can produce many great ideas at reasonable cost. These ideas can also be incorporated into global life safety plans for a community.

What is the responsibility of Community Association Boards when it comes to problems or potential problems imposed by third party relationships with the community? Board members are sometimes privy to grapevine information regarding activities and people interacting within the community. Illinois has not yet settled on a definitive description as to the duty of associations with respect to the criminal conduct of third parties.

Based on existing case law, associations do not owe residents a duty to protect against criminal acts of third parties.  Warning residents that a convicted felon resides in their community imposes another set of problems. If someone has been incarcerated and paid their debt to society, it should theoretically be history. Board members and Property Managers must avoid discussing or posting written information with members of the community about an owner's past criminal background.

One of the best things Community Association Boards can do is involve and partner with local police and municipal authorities to organize a crime prevention presentation for owners. Making your community aware of local resources and processes is a fabulous preventive measure. This has some of the same benefit of a neighborhood watch. Many municipal websites have very excellent current and effective information that can guide communities and provide information that can be used to establish standard guidelines.

The best thing any member of a community can do is call police if you observe suspicious or criminal activity. Helping trained professionals protect you and your community should be a collaborative effort. When Community Association Boards encourage this within their communities it helps to discourage any kind of criminal activity no matter the source.

In last month's newsletter we discussed green roofs. This month we have a few pictures that will help you understand green roof design. Plants fit in trays that sit on the roof. The roof is sealed by appropriate waterproof materials. Cagan Property Managers spent time at the Rabine headquarters of Schaumburg, IL on their roof which also has solar panels that collect heat and energy. As you can see from the pictures, the view was also remarkable. They shared their state of the art knowledge and techniques with Cagan Property Managers. It was a real insider's view of the future...from the inside out. It was fun to think outside the box, or should we say, on the box top.