June 27, 2023
The Board is attempting to improve gate entry and parking policies so that unauthorized visitors are not entering the community and visitors are not taking up all the clubhouse parking spaces on weekends during the summer season. Beginning on Memorial Day weekend there has been many unofficial Lake Holiday Facebook posts and emails to the Board about parking at the clubhouse and gate entry policies. Some have acknowledged the Board’s difficult job in pleasing the community and fulfilling fiduciary responsibilities. Others have expressed consternation at policies that security officers had not been adhering to in the past and now are.
We have tried to respond to many of these issues with explanatory emails to these individuals. The office has been setting up appointments with those having difficulty with computers, showing those members how to set up website accounts, sign up for parking placards, and sign in to Capsure, the visitor management system.
Communicating news and important changes to the owners continues to be one of the bigger issues facing the Association. Many people are not using the website or receiving email blasts with important information. Many announcements were sent out for the parking placards and a Town Hall was held for the community to provide feedback and ideas. Yet, quite a few people knew nothing about them.
As we continue to work on improving our digital footprint, we are hoping to add better cell phone capability for seeing email messages and the website as well as using QR codes or PIN numbers to improve authorizing visitor entry at the gate.
Our contracted security company is in its second year of servicing the community. Last year was challenging for them. This year, office staff and Board members have created written standard operating procedures clarifying existing policies and rules that were not being consistently followed by the officers. This year we have a hardworking lake patrol officer and walking patrol officer at the clubhouse.
Board members have spent time at the gate observing their procedures and reemphasizing the rules. We are working diligently to address concerns and come up with solutions to problems.
These are some of the gate procedures that have caused a problem for owners and the Board should discuss:
- Return to multi-day passes for visitors staying more than one day – weekend, week
- Printing daily pass for owners going in left lane
- Giving permanent visitors bar codes for left lane entry
- Someone to specifically answer phone calls for gate entry
- Issues with lists of visitors to office for entry into Capsure
- Issues with leaving messages on answering machine, time frames, identifying info
Several questions have involved asking could boat trailers use right lane entry since the vehicles have barcodes. The problem with this is that the gate is timed to come down quickly after it reads the barcode and lets the car through. The gate could come down on top of the boat.
Adding a third lane at the gate or having an additional entrance created all take time, money, and Frederick County approval. They will require us to build ingress and egress lanes off the main roads outside of the community, electricity and internet connections will be required for gate controls and gate arms.
We are adding a new printer to the gatehouse that will increase the speed of printing off passes and looking into a license plate reader with a monitor posted above the capsure monitor. The officers will not have to run outside to the back of cars to look at the plates.
When the new visitor management system is implemented in the fall, then other improvements will be available with newer software that should speed things up at the gate.
Please be patient and understand that all things need to be well thought out and implementation takes time and effort.
If you have solutions to problems or just interesting ideas to share, please consider joining a committee and let your voice be heard!
Pat Majewski
