By Eric Glazer, Esq.

Published February 18, 2013

            Today is President's Day.  Today, our thoughts and attention are turned to such great names as Washington and Lincoln.  But what about Jones, Smith, Goldberg, Johnson, Williams, Cohen and Brown?  Never heard of them?  Not only will I bet that some of them turned out to be great Presidents, but they were also great female Presidents.  Some of these names no doubt are the greatest Presidents in history.  The history of your community association that is.

            Is it so wrong to think that on this President's Day, at least some recognition should be given to the men and women who not only get elected to our community association's board of directors, but then take the extra step of saying "I'll take on the responsibility of the Presidency"  "I'll be the face of the community"  "The buck will stop with me?"

            We already know how difficult it sometimes is to get volunteers for our boards.  Presidents of Boards not only throw their hat into the ring, they take on primary responsibility for the well-being of the entire community.  We all know that it is also an often times thankless job.  They know going in that if someone's unit is flooding at 3 am, it's them that's going to get the phone call in the middle of the night.  They know that if a strange car is parked in someone's assigned space, it's them that's going to get the complaint.  They even know that if a Hurricane strikes the community some unit owner is going to blame them for mother nature's work.  Yet, they do it anyway.

            So, on this President's Day, here's to those who do what they can to serve their communities knowing that their opinions will be second guessed all the time.  How about acknowledging some of the hard work our Presidents do today with your comments?  For those Presidents that read this column, tell us why you do it.