1. Stone Lake Community Association March 25th
, 2010
Annual Members’ Meeting
President’s Report
Happy 1st
Anniversary Fellow Stone Lakers !
We have had an incredible year with many accomplishments to report !
For the first time in its nearly 10-year development history, Stone Lake Community is now
wholly governed ‘of the people & for the people’ - its property owners. And with an enduring,
vigorous, and transparent democratic process, we will be sure to continue on that journey far into
the future. Indeed, it is through this very experience that we will more fully appreciate the
founding principles of our Nation conceived over 234 years ago. For that I am personally
grateful. My greatest hope for SLCA is that everyone will catch ‘the spirit’ as well.
Now, as for this past snow season, I can now without reservation proclaim, we have
successfully dodged a deadly financial bullet. According to NOAA, El Niño conditions have been
in place in the equatorial Pacific Ocean since June 2009, while peaking in the months of January-
February (www.elnino.noaa.gov). This periodic warming of sea surface water usually causes
wetter & colder winters in the southeast and eastern coast states, thus helping explain the large
seasonal swings of snowfall that we have seen throughout the B-W corridor. While our State and
County Governments are scrambling to find ways to pay off their snow removal bills, I am proud
to say that our association budget will easily withstand these unprecedented weather events.
Indeed, we here at SLCA have had first hand experience with this same issue just 3 years ago,
while under GGP and CMC rule, we were forced to inappropriately withdraw nearly $100,000
from critical infrastructure repair & replacement reserves. Under those contractual conditions,
this season’s snow fall would almost certainly have emptied our State-mandated reserves and
potentially left us in $100,000s more debt to a contractor. As can be seen from the attached chart,
in 2007 we paid $9,747/inch for snow removal, while this year (2010) under resident control, we
paid a mere $729/inch – that’s a factor of 13x !
We should be truly thankful for the honesty and diligence of the Holmes Lawn Care Co., our
new snow removal contractor, for working long hours to keep our private roads passable
immediately following the worst of these ‘perfect storms’. Stone Lake was one of the first
communities to have its roads plowed and drivable. Most residents of communities immediately
to the west as well as to the south of us did not even see a plow until two full days after it had
stopped snowing. We look forward to Robert Holmes’ continued service to SLCA as our new
2010 landscaper.
On a different note, since last month, we have hired a new gatehouse and patrol service
company, Amazing Security Inc. (ASI) with the expectation of improved value. This contract
recompete actually allowed us to retain at least one thoroughly trained and highly experienced
SLCA guard from the last two years - Lt. Chanel Spencer. We have successfully transitioned to
the new gatehouse and patrol service and look forward to benefiting from their vigilant watch
over this community.

2. Late last year, our efforts at streamlining and simplifying the budget led to a reduced FY2010
assessment of $230.40/month community-wide (down from previous years’ $288.28 and
higher). Significant cost savings were identified and subsequently realized through disciplined
expense management combined with highly competitive contract negotiations. This represents a
savings of ~$700/year per household and ~$120,000 in ‘taxes’ collected from you and your
fellow property owners community-wide.
Although it is my hope that future audits will be published in time to enable informed
elections at our annual meetings, this year’s audit was somewhat delayed due to transition of
management services from CMC to Brodie. CMC had delayed closing their books until mid-
February; therefore, the finalized 2009 audit is expected to be delivered by Strauss & Associates
in the mid-April timeframe. Going foreword, we shall make every effort to deliver the previous
year’s audit before the annual meeting, so that it may act as the Incumbent Board’s “report card”
just before their yearly re-election.
Maintenance and repair of common grounds and facilities is also high on our list of priorities.
The pavilion deck and dock repairs were completed over the winter, and we now only await
certification by a county inspector working closely with our project engineer. This should occur
within the next week or two. Our resident community handyman service, Repair Zone LLC, is
likewise working closely with Brodie Management to address various maintenance issues of
common facilities, while our new landscaper Holmes Lawn Care is surveying all grounds repairs
needed due in part to incidental damage resulting from unusually demanding snow removal.
In closing, while I have to admit that ‘government by the people’ of SLCA still beckons us
toward the future, I pray we nevertheless allow Common Sense and Optimism to prevail, so that
we may continue indefinitely upon this journey of self-rule. Furthermore, I believe the sincerest
expression of these virtues lies in one’s own personal donation of time, effort, and money to
worthy causes - unrestrained taxation of others is not the answer. Indeed, the real strength of a
community lives chiefly in its perpetual discernment and genuine goodwill, all driven by a
determined volunteers’ spirit . . . and those ideals are ultimately worth much more than money.
Cheers to you and yours for another fine year !
Dr. Patrick L. Thompson,
President SLCA, 2009-2010

3. BWI Snow Depth History ( since 1884 )
y = -0.033x + 86.233
R2
= 0.0083
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Year
Season'sAggregate[inches]
SEASON 5 year mov. avg. Linear regression :
Data Ref : "http://www.weather.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=lwx"
"Snowpocalypse 2010" (Holmes) = $ 56,125
LI Inc.Contractor Invoices 2007 = $ 107,218