The new year always brings change of some type to our lives and this year the Timber Lakes office is participating.

As the new year commences we extend a huge thank you and vote of appreciation to Connie Hadley for serving the Timber Lakes community for the past two years as our office representative.  Connie stepped in during a time of transition and turmoil, and gave us help just when we needed it most.  Now, at the start of 2010, Connie and her husband, LaMar, have put their cabin on the market and have told us that it’s time for her to hang up the saddle.  With her departure we extend a heart-felt thanks for her time and dedication to making Timber Lakes a better place.

Stepping into the office responsibility is our newest Timber Lakes employee, Martha Lackman.  Martha and her husband have been full- time residents on the mountain for the past 10 years and she comes to us with a wealth of experience.  She has been involved in successful advertising and marketing businesses for many years, including work with Clear Channel, Bonneville, and Fox networks.  Martha has a positive can-do attitude and we expect her to be a great presence in the office.  She is now to a position in life where sticking closer to home is an advantage and we look forward to having her handle our office affairs as well as helping in other capacities, where needed, on the mountain.

In an attempt to accommodate the needs of more Timber Lakes residents we are announcing that the office (and Martha) now have new hours, effective immediately, as follows:

• M, Tu, Th, F   8:30 am – 5:30 pm           (lunch 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm)
• Wednesdays   10:00 am – 7:00 pm        (lunch 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm)
• 2^nd Wednesday of each month (date of monthly board meeting) 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm
• 1^st Saturday after monthly meeting         9:00 am – 12:00 noon

This new schedule makes the office available to owners into the early evening hours on Wednesday each week, plus offers a morning schedule on one Saturday each month.  We hope this makes things more convenient for everyone.

Once again…..Thanks Connie and welcome Martha.

Ole Smith
VP Administration

Please review this Administrative Assistant Job Description for more details.

Interested candidates please complete this Employment Application Form and return it, along with a resume to Ole Smith. You can either email the completed form and resume, or fax them. Click here to send email to Ole. The fax number is 801.944.9555.

Ole Smith
Vice President of Administration

We request any owner who is interested in helping us out on the board, to please email a resume to any board member. We also need you to complete this application form and return it to me. We need your help and thank you for considering this; we cannot run the mountain effectively with a reduced board.

Ole Smith
Vice President – Administration
vp-admin@TimberLakesUtah.com

In the meantime, we need to fill the two vacant positions. Ideally we would prefer candidates with some experience in the vacant areas: One position, as Treasurer, would benefit from someone with experience in accounting, treasury, finance, or in running a business. The other position would benefit from someone with some background in construction or one of the associated trades. There is eight months left on one term, and 18 months on the other one.

We request any owner who is interested in helping us out on the board, to please email a resume to any board member. We need your help. Thanks for considering this.

Ole Smith
Vice President – Administration
vp-admin@TimberLakesUtah.com

The Camp has recommended to the County and to the Board that the burn occur now, rather than in another month or two for one significant reason. Right now, the work can be attended to and watched over by a literal army of missionaries, however, the missionaries will terminate their service in the next 2 weeks and then the burn would have to occur with only a handful of people. The County and the Board think it is a wise decision to do it now and agree with the request.

Why the burn? Interestingly enough, it is for us, Timber Lakes. As you may know all our water in Timber Lakes comes from springs on the property owned by the Church camp. There is an agreement that allows our water company to enter their property in order to develop the springs. The Water Company has been working on that project this summer and has now tapped into the springs. Next year new water tanks will be constructed in the areas cleared out around the springs and we will have sufficient water again for our community. However, a quantity of trees and brush had to be removed in order to develop the springs and clear the surrounding areas needed for the tanks. It is that material that will be burned. Or, in other words, the burn is due to our water development project.

So, if you look over and see smoke this Friday and/or Saturday, please know it is safe, approved and being watched over.

Ole Smith, Administrative VP-TLPOA – Liaison Heber Valley Camp

I have two items I would like to share with you this weekend regarding our maintenance building. One is the progress of the construction, the other is its appearance and what we are doing about it.

First – the building is moving along right on schedule. The shell is almost complete, with only the front side (where all the bay doors are located) and some odds and ends left to go. As soon as that part is complete we will install the bay doors and the man doors, and the building will be totally enclosed. Then we will continue with the other areas of construction including the exterior grading, road materials bins, and interior items such as the mechanical and plumbing, and interior build-out including offices, restrooms and storage rooms. We expect all to be complete by late October…ready for the winter.

Second – the appearance of the building. Many of you have contacted us to ask if we can change the color to something that blends into the environment. As you are likely aware the origins of this building started with the previous Board. They purchased the building about a year ago but were not able to get the building permit and other approvals in time to start construction before winter. During the winter the majority of your current Board was asked to start our service and we took over the permit and approval process. We made some changes and improvements to the interior build-out, mechanical and electrical systems, etc. We also looked at ways to improve the outside of the building but remember…it had already been purchased and delivered. The color, likewise, had already been selected and siding delivered with the rest of the building. We thought about adding siding but learned it would be impossible because pre-engineered buildings (like the one that was purchased) come designed for exactly the weight loads of the building, nothing else. We checked with the manufacturer but were told we could add absolutely nothing as far as siding. Re-painting it turns out to be a bad idea also. Not only would the cost be high, but the industry informs us that they have learned through sad experience that when factory pre-painted steel is repainted, within a few months or years it nearly always starts to peel and flake making it an unfixable, unsightly and on-going maintenance problem forever. So our only recourse is to work with what we have….and here’s our best plan.

The rear of the building (that part seen from across Jones Lake) will have multiple evergreen trees planted across its length. These trees will, with time, grow and cover a large part of the building. Remember, however, that although we will put in trees as large as possible, it will take a few years for the trees to be too large enough to cover the bulk of the building. Landscape professionals know that when trees are transplanted they cannot be too large or they die from transplant shock. For that reason we will work with a landscape pro to help us plant trees which are large enough make a difference but that will minimize the risk of dying. The front and sides of the building will use existing plants, shrubs, trees and hills to limit visibility, plus we are constructing a “free-standing” log or timber façade on the front side, which will soften the metal appearance.

We continue to appreciate your on-going comments and suggestions and want you to know that we are doing everything possible to make this building a great addition to our mountain community.

Keep checking every seven days or so for new photos showing the week-to-week progress.

Ole Smith
Administrative Vice President TLPOA

Our contractor, Double P Construction, started working late last week and has now completed footing excavation, tied a portion of the rebar and is pouring footings for half of the building on Friday the 27th. The remainder of the footings will go in early next week, with foundation walls following immediately thereafter.

I will try to have a couple of new photos every week, along with a brief description of what is happening. You will be able to see the progress in person or by checking our website and clicking on the page labeled Maintenance Building Progress.

Ole Smith

On June 5th Ole Smith, the Board member assigned to supervise our construction, paid the building permit fees and picked up the signed, approved building permit from the County. The plans had already been out to bid for about 3 weeks so the next day, June 6th, bids were received from all the contractors. Over that weekend of June 6-9 the bids were painstakingly analyzed and the winning bidder, Double P Construction, was selected. Double P will also be working with us to find additional ways to reduce our costs, including allowing us to self-perform some work, possibly use some local Timber Lakes subcontractors who have offered us great pricing for their trade, and work with us on some value-engineering efforts.

Double P plans to start construction the week of June 16-20 and be finished approximately120 days later, in mid-October.

There is, however, one last hurdle we still need to clear. When we first started the proposal of building last year, the County, while still checking our building plans for code compliance, moved forward and approved our Conditional Use Permit. In very simplified terms, a Conditional Use Permit is the approval to place something other than a residential building on a lot and, when approved, the building must be placed exactly where it is shown on the submittal, plus the owner must agree to follow any other “conditions” that are given by the County Commission. On the other hand a Building Permit is approved when the plans submitted by an owner meet all the building codes and requirement for safe and proper construction. In our case the approved Conditional Use Permit showed all the big bay doors facing north (right where all the snow falls and ice freezes and never melts off… because it receives no winter sun.) When the mistake was discovered we needed to go back and ask the County for a Revised Conditional Use Permit to allow us to rotate the building orientation to a west-south-west direction…thus receiving some winter sun. This request is scheduled for a County hearing on June 12th. We tentatively expect approval of this request but it is not a sure thing until approved. Check the website regularly and we’ll tell you how it went.

You can check out our building progress by watching for regular construction photos which will be posted on the website as soon as we begin. Click on Maintenance Building Progress and watch it rise.

If you have any questions feel free to email me, Ole Smith, at MaintBuilding@TimberLakesUtah.com.

We will not have a definite completion date until all bids have been received and analyzed, however our tentative schedule is for a construction time of approximately 16 weeks, commencing at the time a contract is signed. This would give us a completed, functional building by the end of October 2008.

As of Monday May 19, 2008, contractors and subcontractors are still being sought for the purpose of submitting bids. If you know of someone please have them contact board member Ole Smith at maintbuilding@timberlakesutah.com or (801) 372-5002.

Please take into consideration that we are a non-profit homeowners association, serving each other. We are hopeful that those who submit bids will be generous in the bidding process and be able to reduce their costs significantly, thus contributing their talents to the betterment of our entire community.

Those interested may contact Board member Ole Smith.

Areas where we need bidders are:

• Footings and Foundation
• Flatwork
• HVAC
• Plumbing
• Electrical
• Septic system and drain field
• Interior framing and build-out (offices & restrooms)
• Log Façade construction
• Bay doors supply and installation
• All of the above (General Contractors)

The new facility will house all of our Timber Lakes equipment and vehicles including the dump truck, backhoe, grader, snow blower, miscellaneous plow equipment, and a fire truck from the County, etc. It will not only provide a place for us to keep the equipment out of the weather, thus increasing useful life, reducing maintenance, minimizing breakdowns and expensive repairs (due to constant exposure to the elements) and more, but it will also offer the crews, who work so hard to keep things going in Timber Lakes, a physical headquarters for organizing their work and coordinating efforts.

The construction is planned to start in the next few weeks, depending on a good snow melt and obtaining the required permits. It will take about 3 to 4 months to complete. The building will be surrounded by a berm and landscaping with the intent of having minimal impact on any surrounding cabins. In most cases no one will even know it exists, yet the positive impact it will have on improved services will be noticed by all.

As an increased benefit, the Timber Lakes Water Special Service District, (our Timber Lakes water company) will also share about half of the building, thus protecting their equipment also and providing them with better work conditions to serve Timber Lakes .

This new facility will be used strictly for taking care of our Timber Lakes community. It is your building. As we continue to see growth on the mountain I think it will become more and more apparent what a great asset this facility is to us in our efforts to stay ahead of our challenges instead of always trying to play catch up.

I will provide you with regular updates on this blog site as the project moves forward.

Ole Smith