Spring 2007
I am the newest member of the Board, so I am still finding my way. As Vice President, my main function is to prepare annual budgets and help control our spending within our budget. I want to thank Jim Weber and Chris Scheithauer for leaving us an excellent budget for the upcoming year and thanks to everyone at Lake Somerset for voting in the last dues increase so we can stick to our budget and keep the necessary and valuable services we need to maintain a fine community on a beautiful lake.
With the budget in good shape for now, I am working on a couple other projects: Every spring and fall we move our weed harvester in and out of the water. Last fall was my first experience with this effort and, frankly, I was shocked that no one has been injured over the years because the current technique is so dangerous. If you've never seen it done, just imagine a dozen men wrestling an 11,000 pound "monster" up an inclined driveway and through a door that is barely big enough to accept the monster! So this winter, I have been working on a new method for moving the harvester with rigging rollers and heavy duty conveyors. I'm anxiously awaiting spring to test my engineering efforts and see if the monster has been tamed and the danger eliminated. Thanks to John McAndrews for saving us money on the conveyor rollers.
Also, through the winter, I investigated the benefits of developing a "Reserves Fund" concept to pay for future major expenditures like weed harvester and dump truck replacement, dredging of our channels, etc. We are currently budgeting some money each year for future needs, but we don't really know what those needs are, what they will cost and when the costs will be incurred. Jim MacRichie has experience with such a fund and he is helping us develop one for Lake Somerset.
I will keep you posted on the progress of both these projects in future Gazettes. Now that I am on the Board, I look forward to meeting a lot more of you this summer at the lake!
Jim Compton
Vice President
No events are scheduled.