Message from the President
Mike Berriochoa
July 2007
Dear CPCOA members:
Summer has finally arrived and I hope you are all enjoying your cabins. We had a great turnout at our annual picnic on June 9 and learned a lot from the various speakers who shared their time with us. The complete minutes are posted on our web site: 2007 CPCOA Summer Picnic Proceedings.pdf
This is an exciting time for all of us who use surface water as we move forward with our water bank. At the picnic Dan Haller of the Washington State Department of Ecology updated us on their progress in establishing this bank. They will soon be looking for a full time employee who will be responsible for finding water rights to purchase and setting up the mechanism to make that water available to willing buyers. We will do our best to keep you informed of their progress. Dan also reminded us that if we have a water system we are required by law to meter the usage and keep monthly records. He said the information does not have to be sent in but should be retained as it will one day be used to justify the amount of water we use in the water bank.
We also heard the traditional reminders from the Yakima County Sheriff’s Office to be alert to theft and vandalism around our cabins. Report any suspicious activities to them as quickly as you can. Deputy Ernie Lowery said that even though your cell phone may say there is no service, new towers have been installed in our region and phones may be able to call 9-1-1 even if they say no service. If the Sheriff doesn’t know about the problem, they can’t do anything about it.
Another issue brought up by Ernie was the need to make sure the Forest Service and CPCOA have your up-to-date contact information in the event of a break-in at your cabin. He said finding owners sometimes gets to be very difficult. In one instance he said they recovered stolen property a year ago and still have not been able to get it back to its rightful owner because they don’t know who to contact. Our Vice-President for Communications, Jack Selby, has agreed to take on this project to update contact information for all of the tracts on Chinook Pass. Your cooperation will be appreciated.
We were also reminded of the need to do all we can to reduce the fire danger around our cabins. Carl Buchholz, our Vice President for Special Projects, is working with the Forest Service to put information on our web site.
We also have some new members who are getting involved with our organization and I’m looking forward to their participation. Jim Lundeen (Gold Creek #7) will be taking over as treasurer to fill the unexpired term of Greg Selby. Greg has run out of time to devote to our organization and we want to thank him for all he has done for us. Jim, an accountant by training, is working with Greg to assure a smooth transition and we welcome him to the group.
I’m also excited to let you know that Dave Leinweber (American River #5) has joined us and will become our new webmaster, assisting Kevin Selby. In his new role Dave will serve as content manager, something we have needed for a long time. Sorry to say, the executive committee has not done as good a job of this as we should have, but that will change. Dave be working with the executive committee to keep the web site up to date and will help make it more useful to our members. Kevin has done a great job managing the site and we appreciate all he has done for us.
Lastly, I want to remind you of the upcoming field trips being organized by Carl Buchholz.
Our fall meeting will take place in October and will be a pot luck luncheon this time. We will provide more information on the date and location in the near future. In the meantime be thinking about who you would like to see in the leadership roles. All of your officers are up for reelection and we would welcome the interest and involvement of anyone interested in filling these positions.
Have a great summer
Mike Berriochoa, President
Chinook Pass Cabin Owners Association