Potawatomi Property Owners, Assoc. PPOA 2026 Island Lake Road Barnes, WI 54873 Apply Postage Here
Manager s Memo 2014 will definitely be a year to be remembered. The season started very cold with frozen water pipes and snow on the ground on opening day. The board seized the opportunity and replaced years of patch work plumbing with new pex tubing and air valves so the cabins can be blown out as opposed to gravity drained. We then proceeded to bring in a huge dumpster and clean cabins. Thanks to board members Jim Lancour and Roberta DeLizio who spent several days helping me and cleaning crew Dick and Judy Larson hauling out broken toilets, water heaters, junk lumber and other trash. Special thanks to our cleaning crew, Dick and Judy Larson. Several guests commented that this was the cleanest they have seen the island and cabins in years. We continued through the summer replacing screens, broken windows and minor repairs as needed. Our new online reservation system had some delays, but overall worked very well. The new cleaning deposit policy was a huge success with only two guests being charged for minor cleaning. Our Discover Potawatomi picnic event sponsored by Firewise was a huge success with one of the largest crowds in recent history. My thanks to my wife, Barb, and Judy Larson for a great picnic feast of chicken, pulled pork, salads and much, much, more. Thanks to board members Jim Lancour and Roberta DeLizio and volunteers Wade Juntenan, Dick Larson and Tom and Janeatte Labadie for their help in rebuilding the screen porch and working the event. Thanks also to Tom for his guitar solos during the event. At our annual property owners meeting in August, we lost our secretary Mary Sorenson. Mary did a great job and will be missed. Richard Tello was appointed to the board for one year and Nancy Collyard was elected President. I moved from President to Managing Director. This fall we began two of three capital improvement projects. The first is a new roof and remodel of the Caretaker cabin. This will be available for rental this spring. The second project is the removal of the bat guano and minor remodel of the Wannigan. This will include ceiling replacement, new stove and some painting. This will also be completed this spring. The third project will be the new dock floor on the swim beach dock. In closing 2014, I thank the board, our sponsors, our cleaning team, and all of the volunteers for their help and generosity that made 2014 such a success. We have gone from 8 to 14 sponsors and encourage our owners to patronize and thank them. We are very excited and optimistic that 2015 promises to be even more successful. There will be a survey included with your assessment notice and we hope you will participate in helping to shape our future success. Looking forward to working with you this year. Vern Wilcox Managing Director
The President's Corner This year has been very eventful. It started with problems with frozen pipes on the Island. Part of the problem was with the extremely cold weather and part of the problem was with the drainage of the plumbing in 2013. Rasmussen plumbing did extensive repairs that not only fixed the problem, but also updated the plumbing. They also drained the pipes this fall. A "map" of all the plumbing will be drawn up by Vern Wilcox, so that future boards will always have full knowledge about all of the plumbing. Dick and Judy Larson's services were contracted for handyman services. After the initial spring cleaning, expenses for cleaning were kept low because of the cleaning policy with the cabin rentals. Two new board members were elected at the annual meeting. They are Heather Dircks and Rick Tello. Heather will not be able to serve because of family commitments and Rick agreed to a one year term. This leaves an immediate need for one board member. We will then need two members to be elected at the annual meeting. The new board made the decision to hire Vern Wilcox as the manager for PPOA. His salary will be $1,000 a month. His job description includes - Create and maintain a data system to manage the finances and assessments; manage the rentals; manage the checking and savings accounts and submit reports to the board; meet with the accountant and lawyer as needed; coordinate the budget and capital improvements; and handle minor repairs with the help of the handyman. All of the dealings with the contractors will also involve the vice president Jim Lancour and then be brought to the board as a whole. Bobbie DeLizio is the PPOA treasurer and all PPOA checks will have two signatures. Vern is on the board as a non voting member. Having a manager makes it a lot easier to be a board member. Please remember this at the annual meeting when we need new board members. One of the benefits of being an assessment paying member of PPOA is having use of the island. In order to relieve congestion and restrict illegal us of the Potawatomi facilities, the board has elected to issue parking permits to all property owners who are current on their assessments. Upon receipt of 2015 assessments, a parking permit will be sent back as receipt of paid assessments. Property owners renting on the island or campground will be issued temporary permits for their guests for the duration of their rental. Vehicles with no permits will be towed at the owner's expense. We would like to thank the Pittman family who made a very gracious donation of $119,000. The present board would like to set this aside for capital improvements, not day to day operations. Sincerely, Nancy Collyard
PPOA Moving Forward One of the many upgrades we are planning for 2015 will be our new improved web site. You can access the web site by going into your browser and typing in www.potawatomipropertyowners.com You can then click on one of the many windows to access a number of functions. About Potawatomi will give you a brief history of PPOA as well as a contact e-mail for inquiries. You will also be able to view the latest copies of the drumbeat. As mailing costs continue to rise, if you are able and willing to receive your Drumbeat newsletter by e-mail, hit the Contact Us box and let us know if you are willing to do that. Moving forward that will help to support our web site by saving hundreds of dollars in mailing costs. As we build the web site we are looking at a number of options to benefit our property owners such as: A pay pal system that will allow owners to pay for cabin and campground reservations on line. A Friends of Potawatomi e-mail data base that will keep your friends and guests up to date on special events in Potawatomi. A real estate section showing property available in Potawatomi for people interested in buying or selling real estate in Potawatomi. A special events section showing photos and notices of past and future events coming to Potawatomi. We hope to offer this service to our sponsors as well so they can advertise coupon specials or special events for their businesses. The web site is currently under construction and should be up in time for reservations on February 1 st. If there are any questions or problems please feel free to contact me at (715) 795-2542 or e-mail me at wilcoxvf@msn.com. We welcome your thoughts or suggestions. Vern Wilcox, Managing Director