I wanted to write to let you know what’s going on with the management of Leewood. As most of you know, I was the only returning Board member to the Leewood Board this year. I was the experienced one with one year under my belt as Secretary! Needless to say there’s been (and still is) a learning curve. It’s already been an eventful six months.

We have “initiated” four new Board members, instituted and enforced the new commercial vehicle ban successfully, lost three Board members, and managed the month-to-month operations of Leewood. We are now preparing to update the annual budget for our next fiscal year and update the reserve study, to ensure we’re saving the money we planned to save when the study was initially put together.

We’ve lost some long-standing volunteers who have served the Leewood community faithfully. Pam Stover, after 6 years of service, has resigned as our ARC chairperson. Thanks, Pam, for all of your hard work!

We also lost Judy Currier as chairperson of our website, and William Wilkinson as a member of that committee. If you’ve had a chance to take a look at the site (www.leewood.us), you know how well designed and informative it is. We’ve had compliments from realtors and other associations on what a great site it is. This is due to the hard work of Judy and her committee. Thanks, Judy and William!

We lost Chris Taylor as our newsletter editor, as his was an interim term, until we identified a new Chairperson. Jim Beals has now volunteered to layout our newsletter, and it’s now our responsibility to send Jim articles so we have something to publish. The e-mail address for article submission is newsletter@leewood.us, or feel free to bring your articles to a meeting or drop them by my house (7010 Bradwood Ct.). Thanks to Chris for his work on the newsletter!

Another loss to the Board was our Secretary and Treasurer, Ken and Merrill Chertok. While their resignation was completely understood by the Board, their absence has certainly left a hole. They were a pleasure to work with, and their energy was contagious. Thanks to Ken and Merrill for their contributions!

We have also recently lost Mike Day, our Member-At-Large. He has been given more responsibility at work, which translates into more travel for him. Great news for Mike, but he will also be missed.

This brings me to the critical issue facing our Board right now and one of the reasons I wanted to write this letter. As you have probably read in the letter Judy Currier wrote that was enclosed with our new directories, our community is at a crossroads. Our Board is down to two people. We need three to make a quorum. Not only is that an issue, but the Board members are very busy.

Dune Ly has a demanding job and a growing family. I stay at home with my two children, and have a third child on the way. As you can imagine, making the monthly meetings can be a challenge for us, much less doing more outside of the meetings. There is obviously more to do in the community then the two of us can handle. In addition, I will be resigning my post as President after the third baby arrives in late January/early February. This leaves Dune Ly as our sole remaining Board member.

As I see things, we have two options. At the August Board meeting, the option was raised, as a result of an e-mail from one of our residents (see page 4), whether we should begin looking into hiring a management company to manage Leewood.

Our other option is for our residents to volunteer to “fill in the gaps”, so we don’t need to hire the management company. See page 3 for a list of needs within the community.

Stating these options is not meant to be a criticism of our residents. We are one of the last communities in the area to be self-managed by resident volunteers, which is something of which Leewood should be proud. On the other hand, if it’s anyone who knows how hectic life in the Northern Virginia area can be, it’s me. Volunteering can seem like a burden, instead of a fulfilling experience. The Board, along with the entire Leewood community, just needs to decide if we’re ready to pay someone to manage our community, or if more of us are willing to step up and do the job.

I know this topic is a controversial one in the community. I have letters from residents saying they think it’s time for us to hire a management company, but I’ve also heard from other residents that they don’t want to go that route. This is understandable, as it will raise our assessments. I want to hear from you. I am going to put this topic on the agenda for the October meeting, so we can talk about the pros and cons of each option. For instance, if we hire a management company, we still need to have a Board in place and still conduct meetings. The management company will do a lot of the management tasks for the community and report to the Board.

The October meeting is on 10/12, across the street at the Phillips school from 8:00 – 10:00 PM. Please come and share your views on the subject. While the Board is already researching potential management companies, the decision has not been made. We want to know what the community thinks about this topic.

If you can’t make the meetings, please feel free to e-mail one of the Board members at the following addresses:

Anne Esquivel - President@leewood.us
Dune Ly - Veep@leewood.us

We are also listed in the new directory, if you’d rather call. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the October meeting!

Needs around the community

1. The Board is in need of volunteers for the following positions:
   • Secretary Treasurer
   • Member-At-Large
   Please contact Anne Esquivel or Dune Ly, if you have time to give.

   The Grounds & Maintenance committee has the following projects they need help managing (contacting contractors, obtaining quotes, overseeing the work, etc.):

   • Replacement of some of the fence on our southern border Repainting of our parking spaces Paving of some of our streets
   • New entrance sign at Leestone and Backlick Rds.
   Please contact Al Sanford at Grounds@leewood.us or at his number in the directory, if you have time to give.

   Newsletter Needs

   • Submission of articles to Jim Beals for publishing (newsletter@leewood.us) Newsletter editor/proofreader
   • Copying and distributing of the newsletter
   Please contact Jim Beals at newsletter@leewood.us or at his number in the directory, if you have time to give.

2. ARC
   • Committee Chairperson
   • Volunteers to conduct a fall walkthrough

   There are also other projects that need our attention, but these are the most pressing.

Thanks…..

Al Sanford – For your many years of service to Leewood on the Board and as our Grounds & Maintenance Committee chairperson.
Greg Bellan – For keeping our website up and running
Betty & Lyn Lillard – For your years as our POAA contact and for your constant willingness to help in any way you can
Judy Currier – For taking over homeowner accounts recently
Leona Taylor – For all of your work on homeowner accounts and treasurer related tasks, especially recently
Susan Reis – For taking the initiative to remove the graffiti recently found in the community
Tony McSorely – For your help with ARC matters recently