Four Lakes Landowners Association
Board of Directors
January 16th, 2008
In attendance: Mark Achzenick, Mark Anderson, Terry Deschenes, Rod Case, Shawn Muqueeney, Brendan Pecht, Tom Price
Not Able to Attend: Steve Scott
Committee Chairs in Attendance: Evan Lurton, Diana Price, Rick Ward
President Terry Deschenes called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in his home.
Minutes for October meeting were approved.
Annual Meeting
The primary purpose of this meeting was to prepare for the upcoming annual meeting. The format followed was largely a report out from each of the committee chairs of accomplishments in 2007 and their plans for 2008. During these reports each chair also discussed funds needed in 2008 which Shawn noted and will use to build a proposed budget for the year.
In line with the new procedure approved last year the Board President for 2008 needed to be elected. The Board is very pleased with progress that has been made in the last few years under Terry’s leadership and they asked if he would agree to fulfill that role again this year. He agreed and his nomination was unanimously approved. The remaining Board officer positions will be filled after the new Board is elected at the annual meeting.
It was agree that we would shoot for having the annual meeting on February 28 at City Hall. Terry has prepared several of the documents that need to be sent out to Association members along with an announcement of the meeting date and time. During the evening Terry compiled a list of items for the annual meeting agenda. Once a meeting room has been reserved that notice will be sent out.
Committee Activity:
Roads: Mark Achzenick, Chair
Mark noted that the major paving project for 2007 was successfully completed. It is now time to start accumulating money for the next major project. In 2008 his committee plans on some minor maintenance work. That includes pothole repair, some ditching work, and possibly gravel on road shoulders.
Water: Evan Lurton, Chair
In general, an outstanding team effort with very positive forward progress in 2007!! All new plumbing was installed at the well head providing the capability to control and monitor water inflow. A new “reserve” tank (2500 gallons) was purchased and placed next to our main tank.
The major project for 2008 is to re-roof the reservoir in the spring. During the later half of the year the committee will install the first new service vaults at several homes. Those new vaults will be used through the winter and if all goes well the committee will begin further installations in 2009.
In anticipation of the upcoming project to install new service vaults at each residence Evan requested that the Board consider raising the water dues by 10% in 2008 and another 10% in 2009. He does not want to use a significant portion of the accumulated dollars now set aside for an emergency with the water system. He believes we should keep that reserve in place to cover major problems that could occur sometime in the future. A question about insurance coverage on our reservoir was raised. We’ve assumed it is covered but that needs to be verified. Terry took this action item. If not covered our monetary reserve certainly needs to be large to cover loss.
Community Property: Rick Ward, Chair
The gazebo roof was repaired and the community property mowed. A new bulletin board with a large map of the community was also installed.
Rick does not foresee any major projects for 2008 and asked for a budget similar to that of 2007.
Lakes: Shawn Mulqueeney, Chair
Shawn reported that the condition of our lakes was surveyed again, the first time in 12 years. The report we received was very similar to those done earlier. Bottom line – – the lakes are getting shallower and weeds are a problem! To address those issues the committee hired Aquatechnex to provide us with some options on how to proceed. After some analysis their suggestion for a short term approach is to plant vegetation eating carp in the two lakes south of the road and apply herbicides in the other lakes.
For 2008 the committee is recommending that we implement the suggestions of Aquatechnex. It will cost approximately $5,500 to implement the plan. The Board agreed with this approach.
Entertainment: Kara Mulqueeney and Diana Price, Co-Chairs
Diana gave a short review of the 2007 events including the Easter Egg hunt, Fishing Derby, and Fall Festival.
For 2008 the committee wants to continue with these current events and to add at least one more. They are thinking of having a movie night (possibly several) up at the gazebo. There was some discussion on the logistics and cost of such an event. The Board liked her recommendation and agreed to include extra money in the budget.
Hospitality: Tom Price, Chair
There have not been a lot of new members this year but the process to greet them is in place and will be continued in 2008. Tom requires very little budget to carry out his effort and it will be covered under Miscellaneous.
Volunteers: Brendan Pecht, Chair
The “night out at the Mariners” for all those who have volunteered their time and efforts for the community was a great success. It will be continued in 2008. Terry has recruited Keith Renfrew to help Brendan in his efforts to recruit new Board members and committee volunteers. So far Dave Prochazka and Tara Reid have agreed to run for open Board positions. We need at least one more before the annual meeting.
Communications: Steve Scott, Chair
Steve was not able to attend the meeting so Terry will contact him and request that he continue creating our newsletters which have been very professionally done and well accepted throughout the community.
Emergency Preparedness: Mark Anderson, Chair
Mark reported that this new committee has had it first meetings. Zone captains were identified and membership maps created. 4 of the zones have conducted their introduction meeting with Association members. These meetings were well attended and very informative. The committee is working with Keith Renfrew and Big 5 Sports offering to all Association members’ handheld radios (2 radios and charging cradles for $35) that can be used to communicate throughout the community during an emergency. It was determined that our Association will use channel 4 for general communication. For internal zone captain communication we will use a privacy code correlating to each zones number (i.e. 1 through 6).
Now that the organizational foundation recommended by CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) has been established, the committee will work in 2008 to set up additional internal procedures for community reaction if an emergency occurs.
Legal: Terry Deschenes, Chair
Terry met with our lawyers several times to get advice on several issues but nothing major to report here. No specific budget requests for 2008.
Old Business:
· There has been no response from the Holeceks on the letter sent to them last year. There is even a question as to whether they have hooked into the 4 Lakes water system or the system run by Rick Ward. Evan and Rick will take steps to answer this question and then next steps will be discussed.
New Business:
· Passage Point leadership is in the process of setting up an Advisory Group which will meet to help them identify steps needed to make their development a success within the general community area. In order to gather ideas and suggestions from community members, a meeting will be held on January 23rd. Hopefully representatives from the local communities will be identified and discussions of who else should be represented will take place.
They have asked for a representative from each of the 5 local communities. Terry asked that the Board nominate a representative to attend the meeting. After some discussion of possible candidates Rod Case was nominated and agreed upon. The first meeting of the actual Advisory Group will be in February.
The annual meeting will be held in late February or early March. The next Board meeting will be the traditional “passing the torch” meeting of the outgoing Board and the newly elected 2008 Board. That will likely be held sometime in March.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 pm.