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 Office 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.  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. Riding off road, unlicensed vehicles on the streets of the subdivision or in the retention pond is prohibited. Violations should be reported directly to the appropriate enforcing authority i.e. police, city zoning officer, etc. 

           Some of the homeowners expressed concerns about suspicious cars in the subdivision.  Ideas were discussed and it was decided that the board would investigate contracting with a company to have a camera monitoring system installed at the entrance that would capture license plate information.  After reviewing several companies, the board voted to contract with Flock Camera Security Systems.  This system will capture license plate information on vehicles as they enter / leave the subdivision.  This information is stored for 30 days and will be able to be retrieved by law enforcement officials.  More information will be posted on the Association’s website as soon as the system is installed and specific details are available

Facebook Group: We now have a Belvidere Prairie Place Facebook Group. The group is private. Please search for Belvidere Prairie Place on Facebook or visit this web page and request to join:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/belvidereprairieplace/

Christmas Decoration winners were First Place 4100 Hearthstone and there was a tie for Second Place 4164 Fallen Oak and 4131 Hearthstone. We will have our 5th annual Christmas Decorating Contest with the 1^st place prize being a $50 and 2^nd 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 1^st 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 on June 13^th, 14^th and 15^h.  Our hope is to have better weather and increase the turnout in both sellers and buyers.  We will advertise in the Boone County 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.

If you notice a street light out near your home, please visit the ComEd website and do a search for street light outage.

For homeowners that like to leave their outside lights on at night, there are low energy usage, LED light bulbs on Amazon with a photo cell.  They turn on a dusk and off at dawn.  Right now you can get 6 bulbs for $24.

Some of you may have gotten notified by postcard or heard about a website and application called Nextdoor.com.  We now have our own Belvidere Prairie Place group.  Please review this site and join if you are interested.

We have decided to 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.

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.

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