News 3-12-2010

 

Dear Association Members:

Writing to you about the summer when we have the remains of 15” of snow on the ground shows my faith in the future.  Your Association is moving smoothly towards the new season with changes that are responsive to our members as described below.  Enclosed is a copy of the Association’s balance sheet and income statement for the last fiscal year.  Our financials continue to be solid and we will maintain the annual fees without increase.

Please be on the alert for a letter, a resolution proposing changes to our By-Laws and a Proxy for you regarding Associate membership requirements for those living in the Eagles Mere Area outside the Borough.  We are heading towards a vote Memorial Day weekend, but you will be asked to vote by proxy prior to then.

We will have a new playground!  After literally years of study, plans crystallized, contracts have been made and you should find our playground with a tunnel, a vortex, a 90” high climbing wall and other new features, all professionally designed with safety in mind.  The playground will be physically laid out around two age groups: 2 to 5 and 5 to 12.  The rest of us will have to swim in the lake or do something in the woods.

For the second year we will open a week early: June 12th.  Last year there were a few families who took advantage of the early opening and good weather and we think it is good for Eagles Mere to continue this practice.

There are issues that we are not satisfied with, and that get our constant attention towards resolution.  These revolve around our property: keeping it in a natural and healthful state and keeping it peaceful.  We continue to monitor the spread of hemlock and other tree diseases, together with professional help, but without identifying any reasonable alternative other than to let nature take its course.  Your EMA has formed a committee with the Borough to keep our property peaceful.  Towards that end we anticipate contracting a private security firm to monitor activity on our property.  However, as with so many things, the solution to the problem also lies with our families.  There is an attitude that Eagles Mere is a safe place for children and therefore they can have more freedom here than off the mountain.  “If they are going to freely interact with their peers, what better place is there?”  I agree with that and had these thoughts as my children matured here.  Yet, it is still necessary for families to be responsible for their children.  I know this gets harder as the children mature, but families must tell their children what is and is not acceptable behavior. 

Your organization has two non-temporary membership classifications:  Shareholder and Associate.  At last count we had 293 Shareholders and 85 Associate members.  Our policy has been to offer Shareholder membership to about six Associate members each year.  This has resulted in families being in Associate member status for several years.  While Associate members have full access to the lake and our facilities, they can’t vote and don’t attend the annual meeting and cocktail party.  This year we will double the number of new Shareholder members, and encourage Associate members to attend both the annual meeting and our annual cocktail party.

Our bylaws require that members be natural persons and deeded land owners.  Changing property ownership to a family corporation appears to be a natural progression of family changes, but is contrary to the requirements of our bylaws.  This has caused difficulty with some new members, who deeded their property as corporations.  We worked this out in a couple of instances by prospective members re-deeding their property in family members’ names.  However, it was inconvenient and there is a potential not-insignificant cost in deed changes.  To help avoid this problem going forward we bring it to your attention.

Last year we successfully sold some of our seldom-rented Old Town canoes.  There are three more for sale.  Please let us know if you are interested in purchasing one.

I have enjoyed my first year as your president and look forward to being involved with the affairs of the EMA this year. 

                                    Respectfully,

                                 
                                   Lance E. Robson, President