PATTERSON LAKE NEWSLETTER

June 2006

www.pattersonlake.bowerman.ca

Summer Lake Level

We have had considerable discussion over the past two years about retaining about 8" more water depth in the lake during the Summer months. We had finally reached a point where we thought we could ask the Township to request approval for a barrier in front of the culverts. The Township of course owns the road over Fairs Creek and therefore must be the ones to initiate any action. Our request was sent on to the Township and passed Committee stage. However, when it came up at full Council, three property owners raised objections. Rather than get into a debate in front of the whole world, the Association decided it would go along with the motion to table the request until we could demonstrate that we had the support of 50% plus one of the lake property owners.

We can certainly demonstrate that we had the support of the road association representatives on the Lake Association. But that does not necessarily mean that we had the support of the majority of the property owners because we could not demonstrate that the tie-in between the representatives and the road association was firm and had been done properly. In our present structure, we are always open to anyone to claim that we are not democratic because we are not individual property based. We need to move on.

Lacking a member based organization, the Lake Association decided to conduct a Survey of lake property owners on the proposal to retain 8" more water depth during the summer months. The forms will be passed out and collected at our road meetings during the summer. They are also available on our website at the Water Level button.

New Member Based Lake Association

There are many examples of lake associations that are based on membership of lake property owners. Basically, a meeting is called of property owners and an organization is set-up to meet the need. This implies annual meetings, membership dues, lists of members, financial reports, an executive, an auditor, etc. It also implies that membership would be open to all property owners and that the failure to join by any property owner would simply mean that his or her voice would not be heard.

We have about 110 properties on the lake roads. What is a bit different about Patterson Lake is that we are broken up into six different areas which for the want of a better term we call road areas or road associations. Any structure has to recognize these six different areas. Any lake association would not last very long if it were not broad based. Would there be much support for a lake association where the majority of the executive came from one road association? We doubt it. So we must ensure that we draw evenly from all the road areas. The road areas also have to realize that to have a voice they must have a representative on a lake association. The way we are clustered means that any four road associations could represent the majority of the owners on Patterson Lake.

We are working on the structure of a new organization. A draft of the latest version is up on our Lake Association website.

Founding Meeting

The founding meeting of a new Patterson Lake Association is called for Sunday, September 3, 2006 at 2:00 PM at the Watsons Corners Hall. All property owners on a road associated with Patterson Lake or persons who own property that has shoreline on Patterson Lake are invited to attend. An AGM button has been added to the website with a link to the Agenda.

A constitution will be confirmed. An executive will be elected. A fee structure will be put in place. Other things as needed will be discussed.

Changes in Our Road Representatives

Our present organization is made up of representatives from the six different road areas. We started meeting about two years ago after a meeting was called at the Robertson Lake Snowmobile Club to discuss a potential problem of commercial development on Patterson Lake. We are sorry to lose two original members from the Committee: Bill Brooks from the Porcupine Road area; and Dave MacCrimmon from the Hardwood Ridge Road area. We thank both Bill and Dave for their hard work for the Lake. On the bright side, we are pleased to welcome Jack Hobbs and Ted Manning, who will replace BIll and Dave respectively.

Another original member was Martyn Howard from the Parsons Way/Lane area. He was replaced late last year by Kathleen Sullivan who became our President last fall. We regret that Kathleen was forced to step aside last month because of family pressures. We need a new rep from that area. There is little glory in it, but it is a good job and gives you a chance to meet some great people from around the Lake.

Lorne Bowerman will serve as President until the founding meeting in September of our new organization.

Incorporation and Insurance

If you really want a hot debate, try whether a lake association should be incorporated, or whether it should have third party liability insurance. We seem to fall on both sides of these subject.

Incorporation puts a buffer zone between any legal action by anyone and the executive. If an organization is incorporated, then any legal action must be against the corporation and not an individual executive member. The only thing at risk is the assets of the incorporated organization. However as must be added always, the consequences of wrongful and unlawful acts or deeds will always put an individual at risk whether incorporated or not.

After a serious look, and some serious Googleing, we have to conclude that incorporation is no big deal. There are plenty of examples around and something like a lake organization can be done for about $500. So if you divide our number of property owners into the amount needed, it would cost us about $5 each, and that is a one time cost. Forget the arguments! We will move on incorporation of the new association and get on with some serious business.

The same argument can be advanced for insurance. If we are looking at $500 annually, then again $5 per property owner would do the job.

Tundra Swans

During our last meeting on April 23 on Parsons Way, the meeting dissolved into exclamations of wonderment and joy. No, someone did not do anything marvellous or make an astounding speech. We broke up to look at a pair of Tundra Swans which swam in toward the shore and acted like they owned the place. You could go down to the shore to get a photo or a better look, and instead of taking off, they swam over to have a better look at us. Impressive. None of us had seen these swans on the lake in our time here. By the way, if you are of riper years and an old time birder, the Tundras used to be called Whistling Swans. It turns out that there have been quite a few sightings in the Ottawa area this spring.

Photo taken by Larry Heide at his shoreline.

Newsletter

This Newsletter was produced by Lorne Bowerman. Comments, suggestions, or articles are welcome. (I live in hope!)

The next newsletter will be published in September, and I hope it will be filled with news of our new Association.