Lindbergh Lake Homeowners Meeting
9:30 A.M Saturday, July 3
Julie Kotschevar's cabin
The meeting was called to order at 9:33 A.M. by Secretary Diane Barrick.
Diane Barrick made a motion to appoint Clark Taylor as Chairman Pro Tem to preside over the meeting. The motion was made, seconded and approved. The sign in sheet was passed around and anyone with address or e-mail changes within the last 3 months was asked to provide that information.
Members Present: Geoff Knight, Janna Higbie, Judd Binley, Pa Gleason, Bob & Eric Lindquist, Bill Langlas, Julie Kotschevar, Brandon Huikeder, Alan Muskett, Clark Taylor (Chairman Pro Tem), Loren Stormo, Ron Knight, Carl & Gayle Heishma, Roger Junkermier, Leslie & Tom Giles, Wendy Drasdo, Karen Taylor, Bill Cruz, Dave Downey, Greg McCue, Cathy McGoldrick, Bill Melvin, Dave Johnson, Jack Lewis, Mike Wright, Lynn Anderson (Treasurer), Duane Wright, Lou Whitsell, Phyllis Whitsell, Polly Junkermier Poole, Bradley Wirth, Gordon(Cork) Platts, Diane Barrick, Secretary.
Some names were hard to read so please forgive misspellings!
The minutes of the August meeting 2009 were approved.
Introduction of members
Treasurer’s Report – Lynn Anderson
The report represents the period from 2005 to 2010 cash basis. The dues line item collected are those collected in that calendar year. So, far there haven’t been many bills except for $1500 paid to the Matthew brother for roadwork done and for money paid for stamps. We also paid income tax on interest on a CD which is coming due. Lou Whitsell asked if we were tax free and the answer was yes, the taxes were only on the interest of the CD. Jack asked if the tax return was easy to do and Lynn answered yes.
Road Report – Bill Junkermier
Bill reported that the $1500 was for winter snow plowing. The budget of $10,000 is broken down as follows: gravel $4000, drainage work $1400, and grading $2800. The grading had to done twice this spring as the 1st washed out with all the rain. The problem areas will be worked on. This was an abnormal year for rainfall. We got 8 inches of rain plus a large hail storm. The normal rainfall is about 4 inches. The monetary investment is paying out and Bill will step up work on drainage to get more water off the road and will continue to apply gravel. 25 property owners did the Dust Abatement in June which is an increased participation from last year. There are several fire turnarounds: 1 by the Adams cabin and Bill Cruz had built one at his own expense by the trail. The Junkermiers are looking for a place to put one by their property.
Karen Taylor had a letter by some Cygnet property owners with concerns about the dust abatement and paying for it. They got a quote of $600 but were billed $900. Some were going to participate and the Drasdos were going to split the cost with them. Bill said the invoice by dust abatement company came as one bill so they will need to split the bill so individual owners can pay. There was a question as to whether our association should ask the Cygnet property owners who use the road to contribute to the maintenance.
Julie Kotschevar said that there were more cuts in the road by her place and wanted to know how decisions are made to make cuts in the road. Bill said that where road narrows and where there is no place for water to run they are making places so the water can run off. Stumps have been taken out. Bill and Ron Matthews have been making the decisions and Julie volunteered to help. Karen Taylor thanked Bill for his work. She said she was up at the cabin late in fall and logging trucks started going up and down the road at 4 am. They were part of a fuel reduction project.
Fire Pump report – Roger Junkermier
There are2 fire pumps at the Whitsell cabin, 1 at the Musket cabin, 2 at the Bill Reynolds cabin, 1 at the Porte cabin and 1 at the Drasdo cabin. Julie Kotschevar also has one. All work and are filled with gas. Some have been used to water property and Roger requested that when they are used please fill them up with gas afterward. Lou Whitsell said there are instructions on each pump and the instructions are easy to read and follow. Jack Lewis said they also have own pump also a circle so fire department can make a turn around. The pumps are Honda 5 or 6 power. Quality Supply has them.
Web site report – Mike Wright & Geoff Knight
Geoff Knight gave the website report. He said the website is mostly information about lake. He and Mike will post anything pertaining to Lindbergh such as photos and lake history. Of special note are the beetle patches and the dust abatement sign ups They want people to use the website. Sometimes the county sends public notices about construction or information on the shoreline so that is posted on the website. There is also a for sale page for people to take advantage of. Communication is going to be by e-mail and the minutes will only be posted on the website so if people want information they can go on the website and enter their e-mail address and other address changes.
Old Business
There was reminder of the 200 foot no wake zone. This is a Montana Law and is a safety issue for kayaks, small sailboats and other low riding watercraft.
There was a question as to why we need to have 2 meetings. The bylaws state that Labor Day is the official meeting and that was changed from Labor Day to the 2nd Saturday in August.
Bill Cruz said that August meetings can be challenging and was there a possibility to move it to an earlier day? This discussion to clarify what the best time will be put on agenda for the August 14th meeting as will the decision about having only one meeting.
New Business
Last summer, Julie Kotschevar went with a forester to assess her property for dead trees and for fuel reduction. She also wanted to clean up the slash piles left by previous logging on her property. She and several other homeowners who own acreage took advantage of a government grant to provide work for out of work loggers and to get rid of fire fuel and pine beetle trees. The work started earlier than she anticipated and lots more trees were removed than had been originally planned because of the beetle damage. She and Peter Hashisaki had the work stopped because the ground was soft. The dead trees will come out this winter. She was unaware of the noise problem. They were trying to get the wood to mills as soon as possible. Some of the property owners who own larger parcels of land have not yet done the logging. The grant doesn’t run out until fall but since the closest mill is closed the loggers have to go extra miles.
Loren Stormo thanked Julie and others for getting the beetle logging done. He passed around a jar with the beetles that he had taken from a tree that he had cut down. The Pheromone packets are still available and hopefully will be effective. The beetle will lay thousands of eggs and only long term prolonged cold will kill them. When the trees are cut down burning them seems to be the most effective way of killing them. The Douglas fir beetle is also around so he hopes the Pheromone will also be effective in killing that. As the trees die the weeds come and the thistles need to be sprayed. Loren will need help spraying is willing to have help. Chris Barnes seeded and mulched the area Julie had logged. He seeded with native grasses both for dry and wet. We can get the grasses at the Eco Center and Quality Supply. It is a Lolo dry seed mix and takes 2 to 3 years for the grasses to come in Bill Cruz said he had the power buried and will have the disturbed land redone. Lynn Anderson said she will lose most of her lakefront cover with the Pine Beetle and asked what kind of tree would be good to plant. Douglas Fir and Larch will grow faster. Larch is best since the beetle doesn’t get to it and the Douglas Fir is better for privacy for it is susceptible to the Douglas Fir Beetle. Spruce is OK but is slow growing. A mix of trees is best. Gordon Platt asked at what temperature does it have to be to kill them. Loren said that from September to October it needed to be 10 degrees below zero and in winter 30 or 40 degrees below zero. And the temperatures had to be continued low for 3 to 10 days. Right now their food supply good and the temperature isn’t low enough to kill them so they will keep going until their food supply is gone.
Tom Giles spoke of his concern about the use of sandy beach. There is no management of the property and there have been overnight campers there. He goes up 3 times to clean up the garbage left behind. He has been in contact for a year and half with one owner of the property. The owner isn’t around to supervise the property. He has been trying to get the Forest Service to trade it for a fee simple deed on his Seeley Lake property but hasn’t had any success. The owner doesn’t want to give up the property until he can work out something to his advantage. Tom has contacted the head rangers and he and Clark Taylor met on site with them to discuss the problem. As of now there is no way a trade is going to happen. The owner wants to pursue his contacts in Washington DC to see if he can get a trade. Clark Taylor has come up with a possible solution to the problem. As of now the property isn’t being supervised and people are illegally camping overnight and are having fires during fire season. Clark has a Property Conservation LLC and would like to lease the property from the owner. That way he could then oversee the property. The owner is willing to do this. Clark will look into the liability issue but this would give someone authority to supervise property. There was a question if the Lindbergh Foundation could do this but the liability is a problem and who would police it? Jack Lewis asked if the Foundation would be in a better position to trade? Tom said the owners don’t want to sell and want to secure family property and so uses this as a chip. It might be possible down the line to get the Forest Service to trade this and so put it into back country designation but the Forest Service is only interested in certain properties. Clark can put up Private Property Signs up. Utilization of the lake is growing and people have gradually been moving further down the lake. There were some campers that stayed a month at a campsite and even made table and chairs. There is potential of conflict. Bill Cruz asked perhaps we could ask what property the Forest Service wanted and then negotiate to buy and then trade Sandy Beach. Lou Whitsell said 20years ago there was an attempt to include property when we worked with Plum Creek but didn’t get anyplace. Clark has no hidden agenda he is just frustrated. Tom Giles made a motion to have Clark go forward with leasing the property, it was seconded and passed.
Geoff Knight talked about water quality of the lake. A sampling was approved last year and he did a base line sampling at the Porte cabin, the Giles cabin and up farther on the lake. The lake health is good. This looks at septic tank runoff and not for drinking water quality. The concern is for algae growth and for clarity. A clarity disk has been done and showed clarity to 30 feet. The results done last year were posted on website. There is no degradation from 10 years ago. During the winter Geoff contacted people who do sampling. He found a Northwest water quality volunteer program that will come to the lake and bring their equipment. They know what they are doing and will do the testing free of charge. They are looking for Chlorine A, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Calcium. It will be done at the same time as they test Holland Lake. We will pay for lab costs which should total $900. There was a request to split the cost with the Lindbergh Foundation done at same time as doing Holland Lake. Tom Giles suggested that perhaps Cygnet homeowners and ranches pay for the results. There was a motion for the Homeowners to pay $450 and then hope to be matched by the Foundation. It was seconded. Jack Lewis questioned why not ask the Cygnet homeowners and ranchers for a donation? Geoff will approach them. Jack amended the motion for the LLHOA to incur all expense with hope of getting help from the Cygnet homeowners. The 1st motion was withdrawn. The second motion was seconded and passed.
Lynn Anderson stated that she has a list of who has paid dues. She is not sure if some of the list is correct so requested that as we pay if we have any information of other ownership changes please let her know.
Election of Nominating Committee
Lou Whittsell, Jack Lewis and Bill Langlas are on the committee. They are looking for a secretary volunteers are welcomed.
Location of August 15 meeting – McCue/Hollinger cabin. 9:30 A.M.
August Barbecue invitation – Judd Binley
After the August meeting they will provide keg beer and meats. There are sign ups for other drinks desserts and salads.
The meeting adjourned at 11:11 A.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Barrick, secretary