The Wednesday, June 29 Open Meeting of the Seven Lakes Landowners Association [SLLA] began with an impassioned plea from a mother that the Association develop better options for dealing with security issues raised by domestic violence. The woman recounted how she, her adult daughter, and a grandchild were unable to secure assurances from Talis Management or Security Forces Inc. that the daughter's husband would not be allowed to enter the community, even after obtaining a restraining order and an eviction notice regarding the husband.
Having the husband's barcode deactivated required a call to Talis headquarters in Raleigh, the woman said. Obtaining cooperation from front gate personnel required dealing with the Landowners Office -- and even then, the woman said, the gate guard seemed not to appreciate the seriousness of the situation.
"They did not seem to understand that they should call the Sheriff -- and try to reach us, if he tried to enter the community," she explained. " The gate guard was very flippant with me. She said she couldn't guarantee, if it got busy, that he wouldn't get through."
"As landowners, we should not have to fight the homeowners staff and security to protect our safety, especially when there is a judge's order," she said, asking that the Board develop a "clear, step-by-step policy" for handling such situations, and that the security staff receive training in domestic violence issues.
Community Manager Alina Cochran told the Board that Talis had deactivated the husband's barcode even before receiving a copy of the restraining order, and that she, once that order was in hand, had instructed gate personnel on how to handle the situation.
Security Director Andy Lowe explained that gate security personnel cannot take orders from residents -- or even directly from Board members -- but must, under the SFI contract, receive written instruction from the Community Manager.
President Bob Darr said he had witnessed some of the interaction between the distraught mother and Landowners Office staff and assured the woman: "I know of the concern and the frustration. We will address these issues. Certainly we will do all that we can do. We will be discussing this and addressing it."
President's Report
Reporting on the June 29 inaugural SLLA Town Hall Meeting, President Darr said he was very pleased with the positive tone of the meeting. Though the turnout was smaller than he had hoped, Darr said he felt better communication about the time, location, and purpose would improve attendance the next time the Board hosts a Town Hall.
Issues raised at the meeting, Darr said, included parking at Sequoia Point, Community Standards enforcement, the possibility of instituting a community watch, debris site issues, and the communications process itself.
Informal Meetings of Board Members
Darr reported that the Board has established its own workspace in the Landowners Office and indicated that would likely become the site of ad hoc informal meetings of Board members when issues arose that needed immediate attention -- or brainstorming.
As an example, Darr said he had received an email on a recent evening from Lakes & Dams Director Don Fentzlaff "on a bunch of Sequoia Point stuff." He suggested they meet the following morning at 10:00 am at the Board office, and copied the rest of the Board on that email. Four Board members showed up; and they had a productive hour-long discussion, covering items that "would have taken three days and 25 emails," Darr said.
The question, he added, is whether that ad hoc meeting, which attracted four Board members -- a quorum, as defined by the Association by-laws -- constituted an unannounced closed meeting. "Four of us ran [for election to the Board] on a contention about closed meetings," Darr noted.
"We are going to use that office, and we are going to meet up there and talk about stuff," Darr said, "and save us a whole lot of time. The promise is that those are not decision-making meetings. They will be discussions about things we are concerned about. If they need to be discussed, they will go to work sessions."
He invited any member of the Association to drop by and observe any such conversation in progress. " If we are there, come on in," Darr said. "The door is open."
Director Bud Shaver said he felt that SLLA By-Law 6.6 should be refined to define a "meeting" of the Board as only those occasions when "a decision is made and agreed to."
Director Bruce Keyser, Jr. said he felt any discussion that involved four Board members constitutes a quorum, and, as a result, should result in minutes being taken and filed.
Director Bob Racine said he reads By-Law 6.6 as pertaining only to "lawfully called meetings," not to informal "discussion groups" of Board members.
Committee reports
President Darr announced that, in the spirit of enhancing communications with Association members, written committee reports will become a part of the material distributed to members as part of the month-end Open Meeting packet.
Treasurer Conrad Meyer, while supporting the idea of making the reports available, suggested that they be distributed via email or on the Association website and made available at the office, rather than printing out multiple copies for distribution at the meeting.
Darr asked the landowners in attendance for their thoughts on the matter, and those who spoke seemed to agree that making the reports available on the website or at the office was preferable to mass distribution of printed copies.
Reserve Study
Director Shaver passed out to Board members a list of Association roads broken down into clusters, as well as a proposed bid sheet for repaving. He said bidding repaving work on a cluster-by-cluster basis could provide the Board with a means of scheduling repaving work that would allow the Association to do only as much of the total $4 million or $5 million repaving project as it could afford at a given time.
Shaver said he had recommended that the Board hire an engineering firm to guide the Board in planning the project. Darr said the Board has begun the process of identifying firms to bid on the engineering work.
"This whole project is the biggest thing this Board will do in a long long time," President Darr said. "We are taking some time, but we are going to do this right."
Asked whether the overall project would include paving community roads that are currently unpaved, Shaver said that would be handled in line with the current policy, under which the Association splits the cost of paving 50-50 with the landowners along the unpaved street, assuming the majority of them agree.
Canada Geese
Director Keyser said he had received a communication from John Allen scolding the Board for not taking action on Allen's request last year that something be done to control the growing population of resident Canada Geese.
"Not true," Keyser responded. "We looked into it. It's not really the Association's responsibility to take care of the goose population. They are mother nature's creatures; we can't go around eliminating them."
That response didn't sit will with landowner Jim Allen (no relation) who noted the geese can present a health hazard when their droppings foul certain areas of the lake. He encouraged the Board to continue regular testing of lake water for e.coli bacteria -- and, when the bacterial load exceeds safe levels, "shut down the beaches."
President Darr said the Board would investigate whether there is new guidance from state wildlife or county health officials on dealing with resident Canada Geese.
Director Shaver said previous Boards had encouraged residents to coat goose eggs with oil and then return them to the nest, a process that prevents the eggs from hatching while ensuring the adult geese continue to tend the nest [According the the US Fish & Wildlife Service, either the individual landowner or the Association must register annually before the destruction or oiling of resident Canada Goose eggs -- and must report the number of nests disturbed. Online registration is available at epermits.fws.gov. – Ed.]
"We have two groups," Shaver added, "those who hate the geese and those who love them."
Treasurer's Report
Treasurer Meyer reported that the Association's restricted reserves -- reserved for use on roads and dams -- total $518,000; unrestricted reserves total $425,000. Pending the result of an audit currently underway, the Board may be able to add another $43,000 to the reserves, Meyer said.
Meyer said that, "after the dust settles," he will put together an ad hoc committee to evaluate the annual process of billing, collecting dues, and issuing stickers, to see what improvements can be made.
The Finance Committee will be meeting with a Talis finance manager to fine tune the Association's cash management procedures, Meyer reported. He explained that, as annual dues payments are received in May, the Association finds itself with approximately $1 million in cash on hand, which, at todays' interest rates, can generate $17 per day. One of the challenges of a cash management policy is maximizing the return on that cash while it is available.
Another policy in the works involves internal controls on signature authority, which controls the types and amounts of budgeted expenditures the Community Manager is authorized to make without prior Board approval. Meyer said the current policy in place is essentially the same as that used when Dalton Fulcher was Community Manager.
Manager's Report
Noting that the financials distributed along with the meeting agenda included a budget analysis through the end of May, Community Manager Cochran said the only unusual expense was a $3,800 heating and air conditioning unit for the Game Room, replacing a 30-year old unit. Overall, however, the Association spent $14,000 less than anticipated in May.
Cochran added she expects that debris site expenditures will be over budget in June.
The Manager reported that mailing of stickers and membership cards has been completed and noted that guest cards, priced at four for $25, are now available at the Landowners Office.
Independence Day fireworks will begin at dusk on the Fourth of July, Cochran said, noting that Sequoia Dam will close at 8:30 pm. Because state law requires a safety zone of 400 feet around the site from which fireworks will be launched while the display is being prepared, Sequoia Point will be closed for most of the Day on July 4, Cochran reported. That closure will not interfere with the traditional morning boat parade, she said.
Pool hours have been extended from Noon to 8:00 pm every day but Monday and Wednesday. Swim team and swim lessons take place in the evening on those two days through the end of July, after which residents will be able to swim on Monday and Wednesday evenings through the end of the season.
Cochran said she participated in a Talis Management community service day that included work on a Habitat for Humanity house.
Community Standards
Director Racine noted that the Judicial Committee has two processes for dealing with two different types of rules infractions. Community Standards violations are typically dealt with by issuing a notice of violation to the landowner, giving them time to correct the problem before the matter moves to a formal hearing.
Serious rules infractions, however, can be dealt with immediately through a special called meeting of the Judicial Committee.
Racine said 70 new notices of violation had been sent out in the past month; 25 pending violations are being updated. Noting that he had seen some violations hang in the pending file for five or six months, Racine said he felt unresolved violations could be brought before the Judicial Committee after 30 days.
The Community Standards Committee will meet next on Tuesday, July 5 at 8:30 am; Racine said the committee needs additional members.
Lakes & Dams
Director Fentzlaff said his committee continues to work on a large sign to be posted at the Sequoia Point boat ramp that will feature ten of the most important boating rules. Items still under review include the cloudy water emanating from the base of Echo Dam and repair of the bulkhead around the Lake Sequoia island, which could cost more than $100,000.
The Committee has moved the Lake Sequoia buoys to the locations approved by the Board in 2007, Fentzlaff said.
He noted that the Lakes & Dams Committee had welcomed a new member, retired Lt. General Robert Van Antwerp, Jr., a former head of the US Army Corps of Engineers and an earthen dam expert.
Other Committees
Recreation. The Recreation Committee, which will meet next on Wednesday, July 6 at 9:30 am, is also in need of new members, Racine said, adding that he expects to provide a report at the next Board meeting on the number of people participating in Association-sponsored Summer programs.
Security. Security Director Lowe said he had determined that a currently out-of-service camera installed for monitoring the debris site could be reactivated, using the Time Warner cable system, at a cost of $120 per month. He noted that the Association recently spent $1,500 to dispose of a load of lumber improperly dumped at the site. The Board took no action on reactivating the cameras during Wednesday's meeting.
Grounds and maintenance. Keyser reported that his grounds and maintenance to-do list includes parking concerns at Sequoia Point; mowing schedules; and debris site control, hours, and fines.
Action Items
Collection Policy. The Board approved, in a unanimous vote on Wednesday night, a formal collection policy that Treasurer Conrad Meyer said had been in the works for some time and was reviewed by both the present and previous Finance Committee.
The Board also approved a Standard Operating Procedure that instructs SFI Security Guards on when to lower the flags at the gate to half staff, but tabled a proposal to spend up to $10,000 to update the Emergency Action Plans that the Association must file, as the owner of high hazard dams, with the state Dam Safety Office. Both Directors Bob Racine and Bud Shaver said they needed more information about the process before approving the expenditure.
Public Comment
Southside resident Kathy Goodman, during public comment, noted that the roadsides in front of her home had not been mowed recently, resulting in knee-high grass. Darr explained that Seven Lakes is currently in what he called "Bahaia Season" -- when the Bahaia grass commonly used on roadsides sends up tall bloom stalks.
He also noted that, before the initiation of the mowing contract with Davenport Landscaping, some residents asked not to have the roadside grass in front of their home mowed by the Association crews, preferring to handle the task themselves. A former Association employee who now works for Davenport is apparently still acting on those instructions. Residents who do want Davenport to mow the roadside in front of the property, but who are not currently receiving that service, should contact the Landowners Office, Darr said.
