Four Lakes Landowners Association
Board of Directors
January 18th, 2007
In attendance: Mark Achzenick, Rod Case, Terry Deschenes, Shawn Mulqueeney, Tom Price,
Not Able to Attend: Tara Bingham, Kit Nau, Steve Scott
Before the meeting was officially called to order Terry, Shawn, and Rod decided to count the ballots on the Covenants/Bylaws revision vote. Shawn had just received two more ballots and there appeared to be little chance of any remaining ballots being returned. While waiting for other Board members to arrive Rod read the name from each ballot and Terry checked off the members name on a phone list. Shawn opened each ballot and stacked them into YES and NO piles. When all ballots were opened they were counted once by Terry and then again by Shawn with Rod and Tom observing. The final vote turned out 69 YES and 8 NO. The revisions have been passed! It has been a long, sometimes frustrating process and everyone who has helped should feel very good about the successful effort.
President Terry Descends called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. at his home. The minutes for November were approved.
Shawn presented an updated financial report. All expenditures and dues collections are normal. We went over all expenditures for 2006 and discussed needed allocations for 2007. A preliminary budget was agreed upon but Shawn needs some additional numbers from several committees before the final proposed budget can be sent out with the annual meeting notice.
Committee Reports:
Roads:
Mark reported that the maintenance paving project has been delayed for several months due to the abnormal weather and storms we have experienced. Although he has not received a firm completion date from John Olson it appears the work will not be done before early spring.
Mark also stated that although the majority of work on the safety project at the 3 way stop was completed last fall there is still some minor work to be done. Once we get some dry weather the crosswalk stripes need to be painted and possibly some turtles put into place. He has the supplies needed, just waiting for decent weather.
There have been several more attempts to contact the Van Cleve’s concerning the abandoned pickup on the well house road. Brendon is making one more try at it. If he is not able to discuss the issue with them the Board authorized the creation of a registered letter to be sent to them. The letter will state that the vehicle is about to be towed unless satisfactory action is taken by the Van Cleve’s quickly.
Rod brought up the need for some gravel on the well road, just before you get to the pump house. That area got pretty muddy when everyone was going up to start the generator during the power outage. As a member of the Water committee Rod said that it was unclear to that committee whether they, or the Roads committee, was responsible for this action item. After a short discussion it was agreed that the Water committee should make arrangements to get the gravel delivered and that the expense will come out of the Water funds.
Water:
Evan was not present to give a first hand report so Rod, as a member of that committee, reported on several things.
· As everyone is aware, we had to use the generator several times in December. The first time was when a tree fell over the power lines in front of the Olson property. Since there were “hot” lines over the road we could not drive up to the well to start the generator. Keith Renfrew said that he knew of way to get up to the well from off of the Hobart road. He, Evan and Rod looked for that access and were finally able to find it through a PSE gate. There is a short stretch of very primitive “road” but it is passable in an emergency. It was used to get gas to the generator during the outage.
· In mid December the major windstorm left us without electricity for a week. During this period the generator was used very heavily and broke down twice. The first time the coil failed. Evan ordered a replacement from Kohler and was able to make the repair within a day or so. The second failure turned out to be a dirty carburetor. Rod with help of Chauncey Deschenes, Julian Kerr and Lynette Case, loaded the generator into his pickup and took it to Lonnie Hjelm for repair. Here again it took about a day to restore service.
· As a result of the problems with the generator, the Water committee has discussed either buying a backup generator. Although it certainly becomes a critical issue when the generator fails the committee has agreed that buying a backup is not really cost effective. Several factors were taken into consideration when making this decision. First of all we use it less than 2 times a year on average and in most instances for only a day or two. Spending $8,000 – $10,000 (we need at least a 12KW and 15KW would be better) does not seem necessary. When Lonnie repaired the carburetor he looked the generator over pretty carefully and found it to be sound. We have identified several places we can rent one if need be.
· Replacing the storage tank roof is turning into a much more difficult project that originally thought. Because the tank was not commercially designed, nor were permits obtained for its construction, all firms we have contacted have declined the job. At this time the committee is looking closely at two options:
1. Replace the roof ourselves with another wooden structure. This could possibly mean our community would be without a water storage facility for several days while the work was being done.
2. Purchase a plastic tank to replace our current one. Tanks with the approximate storage capacity that we have now are available.
The committee will continue addressing this issue.
· The committee is currently working on a project to find all service boxes, mark them with a blue stake, and take pictures of their location with a reference point in the picture. This effort, along with installing probably 4 flow meters at key points will continue through the summer.
Community Property:
Terry said that Rick Ward has agreed to chair this committee in 2007 but he needs several additional volunteers on his team. Terry will ask Kit to see if she can find them.
Lakes:
Shawn has talked to a company about aeration of the large lake. For approximately $6,000 they will lay several permanent lines on the bottom which will create air flow to keep algae from spreading as badly as it has the last several years. He is also looking at the possibility of having a professional evaluation of the lakes done this spring.
Tom has talked to the vendor he buys fish stock from and they do have grass eating carp. Their recommendation is to but about 10 in a lake our size. They would have to be replenished each year.
Entertainment:
There was nothing new to report.
Hospitality:
Tom has greeted the Anderson family which as moved into the Jones house. They are very nice people and are interested in taking an active part in our community.
Legal:
Now that the revised Covenants and By-Laws have been approved, Terry will ask our lawyer to file them with the county.
Volunteers:
There was nothing new to report.
Communications:
There was nothing new to report.
Old Business:
By-Laws/CC&Rs amendments.
As noted above the ballots were counted and the proposed changes approved. The new documents will be filed with the county soon.
Annual meeting.
According to the new Covenants/Bylaws the Board president should be identified before the annual meeting. Terry stepped forward and said he would like to retain the position in 2007. Although a lot of good things have been accomplished in the last year or two, Terry knows there is still a lot to be done and he wishes to stay in place to help keep the existing momentum going. The Board unanimously accepted Terry’s offer and thanked him for all the hard work he put into it in 2006.
Shawn is close to finalizing a proposed 2007 budget.
Board member’s terms were reviewed. For the past year (2006) they were:
In their 3rd year were Tara, Terry, and Tom.
In their 2nd year were Kit, Rod, and Steve.
In their 1st year were Mark and Shawn.
This means that there will be 4 open positions to be filled. Terry and Tom have indicated that they are willing to run again. Tara is considering it. Mr. Anderson (just recently moved into the Jones house) said he would be willing to run. Terry will talk to several other people and ask Kit to do the same.
Tom has reserved the meeting room at the police station for February 22nd. Terry will put together an agenda and get the packed mailed out in early February.
New Business:
· Tom floated (pun intended) the idea of building a fishing dock on the big lake. Initial discussions were generally positive and Tom was encouraged to come up with a more definitive plan.
· Tom also brought up the question of building a tennis court and baseball diamond on the community property. There was some discussion largely referring back to previous plans along these lines. Tom was advised to take his thoughts to the Community Property committee for further discussion.
Next Meeting:
The next meeting will be the annual membership meeting starting at 7:30 PM on February 22nd.
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:35.