We used Beth at Unleashed Joy for our reactive dog. It was a good course. Is our dog cured? No. Is it the owners slacking in consistency? Yes.

She did use a parking lot on Twin Knolls, so super convenient. I understand she is with a trading facility now, so it’s not in Columbia anymore. https://www.unleashedjoy.com/reactive-dog-class

Some villages have 1 year terms, others have 2 year terms.

Hickory Ridge, Oakland Mills, and Wilde Lake have 1 year term up for election every April.

Dorsey's Search, Kings Contrivance, Long Reach, and River Hill have 2 year terms up for election next in April 2023.

Harpers Choice, Owen Brown, and Town Center have 2 year terms up for election next in April 2024.

Couple things I can recommend.

I had a 20+ year old remediation system on our home. There's kits you can purchase to perform the testing. The same kind of testing commercial companies will use.

If you're concerned about the exhaust motor/fan, there's a couple big name exhaust systems that are used by all the companies. Our old one was rated to last only between 15 and 20 years. I was surprised it lasted as long as it had, and was getting noisy, so I decided it best to replace it. I bought the newer more energy efficient replacement model and swapped it out. It's now whisper quiet. Even if you have limited electrical knowledge it's a rather easy fix. It might even be cheaper to have an electrician install it than a radon remediation company.

Also. Our home being older, when the most recent roof was changed, the vent exited below the roofline. If you want to be to code, the exhaust should be to the level of your roof and away from your home. Use PVC. For the end piece, buy something with a screen. I found multiple bird skeletons, maybe even part of a squirrel skeleton from creatures that entered the exhaust pipe and never made it out.

These are just suggestions if you're comfortable doing things yourself. I replaced the exhaust fan and pvc piping for around $400, including testing.

When in doubt, call a professional. Can't remember the name of the company, but they're either in Sykesville or Mt. Airy and came highly recommended.

You get Radon gas due to the uranium decay chain. Down in the ground we have minerals like granite which contain very small amounts of uranium. The uranium decays over time, releasing Radon.

Radon then usually gathers under foundations and in our area can make its way into basements. This is usually remediated in a simple way. They're use a venting system connected to a low point in your basement, likely your sump pump pit, seal it with plexiglass, and route a PVC pipe from there to the outside of your home with a fan that runs 24/7 that continually pulls out any particles to the outside.

wtf ive never heard of radon gas before, this just happens randomly? wtf

$1225. They did have to do a run of pcv through basically the whole basement because I didn't want the vent to be in the front of the house, but still seems high. I didn't end up calling around like I should have because our levels were pretty alarming and these guys came right out, but I guarantee there are cheaper options.

How much was it?

Mango grill in Laurel has some great vegetarian options! Vegetarian tamale is one of them

I would personally start with an Airthings Corentium to measure your radon ($136 on Amazon right now). Immediate results (once you’ve gotten a weeks worth of measurements) and the benefit of constant measurements going forward.

Or you could get the manual at home radon kits for $20-ish where you have to mail it to a lab and they send you the results after 1-2 weeks. Last time I had a company test for me, they just used one of these kits anyway.

Radon Worx

One would think...

There was an effort in 2020 to try to throw the bums out. Unfortunately, conspiracy minded folks on the left and right joined forces with the cronies on the board to wage an all out smear campaign against the challengers. It didn't matter what was true, as long as enough sh*t was thrown out there to keep the focus away from the horrible job they were doing.

*Shocked* How dare she! Doesn't she know who they are?!" /s

I used Radon Resolvers recently. I felt the were a little pricey, but they showed up the same day I called, and had the mitigation system installed 5 days later. Only took them 4 or 5 hours, though it wasn't a particularly complex project.

I had an AirThings radon monitor running for a week prior to calling though, so I already knew my levels and I had already installed a sump cover.

Y’all. Damn. https://baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/columbia-association-ceo-denied-request-to-challenge-her-evaluation-as-board-maintains-silence/

She's getting in the way of the board abusing their power. So the board doesn't like her. Makes sense in /r/aboringdystopia kind of way

Allegedly she stopped them from giving orders to Columbia Assoc. employees.

Per the employees request.

"Since starting as CEO in June 2021, Boyd has, by her accounting, attended 150 stakeholder meetings and has spoken at more than 50 events. She has diversified programming and brought 55 nights of entertainment to Columbia’s main lakefront. She beat her budget by $10 million, distributed federal funds to save jobs, and has been a powerful voice for inclusion and equity, writing lengthy essays and promoting dialogue. "

Again, why are they trying to fire her?

I'm not up on the CA drama, why don't they like Lakey Boyd? The article says she has "widespread support... from association employees and community leaders."

Seems like someone you should keep around

I think the agreement was eventually made available. One of the articles mentioned that. So are they just punishing her even though they got what they wanted?

How would we find that information about harassment complaints? Is that public information?

Actually the terms vary by village. Some are one year and some are two.

How long are board member terms? With low turnout in these elections it should be easy to organize and throw the bums out.

Edit: looks like the terms are for two years and elections are going to be in April.

“ Some community members have begun discussion a financial protest if Boyd is ousted. Former board member Jessamine Duvall raised the possibility of an organized effort whereby Columbia residents would withhold their annual homeowners’ fees in protest of board leadership decisions”

Would this actually accomplish anything? My fear is that the lower wage employees would be most impacted by this. This would make Lakey’s job harder, not the board’s. Also, other cost saving measures I’ve seen CA do is not open all pools and limit maintenance to open space.

I think showing continued support for Lakey and putting pressure on the board to make the right decision is most realistic. I’m sure there are better options out there. If the board ousts her, what qualified candidate would want to apply to a job that would require them to report a board like this? CA is shooting itself in the foot.

I’ve used them a few times too. Good work, fair price, it’ll take as long as it takes so be patient!

Seconded! Ask for Sunny! He is the king of cobblers.