May 2008 Board Minutes

The May 2008 board minutes have been completed and uploaded. Here is the link to the May 2008 minutes.

At the link above you can read the minutes online or download a PDF version to read or print on your computer

Harvey
ifatreasurer@mac.com

Community Beautification Day!

Community Beautification Day will be held on Saturday May 17 from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Complete information can be found on the splash page (first webpage you come to) at the IFA website: http://www.invernessvillage.org/

Donuts, coffee, and trash bags will be available. And door prizes! (Well, there isn't any door outside so maybe I should call them "lawn prizes"). A famous freelance photographer from the Potomac Almanac might stop by to take photographs (yours truey, of course).

Please see the website at the link above for complete details.

Harvey

May 8 Board Meeting -- Unapproved Roof, Again!!

At last night's meeting, the board once again took up the issue of what to do about Mr. Salamanca's unapproved roof (10843 Deborah Dr). (Click on picture for a larger version) For those unaware of the situation, last summer Mr. Salamanca installed a synthetic roof on his house. He did not apply for permission to install this roof as required by our covenants (see Covenants, Article 5). Two board members visited him prior to the removal of his old roof and told him that he needed ACC approval before installing a synthetic roof, but he went ahead with the installation anyway.

The issue is not whether this new roof material should be allowed; the issue is that Mr. Salamanca did not apply to the ACC for the required permission before installing the synthetic roof. The board feels that if Mr. Salamanca's actions goes unchallenged, then the precedent would be set that anyone can make any changes to the exterior of their house without ACC approval.

Montgomery County has a commission, called the CCOC, to hear homeowner association disputes. The board filed a case with the CCOC and Mr. Salamanca was invited by the CCOC to state his position in writing. The CCOC, as is generally does, asked the parties involved to mediate their differences. If mediation is not successful then the case will be resolved by the CCOC. Last night the board discussed whether there can in fact be a mediated solution.

Note that the issue is whether there is a possible compromise on the failure to apply for ACC permission, not on whether there is a possible compromise on the roof material (which is irrelevant since the use of this roof material is not before the CCOC). Is there an acceptable middle position between "following the rules" and "not following the rules"? It seems to me -- and I'm not speaking for the board here only for myself (I'm not one of the board's representatives to the CCOC)-- that there is no middle ground between following the rules and not following the rules.

What do you think? Do you have a comment on this issue? If so, please click on the comment link and let us know your thoughts. We created Inverness Forest Today for two reasons: so you can be informed about what is happening in our community, and so you can provide your opinion to the board and to the rest of the community.

Harvey Levine

April 2008 Minutes Uploaded

Well, this is fast! Thanks to Elliot Postow, Secretary of the Inverness Forest Association, for emailing me the April 2008 minutes as soon as they were in final form. This is the first time that the minutes are being distributed online before the paper copies even went to the printer.

Here is the link: April 2008 Inverness Forest Association Board Minutes

If you would like to attend the next board meeting, it will be held on May 8, 2008 at 7:30 PM on the third floor at Summerville.

If you would like to bring an issue before the board but can't attend the meeting, please add a comment to this post or send me an email.

As always, I'd like to hear your ideas about how to make Inverness Forest Today as useful as possible to the community. Provide your suggestions for a future column on IFT.

Harvey
ifatreasurer@mac.com

March 2008 Board Minutes

The March 2008 board meeting minutes are online. Below is a link to the PDF file. When you click on the link you'll have a choice of either previewing the file online or downloading the file to your computer where you can read or print the file with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader that is standard software on almost every computer in the world. Let me know if you have any trouble.

March 2008 Board Meeting Minutes

The April minutes should be online in the next few days. The next board meeting is on May 8, 2008 at Summerville (as usual) at 7:30 PM. We meet on the third floor and visitors are always welcome. I'll post a summary of the meeting on the following day.

Harvey