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Working hand in hand: A look at the relationship between CA and the Columbia villages
By Aria White
You've heard the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child," right? Since you live in Columbia, you're also probably aware that it takes the Columbia Association (CA) and the Columbia village community associations to make this community as great as it is. What you might not know is that even though CA and the villages work closely together, they're totally separate entities.
For example, CA owns the community association buildings in each village, but the village staff -- under a management contract with CA -- manages and operates the buildings. And those architectural guidelines that tell you whether you can put the addition on your house? Those aren't determined by CA; they're designed and regulated by your village community association, and if you've ever moved across town from one village to another, you've probably learned that each village's guidelines are different. Although each community association has its own board of directors, each village elects a Columbia Council representative that serves as a member of the CA Board of Directors. This might sound confusing, so let me break it down a bit for you.
Building community
Remember when you attended that cool class at your local village community center? Or when you took your kids to have cookies with Santa at the community center? All of those activities are organized and managed by the village community association, not CA.
While the Columbia Association doesn't organize any village activities, CA does provide each village with funding, called an assessment share. Each community association uses its assessment share to fund architectural guideline enforcement, village board activities, information and referral services for residents, village-wide and community-wide events and more. In Fiscal Year 2012, CA provided $2,468,000 to the ten Columbia village community associations.
"Having a strong CA and village relationship is important to residents because we want to make sure your annual charge dollars are used efficiently and that you are informed in a variety of ways about issues and events that are of importance to you," says Michelle Miller, director of CA's Community Services Division.
Coming together
One of the ways CA works with the villages is the CA Board. Every April, village elections are held for open spots on the individual village boards and the Columbia Council. The Columbia Council then elects themselves to be the members of the CA Board. In case you didn't already know, the CA Board is made up of one representative from each village. This way, the board gets input from each village, and each village can, in turn, get information about CA from their representative.
Beyond the board and the facility functions, CA and the village community associations also work together to educate and inform residents on issues including master planning, watershed improvement and other items that are of interest to the people of Columbia. It's really a two-way relationship that focuses on making Columbia a unique and amazing place to live, work … and play! There's more information about CA's relationship with the Columbia villages at ColumbiaAssociation.org. Check it out!
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