Steve Burgoon, TLIA President
Happy New Year everyone!!! I hope it was a safe NYE and that you and your family will have a healthy
and prosperous 2020. I cannot believe we are in January 2020. 20 years ago, I was in Corning, NY and
my kids were on the back porch pounding on pots and pans to ring in the Millennium while many of you
were here in Tower Lakes under a big tent rocking the night and morning away. The clocks did not stop,
nor did computers stop working, as all had feared that the Millennium might disrupt life, as we knew it.
Here we are twenty years later and all well.
The Association has had another fantastic year across all our activities and responsibilities. We will
elaborate on all of these with a year in review at our Annual Meeting on January 12 from 3 to 5 PM at the
Wauconda American Legion Hall. Please come to learn about the past year and the Board and committee
plans for 2020. If you cannot make the meeting, please participate via the proxy ballot that was mailed out in mid-December.
2020 is the 90th anniversary of TLIA so it is fitting that we return our focus to Long Range Planning (LRP). As many of you have
seen or participated in, Mark Handley took over the leadership of the LRP Committee, a role in the “Standing Committee” that
has been vacant the past few years. Mark’s team took months to research EVERY parcel that TLIA owns, evaluate current condi-
tions and make recommendations for repair or modest improvement. You can see their work by clicking on the link found at the
end of this column. This plan will now be the genesis of the Grounds Committee’s project work plan each year. The Grounds
team will work hand in hand with LRP leadership and the Finance team to agree to annual projects funded by our Capital Re-
serves.
Over the past 5 years while we have not increased our dues we have spent down (remember tennis courts) the capital account
with only modest funding from the annual dues. At the same time, the certified audit of our financial operations was stellar with
no major findings. The auditors did say that if an Association has 70% of the cost of future repairs and replacements funded
through a Capital Reserve account, it is considered well-funded. Therefore, the Board feels it necessary to more robustly fund the
capital reserves to support the needed improvements identified by the LRP analysis. Thus, the dues for TLIA will increase this
year to $600 for regular membership, $480 for seniors (65 and older) and $300 for vacant parcels. Essentially, the dues increase
helps fund increasing costs to maintain the lakes and grounds and more money to capital reserves for long-term capital
improvements.
The first major project to complete is to replace the two piers that run east and west from the beach. These are 25 years old,
beyond repair (thank you Jerry Metzl for your years of service) and are a safety concern at this point. To replace these it will cost
approximately $11,000 per pier and we need to do them both this year. We have the money in the capital account now, but we
need membership vote for any expense $10,000 or above. Please vote yes so we can ensure a safe place for all to play at the
beach.
Lastly, please support voting for the nominees for two Member-At-Large positions, for Financial Secretary, and for Vice Presi-
dent. We have an excellent slate of candidates presented by our wonderful Nominations Committee.
Happy New Year!
See you around the neighborhood………… and at the Annual Meeting!!!