Bridgewater, NJ
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Title

February 2015 Sunset Lake Board Meeting Minutes

Attending: Michelle Caravella, Bob Sellinger, Mike Gilmore, Mike McLaughlin, Pat Holoob, John Arcoleo, Bob Papp, Kari O, Harshal Limaye

Motions

The board reviewed the January meeting minutes and approved them for posting to the website, facebook and the email distribution list. This review, approval, and vote occurred online prior to the February meeting.

President – Mike M.

Parking Lot

  • Mike M reported that the association received bids from a number of contractors for paving of the parking lot.
  • The best price is from Porchetta Paving, with a cost of $14,250 for the existing lot and $6,300 for the stone area to the right. The next best price was Hicks at $16,950 and $5,600.
  • Mike M proposed we hold a special meeting on Feb 14th or 15th in order to get approval from the membership for the expenditure of funds, as the budget put together for 2015 and approved at the annual meeting only called for a $4,000 expenditure. Bylaws require any expenditure over $2,500 not in the budget to be approved by the membership.
  • The special meeting will require attendance from 21 members or more to satisfy the quorum requirement.
  • Questions were raised if we had the money for this work. Bob P responded we have the money,  since the dues increase of this year alone will bring in $50 X 134 members in additional income.
  • Mike M said he will book the venue for the special meeting. He will check the Presbyterian Church. Bob P suggested Bridgewater Commons has a community room, Bob S said the Bridgewater Library has facilities for holding community meetings.

Proxy Vote

  • Mike M reported that the special committee working on the proxy vote wanted to poll the membership via a survey on the proxy voting issue. There was a discussion on what the survey should consist of – a simple yes/no or broader questions.
  • Finally the board decided to recharge the committee to define what the proxy voting process would be. Once this is defined another special meeting will be organized to present the report from this committee and take a vote from membership to decide whether or not proxy voting will be implemented for the next annual meeting.

Website update

  • Mike M stated George Bicking has moved forward with plans to redo the lake web site. He’s also looking into options for teleconferencing /  chat for board members. The website will be open to public, but some sections will be restricted for members only and some others for the board only.
  • There were ideas discussed to run ads from local business like the Raritan or Bridgewater Garbage Disposal for monetization of the website.
  • There were also questions if payments for events can be handled directly from the web site.

Other

  • The board decided Google docs will be used henceforth for drafting and collaborating on the meeting minutes. Approval of the minutes will be handled via Google forms.
  • An insurance company has contacted the lake for payment on a medical claim. Mike M is talking to our insurance company to see if they would address the issue.

Vice President – Pat Holoob

  • Pat stated she was not able create a login/password to the COLA (Coalition of Lake Associations) website. Bob Papp will look to see if he can find any info on the past invoices.
  • Pat said she was interested in looking into a Wifi service at the clubhouse.  We could consider charging a fee for use by members, if they are interested in such a service. The board gave her permission to look into the costs and present it at the next meeting.
  • Pat suggested we poll the members when planning future social events to see whether people would be interested in the new idea prior to booking it. She said other lakes have sub committees to manage fundraisers and social events. She suggested we could do a 5K run/walk around the lake.
  • Pat asked the board if they would be interested in saying a pledge of allegiance at start of every meeting. There was some discussion, but no resolution.

Treasurer – Bob Papp

  • Bob Papp reported that he has submitted a letter to the IRS requesting the abatement of penalties for filing Form 990 for the tax year 2011 late.  
  • Bob P said he needed a copy of the annual meeting minutes calling out the officers that were voted in for the year 2015 as well as the officers vacating their positions.  Specifically, John Fedors and Tom Kern vacated the office of President and Vice President respectively and Michael McLaughlin and Pat Holoob are now President and Vice President respectively.   This is required by the bank to allow Mike and Pat to add their signatures to the checking account at Bank of America and the savings account at Affinity Credit Union. Bob P will schedule with Mike and Pat to visit the banks with him to make these amendments to the signature cards.  Harshal L said he cannot provide the entire meeting minutes, but he’ll provide a shortened version covering the trustee and officer elections for 2015.
  • Bob P. went over the bank statements with the board.
  • Mike G asked Bob P about what areas are covered for grass cutting. Bob P said he will give Mike a map for the same.
  • Bob P reported that the board members will be required to accept a conflict of interest policy. He presented the policy to the board and stated that he will bring a copy for each board member so that they can sign and submit it at the next meeting.

Correspondent Secretary

  • Bob S stated he has accepted the position of corresponding secretary and he will work on drafting out the first newsletter for this year.
  • Bob also stated he will send out a communication to the membership on the special meeting once a location was set. He will also send out notice about the boat round up when a date is set.

Environmental – John Arcoleo

  • John A presented to the board new and different methods that can be employed for the next lake dredging.
  • He also recommended using a weed whacker for removing cattail.

Grounds – Mike Gilmore

  • Mike G. talked about methods to remove the organic material from the lake using a rake attached to pontoon kind of a boat.
  • Bob S suggested the aeration method, he said the Sterling Lake does this.
  • Mike G also spoke about having sediment pits at the east end of the lake.

Lifeguards – Kari O

  • Nothing to report

Water Quality – Rick D

  • Rick was absent and there was nothing to report on water quality

Membership – Patty D

  • Patty was absent and there was nothing to report on membership

Social – Michelle Caravella

  • Michelle reported there are 26 people paid and signed up for the bus trip to Sands Casino. She expects a few more to join at the last minute, but they will still not meet the minimum requirement.
  • She suggested to run some 50-50 on the bus to collect some money and make up for some of the losses.

New Business

  • Bob S. records
  • Movie night – Chris Lelli asked if a screen for movie night could be purchased instead of him having to transport each event. A new one runs about $2800. The board said his was too expensive and we should look into renting a screen whenever needed.
  • Mike G. said he was planning a cleanup of the grounds sometime in Feb. The board recommended we should wait till it gets a little warmer.
  • Mike M reported there’s a boys scout pancake breakfast in the first week of March. The lake has donated $60 in the past. Bob S made a motion to donate again this year and this was voted by the board.

Meeting closed at 9:43pm

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