Northwood Hills Homeowners Association, Inc.
Fall 1998 Newsletter

President's Message

With Holly Tree behind us, it is time that we focus our attention on the goals of NHHA as stated on the address page of this newsletter. In 1999, your Board feels we should concentrate our efforts in the following areas:

• BEAUTIFICATION
• CODE COMPLIANCE
• STREET AND ALLEY REPAIR
• SECURITY PATROL
• SUPPORT OF NORTHWOOD HILLS ELEMENTARY & FRETZ PARK LIBRARY

These are objectives we believe will improve our quality of life and make Northwood Hills an even better place to live. To accomplish these goals, however, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT.

The Board is developing our 1999 budget for presentation to and approval of the membership at our scheduled General Membership Meeting - - Tuesday, January 26, 1999 at Northwood Hills Elementary. The more MEMBERS we have, the more we can do for YOU and our NEIGHBORHOOD.

Mark Your 1999 Calendar

A General NHHA Membership Meeting will be held Tuesday, January 26, 1999 @ 7:00 PM in the cafeteria at Northwood Hills Elementary. Principal agenda topics are:

• Election of Board Officers for Areas 3 & 5
• Treasurer's 1998 financial report & proposed Budget for 1999 (to be approved by the membership)
• Separate reports on Membership, Patrol, Beautification, and Community Affairs

We also plan to have some outside guests. Depending on scheduling, our list includes:

• Councilmember Lois Finkelman, District 11 (west side of Hillcrest)
• Councilmember Sandy Grayson, District 12 (east side of Hillcrest)
• Mary Suhm, First Assistant City Manager. Ms Suhm has been given the responsibility of reorganizing the City Code Compliance Department.
• Mr. Coy Evans, Assistant Director, City of Dallas Streets & Sanitation. Mr. Evans will speak to us on the proper procedure to get street & alley repairs.

Membership Drive

Cris Murrey, our Secretary, reports that our door-to-door & block-by-block, membership canvass is about 75% complete. If you have not been called on, you soon will be. When you are contacted, please give every consideration to joining. If you have been contacted and have not as yet joined NHHA, please fill out and return the application form found on this website.

Preliminary reports indicate that our campaign has brought in several new and renewing members, bringing our total, as of October 19th, to 370. However, this still leaves us 40 members short of the number required to provide minimal service to you and our neighborhood. Fortunately, we still have the 25% canvassing to be done, and that should put us over the top. Meanwhile, please check with your friends and neighbors - - if they ARE NOT members, please use your influence and get them to join.

Cris Murrey extends her sincere thanks to all our volunteers who have given so generously of their time to contact their neighbors - braving heat and rain - to make this campaign a success. THANK YOU!!

Beautification

The Board and Wes Jeanes, Beautification Chair, are 100% committed to resume our median projects as fast as possible. Next on the list of priorities is Meadowcreek Dr., west of Hillcrest. As stated on Page 1, it takes 50 ANNUAL members to fund a new median landscape project. The KEYWORD is ANNUAL. It would not be prudent for the Board to fund a large 1st quarter expenditure without knowing it can cover it's financial obligations for the balance of 1999. Therefore, we will not know how much money can be allocated to this project until our membership drive results are in and we can prepare our year end financial statements. We WILL start a landscape project on Meadowcreek Dr, west of Hillcrest, in 1999, THIS WE PROMISE. Wes Jeanes will present plans on what he will do in the 1st quarter `99, based on available funds, at the January 26th meeting. If the 1st quarter work does not complete Wes's over-all plan for this median, he will tell us what else needs to be done, how much it will cost and give us an estimated completion date.

NHHA Patrol

By Bill Stutts

Over the past few months, we have been asked many questions regarding our Patrol; Do we still have a patrol -- what are the patrol hours -- I've been a member for 2 years and no one gave me the patrol number -- just to mention a few. Let me respond as follows:

• We certainly do still have a Patrol, and our level of service has never been better.
• Currently our Patrol is on duty from 7:00 PM until 1:00 AM every Monday through Saturday and from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM two (2) variable days a week.
• With regard to not getting the Patrol number, our internal communication system must have failed. We will fix that and we promise - all new members will receive the Patrol number soon after joining. If anyone ever needs patrol information - Please call Bill Stutts @ 972-233-6648 or 972-239-1212

Did you know that you get EXTRA PATROL BENEFITS as a NHHA Member?

• When you are out of town, the officer on duty will inspect the exterior of your property every day you are gone. Simply call the Patrol a few days prior to your departure and an officer will come by your home and record your information in the Patrol Log.
• If you are coming home late at night, call the Patrol and the officer will meet you at your home and make certain you get inside safely.
• If you have a baby sitter or house sitter, leave instructions for them, in an emergency, to ---CALL 911 FIRST, THEN CALL THE PATROL NUMBER.

QUESTION: IN EMERGENCIES, WHY CALL 911 FIRST & THEN THE PATROL NUMBER?

ANSWER: if the Patrol is NOT ON DUTY, you are covered by the 911 CALL. When the Patrol is ON DUTY, their response time is UNDER TWO MINUTES. This is compared with up to 10 minutes or more from 911 calls and up-to 20 minutes from home security services.

Found a pet - - Lost a pet?

There is a new service in Dallas to help place lost pets and their owners together again. It is called Find-A-Pet, and the best part is that it is FREE! Your lost pet must be wearing his or her registration tags to make this program work. The person who finds your pet can call Find-A-Pet @ 214-827-HELP, and give the pet's registration number. The number is plugged into a computer and in seconds the owner's name and address will appear on the screen. It's that easy and it's a 24 hour open line. If you have lost your pet, you can call the same number and the computer will automatically check all shelters maintained by the City &/or SPCA. If they have your pet, you can find out which shelter to contact to retrieve your pet. In other words, one call does it all. Please take time now and check to make certain your pet's registration tag is on its collar. Then record the tag number for your records.

Recently, we have seen more and more dog owners carrying a plastic grocery bag while walking their pet. THANKS FOLKS FOR BEING A GOOD NEIGHBOR!

Congratulations NHE

To the Administration, Teachers and Parents of Northwood Hills Elementary, we offer our most sincere CONGRATULATIONS upon achieving the level of EXEMPLARY STATUS. Your HARD WORK and DEDICATION has made us all PROUD.

Real Estate Update

By Cris Murrey

Thirteen (13) homes in Northwood Hills were sold in the 3rd. quarter of 1998. The average sales price was $368,454, the average price per square foot was $91.83, and the average number of days on the market was 71. There are twelve (12) homes currently for sale in Northwood Hills and four (4) other homes have pending contracts. The lowest price listed is $209,900. The highest is listed at $1,550,000.

PLEASE NOTE: When a new neighbor moves in near you and you have introduced yourself, please call me, Cris Murrey, @ 972-381-6033 with their name, and if possible, their phone number. I will then pass along this information to our Greet a New Neighbor Committee who will contact them and welcome them to Northwood Hills. THANK YOU.

Code Enforcement

By Larry Baker

I don't think that there has been anything so CONFUSING, and so FRUSTRATING as trying to understand Dallas' Code Enforcement Policies. BUT WAIT, "THATS FIXIN TO CHANGE". Last month, I went to a Dallas Homeowners League meeting to hear Ms. Mary Suhm, First

Assistant City Manager, speak about the re-organization of the Code Enforcement Department. Ms Suhm has been charged with that responsibility by the City Manager and City Council. Here is a recap of Ms. Suhm's remarks:

• Ms Suhm acknowledged that our current Code Enforcement system is broke and needs to be fixed.
• She will establish a Code Enforcement Academy to address the previous lack of trained officers.
• Ms. Suhm has hired a new staff attorney to analyze existing ordinances and make recommendations for change at both City and State government levels.

Ms. Suhm is scheduled to attend our January 26th General Meeting. We want all NHHA members to hear what ideas she has for this MAJOR NEIGHBORHOOD CONCERN - - code compliance.

ACTIVITIES

By Cris Murrey

In September, at the lovely home of Lucky and Edgar Newfeld, I had the pleasure of being a guest of a very special group -- "The Fourth Wednesday Luncheon Group". Formed in the late 1970's, the group gathers once a month to share food and friendship. The boundaries for participation are Hillerest on the east, Beltline on the north, Spring Valley on the south and Westgate on the west. Members are required to pay a small fee and host or co-host a luncheon each year. Five or six members usually give each luncheon. The Hostesses choose whether to cook or cater. In addition, two couples parties are held each year - - one in the summer and one at Christmas. There are no luncheon meetings during June, July and August. If you would like to participate in a similar group, for those of us on the east side of Hillcrest and south of Spring Valley, please call Cris Murrey at 972-661-8136, or 972-381-6033.

For future newsletters, please pass along to Cris information on other "special neighborhood groups." We would like feature your activity so that others can either join or start a group of their own.

YOU CAN HELP US SAVE $$$$'S !!!

By Larry Baker

As a member of the Dallas Homeowners League, your Board gets the opportunity to meet other Homeowner Association people. To our SURPRISE, NHHA is one of the FEW HOA's that DOES NOT have advertising in their Newsletters. Those who do solicit ads, structure the fees not to make a profit, but to cover the cost of printing and postage. The monies saved are then directed to other Association projects, i.e. Beautification. MAKES SENSE TO US - so if you own a BUSINESS and would like to advertise in our newsletter - OR - if you have experience in SELLING AD SPACE, and would volunteer to contact local businesses on our behalf, please call Larry Baker @ 972-387-3344.

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS

Again, we say THANK YOU to the many volunteers who, in the September heat and rain, canvassed our neighborhood for new members and updated resident information. A SPECIAL THANK YOU to PETER MARCUS, whose area maps helped organize our campaign. To our retiring volunteer CLIFF MORSE who, for the past 3+ years, has made regular trips to our P. 0. Box to gather our mail, deposit of all dues checks, make copies of all deposit transactions, and give that information to our Treasurer for posting. THANK YOU Cliff for a job well done.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We need VOLUNTEERS! Please review the following and let us know where you would like to help:

• A replacement for Cliff Morse's job as outlined above
• Soliciting Ad space for our newsletter.
• Submitting news items for our newsletter - i.e. a PTA column, neighborhood information news, etc
• Help organize a "Greet a New Neighbor" program.

If any of the above fits YOU, please call Cris Murrey &/or Larry Baker. Thanks

WebSite Coming November 1

By Larry Baker

CHECK US OUT - www.northwoodhills.org - on November 1st. We may still be in our "start up - work in progress" mode, but our goal is to provide current and past Newsletters, a "House of the Month" feature, a community Bulletin Board and much, much more. Let us know what you would like to see listed, or better yet, send us your copy. For information about our website, please email the webmaster or call one of the NHHA Officers.

A special thank you to Cris Murrey and Bill Stutts, who have donated the funds for our Website's first year's operation. Also, a BIG thank you to Tanner Murrey, who is donating his time bringing our Website online and being our first Webmaster.

1998 Board Members & Committee Leaders

webmaster's note: this is not current, and email addresses change quickly. The current list of NHHA Officers is available; this is left here for archival purposes only.

FOURTH QUARTER DUES STATEMENTS ARE IN THE MAIL

Current dues members will receive, IN A SEPARATE MAILING, the traditional post card, used in the past for dues notices. These cards will state your dues payments since July 1, 1998. Depending on what that information shows, the card will tell you what payments need to be made to bring your account current through the 4th quarter '98. Please check this information carefully and advise our Treasurer, Glyn Jordan, of any discrepancies in your account.

If you are paid through December 1998, and would like to pay ahead into 1999, we would appreciate your doing so. THANK YOU. WE APPRECIATE YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!

• If you have been a member in the past, please come back.
• If you are new to Northwood Hills, we really want you as a member.

In either case, please complete the online application and mail it with your dues payment. It's that easy to become a member!

Northwood Hills Homeowners Association, Inc. Goals

COME JOIN US Y'ALL !!!