Another great summer has come to an end and soon we’ll be enjoying the beautiful foliage, which is part of my favorite Waubeeka season – FALL!
New Board Members:
I’d like to welcome Jonathan Zwang and Pat King to the Board.
Jonathan will be focusing on all our technology needs which includes a comprehensive review of our current and future data requirements. We are very close to moving off of our current database, which has served our community for the last 5+ years and will be migrating to a Microsoft Cloud solution.
Thanks to Lois Yager who put in dozens of hours over the past year working on a new database solution and handing it over to Jonathan who will bring us across the finish line.
In addition, our Financial Data (Quickbooks), Security Database (Microsoft Access), Maintenance tracking and reporting (which is currently tracked on numerous spreadsheets), will be reviewed for possible consolidation to ensure that we maintain consistent and accurate data that can be shared across our various operational areas. LWA historical documents will continue to be scanned into digital archives and placed on a secure site.
Pat will be taking over Sandy Kewley’s role as LWA’s Recording Secretary.
The Board would like to thank Sandy, who after spending a number of years on our Board, will be leaving our community shortly to move to Tennessee and we’re sorry to see her go!
Dave Zwang has also stepped down from the Board after 30 years of truly dedicated service but will continue to support our Water Maintenance (Drinking Water) reporting to the Board.
Lois Yager who has done a great job as LWA’s Corresponding Secretary, will be tackling a review of all of our operational areas to update and finalize “Policies and Procedures” to help document our processes, related contracts and costs. Having this documented will help with any future Board transitions and provide continuity.
Dan Schwartz will be our new Corresponding Secretary while retaining his Septic responsibilities.
Lake Management will be moved to our Lake Committee that will be co-chaired by Jesse Uhrman and Darren Capote. Jesse has spent many years on the Board as both President and Board member and has extensive historical knowledge of our Lake. Darren, aside from being an avid sport fishing expert, has been instrumental in identifying key risk areas that will be incorporated into our overall Lake Management Plan.
There has been much discussion and strategy planning on Lake Management priorities and as previously reported, we have a better view of how our lake is doing based on completing our Fish, Aquatic and Invasive Species review. We are now in discussions with a number of Lake Management Companies to ensure that we continue to have visibility into our Lake’s eco-system while leveraging the critical testing data we have collected over the years.
In regard to our Lake & Shoreline, I’d like to acknowledge and thank Dan Lynch who has been very focused in maintaining our shoreline and meeting with numerous lakefront homeowners to advise on shoreline vegetation that protects our Lake! Dan’s landscaping expertise has immensely improved both of our beaches as well. Dan has also assisted with numerous Maintenance projects throughout the community.
I also want to thank Lenny Stein and all of the volunteers that participated in going around the lake to remove invasive plant species like purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria). Lenny has put in many hours in reviewing and coordinating numerous discussions with DEEP, Agricultural Experimental Station and Geese control services!
With changing climates, excessive rainfall and other factors, we want to make sure that we continue to monitor our lake and address any high-risk concerns that could potentially compromise the quality of our lake. We are looking at possibly lowering lake levels in the late fall to begin to clean up our shoreline and cove areas. Permits have already been obtained.
We are also looking to do some dredging at Lesnick’s cove where all of the lake debris eventually ends up. We are in the process of securing permits and will have LWA’s maintenance team manage the cleanup. More to come on this subject as we develop an overall Lake Management strategy plan.
The Board has continued to work very hard in managing all aspects of our community and have no shortage of projects that we’ll be working on.
So, here are a few newsworthy initiatives:
Finance:
Outsourcing Bookkeeping Services – Negotiations with Scalzo.
Historically we have managed our bookkeeping internally by hiring a community member but have found that a professional 3rd party service offers more streamlined and automated controls that would improve homeowner support and ensure that LWA continues to comply with all accounting rules while maintaining transparency.
Services will include:
• Secure and confidential online access to each homeowner’s accounts.
• Online approval of invoices & payments
• Payroll Administration through our current provider
• Annual 1099 reconciliation
• Resale Certificates
• Financial Reporting
• Accounts Receivables
• Rigorous Internal Audit Controls
• Annual External Audit Coordination
We have completed our due diligence on reviewing Scalzo’s reference accounts and are in the process of negotiating contractual terms and pricing.
The costs of this service are cost neutral to slightly lower than our current projected budgeted costs but will need to work through a transition plan that will get us up and running by October.
Thank you to Monnie Newman and Lenny Stein for their time and support for maintaining our current Bookkeeping services and working with both Lori Vickers and Mary Sacks!
There will be more communication on this initiative as things progress during our contract negotiations.
Comcast Revenue
Based on our marketing agreement with Comcast, we are realizing quarterly revenue of approximately $1k (~$4k annually) based on the incremental shared revenue plan.
Community Emergency Exit / Access
I have met with Danbury’s Fire Chief and his department will be assisting us in reviewing our current Fire Roads / Trails. Our founders created these Fire Roads to ensure that the Danbury Fire Department has various access points to deal with any potential fires throughout LWA’s approximately 550 acres of open land.
In conjunction with the review that will begin this month, the Mayor’s office will be providing information on emergency exit points that would allow 4-wheel drive vehicles to evacuate any homeowners who might need medical assistance in the event that our approach hill becomes temporarily blocked.
We are not looking to create actual roads which could compromise our security, but rather, review areas where we can clear existing trails that would only be used in emergencies.
Community House
Jon Tench is currently reviewing the many needed repairs that our Maintenance team will tackle to keep our CH in the best shape possible. A big thank you to Jon & Heidi and all the volunteers who have stepped up this year that allowed us to continue to use our community house for several events this summer.
I cannot emphasize enough the importance of our volunteers that make these events at both our CH and beach happen and we appreciate all their hard work. It’s been a great summer season!
A special acknowledgement to Dan Morneau who, after many years of dealing with a compromise audio system at our CH, has managed to get all our speakers working again!
We still have a Chili Cook off planned for October and plan to show movies at the Community House into November.
Security
Thank you to Glenn McGeough who spends many hours in maintaining Security for LWA. It’s a demanding position that requires a lot of coordination between our Homeowners, Police & Fire and our Gate support which is provided by third-party services. The Board is evaluating our Gate access and plan on moving the Gatehouse to increase the size of access. This will be done in coordination of our approach hill re-paving which is targeted for 2021.
Trash Services / Waste Management
With the help of Herb Krate, we are negotiating a new contract with Oakridge / Winter Brothers for weekly home pickups and community dumpsters. We have engaged a number of local trash providers, but initial pricing quotes were unrealistic almost doubling our current costs.
LWA can expect a >20% increase over the next 2 years and annual increases after that which will be tied to the CPI (Consumer Price Index). We owe a big thank you to Herb for negotiating our current contract for LWA which allowed us to keep costs flat over the last 7 years!
Roads
Our seasonal speed bumps will be removed after Halloween. Permanent speed humps will be installed in the spring at the intersection of Jeffrey & Carol Street, 84-86 Carol and possibly between 50 & 52 Carol. The current and temporary speed bump by 52 Carol will be moved further south prior to the sharp curve.
We have targeted 2021 to repave our approach hill and have been discussing the possibility of piggybacking onto Danbury’s repaving schedule for local roads nearby. In addition, the Mayor has offered free access to the city’s engineering team to review our hill which could provide us with more comprehensive specifications to ensure that we do this correctly and create a more sustainable road surface. The costs for repaving could be anywhere between $125k – $175k! We are also exploring other alternatives.
By-Laws
As we previously communicated, the Board will be rescheduling another vote on the five (5) By-Law articles at a future date. This was not an easy process and having 2 versions of our proxy only made this more complicated, for which I apologize. We will do better going forward!
However, all State Statutes will be incorporated into our By-Laws effect immediately.
Monthly Board of Directors Meetings Schedule Change
The Board has decided to move the monthly meetings from the 3rd Sunday of every month to the 2nd Thursday of each month at 7pm. This change will go into effect with our October meeting.
This change is to accommodate both Board member schedules as well as homeowners who are unable to attend our current Sunday meetings due to religious conflicts.
We will be setting up a conference call in number for those homeowner’s who would be unable to attend in person. More information to follow.
Lastly, I want to thank our entire Board, volunteers including all our various committees, for contributing their time and resources that help us continue to make this wonderful community of ours so special.
Best,
Arthur Brody, LWA President
