PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

FEBRUARY 17, 2024

The Board of Directors’ meeting commenced at 8:00 AM.

The following Board Members were in attendance:  Ed Jordan, (President), Mike Cioffi (Vice-President), Kathleen Maynes (Secretary), Scott Healy, Jerry Beskovoyne, and John Carney (General Manager). Bruce Phillips (Treasurer) attended by phone when the meeting resumed at the office. Mike McGregor was excused.

Ed opened the meeting and asked for any corrections to the January 13, 2024 minutes. Some minor corrections were made.

A motion to approve the minutes with corrections from the Board of Directors’ Meeting on January 13, 2024 was made by Ed and seconded by Jerry Beskovoyne.  The minutes were unanimously approved. 

Reports of Departments / Committees/ Ad Hoc Groups:

Maintenance / Housekeeping (Jerry Beskovoyne):

• Maintenance has been changing the blades on plows and fixing spreaders as they break.
• During winter storms Maintenance has been plowing the roads and clearing access to the buildings. 
• Maintenance removed the Lighthouse from the Marina and brought it to their area.  The Lighthouse has been found to be unrepairable.  
• In addition, Maintenance has been working on the following items:  
  • Building G dock (Main and fingers);
  • Painting first floor of the Administration Building; and
  • Getting estimates of projects for the summer season.
• Maintenance and Housekeeping handled a water backup in the MCH after a heavy rain.  Stanley Steamer cleaned and deodorized the carpet.  Due to the material that the dance floor is made from, it was not affected. This should not happen again since Sewer and Water has now capped the pipe in the pump station that would allow the backup.
• Housekeeping has been doing an excellent job keeping up the cleaning of the buildings. 

Public Safety (Ed Jordan Jr.):

• Dominic provided the BODs with a Public Safety Report for January 2024 that included citations, incidents, and EMS calls.
• Dominick obtained the prices for digital speed limit signs that will provide the speed limit to oncoming traffic. 
• A new vehicle was purchase for Public Safety with a substantial amount for the trade-in of the old one.

Sewer and Water:

• Fawnhill chlorine reduction project is waiting on approval from the DEP.
• A new cap was installed on the MCH sewer line.  This will prevent any backups. This means that the MCH will solely go through the grinder pump and not gravity.
• A new vent has been installed on the Ski Bluff water tower.
• Two property owners had their pipes freeze and break causing damage to their homes.
• Leak detection in the water system and infiltration in the sewer lines continues and appropriate repairs are made.

Legal Administration (Ed Jordan Jr.):

• An abandoned property in WLE was supposed to be demolished by Paupack Township.  However, it is now being postponed because one of its owners is involved in litigation with the Township.

Building Committee (Scott Healy):.

• There are 11 open house permits.  Three have expired and cannot be renewed.  They are being fined.

Marina Committee (Kathleen Maynes):.

• The BODs addressed the Marina Committee’s suggestions listed in their December minutes. Kathleen will provide Marina Committee with the  responses from the BODs at the next Marina Committee meeting.
• In the spring maintenance will improve the stone path and drainage will be addressed.
• There will be five “No Wake” buoys in the lake in front of the docks.
• The committee is asking that all boat trailers have a sticker in order to use WLE’s launch.  They are suggesting that the boats using the boat ramp, but not assigned to a boat slip, be charged to launch boats. The Board does not favor this suggestion.
• Maintenance will attempt to spray the docks for bees/wasps prior to putting the docks in the water.

Ed opened the open session with the Pledge of Allegiance at 9:00 AM.

General Manager’s Report (John Carney):

• At the December open session, the Board of Directors was presented with a petition signed by property owners wanting to ban all house rentals less than 30 consecutive calendar days. The petition is not requesting a special meeting as outlined in the WLEPOA bylaws. The petitioners are asking the Board to submit a motion banning rentals in the annual meeting packet. The Board met in January to strengthen the present Rental Rules & Regulations and to add language to coincide with the newly adopted Paupack Township Short-term Rental Ordinance. The Board reviewed the petition and the request from the petitioners. It was decided that if enough property owners would like to see this resolution to be included for a vote, that the petitioners must follow the bylaw set forth for calling for a special meeting as outlined in Article IV, section 3.
• Resumes for the Board of Directors are due by April 1, 2024, to be submitted at the POA office by 4:30pm. First quarter dues and all fees must by paid when resume is submitted and second quarter dues and all fees must be paid by April 5^th  by 11:00AM.  This is when the candidates will be vetted by the Nominating Review Committee. 
• Items to be reviewed with the Board.
  • Property and Liability policy renewal.
  • Conditional Use hearing notice at Paupack Township building on March 14 at 5:45pm for approval of a WLE Short-term rental.
  • To add language in the Rental Rules & Regulations against Bed & Breakfasts. Bed & Breakfasts can be approved by Paupack Township for Condition Use.
  • As requested by the Board, a price and type of digital speed limit signs.
  • To start reviewing the Annual Meeting packet for the June 8, 2024, meeting. 
• Bruce and I along with the Department Heads have been updating the 25-year reserve plan for WLE’s capital assets. 

Question & Answer Session:

Question:   When are we going to have a special meeting about STRs?

Answer:  The BODs have not yet received the petition that follows the bylaw set forth for calling for a special meeting as outlined in Article IV, section 3.

Comment:  This open meeting was not advertised on the website or activity sheet.

Response:  We will address that after this meeting.

Question:  How many STRs are there currently in WLE?

Answer:   There are 20 right now, but 2 can’t rent in the future because they are too close to each other. We have made it more difficult for STRs with the new rules and regulations from both us and Paupack Township.  Renters under 30 days are also not allowed to use golf carts.

Question:  How is the budget going?

Answer:  It is very positive.

Question:  Why is Recreation listed as unfavorable?

Answer:  This is due to the timing of this report.

There was a reminder that Recreation is still going to have the bonfire at 7 PM tonight with s’mores and hot chocolate.  There will not be any ice skating.

The open session ended at 9:40 and the BODs reconvened at the Main Office at 10 AM.

CDC (Mike Cioffi):

• The CDC heard six cases. Three cases were found in violation and three were not.  There was one no show.
• The CDC requested that the BODS provide the newest vehicle registration available on TOPS relative to the incidents that are being reviewed.  
• The CDC also requested that the officer who wrote the ticket be present at the CDC meeting.  Depending on the violation, the BODs would make efforts to have the officer who wrote the ticket present at the meeting.

Recreation Committee (Scott Healy): 

• Card Bingo, Thursday Coffee, the Pre-Holiday Event, The Christmas Tree Lighting, the Craft Fair, the Very Merry Christmas Party and the New Year’s Party are among the successful events that Recreation Committee has held over the past two months.
• Recreation is in the process of planning the St. Patrick’s Day Party, an Easter Egg Hunt, a Designer Bag Bingo, a Mothers’ Day Brunch, and activities for Memorial Day Weekend.
• Since the videogames at Kasper Lodge are outdated, John will investigate using a new vendor that will provide games that will attract more usage and perhaps increase revenue.
• The BODs reviewed the inventory from the Craft Shop.  They would like the inventory to reflect the price of items that have 0 in the amount.
• Scott presented the budget for Recreation.  The BODs approved the budget contingent on supplying an explanation of the $6000. for MCH Kitchen equipment and smallwares.

Ed made the motion to accept the Recreation Committee’s budget contingent on the explanation of $6000. for MCH Kitchen equipment and small wares.  

The motion was seconded by Scott.  The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.

Treasurer’s Report/Finance (Bruce Phillips):

• The Operating Budget Summary dated 1/1/2024 was distributed.  As of now, all Departments are favorable, except for Building/Grounds which is unfavorable by $1,224. and Recreation Pools & beaches by $504.
• Bruce noted that the 2023 budget year ended in good shape with approximately $190,000. on the positive side.  Some of the departments were shorthanded creating additional funds in payroll and reducing medical insurance costs.  The collection of fines also added to this surplus.   
• A major concern for 2024 is the increases in insurance costs. The renewal was just received and the policy runs from March to March of the following year.

           

Neighborhood Watch:

• No meeting.

WLE Beautification:

• The Beautification Committee will continue to decorate in the spring, but hopes new people will continue it after that. 

Technology Committee (Kathleen Maynes):

• With the assistance of the members of the Technology Committee and Kathy Sollenne, the future open meetings should be available via Zoom.
• Upon Recreation’s request, the Technology Committee recommended microphones that would work with the current sound system in the MCH.  
• WLE was approach by a company called Flume to provide WLE with Internet service.  Since all POA members would have to participate in this service, it was not recommended by the Technology Committee.  The BODs agreed with this recommendation. 
• New routers have been installed at various amenities, which should increase Wi-Fi access at these buildings.
• The Technology Committee is working on an Acceptable Use Policy for WLE Wi-Fi usage.
• A long range goal of the Technology Committee is better high-speed connectivity for WLE.  They are investigating Federal funding.  

Paupack Township (Jerry Beskovoyne)

• A hearing for the demolition of a condemned WLE home on Lakeshore Drive by the Township has been postponed due to one of the owners of the home not being able to make it to Wayne County from North Carolina.
• The Lakeville Food Pantry will hold a drive-thru in the Township parking lot on Thursday, February 22^nd  between 10 AM to 1 PM. A Community Luncheon will be served at Lakeville Fire House at 10:30 AM.

First right of refusals were done via email due to the fact that they were time sensitive.  

They included the following:

Section and Lot:	Email Approval Date:
4-230	11/16/2023
3-314	10/24/2023
1-254	11/13/2023
1-407	12/5/2023
3-291	12/7/2023
5-212	12/5/2023
1-427 1-428	1/12/2024
2-072	10/30/2023
3-224	1/19/2024
1-113	10/23/2023

They were unanimously approved. 

Correspondence:

• A property owner appealed fines associated with advertising and renting her home. The Property Owner appeared before the BODs to discuss this fine.  The BODs determined that the Property Owner must pay a fine, but it would be increased substantially if she advertises or rents again before the 2-year moratorium expires. After the 2-year moratorium expires the property owner needs to have a permit from the township and WLE before STR can start.  

Unfinished Business:

• Dominic obtained information on the purchasing of two digital speed limit signs.  The BODs looked over this information.

Mike C. made the motion to purchase two digital speed limit signs. The motion was seconded by Bruce.  

The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.

New Business:

• The fine schedule will be addressed at the next BODs meeting.
• Jerry will be providing additional information about the Electronic Bulletin Board at April’s BODs meeting

Kathleen made the motion to add the following language to the end of paragraph A 11/22/2003 (amended 6/13/2015) of the Rental Rules and Regulation:

“including but not limited to Bed and Breakfasts as described in the Paupack Township Zoning Regulation.” The motion was seconded by Mike C.

The vote was unanimous in favor of the motion.

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 1:10 PM was made by Scott, seconded by Kathleen, and approved unanimously.

The next BOD meeting is scheduled for March 16, 2024. 

Respectfully submitted,

Kathleen R. Maynes, Secretary