Board of Director’s Meeting July 11, 2021

Jul 29, 2021 | Board Minutes, Directors

 Call to Order

Tony Gronniger, lot 2281, called the meeting to order, held in the upper level of the clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. Board Members present were:  Mark Leggett, lot 72; Celeste Armanees, lot 62; Troy Lesan, lot 576; Allan Slavin, lot 181; Marvin McNabb, lot 28; Mike Booth, lot 2380.  Troy Lesan led in prayer.  Shad Mort led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Tony Gronniger opened the meeting with the Vision/Mission Statement: “Lake Viking is a private lake aspiring to preserve our community and environment for future generations.” “Our informed members are the strength of our community.”

Approval of Minutes

Mike Booth moved to approve the minutes of the June 13, 2021 Board meeting. Mark Leggett seconded; motion passed.

Committee Reports:

Handbook Committee – no report

Finance Committee

Troy Lesan reported that the Finance Committee met July 8 via Zoom, with 8 members present & Board Pres. Tony Gronnniger also attending.  In reviewing Financial Statements, total income is down from this time last year because last year’s Financials included the one-time dredge assessment.  But aside from that, all other income areas are up. Shad anticipates road expenses going up next month due to more work being done. Shad also reported purchase of a truck for $7,800.

Outsourcing our Finances (accounting, payroll, etc) to Westbrook Accounting:  The tech support person from Westbrook will be at our VVA Office this Wednesday to continue importing computer files as part of our transition to Westbrook.  Regarding VVA payroll:  Westbrook started doing our payroll this month; direct deposit of employees’ paychecks is coming soon, which fulfills something our VVA employees have been requesting for a long time.  Also, the Finance Committee reviewed a detailed spreadsheet on the anticipated staff payroll for 2022. This document is in the early stages and will continue to be reviewed and updated.  Many thanks to Missy Leggett for putting this together.

Publication of Lake Viking News (which VVA recently purchased):  Jill Steward, our publishing consultant, has arranged for Westbrook to do invoicing for Lake Viking News (invoice the businesses who place ads in our monthly publication).  Also discussed was a document Troy Lesan produced that listed income vs expenses for the first two months of our Lake Viking News publishing operation. Marvin McNabb also informed the committee of his intent to go ahead with the purchase of the Gallatin Publishing Company’s desktop computer, as it comes completely loaded with all the publishing software previously used by GPC when they published the Lake Viking News. The computer’s $600 price is considerably less than anticipated.

Strategic Planning Committee

Kenny Southwick gave an update on our Strategic Plan. The Committee met on July 6, and reviewed the recommendations made to the Board in November, which include:

  • Continue to develop & adjust a long-range plan for soil erosion, dredging and silt removal.
  • Identify, budget, and implement priority projects.
  • Establish procedures for GFI inspection & compliance of all docks w/ electrical connections.
  • Verify condition of clubhouse septic system & make all necessary system improvements.

Of the above-mentioned recommendations made to the Board last November, the Strategic Planning Committee feels that good progress has been made on all 4 recommendations, except the clubhouse septic still needs to be addressed.

Next, Kenny read off the Board’s Goals, a 2-page document presented to him by Board Pres. Tony Gronniger.  This is a lengthy “wish list” of what the Board members compiled as their ideal goals to accomplish in the next year, many of which are already in progress.

Also, the Strategic Committee will be developing quarterly reports for the Board. The Board asked the Committee to look at other areas of concern:

  • Develop a long-range plan for our roads.
  • Continue to upgrade technology infrastructure: hardware, software, and Human Resources.
  • Create a healthy lake environment—addressing soil erosion, dredging and drinking water quality.

Mark Leggett asked if the Committee had scripted anything yet on the long-range road system. Kenny Southwick replied it is on their list of things to work on.

Activities Committee

Celeste Armanees reported several upcoming events:  The Patio Party w/ “Now & Then” band was rescheduled due to rain to new date Fri., August 13.  This week the Activities Committee will be painting the underside of the pavilion, in anticipation of the Patio Party w/ band on July 17. Also coming up is Family Movie Night on August 7.  And a new event is the Bass Fishing Tournament on August 14.

Building Committee

Marvin McNabb reported the Committee met only once in June to review 11 Building Permits, none being homes. They will be meeting 3 times in July, due to many new homes permits.

Fire Department

Tony Gronniger reported the sirens were tested at their monthly meeting.  The Fire Dept. had a great time providing the “water spout” over the 4th of July; he thanked the Marina for providing a place for the firetruck to spray & make it easy for them to navigate in case they needed to get out.

Campground Committee

Mike Booth reported the Campgrounds were busy over the 4th of July weekend. The Committee is working on an RFP to get the cost of upgrading the electrical system in Campgrounds.

Lake Committee

Troy Lesan reported that the Lake Committee met in a working session on June 23, and a follow-up on June 27 which resulted in approx. 20 letters and emails for non-compliance issues. The notices went out for a broad variety of items – everything from missing lot numbers, to weeds and brush, brush piles, property upkeep, silt fences … and one very critical erosion issue on which we worked with the property owner and he put up a good silt fence, right before a round of the heavy rains. The Committee will go out on the water again this week.

Infraction Committee/Safety

Allan Slavin reported that during the month of June, Safety issued 27 infraction tickets & 49 warnings. The biggest violations were not putting up silt fences and failure to mow. The majority of the mowing violations were in the Campgrounds. The warnings issued were mostly for “movement conflicting with traffic” on the water. The Committee reviewed a total of 40 infractions, which resulted in 3 dismissals & 37 were issued fines totaling $3,780.

Mark Leggett reported Safety’s old jet ski that John has been working on should be in the water on Monday. Also, the Marina is getting 2 new Yamaha jet skis tomorrow, so we should know then if one of those is Safety’s.

Dredge Committee

Shawn Hepinstall reported on dredge operations.  Shawn passed out a summary of the South End Construction project. This project was first presented to the members at the Annual Meeting in 2020, and now construction begins this week. We have estimated this project at $650,000 – $680,000 to complete, and we are still comfortable with that number. Total money available for this project is approx. $818,888:  about $313,000 for phase 1 + about $500,000 for phase 2. We did sell all the remaining Community Areas, which resulted in $561,000 new revenue; there will be capital gains to pay on this income. Shawn presented a payment schedule from Selby Excavating. Shawn described some additional Dredge Committee work:

  • Maintenance on dredge
  • Dip the silt out of Community Area 3, and repair weir
  • Cut and drain silt ponds in Three Tubes area
  • Review and plan South End dredging process
  • Potentially begin dipping behind Yacht Club.

Lake Manager Report (Shad Mort)

  1. Trash: Waste Management still has some dumpsters here–hopefully they will have them out of here this week. The new trash company Advanced Disposal has placed their dumpsters.
  2. Road work: We will be doing more patching this week, weather permitting. Late August or early September we will be chip and sealing. Shad asked the Board about using Building Permit money to continue the patching process. The Board was okay with using those funds.
  3. Clubhouse chimney: The Clubhouse fireplace chimney is beginning to crumble–the gutters are full of small pieces of rock falling from the chimney. Shad had Ward Roofing look at it, and it will probably require a capital expenditure to get it fixed right.
  4. 4th of July: Shad said it was the busiest 4th he has ever seen here.  We were safe & accident-free.

Financials

Troy Lesan moved to approve the financial reports. Celeste Armanees, seconded; motion passed.

Guest Time:   

  1. Chris Huffman addressed the Board about his dock permit that was denied approval by the Building Committee. Chris was told that the location where he wanted to move the dock was not his property, but belonged to an adjacent property owner. Chris believes the map on our website is inaccurate. Troy Lesan asked Chris if the property was staked, and Chris responded yes it is. Chris’s wife showed the Board a Google map of how the property lays. Chris asked if someone from Board could come out and look at the property before the Board makes a decision. Building Committee members Marvin McNabb and Flint Hibler will go over tomorrow to see where the stakes are & if they would reconsider.

Board Discussions

  1. Trash/illegal dumping: To reduce illegal dumping by non-members (estim. $10,000/year excess cost to VVA members), Marvin McNabb reported the surveillance cameras & Internet have been installed to overlook the dumpsters in Maintenance yard, but the Internet still needs to be reconfigured so can monitor cameras from the Safety office. An additional solution will be to install fencing around the dumpster area, and/or install a card-swipe gate system. He is waiting for a call back on a price quote for an electronic gate.
  2. Lake Viking News: We did our first publication of the Lake Viking News since purchasing it. It went very smoothly. Troy sent the Board a breakdown of the first month’s expenses, which shows we made a little profit (due to advertisers paying for ads); profit will increase when purchase costs fall off. We plan to hire a part-time person to do the selling of ads & oversee the publishing.  We have already purchased a printer, and we’ll purchase a computer w/ software from the recently closed Gallatin Publishing Company.
  3. Meet & Greet: Celeste Armanees mentioned numerous requests to resurrect the “Meet & Greet” for new VVA members that the Board & Safety held, up until several years ago. Celeste moved to hold a Meet & Greet on Sat., September 4, 2021 & Sat., May 21, 2022 @ 9-11am in the clubhouse. Mark Leggett, seconded; motion passed.
  4. Bathrooms and Beaches: Mark Leggett opened a discussion on the improvements needed at the beach bathrooms. Mark and Tony Gronniger went around and inspected the beach bathrooms, concluding that major repairs/updates are needed. Troy Lesan questioned whether we even need the beach 3 bathroom anymore, as it requires the most repair. The members present said it is used a lot. Tony Gronniger said it does need new doors, closures, and maybe even automatic lights, which need replaced now. Allan Slavin commented the doors and closures would be a great short-term fix, but would like to see them totally gutted and new fixtures installed. Shad Mort cautioned to not install residential-type fixtures like were stolen from a beach bathroom a few years back. Instead, the Board agreed on installing something durable, like see in public restrooms at parks, to deter vandalism/theft. Mark Leggett said he’d get price quotes on fixtures, and Shad will look into lights.

Adjourn:  Mark Leggett moved to adjourn to Executive Session, to discuss personnel and Board organizational matters at 7:18 p.m. Allan Slavin, seconded; motion passed.

Attendance:  Flint Hibler, Mark & Stephanie Closterman, Robert Walton, Shawn & Paula Hepinstall, Jerry Goehring, Doug & Resa Wiltse, Robert Hayes, Sue Wolfe, Jeff & Janet Yuratovich, Levi McClure, Chris & Jennifer Huffman, Mike Krehbiel, Barbara Giamolvo, Leanne Lee, David Sandy, Shad Mort (Lake Manager), Sally Zerbe (Office).

Let the record show that these minutes are a record of the business transacted at this meeting and a sampling of the discussions.  Comments and discussions are not reflected in whole or as actual quotations in the minutes, nor do they reflect all comments by members.

 

Respectfully submitted,

Celeste Armanees, Secretary

VVA Board of Directors

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