Leewood Homeowners  Association

News from AAA Trash Service

Christmas Tree Collection

Christmas trees will be removed on Wednesday, January 5th and January 12th and will be recycled. This service is free of charge. All tinsel and ornaments must be removed from the trees and placed at the curb for pickup. Trees in plastic bags will not be collected. Any trees that are not collected on these dates may be placed at the curb on a regular trash collection starting January 17th.

Yard Debris

In accordance with county ordinances, AAA reserves the right to collect the minimum of six bags or containers of yard debris per yard waste collection day. All yard debris to be collected must be prepared accordingly and placed at the curb for pickup. AAA will not be able to pick ip debris that is in any other areas except at the curb. Leaves and twigs must be placed in a customer’s personal trash can, paper yard bags, or clear plastic bags. All other debris, such as brush and limbs, must be cut to 5-foot lengths and bundled (armful size) with rope or twine and should not exceed 50 pounds. Tree stumps and tree limbs that are large than 6 inches in diameter and 5 feet in length will not be collected. 

All unbundled brush and large amounts of bagged leaves will be considered a special pickup. Please call AAA’s office or visit their website in advance to schedule a pick up of these items. The minimum charge for special pickups is $40.00

Audited Financial Statements

The association’s independent audit of its 2002 financial statements was recently completed. The association received an unqualified opinion, indicating that the auditors did not find any irregularities in the financial information reported. A copy of the complete audited financial statements (including all the notes and other schedules) is available if you are interested. Please contact Leona Taylor if you want a copy.

Homeowner Accounts

Since the last newsletter, five homeowners are being brought before the courts for delinquent assessments. Two of the cases have been resolved. Typically when the court gets involved, the homeowner ends up paying over one and a half times the amount of the indebtedness to the association, as the court finds them responsible for interest, court costs, and reasonable attorney fees on top of the debt owed to Leewood. That makes it a very expensive way to get a loan!

Homeowners get at least three notices before they are sent to the attorney for collection. That should cover any lost letters, vacations, or whatever. Once they are sent to the attorney, we will go straight to the lawsuit to secure the debt. There will be no additional letters. How many ways can you say, “pay up?”

Thanks

A special thank you to the following Leewood volunteers:

• Julie King stepped forward and has joined the board. Julie was secretary of the board in an earlier era. Now Leewood has 5 board members until Anne leaves in January to have her baby.
•  Greg Bellan is leaving our association (and position as webmaster) for Cleveland, Ohio. Greg saw a temporary website that had been set up as an interim solution to our old site being closed down and offered to help “in any way he could”. He quickly was made webmaster and is responsible for the overall design of the current Leewood site.
• A mystery man retrieved a broken Leewood sign, repaired it, and re-installed it.

And as always, we are thankful for all our other volunteers who regularly perform their duties to ensure that Leewood remains in business.

Welcome

Welcome to our new neighbors:

Jose Benites at 7037 Leebrad St.
Charles and Sun Kreiser at 7004 Leebrad St.

2005 Budget

The Board has approved the budget for the 2005 year. We are including a copy of the approved budget along with prior year financial information for comparison. As you can see, there will be no increase in dues for 2005. If you are interested in additional budget details, please contact Leona Taylor, a member of the Board, or visit the website at www.Leewood.us.

Link to the budget

Volunteer Opportunities

Help the Homeless in Our Community this Holiday Season

The Bailey's Crossroads Community Shelter staff welcomes volunteers to wrap gifts purchased at Borders Books and Music, 5871 Crossroads Center Way in Bailey's Crossroads, on December 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, and 22, any time between the hours of 9 a.m. to midnight. 

Gift wrapping is free, but donations are welcome and directly benefit the Bailey's Shelter.  For additional information, or to volunteer, contact Bud Pope, development specialist, Bailey's Crossroads Community Shelter, at 703-820-7621, ext. 218.

Help Leewood

Volunteer positions are available:

•  Website: Help is needed posting items to the website.
•  Architectural Review: Help is needed to assist with property inspections and to coordinate the activities of the committee.
•  Newletter: Help is needed to collect the contributed articles and format them into the newsletter.
•  Nominations: The Nominating Committee needs to be activated again with at least three members to search for new board members to replace members whose terms will end in March. This committee generally works from December to March each year.
• Board: Our Annual Meeting is in March. At that meeting, board members for the next year will be elected. Most of the current board positions will be up for election. Not all of the current board members have been polled yet, but it does seem that at least a couple of them will run for the board. However, we will need at least a couple of volunteers. If you have ideas (or complaints) on how the Association is run, now is the time to step forward and do something about it.

Number plaques and ARC

Is the number plaque that has your house numbers on it flaking, rotting, or otherwise misbehaving? Our website now has a template so you can cut out a new board. Many people handy with a hand saw or electric jigsaw will be able to do this themselves. The link to the article is http://www.leewood.us/news/webnews/numberplaques.htm. 

When replacing your number plaque, remember that it should be put in its original position (a 45 degree angle to the door) and painted the color of your trim. It is not correct to paint it the shutter color; that generally makes the numbers very hard to read. Hopefully some of you with non-standard plaques will get inspired to replace yours – the original Leewood plaque is so much more interesting with its do-dads on either end.

New on the Website

We have new information up on the web site and encourage everyone to check in at least weekly to see what is going on with Leewood. We will be featuring both news and articles. With the amount of change that we have had this year in leadership, the contact sheet (under administration) has become almost must reading for those wishing to be informed. If you were a website addict you would already know by now that our webmaster has moved back to Cleveland, and we could use more help on the site. You would also know that we have put up some posting guidelines on the message board in the hopes that they will make that run more smoothly and fulfill its aim as a place for an exchange of ideas.

Our latest articles feature a kitchen remodeling by our neighbor Linda Knight and an excellent article by Pam Stover, our long-time ARC chair, on the details of running ARC and how it fits in with property management. Do check out the website, and if you have gotten in the habit of going directly to the message board – pause at the main page to see what is going on there too!

Fire Safety and Your Tree

Following are a few tips from the Fairfax Fire & Rescue Department to ensure that the joy of your holiday season is not turned into sorrow by fire.

• Keep the tree base immersed in water.
• Do not permit smoking near the tree.
• Use only lights that are U.L. approved.
• Use flame retardant decorations and paper.
• Inspect lights for frayed or cracked wiring, broken plugs, and defective sockets.
• Unplug lights at night and when leaving the home.
• Remove the tree soon after the holidays-before the needles dry out.

Important Dates:

Board Meeting: December 14, 2004. 8:00 p.m. at the Phillips School. Check the website for an agenda.

Christmas Tree Pickup: Wednesday, January 5th and 12th

Regular trash days: Every Monday and Thursday

Regular Recycling days: Every Thursday