Lake Matinenda Cottage Owners Association Board Meeting
Feb. 2, 2012
Meeting began at 1pm
Attending: Jim and Linda Hamilton, Laure Olsen, Ed Pilon and Robin Schellekens
Absent: Dave Hall, Caroline Bledsoe, Ron Servatius and Dick Brennan
I. News Letter
Pres. E. Pilon announced that Chris Brandt, who has generously put together the Association for a number of years, resigned this month. Her efforts have been much appreciated and will be greatly missed.
R. Schellekens and E. Pilon will price the cost of printing this years Newsletter in both Elliot Lake and Rochester, Michigan. Once the better price is determined, 250 copies of the newsletter will be run off. To save additional money , the newsletter will continued to be mailed to Canadian and American members from within their respective borders.
R. Schellekens will attain and print out the required Avery Address Labels.
Pres. E. Pilon stated that the 2013 newsletters will be co-created by the Board, rather than a volunteer.
II. Dues and Membership
There was a great deal of discussion regarding membership numbers within the Association. Last summer, there was some discussion of an actual formal “Membership Drive”, and a Membership Committee was created. Pres. E. Pilon’s directive to send paper copies of the 2012 Newsletter to all lake residents, was part of this initiative.
There was some discussion regarding reported discomfort of residents who were approached/encouraged/questioned at social functions and over the CB. The Board agreed that if necessary there could be a further discussion of this, as well as the inclusion of various groups as Associative Members, at the spring Board meeting when more or all Board Members were present.
L. Olsen stated that the Cookbook, Fish Derby, Family Fun Day and the installation of the new Information Sign would all be a catalyst for membership. J. Hamilton and Pres. E. Pilon felt that a formal membership drive was unnecessary at this time.
Pres. E. Pilon reminded the board: That in the future, as was passed at the November Mini-meeting, that dues will only be solicited and collected at the Annual Meeting, by mail or by the Dock Attendants. The actual money may collected only by the Treasurer and/or President. With respect to both privacy and professionalism, no dues will be collected at any social events, by individual Board Members or discussed over the CB radio.
III. Garbage
There appears to be some issues regarding garbage pick-up over the winter months. It is thought that local garbage, perhaps that of residents of Hwy. 557 and surrounding areas, is being gathered and placed within the Matinenda Garbage Bins to await pick-up on Thursdays. As a result, these bins are at times overflowing, sometimes for several days in a row. It was suggested that the Board approach town about this issue.
J. Hamilton was told that the garbage trucks will not be sent out if the road is unsafe. However, as this was a very light winter, it is thought that this was not the reason for this problem.
Pres. E. Pilon asked R. Schellekens to place this in the agenda items when she re-writes Mayor Jensen to request a meeting on lake topics.
IV. Children’s Rock Bass Tournament
J. Hamilton reported that he has already been approached by a number of people and businesses asking when they may make their prize or monetary donations.
R. Schellekens gave packets containing up-dated copies of the flier, donation letter, Potential Donor List, Previous Donor list and the 2010 press release, to everyone. Four names were added to the Potential Donor List. J. Hamilton will review the information in the packet to determine if any additions or changes are needed.
It was determined that the Request for Donations Letters will be sent out at the end of May or beginning of June and that follow up visits will occur 2 -3 weeks later.
V. The Information Sign for the Welcome Hut
R. Schellekens was able to find an even better constructed and better priced sign than the
one originally identified. It is being sold by Alphabet Signs. (See attached)
L. Hamilton will give R. Schellekens a check for $460, at which point she will order the sign. It should arrive by early May at the latest.
Pres. E. Pilon informed the board that Cliff had generously built an additional new bulletin board, which the Association will place on the other side of the center pillar within the Welcome Hut.
VI. Dumping Issues at the Welcome HutIn response to earlier discussions regarding the continued dumping of household goods, R. Schellekens created a possible sign for the Welcome Hut that states “ If you don’t want it….chances are nobody else does either! Please, take it to the dumpster or give it to charity, but DON’T LEAVE IT HERE!” There is a humor cartoon figure dragging a cardboard box full of various items such as a TV, Lamp, picture frame and parrot.The Board felt that is was appropriate and asked that R. Schellekens have several printed off in a larger size on bright colored paper. These will then be laminated or framed and displayed in and on the Welcome Hut.
VII. Meeting with Town Officials
Pres. E. Pilon informed the Board that a letter had been sent, approximately a month ago, to both Mayor Jensen and Councilman Solomon requesting a meeting to discuss the progress on various lake issues. There has been no reply. He then asked R. Schellekens to resend the letter, this time to Mayor Jensen, Councilman Solomon and Councilman Kennedy. She will do that Feb. 22, 2012.
R. Schellekens had created and then shared two separate Time Lines of the Board and Town’s interactions regarding the Dock Attendants Duties and the Dock and Seawall issues. R. Schellekens stated that she carefully read through and then cut and pasted in exact quotes any mention of these subjects within the minutes of Town Council and the town’s Marina Committee for the last three years.
She pointed out that the Town appeared to have set the “Strategic Plan” for this upcoming year, which includes predicted budget expenses, and that Lake Matinenda was NOT mentioned. She added that she is concerned as the repair of the docks, and the hoped for repair or replacement of the seawall were somewhat costly items, and that if no money had been earmarked for them they seemed not likely to occur. She went on to remind the Board that the town had hired engineers to examine and design a new seawall system as far back as 2003 and that that project was just one of the promised improvements that was slated to occur when Lake Matinenda agreed to be annexed to the Town of Blind River. At that time, the damage was much less severe and did not present the very real danger to both people and the environment that it does currently. As the Town has a new mayor and several new council members, she suggested that the Board present this information formally and ask that the Association be placed on the agenda allowed to present the problem at a Town Council Meeting.
Pres. E. Pilon suggested that they wait to see what happened in the proposed meeting with the Mayor and Councilman. R. Schellekens agreed, but asked the Board to read both Time-lines carefully and that she would continue to collect data for an informational packet from the Association’s Archives.
VIII. The Cookbook
Pres. E. Pilon asked R. Schellekens if she had any update from Nancy Harz regarding the printing and/or printing cost for the upcoming cookbook. She stated that C. Bledsoe had reported that N. Harz was currently in Florida, but that she knew that Nancy had been checking into the cost of printing the book in Canada. Thus far, those costs were much higher than what could be done in the States. She suggested that R. Schellekens email N. Harz directly for more details. Pres. Pilon agreed and asked that R. Schellekens do that and ask N. Harz to email he and/or L. Hamilton directly. R. Schellekens will do that Feb. 22, 2012.
Pres. Pilon again asked if the board felt sure that 250-300 cookbooks would sell. All the Board members present were confident that they would and mentioned that they were all planning on ordering more than one a piece themselves, as were most people they’d spoken to. It was also noted that the Museum and one or two other businesses had stated they would be happy to sell them for the Association as well.
IX. Additional Items
R. Schellekens shared that one or more members had approached C. Bledsoe about having a simple First Aid class at the landing. Both she and C. Bledsoe thought it was a good idea. Pres. Pilon asked that the request be sent on a suggestion for Family Fun Day. R. Schellekens will add that to the email to N. Harz.
L.Olsen informed the Board that the “Bottle Stealer” was at work again, removing bottles from the Animal Rescue Bin. L. Hamilton asked if this could be reported to the police. It has been in the past, but no action had been taken as far as anyone knew. J. Hamilton said he thought the bin was still on public property, which might be a problem, because it was on the East side of the pole that marks that line. R. Schellekens suggested that perhaps the wood box be made lockable and then a circle cut, with a stiff plastic membrane, that would allow the passage of bottles into the bin but make it more difficult to remove them without unlocking the box. L. Olsen wondered if that might cause breakage problems. Pres. Pilon ended the discussion saying that he really didn’t see what the Association could do.
J. Hamilton motioned that the meeting come to an end. L. Hamilton seconded and the meeting ended at 2:45.