Lake James Property Owners Association, Inc.

Monthly Board Meeting Minutes

LJPOA MEETING MINUTES
September 15, 2007

Call to Order:
LJPOA Board Meeting was called to order at 9:04am by Tim Hughes. Meeting took place at the LJPOA Storage Barn.

Old Business:

July – 2007 LJPOA Monthly Board Meeting minutes are not on the website yet but were presented for approval as written. Minutes were submitted for review.

• Motion made by Jim Preczewski to accept the minutes as written and submitted.
• Motion Second by Larry Bittner
• Board Motion Vote: I’s: All Nays: -0-

The minutes for the August – 2007 meeting were discussed. This meeting took place immediately following the LJPOA Annual Board meeting. At the August Monthly Board meeting, the only item on the docket was the voting of individuals to the offices of President, Secretary and Treasurer. Appointments to the positions are as follows:

• President: Tim Hughes
• Secretary: Jim Van Vonderen
• Treasurer: Dorothy Yakes

The 2007 LJPOA Annual meeting minutes were submitted for review by Jim Van Vonderen. With the exception of a corrections, all appeared to be in order. Corrections will be made by Jim Van Vonderen. Upon completion, the minutes will be posted to the LJPOA website as “DRAFT” until next years meeting when they will be reviewed and approved by the LJPOA property owners in attendance.

With the expiration of our current weed management contract with Aquatic Nuisance, the LJPOA board has solicited proposals for lake weed management from four contractors, including Aquatic Nuisance. To date only one proposal has been received. The due date is the end of September, 2007.

Treasurer/Finance:
Cash Report was submitted for review by Dorothy Yakes covering the period through September 14, 2007. New “FUNDS/ACCOUNTS” were established for Parks. This fund will receive 2% of the annual dues automatically. This new fund will be used to pay for signs, lawn maintenance and other park expenditures.

Dorothy Yakes submitted the balance sheet and “spreadsheet” summary of annual expenses for review and approval.

• Motion made by Tim Hughes to accept the treasurer’s report as written and submitted.
• Motion Second by Al Walker
• Board Motion Vote: I’s: All Nays: -0-

Dorothy Yakes submitted the Check Summary covering the period August 1, 2007 through September 14, 2007 for review and approval.

• Motion made by Gary Varco to accept the check summary as submitted.
• Motion Second by Larry Bittner
• Board Motion Vote: I’s: All Nays: -0-

New Business:
It was voted/agreed that Shadow Lake now has voting privileges as Associate LJPOA. Members. They remain Associate members as their property is not subject to meeting the property restriction/guidelines.

Review of LJPOA Board Job Duties:

President Duties: As currently described but will assume the issuance of Property Owner Certificates. This doesn’t have to be a full time resident but it is preferred due to the responsibilities of the position. This may or may not be practical based on the future make-up of the Board.

Vice President Duties: In addition to the responsibilities outlined, the Vice President will assume “Alternate” functions for all Director Board members. (i.e. not the “Team” functions). This will allow the Vice President to become familiar will all LJPOA operations and be in a position to transition to the President position. There is a need to develop and implement a Board succession plan. Larry Bittner has agreed to mentor Al Walker who will remain the Vice President for this coming fiscal year.

Treasurer Duties: As currently described except the President will now sign the tax documents. Additionally, the LJPOA board will review hiring out collections in the future. All fee’s & costs would be passed on to the individual, not LJPOA. Al Walker will investigate alternatives.

Secretary Duties: As currently written and including interface with Deak Watters with respect to LJPOA database and interface with the LJPOA webmaster.

Tim Hughes has suggested that the Board consider revising the way different Board reporting and responsibility areas are handled, including Park, Fish, Aquatic Plants/Weeds, Dam and Lake Management. The following recommendations were made:

Parks & Maintenance:
Hold control of keys, decals & lock system at Moosehead Park
Need to draft a letter to LJPO’s explaining new key system. Al Walker volunteered to draft this letter.
Contact with locksmith downstate. Dan Nelson has volunteered to contact the locksmith and coordinate the installation of the new lock system.

The management of the dock system at Moosehead Park remains the responsibility of the Parks/Maintenance area. Management of the lake buoys (including putting in and taking out of the lake) will move to the Lake Management area.

It was noted that the buoys will be removed from the lake on September 17, 2007 and September 18, 2007.

Lake Management:
It was suggested that the lake management duties become a TEAM function in the future. Lake management would include:

• Dam Management
• Fisheries
• Weed Control/Management
• Waterway Markers
• Marine Patrol

Each management area would have an appointed lead person and the TEAM would act as support in all areas. It was requested that the “Team” meet prior to the next Board meeting to determine leadership roles for each of the 5 functions.

Al Walker suggested that as no current Board member volunteered to lead the Marine Patrol that Al would continue in this capacity for now and that we look outside the Board, maybe a current Marine Patrol member to assume this function. Al advised that he had approached Dave Krug but he has not responded to date.

Due to issues brought to the attention of the LJPOA Board, the manufactured boat canopy system installed on Mr. Wakefield’s property needs to be reviewed for acceptability per our property restrictions - #3. Lake property restrictions were reviewed and only address permanent structures. Since this is a temporary manufactured structure, it does not fall under the restrictions referenced. It was found necessary by the Board to determine the acceptability of such structure installed on the lake in the future.

• Motion was made by Tim Hughes to recognize Mr. Wakefield’s canopy as a manufactured boat canopy, similar to other shore stations on the lake and any future canopy structures must be approved by the LJPOA Board for acceptability prior to installation.
• Motion Second by Jim Van Vonderen
• Board Motion Vote: I’s: 5 Nays: 3 Abstain: 1 - Motion Passed

A notice outlining boat canopy systems acceptability will be posted on the LJPOA website.

Cole Park: The clean up of this park is steadily progressing. Many pines need to be transferred to other areas around the lake. There are approximately 15 pine trees of ample size that should be moved to other areas. Outstanding is the grading of the site and installation of benches. Fencing will be addressed at a future board meeting

Newsletter: All board reporting areas need to give a write-up to Al Walker by the October board meeting (10-20-2007). Al will compile and send back out to the board for proofing. Tom Meares from Shadow Lake will also participate and report out in the newsletter. Jim Van Vonderen volunteered to assume compiling of the newsletter.

Key/Decal system: Tim Hughes will place the order for the decals for our new Moosehead Park gate lock system. The package distributed to LJPOA property owners will include 1 key and up to 3 trailer decals for $10.00. A letter will go out to all LJPO’s of when and where to pick up their new keys and decals. A draft of this letter will be presented by the November board meeting.

With the amount of dues revenue dedicated to lake weed/aquatic plant management, it has become necessary to establish a new “account” for weed/aquatic management. This account would include weed, milfoil, and other aquatic plant treatment costs. The board agrees that there is a definite need to establish this account. The % is TBD, subject to the negotiation of the new weed/aquatic plant management contract.
Dues collection will be moved to August 1, 2007 through October 30, 2007 to coincide with fiscal year end.

Property sale update: Presently, the real estate market is very slow. There is very little moving on the market. Our current contract with ERA Houghton-Higgins has expired but will be renewed. The board agreed that it should be renewed with Sandy Swales @ ERA since she lives on the lake.

Future events: We currently need a chairperson and committee for lake events. This would involve coordination of ordering and pick-up of event items, etc. Don Bleusch volunteered with Dorothy Yakes as his back-up. The winter picnic for 2008 still needs to be established and communicated. It will be planned for the second weekend of Tip-Up-Town, 2008.

Lake fishing tournaments: There may be IRS/tax implications with a function like this. It was suggested by one of our LJPO’s that we hold a fishing tournament with an entry fee of $100/boat as a way to raise additional lake funds. The IRS advises that our lake association (501C3 – tax exempt) may have to declare this income as unrelated business income, thus incurring tax. If the $100 fee was treated as a 50/50 raffle with the lake portion of the proceeds going to the fish fund it would not be considered unrelated business income and no tax would be incurred. There has been no decision of whether or not this event will take place. Dorothy Yakes advised that she would provide an update proposal for LJPOA board review and approval.

Spring Clean-Up agenda: Next years lake clean-up date needs to be planned. Establishment of a “to do” list will be compiled by Jim Preczewski and formalized at the October, 2007 board meeting. Clean-up day will be the first weekend in May, 2008 – May 3, 2008.

The marker buoys on the lake will be removed on September 17, 1007 and September 18, 2007. The dock at Moosehead Park will be removed on October 6, 2007.

Blight Update: The Daniel Morgan property is now in the hands of Denton Township. In order to expedite blight issues that reach Denton Township, neighbors of the adjacent properties need to make formal complaints directly to the township.

Revisions of property restrictions: Al Walker brought copies of the revised PR to LJPO’s outlining amendments to the current property restrictions. These amendments were at the direction of LJPO’s.

Letter from Roger VanOmen: The board reviewed a letter received from Roger VanOmen pertaining to the planting of fish in the lake. Roger suggested that we discontinue planting “feeder” fish and begin to plant the types of fish that fishermen fish for…bass! It was agreed by the board that we should plant medium sized bass (6” – 8”) in the spring, 2008 with other fish recommended by our fish study.

It was decided that if LJPO’s approach board members in the future with specific issues or questions about procedures, they should be invited to the next board meeting to air their concerns.
 

• Motion was made by Gary Varco to adjourn the board meeting.
• Motion Second by Larry Bittner
• Board Motion Vote: I’s: All Nays: -0-

Note: the October 20th. meeting will be at Tim’s house starting at 4:00pm followed by dinner around 6:00pm. All spouses should contact Mary for a dish to share.

Revised Tuesday April 15, 2008 4:11 PM