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.

This is just a friendly reminder to be safe if you plan to spend the holiday weekend in Timber Lakes. Many of our roads are blocked off because of the water pipe construction project. Watch for detour signs and slow down. Westview is completely blocked and if you need to access the other side of the block, you will need to drive across a two-track trail off the Heber Valley Girls Camp road. Although the roads have recently been maintained, the heavy construction traffic has quickly contributed to their deterioration. Please obey the speed limits and slow down for pedestrians. There will be increased traffic this holiday weekend so you will need to drive on the appropriate half of the road. If you are planning to ride ATVs in the development, please stay on the maintained roads; everywhere else is private property. The State of Utah requires anyone under the age of 18 on an ATV to be wearing a helmet. Your ATVs will need a Timber Lakes sticker, which we are only issuing to owners. The rain this spring has created a lot of new growth which will increase the fire danger. Please remember that open fires and fireworks are not allowed anywhere in Timber Lakes. There is no hunting allowed here. The teenagers who have been hunting with compound bows in the development are being sought by the Utah DNR. If you know who they are, or see them, please contact Security. We hope everyone will slow down and enjoy the mountain. We wish you a happy 4th and hope you are happy to be living in America.

We have received so many telephone calls about the Found Dog blog post being incorrect that I am happy to post a revision. There is, in fact, no “Leash Law” in Wasatch County. The law actually specifies that when your dog leaves your property, he or she must be “under control.” A leash is one way to have your dog under control. Another way is to have a dog that obeys your command to heel, etc. This exact topic is discussed in the upcoming newsletter that we are mailing this week. The main point of the previous blog was to try to reconnect the owner with his or her dog, but I apologize to all of the dog lawyers who are upset with my misstating of the law. Please inform your dogs of the “under control” ordinance or at least tell them to call you collect if they find themselves in the County animal shelter.

In the meantime, the lost chihuahua is safely back at home. Thanks to Tiffany for the rescue.

A property owner found a frightened, lost chihuahua with no collar on Blue Spruce this afternoon. If this is your dog, please call Tiffany at 785.8885 (cabin) or 813.293.2600 (cellphone). We remind you that Wasatch County requires dogs to be leashed when they leave your property. Please inform your dogs of this ordinance.

We are holding our next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors on Wednesday, June 3, 2009 at the East Millcreek Library in Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. We appreciate input from our property owners and invite your attendance and participation.

Also, as a reminder, we are holding our annual trash pickup activity this Saturday morning, from 9-11. Please bring your own gloves and meet at the office. We will cleanup around the office, dumpsters, gate and entrance road. We will serve lunch when we are through. Come, bring your family, clean up the trash and then clean up your plate.

There is a Community Cleanup Activity on Saturday, June 6, starting at 9 am. We invite all owners to participate. Meet at the Timber Lakes office for supplies and assignments. Bring your own gloves. We will primarily focus on picking up trash around the office, dumpsters, mailhouse, gate and the road out to Lake Creek Drive. A lunch of sloppy-joes, chips and drinks will be available to all participants around 11 am. This is a great service activity for families, couples, singles – EVERYONE! Please join us for a few hours and help beautify the entrance to our mountain community.
Questions? Call Bill or Karla Kepsel at 435.654.9394.

I would like to make one additional invitation for property owners to step up and become candidates for election to the Timber Lakes Board of Directors. We have our annual election in July. We have openings on our board and it will be a better entity if the directors are elected by the owners than if the Board appoints directors. Please consider giving something back to our mountain community and run for the Board. If you are willing to become a candidate, please complete the Board Candidate Application Form and return it to the office ASAP. Thank you.

We are holding our next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Directors of the Timber Lakes Property Owners Association on Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at the Wasatch County Sr. Citizens Center in Heber City at 7:00 p.m. We appreciate input from our property owners and invite your attendance and participation.