May 12, 2009

Dear Directors:

The activity level has definitely been elevated in our office with the arrival of mowing season.  Managers and board members are scheduling site inspections, vendors are dropping off their insurance certification papers, and Annual Meetings are being held weekly.  It is a great time to be in a condominium.

Most of the Cummings managers attended the Community Association Institute (CAI) Annual Conference on May 1.  The schedule of events paralleled the current economic conditions for many condominium associations.  Speakers addressed solutions for the problems of collections, foreclosure and bankruptcy.

We are looking forward to hearing seminar speaker Attorney Francine Cullari's presentation on hiring risks tomorrow.  Our June presentation will be held on Wednesday, June 10, 2009.  Mark your calendar today to meet with Attorney Steve Sowell at our management office (6290 Taylor Drive-Flint) at 6:00 PM.  Steve will briefly address the plight of the uncompleted community and then will open the floor for general legal questions.  This is your chance for free legal help for your community.   Reserve your seat by calling us at (810) 715-5310 or (800) 965-5292.

Based upon requests from our April seminar attendees, we will be offering a Parliamentary Procedure seminar later this summer.  Our goal is to help you hold timely and effective board meetings. 

As we mentioned last month, as a firm we are working on our strategic long-term plans.  CAI is offering directors this opportunity, on line, Wednesday May 20, 2009.  This is a 90-minute internet teleconference event.  Check with your manager for the web site information.

I am currently in the process of defining our company policy regarding emergency after hour phone calls.  We are reviewing our procedures to insure that funds are not expended for non-emergency events.  Often we find that after hour calls can be scheduled during regular maintenance hours thus saving the increase for overtime fees for weekend or holiday services.  Look for future discussions on this topic.

Our office will be closed Monday, May 25, 2009 to celebrate Memorial Day.

Take care,

Kay