Many lot owners have contacted me during the past few days, expressing concern about speeding drivers in Timber Lakes. Generally, cars, pickups, SUVs and ATVs are driving faster than the speed limit. Please make sure that everyone in your group is aware of the speed limits: 35 mph on paved roads and 25 mph on unpaved roads. If you have contracted with someone to work on your cabin or lot, please make sure that they know the speed limits. If we catch a contractor speeding here, we will not allow them to re-enter the security gate. We will give a contractor or visitor one warning. After that, they will be added to a list of drivers not allowed inside the gates.

For those of us who travel Blue Spruce, starting next week, it will be closed between Cottonwood and Greenbriar for approximately 2-3 weeks. You will need to take the snow plow detour route until we open Blue Spruce back up. We are going to lower Blue Spruce by 12-15 foot cut on Blue Spruce, at the Cutoff Road intersection. At the same time, we will be raising Blue Spruce several feet at the Cottonwood intersection. These two improvements will make these intersections much safer to drive through and will hopefully reduce the difficulties of coming up along the snow plow plow detour route in the winter.

Please SLOW DOWN as our road crew works in this area. Also please SLOW DOWN when you are passing by the water pipe constructions crews.

Next item. This is the second notice to all lot owners that ATVs, motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs and all other recreational offroad vehicles be registered with Timber Lakes. Owners only (not their guests, friends, or impersonators) can register these vehicles with photo ID at either the office or the security gate house. The registration is free (unlike snowmobiles, for which there is a fee) but must be done by the lot owner. You will receive a sticker for your vehicles that identifies them as a Timber Lakes registered vehicle.

Also, all children under the age of 16 must wear a helmet while riding on these vehicles. This is for the safety of your child, not for my safety!

Tearing up the roads with a dirt bike or ATV will get you a fine and the revocation of your Timber Lakes registration sticker. You are paying for the road maintenance, so if you allow your kids to tear up the roads spinning donuts and peeling out, I will continue to spend your money to to repair the roads. When winter comes and you see that there is no snow removal, don’t call me to complain if we used our snow removal budget to keep up with your donut-spinning family members during the summer.

This is a holiday weekend — slow down and enjoy the mountain. Please be safe in whatever you are doing.

Gary, your Road Guy

All West Communications has notified us that they need to repair a damaged cable on the the lower portion of Lake Pines Drive on Tuesday, July, 21, 2009. This requires them to drop service for approximately 2-3 hours for the entire subdivision above Cedar Bark. The outage will occur between 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. They will do their best to minimize the down time.

One of our property owners is organizing a Timber Lakes yard sale. Her name is Arlene Fine and can be reached at 435.785.5196.

Arlene wants to hold the yard sale on Saturday, July 25, 2009 from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm at the parking lot in front of the office. The cost to participate is $1, which will be donated to the Timber Lakes First Responders. Participants need to bring their own table, chair, water and change. If you are going to participate, please call Arlene by Thursday, July 23. She can also be reached at 435.640.6488 or 435.640.0610.

We held the Annual Meeting of the Timber Lakes Property Owners Association on Saturday, July 11, 2009. There were approximately 100 property owners present. Owners elected three directors to fill the open three-year terms. Gary Hume and Craig Allen were re-elected to the Board and Rondo Fehlberg was elected to the remaining three-year term. Rondo is an attorney living in Utah County and will advise the Association on legal matters. Following the meeting, the Board appointed Roger Legare and Rob Roueche’ to complete the remaining one year of two positions that were open due to prior resignations from the Board. Roger is a CPA and will serve as our Treasurer, working closely with our Accountant to oversee the completion of the project we initiated earlier this year to address our record keeping and financial controls. Rob is returning to the Board to complete the remainder of his term. He resigned several weeks ago due to some changes in his schedule at work, which has now changed again, allowing him to continue in his role overseeing architectural control issues and reviewing owners’ building plans for compliance. Brad Denney, who was not re-elected to the Board, has agreed to continue functioning as the Board’s special projects person, assisting in research and pricing for equipment and material purchases. We express appreciation to Brad for his willingness to continue to help, welcome our new board members and look forward to working together to improve the quality of life on the mountain. We also thank everyone who helped organize and setup the meeting. Finally, a big thank you to each owner who cared enough about Timber Lakes to attend the meeting and to everyone who sent in their ballots by mail.

In addition to the election process, we also heard an update from Wasatch County Fire Chief, Ernie Giles, about the proposed Timber Lakes Fire Station. The Board is working with Chief Giles to specifically identify the exact location of the station. The most promising site appears to be on the opposite end of the Common Area from the Vehicle Storage Building, on the north side of Jones Lake, adjacent to Lake Pines Drive. Chief Giles also encouraged our owners to make sure they install carbon monoxide monitors in their cabins. The recent tragic loss of life on the mountain might have been prevented with such a monitor. Finally, the Chief thanked the Boards, current and past, that have worked to improve the roads. He said that while owners might think the roads have problems, the reality is that many people have worked hard over the years to improve Timber Lakes’ roads, which makes it quicker and safer for emergency vehicles to get to a location when they are called out.

The First Responders also gave a report on their activities, invited owners to join their group and encouraged safety on the mountain.

Members of the Board gave brief reports. Craig Allen provided an update on the short-term renter issues. The County Attorney is now in the process of sending “Cease and Desist” letters to owners who are violating the County rental ordinances. They are also informing rental management companies operating in Timber Lakes they will be required to stop providing such services.

An update was given on the Water Company project and its impact on our roads.

Following the formal close of the meeting most owners stayed for an extra half hour to listen to the Board answer questions from various Owners.

Again, thanks so much to those of you who came, asked questions, and participated in deciding who represents the owners on the Board during the next 12 months. For your information, the current Board consists of four members who live in Timber Lakes and five who live elsewhere. Of the nine Directors, eight own cabins and one is a lot owner. All nine of them appear, for all intents and purposes, to be living, sentient beings.