Minutes: MPCA BOARD MEETING

Monday, May 7^th, 2007

7:30 PM

The Board of Directors of the MPCA met on Monday, May 7^th at Jim Fitzpatrick’s home. Present were Dimitri Chernyshov, Fred England, Darby Johnson, Don MacKinnon, Peter Roy, Russ Simon, Frank Sokol and Jim Fitzpatrick, presiding. Guests included Erin Surprenant of Great North Property Management.

The meeting was called to order at 7:32 PM.

1. Minutes of the April 9^th MPCA Board meeting:

• Motion to approve minutes was made by Fred England, seconded by Darby Johnson - approved unanimously.

2. Treasurer’s Report

• Presented by Don MacKinnon
• The Board reviewed the April YTD financials. Year to date expenses are as expected. Including the Special Assessment funds, we are under the year-to-date budget by about $18,000, due to numerous below budget expenses. Expenses are expected to pick up in the spring and summer, as usual, for overall repairs and maintenance with better weather. There are several planned projects that will start shortly.
• Don requested that an additional $10,000 be moved from our Operating Savings to our Operating Checking account to cover the remaining 2006-2007 expenses.
• All Savings and Capital accounts have been moved to Vanguard to improve the interest we earn on these funds.
• Don will prepare a preliminary Operating and Capital Budget for the Board to review and comment on at our June meeting. Current thinking would be to keep the operating budget basically as is and increase the capital budget fees from the current level of $25k per year to a range of $33k to $35k. This increase would begin to address our capital fund shortfall.

3. Committee Reports

Water Systems Committee

• Presented by Jim Fitzpatrick.
• The irrigation system will be turned on this week and will take 2 to 3 days to turn on all the home connections.
• The WSC is currently focusing on three priority areas:

• Improving access to and re-writing the software of the Water Monitoring System Software. No significant progress yet.
• Improving maintenance truck access to the pump station. The current dirt path is not able to support the weight of the maintenance trucks that may be needed in the future. The WSC has contracted with an engineering firm to develop plans to improve access. The cost of the engineering plans is covered in the WSC’s budget.
• The problem we have with excess water inflow into our sewer system during heavy rain events is becoming a higher priority. The Town of Newmarket has the same problem during heavy rain events. EPA is working with the Town to solve this Newmarket problem and we expect the Town will look to us to solve our system problem as well. Initial work we have done to locate the source(s) of our inflow have not been successful to date. WSC will be expanding it’s work with experts to locate the inflow areas and resolve the problem.

Environmental Committee:

• Presented by Dimitri Chernyshov.
• The spring clean-up of the shoreline was a success and especially needed this year due to the amount of debris deposited on our shores after the heavy rains. Many thanks to all those who volunteered!! The collected debris was removed by our property management company.
• Building additional Greenhead Boxes and Kayak Racks. The weekends of May 26^th & 27^th and if required, June 2^nd & 3^rd have been designated as Community Work Party weekends. The Board has authorized purchasing the materials to build up to 30 to 40 Greenhead boxes and 2 to 3 Kayak racks for additional boat storage. Dimitri Chernyshov will be coordinating the events along with Val Shelton and Micky Lightfoot. By building the boxes and racks ourselves (which are fairly simple) we will be saving significant money and developing the expertise to both build and maintain these assets going forward. We are seeking volunteers to help get these important projects done. More info will follow, but if you are interested in helping, please contact Dimitri.
• The EC will be planting a new wildflower garden in the circle at the end of Lubberland Drive. The Board authorized the rotor-tilling of a portion of the circle to prepare it for the planting.
• The Town’s mosquito control has begun to be implemented this week around Newmarket. The focus is on killing the larva before they hatch and will include ground treatment. Moody Point is on the site list to have the treatment.
• The Board unanimously approved a request by EC to have Earle Chase train up to 10 volunteers on being able to start a long term program of having trained residents be able to help with maintaining our common land, especially lot #4. The cost for the initial training will be less than $200 for the group. The first year’s focus will on identifying and appropriately cutting and removing invasives. Based on the success of this important pilot project, we hope to be able to better maintain and enhance our common land going forward and at a significantly reduced cost.
• The EC has asked the Board to consider using wind power as a possible option to providing our own back-up power source at Moody Point (to generate power during power outages to at least run our water system). The Board has authorized the EC to do the additional research required to better educate the Board on the practicality of this option and to present their initial findings to the Board when they are ready.

 Community Life Committee:

• Presented by Darby Johnson.
• The Summer Friday Night Happy Hours will begin again at the Screenhouse on Friday, June 1^st.
• The next Quarterly Community Life Get Together is scheduled for June 16^th at the Ormrod’s (10 Eagle Drive), from 4 PM to 7 PM. A Barbecue is being contemplated. Mark your calendars.
• “Timely Topics”: Many thanks to Karen Brammer and Colleen Fitzpatrick on their excellent presentations on Sustainability and Pandemic Planning. And thanks to the Chernyshov’s for hosting both events. The program, now completed for this year, continues to be another Community Life success story. Plans for next year’s program have begun.

4. MPCA Managers Report:

• Presented by Erin Surprenant

• The new three year MPCA contract for Lawn Mowing and Snow Removal has been finalized with Blanchette.

• Due to the recent heavy rain events and flooding, our floating dock has not yet been installed. Erin in working to make this happen ASAP, but we have no firm date yet.
• Screens have been replaced at the Screenhouse where required.
• The Board has authorized Erin to get bids on power washing the Screenhouse deck and docks as well as to look into environmentally safe treatments for the dock and deck to extend the useful life. In addition, the Board has asked for the development of an overall, long term Screenhouse and Dock maintenance plan.

5. Drainage Issue Report and Update

• Presented by Russ Simon.
• We have recently received a letter from DES discussing the drainage fixes they will required of the developer. On first reading it appears to be less than we expected based on prior conversations with DES. Our counsel is in the process of setting up a meeting with DES to better understand and discuss the letter.

6. Other Business

• View Maintenance Committee: Recommendations of the View Maintenance Committee have been completed and will be sent to Earle Chase for an estimate and then implementation. Many thanks to those who worked on this project and especially Lynn Badger, who put together an excellent book capturing and detailing the work requested by our members
• MPCA Website Security: The Board continued to discuss the need for additional website security. No decision has been reached yet and the Board will continue to discuss at its next meeting.
• A sanitation issue was brought to the Board’s attention at a rental unit in the Meadow (significant dog waste not being cleaned up). The unit owner has been contacted and the Board expects full resolution shortly.
• Moody Point received a letter of thanks from the Half Marathon organizers on our participation and the “running” of our water station. Thanks again to all who participated in this successful community event. We expect that the race may become an annual event.
• The Board discussed the updating of the Moody Point Telephone Chain for emergency notifications. The Board is considering altering the structure of the Telephone chain. Additionally, sending out an email to all members.

The Board Meeting was adjourned at 9:35 PM.

The next regular MPCA Board Meeting will be held again at Darby Johnson’s home on Monday, June 11^th, 2007 at 7:30 PM. 

Respectfully submitted,

Russ Simon

Secretary