If Moore County won't help pay for an engineering study of one option for bringing more water to its citizens, Representative Jamie Boles figures it's time to ask the citizens themselves for the funding, and Seven Lakes Civic group is chipping in $100 to help.
    Boles announced on Friday, June 25 that the Moore County Chamber of Commerce was establishing a fund and seeking contributions to raise Moore County's $2,500 share of the cost of a $78,000 preliminary engineering study that aims to estimate the cost of bringing water from the Lumber River to Moore County and to other participating counties and towns.
    The Seven Lakes Civic Group announced on Tuesday that it would be contributing $100 toward the effort.
    "The Seven Lakes community, the third largest community in Moore County, has been the recipients of a number of water use restrictions imposed by Moore County Public Utilities over the last several years," noted the Civic Group's press release announcing the contribution." The County has been studying the problem in depth for more than four years with no plan of action yet to be in place. The Seven Lakes Civic Group supports a regional approach for the long term solution to Moore County’s water supply problems."
    Moore County's Board of Commissioners on June 21 voted against providing the $2,500 local match requested by the Lumber River Council of Governments [LRCOG], which is assembling a group of interested counties and municipalities to fund a study of water distribution and wastewater collection costs required to connect those communities to a water and wastewater plant near Wagram, in Scotland County. Half of the study's $78,000 cost will be covered by a grant from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center; LRCOG is using a federal grant to pick up another $22,375 of the tab.
    The county contends that a state senator and two representatives — including Boles — promised from the initial organizational meetings that the state would cover the whole cost of the study. Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim Lea made that point in a June 24 letter to Boles informing him of the county's decision not to contribute the requested $2,500.
    The next day, Boles held a press conference and announced his plan to ask citizens to support the effort.
    "If the county don't want to step up to the plate," Boles said, "that's fine. Let the citizens step up to the plate."

    Concern about the community’s lakes and dams and a proposal to construct a new dock at Sequoia Point drew an interested crowd to an otherwise routine general meeting of the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] Board of Directors on Wednesday, June 30.
    Northsider JoAn Moses pressed hard during public comment with a series of questions seeking information on who is responsible and what is being done to proactively maintain the lakes and dams in top form.
    “Do we have a Lakes & Dams Committee? And, if not, why not?" Moses asked. "This is our most important asset.”
    SLLA President Randy Zielsdorf responded that the committee was disbanded in favor of moving control and responsibility of the lakes and dams to management. Taking on a more confrontational tone, Zielsdorf stated the decision was also partly based on the committee’s membership of mostly lakefront property owners who “sometimes acted like the lakes were there for their own use.”
    Continuing her line of questioning, Moses asked whether the written schedule for lakes and dam maintenance, developed by the former committee, was being used by management. That schedule, she said, details specific maintenance tasks to be completed at various times throughout the year.
    Community Manager Alina Cochran responded that she had not received the schedule and, thus, it was not presently being used. Current routine maintenance includes periodic spraying with herbicides, she explained, as well as water quality testing, performed every six months. In addition, she reported, the Board is considering whether to continue the more frequent water testing schedule employed last year.
    Moving on to boating concerns, Moses asked whether boats are being checked for current stickers, citing recent instances of boats being operated on Lake Sequoia without proper identification.
    Security Director Chuck Mims said that the Boat Patrol is on-duty each weekend, Friday through Sunday, for ten-hour shifts. He recommended that residents immediately report any boats being operated without a current sticker.

[The following article was first published in February 2008. The question of Southsider Alan Shaw's dues was raised during the Monday, March 14 Seven Lakes Landowners Association Work Session, in a statement that Treasurer Denny Galford made announcing his resignation from the Board. We are republishing the article here to help clarify the situation.]

    Twice in as many weeks, the question of whether Southsider Alan Shaw is a dues-paying member of the Seven Lakes Landowners Association has come up during Board of Directors meetings.
    Shaw, along with six other  Seven Lakes residents, is currently suing the Association and Seven Lakes Country Club [SLCC] in an attempt to derail an agreement involving the residential development of the Club’s five-acre driving range that lies near the entrance to Seven Lakes South.
    Though Shaw’s home lies within in the boundaries of Seven Lakes — on a five-plus acre lot at the end of Sandham Court — Shaw is not an SLLA member, does not pay Association dues, and does not have access to the community’s recreational amenities.