What's wrong with this picture?

What's wrong with this picture? The trash was placed at the curb way too early!

The Rules and Regulations of the Manors at Central Park Condominium Association state that refuse and recyclables shall be placed at the curb no earlier than 6:00 PM of the evening before collection day. They also require the empty containers to be removed from the curb no later than 6:00 AM of the day following the collection day. Since our regular collection day is Tuesday, that means that trash and recyclables may go out to the curb after 6:00 PM on Monday evening and empty containers need to be stored away by 6:00 AM on Wednesday.

The Shelby Township waste services web page asks that you have your trash and recyclables at the curb by 7:00 AM on collection day.

Allied Waste has asked our duplex residents to place their trash and recyclables at the curb on the side of their driveway nearest the closest neighboring driveway so that their drivers can pick up from both addresses with only one stop. Click here to view a drawing that shows the preferred placement location.

Your cooperation is very much appreciated.

Exterior garage lights

The other night I counted about 20 exterior garage light fixtures that were dark so the next day I purchased some more 40 watt incandescent replacement bulbs on behalf of the condo association. Tonight I inspected each of the dark fixtures and found that 15 of them had burned-out bulbs (6 of these were compact fluorescent bulbs, which makes one wonder about the claims for their superior longevity). The remaining dark bulbs had been partially unscrewed and I twisted them fully into their socket so that they are providing light again.

The condo association is responsible for the maintenance of the exterior garage lights and their photocell switches while the co-owners are responsible for providing the electricity to light the bulbs. The light from the exterior garage fixtures enables emergency responders and your own visitors to quickly and easily find your address at night and they also serve as a deterrent to vandalism. Keeping the bulb in your garage light fixture completely screwed-in not only helps keep the Manors safe and well-lit, it also assists the Association in identifying photocell switch failures so they can be repaired.

We have already experienced a half-dozen or so photocell switch failures and the only way for the Association to identify them is when bulbs are known to be good and completely screwed into their base. Tonight's inspection and maintenance showed that none of the fixtures were dark because of a photocell switch failure in the "off" state. The photocell switches can also fail in the "on" state and they are easier to detect because they no longer turn the current on and off at the right time. If you notice that your exterior garage light is burning during the daytime, please contact me and I will arrange to have the photocell switch replaced.

UPDATE - why not install compact fluorescent (CFL) instead of incandescent light bulbs?

The Association is installing long-life (2,000 hours), 40 watt incandescent bulbs that cost 60 cents each and which put out 455 lumens of light. Using the DTE residential billing rate from my last bill, I calculate that it costs me $2.12 per year to keep a 40 watt bulb light burning for the 12 month average of 12 hours per night. For $1.80 I can purchase a compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb that is rated at 8,000 hours life, 13 watts and 450 lumens. The CFL will use only one-third the energy of that 40 watt incandescent bulb, which means that a CFL will save me about $1.40 per year in electricity costs. Since it will last longer than the incandescent bulb, I also need to compare the bulb purchase and replacement costs to estimate the total savings.

If the CFL actually lasts for the 8,000 hours rated life, then over a two-year period we would use (1) CFL versus (4) incandescent bulbs. At $1.80 versus ($0.60 x 4 = $2.40), the CFL purchase savings over two years is about $0.60. When you add that to the $2.80 savings in electricity over two years, I estimate that using a CFL bulb will at most save a grand total of $3.40, or $1.70 per year.

However, based on what I'm seeing here in the Manors, I don't believe that the CFL bulbs in the exterior garage lights are lasting anywhere near the rated 8,000 hours (about two years) because of having to operate in the cold temperatures during the winter. If I assume that they last only 4,000 hours (about one year), the grand total savings over two years is only about $1.60, or 80 cents per year (because the CFL bulb replacement costs are now higher, the savings is all in electricity usage).

Therefore, based on my analysis I believe that:
a) the Association's bulb replacement costs over a two year period is about the same or even slightly lower if we use 40 watt incandescent bulbs instead of 13 watt CFL bulbs
b) the co-owner's cost for the additional electricity to burn a 40 watt bulb over that two-year period is at most $2.80
c) until either the CFL purchase cost comes down and/or their outdoor life expectancy improves, the Association will purchase 40 watt incandescent bulbs for the exterior garage light fixtures.

Neighborhood watch incident - Aug 25, 2011

I was riding my bicycle looking for streetlight outages at 10:40 PM on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2011, when I noticed an older model, light colored Jeep Liberty (Michigan License Plate BJP-2523) with one teenaged male occupant inside that was parked next to the open field on Lexington West between North Central Park and Lexington South. As I approached, I heard several voices coming across the open field from the vicinity of the berm near the west edge of our property. I stopped my bike and shined my flashlight towards the berm, where I observed one male teenager walking slowly towards the vehicle. The occupant of the vehicle told me that his friend needed to relieve himself and I replied that I heard multiple voices and I wasn't buying his story. I then shouted out instructions for all of the persons on the berm to approach their vehicle and leave our property or I would call the police and have them cited for trespassing. With my flashlight I then noticed two more male teenagers quickly moving away from me along the top of the berm behind 49927-49943 Lexington West and shouted for them to stop and come out to the street and leave immediately, which they all did. They only said that they were not doing anything wrong but offered no other explanations for their presence on the rear yards of our property.

Please keep a lookout for this vehicle and any other suspicious cars or people wandering around our property - particularly after sunset. If you see something suspicious, call the police and let me know about it so I can keep track of these incidents.

UPDATE - Aug. 27th: I've been informed that this was at least the second time in the past week that a similar-looking Jeep Liberty has been parked there. A larger SUV has also been observed parked near there with its motor running. A few days ago at dusk, four teenagers were observed riding their bikes across that open field and up to the berm and then back down to the street.

Considering a fence for Units 1-14?

Per the Addendum to the Manors at Central Park Condominium Bylaws, fences are only permitted for Units 1-14 and the Board of Directors has the right to standardize the architectural design of permitted fences.

The Board of Directors of the Manors at Central Park Condo Association has decided to adopt the same standardized fence design criteria as used by the Gardens at Central Park, the Meadows at Central Park and the Central Park Master Association.

The standardized architectural design criteria for permitted fences are as follows:

• Materials: extruded rectangular aluminum (additional ornamental components may be permitted upon request)
• Color: black
• Maximum Height: 48 inches

Owners of Manors Units 1 through 14, inclusive, may request permission from the Board to erect a fence in their rear yard by reviewing the information below and following the instructions on this web page.

The Board's approval will be granted strictly on the basis that the material, color and height of the proposed fence meets the Association's standardized requirements.

Co-owners of Units 1 through 14 who desire a fence remain responsible for

1. making certain that your proposed fence complies with the Shelby Township fence requirements and obtaining all necessary permits.
2. determining that your proposed fence does not encroach on or outside your property lines.
3. familiarizing yourself with the location and nature of all easements that run through your rear yard and obtaining approvals from the easement holder(s) before erecting any portion of the fence within an easement.

The Board particularly wants the co-owners of Units 1-14 to be aware that there are a number of easements that run across the rear of your property and that there is the potential for future problems should the fence be placed on an easement without securing approval from the easement holder. For example, the very rear of each lot contains a "20 foot wide construction, maintenance and operation easement" which grants Lombardo Homes and the Kensington Condo Association the right to use it for access to their property for new building construction and on-going building maintenance. That easement was granted because by design, the existing and proposed Kensington Condo cluster buildings are only about 5 feet away from the rear property lines of Manors Units 1-14.

In the absence of an approval from the easement holder(s), it is the co-owner who assumes all risks stemming from a decision to place their fence within the easement area(s); such risks include but are not limited to having the fence damaged or removed by the easement holder or being sued by them to have you remove it from the easement. Since the Board's granting of a fence approval is based only on whether it meets the specified architectural design criteria, there exists no liability on the part of the Manors at Central Park Condo Association should the easement holders decide to enforce their easement rights.

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.