The course was taught by three industry experts, starting withKipcon president Mitchell H. Frumkin, a professional engineer,reserve specialist and a National Association of Home Builder'sCertified Green Professional; managing partner of Energy SquaredAllan Samuels, a US Green Building Council Leadership in Energy andEnvironmental Design Accredited Professional; and Clive Samuels, alicensed professional engineer in 46 states.

Frumkin took the lead by discussing how to prepare a reservestudy and explaining how it serves as the starting point foranalyzing potential savings in maintenance and energy costs. "As weall try to navigate through the national economic crisis, communityassociations are not only structured to stay fiscally strong butalso are in a position to help lead our country out of thistroubled time," he said. "These associations are in a uniqueposition, having planned for this work through years of ongoinginvestments into their reserve funds for these expenditures."

But first, he added, you need to understand what a reserve fundis. "In short, it is a systematic accumulation of funds to coverthe costs of future major repairs and replacements of the commonelements to assure that funds will be available when needed. Sincethese funds are segregated from the rest of the association'sbudget, specifically for the purposes of performing thesereplacements, there is no reason why the association should delaythis replacement work when it becomes necessary."