VVA SPECIAL MEETING:
Sunday, October 27, 2024 @ 2:00PM at the clubhouse. This notice is posted on Lake Viking Communications Outlets which include Condo Control, the Official Facebook page of Lake Viking, and The Lake Viking News, page 11.
NEXT VVA MONTHLY MEETING:
Sunday, November 10, 2024 @ 2:00PM at the clubhouse. All members in good standing are welcome and encouraged to attend. If you want on the agenda, you must notify the office on or before the Monday prior to the board meeting.
Lake Viking News
©Viking Valley Association | 144 East Main, Gallatin, Missouri 64640
LakeVikingMo.com
October 2024
Volume 37, No. 6
Christina Lindsay, Dan Weidmaier, and David Daniel Elected as New Board Members 2025;
Budget Easily Passes
Call to Order Michelle Sullivan Acting Board President, Lot 1826, called the meeting to order, held in the gymnasium at Winston High School, Winston Missouri at 1:00 pm. Additional Board members present were: Robert Walton, Lot 217, Tom Rice, Lot 343, Tony Gronniger, Lot 2281 and Terry Nibarger, Lot 657. Terry Nibarger led in prayer. Brian Holcomb, Managing Director, led the Pledge of Allegiance. Acting Board President, Michelle Sullivan, read the mission statement of Lake Viking. Michelle Sullivan gave a short welcome to the VVA members attending the Annual Meeting. A motion was made by Terry Nibarger and seconded by Tom Rice to accept the orders of the day as presented on the handout given to members. The motion passed unanimously. Michelle Sullivan welcomed the VVA members attending the Annual Meeting. Attached is her message given to the VVA membership in attendance at the Annual Meeting. Good afternoonAs the interim board president, I would like to thank every one of you for attending today. I would normally start by sharing all the individual things that have been accomplished over the last year and while there have been many great things accomplished, I would like to spend some time addressing the membership on the some of the recent events. There will be an update from the finance & dredge committee today and the other committee updates will be shared in the paper through committee minutes. As you know, when I ran for office this time last year, I shared with you my love for the lake as my family has been here for over 30 years. My commitment to you was I wanted to see more accountability and communication from the Board, a better understanding of how the operational and financial decisions were made and see more involvement of members with important decisions. For me this is still critically important as we must all be working together to foster our Mission Statement of aspiring to preserve our community and environment for future generations. Our lake community is nearing its 60th birthday. Over the last several years various boards have been sharing with you about the needs of the lake from infrastructure challenges, to aging lake amenities. Unfortunately, that is not the only thing that has aged. What I mean is the lake has the opportunity to improve how we are making decisions. This includes the need to update our internal operational and financial controls which includes policies, procedures and the steps we take. We can’t continue to run the lake like the good old days. As you are aware, there have been some major changes to personnel and board members since June. It is important to me and the other board members that we share with you what we can as I know you all have lots of questions and it is understandable. After the former Lake Manager resignation and the reorganization of the Board members positions and resignation of the former Board President, we have had the fortunate opportunity to welcome Brian Holcomb as the New Lake Manager just a short few weeks ago. Brian comes to Lake Viking with a degree in personnel management and master’s in business administration. Most recently, Brian retired from the Missouri State Highway Patrol after serving for many years. Brian has been hard at work getting to know employees and has been working closely with Shad to learn some history at the lake. As part of the Boards direction, one of the first things we charged Brian to do was start an inquiry regarding policies, procedures and controls to include how employees were working together daily and how in the past they received instructions or worked with the prior management. The internal inquiry is complete, but due to the confidential nature of information collected, we are required to maintain this confidentiality. I can confirm that the Sheriff has been apprised of the inquiry details and we are having ongoing discussions about the findings. What I can share with you today, is the promise of this Boards commitment to membership. That we will continue to provide oversight and governance of the lake. The problems we have identified that have plagued the lake didn’t happen overnight and it takes some time to fix these. As the board members continue to hear me say, “It is a new day at Lake Viking”.
As shared in previous communications, we are asking our committee chairs to have a more active role at the table. We are stressing to membership that integrity is what carries this board and future boards forward. I leave you with this thought, as Mark Twain once said, “you’re never wrong for doing the right thing.” But I would add that doing the right thing often takes great courage and integrity. We are all at a crossroad, we either all work together to make this community that we all love stronger and learn from years of wins and losses, or we continue as a community and kick the can down the road. We understand that you may have additional questions and please know as we can share more information, we will. Approval of Minutes from the 2023 VVA Annual Meeting A motion was made to approve the minutes from the October 2023 Annual VVA Membership meeting by Tony Gronniger and seconded by Terry Nibarger. Motion passed unanimously. Approval of Financials A motion was made by Terry Nibarger and seconded by Robert Walton to approve the Financials from August 2024. Motion was approved unanimously. Recognition of Committees and their Members All committee members were asked to stand and were recognized for their service to the membership of Lake Viking. Michelle gave a special thank you to these volunteers and VVA Staff members for all they do to contribute to the success of the Lake. Managing Director Report Brian Holcomb, Managing Director of Lake Viking addressed the following: • During the four interviews that Brian participated in while interviewing for the job of Managing Director of Lake Viking, the common theme in the interviews was my Integrity, my ethics, will I treat all fairly and equally and will I be consistent. Brian indicated he has been to a few monthly meetings and the town hall meeting, and I have heard members questioning the Board’s fiduciary oversight of the member’s money. • Brian indicated the Board has tasked him with conducting an inquiry into the financial controls related to revenue and equipment at the lake, but other things were brought up. One of my observations was there were no bylaws and no written policy and procedures for how the lake was going to manage its assets and resources. Perhaps written procedures existed in the past and they have just been lost over time, but I found no written, consistent directions on how employees are supposed to know the lake’s expectations for the following: 1. Lot Sales 2. Cash Handling 3. Sale of Lake Property and Equipment 4. Social Media Usage 5. Bidding Processes 6. Accounting for Donations of Property and Services 7. Ethical Expectations • Brian indicated he has seen an inventory list of the lake’s property, but it is not complete so we will be auditing this list for insurance purposes. • Brian also indicated he has seen a credit card policy and while it mentions official business expenses and personal expenses it does not sufficiently define these terms. • And finally, the handbook contains errors and contradictions and in a lot of areas the lake is operated in ways not reflected in the handbook. • In summary, the lack of written policies and procedures for these areas makes the lake vulnerable and complicates efforts to safeguard the lake’s assets. Brian states he will be working with employees and the board to create written policies to better protect the lake association and your money. (continued on page 3)