.: A Message From Our President
was actually
out riding his Jet Ski on April 19th, while there was still some
ice floating around on the lake! As I
write this letter on May 4th, we have ten visiting loons – what
a nice sight – and the first Baltimore orioles have arrived.
The
Watchic Lake Association bylaws
committee, in conjunction with our attorney, completed the necessary work
for filing with the IRS seeking tax exempt status as a 501(c)(3)
organization. This filing took place
late in 2007 and I am extremely pleased to be able to announce that we just
received approval of our application and the IRS has issued the letter of
exemption. This status opens up
opportunities and gives us flexibility and leverage as we move
forward. We will be giving you
details of how meaningful and important this is to our organization at our
annual meeting.
We have applied for a grant in the amount
of $152,000 available from the Cumberland County Soil & Water District
to address erosion problems which pose a potential risk to our water
quality. As part of this process, we
have gone before the Standish Town Council to request a matching grant of
$1,000 for 2009 and 2010. Speaking
of water quality, Wendy Garland of the DEP has informed us that Watchic
Lake is no longer on Maine’s watch list for water quality. Thank you all for doing a good job on
your properties. After all,
everything you do affects the lake and that is a concern to all of us.
I am
pleased to announce that the Watchic Lake Association will be sponsoring an
Invasive Plant Workshop conducted by the Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring
Program. The workshop will be held
on July 22nd from 3:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Kiwanis
Clubhouse and will teach participants how to identify invasive plant
species and also native non-invasive plant species. Our goal is to have more eyes around the
lake to monitor for early detection of any invasive plants. I attended a workshop last year along
with two other lake residents and it was very educational. More information will be available by
June, with a list of contacts, to sign up.
I would
like to remind everyone about the web site.
We will be using it more as a communication tool now that we have
Martha Drew volunteering to take over updating it with current news and
information. Membership forms can be
downloaded at your convenience. If you
have pictures or any funny stories or information you would like to share, you
can contact me via e-mail at pattyme13@fairpoint.net.
This
year our annual meeting will be held on Saturday, July 5th. We hope that the change from Friday to
Saturday will allow our members who have to travel from out of state to
attend. The social hour will be held
in a tent outside of the Standish Congregational Church, giving us much
more space for greeting old friends, meeting new ones, and, of course,
participating in our annual silent auction.
We will be adding additional booths this year so that members can
ask questions about various topics of interest to individual property
owners. Dinner will be served inside
the church building. Please join
us! The faces around the lake are
beginning to change with property sales.
This is a good time to meet and welcome our new members.
Also at
the annual meeting, the nominating committee will present their list of
nominees to serve on the board of directors. Elections will take place along with the
business meeting immediately following dinner.
I look
forward to seeing you all in July.
Sincerely,
Patty
Guenthner
President,
Watchic Lake Association
Web site contents
© Copyright Watchic Lake Association 2006, All rights reserved.
|
