In this issue:
1. Corinth Hills Homeowner’s Association Board of Directors Status
2. Marty Weingarten To Run For CHHA Board President in 2009
3. CorinthHills.org Website Status
4. FREE CorinthHills.org E-mail Address
5. Community Mailing List
6. CHHA Bylaw Revisions
7. Special Requests

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1. Corinth Hills Homeowner’s Association Board of Directors Status

I (Marty Weingarten) have resigned my position as 2nd vice president on the CHHA board. This leaves two vacancies - Treasurer and 2nd Vice President. I would like to plead for association members to consider volunteering to fill these positions.

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2. Marty Weingarten To Run For CHHA Board President in 2009

This is YOUR association, you deserve a board that understands this and conducts business accordingly!
My platform for reform:
- No B.S. - I have a very low tolerance for B.S. and pledge to not subject you to any.
- A blanket policy of inclusion
- Transparency of association and board business
- Notification in advance of meetings held on your behalf
- Invitation to participate - we want your input!
- Disclosure - Summaries of business conducted on your behalf
- Aggressive recruitment of new membership
- Free flow of community news and information
- Overhaul of the bylaws to ensure homeowner inclusion and participation
Lastly - We’ve spent years and countless hours discussing the neighborhood sign and yet we still have nothing to show for it. I pledge to continue to seek a resolution without continually dwelling on the issue.

Your current board has been assembled for years, has held dozens of meetings, meetings that are supposedly held on the behalf of YOU who voted for them in the first place. Ask yourself:
- How many times have I been notified of a meeting?
- How many times have I been invited to submit an agenda item or concern?
- How many times have I been informed of the results of these meetings?

If the current board is not considering YOUR concerns at their board meetings, what are they doing? What’s the point of a board meeting if not for the consideration of the homeowner’s concerns? For that matter, what’s the point of having a board at all?

At our annual meeting the question of the neighborhood’s ability to contact a board member for the purposes of expressing a concern was raised by a sitting board member and I didn’t have the opportunity to address in reply. Sure, the association is free to contact any board member at any time to express a concern, but if this is the way the association wishes to address concerns, the board should be dissolved. One of the major purposes of a board that has been duly elected by its association is to invite input from that association it represents at board meetings. An analogy is that you don’t have to own a pet, but should you decide to have one certain responsibilities are attached. If you don’t want those responsibilities, don’t buy a pet. Using this analogy, had we maintained our pet in the same manner as has been the case with board meetings, we’d have one dead pet right now.

Don’t take my word for it, ask your friends, family and neighbors how a board is supposed to work, then ask yourself if this is what is occurring within your own association.

I attempted to address these issues - in writing - with the current board as 2nd vice president but was unsuccessful in my attempts.

Finally, some insight for you to ponder - I’m not a Republican nor a Democrat, I vote for the candidate that I feel would serve best in the position they’re seeking. I’m not an optimist nor a pessimist but a realist who tries to independently evaluate each situation as it presents itself.

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3. CorinthHills.org Website Status

CorinthHills.org will continue. As a member of the association I pledge to continue posting as much information about the CHHA as is offered,… much as it has been. I will also continue to post news, information and happenings from surrounding communities. The website is currently receiving approximately 100 unique visitors each day.

Please contact admin@corinthhills.org with news about our area for posting on the website.

We also own Gwinnettian.com, Gwinnettians.com and Gwinnett.ws and may possibly switch to one of these as our primary address at some point in the future. I’ve also been contacted by others who have expressed interest in collaborating on expanded community projects at these addresses. Same is true for our US-78.com address. Stay tuned!…

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4. FREE CorinthHills.org E-mail Address

I would be happy to setup an @corinthhills.org e-mail address for anyone in the community who would like one. It would be setup to forward to your primary e-mail account. For example: mail sent to john@corinthhills.org would automatically forward to your current e-mail box.

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5. Community Mailing List

I plan to maintain the mailing list and continue broadcasting news to the community as conditions warrant. I am very pleased to state that the website continues to register newsletter subscribers with many being from surrounding neighborhoods and even a few from GwinnettCounty.com and EvermoreCID.com. We appreciate them peeking in on us. As always, we would appreciate their news for distribution.

Should you not wish to be notified of neighborhood alerts via e-mail, please reply to this message with a short note asking to be removed and we will be happy to accommodate your request. E-mail changes and additions are appreciated.

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6. CHHA Bylaw Revisions

As I touched on at the annual meeting, if you review the CHHA bylaws you will notice that the document is almost entirely comprised of the board’s obligation to the board. The bylaws need to be revised and amended to refocus attention away from the board back onto the homeowner’s where it belongs.

I would like to suggest an independent committee be formed to review these bylaws and make recommendations for change to be submitted to the board. If a committee can’t be formed, I would like to request that a volunteer review my recommendations and to give them an official okey-dokey prior to submitting to the board for approval. Unfortunately, according to the bylaws, the board has the final vote on bylaw revisions and amendments - which needs to be changed as well.

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7. Special Requests

The board needs an infusion of new blood in some form or fashion. I would be happy to volunteer my services in some capacity but I will require broad support in order to do so. Me aside, I know that we have some very bright, very capable minds out there within our neighborhood,… PLEASE consider volunteering a little time (it really doesn’t take much) to better our neighborhood.

I would sincerely enjoy the opportunity to arrange a time to speak with anyone who would like to discuss the issues concerning our neighborhood and community. Additionally, should you happen to be a neighbor who has thought of volunteering but is apprehensive in some way about serving on the board and in need of some reassurance about doing so, I would love the opportunity to discuss with you how you could make a positive difference. Likewise, I would appreciate any counseling from anyone who has the desire to assist me with my endeavors.

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Bonus Story Time!

Time to make you suffer through a little story… When I was growing up my grandparents lived in Decatur at the corner of North Decatur Road and Superior Avenue. A nice little house (smaller than mine) for which my grandfather paid less than $3000.00 bucks. It always seemed to be a great little community until around the late 70’s when it endured a downturn. Homes went vacant for long periods of time and they couldn’t give a house away. Long story short - after awhile the homeowner’s finally banded together, identified issues, coordinated tactics, cooperated amongst themselves, contacted the appropriate authorities when necessary and exacted positive results - much as we accomplished as a neighborhood recently with the graffiti incidents. Today, the homes in that area go for $500,000 and up and are very much in demand.

Thank you for your support. Vote early and often!