The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by President Don Vogel.  He noted that a quorum was present and that the meeting was being taped.

Directors present were Gene Allen, Jim Davidson, Jim Hicks, Steve Lee, Gene Sams, Rex Stevens, Jeff Stillman, Angela Vanover, and Don Vogel.

MEMBERS FORUM- Shirley Blazey was present to remind everyone of the upcoming election for county offices.  You must be registered by April 7th for the election on May 6, 2008.  A voter registration application is available on-line at www.in.gov/sos/elections. A hard copy of this application is available at the gatehouse as well.  For questions, call John Rudisill at the Spencer County Voter Registration office @ 649-6017.

MINUTES- After review, Jeff Stillman moved to approve the minutes of the January 2008 meeting.  The motion was seconded by Gene Allen and approved unanimously.

TREASURER’S REPORT- Jim Davidson reported that we opened two CDs in the last month and that CD rates are decreasing.  He noted that a $33,000.00 (12 month) Reserve for Replacement CD was opened at Spencer County Bank and a $100,00.00 (6 month) CD was opened at Freedom Bank.  He further noted that as our Building Escrow Fund had dropped below $25,000.00, we were no longer receiving interest on it.  Manager Kroeger was instructed to look into converting this account into a ledger item rather than a specific account.

President Vogel advised the Board that he had done some review and had noticed that the percentage of members paying their annual assessment by the end of January had been decreasing by 1% each year.  He further noted approximately 50% of the first subdivision had paid their ’08 assessments.

Manager Kroeger gave the delinquent report.  He said that although the amount of delinquent lots had decreased by several, the amount of money outstanding was not dramatically different as some of these accounts had small balances.  He advised the Board that three liens had been released in January, that first past due notices were to be sent out the week of February 18th, and that he had had a meeting with the collection agency.  Over 100 accounts are scheduled to go to collection very soon.

There being no questions, the Treasurer’s report was unanimously approved on a motion by Rex Stevens and a second by Jeff Stillman.

MANAGER’S REPORT- Manager Kroeger reported on highlights of the January ’08 Town Council Meeting.  The Council:

• Elected Ron Smith and Kevin Burke as President and Vice President respectively
• Approved the minutes from the December 28, 2007 meeting
• Heard that an extension for a grant for the water project had been approved.
• Appointed Alan Masterson to the Park Board
• Heard that zero home and 4 commercial building permit had been approved
• Asked attorney Patmore to review the International Property Maintenance Code and discuss adopting parts/all of it with the planning commission.
• Heard that the fire department had met with Midwestern Engineers and had a preliminary set of drawings for the new fire station.
• Heard that Vectren had yet to supply pricing for streetlights.
• Was advised that heavy equipment to begin work on the new 231 at 162 had been moved into place.  Water and sewer relocates are to be finished in about 120 days.  Council President Ron Smith was to sign an agreement to relocate utilities in the area.  There remained some question as to how much, if any, the Town would have to pay for this.
• Heard that the water project continues along with well site surveys, that the alignment is almost set though there are still some routing issues, the time is getting near for the 3 phase electric line installation.
• There are 3 applicants for a job opening in the water department.
• The sewer department is looking into slip lining a repair on Blitzen Lane rather than excavating the line.
• The wastewater plant processed 25.6 million gallons and we had 7” of rain.
• Passed the second reading of an ordinance establishing a waterworks board.
• Appointed Dennis Dellamorta to the council to replace Mike Kamp

President Vogel updated the Board on the Town Council’s February meeting noting that the town had applied for a grant for the new fire station, that Attorney Patmore had the documents ready for the Town of Santa Claus and Santa LaHill water merger, there was an issue with placing a new water line under the railroad tracks, and that a new Water Board had been seated which included Mike Kamp, Scott Elliott, Marvin Leibering, Steve Leibering, and Frank Fowler.

Manager Kroeger further reported that:

• The Santa Claus Police Department showed that, in the Village, they had conducted an investigation with the FBI, performed a welfare check, investigated a disturbance, a suspicious person, had served papers and taken two theft reports.  They also issued three traffic tickets and assisted in four medical emergencies.
• Our dams are to be inspected every other year.  He had sent out two bid requests to do this work as well had called some other companies that were not interested.  He had received only one bid back and it was from Commonwealth Engineers who had done the inspection in 2006.  Their bid was $6,000.00.  This is $400.00 less then in ’06 and well within the budgeted amount for this project.  Manager Kroeger noted that Commonwealth had done a good job on the previous inspection and that they had been helpful on several occasions since then as well.  Jeff Stillman moved to accept the Commonwealth bid.  This was seconded by Jim Davidson and passed unanimously.
• He had signature cards for the Board officers to sign.
• There were plans on the table for review
• The Association was on the agenda at the County Commissioners meeting on February 19th to discuss the purchase of county lots.  Angela Vanover noted that is was very important for us to know the type of title we could expect to get, and that we might need to go through a “quiet title” action.
• He had had representatives of the Midwestern Engineers look at his concerns of the Rec Center roof.  He noted that the walls were out of plumb and that Midwestern said the problems were caused primarily by gravity and building materials.  The roof might have to be replaced with a truss roof rather than the beams that are currently in place.  He had arranged for Ron Deig of Deig Brothers to look at the building.  He would report back to the Board at the March meeting. 
• He had made a mistake in suggesting that Smith Homes could go ahead and build a small room on the back of home that was undergoing extensive renovation without the proper paperwork.  The room was actually larger than he had anticipated.  He apologized for the choice and said that he would have the paperwork ready for review as soon as possible.  All building restrictions would be followed. 

President Vogel then took some time to advise the Board of an issue that is on the horizon involving Smith Homes.  Smith Homes is in the process of buying a parcel of land from Koch Development that lies near the corner of Balthazar Drive and South Melchior Drive.  The intent is to build 7 upscale homes on this parcel and then incorporate them into one of the Village subdivisions.  With the possible exception of an interior set back line or two, all CLV building guidelines would be followed.  The new homes would pay Village assessment as well as additional internal assessment for group lawn care and landscaping.  There was discussion about this issue, most of which was generally favorable.  Smith Homes is expected to make a formal presentation to the Board at the March meeting.  Manager Kroeger was instructed to look in to the possibility of limiting construction access on our roads for this project.

ACTION ITEM
Lifeguards- Steve Lee made a motion to keep the lifeguards consistent with what we have done in the past.   Angela Vanover seconded the motion.  There was some discussion about the recent lifeguard survey, about the availability of quality help, and that we should not change program at this late date.  President Vogel called for a vote which showed Jim Hicks, Steve Lee, Rex Stevens, and Angela Vanover in favor of the motion.  Gene Allen, Jim Davidson, Gene Sams, and Jeff Stillman voted against it. President Vogel broke the tie with an “aye” vote which passed the motion.  Manager Kroeger was directed to make arrangements to hire lifeguards.

OLD BUSINESS
Road Weight Limits- Jim Davidson advised the Board that Spencer County had an 8 ton weight limit on all county roads all the time.  He further reported that the county could restrict all truck traffic at times when the ground was soft.  He was reluctant to suggest that the Association implement such a restriction.  However, he thinks it a good idea that we have approximately 15 core sample of our roads made and analyzed so that we can look into something like this with a better view of our road conditions.  It was noted that trash trucks are hard on our roads and that perhaps we should bid out the Village account to one trash service.  Manager Kroeger was instructed to look into the cost of core drilling as well as the cost of a portable scale.

Car Count- Manager Kroeger had been asked at the January meeting to make a count of cars coming into the Village so that an evaluation could be made as to whether an alternate method of entry might be used in the late overnight/early morning hours.  The count was made over a two week period and manager Kroeger passed out a chart and explained it.  The count included individual counts members, guests, guests w/residents, and service vehicles.  The count showed that an average of 499 cars came into the Village during the 7:00A-3:00P guard shift, that 945 cars came in during the 3:00P-11:00P shift,
and that 72 cars came in during the 11:00P-7:00A shift.  The other means of access could include cards or keypads.  Manager Kroeger was asked to investigate.

NEW BUSINESS
Festival of Lights- Manager Kroeger showed a proposed route for the 2008 Festival.  The Festival is December 13th and 14th this year. The route has been shortened.  A copy of the route is displayed in the gatehouse.  It was suggested that an overall coordinator was needed to assist with the Festival. Anyone interested in this can contact the office for details.

Tasman Properties- Manager Kroeger noted that Tasman LLC owns several residences in the Village that need maintenance and clean up.  These properties had been a difficulty for long time and even a letter from our attorney had not brought any response.  He noted that of our options, he would request that we proceed with litigation against Covenants violations.  A motion to proceed by Jeff Stillman with a second by Jim Hicks was passed unanimously.

Neighborhood Watch Kick Off- Manager Kroeger suggested the idea that the first concert of the summer season be combined with a Neighborhood Watch kickoff at Holly Park.  He thought that perhaps the Neighborhood Watch liaison for the Village could attend and perhaps we could get information from the Citizen Corp and maybe a police car and fire truck.  He said there was probably money in the budget to grill some hot dogs.  A talent contest was suggested as well.  He was instructed to go ahead with the plans.

Goose Control- Manager Kroeger advised the Board that he had looked into the possibility of using swans to chase the geese of off Village common ground.  He had found a company in the Chicago area that provides this service, as well as selling and renting dogs and swans for this purpose.  We would need 5-6 pair of swans for the big lake, and pair each for the two smaller lakes.  More research indicated that the swans could be very aggressive.  So he suggested that we stay with our relocation program another summer as one year is not enough to indicate how well the program is working.  Goose relocation permits for 2008 have already been obtained.  There was some discussion as to whether the trained dog would be better than the swans.  It was decided to hold off another year on the swans and dogs.  Manager Kroeger said that he would ask the DNR at the goose relocation point to band the birds to assist in identifying those that return to CLV.

South Melchior Drive- Jim Davidson reported to the Board that there were some dips that had developed on South Melchior that had been caused by the replacement of a force main under the road several years ago.  An estimate by Rudolph showed that it would cost approximately $16,500.00 repair the road.  Jim suggested that we need to approach the Town about making the repairs.  The dips were getting worse which would accelerate additional deterioration of the road.  Manager Kroeger was to write the letter to the Town on behalf of the Board which President Vogel would sign.

Rules and Regulations Documents- Committee chair Jim Hicks passed out four documents.  The 2008 Lake Rules, Back Gate Rules, Beach Rules, and Renters Rules.

The Back Gate Rules had simply removed the second fee structure for the first subdivision that had been in place in 2007.  The updated rules were passed unanimously on a motion by Jim Hicks and second by Jeff Stillman.

The Beach Rules are a formalization of what had already been happening at the beach.  After some review, Jim Hicks moved to accept the Beach Rules as presented.  Jeff Stillman seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

The Lake Rules proposed a few changes that were shown in bold text on the document.  During discussion it was suggested that we post “Swim at Your Own Risk” signs at the public access areas to the lakes.  Jim Hicks moved to accept the ’08 Lake Rules as presented.  Gene Allen seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

Jim Hicks also passed out a new draft of Renters Rules for the Board to review.  It was explained that no vote would be taken at this meeting.  There would be discussion at the March Board meeting and then a meeting with the landlords would be held before voting on the rules.  Angela Vanover advised that we should check with some government agencies to make sure we were on solid ground with this document.  Angela was requested to get the names to Manager Kroeger for follow up.

COMMITTEE REPORTS
Business Planning- None
Infrastructure Committee- None
Nominations- None
Rules & Regulations- None
Personnel Committee- None
By Laws Committee-None
Parks & Recreation- None
Covenants & Restrictions- Chair Angela Vanover noted that the next meeting of the committee would be Monday, February 25th at 6:00 PM.  The committee is looking at each paragraph.

President Vogel noted that he had heard at these meetings that more people are opting out of using the Rec Center because there is no restroom upstairs.  An upstairs restroom had been researched recently but had not been built.  He thought the matter should be investigated again as we are losing revenue.  Jeff suggested that if we need to replace the roof or do other maintenance work on the building as had been discussed earlier in the meeting, that we should look at it all as one package.