LTPOA Meeting Minutes October 13, 2009   
    
The meeting opened at 7:02 p.m. with the following board members present:  Janet Hirsch, Ann Schatzman, Chris Townsend, Marilyn Meyer, and Matt Schweiss and Renee Kittel.
    
President’s Report    
President Townsend reported the following:
“This past Saturday we had our annual Fish Fry, and we couldn’t have asked for a more weather friendly day. My hat goes off to the Chef’s, the catcher’s and the ones who painstakingly had to fillet all those fish. The side dishes were wonderful…the company, bonfire, and band was fabulous. The Big Bucket of Booze was won by Mary and Mike Leiweke who were the last ones to come, put in their tickets, win, and the 1st ones to leave….I think it was rigged! Just Kidding. 
  
For the Parent’s club we held the 2nd annual Washer Tournament on the same day as the Fish Fry. This years Washer Tournament did not have as many participating as last year, but we still had a ball…or washer, or dinger of a good time! The Parent’s Club was able to raise One Hundred Twenty Dollars splitting this with the winners: Rick Hannick and Phil Overy took home 1st Place. 
  
On a more serious note, last Tuesday, October 6th the Lake hosted an Informational Security Meeting which I believe was a First for the Lake. We had 2 representatives from the Jefferson County Sheriff Department, Stryker Security, Rick Hannick (Security Coordinator), and the LTPOA Board of Directors who listened to several concerned residents regarding poaching, vandalism, theft, and speeding. Several Points of interest were raised and are encouraged to be further discussed, reviewed, and possibly implemented. I plan to bring the gate’s 24/7 closure issue that keeps coming up as well as it did the night of Oct 6th from the JCSD most important stressed issue as well as the Neighborhood Watch Program, the JCSD 2nd most stressed issue tonight within the Security section of the meeting.  
  
In closing, I was happy to hear the JCSD state their understanding of Lake Tishomingo to be a “pretty safe,” community. Everywhere you go, turn on the radio, or television you hear story after story of problems. Yes, we have our problems, but in the whole context of things we are as the JCSD stated, “pretty safe.” Every time I leave the Lake I cannot wait to get back; so I am away of the hustle and bustle of Metropolitan St. Louis, and finally happy to be Home…Safe and Sound.”
  
Motion to accept minutes was made by Janet Hirsch and seconded by Marilyn Meyer.  Motion passed. 
  
Treasurer’s Report    
Marilyn Meyer, Treasurer, reported for September. The Financial Report for September is listed separately.  Motion to approve the Financial Report was made by Joe Hejnal and seconded by Janet Hirsch.  Motion passed. 
  
Marilyn presented the following bills for payment:   

Insurance Directors and Officers                 $1,951.00
Legal Quarterly                                            $543.75
Stryker Security                                           $1,762.00 
Portable Toilet                                            $90 - pulled for season on 25th or 26th
Boat Repair                                                 $290
Newsletter                                                   $235.79
Grass Mowing                                             $610
MO Empl. Insurance                                  $927 - carried for volunteers

Motion to approve bills was made by Joe Hejnal and seconded by Ann Schatzman.  Motion passed.    
   
Building  
•	Hejnal -- new dock -  Motion to approve new dock for Joe Hejnal was made by Janet Hirsch and seconded by Marilyn Meyer.
•	Richars -- boat lift 
•	Hummel -- deck 
•	Brukardt -- driveway and retaining wall
All permits were approved by the Board.

Contact John Hindrichs, jhindrichssr@charter.net to submit building applications. Permit applications must be submitted at least 10 days before the board meeting. 
  
Maintenance
The Lake is set for the year with the salt that is left over from last year.  Joe will have the truck's gas gage checked out by his son and the mud flap has been installed on the truck.  Jerry will still do the snow plowing.
Joe Hejnal stated that he would like to get approval to start the maintenance shed/yard project since it is built into the budget.  Thinks it will cost approximately $6,000 with flooring.  There is $17,700 in budget for maintenance building and yard.  
Motion to approve project was made by Janet Hirsch and seconded by Marilyn Meyer. Motion passed.

Matt Schweiss reported that the creek was undermining the road in H-cove.  He cut the creek down and water is going straight into the pipe now.  It needs 1 load of gabion rock.  This is on Chad Sutterer's property and we need to obtain written permission from him to work on his property.

Security 
A summary of the Oct 6 Safety and Security Meeting is available here.

Rick Hannick expressed his opinion that the board should be working on stricter enforcement of our restrictions and regulations. He then reported:

Some actions that I have taken so far, and some suggestions the board could consider:
1.)	I requested that Lt. Carle provide one of their speed monitoring towers for us to use.  This device reads the speed of approaching vehicles and tells them their speed.  It also keeps a record of the average speeds of all vehicles, thus enabling the JCSD to identify problem areas.  He is checking to see if he would be allowed to either make it available for us to use ourselves, or to be manned by JCSD personnel.  I asked if he knew of anywhere we might purchase a surplus radar gun.  I also again made the point that I want to be kept in the loop regarding any further developments pertinent to our careless driver.
2.)	I instructed James, our security guard, to devote his attention to speeding and careless driving during his shifts last weekend, and subsequent weekends.
3.)	I initiated conversations with Will Electronics (the two brothers who own it are property owners here) regarding the cost and infrastructure requirements of a gate and security camera upgrade.
4.)	I have explored some possible funding options to achieve those upgrades, and would like to discuss them with the board, either tonight, or at another meeting.  The guys who currently oversee the gate operation should be present at that discussion, as well as Fred Steinmetz (the keeper of the gate cards) and Ron Hacker (the keeper of the sticker database).
5.)	The other part of the equation is up to the board.  Faster response to future problems before they get out of hand like the last one did.  The imposition of tougher sanctions on offending property owners through board pressure, peer pressure, police pressure, or punitive measures, (Raintree has been successful in controlling offenders by gate card actions and banning offenders from accessing the lake.)

The guard’s hours will be cut back until spring. Rick Hannick submitted recommendations for the security gate which include keeping the gate closed 24/7 beginning in January. Rick will schedule a meeting of all concerned to formulate a plan. 
  
Gate 
Russ Wilner reported that there was only one minor incident with the gate in the last month wherein there was a four-car backup. 
  
LTIA REPORT 
The fish fry with the Anglers Association was a big success.
Finance Committee 
Nothing to report.

Web Site & Newsletter  
Janet Hirsch reported that the website was updated with the project list (thanks Russ) and the newsletter deadline is October 20, 2009.
  
Community Coordinator 
Renee Kittel reported that the Parent's Club bonfire starts at 6:00 P.M. on Friday, Oct 16.  The LTIA craft sale on the 17th is cancelled and the LTIA Halloween party on the 24th will benefit breast cancer research and is $30/couple.
  
Fishing Club 
Nothing to report.
  
Sewer Committee    
The bids have not been put out yet.  The District is waiting for the USDA to approve the plans. It was expected that the approval would take 2 months, but it's been four months. The delay is probably due to the USDA being overloaded with stimulus funding projects.

The District is working on obtaining access to the WWTP site from Regina Rd instead of having to use lake roads.  
   
Old Business (Board)    
Janet Hirsch spoke about the need to prevent the use of a subdivision lot as a commercial access road. 
"In discussing the issue of the construction and operation of a cell phone tower with several property owners, I got the impression that people don’t really understand the implications of allowing a lake lot to be used as a commercial access road. Some folks said it’s no big deal to allow construction vehicles to use our lake roads to build the tower, and after it’s built, to let commercial vehicles use our lake roads to service the tower. 

Here’s the problem. US Cellular plans to build an access road on lot L-30 to a cell phone tower site beyond the subdivision boundaries. And they also want the right to assign the use of that commercial access road to anyone they choose. Not only will US Cellular be using our roads and that lot, there will be other companies who will use the tower, as will other developers and their customers. There is no doubt that lot would be devoted to commercial purposes, not residential. 

More importantly, if we allow this, a precedent will be set – other developers could use subdivision lots to access commercial developments beyond the lake boundaries. It could lead to apartment buildings, sod farms, quarries, and anything else -- all being accessed through our subdivision. 

In the end Lake Tish property owners lose all control over who comes into the subdivision. 
How can we enforce Restriction 1, that ‘property should only be used for residential purposes’ in future cases if we don’t enforce it now? This will set a precedent. There is no way this lot can be used for residential purposes if it is converted to a commercial access road. 

The majority of property owners want the LTPOA Board to enforce the rules and regulations of the Lake. Every opinion survey shows that. And the most important rules of the lake are the Restrictions. I believe that to not even attempt to enforce the number one restriction is a dereliction of duty. When Lt Carle of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Dept was here last week he said that it was the Board’s job to enforce the rules of the lake. We should take that obligation very seriously and feel that we have to enforce Restriction 1. 

There has been a claim that an easement exists that allows for the commercial use of lot L-30. To date we have seen no evidence of this. None of the documents we’ve been given and none of the documents I could find at the Recorder of Deeds lead me to believe that L-30 is exempt from the Restrictions and can be used as a commercial access road. 

I did find that in September, US Cellular filed with the Recorder of Deeds an option to lease the tower-site property and to use lot L-30 to build the access road. The filing of this document makes it public knowledge. 

Based on this I think we have no choice but to turn this over to the Lake’s attorney. 

Therefore, I move that we instruct the Lake’s attorney to examine all of the evidence he has available and determine whether or not there is a case to be made for allowing a lake lot in block L to be used as a commercial access road. And if his conclusion is that Restriction #1 would be violated, he should send a letter to the parties involved telling them that Lake Tishomingo fully intends to enforce its restrictions and will not allow a lake lot to be used as a commercial access road" 
  
Motion made by Janet Hirsch was seconded by Joe Hejnal.  Motion passed. 

New Business (Floor) 
There are still three property owners who have not paved the first 20 feet of their driveways as required. When the weather gets warmer the LTPOA will pave their first 20 feet. The property owners will be billed and it will be treated just like an assessment. 
   
There being no further business, a motion was made by Joe Hejnal and seconded by Marilyn Meyer to adjourn.  Motion passed.  The meeting concluded at 8:39 P.M.    
Respectfully submitted,    
Ann Schatzman    
Secretary