ALOC NEWS

June 4, 2001

Associated Landlords of the Cumberland Area
ALOC Phone (301) 759-0530 P.O. Box 1867

Vol. 7, Issue 6

Upcoming Speakers

At our meeting in September we will have Bob Rider from the Cumberland Water Department as our guest speaker. Bob will update us with information on new developments with the Water Department. We understand that a lot of improvements are in progress at the Lake Gordon filtration plant and he will bring us up to speed.

In June we will have Pat McCormick from First United on hand to make a presentation about the services his Bank offers. For those looking at mortgages for rentals or other commercial applications this will be a good learning experience.

Also at our June meeting we have asked Mayor Lee Fiedler to attend to discuss changes regarding garbage costs being subtracted from the property tax. Garbage charges would then be added to each water bill. The Mayor, if he is able to attend, is scheduled for approximately 7:45 PM. At the time of the publication of this newsletter we do not have any confirmation. In previous discussion the Mayor has indicated that this change is intended to be revenue neutral on an overall basis, however there may be individual cases where this will not apply. We have asked the Mayor to give us the details of his plan in writing and when we receive this information we will share it with the membership.

In July we will try to have someone from the Health Dept. in to discuss their approach to the lead poisoning situation or someone from the District Court.

Sources of Lead Poisoning

We continue to be amazed by the plethora of ways children are exposed to lead poisoning. A report regarding K-Mart selling children's costume jewelry, that has a very high lead content, was recently forwarded to us. It would certainly be interesting to see what the various authorities, state local and federal think about this problem.

Hopefully at some point these bleeding heart liberals will come to understand that there are many, many sources of lead poisoning other than paint!

News from the Association of Small Property Owners

The Presidents tax cut bill has made it through and we can all expect to see a tax refund check this summer. Please make sure that you send a note to Maryland Senators Mikulski and Sarbanes to express your displeasure with their voting against tax relief!

The Supreme Court recently declined to hear a challenge to the practice of routinely granting large attorney fee awards to environmental groups that prevail in lawsuits against private companies, but routinely denying fees to the companies when the environmental groups lose.

The Virginia based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is targeting schools in England with leaflets promoting a campaign "Milk Sucks". The apparent aim is to get kids to stop drinking milk so that the dairy farmer will stop "mistreating " the poor dairy cows! Makes you wonder where some people have their heads stuck!

Nearby Pennsylvania has a Senate Committee looking into the lead paint situation. So far there has been no formal legislation passed or implemented to address lead paint problems, but it may not be long before the ball starts rolling down that slippery slope! Various trade groups have made similar arguments that we did in the past such as the lack of trained contractors, the exorbitant cost of abatement, which is estimated at $ 6000 per unit and uncertainty that the amounts expended to conform with regulations, can be justified when compared to the small amount of children that are poisoned each year and not knowing for sure where the lead actually came from!

In Texas a new legal battle may be looming regarding lead paint in schools and its potential effects on children. Even though lead paint was banned in the 70's, lawyers are taking advantage of Texas' lack of a time limit on when government can file suit and are aggressively pursuing clients in local government and school districts.

Maryland Property Owners Notes

Many of the bills passed by the Maryland Legislature have been signed off or vetoed by the governor and brief listing of those that have been closely tracked by our friends with the Baltimore Property Owners Association is attached. As is always the case every year the governor has not formally acted on many bills yet and we are waiting for the final "drop dead date" before a detailed analysis of the 2001 bills is prepared. We expect to see this information in time for the mailing of our July newsletter which would give you some "good reading" for the July 4th holiday!
The one major change we see is with the signing off on HB1163 by the governor, dust tests will no longer be sufficient if you have chipping and peeling paint. Scraping and repainting will be required before any dust test can be performed. This is scheduled to take effect this October. ALOC President, Jeff Hutter, spoke to Cas Taylor about this and the possibility of getting some compromise on the regulatory side of this problem to give us all more time to be prepared for this change. Though we can't expect any major concessions we hope to get some relief. Time will tell.
The state of Maryland has set up a commission to look into restricting access to court records. While there have been arguments presented by both sides it appears that the concerns expressed by employers and landlords have been getting better press. Certainly we all want our privacy, however without access to these records we could conceivably end up hiring or renting to people who have a predisposition to violence or other serious crime that could expose us all to legal and financial liability that we cannot afford! Any comments regarding this can be mailed to the only landlord represented on the commission: Lesa N. Hoover, Esq. Vice President-Governmental Affairs at the Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, 86 State Circle-2nd floor, Annapolis, MD 21401

With the legislative season over and the bill signing nearly complete the Maryland Property Owners Network will slow down somewhat for the summer.

Leases and other Documents

The Leases and other forms have been upgraded to reflect Law changes made in recent years and are available now.

ALOC has available leases, rental applications and tenant checklists for sale, at cost, to members. The cost for each item is as follows:
Lease @ $ 0.25 Rental Application @ $ 0.20 Move in Checklist @ $ 0.20 Lead Paint Brochures, both EPA and Maryland @ $ 1.50 for the pair.
Document Receipt for MDE and EPA brochures (disclosure) @ $ 0.15

These forms are kept at Jeff Hutter's office, TWR Comm. at 117-119 Valley Street. Any paid member can stop by and pick up whatever they need, however we ask that you call first with your order so that the forms can be ready and waiting for you.

Please call at least 24 hours in advance as these are made to order.
When you call 777-2692 ext 113, you can talk to Pam, Stacy or Gary
Please note: We do not keep MDE or City Housing registration forms on hand.

ALOC Officers

J. Jeffrey Hutter President

Rose Selby Vice President

Stephanie Wharton Secretary

J. Jeffrey Hutter Treasurer

Board of Directors

Ed Hedrick
Milt Sarver
Clarence Anderson

Thought for the Month

For thine own purpose thou has sent the strife and the discouragement,
I feel my feeble hands unclasp, And sink discouraged into night!

From The Golden Legend by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 1851

Quoted by British Prime Minister Tony Blair after hearing of his sons
exploits that proved quite embarrassing !