BOARD MEETING MINUTES
March 10, 2007 

CALL TO ORDER
President Al Isaac called the meeting to order at 9:02am. Board members present were President Al Isaac, 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer, 2nd Vice President Greg Hernden, Director Sharon Bridges, Director Bob Adair and Director Brian Kozlowski. Also present were Manager Gail White and Secretary Todd Graham. President Al Isaac opened the meeting with The Pledge of Allegiance. Director Brian Kozlowski followed with prayer. Director Don Papesh was excused due to being out of state on vacation and Treasurer Priscilla Moore was excused due to weather conditions.

ADDITIONS TO AGENDA
Manager Gail White requests to have approval of the absentee ballot added to New Business and to add personnel issue to the closed session scheduled under Old Business. 

AGENDA APPROVAL
President Al Isaac calls for approval of the agenda as amended.  All in favor, motion carried.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1st Vice President Marvin Frayer moved to approve the minutes from the January 2007 Board. 2nd by Director Sharon Bridges. All in favor, motion carried. 

TREASURER'S REPORT
For the month of February 2007 Manager Gail White reported income of $14,524.31 and expenses of $26,130.94. Cash on Hand at February 28, 2007 was $178,189.12.  Motion made by 2nd Vice President Greg Hernden to accept the Treasurers report. Seconded by 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer. All in favor, motion carried. 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Al Isaac reported he has been working with Lincoln Township Supervisor regarding the issue of emergency first responders who live in White Birch. In January the township board tentatively approved the responders having a radio and allowing one of them to go directly to the scene instead of having to report to the township first. But then at the February Township meeting the township board did not follow the Township Supervisors recommendation and turned the January decision down. The reason, as stated in the Township Board Meeting Minutes was concern over liability because there would be no witness if a first responder went directly to the scene and took life saving measures. Research will be done to see if we can approach this again. At last months meeting Mike Turner has asked for numbers showing eligible White Birch voting lots vs. lots owned by the Association vs. lots not eligible to vote. These numbers are Total lots, 1381, lots held by WBLRA-43, not in good standing-299, Contiguous status-165.  Total votes-874, majority as of 3/9/07-438.

CORRESPONDENCE
Manager Gail White read a letter from Bert Krueger lot 571 expressing appreciation for the great job Doug Lake does maintaining the roads in White Birch

Manager Gail White read a letter from Silver Ridge Music Festival requesting a sponsorship which would be a good possible way to promote growth in White Birch with new membership. This sponsorship for $300.00 would allow White Birch to advertise in the promotional material that will be used at both festivals scheduled this year. President Al Isaac recommends holding off until we learn more about how it all works and see that they are successful. 

MANAGER'S REPORT AND APPROVAL OF PAYABLES
Manager Gail White reported: Assessments are coming in well. We are having some problems with the reader equipment working with the new gate and we are awaiting answers from the new gate company. There is one more trip needed to complete installation of parts for the new gate. President Al Isaac adds that a lightning strike did damage the remaining equipment from the old gate system and we are working with our insurance carrier on possible coverage for that. Director Brian Kozlowski moves to pay the list of payables provided by Manager Gail White. Second by 2nd Vice President Greg Hernden. 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer questions the electricity at the campground since it was shut off for the winter months. Manager Gail White explains it is turned on when members use the facility plus for security purposes there are mercury lights that are still on at night. All in favor, motion carried.

SECURITY REPORT
Manager Gail White reported: Things have been very quiet. Had a few elderly members who needed some assistance and all was handled. 

COMMITTEE REPORTS 

Activities Committee – Report by Barb Adair. St. Patrick’s Day Dinner will be held Friday March 16th from 4pm to 8pm. Carry out dinners will be available for those who may be home bound. 

By-Laws Committee – Report by Manager Gail White:  Committee did not meet this week. Recommendations are in each Directors packet. 

Campground Committee – Report by Les Sidell. All is pretty quiet. Had to turn down a few camping requests due to too much snow build up. 

Communications Committee – Report by Todd Graham. The February Birch Bark was in the hands of the Directors Feb. 16 and mailed Feb. 20.  A thank-you to Joe and Georgia Romine and Ray Elliot for folding, taping, labeling, and stamping the Birch Bark. Thanks to Marv Frayer for taking them to the Post Office.   We published a 6-page newsletter. There were 6 ads; costs of the February Birch Bark were approximately $420.00. There are extra copies of the February newsletter in the rack by the pool attendants' office.  The March issue will hopefully include an application for an absentee ballot to be used by any member in good standing. As always, the deadline for articles and announcements for the Birch Bark is the 15th of the month.

Lots of changes this past month. Navigation links were all updated to make them easier to view and understand. Scrolling message text box added to the main page to promote any special announcements. Updated clock and calendar inserts were added. The Community Calendar page was completely redesigned with an entirely new calendar format that allows us to post reoccurring events like Board meetings to automatically be listed. A new Hours of Operation page was added to list Clubhouse, Pool and Office hours. Added a Contact Webmaster page with an online email form that automatically directs questions regarding the Web Site to my email address. Created a new Ask the Board page under the Members only area to allow members to simply fill in a form for any official correspondence. This form lists 23 selections for members to choose to have their correspondence addressed to including the Board, Manager, individual directors and all our committees. Under the members only area a new Site Search function was added. This updated feature allows members to enter a key word or phrase and they will be given a listing of all online documents pertaining to their search including all Birch Barks, Board Meeting Minutes as well as our Covenants and Restrictions and By-Laws. A great tool to allow members to research an issue. 

Future updates that will be completed by Mid-March include five games: Battleship, Tetris, Chess, Concentration and Tic-Tac-Toe will all be available for members to enjoy. Also available Mid-March will be several Educational Resources like a square root calculator, inches vs. centimeters conversion, Fahrenheit vs. Centigrade conversion and a compound interest calculator to name a few. By adding the games and educational pages I hope to encourage members to sign up for access to the Members Only area of the Web Site and begin using this resource.  Also plan on adding a Camping page and ATV / ORV page.

There are some updates that need to be done that are beyond my skills and the quote to have these done by a professional Web Designer has been added to today’s agenda. When the site was first created the database allowed us to send an email to all members with email addresses on file which we have 223 at present time, but that function no longer works due to the code being corrupted at some point. Also, when members sign up for a login and password to the Members Only Area their accounts must be linked to a valid member in the database for the login and password to allow access. Unfortunately this had not always been done in the past so many members who have registered cannot actually log in. Code can be created to allow the site to give us a list of all these logins that are not linked as they should be so we can correct the problem. Also, presently the database does not allow you to edit or delete Board or Committee minutes once posted to the Web Site and in case of errors it should be updated to allow this. The quote covers all three repairs and enhancements.

Conservation Committee – Report by Tom Dorcey. Tom has blue bird houses at his home for interested members to pick up. They must be placed in pairs about 40’ apart. 

Election Committee – None. 

Entrance Committee – None. 

Environmental Protection Committee – Report by Dennis Karlson. One request to remove trees near drive to improve access around pole barn reviewed and approved 2/18/07.  One request for sunroom removal and replacement with 17’ x 18’ addition with footings.  Also one tree to be removed.  Site inspected and plans reviewed and approved 2/26/07.  One request for contiguous lot status now that house is on site; approved 2/28/07.  The EPC committee will be meeting this month to review the first draft with the changes being recommended to 11 of the policies governed within EPC.  Anticipate completed policy package to be forwarded to Board of Directors for review and approval in April ’07.

Future Planning Committee – None. 

Seedling and Sapling Committees – None. 

COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR 

Barb Adair lot 61 – Supports advertising with the Silver Ridge Festival and feels $300.00 is a very small investment for exposure to the size of crowds expected with acts such as Carrie Underwood and Jeff Foxworthy. 

Jerry Bridges lot 158 – Also supports advertising with the festival. 

Marty Perkins lot 1095 – In response to the Presidents report on emergency first responders, he was at the meeting and was told that if it is a severe emergency like heart attack the first responder can go directly to the scene. Marty is also confused on the gate issue – we hired a contractor to install and they said that our equipment from the old gate would work with the new but now it feels like we are being dumped on by this company now that the hardware is installed and they are having problems getting the software to work. Marty also feels the entire issue of installing the new gate should have been brought before the members using an opinion poll before the money was spent. 

Arnie Van Overbeke lot 1111 – May of 2006 motion was made and approved by the board for an emergency siren that would not cost the association anything. Is also concerned over our street signs not being readable and not having any signs directing use of the new emergency exit. Can we get that siren? Can we get new signs? States that last year we had one home burn and a camper blow up. If something severe does happen not everyone knows how to access the emergency exit.                     

Matt Lucas lot 405 – Supports advertising at the Silver Ridge Music Festival. Also expresses concern over delays in installation of the new gate system and feels a responsible company would have known in advance if there were going to be any software problems.

Mike Turner lot 86 – States that there are grants available to cover the cost of installing an emergency siren.

Marty Perkins lot 1095 – Asks if an application for a grant for the emergency siren was ever sent. 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer responds that one has not.

Greg Hernden lots 533, 534 – Going back to November and December of last year he has been involved in working with Lincoln Township regarding response time for the fire department. A few months ago Fred Witchell wrote a letter asking that guidelines be changed to improve response time – not just in White Birch but in the entire Lake George area. In January the supervisor came up with a plan to allow the three first responders living in WBL to create a rotating schedule so one of them could go directly to the scene and begin emergency procedures. The supervisor brought it to a vote at the January meeting which came to a vote of 2 to 2. The township clerk brought up concern over liability. Then at the February meeting the supervisor brought it up for another vote. But before the meeting the township clerk confronted Greg regarding a tape recording of comments from a WBL February meeting where Greg had made the statements about the clerk “playing the liability” card. This tape recording was brought in by Mary Cox Perkins. Due to this it was voted down 3 to 2. Greg doesn’t understand why anyone would be against this, we all would have benefited from this change and Greg does not understand why Mary Cox Perkins took the action she did.

MEETING RECESS AT THIS POINT.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Election Procedures – Director Brian Kozlowski moves to accept the absentee ballot application to be published in the March Birch Bark. Second by 2nd Vice President Greg Hernden. Director Brian Kozlowski suggests changing the deadline date from July 4th to Tuesday July 3rd at 4pm. All in favor, motion carried.

Election Procedures continued – President Al Isaac reads correspondence from Judy Gute thanking the Board for receiving and reviewing her recommendations. Al states the Board has reviewed last year’s procedure and the recommendations from Mrs. Gute. Director Bob Adair moves to adopt the procedures used last year for this year’s election. Second by Director Sharon Bridges. All in favor, motion carried.

Web Site Update - $320.00 for repairs and upgrades as outlined in the Communications Committee report. Director Brian Kozlowski moves to accept. Second by Director Bob Adair. All in favor, motion carried.

Executive Committee Resolution – President Al Isaac explains that in the past there has been an Executive Committee consisting of three Board members so if needed items could be directed to that smaller body for communication and clarification instead of waiting for the entire Board to convene. Director Brian Kozlowski resolves to form said committee. Second by Director Bob Adair. Director Sharon Bridges states that precedent has been set for this committee to exist. Director Brian Kozlowski states our By-laws specify this committee can be composed of two or more Directors. All in favor, motion carried.

Executive Committee Appointments – President Al Isaac asks if the Board feels 3 members are acceptable. All agree. President Al Isaac recommends himself, Director Bob Adair and 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer be placed on this committee. President Al Isaac calls for a vote, all in favor, committee is formed. President Al Isaac explains that this committee is in no way taking power from the entire Board but will simply help to improve communications.

Appointment of Nominating Committee Chair – President Al Isaac appoints Director Brian Kozlowski to head this committee to seek qualified candidates for this year’s elections. 

NEW BUSINESS

Audit Bids – Manager Gail White reports that McMahon Thompson stated a substantial increase and recommended we go out for bids. Murray and Associates from Mt. Pleasant quoted $2,100.00 but does not state much experience with Associations. Weinlander Fitzhugh came in at $3,000.00 which is all inclusive for one year – no additional charges for extra calls, etc. Director Brian Kozlowski moves to accept the Weinlander Fitzhugh proposal. Second by 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer. All in favor, motion carried.

Motion to move into a closed session by 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer to cover legal and personnel. Second by Director Brian Kozlowski. All in favor, motion carried.

President Al Isaac calls Board back to open session after discussion.

Motion by Director Brian Kozlowski to accept settlement regarding Steve and Louis Bryant including lot 365. Second by 1st Vice President Marvin Frayer. All in favor, motion carried.

Motion to adjourn by Vice President Marvin Frayer. Second by Director Bob Adair. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 12:14pm. 

Respectfully Submitted
 

Todd J. Graham
Secretary