no foolin;-) all homeowners will be receiving this in the mail, along with a copy of the new HOA by-laws, as required by the state corporation commission.

our president speaks:

First, let me introduce myself. I am Bob Bassett and for many years, I’ve served as the President of 3 & 4 Cardinal Glen of Loudoun Homeowners Association. After the merger of the two HOAs in Cardinal Glen was completed in December of 2015, I was elected to be the President of the new organization called Cardinal Glen of Sterling Homeowners Association. The new Board of Directors (BOD), consisting of Directors from both original BODs, and I look forward to working together to make our neighborhood one we can all be proud to call home.

At the first BOD meeting held after the merger was completed, the topic of attempting to reduce the number and frequency of trash trucks moving through the Cardinal Glen neighborhood was raised. A tour of the neighborhood revealed that American, AAA/Republic, Waste Management (WM), and CSI are the primary providers of trash collection services in Cardinal Glen. These companies were all asked to submit proposals for a community-wide service. A notice was also published on the Nextdoor Cardinal Glen web site about what we were considering and, as expected, responses varied from “great” to “I’m not interested since I carry my trash to the dump myself,” and nearly everything in between. Given these responses and knowing that a community-wide service that required everyone to sign up with a single server would also require approval by a super-majority of residents at an annual meeting, caused us to reconsider. Another difficulty with the community-wide service is that the HOA Board would become the provider with the trash collections fees, added to the dues, as is done by other HOAs in the area, something we as a BOD were reluctant to do. Accordingly, other options were sought.

It turned out that both American and AAA/Republic offer HOA plans (where everyone must enlist and the BOD becomes the provider with costs added to the dues) and community plans (where each resident can opt in or out, select once or twice a week service, and costs would be billed directly to the resident). WM and CSI did not respond in any way. The nice thing about the community plans are that, since each resident can individually opt in or out, approval by a majority of residents is not required. The BOD can simply set up a preferred plan and offer it to the residents, which is the option we have chosen.

After reviewing the proposals we received from American and AAA/Republic and going over them thoroughly at the March BOD meeting, we have selected American as the preferred provider of trash collection services. For many residents, it means that they now get some potential cost savings and a wider selection of options, since about 100 out of the 185 residents in Cardinal Glen already use American.

So the details of the American Trash Services plan include:

• Twice weekly trash collection on Mondays and Thursdays, with weekly recycling,and yard debris removal on Mondays at $26.00 monthly.
  OR
• Weekly trash collection, recycling and yard debris removal on Mondays only at $24.00 monthly. This is not a big difference but every little bit counts!
• Services include the use of a 64-gallon trash cart and a 64 gallon recycling cart.
• These rates are effective starting 05/01/2016 and is guaranteed for one year. American does not charge fuel surcharges or environmental fees. The starting date was set to establish the time for the rate guarantee but, if any resident wanted to get started earlier, they should be able do so.
• To get this offer, residents must call the American customer service department which is available Monday – Friday from 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM at (703) 368-0500 and identify themselves as part of the Cardinal Glen community. This offer is also extended to those Cardinal Glen residents who already use American for their trash collection service.

The American customer service representatives should be able to answer any questions you may have but, if you still have questions, please feel free to contact me. My home phone number is 703-430-9326, my cell number is 703-328-1846, and my email address is robert.bassett@verizon.net.