From The Desk of Sandy Cederbaum, Village Manager

A Year In Review – Oakland Mills Style
If success is measured by numbers alone the Oakland Mills Community had a very successful year. In the past month alone nearly 1000 Oakland Mills residents and friends participated in OM community events! Wow, we are successful! There are many ways we are successful that are not based on numbers alone.
Let's start with our Board of Directors. Kudos to the dedicated individuals who serve on the board and Columbia Council. Many thanks to Abby Hendrix, Chair; Margaret Mauro, Vice Chair; Brian Donoughe, Architecture Committee Chair; Reginald Avery; Phil Engelke; Kristin Huza; Julia McCready; Marcia White; and Alex Hekimian, our Columbia Council Rep.(CA Board Member). These individuals are dedicated to Oakland Mills and devote countless hours doing what is in the best interest of everyone.

Highlights of the board activity this past year were the Tot Lot Survey and associated community outreach. The board continues to advocate that CA not remove any OM tot lots. Our tot lots are a valued amenity used by many residents. The board was successful in working with CA to establish the new "Columbia Swims" program. The program provided $2/session learn to swim lessons at the Talbott Springs Pool. The success of the program means that it will continue! We worked with the HC Police and CA to provide meeting space for the Police Summer Activity League and for the attendees to swim for free during the summer program.

We invited County, CA and community leaders to a roundtable to discuss the future connection between Oakland Mills and downtown Columbia and continue to advocate in support of "Bridge Columbia".

Putting safety first, we met with school and county administrators to insure that the pedestrian islands on Kilimanjaro were installed so that our students can safely get to and from school. We collaborated with CA to create an aesthetically pleasing enclosure of the Courtyard, and continue to partner with OM residents and HC Police by hosting community safety awareness meetings and workshops.

We met with Cathy Latham, OM's committee representative to Blandair Park, Jim Alvey, OM's committee rep. to CA's Tennis Committee, Daniel Kirk-Davidoff, OM's rep. to CA's Watershed Advisory Committee. The board appointed and met with Paul Verchinski, OM's rep. to CA's Senior Advisory Committee, and appointed our Election Monitor Committee members and Chair, Bob Berlett.

Our Resident Architectural Committee, consisting of OM resident volunteers Michael Vaughan, Elinda Dennis, Marcelo Amador, Carl McKinney and Susan Lynn meet bi-monthly to review exterior alteration applications. The Committee alongside Covenant Advisor Debbie Bach presented the OM Board and community revised Architectural Guidelines. The latest revision brings many of our guidelines up-to-date while maintaining the integrity of the architectural process.

We discussed CA's tree planting projects proposed for Oakland Mills and worked with CA to enable a tree planting project at the Patriot Lane Pond.
The board will host a community meeting on Feb. 28th to discuss other proposed tree planting projects and how the community can protect our watershed while maintaining valuable open spaces.

Wow, what a busy and successful few months. (This recap covers May - December , 2011)!

We can't forget the day-to-day work of our office staff who really keep the community running. Many thanks to Village Manager, Sandy Cederbaum; Covenant Advisor, Debbie Bach; Facility Rental Coordinator, Susan Azoulay; Event and Administrative Coordinator, Brigitta Warren; Community Organizer, Fred Eiland; Covenant Assistant, Tom Dudek; Bookkeeper Richard Radhe; and our front desk staff members Judy Dopkowski, Charlotte Cook, Michael Knott, Reginald Smith, Phil Dopkowski and Sebastian Warren.

Through the efforts of our dedicated staff we have maintained open lines of communication through our Street Captain program, our OM eNEWS, our bi-monthly events page in the Columbia Flier and our events brochures. On a daily basis Sandy Cederbaum overseas the Oakland Mills office staff and serves as an ex-officio member of the OM Board. Some of her daily responsibilities include oversight of office operations and financial and facility management. Sandy is sits on may CA committees and values partnerships she has fostered in the community/county and the time she spends assisting residents in every way possible. Under the leadership of Fred Eiland our revitalization programs continue to flourish. We've welcomed new street captains, created our World Music Series, hosted community drum circles, hosted our Jazz in the Mills concerts (coordinated by Lavenia Nesmith), hosted a fantastic art show (coordinated by Karen Gray and Camellia Blackwell), hosted an African Music & Dance performance and our Annual Cookie Swap!

Over the past six months our Covenant Advisor assisted OM residents navigate architectural issues and Debbie Bach played an instrumental role in the revision of our Architectural Guidelines. Our Facility Coordinator spends endless hours with those who rented our facility and helped make "The Other Barn" one of the best places to rent for a special occasion in Howard County! In addition, Susan Azoulay created the magical journey to the North Pole at our annual Polar Express event! Our Event and Administrative Coordinator (who began working here in May) hit the ground running by planning our successful summer pool party, Cultural Arts Festival, Lively Arts for Little Ones Concert Series, Master Gardener Series and Breakfast with Santa. In her spare time Brigitta Warren also prepares Board Agendas and Minutes, updates our Web Site and creates the OM News page in the Columbia Flier. Together the staff hosted 60 OM Volunteers for a fabulous evening of great food, friendship, entertainment and dancing.

In a nutshell Oakland Mills had a very successful year and we owe it to the Board, Staff, Volunteers, OM Residents and community friends who helped make it all possible.

On behalf of the OM Board and Staff I want to wish each of you a joyous and peaceful holiday season.