LTPOA Meeting Minutes August 10, 2004

Prior to the opening of the meeting, the Board met privately with lot owners of C12 & C13A to discuss the problems associated with the boat patrol violations and the partying of the young adults.

The regular meeting commenced at 7 p.m. with 6 board members present (Chris Townsend was absent) and 36 lot owners.

The minutes of the meeting held on July 13th were read. Matt Holloran made a motion to accept the minutes as read, seconded by Linda Fulford, motion passed unanimously.

President Ron Sansone began the meeting by again thanking the numerous volunteers who not only work on the weekends but also during the week. He stated that the loan had been secured at 5 ½% for the next three years. The new budget would be presented later in the meeting. He said he felt that there was now a good feeling on the board and everyone was attempting to get everything done

Ron brought up the problem which occurred at the pre-board meeting and apologized to Becky for his behavior. He explained that basically the problem was that the lake had paid to move silt to his property and that when another property owner needed silt, Ron moved it, at the property owner's expense and this was construed as running a business from his home. Ron stated that no attempt was made to make a profit from this and it had been done with the knowledge of the board. He said that if anyone had any questions he would be very happy to answer them. Ron said that the issue of the silt would be brought up later.

President Sansone then went on to say that three letters had been written to property owners who had three or more violations from the boat patrol. One of the property owners, the Armbrusters, came in to discuss the situation. They were not totally aware of the problems but were very cooperative. A copy of their violations together and the boating rules were given to them and they said that they would discuss this with their 4 sons, who range in age from 20 to 26.

Treasurers Report

Linda Fulford reported that the transfer of information from the old computer information had not yet been completed so unfortunately she was not able to bring a report. She did however have the proposed budget which she handed out. She reported that it was a pretty tight budget with an "emergency fund" of only $7,652. She said that they were hoping to use volunteers for the rest of the fiscal year for whatever could be done to help. There were no questions at this time from the floor about the proposed budget. President Sansone stated that the budget had been carefully looked at and there was no room for error. Approximately $150,000 is collected and of that just over $91,000 goes to take care of the lake's obligations and of this $53,000 goes to pay the existing loan payments. The extra $50,000 from the special assessment goes directly to pay off the loan. He said that the help from the volunteers had been a great help but there was still more to be done. President Sansone said that he would like to make a motion that we accept the budget, Becky Harper made a motion, seconded by Ray Lauer, motion passed unanimously.

The following bills were presented for payment:

Pest Control - $653

Road repair - Burn & Jones Construction - $16,000

Becky made the motion, seconded by Matt that the bills be paid. Motion passed unanimously. Ron stated that bills over $600 would be brought to the meeting for payment in order for everyone to know where the money was being spent.

Security Director

Ray Lauer reported that he had one report of a theft, Rick Hannick had lost a fishing tackle box with approximately $1,000 worth of fishing tackle from his boat.

Ray then addressed the issue of the problem of ATVs around the lake. He read the rules regarding ATVs from the state and these will be posted at the lake. Essentially ATVs are not allowed. However, he asked for cooperation from all lake residents in abiding by these rules issued by the state. The rules will also be posted on the website. One concern was that lot owners were allowing non-lake residents to bring their ATVs onto lake property. This is not allowed. The board was therefore looking into requiring ATVs to be registered like boats. Ray also brought up the problem of people driving cars erratically on the roads. He asked drivers to be considerate of the children who live around the lake and ride their bikes on the road and also considerate of other road users. The other problem was with the gate. Signature Control looked at the gate and said that it had been struck by lightning. The surge protector needs to be replaced and power needs to be reinstalled. Hopefully the gate will be working again very shortly.

Barb Rohm expressed concern that the gate was not operational in that in the past few weeks, her neighbor's house had been egged and she had almost been run off the road and she had observed someone walking along the lakeshore at 12:30 at night. She asked if you are allowed to walk on the easement at any time of the day or night. Ray replied that they were working on the gate and our restrictions did not stop anybody from walking on the easement at any time, however, common courtesy would dictate that they would let you know who they were.

Building Director

Becky Harper reported the following:

K29 thru 31 - Ahlemeyers

The contractor had insufficient pole length to install the boatlift on the left side of the dock. Upon reinspection, it was determined that there were no issues with placing the boat lift on the right side of the dock. Approval was given.

A2 thru 5 - Lents

Approved for a boatlift.

Complaints:

D58 thru D62 - new home construction. Excessive amount of mud on road and going into neighbor's driveway. The owner was contacted about the problem.

B5 - Schatzman - installing boat lift without approval.

K28 expressed concern about the location of the boat dock on K29. Becky replied that there was sufficient lake frontage for the lift. Another reason for allowing the lift on the left side of his dock was the rock formation on the right hand side. This was also the reason that the lift was located away from the dock.

Access would be from a walkway. K28 then asked if it was ok to put a boatlift on the opposite side of the dock against the flow. Becky replied that the lift was not in the actual boating lane when using the lift. K28 also stated that they did not like the view of the boatlift from their property. Becky replied that the boatlift meets all lake requirements, if it had not, the owner would have been required to move it. She also stated that the owner would not be impeding the traffic on the lake when he parked his boat.

Maintenance Director

Matt Holloran reported that the front road had been repaired. There were two areas which bubbled due to the heat but these had since been repaired. He thanked all the volunteers for the grass cutting and keeping all areas, not specifically only those in front of their own house, neat and clean. Matt thanked those who had begun the repairs on the pavilion. With regards to the dredge, the community which was looking to lease or buy the dredge from us, said that they did not have the money. Eric Seagrin called Matt and asked what did we want for the dredge. Matt suggested that Eric come and look at the dredge and make us an offer. Matt apologized for not removing the dredge from the water, but prospective buyers would need to see the dredge in the water.

Finance Committee

Ron Sansone thanked the finance committee for their efforts in getting the budget together. Matt Holloran asked if the new report was easier to read.

Web Site

Janet Hirsch said that August 22nd was the deadline for articles for the next newsletter. If you need a copy of the minutes of the meetings you can now go to the website and the minutes are now posted on the web site within 5 days of the business meeting. They will be sponsoring a community garage sale on September 11th. The deadline for participating is September 5th. There will be a charge of $5 for each participant. Maps would be sold showing where the individual garage sales were. Ads would also be placed in the local newspapers for the sale. Contact either Janet or Wanda Fisher if you wish to participate. Jerry Uhlenbrock expressed concern that it was being advertised in the newspapers and said that in years past it had been decided not to have this type of garage sale because the residents did not want outsiders having unrestricted access to the lake. [The garage sale will not be advertised in the newspaper. —jmh]

Boat Patrol

In the absence of Roger Hovis, his report was read by Pat Harting. The report will be placed on the website. Ed Melchiore also reported that there was only $50 left for gas for the patrol boat. Donations would be welcome—contact Matt Holloran or Roger Hovis.

Sewer Committee

Lou Harting reported that the purpose of the sewer and water committee was to explore financing and methods of sewage treatment for the lake and make recommendations to the board. Sewers may at some point in time be mandated from the state. To date seven speakers have come to speak to us from both government and engineering companies to explain the various types of sewage treatment and financing that is available. To date, no report is ready to present to the board. The committee meets once a month. The next speaker will hopefully be Ed Kemp, county commissioner.

Old Business

Jerry Uhlenbrock reported that the Jeff. County Health Department tested the lake in the coves and the middle of the lake. Approximately 18 samples were taken. Samples were tested for coliform and E. coli. Overall, the lake tested very well. Coliform goes up in numbers if there is a lot of rain because it is rain that comes down over the lots and takes down anything on the surface into the lake. He said that they will be monitoring the lake on a regular basis especially with regards to seepage from sewer systems. He also said that he had received a telephone call from them stating that there were no restrictions on taking the silt from the lake off lake property. Jerry then presented a form which he said would be available soon on the website which was intended to be a friendly reminder from one lake owner to another with respect to items of concern around the lake i.e. shore erosion, derelict boats, docks in need of repair, septic seepage, lot vegetation etc. The form would be sent to the board for monitoring and a friendly letter would be sent to the lot owner in question. It was suggested that the volunteers could if necessary be involved in the clean up. Jerry will present a list to the board of possible violations.

Valerie Silhavy asked if the $27,000 reported by Chris Townsend at the last meeting had been found yet. Ron said that the numbers had been misquoted in the past and Linda said that she was presently working backwards to determine where the numbers had skipped because the board feels that that is what the problem is, that there is no misrepresentation of funds, it was simply numbers strategy.

Kathy Hopfer asked for clarification of the utilities budget item. An allowance had been made for help with the propane usage for the building.

Jerry Uhlenbrock asked that the board send a letter to lot owners stating that they not rent out their property when they are not in attendance. Ron said that a notice would be placed in the newsletter stating that according to the by-laws, lot owners had to be present in order for visitors to be allowed access to their lots for any reason.

The question of the ATVs was again discussed. It was noted that ATVs are not only being allowed in by lot owners but are also coming in from BB.

Ron brought up the problem of dirt and rocks washing onto the roads from heavy rains. This was damaging the new roads. He said that it was being discussed that in future all driveways would be required to be paved for the first 20ft from the road to prevent this. It was already required that new construction had a year to pave the driveway but the new regulations would also be required of those driveways that had been grandfather in. The new paving regulation would be required of all lot owners and would be their responsibility to pay for it. Matt Holloran said that he would prepare a list of reputable pavers and suggested that they be invited to come to a meeting to discuss this.

Ken Marschuetz asked if consideration had been given to paving Forest Road. He said he had to drive a mile on rock to get to his home. Ron said he would get a price on the cost of paving the road. However, Matt said that the money was not available at the moment.

Jerry Uhlenbrock asked who had decided to open the garage sale to outsiders. Ron said that Janet's committee and he should discuss this with her.

There being no further business Ron asked for a motion to adjourn, motion made by Ray Lauer, seconded by Matt Holloran. Meeting adjourned at 8:11 p.m.

Respectfully submitted
Pat Harting, Secretary