This is a place to ask questions and share with your Duck Lake neighbors. Please keep the discussion cordial.
Duck Lake
Property Owners Association | Highland, MI
This is a place to ask questions and share with your Duck Lake neighbors. Please keep the discussion cordial.
Duck Lake 
March 20, 2016 at 2:23 am
Does anyone know the status of the well? Is it repaired? When do they usually raise the lake level? Thanks!
March 22, 2016 at 11:56 pm
Hi Tami, thanks for using the website to ask your question. First question is YES, the work is all completed. They finished it off a couple of months ago. Actually if you drive down Harvey lake I encourage you to take a look at the NEW bright blue pump. As for the second question, Mike Ricard has an email into the water board asking this and a few other questions to try and gain some clarification. No one was quite sure that when they said they would return to “Spring/Summer” levels, it meant March 20th the pump turns on and the boards go in the damn. Some thought that they had heard it was normally April 1st when this action took place. As mentioned we hope to gain this insight shortly from the water board, and we will pass along as soon as we know, hopefully at the next meeting on April 20th. If I find out sooner I will post it on the website as an FYI. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks,
Ryan
January 28, 2016 at 5:09 pm
Ryan, Thanks for the response. You may want to consider posting on the web site a reminder to fishermen to not take immature ie. undersized walleye. And ask them to keep any small bluegills and sunfish that they catch. Bob Jones, years ago, felt we had too many panfish and they compete for food with other game fish.
March 23, 2016 at 12:00 am
Hank, as an update to your couple of question regarding the fish stocking and the overall well being of the lake, I wanted to pass this along. The last meeting that took place on March 16th, we officially created a Duck Lake “Lake Heath and Fish” committee. Byron Carter is going to be heading this up, with help from Mike Schmidt and others who want to volunteer. Byron is working on some good ideas he has, and following up on some of yours as well. We hope to have some good info to present at our next general meeting in May. All FYI….
January 27, 2016 at 10:49 pm
Thank you for the very frank reply.
I would also suggest that Bob Jones’s annual fishing contest be reconsidered but only for trash fish like Carp. Dog Fish, etc. this would increase the food for true game/eating fish.
Also a renewed awareness to take/destroy as many blue gills/sun fish/etc. that are stunted due to limited food could improve our harvest of really nice game fish.
January 27, 2016 at 9:55 pm
Thank you for the perfect reply
January 20, 2016 at 9:29 pm
Is it possible for someone to give a give an unbiased/cival update on the walleye stocking that I think Bob Jones coordinated this past Fall?
ie. Is Fall a good time to stock fingerlings? How much did it cost? How many fish? What percentage of fish survival should we expect? How do we stop the “perch” and Ice fishermen from taking undersized walleye (which I was told years ago caused our past growing walleye plantings to fail).
January 27, 2016 at 10:26 pm
Hank, I can only give you what I know for sure. I do not know when the best time to plant the lake is. The cost was roughly $4,000, which was set aside from 2014 ($2,000) and 2015 ($2,000). DLPOA has $2,000 per year budgeted to stock the lake. The lake was not stocked in 2014 which was why we were allowed to spend the $4,000 this year. I believe they released roughly 1,700 walleye. As for the survival rate and ideas to insure we are successful I cannot give any more than an opinion. My plan is to form a Fish Stocking committee to head up these and other questions that come up. I have already been approached from multiple people that wish to be a part of this group. My hope is that we can identify the answers to the above and also work with DNR on what fish would be best to stock on a year to year basis.
January 20, 2016 at 9:18 pm
In these times of people sueing even if their injure or loss was due to their own fault.
I hope the Board, trustees, and lake assoc. members are covered by a large liability policy. When a child or adult is injured or killed by another boater that is not following the law/drunk/etc. We could possibly be sued for not paying to have a cop on the lake to prevent/stop the law breaker.
I am not arguing for or against a cop. I am concerned that we are covered if someone sues us.
This could include being sued for injures while using the assoc. launch.
And to defend ourselves in court may not be paid from our annual tax assessment because it is not directly related to improving Duck Lake, which is a requirement to use our assessment money.
January 27, 2016 at 9:27 pm
Hi Hank, sorry to be brief, but trying to answer right before a meeting. I have confirmed that we have a policy up to 1,000,000 in liability for the lake thru Auto-Owners. We also have another 1,000,000 policy for the members of the board should action be brought against the association. So we do have a large coverage plan that is already pre-paid for all of 2016. If home owners feel that this may not be enough, we can defiantly discuss and see what our other options are and what would be a good dollar amount for 2017. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
December 11, 2015 at 2:48 am
I understand the webmaster is out of town this week and upon returning will post the full election results. If Anonymous were truly interested, he/she should have been at the meeting.
By the way, there should be some rules for posting, such as no profanity or the post will be removed. Also real names should be required.
December 11, 2015 at 8:17 am
Yes, please excuse the delay in information. I am traveling back to the US from Hungary today and will make updates as quickly as possible. I do have intermittent web access, however I would like to ensure all the information has an opportunity to be reviewed and verifies before posted publicly. I expect to be able to publish official results this weekend (Dec 12).
I can assure you all that your new officers have not been idle – work has already begin to start compiling and digitizing information in order to make it available to you all. You will also start to see updates to the website starting immediately.
In regards to your suggestion about requiring names to be provided on web posts, I had allowed the anon posting because the hotline was also anon, and I wanted this to be a similar forum which enables open expression. That said, I also see value in knowing who is commenting and this I think this is worthy of consideration and debate. I’ll put up a poll and see what people think so we can collect some input in advance of the January meeting. Then we can raise it as a point to discuss if people so desire.
Leslie Alore
DLPOA Secretary
District 9 Trustee
December 11, 2015 at 12:02 am
Where is the transparency now.Where are the minutes from the meeting on Dec.8.Who are the newly elected officers, district reps , alternatives. etc. When is the next meeting. Lots of questions with no apparent answers
December 11, 2015 at 1:46 am
Why anonymous? I just don’t understand why anonymous. What are people afraid of, it’s a lake association that has barley functioned for along time.
April 25, 2016 at 6:42 pm
Because there are too many jerks on the lake that take offensive to anything they don’t want to hear.
December 11, 2015 at 3:26 am
It’s been 2 days and your crying allready are you also demanding the minutes from the October 21 meeting from Bob those aren’t posted yet either.have you called him to complain. And just how would you like that information in 2 days. Remember this is a unofficial web site because Bob had it shut down to censor your access to imformation Did you call and complain and demand he turn it back on in the name of transparency so we would have a official website to get the information you want out . I doubt it You should have attended and cast your vote. You would have been amazed to see a meeting where people talked and asked questions that were answer to the best of everyone’s ability. people voted and they were all counted in public so everyone knew their vote was counted and important. Nothing like Bobs votes where select people are granted special voting privileges or have one person takes the ballots and open them in secret and have that one person decide which votes count and which ones he will just throw away. It was amazing you should have been there then you would know the answers to your questions. Frankly I’m surprised you and a few other people are even on this unofficial website I would think in support of Bob you should boycott. This unofficial website
December 6, 2015 at 6:46 pm
Mike, I am not the enemy, I am just asking questions and bringing up issues that could be the basis for a potential challenge by others. As stated, I agree an election is needed. So when you say “i have the right to do it”, (rather than we) does this mean that this is all your idea, or am I misunderstanding you? I thought there was an election committee.
Frankly to be on the safe side I am going to presume that this election will stand and therefore plan on being there to vote for a trustee for our region (8). I also hope the election goes well and the current board acquiesces to the results. I presume you have this election thought out as far as election by region as you need to make sure each region’s members only vote on their region’s trustee and each property only gets one legitimate vote. Sorry for so many questions as I was out of town when the November meeting took place.
I guess my overriding question is the motive for the election. Is it really about the how the association is being run or is it about how Duck Lake is being run by the existing board? From everything I see on this Unofficial Website it is the former, which I hope is the case. If it about the latter, I would really like to know some detail about what those issues are .
I think a DLPOA website is a valuable asset and am disappointed that board asked that the original one be taken down.
December 7, 2015 at 3:09 am
Ole,
I think we are on the same page, I am just getting frustrated with trying to explain the push for the election. The election committee and I are doing this for the Lake not ourself or for an individuals own interest. I think that part of the problem is doing all this over the internet where wording is key to make sure everything is fair. We as a committee are trying our best to make sure everything is done to the best we know how and the bylaws say they should be done. I am excited that you plan to come to the meeting to cast your vote. I assure you my goal is help keep making Duck Lake a place people want to live. We as a committee also just want transparency from any board, and currently that is not the case. Please ask all your questions to everyone in the room on Tuesday. I strongly believe you are asking good questions. I look forward to meeting you and hope will remind all your neighbors to come also.
December 9, 2015 at 11:11 pm
YOU ARE FULL OF SHIT MIKE. WHERE YOU THE LAST 8 YEARS.
December 14, 2015 at 3:49 pm
I would request you keep you language more appropriate for a web discussion, but will be happy to answer your question.
8 years ago I lived in Georgia, not sure how I could have be more active then if I didn’t even know that I would live on Duck Lake , but I moved to the Lake in May of 2013. Unfortunately, I was never welcomed by Mr. Jones as everyone claims happens for new residents, and was also not informed very well that the October meeting every year was the annual elections. I also traveled for the first year and half that I lived on the lake, and was not able to make meetings as I would have liked. But again I did not know that elections were held on the October meeting date, otherwise I would have tried harder to make sure my voice was heard. I have been active in my Subdivision Association since I moved in 2013, and was active in my old subdivision from 2008 to 2013., which shows you that I do participate.
If you have a real issue with what is going on, then on October 19, 2016 you can vote to change who is running the DLPOA. If you are in my district, then you can vote to replace me, but I assure you I plan on being active until I can not be active anymore.
I would be happy to speak with you in private and discuss anything you feel needs to be addressed, I could then give you information that I have chosen not to put on the discussion forums to protect everyone it relates too. If you would like to talk please email the web site and they will forward your information on to me, and I can reach out to talk with you.
Michael Tierney – District 11 Trustee and Vice President of DLPOA
December 3, 2015 at 8:58 pm
Will one of the existing vice presidents be present at the December 8, 2015 meeting and be able to act in an official capacity to conduct the meeting in accordance with Robert’s rules? Apparently not as I review the agenda. If not this will be a waste of everyone’s time as won’t any election be meaningless? Robert’s Rules have been adopted via the bylaws as without them being enforced properly, the meeting may quickly become a repeat of previous shouting matches. Unfortunately, most folks that chair a meeting don’t really have an understanding how the rules work, and the result can be ugly. I suggest that whoever chairs the meeting be familiar with those rules.
Who could contest this election if not held properly? How about Oakland County as the Lake Board and Association (everyone understands the difference, correct?) must work hand in hand with regard to assessments.
I would hope that IF this meeting is being held properly such that the election is indeed valid, that each candidate running for office be prepared to give a very brief synopsis of their qualifications and their vision for DLPOA so those voting know who they are voting for.
What is slate of those running for office and representatives? Is this being prepared ahead of time, and if so will nominations from the floor be accepted? How are nominations being solicited? Are existing officers and representatives willing to be nominated? Will voting be done by ballot or by voice or show of hands? I hope this has been thought out. I would be willing to run for trustee of Region 8 presuming I can be convinced this will be a valid election.
Please tell us more about the petition. How was it determined it was a valid method of requesting an election? How was it circulated? How many signed? Who was it presented to? What was the wording? Can you post a .pdf of the signed sheets? Are official meeting minutes available from the November 5, 2015 meeting where the petitions were accepted and a committee formed? Just because a petition was accepted doesn’t mean it was validated and agreed upon by the board. Transparency please.
Ole Anderson
3310 Ramada Dr
Region 8, Ramada Canal
Duck Lake Resident since 1975
Civil engineer with a specialization in lake levels and augmentation wells
Helped put the first ski course on the Duck Lake in the early 1970’s
Wishing to maintain a quality lake environment
December 4, 2015 at 7:52 pm
Ole,
Thank you for reaching out and asking your questions. The goal of this election is to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak through their right to elect trustees per our bylaws last revised in 1991. They can be found at https://ducklakepoa.org/by-laws/ . I encourage you to click this link if it works within this post or type it in your browser and read them yourself. Under membership you will see that no money is required for a member to vote, and that they are a member automatically because they live in the special assessment district that funds the Duck Lake Improvement Board. You should also read all of Article III. In Section 1. Annual Meeting of Membership we are required to have it in October on the 3rd Wednesday each year, which we did have on October 21st. At that meeting though we are required to have annual elections for the Trustees, which did not occur. By this rule we currently do not have any trustees or board members because this election never took place. With this back round I will now start to answer your questions.
Will one of the existing vice presidents be present at the December 8, 2015 meeting and be able to act in an official capacity to conduct the meeting in accordance with Robert’s rules? – I hope that the members of past board will be present, but as they were never elected and we have no proof of elections taking place they do not exist. With that said we have requested meeting minutes for the last 10 plus years and have not gotten them from any member of the so called current board. We as a Committee will run the meeting and will be following principals of Robert’s Rules. Which is that everyone gets a chance to speak. We will maintain order by acknowledging people as they raise their hand and will go in order of who raise their hand first with each getting a chance to speak first, before anyone gets to speak again. I assure you our goal is to have a successful meeting and election and we will maintain an orderly meeting.
Who could contest this election if not held properly? How about Oakland County as the Lake Board and Association (everyone understands the difference, correct?) must work hand in hand with regard to assessments. – We are following the guidelines set by the 1991 bylaws and have invited all 1141 property owners to the meeting. As for Oakland County and the Lake Board Association they have no rule on the actual Duck Lake Property Owners Association, and this election is not to fill those 3 spots but the 19 Trustee spots and 5 Board positions. It would be up to the new board and trustees to vote and fill the Lake Board Positions, which are a 4 year term. I am not sure when the current four year term is up for the Lake Board. But again we are just doing election for the DLPOA Trustee and Board members.
I would hope that IF this meeting is being held properly such that the election is indeed valid, that each candidate running for office be prepared to give a very brief synopsis of their qualifications and their vision for DLPOA so those voting know who they are voting for. – We as property owner only get to vote for Trustees. The Trustees will vote for Board members in the second meeting on December 8th. Each of the 19 districts will have a chance for nominations, and if we have more than one candidate we will have each give a little synopsis of their qualifications prior to the vote.
What is slate of those running for office and representatives? Is this being prepared ahead of time, and if so will nominations from the floor be accepted? – We have had a couple of people tell us they are interested in being a board member, but we are not sending this out prior, but we will have nominations from the floor. This way everyone has a chance to put their name in the hat. The only rule we made was that if the person was not able to make the meeting that they give notice by letter or post on this site with contact info so it can be verified they wish to run, that they are interested so someone is not nominated without their knowledge.
How are nominations being solicited? – The letter sent out is the solicitation. So all member have the right to run. As for the existing officers it will be a game day decision as they have been pushing back on this election. They have the right to be nominated and I would encourage them to do so. If they choose not to then that is their choice.
Will voting be done by ballot or by voice or show of hands? – Voting will be done by a combination of Show of hands and ballots. We will explain this before voting starts. This way we have record of all votes to keep this election legal.
I would be willing to run for trustee of Region 8 presuming I can be convinced this will be a valid election. – I know we have had other from your Region interested in running, but I would hope you nominate yourself to run for the trustee position. You and the others would then have to convince others in your region to vote for you. Each Region also gets an alternate so, I would recommend the people who are not elected sit in the alternates position.
Please tell us more about the petition. How was it determined it was a valid method of requesting an election? – Again this came from our bylaws under “Article III; Section 3. Special Meetings. A Special Meeting may be called at anytime upon call of the Board of Trustees, the President, or by petition to the Board of Trustees of the lesser of two-thirds of the members or twenty (20) members (20 unit votes). Two-Thirds of the members or twenty (20) members (20 unit votes), whichever is less, shall constitute a quorum at a Special Meeting.” This allows for the meeting, and then the fact that no election was held allows for the committee to run a meeting as the board legally does not exist with out elections each year at the annual meeting, and “Article V; Officers; Section 3. Removal of Officer. Any Officer may be removed from office at anytime, with or without cause, by majority vote of the Trustees at any meeting thereof called for such purpose. Again the Trustees do not exist as an election has not been held for the current year.
How was it circulated? – It was circulated at the November 5, 2015 Meeting. Anyone in attendance was able to sign if they wanted to.
How many signed? – 23 people signed it.
Who was it presented to? – a group of concerned citizens.
What was the wording? – Petition to have special election in accordance with our DLPOA Bylaws
“Petition summary and background – Election of Board members was not conducted on the 3rd week in October, 2015 as per our Bylaws.”
“Action petitioned for – We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens who urge our leaders to comply with our bylaws by holding a special meeting to elect officers.”
Can you post a pdf of the signed sheets? – I have requested and sent a copy to Leslie Alore to put here on the website.
official meeting minutes available from the November 5, 2015 meeting where the petitions were accepted and a committee formed? – we do not have written minutes, but the meeting was recorded for record. But again I state that no board or trustees exist as no election can be produced as requested for the last x years.
Just because a petition was accepted doesn’t mean it was validated and agreed upon by the board. – This is very true, but again we have all asked for meeting minutes for the past 10 plus years, asked for financial documents showing other income like the donations made, new bylaws that have be claimed to be adopted, and for the so called current board you speak of to allow this meeting. These documents have to be given to anyone that asks even if they are not in our association under laws for a 501c3, laws also require all income to be accounted for and all expenditures accounted for on a balance sheet. Michigan Law requires Bylaws be in place, yet Bob is on a voicemail saying they do not exist. This shows you that a change is needed. I have spoken to a lawyer and am currently on a board as president and can assure you what is going on is not transparency as you request. We as a committee are trying to be as transparent as possible, so if anything has been left out it is because we don’t know or missed it like humans. I only ask you to exercise your right to run for a trustee or board position and cast your vote. And help all of us Maintain a quality lake environment.
December 4, 2015 at 7:59 pm
Ole,
Here is the link to the Petition. This was also reviewed by Highland Township.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B–_AhcXQ8Z5LTE5UVhYSlNOZ28/view?usp=sharing
December 5, 2015 at 3:35 am
Thank you for taking time to provide your lengthy response. Just so I know who I am corresponding with could you please provide your full name and address as I have? Thank you.
I am not an attorney but, I have chaired many meetings and sat in on hundreds of others being run by a Township Board, Planning Commission, church organization and corporate entities As I indicated in my response on the other blog I am just worried that this election will be found eventually, if challenged, to be invalid. The bylaws allow for removal of officers only by elected trustees, it does not speak to removal by members. The bylaws also states: “Each trustee shall hold office until another is elected”. Just because you do not possess documents such as election minutes, does not mean that they cannot be provided if push comes to shove. I understand where you are coming from and agree with much of what you say, that it appears that the paperwork side of things were done in a haphazard manner over the years and there is a disturbing lack of cooperation. That is not unusual for a board like this, yet that does not make it right either. The secretary is the one to make sure the meetings are documented properly and the treasurer is responsible for producing the annual reports and distributing them as required. Yet if the president doesn’t give direction in these manners, it can all fall apart. In defense of Bob Jones, his heart is in the right place as far as running Duck Lake itself, although we sometimes even we don’t see eye to eye. I would be comfortable with him at the helm as long as other officers step up as far as record keeping and attention to elections. I think this exercise is an eye opener to all.
The referenced map shows 15 regions, yet the election agenda speaks of 19 regions. I presume the other 4 are off lake properties? Also, will officers be elected from the pool of elected trustees or from members-at-large?
December 6, 2015 at 2:14 pm
Ole,
I would ask you how you would challenge a board that was not elected on October 21st as required by or bylaws. I would ask you how Matthew Robert is a Vice President of our board when he has admitted he was not elected to the position, and was said to be being groomed for the role of President. We have asked for Financial documents as they concern to extra income outside of our tax money, none have been provided. All of these are examples of why the election is needed and why i have the right to do it. The other option will be for a law suit against every member of the current board which I am more that happy to do if that is what it take. My rights as a member have been stripped and I want them back. We have more information than you know as to why the current board is running improperly and have been trying not to just bash them. You state the bylaws but how are they board members if they were never voted in. If there are new bylaws that show longer terms for the board or trustees then produce them so we can follow them. Again we have asked and have been told what we have is the most current. The current board as it stands now, legally, does not exist. By your logic I will never have a right to vote as I am allowed. I will not give you all the reasons why on this blog as I do not feel it is right to keep bashing. The Election Committee and I are just try to make things fair. Your logic does not allow for that.