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National Night Out 2015: A Huge Success

On Tuesday evening, August 4th, the Country Lakes Homeowner’s Association (CLHA) was proud to host its annual National Night Out event at the common area pavilion located at the corner of Asher Road & Cox Drive. This event was in conjunction with other National Night Out events across the country.

Approximately 120 Country Lakes residents and their guests were in attendance. While the weather was a little on the warm side, the drinks were cold, the grilled hot dogs & hamburgers were delicious, and fun was had by all.

Special guests for this event were invited emergency responders and representatives from the community. Specifically the following were in attendance: The Mechanicsville Volunteer Rescue Squad, the Mechanicsville Volunteer Fire Department, Stanley Williams, the former St. Mary’s County Emergency Services Recruitment & Retention Coordinator, Pat Myers and others from St. Mary’s County Crime Solvers, Lt. Eva Jones of  the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, Trooper 1st Class Ed Mersman of the Maryland State Police- Leonardtown Barrack, and SMECO personnel with one of their service trucks.  Thank you to all of groups for talking to guests, handing out literature, and doing demonstrations featuring their vehicles and/or equipment.

CLHA board member Jim Loveless acted as DJ and organized games for attendees such as musical chairs & water-balloon tosses. Thank you to the CLHA board members & others who volunteered their time & efforts to bring food, drinks, deserts, snacks, condiments, supplies, games, and prizes. A special  thank you to our grill-masters who cooked hamburgers & hotdogs for all to enjoy.

This is the CLHA’s biggest and most popular event of the year – all made possible by Association dues paid by CLHA members. We look forward to seeing you at the nextCountry Lakes National Night Out event in 2016!

View pictures from the event here

Upcoming Events for 4th Quarter 2015

Our Board Meetings are held every four weeks on Tuesdays at either the park pavilion (during warm months) or the Christ Church Parish Hall on Zack Fowler Rd. in Chaptico (during cold months). Please bring your ideas/suggestions/complaints and we’ll try our best to address them appropriately. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend these meetings!  Want to Volunteer? Call 301-884-7297 or go online at CLHA.org

SEPTEMBER 12th – Fall Community Yard Sale – 7am

Set up at your house or the CLHA common area on a first-come, first-served bases. Once again we’ll be advertising a community-wide yard sale for the benefit of all residents. This is your chance to sell those unused, excess, or outgrown items you have around the house.

15th – HOA Board Meeting – Park pavilion, 7pm

View our Complete Event Calendar & Details here

What’s Happening Online: Facebook Update

Have you seen the CLHA Facebook page? It’s an easy and quick way to communicate with your neighbors and board members directly. We currently have 339 followers (up 56% from last quarter) and our posts often go viral, extending to “friends” of those followers as well. Our most popular post in the 3rd quarter of 2015 reached more than 400 people on Facebook! It was a Sheriff’s department post that we shared with our neighbors!  Join us today.

New HOA President Assigned!

Due to personal reasons, our friend and long time HOA President Elaine Green resigned in late August. We would like to thank her for the many years of volunteer time she contributed to Country Lakes. She will be missed at board meetings, but we hope to continue to see her at community events.  With that said, the acting CLHA President for the remainder of 2015 will be our VP, Cesar Afanador. Welcome Cesar!

REMINDER : Yearly Dues Statements

If you have yet to pay your 2015 HOA dues statements you are now past due and may incur a late fee.  Remember the total is now $44.51, which is 5% higher than last years dues. This amount equates to just $2.12 more over the course of the year. We appreciate all of our homeowners and must occasionally raise the dues to ensure we can continue to maintain the common grounds to your standards.  Many of these funds go to the yearly events and new projects to improve the park.  Thanks to everyone who has already paid their dues. Questions? Submit a request form or Email: propertymanagement@clha.org

Neighborhood Safety

We just wanted to remind you all to be mindful of your surroundings. Get to know your neighbors. Look out for one another. There is safety in numbers! If you are interested in joining our Neighborhood Watch Program, please contact Donald “Pud” Graham at 301-884-5236 or 301-717-6474.

Reserve the Pavilion or Lighted SIgn

The CLHA pavilion is a great place to hold a gathering of family or friends and it’s FREE. The common area playground and ball fields are located nearby. An electrical output is available and two fixed charcoal grills near the pavilion can be used for outdoor cooking. The CLHA pavilion can only be reserved for private, personal get-togethers such as birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, family reunions, and picnics. It’s not available for organizational meetings or fundraisers. Personal, non-commercial messages (for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, etc.,) can be posted on the CLHA lighted sign. The charge is $5 per day for a maximum of 5 days, payable in advance.  You can call our voicemail line for reservations or reserve them here, Lighted Sign; Pavilion. We require a 2 week advanced notice. Only members in good standing (dues are current) can reserve either option.

Want to Volunteer? Call 301-884-7297 or submit this form

When calling our voice mail, your phone number must accept blocked numbers to receive a call back

Yearly Dues Statements Have Been Mailed

Your 2015 HOA dues statements have been mailed.  You may have noticed the total is now $44.51, which is 5% higher than last years dues. This amount equates to just $2.12 more over the course of the year. We appreciate all of our homeowners and must occasionally raise the dues to ensure we can continue to maintain the common grounds to your standards.  Most of these funds go to the maintenance of the common ground area at the park, including utilities, and new projects to improve the park, but some are also used to organize the yearly events that we all enjoy.
Please drop your check in the mail today to ensure to meet the July 1 deadline and avoid late fees.  Questions? Submit this form.

School’s Out for Summer!

It’s official, the kids are out of school for the Summer! This means you will see more action on the streets at all times of the day, so please be mindful of our speed limits. Throughout most of the neighborhood the limit is 25mph.  The local police have increased their patrols to ensure the safety of our community and the families within it. Enjoy the Summer with your family and friends. Stay cool.

Facebook Update: 298 Friends! (18 new friends since March)

Have you seen the CLHA Facebook page? It’s an easy and quick way to communicate with your neighbors and board members directly. We currently have 298 followers and our posts often go viral, extending to “friends” of those followers as well. Our most popular post in the 2nd quarter of 2015 reached more than 4000 people on Facebook; You read that correctly, four thousand people! It was about a found dog in the community. Bear went viral and found his owners thanks to our Facebook page! Join the conversation today!

Recent Work at the Park

Our board members have been busy maintaining the common area at the park.  If you haven’t noticed, we have made the following updates and fixes:

• All the pavilion posts were painted
• a light was replaced at the pavilion
• missing boards on the bridge over the creek were replaced
• the roof to the lighted sign was repaired
• and the delapitated practice board on the tennis courts and the broken basketball backboard were removed for your safety.

We hope you are enjoying the park with your families and friends.

Neighborhood Safety

We just wanted to remind you all to be mindful of your surroundings. Get to know your neighbors. Look out for one another. There is safety in numbers! If you are interested in joining our Neighborhood Watch Program, please contact Donald “Pud” Graham at 301-884-5236 or 301-717-6474.

Reserve the Pavilion or Lighted Sign

The CLHA pavilion is a great place to hold a gathering of family or friends and it’s FREE. The common area playground and ball fields are located nearby. An electrical output is available and two fixed charcoal grills near the pavilion can be used for outdoor cooking.

The CLHA pavilion can only be reserved for private, personal get-togethers such as birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, family reunions, and picnics. It’s not available for organizational meetings or fundraisers.

Personal, non-commercial messages (for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, etc.,) can be posted on the CLHA lighted sign. The charge is $5 per day for a maximum of 5 days, payable in advance.

Follow these linkes to request a reservation of the CLHA pavilion or make lighted sign reservation. You can also call our voicemail line for reservations. We require a 2 week advanced notice. Only members in good standing (dues are current) can reserve either option.

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New board members in 2015

We voted in two new board members, elected as officials at December’s Board Elections/Meet & Greet event:

Cesar Afanador, Vice President
Michele Suite, Secretary

We appreciate all of our board members, present and past, for volunteering your time to make our community a better place!

View our 2015 Event Calendar

Signs on Common Area Property

CLHA’s common area property, located at the corner of Asher Road and Cox Drive, includes the basketball court, tennis court, pavilion, playground, ball fields, and the area around the lighted message board. This property is for the use of association members, which includes you.

Each year, random promotional signs have been placed on this property without prior consent from the HOA.   We do remove and dispose of such signs without notice. We understand this may result in the unfortunate disposal of your sign, possibly costing you money. However, these are our rules.

This policy was implemented previously by the HOA board to protect residents from fraudulent or misleading advertisements. We appreciate your cooperation with regard to posting.

Do you Have Spring Fever?

Believe it or not, the warmer weather will be here soon! What is on your to-do list? Is it gardening, yard work and/or other outdoor home improvement projects?

When you are outside working in the yard, please be mindful of snakes, mold, mud and other unpleasant things that could be lurking under the leaves and wear proper protective gear.

Have to dig? Please check with Miss Utility before digging to be sure you can safely plant that beautiful tree in your yard or build that new deck without interfering with the underground utilities.

Virtual Neighborhood: Facebook Update

Have you seen the CLHA Facebook page? It’s an easy and quick way to communicate with your neighbors and board members directly. We currently have 280 followers (16 more since December) and our posts often go viral, extending to “friends” of those followers as well. Our most popular post in the 1st quarter of 2015 reached more than 350 people on Facebook; It was about a lost cat in the community. Fiesty Leo went viral and found his owners thanks to our Facebook page! Join The Conversation at Facebook.com/CLHOA

Special Announcements

Neighborhood Safety

We just wanted to remind you all to be mindful of your surroundings. Get to know your neighbors. Look out for one another. There is safety in numbers! If you are interested in joining our Neighborhood Watch Program, please contact Donald “Pud” Graham at 301-884-5236 or 301-717-6474.

Lock Your Vehicles

The Sheriff’s deparment has recently reported a number of vehicles being broken into within the neighborhood. We can’t stress enough the imporantance of locking your vehicles, even if you have never had any issues in the past. If you see anything suspicious happening in Country Lakes, or witness any crime, please call the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Dept. at 301-475-8008.

Looking for Board Members

We always welcome you to join our board meetings and consider joining the board of directors. We are a group of residents that volunteer to help manage the maintenance and events throughout the community.  It is because of all of our (and your) dues that we are able to maintain the park and have these fun events.  We are always looking for help and volunteers, so please consider participating.  New ideas and suggestions for events and community interaction are always welcome and encouraged.

Yearly Dues Reminder

The past due dues notices have been mailed out to the delinquent residents.  We need your dues paid promptly as there are a few very expensive projects that the HOA will be undertaking in 2015.  All of your paid dues ensures we will be able to operate at our fullest capacity and offer events to you for your enjoyment such as Trunk or Treat, National Night Out, Santa’s Visit, Meet and Greet, and keeping the park, ball fields, basketball court, and tennis courts maintained.  Please drop your check in the mail to us today to avoid possible further action as outlined in the Declaration of Covenants and Conditions and Restrictions. Questions? Submit a request form on CLHA.org or Email: propertymanagement@clha.org

Reserve the Pavilion or Lighted SIgn

The CLHA pavilion is a great place to hold a gathering of family or friends and it’s FREE. The common area playground and ball fields are located nearby. An electrical output is available and two fixed charcoal grills near the pavilion can be used for outdoor cooking.
The CLHA pavilion can only be reserved for private, personal get-togethers such as birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, family reunions, and picnics. The pavilion cannot be reserved for organizational meetings or for any fund raising efforts.

Personal, non-commercial messages (for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, etc.,) can be posted on the CLHA lighted sign.
The charge is $5 per day for a maximum of 5 days, payable in advance.

To request a CLHA pavilion or lighted sign reservation, go here. Remember to give a 2 week lead time on all requests. You can also call our voicemail line for reservations. A response should follow within a few days.

Santa to Visit Us at a New Location this Year

‘Tis the Season for Santa to visit Country Lakes.  Due to inclement weather and freezing temperatures resulting in low turnouts in past years, Santa will visit us at Christ Church Parish Hall on Zach Fowler Road in Chaptico this year!

Come see us from 2-4pm in the warmth of the indoors for some holiday cheer.  Your CLHA board members will be on hand with snacks and drinks. Avoid the lines and cost at the mall and bring the kids for a visit with Santa, where you are welcome to snap pictures and chat with your neighbors! We hope to see you on Sunday afternoon!

Trunk or Treat was a Howling Good Time

Thanks to everyone who came out for Trunk or Treat at the CLHA park on October 31. It was a nice evening with plenty of kids, costumes, candy, heat (from the bonfire!), and fun! Thanks to all our neighbors who dressed up, decorated trunks, and passed out candy. View our pictures from the event here.

Join our Virtual Online Neighborhood at Facebook

Have you seen the CLHA Facebook page? It’s an easy and quick way to communicate with your neighbors and board members directly. We currently have 264 followers, but our posts often go viral, extending to “friends” of those followers as well. Our most popular post in the 2nd half of 2014 reached more than 8,000 people on Facebook; It was about a lost dog in the community. Friendly Puggle Winston went viral and found his owners thanks to our Facebook page! Join now.

Reserving the Pavilion and Lighted Message Sign

DID YOU KNOW: As a resident member of CLHA, you can reserve the pavilion and post personal messages on the lighted message sign, both located in the CLHA common area at the corner of Asher Road & Cox Drive?

These are benefits provided to you as a member of the Association. The main requirement for reserving both is that your dues must be paid in full.

To request a CLHA pavilion or lighted sign reservation, select “My HOA” and then click on either “Reserve the Pavilion” or “Reserve the Sign” and follow the stated instructions. A response should follow within a few days.

Please make any pavilion or lighted sign reservation request as early as possible – no later than 2 weeks in advance! Reservations for the pavilion and lighted sign are accepted on a qualified first-come, first served basis.

Requests can also be made by leaving a voice mail message at 301-884-7297.  Please give your name, address, requested dates, and a call back number.

CLHA dues records are listed by address. If you have any questions concerning your membership dues status, please complete this form.

More About the Pavilion 

The CLHA pavilion is a great place to hold a gathering of family or friends and it’s FREE. The common area playground and ball fields are located nearby. An electrical output is available and two fixed charcoal grills near the pavilion can be used for outdoor cooking.

The CLHA pavilion can only be reserved for private, personal get-togethers such as birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, family reunions, and picnics. The pavilion cannot be reserved for organizational meetings or for any fund raising efforts.

 More About the Lighted Sign

Personal, non-commercial messages (for birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, graduations, etc.,) can be posted on the CLHA lighted sign.

 The charge is $5 per day for a maximum of 5 days, payable in advance.

Neighborhood Safety

We just wanted to remind you all to be mindful of your surroundings. Get to know your neighbors. Look out for one another. If you see anything suspicious happening in Country Lakes, or witness any crime, please call the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Dept. at 301-475-8008.  If you are interested in joining our Neighborhood Watch Program, please contact Donald “Pud” Graham at 301-884-5236 or 301-717-6474.

Looking for Board Members

We always welcome you to join our board meetings and consider joining the board of directors. We are a group of residents that volunteer to help manage the maintenance and events throughout the community.  It is because of all of our (and your) dues that we are able to maintain the park and have these fun events.  We are always looking for help and volunteers, so please consider participating.  New ideas and suggestions for events and community interaction are always welcome and encouraged. Volunteer here.

Donate Old Vehicles to Charity

If you have a vehicle that you are not using, please consider donating it to a charitable cause.  Many charities may even remove the car for you and and give you a receipt for tax write-off.   Disabled vehicles are considered an eyesore to many in the neighborhood, and possibly deter people from purchasing a home here in Country Lakes.   Additionally, they could cause injury to someone playing in or around them.  Please consider donating them.

Yearly Dues Reminder

The past due dues notices have been mailed out to the delinquent residents.  We need your dues paid promptly as there are a few very expensive projects that the Country Lakes Homeowner’s Association, Inc. will be undertaking this coming year.  All of your paid dues ensures we will be operate at our fullest capacity and offer events to you for your enjoyment such as Trunk or Treat, National Night Out, Santa’s Visit, Meet and Greet,  keeping the park, ball fields, basketball court, and tennis court maintained.  Please drop your check in the mail to us today to avoid possible further action as outlined in the Declaration of Covenants and Conditions and Restrictions. To check your dues status, complete this form.

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS

CLHA Board Meetings

Our Board Meetings are held every four weeks on
Tuesdays at either the park pavilion (during warm months) or the Christ Church Parish Hall on Zack Fowler Rd. in Chaptico (during cold months). Upcoming meeting dates for the first quarter of 2015 are as follows (and will be at the Parish Hall): 

• Jan 6
• Feb 3
• Mar 3
• Mar 31

All meetings are at 7pm and last a maximum of 2 hours. Please bring your ideas/suggestions/complaints and we’ll try our best to address them appropriately.

Santa Visit – Sun, Dec 14

This year we’ve moved the event to Christ Church Parish Hall on Zach Fowler Rd in Chaptico. Come see Santa from 2-4pm in the warmth of the indoors!

Holiday Decorating Contest – Wed, Dec 17

The CLHA Board will be voting on the best houses in the neighborhood, so be sure to turn on your lights from 7-9pm. Three lucky winners will receive free 2015 HOA dues!