Association Information

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Call For Candidates

As a Lake Linganore Association (LLA) member if you are interested in being a candidate for the LLA board of director’s election in May you need to submit nomination information to the LLA Election Committee by March 19, 2008 in order to be published in the LakeTalk April voter guide.

LLA directors are elected at the annual membership meeting, which has been set for 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at Deer Crossing Elementary School.

LLA bylaws allow candidates to submit their names up to 30 days prior to the election, which means the final day for becoming a candidate is April 17. Candidate profiles not submitted in time for the April voter guide will be published in the May issue.

LLA directors are elected for two-year terms and can only serve two consecutive terms. This year’s annual election calls for five board positions to be decided. Three of the five will serve two-year terms, two will serve one year terms to complete terms appointed by the LLA directors following last year’s election.

Last year’s election was for four board positions but only two candidates came forward to stand for election. LLA Bylaws authorize the board to appoint directors as needed. As a result, in August the board appointed two directors—Brian Jacobs of Balmoral and Mark Paxton of Meadows—to fill the remaining two directorships. Appointed directors can only serve one year and then are required to stand for election by the membership for the second year of the term. Mr. Jacobs and Mr. Paxton have not indicated whether they plan to be candidates.

Current board members Robert Charles and Stephen Hembree are eligible to run for another two-year term but have not announced their intentions. As of press time the LLA Election Committee had not received any candidate information.

Candidate Criteria

The general criteria for those interested in becoming a candidate, according to the LLA covenants, are as follows:

◊ A candidate must be a member of the association in good standing with all assessments, fees, fines and all other monetary obligations to the association “current” in status.

◊ Eligible candidates cannot have any outstanding covenant violations on any property he/she owns within Lake Linganore.

Candidates who wish to submit their names for the ballot must provide the following information, in accordance with the LLA Bylaws, Article II, Section 3, Election of Directors and Terms of Office:

◊ Name, address, lot number(s) owned

◊ Occupation, education, relevant experience (75 words or less)

◊ A statement of why the candidate is interested in running for the Board of Directors (100 words or less)

◊ Candidates must submit a separate letter of disclosure stating whether or not they have any current business connections to the LLA, the Eaglehead declarant or the LLA property developer.

Candidates are asked to participate in the annual Candidates Forum, which will be held on Monday, April 16, location to be announced.

Candidates also are requested to submit, for publication, answers to the following questions, each in 150 words or less:

1. Do you have a working knowledge of the LLA governing documents? Based on that knowledge describe the community you live in.

2. The scale and type of Eaglehead assets are unlike those of other homeowner associations. What should the directors do to ensure that the community can meet the maintenance of those assets? Please include the lake dredging project in your answer.

3. Should the CDA funding for Pinehurst and Nightingale come up short on the costs of the project, what do you believe the LLA should do to solve such a problem should it arise?

4. Do you support/not support the Land Stewards application to the county for a Developers Rights and Responsibilities Agreement? Explain your position.

Words beyond the 150-word limit will not be printed. To ensure that candidate message is cohesive and complete, applicants are encouraged to remember to edit their own responses to fit the limit. If a candidate does not respond to a question, “no reply received” will appear in that space in the LakeTalk Voter Guide that will be published at least 30 days prior to the May 19 election.

Nomination information should be mailed early to ensure the information arrives by the March 19 deadline for the April voter guide. Candidate information should be mailed to: LLA Election Committee, 6718 Coldstream Drive, New Market, MD, 21774, ATTN: Joy Gurley.

If you have questions about the process contact Joy Gurley at the LLA office at 301-831-6400, ext. 15.

LakeTalk Voter’s Guide

2008 Candidate Profiles

This year there are five positions open on the board of directors and there are eight candidates running in the 2008 Lake Linganore Association (LLA) board election.

For the convenience of the voting members, profiles of each candidate and the responses to four questions about LLA issues are printed in this voter’s guide to help in the voting decision process. Two of the candidates are incumbents— Robert Charles and Stephen Hembree— and two of the candidates have previously served on the board— Jim Cates and Alan Dinkelacker— while three others are first-time candidates—Katherine Hembree, Steve Ekanger and James Arieno.

Below are the questions that the candidates were asked to answer and the candidate profiles (listed alphabetically).

Candidate Questions

1. Do you have a working knowledge of the LLA governing documents? Based on that knowledge describe the community you live in.

2. The scale and type of Eaglehead assets are unlike those of other homeowner associations. What should the directors do to ensure that the community can meet the maintenance of those assets? Please include the lake dredging project in your answer.

3. Should the CDA funding for Pinehurst and Nightingale come up short on the costs of the project, what do you believe the LLA should do to solve such a problem should it arise?

4. Do you support/not support the Land Stewards application to the county for a Developers Rights and Responsibilities Agreement (DRRA)? Explain your position.

2008 Candidates

James C. Arieno

10306 Reindeer Trail

Coldstream Lot #050057

Personal/Professional Background : Bachelor of science, math/computer science, University of New Mexico; Master’s degree, public administration. President/owner, Intercoastal Management Services in Washington, D.C. The company provides clients with consulting, project management and interim executive services in the areas of strategic planning, process improvement, change management, financial analysis, operations redesign, technology and supervision of corporate and hospital-based staff.

Candidate Statement : During these erratic financial times, it seems that representative leadership in all areas of our lives is necessary. With the CDA/CIP project going forward, Eaglehead has developed the momentum needed for a major increase in property values. This progress must be maintained and directed toward goals that are beneficial to all LLA members as opposed to the benefit of a few. I would like to be one of the board members that help lead us to a more profitable and relaxed lifestyle.

No Response To Candidate Questionnaire

James Cates

6157 S. Steamboat Way

Lot # 150081

As a homeowner and former member of the LLA board of directors, I am entering my name and experience into the election of board members for this term.

No Response To Candidate Questionnaire

Robert Charles

6738 W. Lakeridge Road

Pinehurst Lot #212

Personal/Professional Background : attorney with U.S. Army, Fort Detrick; BS (economics), University of California, Berkley; JD, University of Utah; MPH, Harvard University; LL.M., The U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s School. Served on the LLA board for the last two years, one year on the Finance Committee and the past year as vice-president of the board.

Candidate Statement : I am running for the power, glory, fame, prestige, perks, adulation of the electorate, lack of survival instinct, don’t care for Monday Night Football, and a pathetically old-fashion sense of civic duty.

1. I have a working knowledge of the LLA governing documents from being on the board of directors. Based on that, I would describe Eaglehead at Lake Linganore as a community of communities that jointly share the responsibility for numerous assets (e.g. pools, roads, trails, dams, easements) and for their maintenance and upkeep. The governing body is an elected board of directors. In many ways, it operates as a small city.

2. The directors oversee the work of the management office, which is doing a pretty darn good job of trying to maintain the assets of our community. The community should faithfully grow its reserve fund so that it is in a position to replace and repair the more expensive capital assets as those needs arise.

I have been particularly focused on possible ways to get the lake dredged. I worked with the developer to get a commitment to hold certain acreage in the Isles of Balmoral open as a silt site, and helped push for the Frederick Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) to add that element to the pending Development Rights and Responsibilities Agreement (DRRA).

While there is some chance that outside government may help in paying for the dredging, if that does not happen, and given the large expense of this undertaking, the community will need to decide if it should be paid for through the reserve fund, by a special assessment or let nature take over and have the lake back.

3 . If the CDA funding for Pinehurst and Nightingale comes up short on the cost of the project the LLA should seek outside financing and suck it up. These community assets need to be upgraded, it is the responsibility of the LLA to do it, and the costs are not going to go down but will only rise while deterioration increases. Unfortunately, with the current credit crunch, and the LLA having a significant outstanding loan on the current road projects, pulling off a new loan could be very difficult business.

4 . I support Land Stewards’ application to the county for the DRRA. I have testified before the BoCC on behalf of the BoD in that regard, as well as emailed the supporting BoCC members in support of the DRRA. I think that the DRRA is a wonderful compromise of interests between the developer and the BoCC but that the residents of Eaglehead would be the clear winners.

G. Alan Dinkelacker

6806 Forest Park Court

Lot # 011287/011235/011236-Aspen

120227-North Shore Townhomes

Personal/Professional Background : Monmouth College, N.J.; University of Maryland; FCC. Currently I am a real estate broker for Fencepost Realty. I previously served on the LLA board of directors for seven year, five of them as president.

Candidate Statement : My major interest for serving on the board of directors is to keep the association dues from getting out of control. I can’t imagine why some of the members of the existing board would raise dues without consulting the finance committee. I also believe we should examine placing a ceiling on our existing dues structure.

1. Yes.

2. The maintenance of our assets is determined by the five-year plan, which I believe is completed. The board has put $500,000 dollars a year in reserves, which is probably adequate, less the dredging of the lake. Increased HOA dues are not the answer for the dredging project. It has been studied for several years without any complete answer. What needs to be done is first stop the silation moving down stream. Cleaning out existing siltation ponds would be a first step.

3. If I am not mistaken a study on the cost for doing patchwork on the roads over a short period of time for Coldstream, Meadows and Balmoral would have exceeded the additional funding provided by the association.

4. Yes, I support the Land Stewards application to the county. It is important for this community to be completed. More homes mean more revenue for the association, which in turn could keep our dues at a level we can all live with.

Stephen J. Ekanger

Lot#160109 Westwinds

11297 Club House Court

Background/Experience: Bachelors from the University of Northern Colorado in accounting and finance, a master’s degree in finance from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. I am currently a financial systems engineer for Oracle Corporation. I have worked in the financial software industry for over 11 years. Prior to working in the financial software industry, I worked for various large corporations in the Washington, D.C. region as a director of financial planning and analysis. My primary responsibilities at Oracle are to assist fortune 50 companies evaluate their current budgeting, forecasting and consolidations systems for the potential upgrade or replacement based on the customer requirements. Having spent over 20 years managing major corporations’ budget and fiscal responsibilities, I have a unique perspective on how to manage during periods of fiscal stress and growth.

Candidate Statement: This past year has presented a period of financial stress on a macro economic level and while it has yet to have a dramatic impact on the local region the potential grows every week that the general affluence of the Washington, D.C. metro area will be impacted eventually. As residents of Frederick County we have the luxury of living in a relatively low unemployment, high socio-economic area with the third highest household income within the United States. The fortunes of living in such a high quality of life area sometimes lead individuals to over estimate the good times will always keep on coming and can cause excesses in both personal and professional expenditures. During the past four years of living within the Westwinds community I have noticed the present board seems to feel the first way to resolve fiscal short falls in the LLA budgets is to raise HOA fees on homeowners, and I now feel compelled to bring some fiscal conservative values to the board and community. I am running for the board to bring a practical perspective to both budgetary matters and community issues that face all communities within the LLA.

1. I do not have a working knowledge of the LLA governing documents, with the exception of my own perspective of the homeowners rules and regulations that govern all households within the LLA. I am a quick study and learn very fast on matters of both contracts and financial issues. As my background illustrates I am required in my daily work life to meet customers every day and learn their business issues in a relatively short period of time and provide recommendations as to how to resolve their business issues. I have a unique ability to assess issues quickly and provide practical and innovative solutions to those problems.

2. I firmly believe that any member of the board should be looking to the greater good of the entire LLA community and not just the representative community from which they live. It is my judgment that we need to continue to set aside funds to the reserve fund to meet the overall community needs both today and in the future, but at a more measured pace that takes into consideration the financial impact to homeowners’ personal budgets. We need to remember that an HOA is not a corporation and has limited means to raise funds for any and all expenditure both large and small. I feel we should never increase HOA dues on homeowners that exceed the standard inflationary costs over a 3 year historical average period. These increases should clearly be set based on each community’s ability to fund these expenditures, because homeowner’s household incomes are not rising fast enough to offset the rapid increases the LLA has imposed during the past several years.

In terms of my views on the dredging of the lake, I feel the proper approach is to continue with the funding of an environmental dredging study currently in the works. Once we have established a proper study we should address the potential payment of this dredging with the Frederick City Government and State of Maryland because these groups are beneficiaries of the natural water flow. If these organizations are unwilling to help shoulder the burden for these costs, it should not be the LLA’s duty or responsibility to dredge a lake that based on most conservative estimates would potentially bankrupt the LLA.

3. A similar arrangement that was established for Coldstream, Balmoral and Meadows CDA should be set up for the potential cost overruns in Pinehurst and Nightingale.

4. Yes, I support the DRRA agreement by Land Stewards. Any agreements between Land Stewards and the county should be honored. Land Stewards is a potential answer to many of LLA’s issues because as undeveloped lots become developed we benefit from new sources of revenue and home values will ultimately increase.

Katherine Hembree

6527 Nightingale Court

Lot #100011

Personal/Professional Background: Financial professional and CPA with 20 years experience in budgeting, forecasting, management and financial administration. Chairman of LLA Finance Committee from 1998–2002; during this period, ensured LLA reserve study was in place and funded; developed financial summaries currently in use for board of directors to easily ascertain status of LLA balance sheets, income statements, and reserve funds. Resident of Eaglehead since 1998 in Woodridge and Nightingale villages.

Candidate Statement:

I am running for the BoD due to my concerns about the state of infrastructure and continuing viability of the Eaglehead PUD. The BoD was unable to make an educated decision about the dues this year due to lack of key information that should have been available prior to the budgeting and dues assessment process. Also disconcerting was the lack of understanding by our residents regarding our assets and what it takes to maintain them. My goal as a BoD member would be to ensure that each new LLA member is thoroughly educated regarding our assessment process and that key information to make a decision regarding assessments each year is provided well in advance to the BoD and properly reviewed.

1) Due to my participation in the LLA finances for four years, and my husband’s participation as an LLA BoD member for two terms, I am very familiar with the LLA governing documents. Our community is one that must share the burden of our substantial assets based on property values and therefore is not always seen as equitable to all. Our HoA was established with the idea of ultimately becoming a municipality and thus our assessments are based on that foundation. We can not change the rate structure without two-thirds vote of the community and considerable understanding by our membership of the resulting affect of that kind of change. Without votes or participation by our members, this kind of change will not go through and our BoD must work within the current assessment structure.

2) The directors need an updated reserve study that includes all of our assets and the amount needed each year to ensure we fund this reserve. We need a thorough engineering study on our new CDA roads as well as existing roads and the amount needed to fund these costs. Without funding these assets, our community will be forced to get loans or allow these assets to crumble and put our community once again in a state of disrepair. The lake dredging project is one of considerable sensitivity due to its cost but is also one of our most important responsibilities. We must have a study that thoroughly outlines the cost of dredging and then find a viable solution to fund it that would include our members that benefit from the lake.

As part of this project, I would also like the BoD to consider removing or annexing the Westwinds community from our PUD as this village does not benefit from our assets and very few of our (non-Westwind) members benefit from their assets (pool) due to their considerable distance from the other LLA villages and the lake. Westwinds village owners have little interest in our trails or the state of our lake, yet we tax them for both. As such, Westwinds has the loudest voice when our need to assess for the improvement of these assets becomes a driving factor in the increase of rates and ultimately prevents our BOD from making tough, but financially correct, decisions. Our lake is a benefit not only to our members but also to the State of Maryland and city of Frederick. I would like to find ways to get funding from these municipalities for this project but ultimately it is our lake and we should be primarily responsible for its care and feeding. I fear we may have to become a public lake in return for the considerable funding requested from the state or city.

3) Should the CDA funding for Pinehurst and Nightingale come up short, we will need to request a loan to fund the difference or begin funding the difference now. We can either budget and fund the projected shortfall in our budget now or ensure that the interest payment should be a part of our budget forecasts in the next few years as it is inevitable that we will not get the funding needed for these two developments. All members will need to fund this shortage as part of our assessment process. The Pinehurst and Nightingale members are already paying for this upgrade through their taxes.

4) I support the Developers Rights and Responsibilities Agreement. Land Stewards and any other developer should have a mechanism that will provide them with the certainty of their projects without the politics of Frederick County interfering. The DRRA is a good tool to ensure they have that certainty while simultaneously protecting our community assets from deforestation as a result of the development.

Stephen Hembree

6527 Nightingale Court

Lot #100011

Personal / Professional Background: Residential home builder and land developer for over 25 years. Development manager for Linganore Development Group from July 1997 to November 2001. General manager of LLA January 2002 through October 2004. LLA development manager October 2004 to March 2005. Currently retired from all business, I am now a full time stay-at-home dad, which is to say that I work harder and get paid in smiles. LLA Board member 1998 – 1999; Roads Committee chair 1999 to 2002, LLA – CDA Liaison 1999 to 2005; Brosius Dam Repair Committee chair from 1999 to 2002, currently serving the end of a two-year term on the LLA board.

Please vote.

Candidate Statement

I would like to continue the support what I’ve had the privilege to provide the members of the association for over 10 years. I am asking all members to please vote.

1) I have studied all of the governing documents and enjoyed the benefit of discussing them with many people over the years including the original developer who created them, Bill Brosius. As I understand it the Eaglehead community was always intended to be a town and not just a collection of subdivisions. Which is why our governing documents are so much more than you will find in your typical homeowners association. Our community, unfortunately, is not finished being built so it is of paramount importance that the LLA board maintains a strong and demanding relationship with the Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and the Declarant (developer) while being flexible enough so that the final build out occurs to the benefit of the members who live, work and play here, now and in the future. Please vote.

2) Under out-going board president Brandon Frazier’s plan worked out with the LLA general manager Clay Edwards and supported by the board, two steps have been taken to ensure our future needs can be met. The first is a five-year plan, which will include: required facilities capital improvements, preventative and upkeep maintenance of existing amenities and a target goal for any new amenities. The five-year plan should be ready for board review by September 2008. The second item is an update to the LLA Reserve Plan, which was initiated by GM Clay Edwards this year and is currently under review by the LLA board. The new board need only continue these efforts and include in next year’s budget a sound fiscal plan for de-silting the lake. Everyone needs to vote.

3) Again, with the financial arrangements worked out by Brandon Frazier and Clay Edwards, and supported by the board, a long term funding mechanism was established to cover any shortages in CDA funding. It is anticipated that this will be sufficient but there is no guarantee and we won’t know for several months what our total funding needs will be on the final villages, which are due to be bid soon. We just have to keep finding ways to make it work. Please vote.

4) I fully support the Declarant’s application for a DRRA with Frederick County, the 1968 DRRA notwithstanding. The 1968 agreement, which can be considered the original DRRA, is somewhat dated and could stand update on several key issues, the least of which is density. Land Stewards has agreed to substantially lower the number of homes they can ultimately build, per the request of the BoCC. This is just one of many reasons that we should all support the current draft of the DRRA.

Did I mention that everyone needs to vote? Please mail in your vote or come in person to vote but please vote. Last years voter turn out was the worst ever and since the Declarant has even fewer votes this year we need all members to weigh in.

Please vote.

Thomas E. Roland

6807 Forest Park Court

Lot #011285

Personal/Professional Background : architectural engineering degree, University of Oklahoma, computer science, California State College. Retired program manager, Lockheed Martin Corp and IBM Corp; substantial systems engineering, program management and business development experience on large complex U.S. and U.K. government contracts. I have extensive experience in the areas of contract management, financial planning and management, engineering management, and negotiations. Resident of Eaglehead since August 1989. I was an elected member of the LLA board of directors in 1994 to 1996.

Candidate Statement : After witnessing the close call this past concerning the increase in dues, I would like to serve on the board of directors to ensure that dues are not increased unnecessarily. I believe other candidates running for the board would want to raise dues significantly regardless of the will of the overall community.

1. I have a working knowledge of the LLA ECC, CC&Rs and Bylaws. Eaglehead is a planned unit development (PUD) where we currently have one major developer (Land Stewards) who is working to complete the PUD build-out as planned. The board of directors is an elected group of people who are not paid but who volunteer to commit to conducting the business of the association in a professional manner. The primary source of association revenue is dues assessed on each homeowner based on the assessed value of their home, averaged by village. Dues are used to manage the association business needs and to maintain and improve the private roads, trails, pools and amenities across the PUD. The board is responsible for establishing a productive working relationship with the Frederick County Commissioners, the developer, builders, and other private and public entities necessary for the running of association business.

2. The board of directors should set maintenance and improvement priorities based on the ongoing and changing needs of the LLA villages. Each village has its own personality, assets and maintenance requirements. The board must establish short and long term plans to meet the needs of each village as well as PUD-wide improvement and maintenance tasks. The plans must include reserves that consider expected, as well as unexpected, expenses. The plans should be realistic with regard to the expected revenues and not rely on unrealistic assessment hikes. The board must exploit the expertise and guidance of the LLA Finance Committee with regard to setting budgetary targets. With regard to lake dredging, I understand that it will be an extremely expensive task (in the millions of dollars), and that the LLA does not have sufficient funds to underwrite the entire cost. The board should work with the county and Land Stewards to establish a plan to minimize LLA costs. I do not believe the board should increase assessments to pay for dredging without widespread support from all villages.

3. Similar to the arrangement that was established for the Coldstream [Balmoral/Meadows] CDA, the LLA should set aside funds for the possibility of a cost overrun for the Pinehurst and Nightingale CDAs.

4. Yes, I support the DRRA. Any documented agreement between the county and Land Stewards is welcome. I am frustrated by the current situation that exists where the county continually rezones property that had been previously identified for development. Frederick County is growing rapidly with both large and small companies, as well as the U.S. Government, moving more people to the Frederick area. This influx of new workers and their families will result in significant demand for homes, schools and infrastructure. The DRRA is an example of what is needed to establish agreement between the county and developers.

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