Demolition of the Visteon Plant

On May 25, 2011, the Shelby Twp. Planning Commission approved the demolition permit for Ford Motor Company's contractor to begin tearing down most of the manufacturing buildings on the Visteon property that is located along the east side of Mound Road, south of 23 Mile Rd.

I attended the public hearing and took notes and also received a copy of the conditions the Planning Commission placed on the demolition contractor.

You can read all the details on this web page that I created.

Encore presentaton of "Voices of a Never Ending Dawn"

This film is about the U. S. Army's "Polar Bear" soldiers who fought the Bolshevik Red Army in North Russia during the winter of 1918-1919. My grandfather was one of those soldiers and I had a small role in the production of this film. It will be shown again on WTVS Detroit Public Television, Sunday, May 29, 2011, beginning at 2:30 PM. Click here for more information about the film.

If you would like to attend a Memorial Day service honoring our country's fallen heroes, please join us at 11:00 AM on May 30th on the grounds of White Chapel Cemetery in Troy MI. More details can be found here.

Certificate of Insurance requests

Some mortgage lenders require a Certificate of Insurance for their files whenever the Manors Condo Association's property & casualty insurance policy is renewed. If your mortgage lender is one of them, please follow the information in this posting when they notify you.

First, some background:

I've learned that condo association policies like ours all expire on the same date, nationwide. Our last policy expired on April 15, 2011 but it was automatically extended to May 1, 2011 because of delays caused by volatility in the wholesale insurance markets due to recent catastrophes around the world.

Despite the turmoil and delay, our agent's shopping-around among different wholesale insurers produced an 11.4% decrease in our 2011-2012 premium compared to last year's (and a 14% reduction compared to 2009-2010, despite having added 15 more units since then). Also, the 15 day extension was billed at the new rate. The new policy results in an $1,100 savings compared to last year's insurance costs and a favorable variance of $1,380 in our 2011 budget's insurance line item.

According to our agent at Associations Insurance Agency, Inc. (AIAI), insurance carriers do not track each unit's mortgage lender and thus cannot automatically send a Certificate of Insurance out to them when the policy is renewed. In addition to the added costs involved, it would be very difficult to "due to moves, payoffs and mortgage lenders selling to another mortgage lender", etc. Also, not all mortgage lenders require a new Certificate every time the policy is renewed. Therefore, the Certificates of Insurance are provided on a "pull system".

Here's the quickest way to obtain a Certificate of Insurance for your mortgage company:

UPDATE: As of April 2014, we have a new insurance agent and coverage is now provided by Nationwide Insurance.   CLICK HERE to read the current method for requesting a Certificate of Insurance.


1) Click here to download and print out an MS Word document containing the AIAI Certificate of Insurance Request form
2) Fill-in the required information, including the following

• a) Name of Association: Manors at Central Park Condominium Association
• b) Property Management Company: Associa Kramer-Triad Management Group
• c) Why do you need a Certificate?: my mortgage lender is requesting it
• d) Mortgagee: (insert name & address of your mortgage lender)

3) Fax or e-mail a scan of the completed form to AIAI (their fax number and e-mail address are in the upper right corner of the form). You also have the option of calling their phone number to submit your request.
4) Wait for your Certificate to be faxed or e-mailed to you
5) Forward the Certificate as instructed by your Mortgage Lender (you have 30 days to get the Certificate to them before they can impose a penalty fee).

AIAI typically sends out the Certificate within 1 hour of receiving your request during business hours, except during the 2 week period following the May 1st policy renewal date, when due to AIAI's extra workload it might take several days or more before they can get it sent out to you.

Phase 2 of the Exterior Paint Project is Set to Begin

U&S Painting will be starting work on Phase 2 of our exterior painting project sometime next week, weather permitting. Their first steps will be to powerwash the surfaces to be painted (update: this work started on May 7th), make necessary caulking repairs and replace and prime all dry-rotted trim boards. Then they will begin the painting of the exterior trim, garage doors and front doors. The painting work will probably take all month and perhaps into June. You will be notified in advance of when they plan to paint your front door. Per their advice, I am keeping with the same color for the front doors, since a lighter color will only lower the surface temperature by 10 or 15 degrees when the sun is shining directly on it through a storm door window.

As a reminder, your 2^nd and final payment for the exterior painting “Additional Assessment” is due on June 1, 2011. If you have not already done so, please remit your payment of $420 along with the 2^nd payment coupon you received a year ago.

If you are unable to find your 2^nd coupon, please remit your Additional Assessment payment as follows:

a) add the $420 to the regular $175 amount when you mail in your June 2011 monthly Condo Association dues. It will automatically be credited to your Additional Assessment.

b) If you’ve already sent in your June dues payment or if your dues is automatically withdrawn from your bank account, mail a check for $420 directly to Kramer-Triad’s office at 320 E. Big Beaver, Suite 190, Troy, MI 48083. Include a note listing your name, address and the words "Manors at Central Park Condo Association Additional Assessment payment" so that it will be properly credited.

Additional Assessment payments received after June 30, 2011 will be subject to a $25 late fee.

Click here to view a list of the Units that will be painted in Phase 2 (the units painted in last year's Phase 1 are listed here).

After the painting work is complete, we will have new mulch installed throughout the common elements.