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. A special thanks to Officer Blankenship from the Belvidere Police Department for attending the meeting and answering questions from homeowners. There was lively interaction from many homeowners about neighbors not being neighborly. lt is alI 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.

Covid-19 continues to be a concern in or area. Please continue to be safe and healthy as the warm weather arrives and we all want to get out of the house. We have temporarily suspended in person quarterly board meetings and are using email to keep up with any necessary board business as needed.

Christmas Decoration winners were First Place was 611 Wheatland and Second Place was a tie. We will have our 6th annual Christmas Decorating Contest with the 1st place prize being a $50 and 2nd place a $25 gift card to a local restaurant again this year. You must be in good standing with your dues current to win. Also to make the contest more competitive, the same home cannot win the 1st place prize in 2 consecutive years. 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.

The Annual garage sale weekend will occur June 18 -20 as long as the Covid-19 Stay at Home order is lifted and we are permitted to do so. We will advertise in the Boone County Shopper. We will update the Facebook page if the sales are cancelled.

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.

Lights on for Safety and Security – we encourage all homeowners to leave their outside lights on during the evening / overnight hours. LED light bulbs have very low energy consumption and coupled with making sure your doors and windows are locked, will increase your homes security. We will also continue to have the 24/7 video monitoring of our entrance by the FLOCK camera system we had installed last year. If you notice a street light out near your home, please visit the ComEd website and do a search for street light outage. ·

You may have noticed, we did replace the fence around the retention pond. It was installed at least 15 years ago and is in very bad shape.

Our website is being 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. http://belvidereprairieplace.com

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 have a nice, safe neighborhood to live in and keep our property values from deteriorating.

We still have 1 voting vacancy on
our board of directors. This is your chance to have a voice and make a difference in our neighborhood.