During this planning and engineering period, it was determined that our original request to borrow up to $1,300,000 from the Small Business Administration (SBA) for general flood repairs is significantly lower than what will ultimately be needed to complete all of the major work. The Board had found it necessary to raise our potential loan ceiling to $2,000,000. There are two major additional expenditures, along with several smaller ones, that make this a prudent modification.

The first major issue is that the regulations governing our dam have changed significantly since the Lake Tara dam was built. Thus the original $250,000 plan that the consultant engineers indicated was needed to repair the backcut in the dam was was not acceptable to the Georgia Safe Dams Commission. The regulation changes now require that, in addition to the backcut repair, the spillway length be increased significantly and the spillway height be increased slightly. These requirements have driven the estimated cost for dam repair to well over $600,000.

The second major issue that was determined during engineering studies was that all three of our lakes had been significantly impacted by silt during the flood. We have never performed comprehensive desilting operations in any of our lakes, and the 2009 flooding hit us particularly hard. To complete desilting work on all three lakes could run well over $1,000,000. However, the greatest benefit for the least cost will be to concentrate on Lake Scarlett, the original design of which was as a silt retention pond. The two major streams that feed into it have reduced it to less than waist-deep in most places. Having Lake Scarlett functioning properly for silt retention will help keep more silt out of Lake Tara. The estimated cost of desilting Lake Scarlett is $400,000.

In January 2012, we were approaching the deadline for requesting an increase to the SBA loan. The Board found that we would likely exceed the original ceiling of $1.3 million, so it was requested to raise the ceiling. Please keep in mind that this does not commit us to a $2 million loan, but just gives us the ability to request this amount. This low percentage rate loan prevents the need for any special assessments in order to properly address the problems at hand.

Thanks to the continued efforts of several people on behalf of our voting precinct, a decision on the proposed closure has been postponed at least through the end of 2012. With at least 4 elections this year, it was felt that this was in the best interest of Carroll County voters.

After listening to community input, the board has decided to hold a short business meetings before each monthly Town Hall meeting to update the community on board activities, rather than presenting 3 months data at the quarterly meeting. Thus the Board monthly meeting format going forward will be quarterly full meetings and Town Hall meetings with a brief business meeting in the alternate months.

On March 3rd, from 8:30 AM through mid-afternoon in the Club Restaurant, the Budget Committee will host an open meeting for the presentation of 2012-13 capital budget item requests by each of the POA committees. In addition, at 11:00 AM a brief business meeting will be held to update the community on activities since the last monthly meeting. On March 19th, we will have a brief business meeting that covers major concerns, followed by a Town Hall to present the final budget for 2012-13. In April, we will conduct the full quarterly public meeting, including reports from each committee.