by Doug Taggart

"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better."

by King Whitney Jr.

One of the challenges of dealing with change is to ensure that people are informed.  At the October 2006 Board of Director's meeting, the Board voted to initiate a number of changes on how services are provided in Montclair.  I will summarize the changes that will be implemented over the next few months. 

The Armstrong Management service contract awarded a little over two years ago is referred to in the property management industry as a "turn-key' contract.  Under this structure, a vast majority of the functions necessary to keep homeowners associations operating are executed by an on-site and off-site labor force.  Typical functions provided include: financial management (assessments, budget development, investment planning), covenant enforcement, subcontracting oversight, obtaining association insurance, community communications (newsletters, webpage, etc..), Board/Committee support, record keeping, Community Patrol/Security, event management and common area maintenance/landscaping. 

As a general rule, these large umbrella contracts are less expensive when compared to the aggregate of contracting individually for specialized services.  As with any business/service provider, professional management companies have areas of traditional strengths, e.g., financial management, covenants, and at the same time, areas where they are not as strong, e.g., landscaping, security services.  The challenge for homeowners associations that use these types of "turn-key" contracts is to obtain a balance across tasks that satisfy the needs and expectations of the community.  Cutting to the chase, there are various paths that can be taken in dealing with service shortfalls; you can seek a new provider (which the Board did two years ago), or you can step back and look at your approach to contracting for services and consider some alternatives.     

In late August the Board asked Armstrong to propose a staffing structure to provide their services with a different focus.  We specifically asked them to enhance a few positions by adding a fulltime Communications Director, a fulltime Events Director, the capability to manage a larger subcontracting portfolio, and to eliminate landscaping and community patrol/security as part of Armstrong's "core" services.   In addition, the Board directed a market search for landscaping contractors to provide for the upkeep of the medians on Waterway Drive and the other common areas throughout Montclair. 

At the October Board meeting the proposal to restructure the Armstrong contract (as detailed above) and to subcontract landscaping was discussed and approved by the Board.  These changes will be put into place as of 1 January 2007.  

What was not included in the October action was the community patrol function.  This means that the community patrol function will no longer be provided by Armstrong as of 1 January 2007.  How or if this function will be replaced, in full or in-part, continues to be discussed by the Board.   Factors influencing this include the requirements for providing such a service, and the ability to have those requirements satisfied within the scope of budget realities.  The Board continues to consider alternatives to security, but as yet, has not developed a path-ahead on how to proceed.

It is my desire to ensure that residents are kept informed as we work through these changes and I will continue to use the Montclairion to inform you of the Board's decisions.  I will continue to use the Montclairion as a place to alert you of change.  I am also considering the benefit of holding a "town-meeting" to address specific questions and concerns.  I invite residents to provide me with their thoughts on holding such a meeting/s.  Should a decision be made to hold a meeting/s, it will be posted on the community bulletin board (in front of the MPOA building), on our community website at http://www.monclairva.com/, and for those of you who have recently signed up for ArmstrongConnect, you may receive an e-mail informing you of the meeting directed to your ArmstrongConnect registered e-mail account.

As always, should you wish to provide comment or input please feel free to send an e-mail to me at either dtaggart@montclairva.com or Dougtag@aol.com.