The board meeting began with the open
mic for property owners. Prior to the comments the reporter Bob
Bagleman (sp) was addressed by Bonnie Marron
and Tracy Carter regarding inaccurate
negative reporting of our meetings including mis-quotes. He was asked
to sit with those calling him in to our association. One of the
naysayers complained about Bob not being allowed to simply enter our
community. It appears they are calling him in to hear their
complaints during their moment in the sun during the public comments.
There is no problem having him here as long as his reporting is
accurate and not slanted to the views of the few naysayers in
attendance. Our community does a lot of good things and the reporting
needs to be balanced.
One of the naysayers related some
complaints about our new garbage service, most of which had already
been addressed with Roscoe disposal. The complaints to the office
have stopped so the start-up problems seem to be smoothing out.
Another of the Naysayers told me they didn't want to be called
Naysayers any more. As you can see, the name is sticking not only
here but I am hearing them called that in other conversations. The
name is a good one they once embraced when I started using it. It is
hard to shake an accurate descriptive phrase.
Jim Brefeld
asked why the garbage haulers don't pick up both sides of the street
at once rather than two trips down the street. Roscoe Disposal says
it is a safety issue, not wanting one of their drivers to get hit
going back and forth. Good question though, Jim.
Rich Devries
mentioned his disappointment with the Grill failing. He also hopes
with a new major business being built within miles of Candlewick we will find a way to promote our community to them and
possibly have new homeowners take a look at what we have to offer.
Employee service awards were handed
out to Kevin Aten and Matt
Studt for five years of service in our Public Safety
department.
The financial condition of Candlewick
is still strong. Our combined reserves and operating accounts total
$3,665,823.35 but as I always mention, reserves are for special
projects like roads and equipment replacement and the operating side
is used to run our association throughout the year. Noncollectable
debt in the amount of $1,063.72 was written off due mainly to
foreclosures and bankruptcies. Jeff Lutzow,
our treasurer, also reported to date we are to the good in the amount
of $46,876 compared to our budget so that is a good thing.
Resolutions were passed to spend a
little over $900.00 to repair two lake aerator pumps, to affirm the
rules for the upcoming board election, to replace the G.M.s
workstation for $422.98 since the current one is not repairable, have
our gym floor re-sealed for a cost of $1,250.00 which extends the
time period for a complete resanding and refinishing by three years,
and to fund the lake watershed plan at a cost projected to be $13,660
for our share of the $83,333.00 grant (more on this later). Due to
the gym resealing it will need to be closed for four or five days
after the first of the year to dry and set up.
After a legal opinion was obtained it
was decided to vote the Candlewick owned lots in the CC&R
revision tally.
Rich Witt
has spent a huge number of hours personally developing two walking
trails below the dam in the wooded area. I have walked one of the
trails and it is beautiful. Chuck Corso made the motion to have a sign calling
it the “WITT TRAIL” and the motion passed unanimously. He
deserves the recognition and the naming came as a surprise to him.
The board agreed to a new open forum
policy change. The two minute limit per speaker is proving to be too
short a period so going forward there will be a five minute time
limit per speaker with only one opportunity to speak during the open
period. There will be no gifting of minutes. Anyone wishing to speak
should sign in and they will be called in the order they signed in
until the half hour is completed. As a suggestion, speakers may want
to have their comments in writing so if the time runs out for
speakers the comments can still go to the board in written form.
As a little further comment on the
expenditure for the watershed planning, when we first were brought
this proposal I was against it because it did nothing to physically
start the lake remedial process but as further information came
forward I learned in order to apply for future grant opportunities we
would have to have a plan with solutions in order to apply for the
60/40 grants. We must move forward with upstream watershed plans or
our lake will continue to have worsening problems. Yes, we can use
alum treatments, dredging, and other short term solutions but it is
more cost effective to stop the loading from upstream in the
watershed. I do not like spending money but we must take care of our
lake at all costs or our community will pay the price in property
values as well as the general usability and aesthetics of our lake.
The lake management commission knows this and after extensive
meetings and research so does the board. This, in my opinion, must be
done and the dues will reflect that. Karl
Steiskal has been doing further research on the plan and after
speaking with a retired biologist that oversaw many Wisconsin lakes
he reported the plantings will do little to help our lake but the
watershed areas are the areas that can filter our water if handled
correctly. Comments were made commending Karl for his research.
As I always point out, these are
simply my notes from the meeting and are not official minutes. Please
watch the Candlewick Paper for the approved meeting minutes. This
report is given strictly to keep you current on community issues and
actions.
Ken Dillenburg