The Seven Lakes Landowners Association (SLLA) Board called a Special Open Meeting for Friday, February 22 to discuss the completed budget and wrap up some loose ends for the year.
During a Town Hall meeting held the previous evening, resident Bill Hirsch volunteered to serve on the board, which is currently short one member, and will have additional seats open in March, with only three candidates running to fill those seats.
“Last night, we had someone come forward said they would agree to be on the board,' said President Bob Darr. "Current Board Member Conrad Meyer has also agreed to fill the Buckingham opening for one year. My feeling is it is something we need to fill very quickly to help with continuity of the Board.”
Meyer recused himself from further discussion concerning the Buckingham position.
“I do not believe it should happen before the Annual Meeting," Director Bob Racine said. "We can get the continuity that Bob (Darr) is referring to at the end of Annual Meeting and meet with all regulations and rules.”
“I agree with Bob [Racine],” said Director Steve Ritter. “I don’t think the present board can do anything under the purview of the future board. We should wait until that meeting is held and wait for new board.”
“First of all, I think the present board has authority to fill the Buckingham position if we want to do so,” Darr argued.
“Since this vacancy happened on your turf aren’t you the ones that are suppose to fill it?” asked resident Donna Fentzlaff.
“We have waited so many months that, if we were going to fill it, then we should have filled it months ago,” said Racine.
Laying out a suggested procedure for the new Board's organizational meeting, he said: “No names go in until the Board is up to full strength. Once the President is chosen he makes motion to fill the two openings before other officers are elected,” Racine said. “We are not hand tying the future board’s actions. It is made immediately after the President has been elected. The two vacancies are filled and then the board is elected.”
To bring clarity over who should act as chairman at the organizational meeting, Meyer interjected himself briefly into the discussion, “It’s my understanding that we changed one thing during last year’s Annual Meeting. The person who chairs the meeting would be the person who heads the election committee,” said Meyer. “In this case, it would be Steve Ritter.”
“It would make sense it follows that order and be a logical progression,” said Community Manager Sohl. “So we will write that in the agenda.”
“I am very comfortable with that,” said Darr.
Refilling Lake Echo
The Board moved on to a discussion of refilling Lake Echo, which was lowered three feet last Fall for a valve repair.
“We were hoping Mother Nature would fill it for us,” Sohl said, but rainfall has not proved equal to the challenge, and the lake level remains low.
Management has solicited three bids for pumping water from Sequoia Lake into Echo. One bid is in hand and a site visit from a second bidder is pending. A third company failed to respond. As soon as the second bid is in hand, management plans to award the job to the low bidders and begin filling the lake.
During discussion a resident asked how much would it cost to buy a pump and allow the maintenance crew to refill it.
“A lot is involved,” Director Don Fentzlaff said. Fentzlaff, who chairs the the Lakes and Dams committee, explained the expenses: “A diesel operated pump would probably, with all the assorted hoses, run about the same price [as the anticipated $10,000 contract for the work]. There is also the expense of the fuel to run it, training, and the servicing of the equipment.”
Meyer agreed that it was wise to take a look at all options. “The issue is: if we don’t act soon we are not going to fill Echo and be able to refill Sequoia with the Spring rains. All the questions are good, and we need to follow up on them.”
“If we are going to do it, then let’s do it,” said Darr. There are a lot of things that are just hanging, and it seems to take us forever to get finished.”
Many of the delays are due to the economy, which has reduced the number of construction businesses in the area -- and those that are left are holding out for bigger projects, explained Sohl. Also proper procedures must be followed.
“It is in our bidding policy that we have to go out and get bids,” said Sohl. “We would be in violation if we moved forward without getting two bids. We are dependent on our policy and the response of area vendors to produce the proposal.”
“The good news is: once we get the contractors and they have the right liability and insurance, we can go back to them and don’t have to start over,” Meyer said.
Budget Reviewed
Meyer had presented the 2013 budget the Town Hall meeting night before. He presented a summary of the same budget during the Special Meeting.
Meyer highlighted the hard work the board had done in reducing expenses over the past two years, “Reduction in the security service was $7,000 -- and a big reduction of $118,000 in the management contract,” he said.
Planning for the future and preparing for the unexpected, Meyer recommended budgeting $4,500 in for updating the Reserve Study and putting $10,000 in a contingency fund for anything unexpected.
“I don’t think we had one in the past," he said. "It’s a good idea to have a little money set aside, and we opted to put it in there.”
Board candidate Steve Hudson asked if he could interrupt and said that during the time he had served as Treasurer, they had never provided for a contingency fund in the budget.
Including a contingency fund is a common practice, Director Chuck Leach said. He and Ritter both agreed with Meyer that it would be wise to provide for unexpected expenses.
A new expense line item for tree trimming along the road, at a cost of approximately $12,000, was included in the budget. Meyer also noted that the cost of the debris site was down $10,000 this year.
“It took us three tries to get us to that point, and now it is working well,” Meyer said. “In maintenance, there has been a $20,000 reduction over the year. And that’s notable when we have added the $12,000 for tree trimming.”
“That’s a quick run-through of the budget," Meyer said. "Let’s get this in front of the Board next Wednesday to vote on it,” Meyer said.
In order to read fine print, Director Racine often brings a large magnifying glass to the meetings. He joked, “Even looking through this with a magnifying glass, I think you did an excellent job.”
“It is time to freeze this thing," Meyer said. "I have done budgets for a long time; and, sooner or later, you have to shoot the Treasurer and get on with life. Let’s freeze the budget and go."
How Best to Implement Proposed Dues Increase
The board discussed the current economy and how best to present the proposed dues increase to the membership.
Over the past six years, the Board has not made recommended smaller dues increases, which means asking for a larger increase this year.
“We are on a slippery slope," Meyer said. "Yes, we have scrubbed the numbers. We have cut a lot out of the budget. $100 is hard for everyone to swallow at once. I have to write the check too. Without the dues increase, the current fees will not be contributing enough money to work on roads every 15 years."
“The increase is based on solid numbers of what needs to be done.” Darr said. “I could also use that $100 somewhere else, but we need the increase this year.”
“You should at least be increasing increments with the inflation rate,” said Sohl. Resident and Finance Committee member George Temple agreed: “We haven’t done it for quite a while. We need, in my opinion, to get caught up.”
If the $100 increase was made in two payments of $50 over the next two years, what would be the ramifications? asked Racine. “We would be $ 75,000 behind,” Meyer replied.
The Finance Committee took into consideration the economy and retired residents on fixed incomes, Temple said. Even though the budget showed that an increase higher than $100 was needed, “the Finance Committee settled on the $100 increase, because we thought that was the most we could ask of our residents,” he explained.
“The presentation and argument was made last night for a $100 increase," Darr said. "Bottom line: it is up to the community. This is what we feel we need to continue to be a viable organization. This was our recommendation, and now it is up to the community. I think the motion should be the $100 due increase effective May 2013.” Darr said.
With that, the Board unanimously approved the motion to take the budget with the $100 dues increase to the Open Meeting on Wednesday, February 27.
Before concluding the meeting Leach thanked Meyer for the effort he had put into creating the budget. “I will tell you it’s a big motivator when people recognize you for putting in the hard work,” said Meyer. “I derive tremendous personal satisfaction in being able to help my community.”
Clarification of Pool Fee Motion
The board confirmed that they had approved a motion concerning pool fees to be taken to the February 27 open meeting. The motion on the table is that the fee for a non-resident, single day pass is $3, or a packet of 10 passes may be purchased for $25. Each ticket is resident specific, and must be purchased at the office or at the pool with a check. All guests must be accompanied by a resident.
