In an effort to keep all our members up-to-date on what the Board is working on, here are a few items that is keeping us extremely busy.  Please note:  the following items are not in numerical order of precedence .

Pine Mountain Water:

• Leaning Tower:  We’ve contacted an engineer out of Morganton to draw up new blueprints for a bypass system that needs to be installed.  This bypass system will allow us to reroute the water while the tank is receiving the state required upgrades and repairs.
• Twin Towers:  Due to malfunctions between the pumps, air compressor, circuit board and power outlet – we encountered a lack of water being supplied to a number of houses on Thanksgiving day.  Because there’s a domino effect to our system – we’re proceeding with extreme caution on all aspects and repairing/ replacing as quickly as possible to prevent this problem from happening again.  This became a ‘wake-up’ call to our system – we’re looking at all our water operations now with open eyes.
• North Ridge:  Just before Christmas, we had a pump motor burn out.  This turned into a long process trying to acquire a new motor.  It seems this motor is a ‘special’ one due to the length of the shaft going into the pump.  One was found in PA which was to be shipped, through snow, to SC via FedEx.  While this was happening, we turned the old one into an electrical motor company in Hickory to be rebuild.  The new one arrived and was installed the day before the rebuilt one was ready.  I can guarantee no one was happy about the length of time this whole process consumed which meant that folks on the North Ridge was out of water for almost a week.  They were offered to bring containers to any of the Association’s buildings for water plus Members offered their homes for showers and other water necessities. 

Security Gates:

• The circuit board to our main entry has gone out.  We have inserted all spare ‘motherboards’ in stock with no success of repairs.
• We’ve had the gate inspected – it’s no great surprise that it does not meet the required safety codes established for our gating system.  But it is surprising this issue hasn’t been taken care of before now.
• We’ve researched and we’ve contacted several companies, near and far, to provide cost estimates to not only repair the gate, but to bring it up to code.  So far, we’ve only received one estimate.

Security Cameras:

•  In the dark hours of Thanksgiving – we had someone attempt to steal one of our new golf carts.  They were not successful.
• We’re taking a serious look into our security system and discovering that so many things are lacking.
• I will not tell what those things are – but I will tell you this is high on our priority list.

Mailboxes:

• The great news is we have had a large influx of new residents now living full-time on the mountain.  Because of this, we’ve run out of mailboxes at the front entrance.
• One of our residents located, purchased and transported new (to us) mailboxes.
• One of the 3 mailbox clusters has been installed at the front entrance on the exiting side.  You may have seen it standing there.  😉
• We’re currently looking for a locking mechanism that will allow the Post Office to insert a cylinder fitting their master key for mail delivery.
• We’re hoping this happens very quickly.

Pine Mountain Vehicles & Equipment:

Just recently, we discovered our vehicles (small service truck and dump truck) were in dire need of new brakes, axle seals, tires or studded tires.  These items have been preventing our vehicles from being driven safely on our roads.  Not to mention when the snow and ice starts to fall – we don’t need anyone sliding off the mountain while clearing our roads.

One of our new members brought to our attention an individual who has many talents in vehicle repair (amongst other areas) and is currently working long and hard hours bringing our vehicles up to a decent driving standard.  What’s hard to believe is these vehicles recently passed their annual inspection.

Annual Assessment:

During the next couple of months, the board will be reviewing all past year’s expenditures and comparing them with this year’s expenditures to see where we stand on our spending.  A detailed look into our current monthly, quarterly and annual expenses along with costs estimates for our water system, security (including our gates) and vehicle/equipment costs to calculate a realistic cost estimate for the fiscal year 2019/2020.

In the last few months, we have located and trimmed the fat off a lot of expenses and relocated the funds to more important projects that have a greater impact within our community.

Maintenance Committee (Construction & Maintenance):

Our Maintenance Committee has taken to heart all the general maintenance problems we have across Pine Mountain.  The Chair is working diligently with one of our Board Members to ensure enough funding is submitted for our next annual assessment to ensure these items are cared for.  Their “To Do List” is extensive and all items necessary to the safety, well-being and overall appearance of Pine Mountain, its residents and visitors/guests.  In addition to their list, they have agreed to adopt the following identified items:

• Flag Poles:  When the front entrance was created in the 1970’s, 9 flag poles were erected – one for the US flag and 8 others to represent the states of current owners.  All flag poles will be cut down, the best 3 will be cleaned, primed and repainted and erected where the current US flag pole is located.  The remaining flag poles will be stored and reused as seen fit for other projects.  Estimated completion date:  June 1st.
• Road Signs:  Through donations and the direction of the Firewise Committee, new traffic signs have been purchased (stop, yield, caution, s-curves, etc.).  These new signs are starting to go up – completion date is NLT May 11th.
• Golf Scoreboard:  We have a scoreboard located next to the Golf Pro Shop that isn’t really being used.  It’s been suggested to relocate this board next to the Pavilion.  The board information will be divided in half — one half to display the current golf tournament scores and the other half to display Firewise information pertinent to all Pine Mountain landowners.

While we have more items on our larger than life “To Do List” these are just a few of the most important ones that can be discussed in this type of forum.

If you have any questions or concerns that you would like for the board to be aware of, please write to:  PineMountainOffice@bellsouth.net or PineMountain.Board@gmail.com.

Thank you!