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November 2005 Grapevine 11/30/2005
Dear Webmaster, I used to work at Lake Forest and have only begun noticing the webpage as of late. Lake Forest is a good place to live and the amenities are well worth the money. We have 5 children and we enjoy using the amenities and I am proud to tell any one new about the Yacht Club and 19th Hole menus. Even if you don't drink, these places are a nice place to take the kids. In response to the comments regarding the employees, I worked closely with the Board when I did work at Lake Forest and did not have any problems. The board I worked for was a terrific one! They worked hard for the membership and treated the employees fairly and with respect. I am not sure what the situation is now but I would hope that the comments are wrong. On a different note, I haven't heard any mention about the Haunted Country Club. It was a terrific success and alot of fun!!! I think next year it could be improved but can't you always grow and make things better and better with experience? Thanks for listening! 11/30/2005
11/29/2005
11/28/2005
11/28/2005
11/28/2005 If there is a restriction that no trees can be above 8 feet in height can you do someting about all the pine trees people have dumping their straw on others roof tops and yards also posing a lightening problem and possible risk of damage to homes during storms.
11/28/2005 I was at the stated board meeting. Jim Moss was just showing frustration. He knew someone would take the statement he made and make a mountain out of a mole hill as soon as the words slipped through his lips. As usual, LF is too busy trying to attack someone to notice that what he was trying to say is that if you don't think that the amenities are important, then you're wrong! Joe Mosely is taking a place that will be attacked at every turn. He spoke well and listened to all with respect. Good luck, Joe. John Peterson seems like a nice guy. He is a little confused about time. He seems to believe that the marina should magically be totally repaired with a swoop of a wand. Let's see, did I mention that Nic Smokey spoke at the meeting? He had the audacity to say that the webmaster was not "mentally competent". I'm sorry, but this caused me to laugh out loud. 11/28/2005 The LF assessment was put in place for substantial projects.... Which might include three hurricanes?????? Come on guys, how much should the Association suffer for your lack of experience? 11/28/2005 There are also grumblings in the employee pool! Better be careful. You can only keep good employees if you treat them right! Underpaid, disrespected, no holiday bonuses, no raises, less insurance coverage, less benefits.....how far do you think you can go before the loyal employees feel too far UNDER! They will look elsewhere and then you will be sunk! The most successful business is one that has a management system that knows the true value of their employees. 11/23/2005
11/23/2005 This just came from the Grapevine: Concerning the pools, as of the end of September the operational deficits at the pools were $68,000. Now considering that Lake Forest makes up nearly half of Daphne's approximate 18,000 population that only leaves 9000 people outside of Lake Forest less the good folks of Timber Creek who have their own pools less the people who are not interested in going to pools at all and it leaves a small number to make up the deficit much less generate any additional income for the other amenities. And as with the other amenities, I believe it is illegal for a non-profit private club to sell the rights to a single amenity, that is why we have the non-owner memberships. Sorry, but unless I've missed something the pools are not the answer. I would also like to point out that since making 2 of the 3 pools no fee they get more use and enjoyment from the membership than any other amenity that we have. I would suggest that all 3 be no fee next year, as the one fee pool gets very little use, while the other 2 can become overcrowded at times. To the newcomer to the area, the statement about the unwillingness to pay a nominal amount for the fee pool goes to the reality of Lake Forest. According to the 2000 Census the demographics of Lake Forest are:
Respectfully, from your willingness to increase your own fees and dues, I have to surmise you are most likely outside of these demographics. I understand everyone making comparisons to what they think are similar situations but I would suggest to you that the demographics of Lake Forest do not support increased dues and fees. With only about 150 annual golf memberships, and the over $200,000 in delinquent maintenance fees, the argument against increased dues and fees is further substantiated. Please refer to the Webmaster's description in the F&B discussion page of how the original developer promoted the subdivision, and the difficult times that ensued after the developer sold the amenities to the LFPOA. Then realize that, according to Census figures, Lake Forest grew from 1990 to 2000 by 43.63% and that currently approximately 1 in 5 households are rentals. This growth has substantially changed the makeup of Lake Forest, and in my humble opinion has not been addressed by any LF Bd of Directors. Meaning, just as I am hypothesizing why there is so little use of the amenities by the members, so have many past and present Boards done the same. Albeit, I have done some research to support my opinions, and would suggest that the current Board invest some time and minimum expense to see what the members actually do outside of Lake Forest to see if there are things we could implement cost effectively that would improve participation by the members. Preferably new ideas as opposed to ideas that have proven not to work in the past, and have been very expense failures. A good anonymous survey in a monthly billing with a separate unidentifiable envelop for returning would be a good way to collect information that would allow Lake Forest to better serve it's membership. Questions such as: How many in your household, ages, etc.? What type of entertainment do you enjoy? How often do you eat out a month? What types of eating establishments do you frequent. Do you belong to the YMCA, Daphne Physical Fitness Center in the Civic Center ($12 per month), or any other fitness type establishment? How often do you frequent the 19th hole, yacht club, Bayview Lounge, etc? As far as the condition of the amenities, for their age and occasional neglect over the years (not recently) they appear fine. However, in terms of operational usefulness and energy efficiency(as of the end of Sept 05 utilities for all facilities were at $163.000), they are a typical architectural nightmare, good looks no functionality. This goes for both the clubhouse and the yacht club buildings. You are absolutely correct in your assessment of the need for "first class facilities" to raise property values. These type facilities are achievable, and a very feasible idea is out there, but due a lack of ability to reach a large number of the otherwise disinterested members, recent past events by the dissenting few, and the vocal few who resist change of any kind, the idea has not progressed like it should. If you care to hear the details let the Webmaster know and I can forward them to you. Glad you're enjoying your decision to live in the largest and prettiest neighborhood in Alabama.
So, when we talk about whether or not we want to replace major facilities, we should look at the issue from the demand side and not the economies of utility cost. What do you have in mind for a new facility that the old one does not offer? Do the members want that? In all probability, the savings provided by the economies of modern structure probably would not justify replacement. I am told by an accounting professor at the university that it is not a hard thing to calculate. They have pretty solid formulas for calculating return on investment that can be used to answer those questions. The real question is, "What does it do for the membership and do they even want it?" 11/22/2005 The United States Sports Academy has a couple of job openings. They told us that they would really like to fill them with people from Lake Forest. If you know of someone looking for a job, you might refer him or her to the USSA job notice. 11/22/2005
11/22/2005 A couple of interesting submissions came in last night. See what you think. I enjoy reading the Grapevine but have a few comments and suggestions. As a new resident in Lake Forest, I don't know who all the players mentioned in the Grapevine are, especially when alluded to by residence and past actions. Please give their names so newer residents can know who is involved. Concerning the cost to be a member of Lake Forest and to use the amenities, the costs here are some of the lowest I have seen. The cost to be a member of a semi-private golf course in Pensacola is at least $175 per month for a single membership plus mandatory carts at $15 per round. In addition, the course is often tied up by outside events. The prices charged for food at the various clubs is 15-25% below what most other courses charge for similar food. To upgrade the facilities and provide a better experience, I would happily pay 10-20% more in annual dues and/or a $10 per month increase in the homeowner association dues. Lake Forest would still be a great bargain even with the increases. The members here do not realize what a deal they have here and how great the facilities could be with a little more financial backing. Raising dues is never popular but well worth it in the long run. How much do you think property values in Lake Forest would increase if the facilities here were first class? To answer that question, all anyone needs to do is look at the property values at Timbercreek, Rock Creek, etc. A major part of the reason why property are higher in these subdivisions is due to the high quality amenities provided. You get what you pay for.
11/22/2005 I have one for the grapevine readers. Lets don't raise our dues, or be assessed more money, lets don't sell anything. If LF sold any of our amenities it would almost be a crime. Or at least, I would feel violated. Here is a thought we can think about of how to keep all of our assets, and not sell anything and make our bottom line grow. The first idea would be to sell swim rights to the public at a lesser cost than all of our amenities with a one time membership payment and yearly maintenance fees, and make all the pools to the LF voting members free. Surely you would have to manage these pools. You know its kinda funny to me to know that all of the public/private pools north of Dothan AL and as far north as Chicago, are owned by private individuals or communities and a portion being City owned. So the question is how do they do it? It seems to me that if you are going to get something you have got to give something. Why couldn't LF make this one sacrifice and bring their bottom line up so we can improve the other amenities and bring them up to standard without borrowing money. We all know that they sell non-voting memberships to use our amenities and this is good, but why not carry it one step further, sell swim rights to the pools, separate and apart from the other amenities, manage it and make it work like it does for the rest of the northern hemisphere. We know that we all love LF and we also know this one fact, sometimes we may have to bend the envelope a little. This was not put in here to upset anybody in anyway, b ut if you like this idea, I have four more for you. Let the webmaster know what you think. I believe with good common sense, we can be good stewards. 11/21/2005 Interesting contribution to the Grapevine: Read your column daily and find it informative if not distrubing, not the reporting, just the ignorance of the sitting Board. I am a golfer and do enjoy playing at L.F. However, a 5% annual raise over five years is not managing a function. It's an excuse not to manage, as the revenue stream is not tied to cost. Sounds like some type of Federal Program. For the first time, I will have to take a look at my participation and perhaps find a different golf venue. As an aside, my memory may be hazy on this but our F&B costs were close to $300,000 before 1996 The board stopped table side food service and cut the cost more then half. Beyond that we knew full well the limited service was not destined to be a profit center.
11/21/2005 Just in to the Grapevine regarding Thursday's Board meeting: I TAKE PERSONAL OFFENSE AGAINST JIM MOSS SAYING THIS IS A DECAYING 35 YEAR OLD SUBDIVISION....THE WORD DECAYING IS SO INDICATIVE OF HIS THINKING PROCESS....HE SEEMS TO THINKS GETTING MORE AND MORE MONEY OUT OF THE MEMBERS IS THE ANSWER TO A "DECAYING SUBDIVISION." I THINK THESE BOARD MEMBERS HAVE NOT BEEN HERE LONG ENOUGH TO UNDERSTAND LAKE FOREST. 11/20/2005 A new one came in about this week's stated meeting. I was at the last board meeting and was totally shocked and insulted by J.M.'s comments. If he has such a low opinion of L.F. then why did he buy here and why does he stay? As for raising the annual fee's on the amenities, most of the board members don't know what we are paying now. It was suggested that they raise these fee's 5% every year for the next five years. That's a 25% increase! I'm sure that would increase membership at our amenities. They did vote to raise them 5% for the next year. I wouldn't be surprised if we see this increase every year this board is in control. I would like to know why this board is so anxious to fire our present attorney. Could it be because he won a lawsuit against someone on lake view loop or because of an ongoing lawsuit against one of our property owners who has a permanent tarp on his roof? His eyesore is really helping our property values. I won't mention his name, but, I do my share of picking up trash and his so called newspaper fills my garbage bag. Speaking of picking up trash. I truely believe that these efforts are paying off. I can see a big difference. I do have a question. I would like to know how many of our current board members have adopted a median? I believe you should lead by example. I vote for keeping the name "Sounds from the grapevine." I have heard it referred to as "sour grapes" from some of the current board. This just reaffirms to me that the webmaster is doing a great job. Thanks for letting me vent. 11/19/2005
The most disgusting comment made tonight was by VP Jim Moss while discussing an increase for annual fees. Moss commented that "Without the amenities, Lake Forest is just another 35 year old decaying subdivision". What an appalling statement by a member of the Board. One comment I heard from a resident was "insulting". When questioned about the statement during open comment, Moss said he didn't mean it for publication. Oh, by the way ALL annual fees will be raised by 5% in 2006. I bet that will raise your property values?
In other matters, the idea of a "fine dining" type Sunday Brunch is being contemplated "again". According to long time members, this has been tried numerous times, and has failed and cost LFPOA thousands of dollars. By the way, Food and Beverage is already at an operating loss of $118,376 through the end of October. This board is living in a different world than the "every day" working people of Lake Forest, of which this writer considers himself a member. This group needs to get their inflated self importance under control and realize they are not representing for the "benefit of all" of Lake Forest as they are directed in the By-Laws.
11/19/2005
The divisive few was represented by Ben Cruit, encouraging the Bd to sue the owner of the lfpoa website. Cruitt cited some law that sounded like "denure" saying it meant that they can sue you saying they own the site, take the site and domain name, and you would then have to prove in court that it was yours. This bunch has spent thousands of dollar$ of Lake Forest money defending lawsuits. Guess it just fits into their goal of getting rid of the property owners association so Moss' inaccurate description is fulfilled. Funny how being exposed to the light of truth seems to bring out even more mean spirit in this group?
11/19/2005
Smokey was just rambling as usual. He particularly showed his knowledge base when he compared Quail Creek to Lake Forest golf costs, citing that it was cheaper to play golf at Lake Forest than Quail Creek, but failed to include the cart fee required for each round, since they don't have an annual cart fee available. He also said that LF shouldn't allow privately owned golf carts because they are being driven on the streets, and they are illegal but Daphne police won't do anything. Same tired old stuff.
11/19/2005
It was also pointed out during member comments, that by removing the indemnification for the past president voted for by the previous board, they had violated the By-Laws, and that those that had voted in favor were risking their own indemnification. It is particularly problematic when one of the current members of the board voted to rescind the indemnification when he is a party in the potential suit??????? Although not a lawyer, I think the past president has a case against the signers of the letter which, according to LFPOA counsel in a written opinion, said the letter contained "libelous and slanderous statements", and as this writer recalls contained threatening statements concerning misappropriation of funds etc. Which, if confirmed by a judge, this board would be then wanting indemnification when they were suit for violating the By-Laws. Finally, this bunch needs to get out of the "micro-managing" mode, leave the employees alone, and "set policy and procedures" for the GM to run the operations as prescribed by the By-Laws. And by the way, they have applied for a line of credit for up to $100,000 (the maximum per year allowed by the by-laws) which hasn't been needed for the past 2 years? And the ever popular "assessment" (can be up to $50 per member per year) keeps surfacing during discussions. Bet these will raise your property values too?
11/19/2005 Regarding the comment about the current members of the board voting to stop the lawsuit - there is a quote that is quite applicable in this instance "the wheels of God grind slowly but they grind exceeding small" - in other words, they can pull all the shenanigans they want, but in the long run they will pay, maybe not now but one day. You can count on that. 11/15/2005
11/14/2005 - Two rumors today that come from a reliable source. Interesting piece of gossip just arrived from the Grapevine. Reportedly, the State of Alabama has informed the City of Daphne that their crepe myrtles along the highway are too large and they must either trim them back and retrain them or get rid of them. According to our source, the city has decided that it would be more cost effective to just move the large ones to the medians in Lake Forest and replace them with new smaller ones that they can train to meet the State's requirements. As with all reports of activity along the streets of Lake Forest, some people are happy and some are not. This writer thinks large crepe myrtles would look nice in Lake Forest 11/14/2005 Another story breezing in from the direction of the city is that they intend to put sidewalks in the medians of Ridgewood Dr. It was reported that they did not feel the need to consult with the LFPOA board. We can certainly understand that. They just plan to do it. For some reason, there have been some objections to that idea for years. It's another one of those things that your reporter has no problem with since it is not supposed to cost the association anything. Families need a safe place to walk, if it is feasible. That's the catch. Some of our advisors say it cannot be done without creating other problems. 11/13/2005
11/13/2005
11/12/2005
I'm not sure this should go in the suggestion box but maybe it should. How about creating a "Kudos" site with congratulations to members for accomplishments? One I would give would be to Martha and Hunter Davidson for their awesome singing at Karaoke on Friday nights. They are the best ones there! Martha is extremely talented and Hunter is a young singer with immense talent. Everyone should go to hear them and support the Karaoke at our yacht club. They would not only hear Martha and Hunter but enjoy the good food and fellowship at the yacht club!
11/12/2005
Also, one of our new board members and her husband tried to go into the kitchen while food was being prepared. One of the staff told them that they could not do that, so the board member began a lengthy discussion with the supervisor, taking away one of their three servers during a heavy business time. Apparently the new board member was not very concerned about the service the customers were getting that night. We were told that there were about fifty customers and the kitchen was slammed with orders. While we think it is great that the new board members are trying to find out how things work in Lake Forest, we hope that they do not intend to micro-manage the operation too much. 11/12/2005 This just came from the grapevine. This week former Communication Chair, Carl Kauffman received in the mail a block-lettered envelope with no return address. Upon opening it, he found an unsigned letter containing what purports to be poetry denigrating the current web site and former board members. The letter addressed him as “Dear Webmaster” ignorantly ascribing to him a title that belongs to someone else. The letter claims “multitudes” of members are his supporters. If so, why could he not get even one irate member to sign it? Could it be that because the last time several people signed a letter full of lies they were sued? The writer then goes on to denigrate us by ascribing an enormous ego to the webmaster. It is he, the hack writer, who has such an inferior ego that he must hide behind anonymity, as did others with their inane pseudonyms. In all fairness, we must recognize that this poem was written with forethought. It was not constructed in a fast manner, but rather, it seems to be done with deliberation or perhaps more accurately, “half-fast.” To see the letter click on the Dear Webmaster link. And then we received this one. WHAT'S WITH THE HATE POEM PRINTED IN THAT SCRAGGY PAPER WE GET THROWN UP ON OUR YARD, TIME AFTER TIME, AND JUNKS UP LAKE FOREST? I UNDERSTAND COPIES WERE SENT TO VARIOUS BOARD MEMBERS, EXACTLY WHO WAS SENT THE LTR AND WHY? WHAT KIND OF PERSON PUTS THINGS IN RHYME AND VERSE? WE'VE GOT AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM HERE. ANYBODY ELSE KNOW WHAT THAT IS ALL ABOUT?
11/11/2005
11/11/2005
11/11/2005 Here's some news from the lake. I noticed a thin patchy oil trashy slick on the entire eastern half of the lake on my nightly kayak ride last night. Wind is blowing westward now & it is gone. Big Fish are jumping just west of Tom's cove every night at sunset. Beautiful just to watch. Seem to be feeding on mosquitos on the water surface. Not biting your worm 11/11/2005 We received the following message from one of the members who has been working on the medians: I got paid last week. An older woman and her nurse came outside. I could tell she was very sick, she told me from her porch how much she liked my work and she thanked me at least 3 times. 11/11/2005 Regarding our request for your opinion on a name for this section, we have received the following: I like "Sounds of the Grapevine". True, Scuttlebutt seems to fit Lake Forest at this time, but hopefully there will be some "good" gossip at times.
11/11/05 A couple of submissions have been received by the Grapevine. The new board needs to get going on the City paving our roads, they are in terrible condition and I know they promised us they would do them this fall. There was the election and then the promise. Why do we let Daphne get away with this neglect? The medians and the roads are in awful condtion, enough that if you have visitors you are embarrassed to drive them around! One million dollars in taxes from our community to Daphne's coffers a year and we have nothing to show for it
Also received was the following: The median man has been bought a weedeater by the association. As we understand it, the weedeater was purchased for the Building & Grounds Committee and is on loan to the member who is volunteering his time to make Lake Forest more beautiful. 11/10/2005 One point that should be made about the school issue is that whether or not the Daphne area contributes the most tax money to the Baldwin County Schools is not really relevant. In fact, it would be illegal to apportion money back to the schools on that basis. This issue has been address in federal court already. However, this issue should not have anything to do with the idea that Daphne should create its own school system. 11/10/2005 One nice thing about no longer being an arm of the Lake Forest Board of Directors, is that the website can address some community issues outside of the association. We have jumped into the Daphne City Schools discussion. Take a look at it and give us your opinion. 11/9/2005 It was pointed out from the Grapevine regarding recent messages about the Slate of Five's goals for the medians of Ridgewood, that all the work that has been done recently has not cost the association a cent. One member has been out there spreading mulch and picking up trash just because it needs to be done. He's sent no one a bill. No one has been able to recall seeing any of the slate actually working on those medians. And, lest anyone should forget, the Lake Forest Garden Club has been working diligently all through Lake Forest for years! 11/9/2005 Here are some comments from a member regarding some of the goals established by the Slate of Five and other problems in the community. It baffles me that this group wants to spend money on PUBLIC right-of-ways when we're already paying taxes for that purpose. Seems to me this goes against their other "promise" to "Create a strong board that will reach out to partner with the cith government on improvement projects." The innuendo is that past boards haven't tried to work with the city, and other govenment. When, in fact, other past boards have tried and receive only "lip service" from these entities with no action. The lake being a prime example. I suggest that the only way the city, county, state governments, as well as the developers of properties in the Lake Forest Lake watershed are ever going to get off their hands is to bring suit against them. I understand there is an attorney ready to take the case on a contingency basis, which would not cost LFPOA anything. Alabama law is quite clear in that if something is done upstream to cause damage downstream then the upstream cause is liable for damages. Those damages amount to over $6,000,000 at this time, the cost to clean the lake. YES that's a SIX with SIX ZEROs behind it. AND we have the proof in the samples of the sediment taken from the lake. The definition of insanity applies here "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result". Too bad "feel good" promises don't accomplish much. The streets and entrances to Lake Forest actually belong to the City of Daphne. Over the years the association and the City have worked together to make those areas better. The re,novation of the Highway 90 entrance was actually paid for by a grant; designed by people under the leadership of former board member , Stan Keel, and maintained by Lake Forest personnel , Garden Club members and city personnel. The Ridgewood Drive loop is another matter. It's about six miles around whole loop, so landscaping that as proposed by the slate will be a real challenge. 11/9/2005 We received a message from board member, John Peterson, of a correction to the Iron Bowl announcement. That announcement has been corrected. John also offered to answer any questions members may have of him. Thanks, John, for the information and your offer. We are sure the former president would have given John the same courtesy had he asked. We will be glad to pass along any requests to the gentleman, if he will send us his Email address. 11/9/2005 The "Slate of Five" candidates made a very successful run for the Board of Directors based in part on ten goals that they said they wanted for Lake Forest. We thought it would be helpful to post those goals so that the members might track their progress through the year. Check them out here. 11/8/2005 This just came into Grapevine regarding a view that the Spectrum is not timely. You can't get anymore timely than www.lfpoa.com! The point I was making is that the management at Spectrum does not wait for each group to submit their news to publish....that is not why they publish late...I think they are just slack....I'm sure they have an excuse....yes, I know about the $20,000 for the slick copy newsletter we used to pay for, I think a newsletter is important also; again, why the old minutes of August in the November issue.....etc., etc., I hope, like many others, that you will maintain your website, this new board has to earn our trust! Already talk of SECRET meetings, EXEC SESSIONs, what else will they do? By the bye, the Garden Club and Women's Club resent any bother from the Board as a whole.....we have been here for 25+ plus doing our thing and we do not want anyone intruding on our goals and ideas.....We also resent the "IMPROVEMENT COMMITTEE" taking credit for stuff the Garden Club has always done....i.e., attempting to beautify all of Lake Forest, our home! What the writer was referring to there with the $20,000 was that when Lake Forest quit publishing and mailing our own newsletter and turned it over to the Gulfcoast Newspapers, the association saved that much or more each year. The Communications Committee is responsible for working out the details of what is expected from the publisher and when. Also, the Garden Club has been a premier community organization in Lake Forest for many, many years. Their efforts to beautify our community have been wonderful. 11/8/2005 We've heard a little more about the executive session that the board took last Thursday... Henry took them to executive session and handed them a list of 10 attorneys to choose from to replace the one we've had for many years. No one seemed to have an answer for why they should change at all. The Grapevine has heard that they narrowed it down to four. We assume that means they intend to make a change. The only reason we know of is that Bob wants him gone and rumor has it that Henry does whatever Bob wants. John Peterson said that if this attorney was the advisor for the kind of contracts we have had, then he wasn't doing too well. No one knows what contracts he is talking about and no one to our knowledge has complained about any contracts and no one knows how John would know about any contracts. It's a mystery. 11/7/2005 A tidbit has been picked up from Mike Commiskey, the general manager of Friday Construction. It looks like the homes in the new development are going to be a little more expensive than originally planned. The homes in the new area off of Country Club drive were originally planned to be family size homes running from $140,000 to $180,000 and the homes off of Rolling Hills were slated to be garden homes also in the same price range. However, since all of the hurricanes have blown through the coast, the cost of materials has skyrocketed. Concrete, for example, has tripled in cost. So, as a result the new homes will obviously cost more. There's no information in the grapevine at this point about exactly what those prices will be. While it is good that there will homes of greater value built in Lake Forest, it could represent a challenge for the developer. The higher prices will put them in direct competition with some of the newer subdivisions. That means that the Lake Forest board really needs to keep on maintaining the quality of the amenities in Lake Forest at the highest level possible. Lake Forest still represents the best deal on the Eastern Shore with its 27 holes of golf, tennis courts, yacht club, three pools and so on at a price that makes any new buyer jump with excitement. We wish Friday Construction success with its new home sales. 11/6/2005 The Daphne United Methodist Church had the ribbon cutting ceremony for their new Community Life Center today. It's a wonderful new addition to our community. They plan for it to be a true community outreach program and consider the new facility not "their" new building but the "community's' new building with programs for all ages and all denominations. They are starting with a basketball program and encourage all young people in the area to come join them. The Grapevine thanks the Daphne United Methodist Church for their new program. 11/05/2005 The grapevine recently heard that president Henry asked one of the committee chairmen to explain the responsibilities of the committee. It occurs to us that it would be reasonable to explain the responsibility of all the committees of the LFPOA to its membership. So, we have added a new link to this site with a brief description of each committee. Now everyone, including the president, might have some idea what these groups are doing for us. If anyone sees something missing from the descriptions, please let us know from the Suggestion Box and we will hurry to make corrections. 11/04/2005 We heard the following report from the grapevine regarding last night's working meeting of the LFPOA Board of Directors. GOOD NEWS There is no longer 2 people capable of conducting Lake Forest business as if they were the Board of Directors. When challenged as to why an Executive Committee was necessary and informing the Board to the powers of an Executive Committee, the Moss, Fassbinder, & Barrow's website committee was reduced from an Executive Committee to an "Ad Hoc" committee. The Vice-President Moss became rather irritated when it was pointed out that the by-laws required that the Secretary be present to take minutes of ALL Executive Committee meetings, and admitted that they had met without the Secretary being present, and that the Secretary had not taken minutes as prescribed by the By-Laws. VP Moss offered to call the resident personally when he inquired as to whether they were going to announce the time and place of all of their meetings. There were some Board Members who expressed appreciation for the information of the inherent dangers of the Executive Committee concept. Over the objections of some Board members and residents, the Board did go into Executive Session concerning Jay Ross continuing as the LFPOA attorney, and they concluded that they didn't have enough information to make a decision. Of course Bob Underwood had to make his "observations", one being that he recalled that Lake Forest had paid for the lfpoa website design, and that they should own it and the domain. BU obviously didn't understand the concept of domain name ownership. It was pointed out that the Lake Forest logos etc. had not been copyrighted and therefore available to anyone. They are looking into who paid for the website design. Amazingly, all of this could have been avoided if they would have put their personal animosities aside and bought the domain name and site for a mere $2500. When it's all said and done I would guess Lake Forest residents will be unwisely spending twice that amount for another site, all because of certain Bd members dislike of someone. I for one want an "accounting of every dollar spent" on a new website as promised by the "slate of five". Kudos from the grapevine are sent to the Board of Directors for choosing to be cautious when it comes to changing attorneys. Certainly there are other good attorneys out there but one would need a good reason to change from an attorney who has served Lake Forest well for so many years. This is the kind of thoughtfulness that members should be able to expect from their Board of Directors. As to the statements regarding the www.lfpoa.com domain, it is now and always has been owned by Mitch Davis. He maintained it as a service to the community and still does. On leaving the board, Mitch did offer it to them as is for $2,500 and the board chose not to accept it. The offer has now been withdrawn because the Sounds From the Grapevine is just too darn much fun! Do you wonder why Bob seems so annoyed with us? Check out this part of the grapevine. 11/04/2005 More from the grapevine about Thursday night's working meeting has come in. Joe Moseley gave his report as treasurer, advising the Bd that he was "very impressed" with the accounting procedures he saw while going over bookeeping procedures with James & Steve and "didn't see any reason to do any more auditing' by the Bd!! What a surprise!!!!!!!!!! That sounds a lot like what the auditor just told the Bd recently This is more encouraging news from the grapevine about the behavior of our new Board of Directors. Lake Forest has a total debt of around $500,000 with annual revenues of $2,500,000 and assets valued, depending upon who you ask, of anywhere from $12,000,000 to $20,000,000. Is it any wonder that the association's independent, outside auditor gives a very favorable report each year? 11/4/2005 Would you like to hear some more about last night at the country club Henry was caught using the word "secret" meeting and was called on it. After the meeting in the bar, I heard that they have plans to move the content of the web page to another domain name site and leave the current site blank??? So, change the password A.S.A.P to stop them from the pirating. Apparently, some web person told them they can do it??? Not to worry, they are welcome to the content that is at the old host. This webmaster was hoping that they would really try to come up with a fresh new design. There's really no point in going with this one because your humble servant is keeping it current already. Why do you suppose they are so concerned? ;) 11/3/2005 It seems that there is an executive session planned for the 11/3 working meeting of the Board of Directors. We hear from the Grapevine that the board will discuss the association attorney and the association auditing firm. Normally, an executive session has only been called when the good name of an employee was to be discussed. However, a vendor that the association deals with does not fit that criteria. So, why go to executive session? Last year there were numerous complaints of secret meetings of the Improvement Committee. Some of those committee members are now on the board. Is this a trend we can expect to continue? Forgive the Grapevine if it is confused. We thought that this was supposed to be a more upfront, open kind of board than we have had in the past. How does calling a secret meeting at their first real board meeting satisfy that goal? The working meetings are at 6:30 p.m. on the 1st Thursday of the month. Interested members might want to drop in. 11/03/2005 The Grapevine is picking up rumors of minor conflict on the Board. Apparently, at the organizational meeting B.T. Cocke gave the new president, Henry, as taste of his own medicine. All last year Henry seemed persistent in working to disrupt meetings with rules questions and so on. B.T. made a few "point of orders" of his own at that first meeting. While we certainly do want the board to hold their new president to a high standard of order, we don't want to see things degrade into another year of pointless squabbling. We had enough of that last year thanks to Henry. The Grapevine wants to encourage B.T. to take the high road and also remind Henry that to undermine the one member who knows more than any other about our lake problem would not be in the best interests of our association. Henry, our new president called, B.T. Cocke and told him that he will not be appointed the lake committee chairman. Brice is an expert on the D'Olive Bay water shed and has long been an advocate of restoring Lake Forest lake to its original depth and dimension. If restored, the lake can function as designed as a catch basin for the water coming from upsteam, not from Lake Forest. That would reduce the flow and resulting tubidty(muddy water) and silt going into D'Olive Bay. It would also have more room for water storage and reduce the back up in the creeks upstream. Brice is currently Chairman of the D'Olive Bay Restoration & Preservation Committee, Inc, a non-profit environmental group of interested citizens concerned with protecting the the eco systems in and around D'Olive Bay and the surrounding water shed. Mr. Cocke has been been actively involved with this group since its inception in 1986. Henry's reason for not re-appointing Mr. Cocke was he (Henry) "wanted to go in a different direction" although the direction was not spelled out. Not putting this severe problem in the hands of our most knowledgeable person seems to be short-sighted at best and smacks of political retribution. 11/2/2005 Did you see in the November 1st edition of the Baldwin Register that the City of Spanish Fort has delayed their website? Apparently they are not sure that they have everything ready. It's kind of like waiting for every redlight between home and your destination to be green before you leave. You don't do that. You go with what you have and adapt as conditions present themselves. One just wants to make sure that what is out there now is correct. The interesting thing was that they have made a contract to pay $3,930 a year for maintenance of their site. Does Lake Forest have a bargain or what! 11/2/2005 We just heard from the grapevine that Mike Sager showed up at the Improvement Committee looking all professional with briefcase in hand. When Henry Lawson asked him to sign in, he is reported to have said, "Why do I have to sign in? I run the place? "My, my, aren't we special? Mike's was the first vote turned in at the annual meeting to ditch Mitch. Lake Forest community activist, Bob Underwood, has been a outspoken advocate of restructuring Lake Forest for at least fifteen years. Bob was the prime mover behind the restructuring plan that was overwhelmingly defeated last year in a vote of the membership. About half way through the year he resigned from the Board of Directors. That doesn't mean that he has stopped in his efforts to rearrange the association, though. In fact, it was pretty common knowledge among last year's board that Henry was getting his marching orders from Bob all year long. The grapevine is well aware of many of Bob's agenda items for Lake Forest because he has certainly made no secret of them. Here's a review of some of those items.
Does it seem like he wants everyone who knows about Lake Forest's operations and financial situation gone? Why is that? Why don't we watch the actions of the new board. It might be interesting to see their view of these issues. 11/1/2005 Did you see the article in the Friday, October 28th issue of the Mobile Register regarding the Bass Pro developer wanting to fill in the wetlands? They say that building on those wetlands "would reduce sediment runoff and improve downstream water quality." Duh? That's the ticket! Those clods over in Lake Forest ought to fall for that one! How's this for a radical idea? Why not stop the erosion of silt from your jobsite and we'll all be happy! Here's another idea. Why not stop all construction until they dig out the dirt that all the other developers have been dumping in our lake for the last twenty years? Lake Forest needs to wake up! For years we've been asking nicely. Please help us with the erosion problem that has been caused by the tremendous development of the Eastern shore outside of Lake Forest. What has been their answer? "It's your lake and not our problem." That's the answer we've gotten from the cities of Daphne, Spanish Fort, Baldwin County and the State of Alabama! Oh sure, recently the City of Daphne has made some lip movement of support. But, that's all it is, lip movement. Here's the plain fact. Someone will be accountable when they are forced to be accountable and not before. After decades of complaining, one would think that Lake Forest would have caught on by now. Nope. Much of it is our own fault! Think about this for a moment. Lake Forest residents are so apathetic that even though four districts are predominantly in Lake Forest, we only have one City Councilman from the community. We aren't even interested enough to support our own candidates for those city positions! No wonder the city and county governments pay us so little heed! Thank goodness for board member B.T. Cocke!!! B.T. has been a bulldog for years after those responsible for the erosion coming into the Lake Forest lake. No one, and I mean no one, knows more about the issue than B.T. Cocke. Everyone needs to get on his bandwagon. If our new "Slate of Five" board members will work as hard and as persistently for Lake Forest has B.T., there will be good things ahead for the community. There is an opportunity out there for a solution that will benefit everyone. Spanish Fort has a problem with their bluff. They need lots and lots of dirt. Lake Forest has lots and lots of dirt in the lake. The cost for getting it out the dirt is only slightly more than buying it from somewhere else. Yet, the benefit spans two towns and a major development. Bass Pro Shops won't have to hear us complain about their damage. The city of Spanish Fort will have a much improved situation around their bluff and Lake Forest will have a nice, big, dirt free lake. What's not to like about this plan! Keep watching this one. 11/01/2005 Oh, the rumer mill is hot these days after the election of the new Board of Directors. The "Slate of Five" ran as part of their platform on a promise NOT to sell anything of Lake Forest. Yet, around the club it has been said that Jim Moss, John Peterson and Joe Moseley have all indicated that they might be interested in selling at least part of the Yacht Club. Can that be true? Let's hope not. One would hope that it would take more than a week and a half for a board member to go back on his word. How about a reality check here. Did their platform actually say they wouldn't sell any amenity? Or, did they just let the members think it. Is that the same as lying? If you allow people to think something that you know is not true, is that lying. You decide. Bear in mind, these are rumors. Why not give the new board the benefit of the doubt and wait and see. We can wait and see, but we do need to be looking. 11/01/05 At organizational meeting last week, the board elected Henry Lawson as president. We were told that they chose Henry because he seemed willing to consider new ideas that would take us into the 21st century. Really? Where were those new ideas the first year he was on the board? The Grapevine sure is looking forward to hearing these great new ideas. Point of order. Point of order. Do it right guys! 11/01/05 Also, at the organizational meeting the board created and executive committee to look into the website. We need to carefully watch the idea of an executive committee. See what our by-laws have to say about it.
Section 5.12. Executive
Committee In furtherance and not in limitation of the powers Do you see that the executive committee has all the power of the Board? This is an idea that former board member, Bob Underwood, has promoted for years. It just seems to reduce the accountability of the Board of Directors. It doesn't appear to be something that the membership would want.
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