We had some confusion about a meeting in December, which was erroneously listed on the calendar at the South Cumberland Library. For over 7 years we have not held meetings in December or August and a couple of years ago we also dropped meetings in June and July. This schedule tracks legislative activity that we follow closely as well as holiday and vacation periods when most of our members are unable to attend meetings. This schedule is included on our newsletters as well as being posted on our website. No other schedule or calendar should be used. We apologize for any misunderstanding.
We have confirmed our schedule of speakers for the first part of the 2004 year. Starting in January we will have the Allegany County Department of Social Services as our guest speaker. They will explain their various programs and how they benefit tenants. For February we have Mary Jane Bonser from Allegany County Community Services to update us on the many programs they have including funding for lead abatement work. For March we will have the City of Cumberland Housing Inspectors Dave Cox and or Shawn Llewellyn attending. April and May are still being worked on, but we will try to bring in some new faces. Look for updates on this schedule in the next newsletter.
The MDE recently released its report for 2002 and as expected the number of lead poisoned children dropped from 288 in 2001 to 260. The number of children with elevated blood lead levels (> 10ug/dL) also went down from 2,841 in 2001 to 2,297 in 2002. Clearly the program is working along with help from the elimination of lead in gasoline. Anybody wanting a copy of the report can download it from the MDE website at www.mde.md.state.us. It is listed under the lead portion and is titled "Childhood Blood Lead Surveillance in Maryland 2003 Annual Report"
Taking first place as usual is Baltimore City with 183 cases of lead poisoned children. Below listed are the figures for the top 10 counties/cities, which should be interesting.
| Elevated Blood Lead Level |
Lead Poisoned | |
| Baltimore City | 1,558 -- 9.4 % | 183 -- 1.1 % |
| Dorchester | 36 -- 7.0 % | 5 -- 1.0 % |
| Talbot | 19 -- 4.3 % | 4 -- 0.9 % |
| Worcester | 34 -- 6.3 % | 4 -- 0.7 % |
| Wicomico | 74 -- 4.2 % | 9 -- 0.5 % |
| Caroline | 48 -- 6.9 % | 3 -- 0.4 % |
| Washington | 19 -- 1.3 % | 4 -- 0.3 % |
| Allegany | 29 -- 2.5 % | 2 -- 0.2 % |
| Queen Anne | 7 -- 1.6 % | 1 -- 0.2 % |
| Cecil | 9 -- 0.9 % | 2 -- 0.2 % |
This report of course is based on the last calendar year and 2003 may prove to be more interesting with the increased level of testing. Keep in mind that only 18.2 % of children aged 0-72 months were tested in 2002. The following test results are listed below:
| Somerset | 35 % |
| Caroline | 32.2 % |
| Baltimore City | 31.5 % |
| Dorchester | 27 % |
| Wicomico | 26 % |
| Allegany | 25.6 % |
| Prince George's | 20.4 % |
| Talbot | 20.3 % |
| Baltimore County | 18.9 % |
| Worcester | 18.3 % |
We will provide more details in the next newsletter and some analysis not contained in the MDE's report.
One thing for certain, this continuing decline is in our favor when we go to battle with the lead paint folks over new legislation. It is difficult to make a point for harsher regulations when the number continue to decline! But they will try nonetheless.
Tang Soo Doo Arnis
Kickboxing 301-722-0077 Weapons
Adult Self Defense Cardio Kickboxing
Gymnastics
Jim Llewellyn Chief Instructor
Stephanie Hutter Asst. Instructor
Lead Abatement - Lead Risk Reduction
Rental Property Maintenance Contractor
Telephone: 301-729-1086
Fax: 301-729-4801 - Pager: 301-546-0221
Visual Inspector
MDE Inspections Lead Dust Wipes
Lead Paint Supervisor
"Excellent Rates"
Telephone/Fax: 301-729-2994
TWR supplies quality high speed Internet Access, both dialup and Wireless in the Tri-state area. TWR provides other computer services including training, computer repairs, networking and website hosting. If you have need of storage space check out our self-storage facilities on Necessity St. TWR is an agent for Cellular One, operates a wide area network with wide area paging and mobile 2-way radio. Check us out at twr@hereintown.net
Lead Inspections for Rental Housing
Visual Inspections and Dust Wipes
201 Massachusetts Ave.
Cumberland, MD 21502
301-722-8328
With all of the inspections out of the way you are now ready to finish up the Security Deposit process. If there are no damages, unpaid utility bills or other expenses to be covered you simply need to send the Tenant a short note outlining the date and amount paid with the interest added on accompanied by a check. Keep in mind that you have up to 45 days from the end of the tenancy to refund their money and the interest paid is a deductible expense. Maryland law does not require that these documents be sent by anything other than first class mail. Depending on the individual situation yhou may want to use certified mail w/return receipt. If you plan to withhold all or part of the deposit you will need to be very precise with your documentation to avoid potential litigation. Keep in mind that deliberate attempts to avoid refunding the deposit can result in treble (3 times the deposit) damages. Start off with the same information in the first paragraph of this article to arrive at the Security Deposit amount and then you will need to detail the actual damages you wish to deduct. While you do not necessarily have to list every nut and bolt used in the repair process, you cannot simply charge a lump sum figure for "cleaning up the trash" or "fixing tenant inflicted damages". If you have a number of things requiring repairs list each repair item and its appropriate charge and then subtract the total from the Security Deposit total (including interest) and this will be the amount refunded. If the figure is negative you can request the tenant's payment for this amount, though frequently you will never see it! If you are planning on holding the Security Deposit because of back rent you can of course deduct that from the deposit, however rents for future months (periods when the tenant did not occupy the residence) cannot be withheld. If a tenant fails to give you 30 days notice or moves out before the end of his lease you must attempt to immediately rent the premises to mitigate the loss, before you can deduct any rent after the unit is vacated. Typically this only entitles you to one month's rent, which is usually equal to the amount of the security deposit. With all of this taken care of you can send everything off to your ex-tenant. Make sure that you have copies of everything for future reference. To be continued next month
It is that time of year again when membership dues in the amount of $40.00 will be due. Payment by January 1st will be appreciated. A dues bill will be enclosed with member's newsletter if your payment is required. The dues cover the costs of our mailings and correspondence, membership in the Maryland Property Owners Network, telephone costs, costs associated with attending meetings in Annapolis, development and reproduction of our
ALOC has available leases, rental applications and tenant checklists for sale, at cost, to members. The cost for each item is as follows: Lease @ $ 0.50 Rental Application @ $ 0.50 Move in Checklist @ $ 0.50 Lead Paint Brochures, both EPA and Maryland and document receipt@ $2.50 for the set. Document Receipt for MDE and EPA brochures (disclosure) @ $ 0.25
These forms are kept at Jeff Hutter's office, TWR Comm. at 549 N. Centre Street. Any paid member can stop by and pick up whatever they need. If you need mare than 5 of each item please call at least 24 hours in advance so that we can make sure we have plenty on hand. Call 777-2692 ext 113 Monday through Friday and you can talk to Pam, Gary or Sean. Please note: We do not keep MDE or City Housing registration forms on hand.
Jeff J. Jeffrey Hutter - President
Carey Walker - Vice President
Stephanie Wharton - Secretary
J. Jeffrey Hutter - Treasurer
Clarence Anderson
Steve Jenkins
Bob Saville
Bob Miles
Jan 12, 2004
Feb 9, 2004
March 8, 2004
April 12, 2004
May 10, 2004
June NO MEETING
Meetings are held at the South Cumberland Library on Race and Seymour St. beginning at 7 PM
Replacement windows, doors, painting, trained in Lead Abatement, Also roofing, porches and decks, plumbing and electrical work.
Lets us take care of your lead problems!
For more information call
Rick 301-268-7712
We have been in the business of building databases for over 50 years. Let us build one for you! For those of you contributing rental history, thank you. For those who haven't called me, it's easy.
Mike Wright 800-825-6602