Spring 2017 Newsletter Items

Notes from the President of the Board.  I would like to thank the homeowners that attended our Annual Association Meeting in November at the Belvidere Community Building.  There was lively interaction from many homeowners about neighbors not being neighborly.  It is all of our responsibility to act as good neighbors – keeping our grass cut, our homes and lots clean and clutter free and obeying all the local ordinances for Boone County and the City of Belvidere.  Violations should be reported directly to the appropriate enforcing authority i.e. police, city zoning officer, etc.

I would like to welcome a new member to our board – Mark D’Angelo.  Mark will serve as Vice President and will be working on updating our website.  We are excited to finally have this vacancy on the board filled.

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Reminder – Two Homeowners received the Boone County Gardeners of America Yard of the Month Award.  In July Ann Fatas at 4160 Brookstone got the award and in August, Inocencia Salinas at 163 Landmark received the award.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could have more homeowners win again this year?

This year we are going to have our 3rd annual Christmas Decorating Contest with the 1st place prize being a $50 gift card to a local restaurant.  We had a difficult time selecting just one winner so this year we are adding a $25 2nd place prize as well.  Also to make the contest more competitive, the same home cannot win the 1st place prize in 2 consecutive years.   Last year’s winner was 4100 Hearthstone.  More details on the dates for the judging in our Fall News Letter.   If you are not decorating your house and would like to be on the judging committee, please contact us.  Prizes will be awarded for the most appealing lighting display.  As a reminder, please make sure that your lighting and displays are removed after the Holidays as soon as weather permits.

This Spring we will have our annual garage sale on June 15th, 16th and 17th.  Our hope is to have better weather and increase the turnout in both seller and buyers.  We will advertise in the Shopper.

Neighborhood Watch – we are still looking for a coordinator and street captains to work with the Community Officer from the Belvidere Police Department – Officer Blankenship.  It is a proven fact that this program reduces crime and vandalism in communities that have an active Neighborhood Watch program.  Please send us an email or call if you would be willing to participate in our program.

Some of you may have gotten notified by postcard or heard about a website and application call Nextdoor.com.  Our geographic location is currently mapping us with the Greenview Estates group.  We are looking into the possibility of having our own Belvidere Prairie Place group.  In the meantime, please review this site and join if you are interested.

We will now have our website updated on a regular basis.  Please make sure you check it often for new updates and announcements.  If you have suggestions for future enhancements – be sure to share them.

We want to make sure that all the homeowners realize that we are a volunteer board. We are all still required to pay our dues just like all of you.  We donate a lot of time each week and month having board meetings, working with real estate agents & attorneys when properties are sold, filing out various forms and IRS tax returns, keeping track of all the finances and paying invoices for various services, writing newsletters and going to the printer, stuffing envelopes, answering emails and phone calls from homeowners and working with our association attorney to name but a few of the tasks we perform.  Our goal is to try to have a nice neighborhood to live in and keep our property values from deteriorating.  We still have 4 openings on our board of directors.  This is your chance to have a voice and make a difference in our neighborhood.