Lake Arrowhead News September 2016 LAPOA Board of Directors President and Roads support: Ron Race Jr. rracejr@aol.com Vice President, Range Planning, Technology, Website support: Dwayne Crocker dwaynecrocker@comcast.net Secretary, Communications, and Webmaster: Mary Davignon mkdavignon@gmail.com Treasurer & Collections Chairperson: Judy Race randjrace@aol.com Minerals (Gas Wells) Chairperson : Dave Johnston verndave1@hotmail.com Building Control Chairperson: Nelson Wheaton nitawh56@gmail.com Pool Chairperson, Parliamentarian, By-laws, Historian Support: Ron Race Sr. rracesr@aol.com Campground Chairperson: Marcia Schick deno481950@yahoo.com Roads and Maintenance Chairperson, Long Range Planning Support: Chris Speen Chris@twinoakslandscape.biz Parliamentarian Chairperson; By-laws, Historian, Forestry support: Connie Stubli connie@gaylordlaw.com Real-estate Chairperson; Collections Support; Parks, Recreation, Lakes, & Safety Support: Dana Stubli danafrancis14@gmail.com Parks, Recreation, Lakes, & Safety Chairperson Kyle Stubli kstubli80@hotmail.com Environmental & Zoning Chairperson; Collections Support: Anita Wheaton nitawh56@gmail.com Forestry Chairperson & Social Committee Chairperson: Brook James Winiger winiger3@hotmail.com To all board members: Board@lapoa.com Email to Office Staff: LAPOAoffice@gmail.com Additional contact information is posted at the bulletin boards and under Contacts on our website: WEBSITE: www.lapoa.com LAPOA Office: 231-585-7411 Take advantage of the LAPOA drop box located on the mailbox building for payments and for correspondence to LAPOA. LAPOA 7065 Arrowroot Trail Gaylord, MI 49735 Meetings and Special Events Halloween: The LAPOA Halloween Trick or Treat hayride and party will take place on Saturday, October 15 th, 2016. Children will meet at the Maintenance Garage at noon in costume. From there they will be taken around the neighborhood to collect their treats. A Pot-luck lunch and games will follow at either the Maintenance Garage or the Pavilion depending on the weather. See Nextdoor and Facebook for updates. Patti Gates is once again leading the festivities. Please call or text her at 989-370-1599 to volunteer or to notify her that you will be passing out candy. Board of Directors Meetings October 1, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. in Office Building December 3, 2016 at 9:00 a.m. in Office Building February 4, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. in Office Building May 6, 2017 at 9:00 a.m. in Office Building Annual Membership Meeting: July 1, 2017 10:00 a.m. at the Pavilion. Board Meeting: The first meeting of 2017-2018 board will take place in the Office Building immediately after the election votes are counted. Picnic: July 1, 2017 at 2:00 p.m. at the Pavilion. Beverages, burgers, hot dogs, and paper products are provided. Members are asked to bring a dish to share and lawn chairs. Campground Meeting: May 27, 2017 at 10:00 in the Campground. Campground Bottle Drive: All season long! Be sure to empty your mailboxes daily. The parcel boxes fill fast, especially around the holidays!
Our Pool Wow, did this summer fly by quickly. Your pool was the happening place this summer! Members enjoyed the refurbished pool, bath house, showers, hot water heater, lounge chairs, etc. The Pool Managers are already busy making arrangements and preparing for the annual closing following the Labor Day weekend. I have received dozens (maybe a 100 or more) of compliments and accolades for the outstanding appearance and cleanliness of your pool. It s welcome praise and so nice to hear. I am like a proud papa when it comes to our beautiful pool. There are many people behind the scenes that make it all possible. Particularly the management team of Judy Race and Veronica Johnston. I also want to thank our Board of Directors for their continued support of Lake Arrowhead s most precious man-made amenity. Finally, a special thank you to the members who willingly step up and take ownership of their pool. When we unfortunately had a few times where someone was silly enough to actually bring glass products onto the pool deck or into the pool, members quickly addressed it and had the hazard removed. Endangering anyone, but particularly the children, is unacceptable. Please remember for next year, as posted No Pets, No Glass, No Food on the pool deck. There are picnic tables just outside the pool fence for your enjoyment where you can monitor the activity of the pool. We do not have lifeguards on duty so be sure to watch vigilantly and stay within reach of children while they are in the pool and on deck. Looking forward to seeing you around the neighborhood. -Submitted by Ron Race Pool Chairman Parks Park fences and playground equipment received a fresh coat of paint this year. They look great! Thank you Kyle Stubli for overseeing this big project. Real Estate Quite a few properties in Lake Arrowhead have sold in the past year and we can now welcome many new members. Members typically list homes for sale with local realtors. Otsego County owns several vacant parcels in Lake Arrowhead. Some of these are available now; some others will go to auction in October. All LAPOA property owners are members of the Association. Members in good standing may use our amenities including the Campground, lake, pool, and trails! This is a great place to live and to play, so tell your friends and family.
Financial Report: Budget: To date, over 81% of our members have paid their 2016 regular assessments. We are half way through the 2016-2017 fiscal year and most of our expenses are holding close to budget. We did have a sizeable unexpected expense to repair several roads that washed out during the heavy rain storm in July. Gas Well income is again coming in lower than the previous fiscal year by about 35%. Trash pickup is still a large expense to our Association, we are on track to have the same number of pickup s as last year. Each time Waste Management changes out the compactor container, (currently 26 times per year), the cost is $913. It is very important that everyone follows the rules of household refuse only, no construction/building materials, furniture, TV s, oversized items, etc. Cameras have been installed to help stop illegal dumping. With the recycle collection site conveniently located on Hayes Tower, we can all help to cut costs by recycling. Reserve Fund: The first billing for the reserve fund was March of this year. To date we collected almost $40,000 this year. After expenses to date, we have approximately $70,000 in the reserve fund. Collections: Year to date, we have collected over $30,000 in previous year assessments and late fees. For our members who have past due balances, we try to work out payment arrangement. However, we are continuing the small claims court process to collect on past due assessments on members that make no effort or refuse to comply with their legal responsibilities. More members are taking advantage of the new option of paying by credit card. Any member with a past due balance should reach out to the office to work out a payment plan. -Submitted by Judy Race, Treasurer Propane Lock-in Rate For LAPOA members who have propane piped to their homes, Amerigas has set the price of Propane at $1.459 through July 31, 2017. This will be a fixed price for the entire year and will not fluctuate with the market. Also, there will be no lock in fees for the fixed rate. The meter fee will remain unchanged at $1.00/month. Attention Landlords! Your tenants and guests do not receive LAPOA mailings. Please be sure that they are aware of our website, www.lapoa.com, and our Association rules and expectations. The website is very helpful to newcomers since most questions about Lake Arrowhead, utilities, and county services are answered on the site. We want to be a welcoming community. Too often the complaints we receive are because guests did not know our rules, where to park etc. All residents, including full-time resident leaseholders are welcome to join the Lake Arrowhead Nextdoor site: www.nextdoor.com.
We had a beautiful day for our annual Membership Meeting and picnic and it wasn t just about sitting and eating! Campground As our summer comes to a close we see our campers closing up and winterizing their campers. We were fortunate to have had a great camping season ending with a successful Labor Day weekend. Our new pavilion was enjoyed by many campers. It was partially funded by the pop can donation money. Thank you to all of you campers and LAPOA members who generously donated bottles and cans. Thanks also to the many campers who were willing to help with various little projects around the campground this summer. Have a healthy winter and we hope to see you all again next year. Thank you again. -Marcia Schick, Campground Chairperson Campground Pavilion
Down Memory Lane. In the last Newsletter, I mentioned that Al Lancaster s (former board president/board member) daughter had donated her father s Lake Arrowhead files. I have enjoyed reviewing all of these old papers and will soon have them in some kind of order where the membership can review them. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you an excerpt from the Lake Arrowhead News and Views of Your Lake Fall 1967 newsletter: The Arrowhead teenagers all agree the summer of 1967 was REAL GROOVIE. Everyday from the 4 th til Labor Day something was doing. The motor scooters, motor bikes, and sport cars gave the caretaker, Marv Springgay, nightmares repairing the road divots. Something new was added this year a real old fashion Hay Ride. Farmer Sanders supplied the hay and the wagon, Bob Tice the tractor. Water skiing was much more popular with Jenks, Schugs, Thibodeaus and Mohrs the main enthusiast. Ed Carpenter s boy was busy decreasing the bull frog population and featuring frog legs on the weekly menu. Mary Peele filled in as life guard on weekends and the pool soon became the social headquarters for the younger set. The Nunn and Lancaster families alone filled most of the dating service with the Schult s close behind. Skip Gira took up golf and is trying to beat his dad, George, and Art Aubry. Friday and Saturday nights at the Lodge were real swingers, with pizza, popcorn, and coke parties; card playing, dancing, and just fireplace watching the order for the night. Of course, a trip into Gaylord, the Chalet, or the movies turned some of the gang on! I hope you enjoyed reading this little blast from the past (especially those of you who have been members since the beginning of our Association)! -Connie Stubli, Historian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We Remember with love Sue Fuller, past President and long-time Secretary for Lake Arrowhead passed away peacefully on July 22, 2016. Sue will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother and dear friend to many. She was a great blessing to our community and we extend our sincere sympathy to her husband Gary, their three children, and to all the family.
Security Cameras and Wifi LAPOA is now monitoring and recording images from motion activated cameras at the dumpster area and (after hours) at the pool. Photos are stored in the Cloud for up to 30 days. When necessary, images can be downloaded to help us to identify illegal dumpers, vandals, and trespassers. Images will not be broadcast but may be used to prosecute criminals. Currently, three board members have access to the security cameras and their images. Please help us to cut costs and deter illegal dumping. Spread the word that our new SECURITY CAMERAS ARE NOW OPERATIONAL! In addition, the free Lake Arrowhead wifi signal now covers the Office-Main Park area, the Campground, and the Maintenance Building areas. Look for the Lakearrowheadwifi signal. No password is required. Thank you to our technology chairperson, Dwayne Crocker for his expertise and hard work on these projects. Thanks also to Ron Race Sr. for his assistance. Roads- Although it has been somewhat of a dry summer, the storms that we have had produced heavy rains and some of these have taken a heavy toll on the roads. We will continue to repair effected areas but please be careful at all times especially after or during heavy rains. In addition, please obey the 25mph speed limit when traveling our roads. When driving off road vehicles such as side by sides, dirt bikes, and quads please obey the speed limit and STOP signs, and do not tear up the roads. We have plenty of trails that you can ride. Thank you. Lake- As you all know the lake is continuing to rise and based on our lake quality report, we have a healthy lake. We did find a few phragmites, these will be sprayed in the fall (Huron Pines will be doing the work). Remember that the containment area is closed and is very dangerous. Please do not attempt to even go near the area. -Submitted by Chris Speen Communications- We try to keep members apprised of Lake Arrowhead news and issues through our website www.lapoa.com, social media sites, newsletters and (to a lesser extent) the bulletin boards. Lake Arrowhead now has 137 members on Nextdoor, our Lake Arrowhead-only social media site. Members and LAPOA residents may join by going to www.nextdoor.com and register using your Lake Arrowhead address. Hundreds of members, past members, and friends see our Lake Arrowhead Facebook page each week. To access, you must have a Facebook account. News of interest and crucial updates are posted on Nextdoor and on Facebook. Newsletters: I have received several requests during the past year to include advertisements in our Association newsletters. Ads will help defray the costs associated with our newsletter and give our local businesses an opportunity to increase their visibility to our members. The board has agreed, so we are accepting ads beginning with this newsletter. Our newsletters come out each year in September, March, and June. All three newsletters are posted on our website s News You Can Use page. See www.lapoa.com. Only the June newsletter is printed and mailed to our members. In June 2016 we mailed 704 newsletters to members. If you would like to advertise your business in the next Lake Arrowhead News, please submit your business card with a check made out to LAPOA for $100. I will scan your card and include it in the newsletters for one year. For now we will limit the number of ads to the first ten advertisers and we reserve the right to refuse ads. Ads for our March newsletter must be received by February 10, 2017. Please place your envelope with your business card and your $100 check in the LAPOA drop-box at the Mailbox building, or mail to: LAPOA, Attention: Newsletter 7065 Arrowroot Trail Gaylord, MI 49735 -Mary Davignon, Communications Chairperson
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