Early last week, the ladies in the water exercise class reported that the water was too cold. A check on the system showed that one of the new heaters was not working properly. The manufacturer sent out a technician on Thursday who rebuilt the unit. All seems to be working well. FYI, the pool heaters are designed to shut off when the ambient temperature drops below 48 degrees. The units will resume working when the temperature rises to 48 degrees.

Thanks to all of you who have returned the requested information regarding the gate cards and clickers along with the resident profiles. We have discovered that some of you have small square key-chain clickers that are in our system. However, the numbers on these clickers do not match anything in our computer system. All of these will continue to be active. If you should have problems with any of your cards/clickers, please let us know.

The existing light poles between the gate and the bridge are very shaky when we need to perform maintenance on them. A cursory inspection of the wood below ground indicates some deterioration. It appears that their life may be shorter than previously thought. We will be monitoring their condition closely

In late March or early April, a group of volunteers will exercise the water main valves. There are nearly 50 of these valves in our system that range in size from 2” to 6”. The purpose of exercising them is to keep each valve working properly so it can be closed if necessary. This year, the Florida Rural Water Assn. will lend us a machine that will mechanically turn the valves for us. Dick Phillips has led this project in the past and has written a detailed schedule of how to carry out this exercise. Again, we all depend on the wonderful volunteers who make this club run so successful. Thanks to Dick!

The Florida Department of Health Inspector made his semi-annual inspection of our facilities earlier this week. He found no deficiencies and complimented KGC on the excellent job of keeping everything in order.

The Sarasota County Environmental Specialist for Water Resources visited us this week also. He was concerned that our residents had been washing vehicles and boats in the area known as the car wash area, adjacent to the waste water plant. The Club had been previously advised not to use this area for such activities. He had photographs of soapsuds on the pavement and of a stream of soapy water going down Castle to the drain into the lake. He said that soaps, oils and other residue from car and boat washing can cause environmental problems in the lake and consequently in Salt Creek. EPD and other environmental agencies get very upset when that happens. He did say that it is OK for residents to wash their vehicles and boats in their driveways even if the effluent goes into the same lake and into Salt Creek. From now on, if you need water while at the carwash area, bring a bucket because the hoses are gone and the faucets do not have hose threads on them.

The Budget Committee had tentatively agreed to a budget for F/Y 2008/09. The committee has made several cuts in various categories to keep the increase as small as possible. One cost that has risen dramatically is the cost of sludge disposal from the waste water plant. Previously, our disposal company was permitted by the county to accept sludge that we had pre-treated with lime. The county’s fees to the disposal company to handle pre-treated sludge have been raised so high that they can no longer accept the pre-treated stuff. This has resulted in an added cost to KGC of $10,000 for the waste water plant. Also, there is an additional $10,000 in the budget to cover anticipated legal costs. Neither of these costs is something we can control. They are unavoidable so they must be included in the budget.

And last but not least! There has not been a clogged lift station pump since the previous Board of directors meeting. Maybe the clogger has moved or has finally gotten the message.