HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE
PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
Thursday, March 5, 2020 7 PM
Unapproved
Board of Directors Present: Pat Hawkins, Scott Giska, Dave Hafner and Robert Starks
Board of Directors absent: Donna Yetzer
Community Manager Present: Bruce Keller
Assistant Community Manager Present: Dave Wismann
March 5, 2020 Motions:
- Approval of December 2019 Minutes — Board Secretary
- Approval of Bond Returns—Architecture Committee
- Approval of Variance — Mike & Mary Russell, Lot 1879H/1880A, 1492 Aqua Vista Drive. Mike and Mary desire a variance for a fence to contain their dogs. Their neighbors’ input has been received and Architecture will review the request at their March 4 meeting. Architecture will then make a recommendation to the Board of Directors at their March 5 meeting.
- Request a motion to change the Stop Work Order Fee from $100 to $300. (First Reading)
- Request for $10,000 Matching Donation Funds for Dog Park.
- Request Approval to sign contract with Shamrock Restoration to replace Willie’s roof. (Total cost is $63,686.81. HVLs out of pocket cost $23, 223.08 Max).
Call to Order: Patricia Hawkins
President Patricia Hawkins called the Board of Director Meeting to order at 7:00pm
Pledge of Allegiance: Patricia Hawkins
The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance.
Welcome Special Guest (Gayle Pennington):
The Board of Directors welcomed Gayle Pennington to the Hidden Valley Lake Board Meeting.
Gayle Pennington is the Dearborn County Clerk of Courts. She attended our Board Meeting to go over the new voting process.
If you have any questions you can contact Gayle Pennington by calling her office (812-537-8867) or emailing her at gpennington@dearborncounty.in.gov
Go to our website at www.hiddenvalleylakeindiana.com to listen the full details on the new voting process in Dearborn County.
President’s Report: Patricia Hawkins
Having a board meeting in early March is, quite possibly, a first for us. We have scheduled it on this date to not conflict with Reds Opening Day which is scheduled for Thursday, March 26. We recognize that opening day is a “holiday” of sorts in this part of the world and we did not want to compete with that. Good luck to the Reds in the 2020 season.
This is our first board meeting since the failure of the golf course capital improvement vote in December. Since that failure, we have formed a focus group comprised of golf club members and well as POA resident non-members. Our goal is to develop actionable strategies for increasing revenue at the club. This group of volunteers has already met once with a follow up session scheduled for March 19. We will share their recommendations with the community as a whole as soon as they are available. We expect that this focus group will transition from its current role to that of an on-going committee when appropriate.
Last but not least, there were two seats available in board elections this year. The deadline for submitting nominations passed with only the two incumbents submitting theirs. The Safety, Security, & Elections Committee, under whose purview elections fall, will begin work to redesign the communication flow of announcing openings and deadlines for nominations. Communications have changed dramatically since the process was designed and SS&E wants to ensure that we utilize all suitable channels when announcing board openings. We look forward to receiving their recommendations.
Treasurers report: Robert Starks
We are waiting on the Audit Report for our Financial Position.
Bob reported that 93.5% of the January Dues have already been collected.
Boat, dock and golf cart registration has been mailed out to residents.
We have increased shelter reservations.
Collections are now being done in house. The board has been working with the office to make it more effective.
Bob has always reported cash on hand. Cash on hand includes funds that have been escrowed. These funds are escrowed for the replacement of pool liner, police cars, etc.
We escrow funds each year based on our best estimate of the cost for replacing these assets.
At the end of December, we had $564,198 and at the end of February we had $1,134,888. This reflects dues collected.
The money that has been spent in the last couple months went to the following:
Technology in the office.
New software for the finance part of the office which has helped in reducing the use of paper. We have also spent money on our audit and building expenses.
In the future we hope to send out invoices electronically to reduce cost.
Rebuilt docks, dredge at the marina and worked to improve the floating docks.
Secretary’s Report: Scott Giska
- Request a motion for approval of December 5, 2019 Minutes
Motion made by Robert Starks and seconded by Dave Hafner to approve the December 5, 2019 Meeting Minutes. Motion passed 4-0.
Golf Course Report: Dave Hafner
Golf Course financials thru Feb 2020
Total Revenue $128,038.00
Expenses $61,233.00
Net Income $66,805.00
Community Managers Report: Bruce Keller
- Request for $10,000 Matching Donation Funds for Dog Park.
Motion made by Robert Starks and seconded by Scott Giska to approve the $10,000 matching donation. Motion passed 4-0.
The Dog Park will be located on Fairway Drive. For many years’ residents have been asking for a dog park in Hidden Valley Lake. Our problem has been finding a level location to put it. This park will be adjacent to Hidden Valley Lake and available for our use. $10,000 dollars is a fraction of what it would have cost HVL to build on its own.
Visit our website to hear more of the audio portion on the Dog Park.
Assistant Community Managers Report: Dave Wismann
- Request Approval to sign contract with Shamrock Restoration to replace Willie’s roof. (Total cost is $63,686.81. HVLs out of pocket cost $23, 223.08 Max).
Motion made by Dave Hafner and seconded by Scott Giska to approve the contract with Shamrock Restoration. Motion passed 4-0.
Marina Shelter
Still working on finishing touches. Installed picnic tables.
Upper Beach Bathrooms
Work was begun this winter but stalled due to weather and using all hands with dock reworking.
Docks
Maintenance has been working to add post cubes and an extra row of cubes for each slip. This has involved using a pump to attempt to lower the lake, dredging out the marina area, repurposing materials, installing more support posts, and creating a special rig to lower the plates that support the posts.
Maintenance has also been rebuilding a large floating dock, working with Lakes committee to design. Once the deck is installed, it will be floated to the wall and attached. The work has required all hands for much of the winter.
Next will be the installation concrete handicap parking spaces near the sluice gate. We didn’t want to install them until work was done in that area.
Kayak Racks
A sample rack is being built which will be available for viewing near the sluice gate. We will try to present different placements to find the best for aesthetics and functionality.
Crystal Lake
Maintenance is completing final touches to the Crystal Lake dam, including a spillway. The material has been ordered and will be installed when received.
Pool Committee
Members met on Tuesday, February 11. We have a great working group.
Floors have been finished at the pool and beach bathrooms.
Shade structure has been ordered and it should be in soon.
Golf Course
Bruce and I have been meeting weekly with team members at the golf course as they ramp up for the season. The Board of Governors bought a new restaurant stove and oven for Nicole’s kitchen which was a huge help during a very successful fish fry last week. Fish fries will continue through Lent.
Julie Mason, Lot # 2224H, wanted to know how many kayak racks will be installed. The amount of racks will be determined by how many residents want to rent. The racks can be built quickly and will be built as the request come in.
Lee Steczynski, Lot # 1871, Any progress on the rebuild of RayLynn/Aqua Vista dock? Bruce reported they received a bid at $5200.00 to replace. The dock rents out for $100.00 a year. We are looking to find another way to configure this.
Committee and Club Reports
Architecture Committee Report: Tom Cross
The following Performance Bonds were approved by the Board of Directors at the January 23, 2020 Executive Board Meeting:
Lot # 2398H Molly Bell
Property Address 1383 Golfview Court Bond Amount $500.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
Lot # 2724H Scot Veneman/Nicole Wassler
Property Address 20311 Alpine Drive Bond Amount $500.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
Lot # 1694H Michelle Ray-Meyer
Property Address 1537 Cliftmont Circle Bond Amount $500.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
Lot # 2537H Gordon & Tammy Weis
Property Address 1753 Cove Circle East Bond Amount $500.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
Lot # 1568H Penny Scudder
Property Address 19438 Newcom Knoll Bond Amount $500.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
- Approval of Bond Returns.
Performance Bonds for Return 3/5/2020
Lot # 1918H Joe Isadore
Property Address 19942 Cravenhurst Drive Bond Amount $2000.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
Lot # 2712H Stacey & Brian Feckter
Property Address 20407 Alpine Drive Bond Amount $500.00
City, State, Zip Lawrenceburg, IN 47025 Dues Owed $0
Fine/Fees Owed $0
Signed by Tom Cross, Jesse Jones, Dave Wismann, Dan Tester, and Bob Maudlin.
Motion made by Robert Starks and seconded by Dave Hafner to approve the March 5, 2020 Bond Returns. Motion passed unanimously.
- Approval of Variance — Mike & Mary Russell, Lot 1879H/1880A, 1492 Aqua Vista Drive. Mike and Mary desire a 20’ variance for a fence to contain their dogs. Their neighbors’ input has been received and Architecture will review the request at their March 4 meeting. Architecture will then make a recommendation to the Board of Directors at their March 5 meeting.
Motion made by Robert Starks and seconded by Dave Hafner to approve the 20’ Variance. Motion passed 4-0.
- Request a motion to change the Stop Work Order fine from $100 to $300. (First Reading)
This is a first reading and will be voted on next month after review of emails.
Finance Committee Report: Kyle Packer
No report
Future Planning: Dick Myers
- Request approval of new Future Planning Committee Member, Janis Messer.
Motion made by Robert Starks and seconded by Dave Hafner to approve Janis Messer as a new member of Future Planning. Motion passed 4-0.
FP Committee Membership:
The FP Committee voted to accept Janis Messer as a new Committee member. A POA Board motion is requested to confirm this membership.
The FP Committee voted to accept Tom Plogsted’s resignation.
Ohio Lake Communities Association (OLCA) Conference sponsorship.
The conference will be held Wed, Oct 7 and Thurs, Oct 8 using HVL facilities.
The FP committee is currently working on 1) establishing the conference agenda and identifying agenda speakers, 2) scheduling the locations for guest hotel
accommodations and 3) scheduling the needed HVL sites for meetings and conference meals.
The Committee will be requesting help from POA Committees and Clubs to assure that HVL looks clean and is in good working order.
Community Master Plan maintenance.
Updates to the CMP are being planned and, if acceptable, will include verbiage regarding the goals and objectives for the Hidden Valley Golf Club.
Land Use Plan development and maintenance.
The draft of the Land Use Plan for 2020 has been completed and will be submitted to the POA Board for approval.
POA Communications Systems development.
With the leadership of committee member Rich Gannon, the FP Committee is helping track future high-speed Internet services for HVL and will assist Rich in implementing solutions as they are accepted by the community.
The implementation of On-line Echoes is completed, and community acceptance has been high based on the frequency of people accessing the document. Many thanks to Rich for making this goal a reality.
Development of a fully documented POA Improvement Project Approval Procedure.
An initial draft of the procedure is completed and is currently being updated.
The FP Committee plans to meet with POA Committees and office staff to help in the development of this procedure.
HVL Town Hall Meeting facilitating.
The FP Committee is offering to help facilitate future town hall meetings.
An article will be printed in the March issue of the Echoes requesting ideas for future meetings this year.
By-Laws Maintenance assistance.
The FP Committee is ready to assist any POA organization planning to propose changes to the POA By-laws.
Assistance can be provided in the form of wording suggestions and advice regarding the location of the proposed changes in the By-laws.
Judicial Panel Report: Bruce Plashko
No report
Lakes Committee Report: Dave Patterson
With great sadness Dave reported that Joe Stocker passed away. He was a committee member on Lakes and Parks. Please send your thoughts and prayers to Joe’s family.
Sluice Gate will be closing on Saturday, March 14th.
Lake Treatment Dates are: May 19th, June 23rd and August 11th.
Linda Hartmann is getting together with a group of people to talk about Blue/Green Algae.
John Cody Janszen was present to learn about the dredging program for this summer because his lakefront lot was getting silted in pretty bad due to construction upstream from his lot. We let him know that the dredger would be back this summer and would be on the main lake to do touch ups and special requests from homeowners.
Ken Day was present to see if additional aerators could be added to Lake Holiday, and possibly some could be added to some of the other smaller lakes to help clear up the lakes.
Marina Shelter Update – This project is almost complete. Tables are in and the concrete walkway from the parking lot to the shelter is complete. Need to sod the sloped side and then seed and straw the rest of the area.
Upper Beach Restroom Update – In process. Piping is in the floors and the framing has started. Work on docks has taken manpower away from this project. Hope to complete it in April.
Marina Dock Replacement – Lots of work has been done in the main marina area. All slip fingers have been removed and the center docks lengthened. Most of the slip fingers have been widened to 3 cubes wide with two large poles at the end. The marina was dredged to level out the bottom to keep the metal plates that hold the poles from sliding or tipping when concrete is added to them. We are going to use 60 lb. bags of Sacrete to weigh them down. The original hard docks that were removed from the side of the marina have been stripped and are ready for new surfacing. Concrete pavers were suggested as a potential, but they weigh sixty lbs. apiece. We tested a section of floating docks by putting the proper number of sixty lb. bags of Sacrete on it and floating it (very carefully) just off the ramp. The weight pushed the flotation pods completely under water, about two or three inches below the surface. The concrete pavers won’t work. Several members have suggested other possible surface materials. We will try to check out as many as we can, but we will be under a time crunch to get the docks installed soon. That would force a choice between Trex-type or treated lumber. That would probably be a monetary decision.
Kayak/paddle board/canoe racks – L&P liaison – Eric Fox – Chairman – Ken Horn – Since the lake draw down project doesn’t require anything running down the waterway, we can start to install racks. There will be 6 canoes or paddleboards per rack. They will be at a 45-degree angle from the waterway instead of parallel or perpendicular to the water way.
The cost will be $50.00 per rack per season, which will run with the season for dock rental. There will be no maximum number of racks that a family can rent, but all watercraft on them must be registered and stickered. Subletting of canoe racks will not be allowed. In case a motion was needed to get this approved, Eric made a motion and Gerry seconded it.
Walking trail improvements – Looks like there is new interest in this task. John Getzendanner has spoken with Bruce about work on the trails and paths. Adam Maurer also wondered what we could do to improve the trails and paths. He said he would be interested in helping.
Lake Draw Down Project – The pump installed by the sluice gate hasn’t been able to keep up with the rains and the lake is now not even at normal winter pool. I anticipate this plan will be scrapped and we will have to come up with a new and better plan for next year.
New Docks Update – A proposal was made and an RFQ was issued for replacing the wooden docks at Moeller Park and at Sandamont. Two bids were received, and Dave Haefner had the lowest bid. These docks are now just about complete.
Mechanical Harvesting of Weeds – A couple of members of the committee had found information on a company that used a mechanical device to harvest and dispose of weeds and other plant growth. Ken asked Michael Palmere to attend the meeting and present this concept. It is not the first time the committee has investigated mechanical harvesting. Michael has worked and operated a harvester on Lake Palmyra in Wisconsin. It seemed to work quite well for them. We will need to get more information on exactly how and where it might be used on our main lake. This would be used in conjunction with chemical treatment with the goal of reducing the amount of chemicals used.
Marking for the wall to indicate when the status light is supposed to change. The gauge for that used to be the handicapped dock, but since it isn’t there anymore, a new, visible indicator was needed. See the attached indicator guidelines. The light goes from green to yellow at a different level than when it goes from to yellow to green because as the water is rising and we need to go to yellow, it is usually raining and there is no or minimal boat traffic. When the water just started to go over the handicap dock, we changed the light to yellow. When the water is receding, the weather is usually much better and boaters are waiting for the light to go to green so that they can get going again. We need to let the water recede a bit so that docks and shorelines aren’t damaged, so the point to turn the light from yellow to green is about 6 inches lower. This used to be the bottom edge of the handicap dock.
Julie Mason, Lot # 2224, asked about a question she saw on social media. The post was about the tennis courts needing to be re-surfaced. She wanted to know if there was any truth to this post. Bruce Keller said that the courts will be re-surfaced in the spring, along with the basketball court.
A resident asked if there could be new rims and more lighting put in around the basketball courts. During basketball season kids would like to practice basketball after the sun goes down. Bruce felt this was a reasonable request.
Rich Mischell, Lot # 1877, asked if Lake Patrol could stay out on the lake when the light is red and the lake is too high to stop people from tubing or boating that could be in danger. Dave Patterson reminded Rich that the light could be red for many different reason, not just high water. Dave did agree that this was worth more discussion.
You can hear more discussion on this by going to our website and listening to the audio portion.
Safety, Security & Elections Committee Report: Bonnie Starks
- Request approval of new Safety, Security and Elections Committee Member, Mark Smith.
Motion made by Dave Hafner and seconded by Scott Giska to approve Mark Smith as a new member of Safety, Security and Elections. Motion passed 4-0.
Our committee had a meeting this past Tuesday, March 3rd.
We are very pleased to announce a new member, Mark Smith.
Mark was unanimously voted in during our January meeting.
He attended three meetings.
Bruce Keller and Dave Wismann provided important information
concerning the beach wall, beach disability access, HVL Board
Election status, our docks, the annual POA BOARD MEETING, and
the Deputy’s Report.
Under New Business, school bus violations were noticed and
reported to Dave. There was discussion concerning the
need for additional posting of Board Election rules and
deadlines. We agreed that the committee would take this
up in more detail in May. I will keep you informed of
our progress.
Julie Mason, Lot # 2224, mentioned that the census is coming up, they will have people going door to door. She wanted to know how HVL will handle this. The board said that since this is Federal, HVL will have to comply.
Phil Heitz, Lot # 2730, there has been some reports that there are scammers going around taking surveys. The group that will be handling the census should have a badge ID. Bruce is always notified when the census will begin.
Civic Club Report: Steve Siereveld
Winter Mingle had a great turn out with around 125-150 people.
March 7th – Trivia Night at Willie’s starting at 6:00pm. The cost is $12.50 a person, $100.00 a table. First place prize will be $250.00.
March 21st – Goodwill Throw Back Prom at the Golf Club. Music from the 70s, 80s, 90s will be played. The cost is $5.00 a person.
April 4th – Keenland Trip. This cost is $50.00 a person. This year you will travel in a tour bus.
June – Family Beach night every Friday Night
June, July and August Adult Pool parties starting at 8:00pm-Midnight.
June or July there will be a raft day on the Lake.
August 1st – Luau
September 5th – Labor Day Bash
October 24th – Halloween Dance
Old Business:
None
New Business:
Phil Heitz, Lot # 2730, wanted to know if anyone was monitoring the Covid-19 Virus. The Board will take lead from Dearborn County on the Virus.
Adjournment: 8:34 pm
Motion to adjourn made by Robert Starks and seconded by Scott Giska.
Minutes Prepared by Gina
Minutes published in this paper are abbreviated and a full account can be heard online at www.hiddenvalleylakeindiana.com