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Welcome to IHCA President's blog
For me, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! The kids are in school, and football is back. It is also time to pay your annual dues in for 2025. Those that attended last year’s Annual Meeting are aware, but due to increases in many of the neighborhood’s expenses, like our web hosting (26.3%), insurance (10%), and a decrease in the revenue from advertising in our monthly Smoke Signals (50% decrease), last October, we made the difficult decision to implement a dues increase.
The great news is you can lock in the $95 rate for another year! All you need to do is pay your annual dues by the end of September. Those paying after September will renew at the new price of $125. This is our first increase in 10 years and will allow us to keep pace with the rising costs of our necessary spending, as well as to maintain and update the community pocket parks in the neighborhood.
Your continued membership will allow us to continue to maintain our beautiful landscaping, keep your waste collection discount, and fund our community events such as the 4th of July Parade, the dumpster drive, and our Festival of Lights.
Finally, I would like to send a special welcome to our new board members and a heartfelt thank you to our committees that made the 4th of July Parade a success. I look forward to seeing what the new Festival of Lights Committee has in store for this holiday season.
I hope to see you all on October 7 for this year’s annual meeting! Thanks for all you do to make Indian Hills a Great Place to Live!
Kris Killough, IHCA President
One of the greatest member benefits to joining the IHCA is the discount on trash services. In a recent board meeting, Curtis Kimball, IHCA Treasurer, said “I wish we had a service that collects glass,” which led to a discussion of why carriers do not offer that as a service. One local company said, “if our customers put glass in the recycling, the transfer stations will flag our loads and we risk not being able to drop there.” This leaves a void in the recycling space for many East Cobb residents.
Enter Cheers to Recycling (facebook.com/cheerstorecycling.com), a local small business started by Jamey Moran. She officially incorporated in January of 2022, but has been picking up glass for over a year now. In that time, she has recycled an estimated 15 tons of glass! To put that into perspective, it takes more than 1,800 empty wine bottles to make one ton of glass! Unlike plastic, glass can be recycled endlessly with no loss in quality or purity. However, when thrown in a landfill it will take 4,000 years to break down.
“I’ve taken my personal glass to a local recycling center for years. Then I started taking neighbors glass as well,” Moran accounts. It was actually Covid that pushed me to take a larger step…and alcohol sales. According to a University of Buffalo study, sales of spirits and wine jumped as much as 20-40% in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reports like this were Moran’s call to action. I literally thought to myself “dang, that’s a lot of glass being thrown away! I did a quick post on FB saying I would do residential pick-ups and take it to the recycling center for local East Cobb households. Seven people responded immediately…I was elated that there were others out there like me, and a business was started,” Moran said.
Moran is now a proud “Ecopreneur,” an entrepreneur operating an environmentally sustainable business. She wants to build a thriving business while keeping planet earth at the heart of every decision.
While recycling glass is unquestionably beneficial, there are so many other ways to help, so many that sometimes families that don’t know where to get started. “First, I firmly believe that every little bit helps. Taking your Chick-fil-A Styrofoam cup and putting it in the Publix Styrofoam recycling container helps. Buying a product in aluminum, tin, or glass vs. plastic and then recycling that container helps. Not taking a plastic bag for just one or two items helps. All the little “helps” do add up,” Moran said.
Besides Cheers to Recycling, Jamey is a Board Member for the local nonprofit My Green Earth (www.mygreenearth.org). According to their website, they are “on a mission to make Cobb County the #1 most sustainable county in all of Georgia.”
Moran helps educate young people in the area as the Environmental Education Committee (EEC) Chair for East Side Elementary PTA. She is also the EEC Chair for the East Cobb County Council PTA (ECCC PTA represents 35 schools in Cobb County) and would love opportunities to bring the message to area private schools and civic associations.
Several Indian Hills Residents are already customers of Cheers to Recycling. Neighbor Sandra Robertson says that “it has been a really big help. We have always saved our jars and bottles for recycling, but it was a challenge to get it to a place that would accept it.” Currently Cobb County does not offer residential glass pick-up. “We would love for more people to learn about Jamey and it is very inexpensive,” Roberson said.
Cheers to Recycling offers monthly pick up for $10 a month for a 6-month cycle and one-off pickups for $15. Current customers receive curbside pickup with the glass being placed by their mailbox in a cardboard container, which is also recycled. Cheers to Recycling currently serves about 15 Indian Hills residents, but Moran has her sights set much higher. “The goal is to introduce custom bins with multiple trailers, mapping out a route that protects time and fuel. For both business and environmental purposes condensing collection areas is vital,” Moran said.
Indian Hills resident Robyn Elliott said “to us, the value of the service far outweighs the cost.” Elliott has been using the service since the very beginning. “We really care about recycling, but it has made it possible for us to not have to worry about getting is somewhere,” Elliott said.
For more information and to learn how you can join the growing number of Indian Hills residents that are taking advantage of glass recycling at your home or have Cheers to Recycling come speak at your child’s school, church or scouting organization, you can reach out to Jamey Moran. You can call or text 404-422-0863. You can also email Cheers to Recycling at cheerstorecycling@gmail.com. Also check out the Facebook page facebook.com/cheerstorecycling.
Do you know where the water shut off is at your house? How about all 13 entrances to our neighborhood? Since 2016, we have had an outstanding board member make it his mission to understand and beautify the entrances and all of the common areas of Indian Hills. He has overseen the building of the pocket parks and the rebuilding of signs after several traffic accidents. He is the person that has been called when there is a water leak from one of the common areas or a tree has fallen in the road. It was brought to my attention recently that Ron Andrews and his incredible wife Tricia will soon be leaving Indian Hills to retire in Texas. I want to take this opportunity to thank Ron and Tricia for all the work and sacrifice they have given to our wonderful neighborhood over the years. Tricia has also been a dedicated volunteer for the board for more than 30 years, serving as Block Captain, Area Director, distributing newsletters, and most recently as editor of the Trading Post for the past several years. We will miss you both on the board, we will miss your friendship, and I will miss having a fellow west Tennessee boy with which to compare life in Georgia!
If you see Ron and Tricia in the next few months, please take a moment to give them a heartfelt thank you for all they have done for Indian Hills. If anyone is interested in serving on a wonderful board of volunteers for our community, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself or any board member. Thank you for helping make Indian Hills a great place to live!
Congratulations to this month's Yard of the Month winners! These yards are beautiful and worth a Sunday afternoon drive by to check out their hard work. July is our last month in the competition, so you still have time to get your yard looking its best. One winner is selected in each of the four areas of Indian Hills for the Yard of the Month award. The lucky winners receive a $25 Pike's gift card to continue their landscaping efforts and a Yard of the Month sign to display for the next month. Winners must be current members of IHCA (another member benefit)!
We welcome all our new members, who are both new to our beautiful neighborhood and to those who have recently renewed their memberships. We all benefit from our 1,000+ members who contribute to our spectacular entrances with the new seasonal color, sprinklers that keep everything beautiful, and pocket parks and benches for all to enjoy. There are many other benefits of membership and we hope you are taking advantage of them all. Every member makes a difference to our neighborhood, and we look forward to welcoming more in the months ahead!
Be sure to read our latest Member Spotlight with Mark and Elba Gallagher! We are so appreciative of great IHCA members like the Gallaghers, who contribute to making our community a "Great Place to Live".
Please welcome our newest IHCA members and your new neighbors:
Area I Andrew Adams and Lena Gunzl. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4221 Fairgreen Terrace
Area II Christopher and Melissa Held. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3780 High Green Drive
Area III Shaun White and Gregory Charlop. . . . . . . . . . . . . 3645 High Green Drive
Area IV Eric Leue and Justin Genwright. . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 Pinehurst Lane
If you have a great story about living in Indian Hills or want to recommend a neighbor for a Member Spotlight, please let your Area Director or myself know.
Bonny Carr, Membership Director
We are thrilled to have new members joining or renewing their memberships every month. Your membership is vital to the IHCA maintaining our beautiful entrances and being able to offer activities for our members and their families. Thank you to all our 1,000+ members. Every member makes a difference.
Yard of the Month This month starts the Yard of the Month competition, and the Area Directors are looking forward to selecting a beautiful winner from each area of Indian Hills in May, June and July. There is still time to get your yard in tip-top shape to compete. Each winner will receive a Pike Nursery gift card, have a Yard of the Month sign placed in their yard and have a photograph taken and published in the following month's Smoke Signals. Winners must have an active IHCA membership (current paid dues) to be eligible to win. Good Luck to all!
New Members Welcome to our newest members. If these are your neighbors, please stop by and greet them so they know that Indian Hills is "A Great Place to Live"
Area I Lawrence & Lindsey Jolluck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1037 Muirfield Drive Blair & David Hart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751 Summit Terrace
If you have a great story or memory about living in Indian Hills or want to recommend a neighbor for a Member Spotlight article, please let your Area Director or myself know. We all enjoy the positive stories about members of our wonderful community
Your Indian Hills Civic Association would like you to have the ability to cut through all the misinformation out there to make an educated decision on whether to vote East Cobb into its own city. To that end, the Indian Hills Civic Association is hosting an informational “Town Hall” session on Thursday, April 14th, at the Indian Hills Country Club. This event is for current Indian Hills Civic Association members only.
A Google form will be emailed out to all residents no later than April 1 with an RSVP and the opportunity to ask a question to representatives on each side of the issue. We presently have a limit of 110 people, so attendance will be limited to one member per household. Be sure to register ASAP so that you are guaranteed a spot.
What: City of East Cobb Information Date: Thursday, April 14th Time: 6:30 pm check-in, program starts promptly at 7:00 pm Location: Indian Hills Country Club
Presenters:
Should you have any questions, please feel free to reach me at tkkillough@att.net.
Voting Day is May 24th
There are a few ways to reserve your spot
Kris Killough, President
I received an email a few weeks back from one of our long-time residents. She was doing some cleaning and came across some old editions of the Smoke Signals and a few other documents that shed light on the unique history of our neighborhood. Did you know that in 1999, the Indian Hills Homeowners Association had more than 1,400 members? As the story goes, there was a vocal minority that thought it would be best to implement protective covenants in Indian Hills.
They soon found out that it was, in fact, a minority of homeowners and the participation in the association was cut almost in half the next year. Some of you have heard and many of you may not know that on May 24 there will be a special election held that has an effect on all of Indian Hills. On the ballot will be a measure for east Cobb to become a city. In the last edition of the Smoke Signals, the board made you aware of two websites, one for and one against the proposed Cityhood initiative. Please be aware that this vote will happen on May 24. In this election, a simple majority is all that is needed for a measure to pass or fail. It is our goal as the Indian Hills Civic Association to make you aware of the vote. We encourage you to look at the issue and make the best decision for you and your family. It is tough to sift through what is fact and what is fiction, but rest assured, pass or fail, our neighborhood will be affected. If you have concerns or would like to discuss how it will affect Indian Hills, please reach out, but please know that the board takes no stance. Whether the measure passes or fails, our mission is to keep Indian Hills a Great Place to Live.
The IHCA feels it is important to inform IHCA members that the proposed City of East Cobb had a legislative hearing, as Indian Hills is within the boundaries of the proposed city. Both the pros and cons of becoming a city were discussed. Many people are unaware that this is being proposed.
Below is a brief recap of the process. Please note that this information is intended to be informational only, and the Indian Hills Civic Association does not take a side on this issue. The information below, along with the financial feasibility study and other important information can be accessed at:
East Cobb cityhood bill to get first legislative hearing
The bill, HB 841, was filed at the end of the 2021 legislative session by two East Cobb Republican House members, Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper.
Under state law, cityhood bills must be considered over two years in the same legislative cycle, meaning they are introduced in the first year and considered in the second year.
The hearing by the special subcommittee is the first step in that process; the bill would eventually have to be voted out of the Governmental Affairs Committee to reach the full house floor. The Senate also would act along similar lines if the bill is approved in the House and then “crosses over.”
The full legislature must vote to approve the bill, which calls for an incorporation referendum in November 2022 to be decided by voters in the proposed city boundaries.
Leslie Linton DeRosa, External Affairs Director
Another year has come and gone for our fabulous community, and I’d like to take a moment on behalf of your Indian Hills Civic Association Board of Directors to reflect on what a great year it’s been. At the start of 2021, we were all beginning to find our groove again after the wild ride 2020 took us on. We managed to get back into the swing of our annual events, while making the necessary adjustments to accommodate for our safety and well-being, and each one of you really stepped up to the plate to make that shift seamless. I am so very proud of the way we all came together - not only within our community, but to help those outside of it too
The donations at both the food and school supply drives this year were over the top. What started as a barrel full of food exploded into multiple barrels and multiple stops to our local adopted school. What a GREAT problem to have. At the peak of summer, we saw more participants than ever before making their way down the street for the Fourth of July Parade. I can’t begin to tell you how tickled I was to see just how many of you had put your whole heart and soul into decorating your bikes, golf carts, scooters, and strollers. Finally, to end the year with another incredible Festival of Lights was really the cherry on top.
I believe that this year we truly all found our best side. When there was a call to serve, we served. When others needed support, we supported. And when it was time to celebrate – boy, did we celebrate! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this year one that I will never forget. I know our entire wonderful Board of Directors feels the same. We are lucky to serve this community and we look forward to the chance to serve you again in the coming year.
Page Morgan, Community Affairs Director
Season’s greetings, everyone! I hope this message finds you enjoying all this holiday season has to offer. As I reflect on 2021, I am reminded of how well our neighborhood came together through the lasting pandemic; serving each other, welcoming new neighbors, and lending helping hands as needed. We survived the water pipeline project, for the most part, and things seem to be heading back in the direction of normal where that’s concerned.
Looking forward, I am excited about the hopeful return of in-person IHCA meetings where we can discuss all things Indian Hills and continue to do our best to preserve this beautiful neighborhood of ours (as you know we are always looking for volunteers). I am excited about the Community Affairs events that are sure to take place next year that help bring us all together, and I am looking forward to our redesigned front entrance at Indian Hills Parkway/Lower Roswell.
I hope you are looking forward to these things too, as they are just a part of what make Indian Hills a great place to live! In the meantime, my best wishes for a wonderful holiday season for you and yours.
Call us:
678-250-3572 or Email: pres.ihca[at]gmail.com
IHCA P.O. Box 681283 Marietta, GA 30068
