SPRING 2015 NEWSLETTER

Spring 2015 Newsletter
After a relatively mild winter, and a very early spring, we are all ready and waiting for summer and another season at the lake (and to see and experience our area with new, smooth, paved roads). Since the 2014 annual meeting, two board meetings have been held with another meeting scheduled for early June before the July membership meeting is held in Jamboree Hall.

Here are your current Executive Members:

PRESIDENT: TREVOR WINTERS
CELL: 204-795-8893
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 23 – 2ND STREET NORTH

VICE PRESIDENT: BRAD COLETTE
CELL: 204-487-0674
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 70 – 4TH STREET SOUTH

SECRETARY: GLORIA BELIVEAU
CELL: 204-218-2952
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 21 – 3RD STREET NORTH

TREASURER: JOYCE HARLAND
CELL: 204-250-7965
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 18 2ND STREET SOUTH

PAST PRESIDENT: BRIAN MCVICAR
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 4 – 5TH STREET NORTH

Here are your current Board Members:

KEVIN ALGUIRE
RESIDENCE: 403-245-9623
EMAIL: [email protected]

PAUL BARNABE
CELL: 204-304-0378
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 20 – 5TH STREET NORTH

NELDA DIDYCHUK
CELL: 204-895-8267
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 35 – 2ND STREET NORTH

JOHN GEORGE
CELL: 204-724-6136
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 4 – 4TH STREET SOUTH

JOAN JAMES
CELL: 204-476-6161
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 14 – 2ND STREET NORTH

JO-ANN LOMBAERT
CELL: 204-761-5582
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 9 – 5TH STREET SOUTH

ANDREW URBANOWICZ
CELL: 204-803-3931
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 23 – 1ST STREET SOUTH

KEITH VINTHERS
CELL: 204-724-2170
EMAIL: [email protected]
CABIN: 18 – 2ND STREET NORTH
 
2015 Leases and Loan Repayment:

In July, Parks Canada will be sending all cabin owners a letter with two (2) invoices in it. One invoice will be for our water / sewer / garbage fees, and the second invoice will be each cabin owners share for the installation of the water and sewer lines in 2013, and the repair and paving of our streets in 2014. It is important that everyone knows that there will be 2 invoices in the letter we receive from the Park in July.
Water/sewer/garbage invoice for season – $446.63 (up $10.00 from last year)
Invoice for Infrastructure Project
As of this report, the CLCA consist of 416 cabin owners. Thanks to Joyce Harland for her hard work in co-ordinating the membership lists

The Good News:

The original water sewer project budget was established in 2012 at $5000 per cabin. We can now happily report that the project has come in significantly under that budget (and that is a rare event in this day and age). There are a number of factors involved:

Parks Canada staff (Dale Wallis and Dwight McMillan) managed and supervised the entire project as part of their regular duties, rather than leaving the project management to Public Works Canada. This resulted in a significant financial savings for cabin owners.
Park staff also did line isolations as part of their regular duties (this is isolating water lines to washrooms and cook shacks so that they are on separate lines). Our costs also include the cost of the connection or junction boxes that we have between Cabins
Over and above our 530 leased lots, there are an additional 25 surveyed lots. The individual cost for the project for these unleased 25 lots, will be carried by Parks Canada and they will recover that money when, or if, these lots are ever released for leases.

In July, your invoice as per your share of the project will be $4,553.00, which is significantly below the original budgeted amount. This amount includes several charges:

As cabin owners, we paid the cost of salary for Michael Rac for the summer of 2013 when Michael lived in our area and spoke with cabin owners about cabin area issues. Micheal submitted a brief interim report in 2013 and a final report in the fall of 2014.
Charges for the students who worked throughout the area last summer (2014) bringing in new topsoil and planting grass seed
Cabin owners also paid for the junction or connection boxes between each cabin.

Thank you to Dale Wallis and his staff for a job well done. Specific questions related to the project will be answered at our spring members meeting.

The cabin area consists of 530 cabins/lots, 32 cook shacks and wood shelters, 10 public washrooms, and 1 shower building.

In 2012 the Board met with the Hon. Bob Sopuck, MP for our area to ask if there might be any money forthcoming from either the Federal or Provincial governments to assist cabin owners with the cost of the water/sewer project. Following a series of meetings with various government departments it was determined that there was NO money available to us at that time. However in the 2015 Federal Budget a new infrastructure program was announced and once again, the Board, on behalf of cabin owners has contacted various government agencies, especially the Infrastructure Secretariat and Mr. Sopucks office again to ask if any money might be available at this time. We have not yet received an official response but all indications are that we are not going to receive any grant money.

Future of Public Facilities in the Cabin Area

There has been some concern expressed about the future of the public facilities in the cabin area. To put everyone’s mind at ease, I will quote from the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding that the CLCA Board signed with Parks Canada in 2012

It is agreed that all public washrooms and the shower building will be retained until October, 2019 or 5 years after the infrastructure project is completed, whichever is greater. After this date, Parks Canada and the CLCA Board will annually review the public washroom and shower requirements. Based on the number of cabins connected to shared services, and the location of these cabins, washrooms may be closed pursuant to mutual agreement. The public shower building may be retained until such time as the parties mutually agree or the building has reached the end of its useable life.

Budget For 2015 For Cabin Area

To provide members with a better understanding of where their money is allocated, and how it is spent, we provide the following break-out of charges for the 2015-16 season.

Cleaning washrooms and shower building $85,196.00

Cleaned 5 days a week starting May 2nd and continuing to June 15, when cleaning occurs 7 days a week

Building maintenance and repairs $48,904.00

Plumbing repairs/maintenance/opening and closing $16,698.00
Chimneys maintain and repair $2,718.00
Electrical repairs maintenance $2969.00
General repair and maintenance $2963.00
Shingle one shelter $2155.00
Stove replacement (one) $5958.00
Wood Shelter roof $1955.00
Hydro washrooms and Jamboree Hall $6500.00
Hydro Shower Building $6500.00

Road and street maintenance $5,983.00

Spot patch $1056.00
Blade back lanes $951.00
Spot gravel in back lanes $1238.00
Dust control $1306.00
Sign maintenance $799.00
Sweep sidewalks in spring $158.00
Snowplow streets in spring $475.00

Maintenance / Grounds Maintenance $34,170.00

Mow grass in common area $1,621.00
Clean-up wood sheds, collect ashes and chips $4,794.00
Tree Removal (safety issues) $11,618.00 Firewood delivery $5,662.00 Firewood cutting and stockpiling $10,475.00

TOTAL $174,253.00.

Web Site:

We are registered as clearlakecabinassociation.org, and we are still negotiating for ownership to clearlakecabinassociation.com. as well. The web site has been a useful tool for presenting information to cabin owners and the Board encourages members to use the web site to communicate your thoughts and ideas to everyone (it is one avenue of direct communication with the board, and other cabin owners), and also to register your e-mail addresses with our web-site co-ordinator Joyce Harland .

Changes to the Boat Cove

You will see significant changes to the boat cove when you arrive at the lake. This year the Park is implementing a mandatory Boat Inspection for all boaters who use Clear Lake. This is in an effort to prevent the spread of Zebra Mussels into the lake. The new boat inspection station has been constructed in the area just past the N Road and just as you enter the boat launch area proper. In addition there is another dock and there will also be another canoe/kayak launch as well. Parking for cars and trailers has been increased marginally, and it is a step in the right direction. We do not yet know the status of boat launches at the golf course or at Spruces on the North Shore

Shore Road on the North End – Burm construction

The Shore Road at the North end of the cabin area, adjacent to the lake is on Parks Canada property and as a result it was not paved last fall when our streets were done. Last fall the Park built a small earthen Burm or Dam on the north shoulder of the road to prevent erosion and direct drainage into the lake during heavy rains. At the time this was done, it was understood that the water collected as a result of the Burm (Dam) would be connected to a central drainage system in order to prevent water puddling on the road in front of cabins and to ensure that the Shore Road would not become so muddy as to be impassable.

This has not yet been completed, and we will continue to monitor the situation with the Park.

All North end streets in the cabin area remain blocked at the North end (at the shore road) which necessitates that all vehicular traffic when exiting North End streets, has to back completely down the street. Alternatively, vehicles turn around in people’s yards on newly seeded lawns.

Building Guidelines

The CLCA has an ADVISORY CAPACITY ONLY in the development of building guidelines for the cabin area. Parks Canada participates in discussions with the CLCA Board in the development of building guidelines, but ultimately, final authority on what the building guidelines look like, are Parks Canada authority. However, the CLCA does have influence on the building guidelines, through the Consultative process.

The Board, at our August 2014 meeting formed a sub-committee to review, and perhaps recommend “tweeks” to our building guidelines. Their recommendations would come back to the Board for review and decision. This committee was led by Joan James, with John George, Kevin Alguire and Jeff Sim as members. Our intent was to strike a sub-committee of cabin owners: one of whom had built a new 16×32 with a second floor, one who had done a major renovation on an existing cabin, one person who was planning on building and one person who was not on the Board but understood the building guidelines and who had built to 16×32 one level. The committee met several times throughout the fall of 2014 and brought their discussion documents forward to the Board for our October 2015 meeting.

Discussions continue and to date, no recommendations have been forwarded to the Park.

The Board welcomes your thoughts and input into these discussions. Please write and sign a letter stating your thoughts on building guidelines and give it to any Board member for Board in-put and discussion or send an email to [email protected] and it will be printed and brought to the Board meeting on June 20, 2015.

Board Committees:

Boating and Marine – John George and Brian McVicar as alternate
Building and Grounds – Trevor Winters and Andy Urbanowicz
Townsite Security – Gloria Belliveau Nelda Didychuk
Vegetation Committee – Brian McVicar, Jo Ann Lombaert, Nelda Didychuk
Website – Joyce Harland
Doctor`s Residence Committee – Joan James
WTA Finance Committee – Trevor Winters
Newsletter –Trevor Winters, Joyce Harland

Date of the 2015 Spring Meeting

The spring meeting will be held on Sunday July 5, 2015 Registration: 9:00 a.m. Meeting: 10:00 am – noon at the Jamboree Hall (Annual Meeting dates to be determined).

Odds and Ends

The Board would like to remind everyone that the Park does not pick up garbage items such as : televisions, bar-b-ques, couches, fridges, carpeting, old lawn chairs, construction refuse, old picnic tables and other large or electronic items. We are expected to take this material to the land fill in Onanole or to the appropriate recycling depot.

In 2010, construction hours in the summer were extended one hour, meaning that summer construction hours will be from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm for the period from July 1 to the end of the September long weekend.

Just a reminder to be sensitive to each other regarding our area, and in use of cook shacks. There are common sense guidelines that we can follow; clean-up after you use the cook shack, don’t carve or burn initials into the cook shacks, quiet time needs to start at 11:00 pm, and the cook shacks are for everyone`s use, so we do need to be co-operative with each other.

Also, as there are many dogs in our area, this is a reminder that dogs should be on leashes at all times.

Memberships for 2014/2015

Membership ($20) in the Clear Lake Cabin Association is for a 2 year period. This year is the second year of the 2 year period. Membership gives you the right to voice your opinions and vote at the General Meeting in July, and the Annual Meeting in September and any other special meetings held. The membership fee covers association operating expenses.

We have 525 cabins in our area (530 lots). We are asking you to purchase your membership through the mail. This saves the executive a lot of canvassing time throughout the summer. Please fill out the membership information below and return with your cheque to:
Clear Lake Cabin Association
c/o Joyce Harland
Box 292
Onanole, MB R0J 1N0
Make cheques payable ($20.00) to Clear Lake Cabin Association.
Receipts will be returned to you by e- mail or hand delivered to your cabin this summer.

Name of registered permit holder(s): _______________________________________________

Home Address: ________________________________________________________________

City: _______________________ Province: ________________ Postal Code: _______________

Cabin Address: _________________________________________________________________

Email Address: _________________________________________________________________

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