June 18, 2005
The meeting opened at 11:30 with the following board members present: Chris Townsend, Marilyn Meyer, Pat Harting, Bev Jost, Ron Sansone, Ray Lauer and 45 lot owners.
The minutes of the annual general meeting dated June 19, 2004 had been posted on the web site, inserted in the newsletter and passed out at the meeting, President Sasone asked for a motion to accept the minutes. Motion made by Ray Lauer, seconded by Marilyn Meyer, motion passed.
Presidents Report
President Sansone began the meeting by requesting that any comments be kept to the end of the meeting. He thanked all the people who have been on the board and said that we have made some progress financially. Two years ago, the lake loan was up at $469,000 and at the present time we are now just below $189,000. He said that this was a remarkable accomplishment in getting our finances under control. He said that unfortunately this had meant giving up some of the things we had done in the past due to lack of funding.
Treasurers Report
Marilyn Meyer said that the board had worked diligently during the past year to save money. The loan has been paid on its monthly schedule of $4,489.55. The checking account balance as of May 31, 2005 was $42,836.81. The emergency repairs from the spring flood have been paid and the attorney's fees to pursue delinquent assessments has also been paid. The audit to cover fiscal year 8/1/03 to 7/31/04 was completed by Terry Bouska on June 9. No questionable transactions were found and Terry reported that the procedures followed to collect revenues and pay expenses were adequate to prevent any misappropriation of funds. The audit was available at the meeting for review. Marilyn reported that great progress had been made with the special assessments. Last year at this time the loan was $381,988.71. Thanks in part to Matt Holloran's efforts with the sale of the dredge, the loan now stands at $189,980 due mainly for the prompt payment of the special assessments. Marilyn thanked everyone for their part in the loan reduction.
Finance Committee
Janet Hirsch presented a graph which plotted the loan balance reported from the bank. The graph showed the original calculation of a loan reduction over 10 years. Due to the Finance Committee's decision to pay off the loan as soon as possible, by passing a special assessment of $1 to go directly to the loan together with the regular monthly loan payment, the loan is now at $189,979 as of May 31, 2005. If current trends continue, the Finance Committee is projecting that the lake will be out of debt in two years. Janet also reported that the way the financial data was reported had been changed. They now have a spread sheet showing every month to date showing cash inflow and the cash outflow of required monthly payments. The loan principle reduction is strictly from the special assessments and mainly because of this the loan is now down to $189,979. The spread sheet also shows the checking account and money market balances, cash on hand and any overdue assessments and the loan principle.
On a question of how are unpaid assessments dealt with Treasurer Meyer replied that they are turned over to our attorney for payment.
Security Director
Ray Lauer reported that he did not have a year end security report. He did say that if anybody sees a law violation and he is not home, the sheriff should be called. He said that you would need to be willing to be a witness and be available if a citation is issued or possibly a court appearance. If the problem is in relation to the gate, Ray will take care of any further action. Ray said that when he agreed last year to take the security director's position he did not have enough computer experience to take care of the gate, so assistance was needed and eventually Roger Hovis said he would take over the responsibility of the gate. Roger has done a magnificent job with the gate working with Signature Control trying to work thru the numerous problems and saving the lake money by fixing many of the problems himself. There has been questions concerning the gate closures. The gate is raised from 6 am to 6 pm during the week and from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturday for the mail carrier, and then lowered for the remainder of the weekend. The lake would need to let the Board know if changes were needed. Due to the fact that the 4th July would be on a Monday, Ray would inform Roger that the gate would need to be open during the day.
Roger has also worked very diligently with the boat patrol and all the volunteers were thanked for their efforts on behalf of the lake.
The water activities rules and regulations were handed out and Rick Hannick informed us that the size of the bass that needed to be thrown back were those under 13".
Building Director
Bev Jost reported that she had been the building director for two months but unfortunately was no longer able to do so. She offered any assistance to whoever would be filling this position.
Maintenance Director
Matt Holloran unfortunately could not be at the meeting. In his absence President Sansone praised Matt for the thousands of dollars he had saved the lake by his attitude of cooperation, not only during the recent flood when he volunteered his time and only paid his employees but also during the course of the past year. Matt was there to fix the causeway drainage pipe when it was damaged due to debris and numerous other occasions. President Sansone then reported that the dam had been inspected by the State and it was good for another three years. Bids were being sought to cut the brush behind the dam. The State report was available if anybody wished to review it.
LTIA
Gail Lents, LTIA president had nothing to report.
Web Site
President Sansone reported that since taking office all meetings were open to anyone. In conjunction with this the web site was available for anyone to read the occurrences at the lake. He gave credit to Janet & Rich Hirsch for taking on the web site and doing such a very magnificent job. Janet & Rich are also responsible for the newsletter which keeps everyone up to date with the current lake happening. Janet reported that the most recent additions to the web site were pictures of the new lake sign which had been donated by the Garden Club. There is now a section called "Recent Catches" which shows pictures of the very big fish caught by lake residents, at the moment all being caught by very young women. Janet said that she also sends out a weekly email entitled This Week at Lake Tish. If you do not receive this and would like to, please send her your email. The newsletter is now one publication of the LTIA and the LTPOA and is published bi-monthly. She encourages everyone to submit photos and news articles or even recipes. The next deadline is June 19. The following deadline will be August 21.
Old Business
Chris Townsend said that he had decided not to run for re-election to the board for family reasons. He expressed his thanks to the Board for their hard work, co-operation and forward thinking policies and encouraged everyone to volunteer their time to this regard. He said that he estimated that he spent $4 per day for the containment to have Lake Tishomingo as his residence and he felt that that was easy money to be spent to maintain the secure the security of our homes. He said he felt very positive with regards to the special assessments going forward. He said that the basic rule to follow was the good of the majority not the minority.
President Sansone reported on the progress of obtaining sewers for the Lake. He said that we have an attorney who has assisted with designating our sewer district. He said that it is getting more and more difficult to do this and the board was striving to get this accomplished for the benefit of the Lake.
Ron then reported that Waste Management (trash removal) had the majority of homes around the Lake. The Board would like to recommend that everyone around the lake use just one trash removal company to help keep the roads from being damaged by too many heavy trucks. He was looking into a number of companies to see if we could get a very favorable rate for this.
Comments from the Floor
The question was asked where the "designated area" for the sewer would be. President Sansone responded that the sewer district would be a watershed which would include our lake and probably some of the surrounding area. We would only pay a monthly fee for the sewers. However, once the sewers were installed any new hook-ups would be charged the full amount to help pay off the loan. The actual site for the plant would very likely be below the dam.
Ron thanked the whole volunteer crew for all their efforts on behalf of the lake. He especially wanted to say that due to their efforts we were doing things by ourselves which in the past had cost the lake a lot of money. Lou Harting reported that numerous lake residents did not wait to be asked to do something, they simply saw the need and did it without any expectation of recognition. Ron reported that he was especially thankful to them because in the past money was available to pay for regular maintenance but unfortunately this was not the case at the present time. Rick Hannick suggested that a "wants and needs" of the lake should be put in the newsletter so that residents would know what needed to be done.
Election Committee
Mary Lieweke, election chairman reported that everything was ready for the election. If you write in a nominee, please be sure to check the box in front of the name or the vote cannot be counted.
There is one proposal also on the ballot, that the first 20ft of every driveway or access to the lake roads must be paved by the year 2007. This will apply to upper and lower tier. This would be to protect the new roads from the gravel coming from unpaved driveway or access. New homes are required to adhere to this but this proposal also included those grandfathered in. Mrs. Holland asked how could the board enforce this, Chris Townsend responded by saying that if it passes the election it then becomes the voice of the property owners and it becomes part of the restrictions. He said that the board of 2007 will have the power to enforce it and if necessary put a lien on the property. He said that the restrictions state that the board has the right to pass reasonable rules and regulations to uphold the lake as a high grade subdivision and that was the legal interpretation of the new proposal. Mrs. Fitzgerald said that gravel on the roads was also a huge safety issue.
Old Business
Kathy Hopfer again brought up the question of the contract between the lake and Ron Sansone with regards to payment of assessments. Mr. Sansone explained the situation from his point of view and asked Mrs. Hopfer to correct him if he was wrong. He said basically the lots were now unusable and due to the way the silt had been placed on the lots it was now causing a large problem, with the drainage ditch that ran across the road. In the recent flood, the road was almost lost because of this. Ron said that he had offered at his own expense to put drainage pipes in to help the situation. He said that if no more silt was put on the 3 lots he would begin paying assessments after the ditch problem has been resolved. He said that he was told that the lake has total rights to the lots and he did not have permission to black top it and make it into a parking lot. His main concern is that the lake did not address the problem of the ditch when he purchased the lake and it is now causing major problems for the homeowners on the north side. One suggestion to resolve the problem was that if assessments were being paid on the lots, then the lake should pay to have the silt dumped on them. Another suggestion was that the board should decide if the "volcano" was going to be torn down and put on the lots or court action. Removal of the silt by an outside contractor will be very expensive. A bid was received for $144,000 just to remove the silt. Gail Lents was concerned that a precedent would be set if the lake fixed the ditch between the two houses in question. It would be impossible to fix every ditch at the lake.
Mrs. Hopfer said that the dredge was sold for $90,000 with the lake receiving $75,000 and she wanted to know why this money went immediately into the special assessment account when it was not purchased with the loan. The money she said should not have gone against the special assessment but into the regular checking account so that the money could be used for needed repairs around the lake. She said that the loan is going down because the lake is going down and no repairs are being done at the lake. President Sansone responded that the dredge ran for 4 years and $280,000 was spent between wages and purchase of the dredge and the dredge had not even got out of the first cove. Rick Hannick explained that when the dredge was purchased we passed the third dollar assessment to pay down the loan. The money for the dredge did not come out of the regular assessment it therefore was correct to use it to pay down the special assessment loan.
Election Nominees
Marilyn Meyer said that she would like to remain on the board as this was an opportunity to serve the community where she enjoyed living and enjoying all the benefits of being at the lake since 1975. She said that she would have a lot of professional assistance with the job of treasurer from the finance committee and Charlene Sansone. She concluded by saying that the annual assessment would be due at the end of next month.
Kevin Seelbach
Kevin unfortunately could not be present at the meeting but wished to be considered for a position on the board.
Larry Kimmel was nominated by Rick Hannick from the floor, seconded by Pat Griffero. Nomination passed. Larry said that he wanted to thank the board for all their past work. He said that he and his wife Jenny had been at the lake for approximately 4 years but that the family has had roots here since 1948. So he has a vested interest in the lake. He said that he felt he could be of benefit to the lake. He said his goals were simple, protect our investments and do the right thing. He thanked everyone and said he appreciated what the board had done.
The terms that were being voted on were the highest vote being on the board for a 3 year term, the second highest would be on for 2 years and the remaining one for a one year term.
Janet Hirsch reminded everyone to fill out the opinion survey when they voted.
President Sansone asked for motion to adjourn, motion made by Marilyn Meyer, seconded by Chris Townsend, motion passed.
There being no further business the meeting concluded at 12.24 p.m.