In This Issue - February 2004
Holiday Lighting Contest Winners
Be a Director
Annual Membership Meeting and Election of Directors
Yards Look Good
Cypress Isles Contact List
Yard of the Month
Neighborhood Watch
New WLCA Board Elected
Floods, Your Mortgage Company, and YOU
Do You Know Where Your Pets Are?

Holiday Lighting Contest Winners
Last year's Holiday Lighting Contest was, December 21. Here are the kudos and prizes.
It was another difficult year for the judges in Cypress Isles, trying to choose the best holiday lighting displays from among dozens of very well decorated homes. Several design approaches seemed evident - most lights on a single electric meter; most colors; most diverse mix of lamp types; best overall color composition; best all-white composition; most extension cords connected to a single outlet; most well-aligned net lighting; most cheerful display; most elegant display; and most grazing electric animals.
In the end, we chose three awards and one honorable mention. The winners of the 2003 Cypress Isles Holiday Lighting Contest are:

Be a Director
Cypress Isles is running smoothly, but we will need some new directors in April. Could you be one? Think about it.
As noted by the late U. S. House speaker Thomas "Tip" O'Neill. "all politics is local." So before you contemplate your choices for U.S. congress, senate and presidency later in 2004, consider being a choice for the Cypress Isles Board on April 20th.
Granted, the Cypress Isles Board doesn't decide whether to invade other countries or whether to confine pregnant pigs, but we do oversee how our common properties are maintained, and how the occasional homeowner situations are handled. These tasks are neither difficult nor politically charged, but they are still important, and they need conscientious attention by level-headed people - such as you.
Cypress Isles has been self-governing since 2000, and most of the "kinks" have been worked out. Nothing runs perfectly on Planet Earth, but Cypress Isles works pretty well. We don't have any major problems, thanks to a steady stream of responsible decisions by responsible Boards with help from responsible property managers. Most importantly, our homeowners care about their properties (just look around), and the Boards care about the homeowners. Responsible caring makes it all happen.
The Cypress Isles Board has nine directors - a group that is small enough to work effectively, and large enough so that nobody gets stuck with too much work. Some directors will be running for re-election, but other directors will be leaving the Board for various personal reasons unrelated to Cypress Isles. As a result we will need some new candidates for Director.
Each homeowner will receive a blank Candidate Information Form along with the notice of the Annual Meeting in the coming months, but why wait that long? If you'd like to help keep Cypress Isles as one of the best neighborhoods in east Orlando, talk to any Board member anytime. If you'd like to see how the Board works, come to our next meeting on February 17th.
Elections are Tuesday April 20th. The term of office is one year. The people are good and the properties are good. If this prospect intrigues you, we need you. Think it over.

Dennis Horazak, President(running for re-election)

Annual Membership Meting and Election of Directors
The Annual Membership Meeting will be held on Tuesday April 20th, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. Approximately 5 weeks before, in the week of March 15th, each homeowner will receive a written invitation to attend the meeting. Included with the invitation will be a 'Candidate Information Sheet' and a 'Proxy Sheet'. We urge you to consider running for a position on the board, since vacancies in the board membership are bound to occur and good candidates to fill these positions are needed from time to time. Furthermore we strongly urge each of you to attend the meeting in order to meet the candidates and vote in person. If you are not able to attend the meeting, please send in the proxy to the Secretary or bring it to the meeting. Your presence in person or via proxy is needed to obtain a 30% (30% of 140 is 42) quorum to be able to conduct the meeting.

Jean ThomsinSecretary of the Board

Yards Look Good
The neighborhood looks great, with most people taking good care of palms, shrubs, bushes and lawns.
No ARC violations have been given out in awhile, and the few homeowners who had received notices are in the process responding. The ARC is planning to walk around the neighborhood again in the spring, so keep up the good work!

Chip Crane, Architectural Review Committee

Board
Cypress Isles Contact List:
Board Members
Chip Crane, Director 407 823-8601 chptv@aol.com
Myron Davis, Treasurer 407 737-8200 mdavis8200@adelphia.net
Steve Hartman, Director 407 384-8203 steve.w.hartman@gsk.com
Dennis Horazak, President 407 207-6557 densus@bellsouth.net
Larry Sheeler, Vice-President 407 448-2979 larry325@bellsouth.net
Bill Snook, Director 407 380-2202 wsnook1@cfl.rr.com
Cookie Symons, Director 407 273-5460 minnieland@aol.com
Jean Thomsin, Secretary 407 306-8459 j.thomsin@worldnet.att.net
Ron Wiley, Director 407 384-2564 rwiley4@cfl.rr.com

Tom Bontrager, Penn First Management 407 260-5344 Ext.205 tbontrager@pennfirst.net

Dennis Bode, Webmaster dbode@cfl.rr.com

CI News Editor and Copyboy
Sandy & Denny Horazak 407 207-6557 sanden@bellsouth.net

Handy Numbers
Animal Control (unleashed pets, etc.) 407 352-4390
Orange County Sheriff Non-emergency 407 737-2400

Yard of the Month
Art and Tina Gordon of 508 Divine Circle were awarded the Yard of the Month for December 2003.
Congratulations on your exemplary yard!

Neighborhood Watch
We're happy to report that it was another quiet quarter -- well, almost. We had one report of a Santa and snowmen characters stolen from a homeowner's front lawn for the second time in four years. We are sorry for these incidents, and can only again suggest that you try to find a way to anchor down your lawn decorations.
Here are some other noteworthy reminders that apply all year long:
Keep your garage doors closed when you are not in your garage or in the nearby area.
Lock your car doors, and bring in garage remotes from cars left in driveway.
If you're away, have a neighbor bring in your newspaper and any fliers left at your front door.
Use timers on your lights when you're away.
Let's be careful out there!

Neighborhood Watch Coordinators:

Cookie Symons - 407-273-5460

Myron Davis - 407-737-8200

Sandy Horazak - 407-207-6557

New WLCA Board Elected
Representatives from the 25 Waterford Lakes neighborhoods elected three new members to the WLCA Board at the annual meeting on January 27th. After the election, the Board elected its own officers. Here is the 2004 Board.

President Jim Witmer (Bramble Bluff) begins his first year as president and the second year of his 2-year term as director.
Vice President Tom Bontrager (Bradfordt Village) was elected to a 2-year term.
Secretary-Treasurer Alvin Little (Bradfordt Village) was re-elected to a 2-year term.
Member Tom Greenwood (Bradfordt Lakes) begins the second year of his 2-year term.
Member Bill Massey (Barrington) was elected to a 2-year term.

Floods, Your Mortgage Company, and YOU
We first ran Michael Langan's article in the May 2003 issue, and we're running it again for those who are new to the community.
Your mortgage carrier may tell you that you need flood insurance when you do not. If you are notified by your mortgage carrier that you need Flood Insurance, here are the steps to take to resolve this issue.
1 - Contact your mortgage company, and discuss everything and explain what you will be doing to resolve this matter.
2 - Contact Orange County Public Works Department. (407) 836-7990
3 - Explain that you are being told that your mortgage company is requiring that you purchase flood insurance within 45 days. They will send you the necessary documents that show your property in a SHFA (Special Flood Hazard Area), but that your structure is not located in a SHFA. Specifically they should reference Letter of Map Amendment case no: 94-04-952A.
4 - Send a copy of this information to your mortgage carrier, and be sure that they send you a letter stating that you no longer are required to carry Flood Insurance. Keep all correspondence for your records, if this should pop-up again.

I hope this helps.
Michael Langan

Do You Know Where Your Pets Are?

They're in our yard!
We know you love your pets. So do we. Okay, so we don't love your pets as much as we love our own. We especially don't love your pets when they are allowed to roam free, using our properties as their personal toilet area, and upsetting our pets, which are either leashed, or being kept under control in our screen enclosures. This applies to dogs and cats. It's also against the law…not part of the local or master HOA documents, but an Orange County law. Orange County enforces animal leash and waste laws subject to fines up to $500 for non-compliance. And don't forget to clean up your pet's waste. We only want to clean up after our own pets, so please be responsible for yours. Report violators to Orange County Animal Control 407-352-4390.