Mission Statement: Lake Viking is a private lake aspiring to preserve our community and environment for future generations.
Board Members Present were: Michelle Sullivan (lot# 1826)-President, Terry Nibarger (lot #657)- 1st Vice President, Christina Lindsay (lot #429)- Secretary, Tom Rice (lot #343)- Assistant Secretary, Robert Walton (lot #217)- Treasurer, Dave Daniel (lot #231)- Assistant Treasurer
Call to Order: Michelle Sullivan called the meeting to order at 2:00 pm.
Pledge: Led by Brian Holcomb
Prayer: Led by Terry Nibarger
Approval of December 8, 2024 Minutes.
Tom Rice made a motion to approve these minutes. David Daniel seconded the motion. All Board Members- yes, motion carried.
Committee Reports:
Handbook Committee
Christina Lindsay – No update/ report
Finance Committee
Terry Nibarger – See full report.
Reminder- only activities can use Venmo.
Finance Committee met along with the Lake Manager and Office Manager Jan 9th 2025, via zoom.
Funds summary show a good performance for year end 2024. There will be a small carry over of funds in Special Road Assessments and Beaches. 2024 Financials will appear in this month’s Lake Viking Newspaper.
Morgan Stanley showed an overall gain for 2024 of $207, 030.00 December was down by a little over $10,000. This has already rebounded in 2025.
There were no VVA owned lots sold in the month of December. Year to date total for lots sold by the Association was $148,994.95 plus $214,976.85 for lot 717, which helped fund the Jetty project.
Asking price for VVA owned SU lots has been adjusted to $35,000.
Construction of the French drain at the pool is complete, but other work is at a standstill due to weather. The target date for completion still remains for May 2025.
Invoices for the 2025 dues and Assessments have been sent. The Finance Committee addressed the alignment of dues and assessments with the lake’s calendar/ fiscal year. After much conversation, the committee voiced unanimous support to keep the billing procedure as is, and will pass that recommendation on to the Board.
Now that the annual meeting has been changed to the fall, the lake is able to send invoices out in January, but is keeping the existing due date.
Per Flint, the Campground Committee is aware of the large increase in the electrical bill for November, due to the 4 full time campers and other campers using electricity. The committee approved this expenditure to come from the Campground funds.
The campground septic, by B&M should be done by April 2025, totaling $57,000.
There are several issues with the Fire/ Safety Building. Brian has some ideas to help provide a base of operations during times when the Safety office is unavailable.
Michelle has three potential 401K plans for employees submitted by providers which will be further reviewed this week.
VVA continues to work on logistics for the Farm Programs/Haying. The total for VVA owned lots was increased from 116.4 to 145.7 acres. The committee agreed only the VVA lots should be considered for this program for now.
Strategic Planning Committee
Dan Weidmaier – No update/ report
Activity Committee
Dan Weidmaier – No update/ report
Building Committee
Marvin McNabb – Marvin said the committee has discussed and would like to move forward with only the lot owner being able to fill out and sign and submit building permits. In the past contractors or even other family members or new buyers of the lot have tried to sign permits to let work begin and that has caused problems. There will be no money accepted at the time the permit is dropped off.
Terry asked to confirm what the board was needing to approve. Tom asked if contractors signing was a problem. Marvin said it was previously and the book states the owner must sign. Michelle agreed, and Tom agreed.
The board agreed to have Marvin and the Building Committee fill out the proper paperwork and bring it back before them to consider for approval for these two topics.
1) Permit must be signed by current lot owner.
2) Payment will not be accepted or made when the permit is submitted. All permits will be billed for and can be paid after the permit is approved.
Marvin, Brian, Robert and Kathy will meet regarding getting Marvin this form to fill out so it can come back before the Board.
Tom asked Marvin about rules on SU lots. The handbook needs to be updated. Marvin will take this up with the Building Committee at their next meeting.
Fire Department
Tony Gronniger (lot #2281) – See full report
Tony stated the Fire Department continues to meet monthly. The meetings have been moved to the second Saturday of each month, hoping this will allow more members to attend.
Tony reported on last years fire calls. He was able to track calls from April to December with 19 medical calls and 4 fire calls answered. There were no structure fires.
Tony stated the Fire Department continues to upgrade its training efforts to include training with local departments.
Daviess County 911 Dispatch Center is currently remodeling and upgrading their dispatch system, this is scheduled to be completed by January 2026. The potential cost impact to stay compliant is unclear at this time. They will keep the board updated as the process continues.
Campground
Christina Lindsay- See full report
Christina brought up the campground electric bill being larger than expected. Michelle stated the Campground Committee can manage its own money. They are looking at different meters and exploring ideas about how to manage electric when members are gone. The Campground Managers will be getting with Safety to monitor usage when members are not there.
Lake Committee
Robert Walton – No update/ report
Infraction Committee
Terry Nibarger- nothing to report. The next committee meeting will be in April of 2025.
No update/ report
Dredge Committee
David Daniel reported: DK Excavating has the lowest bid for the project at lot 717. He said the project should be starting soon.
Fishing Committee
Tom Rice – No update/ report
Managing Directors Report
See full report.
Brian stated the Board of Directors pooled their own personal money and hosted an employee appreciation luncheon on December 13, 2024. On behalf of the employees, thank you – we are looking forward to serving members during 2025!
The employees had a team building luncheon on January 3, 2025. We will continue team building activities on a quarterly basis. Rusty Hendricks was promoted from Interim Maintenance Supervisor to Maintenance Supervisor on January 1, 2025.
Maintenance – Completed shoulder work for special road district, dipped at Community Area 7 and hauled away 53 loads equaling over 600 cubic feet of mud out of lake. Reshaped and rocked shoreline with 16 loads of rock, fixed erosion problems at Community Area 6, seeded berms at Garney/Pilot area, seeded and strawed at the Garney tube project, serviced and cleaned equipment, and fixed wash out areas on gravel roads with 3 inch rock.
Maintenance also battled the snowstorm.
Safety – Issued 6 trash tickets, resolved two 30-day letters, and responded to 2 medical calls. Four Safety employees were trained on snow plowing to assist Maintenance, and four Safety employees were trained in reviewing building permit applications.
Office – Completed year end financials and assisted the accountant with tax related items. Invoices were sent out to members for 2025 dues and invoiced campground fees. Reminder, 2025 Dues and Assessments are due on May 1, 2025. Early invoicing has already brought in $85,226.
Pool – The French Drain was installed near the brick retaining wall, and concrete will be poured as soon as the weather cooperates. The equipment room can be done during cold weather. Stickman Pools remains confident the pool will be completed prior to May 1.
Brian stated Dillon Knight and DK Agricultural Services submitted the low bid for work around lot 717, and work at lot 717 is projected to start on January 15, 2025. He is also in contact with Cornett Construction, and we will notify members via Condo Control and Facebook once we know the exact dates for this project.
Clubhouse Septic: Tom Fritts with Residential Sewage traveled to Bryan, Texas on December 9-11, 2024 to learn more about the filter septic system designed by JNM Technologies. After learning more about the system, he is certain it will work. Mr. Fritts clarified that the filtration system replaces the Aerobic Treatment Unit (ATU), which requires a constant flow of waste, but it will still use a drip system. The filtration system has an automatic back flushing filter that will need replaced about every 5 years, a few solenoids with a life of 5 to 8 years, and the system will require a service contract so it can be monitored every 6 months. He said the filtration system and ATU are similar in price, and he will be working on plans to submit to the state during the next few weeks.
Brian stated he is making preliminary plans to start the rehab project in the Safety/Fire Building. $10,000 was approved in the Capital Expenditures budget for this work, which will primarily be focused on finding and remedying the 4 areas where water leaks into the building when it is raining. We are planning to temporarily relocate the Safety Office into the Main Office before we start tearing into the walls to find the leaks, and we will notify everyone on Condo and Facebook when Safety’s transition to the main office has been completed. To complicate this issue, the building’s two heaters which are located in the Safety Office and the Fire Department equipment bays both quit working and will need replaced. Brian is working with Jason McTheeney and the Safety Department, as well as Tony Gronniger and the Fire Department, to execute a plan that will accommodate everyone involved.
Hay Contract – Mowing Rules: 29.3 community area acres were added to the 116.4 lot acres for a total of 145.7 acres of Association owned property available for haying. Discussion at last month’s meeting involved a question about lake member lots being included in the Association’s hay contract. The handbook requires members to mow lots by May 1, June 1 and September 1 of each year. If a lot is mowed by these dates, it would not be desirable for haying. As the hay contract continues to materialize, the Board may need to clarify lot mowing rules in the handbook.
Approval of Financial Statements
Tom made a motion to approve the December 2024 Financial Statements. Terry seconded the motion. All Board Members- yes, motion carried.
Board Discussion
Michelle should have a report back from our attorney soon regarding the Lake Viking Marine Contract, related to docks being launched from community areas. This will be on March’s meeting agenda. We hope to have all answers and this resolved by summer.
There is continued discussion regarding Committee interaction with the board and expectations.
It was brought up that next month’s meeting should be moved to February 16th, with the second Sunday being the Super Bowl it is predicted there would not be a very good turnout, but two board members have plans. Michelle asked to move the meeting to February 2nd.
Tom made a motion to move next month’s meeting to Sunday, February 2nd. Terry seconded the motion. All Board Members- yes, motion carried.
Guests
(5 mins each) – None
Adjournment
Tom made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 2:38 pm. Terry seconded the motion. All Board Members- yes, motion carried.
Respectfully submitted
by Christina Lindsay
Secretary, Board of Directors
Viking Valley Association
