President's Corner
We are nearing the end of our fiscal year and the budget is in good shape. Dredging, a major consideration impacting our reserve funds, probably will not be permitted because of state of Michigan regulatory requirements, but there are other options we might pursue. Bubblers for muck reduction are currently under evaluation at Lake Leann.
The year was most notable because of our weeds that were healthy and prolific due in large part to the warm weather. We started the season by integrating the services of our Plant Control Consultant with our chemical applicator, but experienced late applications for all our treatments not totally under our control. Late treatments are unacceptable because the biomass is high and the treatments occurred after seed drop that is the precursor of next year's weed crop. We plan to avoid these problems in the future by documenting and pursuing a weed control plan before the start of the next season.
We plan to pursue two important issues, property rights and Bylaws and Restrictive Covenants, over the next few years to help us manage the association more efficiently.
Property and property rights abuses have been an ongoing problem from the past because if we do not enforce our rules and regulations we are accepting a violation that is equivalent to providing a privilege to the violator for breaking the law. This has been an increasing problem because existing violations have become justification for violations by others. We must have rules and regulations that are enforced; that may require modifying what we have, adding others and informing the members of state and township ordinances that are also impacting. However, the state and township ordinances that supersede or duplicate ours can carry stiff and immediate penalties and can be applied by the authorities with a phone call from a member or from the board. We will be providing you information on rules, regulations, ordinances and suggested changes for your information and suggestions for improvements. We will need membership approval on this subject.
Our bylaws and restrictive covenants need to be changed for better ease of use and communication; corrected due to changes in the law, avoiding attorneys fees, court costs and wasted time; incorporation of legal documents and property purchases that were not originally included in LSPOA; and, we hope, to provide one set of Restrictive Covenants and By-Laws for the Lake Somerset Development rather than the six subdivisions that we now have.
Our sister lakes, Leann and Columbia, have either completed this change or are near completion. Background on this can be found on the websites, www.lakeleann.org and www.lakecolumbia.net under the key words, rules and regulations, bylaws, and restrictions. These websites contain valuable information for us and will give you a good idea of the size of the task. We will need 50+% approvals from the membership before these efficiencies, bylaws and restrictive covenants can be implemented.
Albert L. Hoffmanner
President
Annual Meeting
Sunday,
October 3
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