Hickory Lake Campground Cooperative Association

Greetings All,

Last year poised a lot of interesting scenarios/challenges with storage unit language.  The board has been work on and off on this for a while, and I was going to get this out about a month and a half a go but there has been to many higher priorities to deal with, other than I wanted to get this out before the Owners Special Meeting.

Please check your email for the proposal.

During a special board meeting on May 5, the board addressed the Owners Special Meeting that we have left on the calendar.  The board members all felt safe enough to go as planned with the meeting, weather permitting. The time and date has not changed, Sunday, May 24, at 10 AM.  COVID-19 has directed a few changes.  The location will be in the grassy area in front of the pool, west side kind of by the fire pit. You will need to bring your own chair.  There will be socially distanced spaces marked out for you to place your chair.  Attendance is limited to owners on site application.

As I pull an agenda together for this meeting, please let me know if there are any certain topics you would like addressed.

Thank you

Ed

COVID-19 

Our Covid-19 policy will be getting amended to coincide with the current “Stay Safe MN” order.  You can gather as a group of 10 or less WHILE practicing social distancing at your site.  Yes you can have visitors.  We understand a few, lets keep it minimal to be smart, considerate and safe.  Rules and regulations numbers of six for seasonals and fifteen for owners is unacceptable at this time. Do to Covid -19 no Community meals or activities are planned for the weekend as in years past.

PARKING

EVERY site is to have  parking provisions ON their site for one vehicle. USE it.  No boats and trailers on sites. Them and extra vehicles belong in the overflow.  Parking is not allowed on unoccupied sites with out permission.  Parking is not allowed on campground(common element) property.  On busy weekends if and only if the overflow is full we can make exceptions.

OVERFLOW LOT 

With almost every site being occupied now, there will be changes to the overflow rules and use.The overflow lot is for parking extra vehicles(after parking one on your site), boat and boat trailer parking, and trailer parking specific to use during your stay.  Trailers are to be tagged with name and site number.  Extra vehicles are to have a card in the window with name site and phone number on them.  The supplies we have for this are currently locked up in the gathering but by Saturday they will be out side in a clear weather resistant container on the outside of the gathering room for your use.

CLEAN UP 

Please help keep our campground beautiful, and clean up after yourself.  Not only dose it help keep the campground neat, but in today’s atmosphere it helps in preventing the spread of Covid-19 by someone else having to pick up or move your unsanitized personal property.  At the lake front we understand if you leave your kayak or canoe on the shoreline while your are there using it.  When you go to leave please make sure it is either on a rack  spot you have rented or under your RV or up in the overflow.

QUIET HOURS 

As a reminder to be considerate of your neighbors in the community, quiet hours are from 10 PM to 8 AM.  Some don’t care to hear your camp fire chatter and people/children running thru sites and campground at midnight, while others don’t care to hear equipment roaring at 6 AM.

Have a fun and SAFE weekend,

Hickory Lake Campground Board

EG

Good morning everyone,

A few things I wanted to remind you about:

COVID-19 Policy – In your email you will find the new edited version of the policy.  It will also be available on the home page of our website, where it is accessible by everyone, including seasonals.  You will find a drop down on the top for COVID-19.  When selected, you will  find the policy and protocols for communal spaces as they become available.  The policy is in effect as written until health restrictions are eased and the Board feels comfortable making changes. Owners who have seasonal renters, please make sure they have a copy of the policy.

AED – With the Laundry room current closed the AED got moved to the garage.  As you go in the first overhead garage door to the west(closest to the gathering room) it is hanging on the wall above the light switches just to the left of the door way.

Overflow – As a reminder, the overflow is for boats and boat trailers, extra vehicles, I would say visitor vehicles but at this time there  should be no visitors. It is not intended as a personal storage area.  It also is not your personal  dumping grounds.  Last spring there were no tires up in the overflow they were all disposed of in 2018. Now there is around 18 of them up there. If they are yours please dispose of them.  If you happen to use them to set your pontoon on in the off season them keep them with your pontoon and trailer.  This is a cost in time and money to the association to dispose of the these. Last I checked $5 minimum per tire.

Parking- One vehicle per site.  No Trailers  to be parked at sites. No parking on campground property or roads, that is what the overflow is for.

Lake Time –  Usually that phrase means things  are a little more laid back at the lake.  Relax, what is your hurry.  Slow down.  There is a 5 mph or less speed limit in the campground. 

Have a great and safe weekend,

Ed

Check your email for information on WiFi access.

Good Evening HLCCA,

I wanted to let you all now that the water is on to all campsites now; And all the docks made it in the water on Sunday. Thank you to all that helped.

If you happen to find yourself at the campground to connect your water and maintain your personal property during the current Stay at Home Order, that is your decision(this applies to both owners and seasonal renters). The Board can not advocate that you travel during the order.

While at the campground please keep in mind social distancing practices are to be observed as outlined in our COVID-19 Policy emailed out this past Friday.

Protocols are being written and cleaners, disinfectants and PPE are being acquired to be able to open communal areas. Fish Cleaning house should hopefully be ready by sometime this weekend at the earliest. Laundry to probably follow shortly after.

To be compliant with Minnesota Campground Code and County Ordinances all trailers/campers have independent water and sewer services available to accommodate the use of their own bath rooms until such time that we are ready to open the shower house. Pool, Arcade, and Gathering Room will remain closed until the MDH eases the lock down of those facilities and give guidance on how we can open them.

See you soon, be safe

Ed

Good Morning HLCCA

First to expand on my earlier email on the water. Saturday some needed repairs and improvements to the water supply system were able to be completed to enable us to be able to turn the water on once weather permits. While there, seeing how much frost was still evident in the ground and taking the extended forecast into consideration (how about that white Easter), the decision was made to push out turning water on to the weekend of 4/25/20. Again this is a target date. We will keep you posted as to its progress and when it actually is on.

I know some are used to opening sooner but this year we are fighting with a couple of factors, weather and COVID-19.

COVID-19 is the biggest factor in not opening the shower house earlier than water on to the sites. If the shower house were to be open, COVID-19 has made it necessary to enforce routine and extra cleaning of those facilities. To do that we need our staff on site, which they live at campsites, which need to have water. Keep in mind with no functional rest rooms by our licensing we are not an open campground yet.

Once we have water on and functional restrooms there is not a current executive order to keep us from opening on time the beginning of May. The MDH stance so far on private campgrounds and seasonal mobile home parks is as follows:

“The state recognizes that some campers/trailers in campgrounds and seasonal mobile home parks are permanent residences for some individuals, and does not intend to cause harm by evicting them. However, offering sites for recreational purposes is discouraged at this time.”

What I can tell you is we don’t want to be doing things to jeopardize that. With that in mind we are working on a Social Distancing and COVID-19 policy for the campground. You should be seeing that in a couple of weeks.

And in the current “stay at home” executive order 20-33 section 6 Exemptions-critical sectors, jj, Minimum Basic Operations does allow us to mobilize staff to perform tasks to take care of, fix and maintain our campground.

On Saturday, there still was a sheet of ice out in the middle of the lake covering just over a third of the lake. It looked like something that will dissipate in a week or so. That now gives me a better time line to work with Larry to get the docks in. Later this week, once I get him locked in I will confirm with you when the docks are to go in.

After the last update I was asked about WIFI. This is what I can tell you so far. Currently we have an active system waiting to be taken out of vacation mode. The new service got activated 10/13/19 then we put it in vacation mode the next day after testing it out, with the plans of MLEC setting up the mesh network system, that they said they could offer, in the campground right away in the spring. When it first gets turned on reception is limited at this point to up by the house, gathering room and fire pit area.

The problem we have been having is MLEC hasn’t been following up with Jim Apple to well lately, and with every thing going on with the coronavirus at the Mayo Clinic, Jim has been very busy. He actually had a little time recently to follow up with them and talk with the MLEC project manager, who basically told him that MLEC at this time can not offer us the services they first laid out with him last year.

So currently we are seeking bids from outside contractors/businesses that MLEC recommended for setting up a mesh network system. Until the bids come in we don’t know much more. We really were counting on MLEC to follow thru with the service plan they talked about last year and getting it implemented right away this Spring.

Stay Safe
Ed

Good Afternoon HLCCA,

First and foremost I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and healthy.

Amidst these unprecedented and constantly changing times with the COVID -19 pandemic, we are working towards opening the campground.

WATER TURN ON –  Currently the plan is to make repairs to our water system over the  weekend of 4/11.  If frost is out of the ground and below freezing temps are out of the forecast we are shooting to turn water on weekend of 4/18.

DOCKS –  We are shooting for the weekend of 4/25

* Please keep in mind these are dates we are shooting for  and may change.  We will update dates as conditions change. And will post when tasks are complete.*  Unlike the southern portion of the state Aitkin area still has some snow, ice fishing is getting close to ending with 12-18 inches of ice on lakes and the shoreline areas starting to break up.  Also after Tuesday the area has forecasted low temps in the 20’s for the whole following week.

SHOWER HOUSE – At this time there is no plan to open the shower house early.  Meaning it will not be open until we can get staff onsite and water on to the rest of the campground. For the safety of our community , with CDC routine cleaning needed for those facilities, staff needs to be on hand to maintain.

LAUNDRY – We are reaching out to our laundry service vendor and the county to figure out a safe plan to operate the laundry area.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT – In this time when people’s jobs are being directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic we understand some may have some difficulty with making association dues/assessment payments. If this is the case please reach out to the treasurer or the board to figure out a plan to help. This  plan is to help with association dues/assessments, items like boat slip rental and canoe/kayak spots the board considers them a luxury item and if you unable to make that payment on time please allow it to roll in to the next available person that is able to.

I know we all are anxious for the start of the season.Sadly as much as we all would like the coronavirus to magically disappear, I am afraid it is here  for awhile and seemingly making changes to our normal everyday life daily. Your patience and positive attitude is greatly appreciated as we navigate through a few extra hurdles this year. We will update you of changes as they come.

Stay safe, stay healthy

Ed

All,

Ed

Good Evening HLCCA,

Most of you are aware of, but some that reside out of state at this time of year may not be.  Minnesota Governor Tim Waltz authorized Executive order 20-20 “Stay at Home” Yesterday. It goes into effect Friday March 27,at 11:59 PM until April 10 at 5:00 PM.  This date can/may be extended. 

With this order in place the campground will remain closed. Once this order is lifted we hope to get started on getting things ready to open.  Keep in mind the six plus inches of snow on the ground and the frost needs to go away.

We are working through many changes in regards to COVID-19. The scenarios are constantly changing.  We will keep you up to date as we can.

Have a good night and stay healthy

Ed