Minutes of MKL
Association Annual Meeting
January 23, 2009
The annual
meeting of the Mt. Kemble Lake Association, Inc. was held on January 23, 2009
at the Clubhouse. The meeting was called
to order at 7:50 pm by President Austin Godfrey. This was the first joint
meeting with the Lakeshore Company in accordance with the 2008 by-law’s
change.
Board
Members Present: Jane Dwyer, Diane
Bonar, Gail Chalfant, Barbara Coe, Austin Godfrey, Don Kuhn and Nancy Priscu
Board
Members Absent:
The
Secretary indicated that a quorum of 97 shareholders was present or represented
via proxies.
Copies of
the 2008 Annual Meeting minutes were provided to members and were approved with
no changes.
Detailed
reports by the Committee Chairs may be viewed on the website, www.mountkemble.org.
Following
are the committee reports as presented at the meeting:
Beaches and Docks: presented by Don
Kuhn
·
Beach
clean-up brought out about 40 residents in late May to prepare beach for
Memorial Day weekend.
·
No
beach closings; all weekly water tests were in desirable ranges.
·
Badges
and related swimming and boating rules and safety recommendations distributed to
all residents.
·
Alum
treatment applied late in the spring to help suppress algae build-up; only one
algaecide treatment was necessary during the summer.
·
Weed
growth on the east and west sides of the lake nearest the breeder pond required
application of herbicide in July.
·
Skating
safety suggestions were distributed to all residents.
·
Beaches
and Docks Committee recommended changes in Association rules and regulations
that have been accepted by the Board.
These changes limit the size of new docks to no more than 40 feet, limit
the size of powerboats to 14 feet, and recognize the right of swimmers by
limiting the speed of powerboats to no more than three miles per hour.
·
Looking
ahead, the State has granted permission to dredge sand that has accumulated in
the diving area at the main beach.
This will require the lowering of the lake by six feet during the first
half of April. Also, in the fall it
will be necessary to dredge the lagoon along side the clubhouse to eliminate
silt build-up. This was last done
in 2004.
Don thanked the following members of his Beaches and Docks
Committee for their time and effort:
Kris Alvey
Nancy Barrett
Roe Bowden
Bill Canada
Terry Dwyer
Mark Qualben
Bruce Scolnick
Clubhouse Maintenance: presented by Jane Dwyer
In February, I
was asked to complete
I would like to thank this committee for many of the tasks
which I needed assistance with and especially with the time when things went
awry when I was out of town.
This spring, the committee with an added bonus of Gail
Chalfant took on the big task of power washing and staining the deck. The results were impressive and I hope
long-lasting.
In addition to routine maintenance: heating, A/C, kitchen
appliances, fire protection, I’ve signed a maintenance contract with
Ludlow Heating and A/C so that routine maintenance keeps the systems in working
order. In addition, I scheduled a
heating survey with
The only other
big project this year was the installation of lamp-posts at the entrance to the
Clubhouse. I am a firm believer in
group decisions so the committee was invaluable in the selection of this
lighting. In addition, George
Kuchler, our neighbor, was a life send when he offered his suggestions and then
did the installation as a gift to the community.
Bruce Scolnick will be continuing with the task of House
Maintenance and should continue to depend on his committee over the coming
year.
Housekeeping: presented by Barbara
Coe on behalf of
The MKL
Clubhouse continues to be used an average of six days a week. Uses include: Meetings
of the MKL Association/Lakeshore and Country Club, Adult & Children's
Parties, TGIF’s, Exercise classes, Committee meetings and events (such as
the VSA dinner, Recognition Dinner), and Rentals (including Private Parties
& Memorials)
Improvements
continue at the MKL Clubhouse. I am happy to report we have a new refrigerator
in the kitchen (as recommended by the Country Club). Many thanks to
Ruth Chaney
for spear-heading this project.
New
flooring has been installed behind the bar (matching the Amtico flooring in the
kitchen). This is a huge
improvement as those who have been bar-tending can tell you. You may also
notice that the trim in the entire alcove area and around the windows has been
painted white (as have the new kitchen doors) and the entire kitchen was
painted (for the first time ever).
Thank you to Carl Bonar and
From a
fiscal perspective over 90% of the housekeeping budget is spent on pest
control, disposal services/waste management and housewares/supplies which is
why we are particularly happy to thank the Country Club for their generous
$2,500 donation this year.
I would
like to thank Jane Dwyer for her help and hard work as Clubhouse Maintenance
Chair. She replaced
Lastly, I
would like to thank then MKL Clubhouse Committee for their excellent ideas.
We will
meet again in the spring to review the MKL Clubhouse Long Term matrix
(originally created by Lori Denson) and to continue our short & long term
clubhouse planning. If any of you have any interest in serving on the Clubhouse
Committee, please let me know. We appreciate the support and generosity of the
MKL community.
Roads: presented by Gail Chalfant
We started
off the year with spring cleanup with twenty-two families participating. Once again a lake map indicating all the
drains throughout the community was passed out. Keeping these drains clear helps
immensely in diverting water from the roads.
The Summer
Road Patrol went smoothly and there were no incidents reported.
Halloween
went very well. We closed a portion
of Primrose to traffic because of a safety issue with the children.
We had the fall cleanup the week before Thanksgiving this
year. Just about all the leaves
were down and even though the weather was a bit chilly, it turned out to be one
of the best fall cleanups in a very long time. We had fifty-five hardy souls and eight
children which represented thirty-five families coming out to help.
We have had several challenging conditions with snow and
some ice especially of late. I have
had to call Chris Backshall several times over the last few weeks concerning
different matters and he always retuned my calls promptly and taken care of
issues you have brought to my attention.
Please take note of the orange markers on the side of the roads to
indicate where to plow. If you see
any down while walking please feel free to put them back in the ground.
I want to thank each of you for your help. Thanks to Ray Jones we have great
pictures of our cleanups and thanks to Terry Dwyer for putting them on the website
for all to see with great captions!
I am also indebted to Carl Bonar, when he is involved with the cooking
people come out of the wood-work to help and to eat! Thanks Carl!
The annual spring cleanup this year will be Saturday, April
18th with a rain date of Saturday the 25of April. This will be noted again the newsletter.
Grounds: presented by Diane Bonar
My tenure
as Grounds Trustee started off with a bang….or rather a very loud thud
which was the sound of a large oak tree which had fallen on Alpine Trail. Horrors of horrors, it belonged to
us!
I found out
about the tree just after Barbara Coe called me to tell me about a tree that
had fallen on Primrose Trail.
We have
gotten a lot of work done this year in the community thanks to a lot of folks,
especially my committee of Joyce Murray, Jane Dwyer and Charlie Priscu. Thanks a lot for all they have done!
Also want
to say thanks to others including Bruce and Dale Scolnick, Mark Qualben, and
Steve Collier. All these people
have worked hard cleaning up or beautifying certain areas. Steve Collier planted the flowers at the
clubhouse this year which was much appreciated. Newton White on several occasions had
loaned out his workers to help clean and trim back overgrown vines and bushes.
The main
area of focus this year (besides tree maintenance) was cleaning the hill
entrance on Lake Trail East and cleaning brush at the beach. There is much more to be done, and any
help anyone can give would be greatly appreciated.
Mark Baumgarten asked if any type of clean up could be done
regarding the litter that periodically accumulates in the community. A suggestion was made to see if our
youths could earn community service points from
Community Affairs:
presented by Barbara Coe
Barbara urged community members to call or email her
information and/or ideas they wanted included in the newsletter. She thanked Terry Dwyer for all his
website updates.
Lakeshore Company: presented by Rick
Barrett
Lakeshore
expended $118,000 on repairs to pipes, valves and a pump in the last two years
and also reimbursed the Association for $45,000 in dam/dredge expenses.
Lakeshore's cash will also be decreasing in the future as a
result starting to pay down the dam/dredge loan. Lakeshore's cash will
be very low in 3-4 years without any adjustment in its fees. In
addition, Lakeshore needs to build a reserve of about $100,000 to cover
anticipated replacement of some additional pipes over the next several years.
The Lakeshore board will be evaluating this situation in concert with the new
Finance Committee that the Association Board is forming to develop a long range
funding strategy for the lake.
Treasurer’s Report: presented by
Bob
reviewed MKL Association and Lakeshore financial reports that were distributed
during the meeting and responded to questions from members. In the months that follow, Bob will
continue to consolidate financial information for both the MKL Association and
Lakeshore Company. This effort should
provide a clear picture of revenues and expenses for both organizations. It should also set forth a greater
understanding of balances required for future expenditures, as well as the
impact of obligations incurred from dam dredging and road work. Moving forward, the Board will address
the need for rebuilding cash reserves as additional expenses regarding the
ongoing maintenance of the community are on the horizon.
Earlier,
Bobbie Coulter was asked as a non-board member to review the consolidation
effort and to document procedures.
She has since had the opportunity to review the paperwork in progress
and was highly complimentary of Bob’s commitment to ensuring that all
funds are being represented appropriately.
Other Topics:
Rick
Barrett and
A
suggestion was made to include
The meeting
was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. The
Lakeshore Company meeting immediately followed.
Respectfully
Submitted,
Nancy
Priscu