December 2008 Meeting Minutes

The December 2008 board meeting minutes are available to view at the IFA website: December 2008 minutes

If you would like a PDF version of the minutes for downloading and printing: December 2008 minutes

Harvey
ifatreasurer@mac.com

Chimney Cleaning Recommendation Requested

Happy New Year!

Inverness Resident Jack Christian has a problem with his chimney backing up and would like to know if anyone has a recommendation for a reliable person or business that he can contact. If you have a recommendation, please send me an email, or better yet, add a comment to this post. If you send me an email, I'll be happy to create a comment so that others with a similar problem can benefit.

Please see the Home repair and improvement section of the message board on the IFA website. I'll post all recommendations there.

Here is Jack's email:

Harvey,

Our chimney is backing up. Do you know of a reliable person or business that has worked on Inverness chimneys? We have never had any problem with ours, but perhaps there is a bird’s nest clogging the flue.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have.

Jack Christian
10867 Deborah Drive

Please click on "Comments" (below) to read recommendations from other residents.
Harvey
ifatreasurer@mac.com

Leaf Pickup This Week

You've probably noticed that Emerald Landscaping has put out the "Leaf Cleaning This Week" signs. One of our residents, Sue Ellen Parrott, sent me an email with a suggestion for getting rid of leaves on your property.

Before I get to Sue Ellen's email, I wanted to point out that our community suffered a $12,000 bill for storm drain clean out this year. Leaves that washed into the storm drains during rains were the principal culprit. I'd like to thank Stephanie Cooperstein who, prior to an earlier leaf cleanup, raked accumulated leaves from in front of a storm drain so that they wouldn't be flushed down the drain by an impending rainstorm (Stephanie: thanks for the photo!) . If you see accumulated leaves in front of a storm drain, please help save the community money by moving them.

Here is Sue Ellen's email:

On Dec 3, 2008, at 10:49 AM, Sue Ellen Parrott wrote:

Harvey, I called Emerald Landscaping and asked when the last leaf collection would be and was told it would be next week. You might want to alert residents that if they want their leaves taken away by Emerald, the leaves should be piled on the street near the curb before next week (but not near a storm drain! -Harvey).

Thanks for your updates.

Sue Ellen Parrott
7964 IRR

Harvey
ifatreasurer@mac.com

Scrooge -The Musical Comes to Potomac

Scrooge - the Musical will be performed by the Potomac Theatre Company starting November 21 and running until Sunday December 7, 2008. Performances are at the Blair Theater at Bullis School, only a six minute drive from Inverness Forest.

(From the Potomac Almanac):

The Potomac Theatre Company will celebrate its 20th year with a production of "Scrooge: The Musical" beginning Friday, Nov. 21. Shows run from Nov. 21 through Dec. 7 each weekend at the Blair Family Center for the Arts at the Bullis School, 10601 Falls Road, Potomac. For more information and to purchase tickets call 301-299-8571 or visit
Potomac Theatre Company.
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I have been attending and photgraphing the rehearsals and am very impressed. Director Ron Sarro has assembled a fantastic cast for this production, which is an ideal show for the holiday season. The Potomac Almanac has a feature story on this production of Scrooge both online and in the current edition.

You can see a wonderful live performance of a great show for a fraction of the cost of a downtown show. It is much more convenient than traveling downdown since the Blair Theater is only a six minute drive from Inverness.

I'll be working the lights during the performances; stop by the lighting booth at the back of the theater and say hello during intermission or after the performance.In addition to my photographs that appeared in the Potomac Almanac (and one in the Gazette), you can see the entire Scrooge photo collection here:
http://harveylevine.smugmug.com/Theater/637404

Harvey

ifatreasurer@mac.com

Minutes from the October 2008 Annual Meeting

The October minutes of the Annual Meeting are online at the community's website. Here is the link: October 2008 Annual Meeting minutes.

I've been told by several people that printing paper copies of the minutes and distributing them by hand is a quaint, old-fashioned idea that is bad for the environment because it requires the killing of trees.

I think online delivery of the minutes is better than paper distribution. Here are my reasons:

1. It cost the community almost $1000 per year to print the minutes. Online distribution of the minutes is free.
   
2. Trees have to be killed to supply the paper for paper copies of the minutes.
   
3. it wastes a lot of the Secretary's time going to Staples each month to have the minutes printed, collated, and stapled and then going to the volunteer's houses to drop off the stacks of printed copies.
4. The volunteers (like me!) spend a lot of time each month going door to door to deliver paper minutes. Since so few people have volunteered to help the community despite repeated requests in the minutes this past year, the burden on those that do help out is large. Online delivery would lessen the burden.
   
5. So many people are now used to receiving important information online (online banking, brokerage statements, receipts for purchase at Amazon, etc) that reading the minutes online would be easy and normal (and you wouldn't have to throw away a piece of paper after you've read it).
6. Some people keep files of the paper minutes for future reference. Online distribution makes this unnecessary since the past minutes are already online (back to Jan 2007 which is when our webmaster, Nicole Fleisher, started putting the minutes on our website).
   

Those people who do not use the internet could still receive paper copies. Only about 3% of the people I've talked to in our community say they don't have internet access. Also those people who have an internet connection but would rather get paper minutes could share the burden of paper minutes distribution by offering to distribute paper copies to those who don't have online access to the internet (or to those who, like themselves, would rather receive paper copies). Or we could put a stack of printed minutes at a nearby location (Cabin John Mall or the Potomac Library for example) for those people who want a paper copy. Another idea is for a few people who want paper copies to act as distribution points for other people who also want paper copies.

If you haven't read the minutes online in the past, you can read the October 2008 minutes online by clicking the link above. What do you think? Is it just as easy (or easier!) than handling and reading paper minutes?

I'd like to do a trial run of online delivery of the minutes on the Deborah Drive side of Inverness Forest some time this winter. I've picked Deborah Drive residents since that part of our community has a higher proportion of residents on our email list than on Inverness Rdige Rd. For this test we will only deliver paper copies to those people who don't have internet access and to those people who specifically request paper copies by sending me an email. I'll send out an email a few weeks before the trial run to Deborah Drive residents so that they will have plenty of time to "opt out".

I'd like to know what you think about online delivery of the monthly minutes. Please leave your comments on this post (by clicking on the word "comments" -- add your name to your comments unless you truly want to be anonymous ) or send me an email.

I have to go now because I have to distribute paper copies of the October minutes. It does seem awfully cold outside this morning...

Harvey

ifatreasurer@mac.com