Did you lose your kitten?

Lost kitten/cat
Please be advised that a lost grey tappy kitten has been found near the intersection of Lexington East and Lexington South. It is a very friendly kitten and it is receiving good care (feeding & water). If you lost this kitten please call 586-xxx-xxxx.

UPDATE: the cat was successfully reunited with its owner, who had just moved out and lost the cat in the confusion of the move. The owner mentioned her missing cat in passing while at the Shelby Twp. DPW to pay her final water bill and the clerk said that she knew someone who lived in Central Park and that she would ask her to keep an eye out for it. When she contacted her friend, the friend remembered seeing the "found cat" notices that had been placed on area mailboxes and went and got the finder's phone number off the notice. The clerk then called the owner and gave her the finder's phone number and the cat was quickly reunited with its owner.

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.

Central Park Master Association 2011 Annual Mtg.

The Central Park Master Association 2011 Annual Meeting was held on April 20, 2011. During the discussion, members asked if links to certain information could be provided. Click on the links below and use your browser's BACK button to return here.

2011 Budget - Central Park Master Association

Parcels along the Van Dyke entrance road that are subject to reimbursing the Association for 40% of our maintenance expenditures in that area (cost allocations shown were initial estimates and are outdated)

Ciena Skilled Nursing Facility rezoning request, east of our 22 Mile Rd. entrance

Lancaster at Central Park (former Kensington Phase 2 parcel) proposed revision to the Central Park Planned Unit Development (PUD)

Declaration of Easements, Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for the Central Park Master Community

Manors Board of Directors Meeting Minutes 4/19/2011

Minutes of the April 19, 2011
Special Meeting of the Board of Directors of the
Manors at Central Park Condominium Association

1. Meeting began at 1:05 p.m.EDT; Quorum was established with two of the three Board Members being present on the conference call. Board Members present: Amanda Jacobson (Titanium), Mike Grobbel (Manors co-owner); Board Members absent: Casey Wendeln (Titanium). Also present: Ryan Dorner (Kramer-Triad property management)

2. Approved the agenda for this meeting.

3. There were no prior Board Meeting minutes to approve.

4. The Board officers for 2011 are:

a. President - Amanda Jacobson,

b. Treasurer – Casey Wendeln,

c. Secretary – Mike Grobbel

5. 2011 Budget; discussed the current amount and status of delinquencies; MOTION: approve and adopt the 2011 Budget as presented in Dec. 2010; Yeas: Jacobson, Grobbel. MOTION PASSED

6. There were no contracts needing Board approval at this time

7. Transparency Policy for Board Meeting decisions; It was agreed that the

a. Secretary will prepare a synopsis of Board Meeting discussions and decisions for the Minutes

b. Minutes will be published on the Manors blog at http://manorsatcentralpark.blogspot.com where they may be read by Manors co-owners.

c. Minutes will be marked “Unapproved” until approved by the Board Members.

8. Transitional control planning

a. The Association’s replacement reserve account must contain an amount greater than 10% of the annual budget expenses before the Transition Meeting can be held; based on the 2011 Budget, it must therefore contain at least $25,600 (current balance is about $750).

b. President Jacobson stated that the Carpenters Pension Trust Fund is willing to contribute no more than $10,000 into the replacement reserve account at the time of Transition. This leaves a shortfall of about $14,850 that will have to come from the Association’s revenues.

c. The Association’s 2011 Budget shows a favorable excess of revenue vs. budgeted expenses of $12,880. Knowing that our recent operations cash account balance has been adequate to conduct the Association’s business and assuming that our delinquency level does not grow during 2011, this is money that can be moved to the replacement reserve account as it accrues. MOTION: direct Kramer-Triad to begin making $1,000 monthly additions to the replacement reserve account, retroactive to Jan. 2011. Yeas: Jacobson, Grobbel. MOTION PASSED

d. Given $1,000 monthly additions to the replacement reserve account effective Jan. 2011, the earliest the account will contain the necessary $15,600 to enable Transition will be March 2012. This date can be moved earlier in direct correlation with how successful the Association is in collecting the current outstanding delinquencies, which totaled $10,500 as of March 31, 2011. President Jacobson stated that she and/or Treasurer Wendeln will attend the Transition Meeting when it is held.

e. President Jacobson stated that when the Board decides to levy an additional assessment to pay for the shortfall on the final layer asphalt paving project, the Carpenters Pension Trust Fund is willing to pay the per-unit additional assessment amount for each of their 47 units that have not been constructed. This commitment is independent of whether the additional assessment is levied before or after Transition and is based on the Board’s assumption that Shelby Twp. will contribute the full amount of the letter of credit they received in 2003 to guarantee the final paving.

9. There was no New Business to be discussed.

10. The next Regular Board Meeting is scheduled for a conference call to begin at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Oct. 12, 2011.

11. Meeting was adjourned at 1:59 p.m. EDT.

Be on the lookout!

Skunks have been spotted in several different locations on the Manors grounds in recent weeks. The sightings have been around dusk in the rear yards between Lexington East and Watling and in the front yards along Regent. I don't know whether this is the same animal or different ones and in each case, the animal was walking out in the open.

I have spoken with the folks at "Critter Control" and for best results they need to know where the skunk's burrow is located so they can place their trap as close as possible to it. Otherwise, the trap is more likely to collect other harmless species such as rabbits.

If you spot a skunk on our grounds, please let me know when and where. Be particularly on the lookout for evidence of skunk activity, such as lawn damage where they have been searching for grubs and worms or holes under decks or near landscaping where they are creating shelter. Skunks are generally more active at night and retire to their den during the daylight hours, where the female raises her litter of kits that are typically born in the month of May.

Packard Proving Grounds "Spring Open House"

Our neighbor, the Packard Proving Grounds, will hold their "Spring Open House & Cruise-in Classic Car Show" on Sunday, May 1 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM - rain or shine.

• Listen to the Johnny Trudell Orchestra
• Visit the Petting Zoo
• Ride the Firetruck and the Big Wheel (weather permitting)
• Admire the 200+ classic cars on display including those belonging to members of the Packard Club
• Bake Sale and Raffles all afternoon
• Gift Shop will be open for business
• Hot Dogs, Pop, Water and Chips will be available for purchase at a modest cost.
• Everything else is FREE, but they would never turn down a donation.
• Questions? Call 586-739-4800

April 20th meeting of the Central Park Master Association

You should have recently received the mailing from Kramer-Triad announcing the 2011 annual meeting of the Central Park Master Association, which will be held on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 at the Shelby Twp. Municipal Building. Sign-in starts at 6:00 p.m. and the meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 p.m.

The Central Park Master Association is the homeowners association for the entire Central Park planned unit development, which includes the Manors and Kensington Condos, along with the Meadows and Gardens single family subdivisions. The Association is responsible for maintaining the Central Park ring roads and streetlighting as well as all of the retention ponds and landscaping in the Community Areas. The Community Areas locations can be viewed by clicking on the "Exhibit C" link on this page).

The Central Park Master Association's 2011 Budget can be viewed here. All owners in the Central Park developments pay $190 per year to fund the Master Association's budget. The Manors Condo Association pays the annual $190 fee for all Manors co-owners from our budgeted revenues.

Each of the four developments in Central Park have the right to elect one representative to the Master Association's Board of Directors. The Board members serve staggered two-year terms and it's the Manors and Kensington Board member's terms that expire this year. I have already been nominated to run again and I believe that Ted McCoy also intends to run again for the Kensington spot on the Board.

All owners in the four Central Park developments are entitled to vote for the Manors and Kensington Board representatives. We need to have at least 35% of all the owners represented either in person at the meeting or by their General Proxy in order to legally hold the annual meeting and election. Currently, there is no other business to be voted on at the meeting, however it is possible that someone could bring up an issue from the floor that could be voted on that evening.

If we cannot obtain a quorum on the 20th, we will have to reschedule the meeting for another date and incur the additional cost of another mass mailing to notify everyone. Therefore, if there is the slightest possibility that you cannot attend the annual meeting on the 20th, please sign and return the General Proxy to Kramer-Triad so it will count towards the quorum. If it turns out that you can attend the meeting, your Proxy will be returned to you at the door when you sign-in.

Call me at 726-0317 if you have any questions about the General Proxy or if you would like me to take it to the meeting for you and save a stamp.

See you on the 20th!

Winter's finally over - I hope!

It's been a long, cold and snowy winter! Now that the weather has warmed up - somewhat - I've been out and about assessing some of the snow-removal damage which you may have also noticed.

• I've found (4) broken sprinkler heads that will need replacement. Let me know if you spot any other broken heads that are not already marked with a green flag.
• I also tried replacing many of the pieces of turf that had been peeled back by the snowplow blades. If they don't green-up, the patches will be either seeded or sodded once we have the irrigation system turned on for the season.
• One of the "no-parking" sign posts on Lexington South was hit by the snow removal equipment and will need to be replaced.
  
• Numerous garage doors were scraped and dented by their pick-up snowplow driver. Instead of manually clearing the strip in front of the garage door, apparently the driver tried to drop the blade right next to the door but didn't allow for the pivoting motion and as a result he scraped and dented many of our doors.
  

I personally prepared a list of all garage doors with damage and identified whether or not the doors had already been painted last summer. I also identified several doors that appear to have been damaged beyond repair and which will likely need to have the entire bottom panel replaced. I then held a meeting here last week with Grant Meldrum (the company owner) and Ryan Dorner of Kramer-Triad. We walked the property and inspected the damages. Grant will repair/replace everything I identified and at his expense. The only exceptions are:

• I agreed to replace the broken sprinkler heads so that I know the replacements will be the same brand as the others and that they will be installed slightly below grade so they won't be damaged again next year.
• I will provide him with the one-gallon can of exterior paint that our exterior painting contractor left with me last summer just for this sort of need. He will use it to paint the damaged/replaced portions of doors which were just painted last summer as part of the Phase 1 painting project. He will have all of the other doors repaired on Phase 2 units prior to the start of the Phase 2 exterior painting in May of this year.
  

Grant's personnel will begin working on the garage door repairs mid-month once the weather warms up. Co-owners will be notified in advance if they need to have access to the inside of your garage to perform the door repair/replacement.

AT&T U-verse Update

As I mentioned late last summer, AT&T technicians were prepping the hardware in our rear yards in advance of making their AT&T U-verse service available to residents of the Manors.

Several weeks ago their salespeople were here in the Manors going door-to-door offering introductory pricing to those who signed up for U-verse. A co-owner tells me that she signed up for the U-verse service and when the technician came out to begin the installation, he discovered that there was insufficient signal strength at the connection point in the rear yard. He said that the only way he could make a satisfactory installation would be to mount an amplifier on the exterior of the building and therefore the co-owner declined to have the service installed. She did not want to take a chance on getting a marginal signal plus she didn't want to have to prepare and submit an Alteration Modification Request for the amplifier installation.

I just now entered my address in the "Can I get U-verse?" box on this page and got the following answer (click to enlarge):