Four Lakes Landowners Association
Board of Directors
August 18th, 2005
In attendance:
Rod Case, Terry Deschenes, Lee Koger, Shawn Mulqueeney, Kit Nau, Steve Scott, Rick Ward
Not able to attend:
Matt Jones, Tom Price
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. at the home of Shawn & Kara Mulqueeney. The minutes from the previous meeting were discussed briefly. Rod noted that several corrections had been incorporated into the version originally sent out and that the new version is on the web. A motion was made and seconded that the revised minutes be accepted. The motion passed.
Matt was not able to attend the meeting and therefore there was no Treasurer’s report. Shawn stated that he would be working with Matt next week on the 3rd quarter billing. The President’s message page has already been produced and is ready to include with the billing.
Committee Reports:
Roads: Mark has been on vacation the last two weeks so there was no report. The committee has not met yet this year but will sometime soon. They will discuss the maintenance needed and make proposed plan. There was a brief discussion about one of the main problems – safety of residents (especially children) walking along the main roadways. It was agreed that this needs to be a key emphasis at the Roads committee meeting. Any plan approved must address both resident walking safety and car ingress and egress issues. Rod will take comments from the Board discussions to the committee meeting when it meets.
Water: No formal report this month. It was noted however that there is some concern with service we are receiving from our current provider. They have not been responding in a timely manner recently. It was agreed that Terry and Steve should contact several other service providers and begin the process of assessing with Evan the possibility of a change. They will report back next meeting.
Community Property: Rick reported that a youth group from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints did complete clean up work in our community. Most notably, they cleaned all the street signs that really look great now.
It was noted that the community property grounds are becoming very rough due to mole holes. It would no longer be safe to play ball in the field. Steve suggested we consider waiting until this winter when the ground is very saturated with water and rent a vibrating roller. He said it would actually shake the soil enough to fill in all holes and do a pretty nice job of smoothing it out. There is however general skepticism about how much long term good this will do. The moles will undoubtedly just make more holes. It was generally agreed that the roller suggestion has merit and we will discuss the entire issue again this fall.
Lakes: With the resignation of Mike Goza there is no longer an active committee.
Entertainment: Members of the Board are unclear if there is a picnic being planned or not. Shawn will contact Kristina and Theresa to find out.
Old Business:
Ø Cingular Wireless Transmission Tower.
It appears that the tower is going to be installed just outside the boundaries of our Community. Conversations with Cingular about them giving our community some benefits as a show of good community citizenship bore no fruit. Since they are breaking no laws, it appears this issue is out of our hands.
Ø Cottonwood tree removal.
Any agreement was reached with Maple’s Tree Service for this project. They agreed to cut down, de-limb and haul off the trees, and grind down the stumps. They also agreed to grind out three other stumps that were close by. All this for $5,500. The work was started on August 15th and completed the next day. They did a very thorough job. Shawn had them leave some wood chips from grinding the stumps. He believes that community members will want them. The property looks much more open now and of course the area around the trees is now much safer.
Ø Acquiring an Attorney.
Shawn has contacted an attorney but has not yet heard back from him. He will try to contact him again next week.
New Business:
Ø Class Action Suit.
Shawn has received a letter notifying us that some clients of an insurance company we once used have brought a class action suit against them. It appears we will be receiving a check for the staggering sum of approximately $16 for our part in this suit. We decided to bank the money and not spend it all at once.
Ø Board Responsibilities.
Terry started a conversation about the responsibilities of the Board. His general view is that the Board should be more of an Executive group setting policy and general direction for the community. The committees should take note of the general direction set by the Board and then create plans to make it happen. The Board would have oversight responsibilities to make sure all committee actions are generally following the Boards intent. A major issue is getting anyone to volunteer to be on working committees. Sadly, most people seem to assume that the Board will do almost all of these activities. Terry volunteered to work on a draft document laying out these Roles and Responsibilities for future review.
There was a good discussion about ways to get more volunteers to actively work on issues. It was agreed that if there is going to be a picnic this fall we would have an in-depth discussion with those in attendance about the Roads issues. This is an area that affects everyone and there seems to be a number of somewhat divergent views on problems and solutions. Each Board member will call 1/9 of the community members and urge them to come and get involved. At least give us some feedback and ideas.
If, over a period of time, we are not able to increase participation on committees we may have to consider other options. One obvious one is to hire outside professionals to do the planning and work for us. Similar to what we do for our Water System now. This concept could be applied to Roads, Lake Maintenance, and even Community Property. The obvious downside is an increase in costs/dues but this may be what most members would prefer. This conversation will be pursued at a future time in necessary.
President Shawn Mulqueeney adjourned the meeting at 8:25 pm. Next meeting is scheduled for September 15th. It will be at the home of Steve and Monica Scott.