The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by President Don Vogel.  He noted that a quorum was present and that the meeting was being taped.

Directors present were Gene Allen, Rob Collins, Jim Davidson, Jim Hicks, Harold Johnson, Lee Powell, Jeff Stillman, Angela Vanover, and Don Vogel.

Approximately 10 Association Members were in attendance at the meeting.

MEMBERS FORUM-
Larry Diamond was present to discuss vacant lot mowing and billing, first subdivision snow removal, e-mail letters, drainage projects, and the special assessment that has been mentioned recently.  He handed out copies of e-mail correspondence he had had with Manager Kroeger regarding the mowing of his vacant lots.  He was very unhappy about some Board decisions and actions and about Manager Kroeger’s abilities.  He directed some of his exasperation to President Vogel and Jeff Stillman regarding a mowing investigation from a year ago.  He made special point to say that his disagreement was not with the newer members of the Board.

Dan Keefe asked the Board about a letter he had received from Community Natural Gas regarding maintenance and repair of certain gas lines.  Some of the Directors were not aware of the letter and suggested that Dan contact Community Natural Gas.

Angela Vanover was present as a member stating that she thought that the suggestion before the Rules and Regulations Committee to increase the building deposit was too high and that building would be decreased because of it.  She stated that this could backfire and end up causing more delinquent accounts than we have now.

She further thought that the Association should NOT prohibit rentals in the Village.  She noted that as a Director she wants to help people.

Keith Blair was on hand to advise the CLV Board of the severe dust problem that was being experienced in the North Tinsel Circle area of the Village.   The dust was being generated from a Town of Santa Claus road just outside the Village and the south Holiday World parking lot.  He commented that this should be a concern of the CLV Board and explained that there had been various illnesses, and terrible conditions from the dust.  IDEM is now involved in the situation.  The Town of Santa Claus has been cited by IDEM and is working on a solution that is to be addressed at a special meeting
on September 18th at the Town Hall.  There is also a complaint against Holiday World for the dust coming from the south parking lot.  He also mentioned the neighborhood’s concern about the noise and proposed lighting for this parking lot.  He wanted to go on record as asking the Board’s support in this issue.  He urged the Directors to attend the Town meeting in support of these Association members.

Further, Keith commented that should such a time arise that the Association were to create a dry dam in the Tinsel/Madonna area, which had been discussed in the past that he had a lot that he would be willing to donate to such a project.

MINUTES- The minutes from the regular August meeting, and the minutes from the September 4, 2008 special meeting were up for review.  Jeff Stillman made a motion to accept both sets of minutes as presented.  The motion was seconded by Jim Davidson and passed unanimously.

TREASURER’S REPORT- Jim Davidson gave the report.  He noted that he had reviewed the budget report line by line and had noted a few potential errors that would need to be addressed.  He suggested that after discussing expenses for the balance of the year a $16,000.00 loss was not out of the question and was a critical concern.  He further advised the Board that expenditures were high in gasoline, FICA, and maintenance to equipment.  Road de-icing salt has been found but is more than twice the price per ton than last year.  He suggested that road paving was the only place to draw additional funds from.

Manager Kroeger gave the delinquent report.  He noted that the number of delinquent lots and the amount of delinquent dollars in the $600-1000.00 column had changed dramatically as a result of the agreed order regarding the first subdivision Covenants and Restrictions.  He would discuss this in more detail later.  The total outstanding amount is $88,500.00.  The percentage of delinquent lots with homes on them decreased to 15% which is getting closer to “normal” and was an improvement over recent months. 

He advised the Board that he had been in contact with the Attorney about the possibility of pursuing delinquent accounts through legal demand letter and small claims court.  At the last meeting the Board had approved to send the 20 biggest outstanding accounts to the attorney for collection.  Manager Kroeger reported that many of these accounts were in bankruptcy, foreclosure, out of state companies, or carried other impediments to collection.  The attorney suggested that if we intended to attempt a fair comparison between him and the collection agency that we should simply give him all of our accounts rather than a select few.  Because of the complexity of the fee structure, Manager Kroeger suggested that this question go before the business planning committee
for review and recommendation to the Board at the October meeting. 

Jeff Stillman noted that there were 105 CLV lots listed for tax sale in October.

As there were no further questions or comments, Jeff Stillman moved to accept the financial report.  This was seconded by Jim Hicks and passed unanimously.

MANAGER’S REPORT- Manager Kroeger reported on the recent Town Council Meeting.
Town Of Santa Claus
Council Meeting
9/8/08
At the regularly scheduled meeting the Town Council:

• Passed the first reading of an ordinance to vacate Evans Street
• Heard from a group of CLV residence about a severe dust problem from Holiday Blvd. and the south Holiday World Parking Lot.  Russ Luthy was directed to solicit paving bids to be presented at a special meeting on September 18, 2008.  The Town had received a letter from IDEM asking them to address the issue.
• Approved $2500.00 in the ’09 budget to go toward maintenance of a new football/soccer practice field at Yellig Park.  The football league would pay for the development of the field.  Town resident Keith Blair offered to put up the $2500.00 if the Town had trouble finding it in the budget.
• Approved an amendment to Phil Brown’s contract which would pay him for going to the Spencer County Disaster Debris Management Plan meetings.
• Deputy Dan Grindstaff would be going to the academy for the next several weeks.
• Tabled a street repair policy discussion
• Heard that the signs and paint marking no parking areas in the Cedar Crest Subdivision had been completed.
• Directed Russ Luthy to solicit bids for road crack sealing along with the bids for Holiday Blvd.
• Was advised of a shortage of road de-icing salt.
• Heard that only .45 inches of rain fell in August.
• Awarded a bid for 9 sewer point repairs to Shelton Excavating.
• Approved the writing of a cell phone use policy in accordance with IRS regulations.
• Approved the first reading of a summer water use rate ordinance
• Rejected an ordinance concerning sewer use deposits
• Approved the opening steps of a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program.
• Approved the second reading of the $1.3 million 2009 budget
• Approved a probationary raise
• Approved a bid to provide window cleaning in Town Hall
• Approved an annual maintenance agreement for the Town’s computers
• Adjourned at 8:05

Kroeger noted from the police report that no traffic citations had been written in CLV in August, although 9 were written elsewhere in the Town.  In the Village the police responded to two dog complaints, a prowler report, vandalism, theft, a domestic issue and the report of a man with a gun.  The man with the gun turned out to be unfounded.

Manager Kroeger further reported that:

• Since the August meeting he had been able to track down what should be sufficient de-icing salt for the upcoming winter season.  He intended to purchase 40 tons prior to year’s end and then another 60 tons after the first of the year.  The price would be in the $100.00/ton range compared to $48.00/ton a year ago.
• He had received a letter from Jan Braun updating the Board on the euchre game on the September 4th Game Night at the Rec Center.  The winners were Shirley Winchell, Omer Stein, Virginia Polster, and Jack Hauser.  The next game night is scheduled for 6:30 on the 18th of September.
• The Spencer County Commissioner’s Sale that was supposed to have started on September 1, 2008 never got off the ground due to a “proper notice” miscue somewhere along the line.  The auction company was taking care of the problem and a new date would be set.
• He had increasing concerns about certain platted tract areas around the small lakes.  The tracts are designated by the plat for different types of member access.  In one case several lots are designated as “communal” access (tract C) to the lake, while most others are designated as private lake access (tract E).  A new owner of four lots in the “communal” area would like to change the access designation from “C” to “E”.  He further reported that he had spoken with the Association’s attorney about if, or how, such a thing might be done.  The new owner is expected to approach the Board at the October meeting about such a change following the prescribed guidelines which include a written agreement between all the owners in the communal area requesting such a change, designated private access locations, and a survey to mark it all.  The other issue is similar in that there are certain lots/homes on Lake Holly that are all designated as private access, but when lines to the water are drawn, several of the private access areas cross each other, which is hardly private.  This is causing some consternation when trying to sell these homes/lots. After some discussion, Manager Kroeger was directed to get recommendations from the engineer and the attorney.

OLD BUSINESS
Trash Pick Up- President Vogel read the parameters of the trash pick up bid/contract.  Dan Elpers from Veolia was on hand to discuss the contract and answer questions from the Board.  After the question and answer period, which revolved around complaint resolution, additional toters, replacement of toters, vehicle weights and capabilities, and service days, the Board approved the proposed bid guidelines unanimously, with adjustments made during the discussion, on a motion by Jeff Stillman, and a second by Jim Hicks.

Rec Center Roof- Jim Davidson reported that he had inspected the Rec Center roof to find that the main roof ridge beam has as much as a 5 inch sag in it.  He said that he sees two possible options.  One of which is to remove the roof and install additional rafters to support the roof.  This project could run in the $30,000-40,000.00 range.  Or we could jack up the roof a little at a time using from 3-6 jacks.  Timbers would be used for jacking and supporting the floor.  After raising, the rafters would be locked into place with new cross ties.  This project could take a few months.  There was some concern mentioned that the posts would be in the way of Rec Center users.  Jim commented that the posts would be made safe.  The CLV maintenance staff would do the work under Jim Davidson’s direction.  Jeff Stillman moved to purchase the jacks and lumber to raise the roof.  Angela Vanover seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

First Subdivision Update- Manager Kroeger reported that the “Agreed Motion For and Order Resolving Claims” regarding the agreement between the Association and the First Subdivision was approved by the Spencer County court on August 26, 2008.  The CLV Board had approved the proposed agreement at a special meeting held in March of this year.  Effectively this ties the loose ends to this long running dispute.  Approximately 42 Assessments bills were to be sent to those in Subdivision One who had not paid for 2008.

Smith Homes- Jim Davidson noted that there were still unanswered legal questions regarding this project.  We had recently received some information from our attorney regarding some of these questions.  It was decided to ask all the Directors to forward any further legal questions that they had to Manager Kroeger by the end of the day on Monday, 9/15/08.  He would then send the questions to the attorney for a written response.  He was also asked to set up an executive meeting with the attorney on 9/25/08 to discuss this issue further.  Jim Davidson moved to table further discussion until the regular October meeting or later, to discuss legal issues.  The motion was passed unanimously after a second by Jeff Stillman.

NEW BUSINESS
Yard Sale Report- Manager Kroeger reported on the ’08 yard sale.  He noted that he had been a little more removed from the planning for this year’s sale and he had been able to look at it from a different vantage point.  He made the following suggestions:

• Hold the event the 3rd Saturday in September
• Continue to open the gates at 7:00 AM rather than 8:00 AM
• Included “CDT” in all newspaper advertising
• Add a second gate officer on the preceding Friday afternoon from 3:00-7:00 PM
• Return to the list of available items.  Three items maximum.
• Remove any garage sale signs that go up prior to 6:00 PM on the preceding Friday
• Return to taking down license plate numbers of attendees
• Improve internal communications
• Start police traffic control at 6:00 AM on Saturday
• Make Blue Spruce a one way street for the day.

Jeff Stillman suggested that not including the items available list increases impulse purchases at various locations.  There was also concern about the amount of sales and traffic that are present on Friday night.  It was noted that attendance generally seemed to be down, possibly because of the date.

Road Paving Bids- Manager Kroeger reported that he had sent out four bid packages that covered 8 sections of road repair within the Village.  He had only received two back.  Gohmann Asphalt had bid $122,382.00 for the job and Rudolph had bid $131,223.00.  He reported that several manholes in the road would need risers to accommodate the new asphalt and that the entire bill was likely to be close to $125,000.00  There is some $90,000.00 in the budget for road paving.  He further noted that the bids were predicated on the large section of Donder Lane being repaired.  Removing Donder from the repair list would require adjusting the entire bid.  Infrastructure chair Jim Davidson noted the amount of money needed to do the job and the previously mentioned possibility of a year end shortfall of income.  There was some discussion of removing some of the locations targeted for work and then getting a second quote.  After discussion about budgets, second bids, “rainy day funds” and what could be adjusted to reach money needed, Jim Hicks moved to accept the low bid.  Lee Powell seconded the motion which passed on seven “yes” votes and one “no” vote by Jeff Stillman.  Manager Kroeger and Jim Davidson were to find as much of the difference as possible in the ’08 budget, and then consider pulling some from the ’09 budget as required.

Lifeguards- Personnel Committee chair Jeff Stillman noted that we had had another tough summer with lifeguards at the beach.  He noted that in order for lifeguards to continue we should have a supervisor on the beach most of the time.  He also mentioned the idea of an enforcement officer that could keep on eye on the Village including the beach/lifeguards.  The Santa Claus Police are unable to assign an officer to the Village because even though the Village comprises most of the Town’s population, it does not generate most of the police requirement.  Manager Kroeger read a letter from our insurance company about the “swim at you own risk” subject and noted that our attorney had had nothing to add to the insurance company letter.  After additional discussion about enforcement officers, Jim Davidson moved to discontinue lifeguard service at the beach starting in the 2009 season.  Jeff Stillman seconded the motion which passed with seven “yes” votes, and one “no” from Angela Vanover.  Manager Kroeger was directed to start making necessary modifications to the beach area.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
Business Planning- Nothing further
Infrastructure- Nothing further
Nominations- None
Rules & Regulations- Chair Jim Hicks referred to some proposals for the building guidelines that he had e-mailed earlier in the day.  He asked the directors to review the document and be prepared to discuss these at the October meeting.  Angela Vanover commented that she thought that the proposed increase in the building deposit was too large and that it might have a negative impact on new construction.  Angela was asked to submit her concerns in writing to the committee.
Personnel- Nothing further
By-Laws- None
Parks & Recreation- The CLV Garden Club had asked to plant a mulch area with a stone and shrubs to commemorate “heroes” around the tree near the flag pole in order to highlight the area.  The area was to be around 12’x19’ in size.  The request was approved.
Covenants & Restrictions- Chair Angela Vanover reported that the first time through the document had been completed along with the first proposed modifications.  The next meeting was scheduled for September 22nd to make some final adjustments and then send the document to the attorney for review.  The first “town meetings” will be scheduled after that when we get the document we think that we need.

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM.