One of our owners, Jeff Meierhofer, is forming a committee to clean up and maintain the entrance to Timber Lakes. The area of concern is from Center Street/Lake Creek into our development up to the parking lot and wood collection area. Jeff is asking those interested in helping him to bring any tools (chainsaws, shovels, rakes, trailers to haul wood to the wood pile) they can think will be helpful to the Timber Lakes office at 9:30 am this Saturday, July 17. They will work until 12:30 pm and make assignments of future efforts. His ideas for cleanup include removing dead fall, pulling noxious weeds, planting the red rock garden in front of the mail house, etc. (Not all of this needs to be completed this Saturday.) Please call Jeff with any questions.  He will be confirming with the land owner of the entrance area that this cleanup will be OK. The Board sincerely appreciates Jeff and other owners who are willing to get involved in helping to make Timber Lakes a great place to own property. Jeff Meierhofer, Lot 547, (435)-785-8185

At our recent regular meeting of the board, we determined to hold a special meeting of the board for the purpose of discussing the current building fee structure for Timber Lakes. This meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 at 7:00 p.m. in the Wasatch County Sr. Citizens Center adjacent to the Library at 465 East 1200 South in Heber City, Utah. Owners are welcome to attend and participate.

Mike Durr, President

Now that the Holiday Season is past, I would like to plead with the certain group of our owners who leave stuff behind for the rest of us to pick up: Please clean up your own trash.

The garbage dumpsters by the mail house are for household garbage only. Every holiday, a few owners get ambitious and do some remodeling or repair work; they then bring their construction project trash to the dumpsters. They read all the dumpster signs that say “Household garbage only” and solve their problem by throwing all their non-complying trash on the ground. Some of them stack it neatly, hoping this will make everybody happy. It doesn’t work.

This year, a thoughtful owner threw an old water heater out there on the ground. Another owner left several boxes and buckets of old metal machine parts. In the past, we have had engine blocks, washing machines, furniture and lots of construction trash left on the ground next to the dumpsters. It appears that some owners believe that a magical trash-eating gnome pops out at night and devours all this stuff.

Do you know how the illegal trash is removed? Your fellow property owners pick it up and take it the Wasatch County Waste Disposal District, where they have to pay to get rid of it for you. This is not fair and we plead with the minority of you that are causing the problem to be considerate of the environment and your neighbors.

You can take large items to the County Waste Transfer Station at 1891 West 3000 South in Heber City. This includes things like washers, dryers, water heaters, couches, refrigerators, tree limbs, construction trash, etc. Generally, the only things they will not take are dirt, rocks, concrete or tree trunks.

Last week, every owner received an invoice that looks like a postcard from the Wasatch County Solid Waste Disposal District. This is the annual bill from the County for taking care of the dumpsters. On this card, in the lower left-hand corner, there are three cleanup punches. If you have this card with you, you can take three (3) loads of trash to the County Transfer Station free of charge, between April 1 and June 30. This is a good bargain and a great way to dispose of items that don’t go in the dumpsters.

Also, as you are well aware, during holiday weekends, we generate more household garbage than can fit in the dumpsters. We try to address this by making sure the dumpsters are empty at the beginning of the weekend, but the fact remains, they fill up before the County can get back here to empty them. When they are full, please DO NOT pile your garbage on the ground. The County does not pay any attention to stuff on the ground. Your fellow property owners have to pick it up and throw it in the dumpsters after you leave. If the dumpsters are full, please take your garbage with you. I know this may seem unfair to the entitled among us, but please be considerate. Your weekend retreat should not require your neighbors to cleanup your garbage because you are too important to bother with it.

Timber Lakes is a great place. Let’s work together to keep it that way.

Because I can’t sleep some nights, I have been playing with my smartphone. I know there are more urgent needs for our owners but I can’t work on those in the middle of the night because they require interaction with other people, who are asleep at the time. If you have a smartphone, I have something for you;  I have added support for smartphones at TimberLakesUtah.com.

If you use one of the following devices, you should be able to view the website in a mobile-optimized format:

1. iPhone
2. iPod Touch
3. Android
4. Storm
5. Pre
6. Certain Blackberry models
7. Q

I have tested this on the iPhone, iPod Touch, Android,  Pre, some Blackberry models, and the Q. If you are using one of the other smartphones, I would appreciate you letting me know if our website is optimized on your device.

There is a pull down menu in the upper right corner allowing you to select website pages. From the pull down you can also select categories if you are looking for a particular post on the board blog.

For you techno geeks the following list identifies the user-agents supported by our website. If your smartphone uses one of these agents, the Timber Lakes website should be optimized for your device:

1. android
2. aspen
3. blackberry9500
4. blackberry9530
5. cupcake
6. dream
7. incognito
8. iphone
9. ipod
10. opera mini
11. webmate
12. webos

Have a great holiday!

John Blickenstaff

Our website (and email system) has been down since last Wednesday evening. We apologize to anyone who has tried to contact us during the past four days. We are back up and running on a new server and hope that our technical troubles are behind us. Thanks for your patience.

We are holding our last meeting of the Timber Lakes Board of Directors for 2009 on Wednesday, November 4, at 7:oo pm in the Wasatch County Senior Citizens’ Center, located at 465 East 1200 South, in Heber City, Utah. We invite our owners to attend. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 13, 2010. Beginning in January 2010, our meetings are moving to the 2nd Wednesday of each month.

The gigantic pile of dead wood in our office parking lot is now CLOSED, effective immediately. We have scheduled the chipping crew to come in and chip this pile. There is no longer any place inside Timber Lakes where you can dump dead trees and branches. If you are cleaning up your lot, you need to take the wood to the Wasatch County Landfill. Please do not dump wood anywhere in Timber Lakes.

Thank you.

Mike Durr

Last weekend we had a serious accident on the mountain involving an ATV. The driver was taken by emergency helicopter to the hospital. The speed limit on all non-paved roads is 25 mph and you need to be wearing a helmet if you are on an ATV. The water construction project has several intersections on Blue Spruce torn up. Please be careful and courteous to the crews when you drive past them. Slow down and do not cover them with dust. You are driving at your own risk on the mountain, but speeding puts other people at risk too.

Our October Board Meeting will be held at a different location in Salt Lake City. The East Millcreek Library where we have held our previous meetings this year has been closed for a one-year renovation. Our October meeting will be held at the Whitmore Library, located at 2197 East Fort Union Boulevard, Salt Lake City, UT 84121 (approximately 7200 South in Cottonwood Heights). You can click here to see a map of the Salt Lake County Libraries, and then click on the Whitmore Library pin to get directions. Whitmore is located off I-215 in Cottonwood Heights. The meeting starts at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7, 2009. We hope you will be able to attend.

Dead Oak Brush & Trees

This is your last chance to have some fire prevention work done on your lot without having to pay someone to do the work.

Next week the state of Utah will be sending another crew of Wildland Fire Personnel to remove dead oak brush and dead trees from Timber Lakes. The crew will be working within the road easements around the development. They will also be doing defensible space work around cabins.

If you would like your lot around your cabin to have some work done please fax permission to Mike Durr.

Include-
1 – Lot Number and Street
2 – Lot Owner’s Name
3 – Lot Owner’s Signature
4 – “I authorize Timber Lakes Property Owners Association and the State of Utah to remove oak brush FFifrom my lot in order to reduce my Wildland Fire Danger.”

The Big Pile in the Parking Lot

The huge pile of dead brush and trees in the parking lot will be chipped soon. The last day you can add to the pile is Sunday, September 20, 2009. After that date, the pile will be closed for chipping. We WILL NOT have another location to pile your dead wood so please use this pile while you can.

Who is paying for the clearing & chipping?

The work is paid for by a State Grant. This is your tax dollars at work !! You do not have to pay anything for this work to be done, but the grant expires this year and this is our last chance to use it to reduce fire danger in Timber Lakes.

Thanks,

Mike Durr

fax 435.785.8237
cell 435.640.1416

The board has approved a change to our Policies, Procedures and Regulations. This change authorizes our security team and/or any member of the Board of Directors, to issue citations for speeding and for children under the age of 16 riding or driving ATVs without wearing a helmet. We are implementing this change immediately, and would appreciate hearing your input before our next board meeting (Wednesday, September 2, 2009 in Heber City).

This change comes in direct response to property owner requests that we do something to address speeding and reckless ATV driving. Please contact any board member to share your input. We prefer to be contacted by email.

Thank you.

Printed below is a copy of a portion of the draft (not official) minutes of the meeting where this change was approved.

Wednesday August 5, 2009

TLPOA monthly meeting in Salt Lake City

Motion by Rondo Fehlberg and second by Ole Smith

Motion carried by 8 in favor and 0 opposed

Add Revision 8 to the Policies, Procedures, and Regulations of the TLPOA:  Modify Sec 5.1.5.1 Add Appendix A on August 5, 2009.

Issuance of citations regarding: Roads, Buildings, Recreational and Disruption of the Peace.

Citations may be issued immediately for the following reasons:

1.       Roads / Recreational

a.       Speeding – speed limits are 35 MPH on paved roads and 25 MPH on all dirt roads

b.      Winter speed limits are 25 MPH on all roads

c.       Children riding a recreational vehicle without a helmet (16 years and younger)

Other fine areas to be enforced will be posted for 30 days on the TLPOA web site prior to implementation.

Fine structure is as follows:

Recreational & Disruption of the Peace

1st offense        $ 100.00

2nd offense       $ 150.00

3rd offense       $ 200.00 plus take away the privilege for one year

Number of offenses is based on a per lot basis (not per person).

All Board members are authorized to issue citations on behalf of the Timber Lakes Property Owners Association. [Note: after the meeting, a majority of the directors voted to also authorize the TLPOA security team to issue citations.]

All fines will be payable to the TLPOA office within 10 days of receipt. Recipient of the citation will have the right to appeal the citation to the Board in writing and appear before the Board in the next Monthly meeting. Fines not paid within the time frame outlined will be attached to the yearly assessments for the lot in question and a lien will be placed against the lot of the owner. If a lien has to filed, the cost of processing and registering the lien will be added to the amount of the fine.

Next week the state of Utah will be sending a crew of Wildland Fire Personnel to remove dead oak brush from Timber Lakes. The crew will be working within the road easements around the development. They will also be doing defensible space work around cabins.

If you would like your lot around your cabin to have some work done please fax permission to Mike Durr.

Include-
1 – Lot Number and Street
2 – Lot Owner’s Name
3 – Lot Owner’s Signature
4 – “I authorize Timber Lakes Property Owners Association and the State of Utah to remove oak brush  from my lot in order to reduce my Wildland Fire Danger.”

The work is paid for by a State Grant.

Your tax dollars at work !!

Thanks,

Mike

fax 435.785.8237
cell 435.640.1416

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.