Category: President Message

Good afternoon to all. As we focus on the holiday season I wanted to
give you quite a few items for your consideration.

1. HOLIDAY TEMPORARY PARKING PERMIT REQUESTS. If possible, please get your temporary parking requests in to a Parking Official by December 21st to allow everyone the opportunity to enjoy the holidays. A list of current Parking Officials may be found on our website.
2. HOLIDAY TRASH AND RECYCLING SCHEDULE. is found in the newsletter and on our website.
   1. For Christmas week the recycling collection will occur on Saturday, December 28th.
   2. For New Year’s week the recycling collection will occur on Saturday, January 4th.
   3. Christmas tree collection will occur on January 8th and 15th. All tinsel and decorations must be removed and trees SHOULD NOT be placed in plastic bags.
3. YARD DEBRIS COLLECTION. The final yard debris pickup occurred today (December 18th) and will resume in the March/April timeframe.
4. ASSOCIATION MEETING CANCELLATION POLICY (WEATHER RELATED). To simplify our meeting cancellation policy for these winter months, the Association hereby will follow the Fairfax County Public School determination for a weather cancellation. In a nutshell, if schools are closed then any Association meeting scheduled is also canceled. Specifically, we are closed for the following Conditions: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7. We will also endeavor to send an email blast if meetings are canceled. See the following link for further information: https://www.fcps.edu/resources/safety-and-transportation/weather-cancellation-procedures/inclement-weather-closing.
5. JIM MCKEOWN (ProPave Lead) SITUATION. For your awareness, Jim McKeown has been our invaluable lead for the repaving company working in our community the last few years. He experienced a stroke in November. There has been a GoFundMe page set up to assist with the expenses associated with the event and recovery: https://www.gofundme.com/f/jim-mckeown-fund.
6. 2019-2020 OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES OF THE ASSOCIATION. At the December 2019 Board of Directors meeting I was re-elected President, Joe Underwood was re-elected Vice President, Steve Lubore was re-elected Treasurer, and Matt Strain was re-elected Secretary. Officers are elected by the Directors for one-year terms at the meeting immediately following the Annual Meeting. For Committees – Marguerite Wiese will be the Nominating Committee Chair for the 2019-2020 term. She also takes over as Co-Chair of the Pool Committee with Rich Juchnewicz. A Budget and Finance Committee has been stood up. All other Committee Chairs remained as previously designated.
7. 2020 ASSESSMENT. As a reminder, the 2020 quarterly assessment is due on January 1st and is $345 per quarter for 2020. See our website for further details.
8. SOCIAL EVENT SURVEY. We distributed a survey at the annual meeting and received some excellent feedback but we need more responses. The survey is attached or a link provided. Please fill it in and return it to myself, social@parkwestcommunity.org, or to lori.randall@summitmanage.com.
9. REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS. Please consider giving some of your time to one of the committees. All of our committees have needs and many of them directly impact your quality of life here in the community. Please consider giving an hour of your time a month to make our community a better place to call home.
10. 2019-2020 SNOW REMOVAL POLICY. Please see the website for the document. Reminder, the snow emergency curbs are in effect for the season. Our towing contractor will tow your vehicle if the curbs have been designated a no parking zone during major snow events.
11. LEAVES. Lastly, if you have not taken care of the leaves in your front yards please do so. Help keep our community more neat and most probably, your neighbors more happy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long message – have a safe and fun rest of your year and a great start to 2020!

Regards,

Mark

Good morning all, welcome to December!  A few notes for you on this wet morning….

1.  HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING SOCIAL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 5:00PM.  We still plan to hold the tree lighting social today.  As with last couple of years, please consider adding an ornament or two to the trees.  The trees will be lit at or shortly after 5:00PM.  For those who are able, we request you to bring holiday cookies down to the social to share with those attending.  Some cookies, hot cider and hot chocolate will be provided….along with a few RAFFLE prizes…..

2.  NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT AND 2020 QUARTERLY ASSESSMENT TIMELINE.  These documents have been either hand delivered, mailed, emailed, or you picked them up at the annual meeting.  They may also be found on the website.

3.  REQUEST FOR VOLUNTEERS.  The Communications Committee is looking for a volunteer or two to help with the message board updates at both entrances.  The Pool and Social Committees are in great need of some additional volunteers to help make the activities they are responsible for a success.  My thanks to those who have stepped up to help in the last few months – truly appreciate that.  We need some more to try and lessen the load – please consider providing your name to help.

4.  SOCIAL EVENT SURVEY.  We distributed a survey at the annual meeting and received some excellent feedback.  The survey is attached or a link provided.  Please fill the survey in and return it to myself, social@parkwestcommunity.org, or lori.randall@summitmanage.com.

5.  2019-2020 SNOW REMOVAL POLICY.  Please see the website for the document.   Reminder, the snow emergency curbs are in effect for the season.  Our towing contractor will tow your vehicle if the curbs have been designated a no parking zone during major snow events.

6.  DECEMBER 2019 and JANUARY 2020 TRASH AND RECYCLING SCHEDULE.  is found in the newsletter and on our website.  The final yard waste pickup of the year will be December 18th.  On the Christmas and New Year’s weeks recycling collection will occur on SATURDAY.  Christmas tree collection will occur on January 8th and 15th.

7.  ANNUAL MEETING EXCERPTS:  Lastly, here’s a few more items that were briefed at the Annual Meeting.  The complete meeting slide deck may be found on the website.  #1 – Elections for three Directors occurred.  Congratulations to Marguerite Wiese and Joe Underwood for being elected to a new three-year term (I was the third up for election and was also re-elected).  #2 – The Ring company has a community discount program available.  We will execute that program later in the year as the discounts currently available through Ring and other sellers surpass the community discount.  See the slide deck for further information.  #3 – we will have a picture repository available to you in the near future.  We request your consider uploading community-related activities or just great pictures you snap in the community.  Our intent is to generate a repository for both Year in Review slide decks and potentially for other uses to promote our community.  #4 – the November 2019 newsletter has been distributed and is available on our website.

Have a great day, hope to see you at the social this early evening!

Regards,

Mark

Good afternoon y’all. I don’t normally send these out in such a short turn-around but two items are in my immediate focus – the other two are along for the ride.

1. ANNUAL MEETING.
I just wanted to thank those who attended our meeting last night – I trust it was informative for you. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. My thanks on behalf of the Board and personally to Diane, Christy, Susan, Taylor, TJ and Joe for their help in a variety of ways to undertake the preparations necessary for the event. To all the Directors, thank you for your help and guidance throughout the year and specifically last night for your support from setup to teardown.

2. HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING PREPARATION, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd, 10:00AM.
TOMORROW MORNING – the more hands the faster this can be accomplished. We need to ready the pool house for the holiday social (just one week away). Please consider coming to help us set up the lighting on the pool house, on the fences, and on the trees. The rain should hold off till afternoon.

3. HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING SOCIAL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 5:00PM.
As long as we had enough people show up to do the preparations, we invite you to please come enjoy the start of our holiday season at the pool parking lot. As with last couple of years, please consider adding an ornament or two to the trees on November 30th or December 1st. The trees will be lit at or shortly after 5:00PM. For those who are able, we request you to bring holiday cookies down to the social to share with all those attending. Hot cider and hot chocolate will be provided …. along with a few RAFFLE prizes…..

4. GLASS RECYCLING.
And as this is still a November message….. Glass recycling in NO LONGER supported for curbside pickup in Fairfax County. Recycling containers that contain glass are now considered contaminated and should not be picked up. Please see the following articles for further information – including a map to the purple containers Fairfax County has placed for glass recycling if you wish to utilize that method for recycling.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2019/10/fairfax-county-ends-curbside-glass-recycling/

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/glass

Regards,

Mark

Good afternoon. Several items for your consideration today:

1. ANNUAL MEETING, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 8:00PM, Lord of Life Lutheran Church.
Our Annual Meeting is TOMORROW!!! We look forward to seeing you there – if you are a Member of the Association and are not planning on attending, please fill out a proxy form and send it to Lori Randall (lori.randall@summitmanage.com) as soon as possible. All documents may be found on our website. While it’s after the submission date, please consider submitting your name for election this year at the meeting. We welcome fresh insight and enthusiasm on the board.

2. MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 6:30PM.
Please note the monthly board meeting will be before the Annual Meeting. This will be an abbreviated meeting to allow for Annual Meeting preparations.

3. HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING PREPARATION, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23rd, 10:00AM.
We need to ready the pool house for the holiday social (just one week away). Please consider coming to help us set up the lighting on the pool house, on the fences, and on the trees. The rain should hold off till afternoon.

4. HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING SOCIAL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 5:00PM.
As long as we had enough people show up to do the preparations, we invite you to please come enjoy the start of our holiday season at the pool parking lot. As with last couple of years, please consider adding an ornament or two to the trees on November 30th or December 1st. The trees will be lit at or shortly after 5:00PM. For those who are able, we request you to bring holiday cookies down to the social to share with all those attending. Hot cider and hot chhocolate will be provided….along with a few RAFFLE prizes…..

5. GLASS RECYCLING.
I know you are getting tired of reading this repeatedly and I’ll stop at the end of November. Glass recycling in NO LONGER supported for curbside pickup in Fairfax County. Recycling containers that contain glass are now considered contaminated and should not be picked up. Please see the following articles for further information – including a map to the purple containers Fairfax County has placed for glass recycling if you wish to utilize that method for recycling.

https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2019/10/fairfax-county-ends-curbside-glass-recycling/

https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/glass

Regards,

Mark

Good morning to you all. Hopefully you are enjoying this splendid (though cool) day. Here are several items for your consideration:

1. LENDING LIBRARY AND PATIO. For those who were at the last Annual Meeting, one of our owners requested consideration for installation of a lending library at her expense to honor her mother, Miriam Bracco. After almost one year, on Friday, November 1st, we installed the patio, one of two benches, and the stand for the library! It’s found on the ground at the intersection of Gainsborough Drive and Carriagepark Road. Please refrain from walking on the patio or sitting on the bench until Sunday afternoon to allow the concrete to set properly. The second bench and library itself will be installed in the near future. May Miriam Bracco’s love for learning continue to provide enjoyment for future generations in our community. Janine’s intent is to have book reading for the children during the summers – and potentially other times during the year. If any of you are interested to help her please contact social@parkwestcommunity.org and we’ll be happy to put you in touch.

2. GLASS RECYCLING. Glass recycling in NO LONGER supported for curbside pickup in Fairfax County. EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 11 2019, recycling containers that contain glass will be considered contaminated and will not be picked up. Please see the following articles for further information – including a map to the purple containers Fairfax County has placed for glass recycling if you wish to utilize that method for recycling.
https://wtop.com/fairfax-county/2019/10/fairfax-county-ends-curbside-glass-recycling/
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/recycling-trash/glass

3. ANNUAL MEETING, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 8:00PM, Lord of Life Lutheran Church. The 2019 meeting will occur in the same location as last year. All documents have been either electronically or physically mailed to Members of the Association. Those documents may also be found on the website. Please consider submitting your name for election this year. Fresh insight and enthusiasm is welcomed on the board.

4. MONTHLY BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 6:30PM: Please note the monthly board meeting will occur before the Annual Meeting. This will be an abbreviated meeting to allow for Annual Meeting preparations.

5. HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING SOCIAL, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1st, 5PM: Please come enjoy the start of our holiday season at the pool parking lot. As with last couple of years, please consider adding an ornament or two to the trees on November 30th or December 1st. The trees will be lit at or shortly after 5:00PM. For those who are able, we request you to bring holiday cookies down to the social to share with all those attending. Hot cider and hot chocolate will be provided.

Regards,

Mark