White Birch Lakes Recreational Association 4730 Lake Road Farwell MI 48622 Office: (989) 588-2853 Fax: (989) 588-4924 Security (989) 588-7066

October 2010 www.whitebirch.org

BOARD MEETING DATES FOR 2010

All meetings are held at the clubhouse unless otherwise specified.

October 9 10:00 am November 13 10:00 am December 11 10:00 am

EPC MEETING DATES FOR 2010

All meetings will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the clubhouse

October 8 November 12 December 10

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Robert Briggscofbriggs@yahoo.com

1st Vice President

Teresa Stephensrabidstamper@yahoo.com

2nd Vice President

Dorothy Nalepadnalepa8990@charter.net734-878-8990

Director Kevin Dombrowskikd460@sbcglobal.net

Director

Director

Linda McNeillucymcn79@hotmail.com

Mary Cox-Perkinsfunk49pt@yahoo.com

Director Steve Bryantsfbryant1@yahoo.com

SecretaryTreasurer

Elaine Carrascoecoffice@whitebirch.org

President’s Report – Robert Briggs

I would like to thank the activities committee for putting on the picnic over

Labor Day Weekend. Even though the weather was less then perfect, there

were a decent amount of people who showed up to enjoy it. Too bad they had

to cancel the dunk tank, as I had saved up some extra money for a few I would

have liked to see get wet. It had been reported to me that during the break at

last months meeting there was a lot of foul language outside by the front

Entrance. Let’s to respect other people who use the front entrance and

refrain from using foul language. I am surprised at finding all the different

opinions in the reading of our C&R’s and other policies that White Birch has in

place. I really hope we can get most of this cleared up in the future, so

everybody is on the same page. I do understand that if 95% say it is sunny,

there will be 5% who say it is cloudy. Right now we are not quite at the 95%

mark. We will get there. That’s all I have for this month. Thank You.

White Birch Lakes Recreational AssociationMonthly Meeting Minutes

September 2010 - Unapproved

I. Call to Order: President Briggs called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. Board members present: President Briggs, 1st Vice President Stephens, 2nd Vice President Nalepa, Director Bryant, Director Dombrowski, Director Cox-Perkins and Director McNeil. Also present, secretary, Elaine Carrasco. Director McNeil led the membership in prayer, the Pledge of allegiance led by President Briggs.II. Additions to Agenda: Director Stephens adds under new business, shed letters. Director Nalepa adds legal matters and executive session. III. Approval of Minutes:(1) Director Bryant moves to accept the minutes, second by Director Nalepa. All in favor, carried.IV. Financial Report:(2) Director Stephens moves to accept the financial report as presented, second

by Director Cox-Perkins, all in favor, carried. (3) Director Dombrowski moves to pay the bills, second by Director Stephens, all in favor, carried.V. Presidents Report:At this time President Briggs appoints the Bylaw committee as: Sal Scorrazi, Marsha Thomas, Judy Gute, Carolyn Neal and appoints Chuck Lutz as chair.VI. Committee reports:Campgrounds: Fred reports not a lot going on in the campground yet, we will be getting the fence up before the snow flies. Fred explains the campground policy and he will be getting the stakes up for storage this week. Some campers move in the middle of September, he will keep up on the sites daily. We will shut the water off the first day of frost, whenever that will be.Activities: Sally reports the Labor Day was a good turnout. It was cold, chilly, but we had a big fire. We were pleased with the amount of members who attended. Thanks Director Nalepa for Sylvester, Louise Bryant for cleaning the dishes. Upcoming events are the garage sale Saturday September 18, 9 to 5. We need donations for the bake sale. Next event after that is the Halloween event , weather permitting we will be having a hay ride and that will be 11 until noon refreshments for the kids and their parents. Costume will be acceptable, children must be accompanied by an adult. This event will be Saturday the week before Halloween. We have an ongoing food collection for the needy. A new collection we are thinking of starting is care packages for our troops. We will post a list of acceptable items we can send.

EPC: Chick sent out about 8 violations letters, Lot improvements deck, shed and adock all on one lot and one tree.Communications: Pat Graham reports that Mary Griswold must be on thecommunication committee to do the Birch Bark. President Briggs appoints MaryGriswold as chair of the communications committee. Director McNeil moves toratify appointment of Mary Griswold, second by Director Bryant. Carried.Financial committee: Mary Cox-Perkins reports that the committee will meetSeptember 16, 2010.Security: one trailer broken into, we have cars coming in on Holiday Lake. Rulesstate that we have one way in and one way out.VII. Comments: Available at the clubhouse.VIII. Old Business:(4) Director Dombrowski amends previous motion to include all amenity rentalsdeposits as non refundable to include 30 day cancellation notice unless rented byanother member, and then they would get their deposit back, second by DirectorBryant, carried.(5) Director Nalepa moves to ratify the e-mail motion that amends #14 of theminutes which was to accept Currie-Kendall as attorney for all associationbusiness. Second by Director Dombrowski, all ayes, with a nay by DirectorBryant, carried.(6) Director Bryant moves to ratify the e-mail motion to put an add in the paperfor a part time maintenance man at from 10 to 12 dollars an hours, second byDirector Nalepa, carried.(7) Director Dombrowski moves to go into closed session, second by DirectorStephens all in favor, carried.Closed Session:(8) Director Dombrowski moves to accept the attorney’s recommendations,based on his letter, second by Director Nalepa,, all in favor, carried.IX. New Business:(9 )Director Cox-Perkins moves to have Dorothy Nalepa give a report on theopinion poll given to the members, second by Director Bryant, all in favor. Thenew development poll was presented to the members we received 71 opinions,number one was cell phone/internet tower, second, docks on lakes, third,playground equipment and then a swim platform at Timber Lake. Thedepreciation account we set aside for replacement and repairs. The number onerequest was to replace windows in the clubhouse, second was to remodel thecampground bathhouse.(10) Director Nalepa moves that we look at the window proposal and proceedwith selecting a vendor to replace the windows in the clubhouse, except for thedoor wall replacement, second by Director Stephen, withdrawn.

(11) Director Nalepa moves to discuss bids on windows, second by Director Bryant, all in favor, carried.(12) Director Nalepa moves to get quotes for window replacement, no second, falls to the floor.(13) Director Nalepa moves to table window replacement until Director Bryant provides a plan to the board, for approval and have quotes (with specifics) after the plan is approved, by the next board meeting, second by Director Stephens, all ayes, Director Mc Neil, nay.(14) Director Nalepa moves to get board input on broadband presentation, second by Director Dombrowski, all in favor, carried.(15) Director Stephens moves that with help of other board members, she will investigate further into broadband, to determine if it is a benefit or prohibitive to bring into the association, 2nd Director Bryant, carried.(16) Director Stephens moves to discuss the current practice/policy of allowing sheds of any type on camping lots, second by Director Nalepa, all in favor, carried.(17) Director Dombrowski moves that regardless of being a violation or not, we allow whatever previous ruling in on sheds to remain in tact until the end of this camping season, we do not force members to remove their sheds by September 30th, but we ask them to remove them at the closing of the camping season, second by Director Cox-Perkins, all in favor, carried.X. Comments: Available at the clubhouse.XI. Adjournment: (18) Director Cox-Perkins moves to adjourn, second by Director Nalepa, all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 12:50 p.m.Submitted by,Elaine Carrasco

HALLOWEEN PARTY

When: October 23, 2010

Where: At the clubhouse

We’re having a wagon hayride from 11:00 – 12:00 noon,weather permitting. Refreshments will be served until 1:00 p.m. ALL CHILDREN must have a parent with them on the hayride.Children may wear their costumes if they want to. A fun time is sure to be had by all. Come join us.

With school starting back up, it’s important that our children are safe while walking to and from the bus stop.

Please be mindful and keep your speed slow.

VOLUNTEER(s) NEEDED TO COMPILE INFORMATION AND CREATE THE BIRCH BARK NEWSLETTER

Volunteers are needed to help type the Birch Bark newsletter once a month. If you are interested in joining the Communications Committee and helping with this effort please contact the White Birch Lakes Recreational Association Office.

2010 CALENDAR OF EVENTS TO CELEBRATE WBLRA 40TH ANNIVERSARY

• Oct. 23rd-Halloween Event/Hayride Nov. 20th-Family Game Night/Potluck Dinner Dec. 11th-Christmas Party

We’ve had good luck in sending out the Birch Bark by e-mail to those who requested itand would like to encourage everyone who has an e-mail address to please considerreceiving your monthly newsletter in your e-mail. First of all, your newsletter will arrivein color and you’ll receive it faster than you would by postal mail. But best of all it willsave White Birch Lakes Recreational Association time and money. To send out a papercopy each newsletter must be printed, folded, labeled, stamped and mailed. This requiresmoney and staff time and often we are limited by the number of pages we can print andmail because of budget. If everyone received their newsletter by e-mail, additionalinformation could be included as we would not be limited to a specific number of pages.Please consider receiving your newsletter by e-mail if you have an e-mail address. All e-mail addresses are kept strictly confidential by one person.

Also don’t forget to check out our website at at www.whitebirch.org

Birch Bark by E-Mail

MEMBER REMINDER

All camper trailers must be removed from your lot no later than October 31, 2010. A special 14-day permit must be completed and approved for the trailer to be on your lot past October 31st.

Also, NO HUNTING is allowed within White Birch Lakes Recreational Association at any time.

MEMBERSHIP OPINION POLLAs you may recall, the June Birch Bark as well as the July membership meeting provided an opportunity for the membership to communicate their opinion regarding new amenities as well as the repair and/or replacement of existing amenities. 71 members responded. For “new” amenities, cell phone/high speed internet received the most #1 (would like to see in a year) responses, followed by docks on lakes, additional playground equipment, and a swim platform on timber lake. For existing amenities, replacing the clubhouse windows followed by renovating the campground bathrooms were highly recommended. In addition, many members provided write-in suggestions which will be considered as well. We really appreciate the member’s participation in our community and want to thank all who took the time to return or fill out the survey.

CELL PHONE/BROADBAND TOWER INFOMany members have little or no cell phone coverage within WBLRA. While there are specific hot spots where signals are received, they do not resolve the life safety issues of our camping members who may have a life threatening emergency on their lot and has no way to call for help. Unfortunately during preliminary investigation the following information was found:•99% of rural properties have no value to a tower company•If a wireless company or tower company hasn’t contacted you then you’re probably out of luck. Using their own engineering studies, these folks decide where they want their towers and then they contact nearby landowners. www.privateline.com•The average landowner has less than a 5% chance of being successful www.steelintheair.com•Wireless companies WILL NOT build a cell tower on your property unless it fills a business need for them no matter how hard or how long you market it. So unless your property is in one of the areas “search rings” that a cell phone company is looking for land to lease, you are out of luck.” www.celltowerinfo.com•Land should be no more than 100 to 500 feet from a major paved public street www.verizonwireless.comWhile we will submit our interest as a potential site for cellular service, the cards are stacked against us. What can we do? CALL YOUR CELL PHONE CARRIER and let them know about the lack of coverage in White Birch Lakes. CALL Now and call often. The cellular phone companies want to meet the needs of their customers. There are 2 towers within Farwell, perhaps they will add their equipment to the existing towers to improve our access.

BROADBAND INTERNET SERVICES INFORMATION

The board has agreed to contact an independent consultant to discuss adding broadband internet services to White Birch Lakes Recreation Association. The board will look at feasibility (can it be done and will it work), cost, return on investment (how long will the association need to wait before it recovers the money it invested, if ever), management and operational tasks, township ordinance as well as connectivity issues. If anyone has expertise in this area and would like to be involved in this project, please contact Bob Briggs, President.

JEFFERSON ROAD ACCESS VIA HOLIDAY LAKE

We have noticed that trails are being opened around Holiday lake, accessing Jefferson Road. According to our C & R's, we can have only one entrance and exit for the Association. By making outside trails, we are opening our lakes and roads to outsiders. These outsiders do not pay Association assessments but still have use of our facilities. The trails have been blocked to prevent this from happening any longer and we are asking for your cooperation in leaving them blocked. Thank you.

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

White Birch Lakes Recreational Association Labor Day Yippee/Skippeeevent was a wonderful success. Sylvester the cat made an

appearance and a good time was had by all. Thanks to all who volunteered their time to make this “end of summer” event the success it was.

CLUBHOUSE HOURS

Monday 8:00 am – 7:30 pmTuesday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmWednesday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmThursday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmFriday 8:00 am – 9:00 pmSaturday 8:00 am – 9:00 pmSunday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm

OFFICE HOURS

Monday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmTuesday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmWednesday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmThursday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmFriday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmSaturday 8:00 am – 4:00 pmSunday CLOSED

POOL HOURS

Monday 9:00 am – 3:30 pmTuesday 9:00 am – 3:30 pmWednesday CLOSEDThursday 9:00 am - 3:30 pmFriday 12:00 noon – 8:30 pmSaturday 12:00 noon – 8:30 pmSunday 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Pools Hours beginning October 2nd through the Thursday before Memorial Day.

Pool Staff

o Frank Metzo Louise Bryanto Georgia Romine

The Birch BarkWhite Birch Lakes Recreational Association

4730 Lake Road

Farwell MI 48622