CAI-CT Members Receive this electronic newsletter as part of there membership with CAI. Below is an excerpt from MARCH/APRIL 2007.

PASSING THE TORCH - How do you recruit the next generation of community leaders? - By Christie Chapman - Maybe your community has a roster of dedicated, experienced board members and committee heads. That's great--for now. But even the most dependable community leaders could move out of the neighborhood, or become too busy to serve. How do you make sure there are others to take their place? And, if your community doesn't have enough good leaders right now, how can you find some?

FROM THE CAVC - A message from the chair of the Community Association Volunteers Committee - By Jack McGrath - We all see negative publicity about community associations. Due to my involvement in CAI, I see more than just my own local media. Reporters generally aren’t interested in associations that function without major conflict or controversy--that’s just not news. After all, it’s the one plane that goes down that makes headlines, not the millions that take off and land safely.

COMMUNITY BUILDING: Project Camaraderie - Community-service projects to boost morale - By Guy Ferrone - It takes more than bricks, mortar, and CC&Rs to make a community association that people will want to live in. Sure, it helps to have state-of-the-art amenities and a balanced budget, but there's another element to keep in mind: that warm and fuzzy feeling you get from living in a place you truly love.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Taxable Income - Seven things to keep in mind come tax time - By Roger D. Carney, CPA - All associations must file some sort of tax return. The fact that associations are organized as nonprofit organizations under most state statutes doesn't mean that they're not taxable.

BOARD BASICS: Pennywise
Four ways your association can save money - It's the age-old dilemma for community association leaders: How can you keep spending down while costs are rising every year? A good place to start is the expenses over which you have at least some control. Electricity. Use compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) everywhere you would use regular incandescent or HID (high-intensity discharge) bulbs. 

MY MINUTE: A Better Kind of Governance The big picture - By Sandra K. Denton, CMCA, LSM, PCAM - As a board member, wouldn’t you like to leave each board meeting feeling like you had truly added something of long-term value to the community, and that you were actually addressing the needs of your residents? There is a way to change how you conduct business so you’re doing more than just fighting fires and constantly reacting to the resident with the loudest voice.

QUICK TIPS: Hiring a Manager - A step-by-step guide - Community association management differs from property or real-estate management. Although property managers are skilled professionals, they seldom have experience with the governance issues that community managers are trained to address. An association’s size, amenities, facilities, and budget determine the type of management you need.

NEWSLINK: A Positive Light - Yes, the media can be your friend - We’ve all seen the negative headlines—“Residents Up in Arms,” “Veteran Told to Remove American Flag,” "Homeowners Fight Special Assessment,” and so on. Read enough of these stories and you might begin to think we toil in the business of gulags—yes, that term has been used by association critics. Unfortunately, conflict and controversy sell newspapers and air time.

WAR STORIES: Loitering Where You Live? Get me to the church on time - By Gary Walker - I own a couple of condos in a nice community. A few years ago, the tenants in one of the condos I own were a married couple--friendly, church-going people. The man who lived above them owned 10 condos in the complex, and he was the president of the association. He seemed to instantly dislike this couple, and some of us feared that it was because the husband was black and the wife was white. In fact, I believe our tenant was the only black person living in the entire complex.