Lord Road Association

Meeting minutes


Lord Road Association
2025 Annual Meeting
9:30 AM, July 19, 2025
Location - Ellis Residence, 1031 Lord Road, Sanbornville, NH

Paul Romano opened the meeting at 9:33 AM. He explained that we had a new process with a microphone, thanks to Glenn Bloom. He invited members to come up to use it when they had a question or response; please speak clearly and state your name along with your address. He announced that 24 people were signed in which would meet our quorum for a meeting.

Paul led us into the Pledge of Allegiance and asked for a moment of silence for the first responders who had been attending to the many disasters across the country.

Paul stated the next item on the agenda was the Treasurer’s Report.

Elizabeth Connor presented the budget. She made members aware that there were three pages which included an actual versus the budget itself. She pointed out that we did not spend as much on gravel as anticipated or any brush trimming this past year. She also brought attention that $5000 was donated to AWWA as a contribution to the paving on Lord Road for the Boat Ramp Project. She pointed out that the second page was the budget for next year and right now there would be a small profit if nothing changes. The Balance Sheet shows $88,000 in the bank and it is expected that we should receive another $4,000 in receivables which would bring the total to $92,000; anticipated expenses of $45,000 would leave a balance of approximately $48,000 at the end of next year if there were no new expenses.

Doug Campbell of 828 Lord Road introduced himself as a new member; he wanted clarification as to the people who don’t pay. Elizabeth explained that some members just don’t pay. However, interest is being charged. As of right now, no liens have been applied to a property. Ultimately, we do collect once a property is sold.

The next agenda item was the Election of Officers and Paul asked the group if there were any nominations from the floor…there was no reply from the group. Paul stated the current Board of Officers & Directors were willing to serve another term: Paul Romano (President), Sam Crowley (Vice President), Jill Mailhoit (Secretary), Elizabeth Connor (Treasurer), Cindy Pfeiffer (Director), Andy Baranowski (Director), Glenn Bloom (Director). Ann Romano made a motion to accept the Officers and Directors as stated which was quickly seconded. A vote was taken by voice. It was unanimous with a voiced “aye” from the group.

Paul asked Sam Crowley for the Road Report. Sam Crowley informed the group that we bought 15 loads of gravel which would be put down next week. He also mentioned that the last application of Dustless would be put down in the area of the second entrance of Camp Road to the top of the hill by Savini‘s.

Jay Anderson asked why we wait until the middle of July to do maintenance work on these roads? Sam and others were quick to reply that we had heavy rains this spring which did impact putting down gravel.

Glen Bloom pointed out that signs were posted along Lord Road and mentioned that this information was posted on Facebook. He said we are here to maintain these roads and asked that everyone take a look at the descriptions involved for each section.

Sam began to address section LRA1-2. This section is proposed paving from the end of the asphalt at the top of the hill on Lord Road to just beyond Grenier Road and down Grenier Road just a bit with an estimate from MBG Paving in the amount of $34,490; that number includes gravel too. This is one of the worst sections of the road; everybody drives over that section.

A member asked why we don’t just put gravel here and Sam mentioned that they do put a couple of loads here every year and the gravel just doesn’t seem to do the job. It is one of the busiest sections of the road.

Jim Tisbert wanted to know if we had just got one estimate and Sam confirmed that he did only get one estimate from MBG. Sam did say that we could put that out to others for estimates as well too; he mentioned that he did put out for other estimates on the paved hill by Meadow Brook and MBG came in considerably less than the others (Lakes Region Paving & Sunday Paving). He informed the group that MBG was the lowest at the boat ramp also and did a good job at both locations.

A member asked when the Lord Road section by the ramp was going to be finished before we move to another area? Sam asked if they were referring to the boat ramp to the top of the hill? The reply was yes. This was addressed by Cindy Pfeiffer.

Cindy said she recently had a conversation with AWWA and right now, 319 grant money has been delayed and with the current administration, they do not know if 319 funding will be available over these next few years. So right now, you cannot even put in an application. The boat ramp project was highly successful. It's somewhere in the 90% as to the amount of sediment/nutrients that it stopped going into the lake. As a result, the likelihood of us getting any additional funding because the issue has been resolved in the eyes of the state per AWWA, is almost zero. They feel as though the project has resolved the issue and they will not grant money for us to continue paving.

Sam said the goal is to address the problem areas to help reduce our maintenance. He said the erosion on the hills is pretty severe in some locations; that's never going to change. Gravel ends up washing down into the brooks and into the lake. If we can control those areas, drainage wise, it'll reduce our maintenance costs over time, and then it'll also be better for the lake. Traffic is 10 times worse than 7 years ago. We have UPS trucks, FedEx trucks, construction and heavy trucks which creates more maintenance.

Someone asked about rip rap in the gullies along the side of the road. Sam said it doesn't serve any purpose on gravel roads because when you put rip rap in the gullies on a dirt road, it's going to plug up with sediment. Now, you've wasted that rip rap and you have to clean out that gully. You have to take that rip rap out and it has to be excavated. Rip rap works fantastic on asphalt areas because they don't get that sediment. When he was a kid, all of the hills were paved, even on Camp Road and they did that for erosion purposes. We're not proposing to pave the whole road. We're just proposing to take care of the erosion.

There was some chatter about where are the speed bumps and some members were against them. It was mentioned that with the rain this Spring, we didn't need them. The group was reminded that the majority of the vote last year was to keep the speed bumps.

Sam addressed the next section, LRA3-4. This is 1038 Lord, the Baranowki’s property. He said it was like a river under the camp; we have a drainage issue here and we would like to address that with a soaker at the low point, on Dar's driveway. In order to do that, I have to put paving down. He explained what the soakers at the boat ramp were….its like a big septic tank that holds 3,500 gallons of water and it goes into the soil; it takes all the water and it percolates into the soil. One at this location would stop the runoff from going under the camp.

It was asked how often the soakers need to be cleaned out?

Sam’s reply was that eventually, what will happen with the soaker, the more pavement you have down, the more sediment control you have, the less sediment that gets into the soaker, you can probably go three to five years, and then you have to have a vacuum truck come and evacuate all the silt in it; approximately $1,000 every three to five years, depending on how much silt you allow into that. If you don't have asphalt, that happens quickly.

Sam…..Next up, LRA5-6. If you come over Heartbreak Hill, and you come down into the little gully, there's a natural speed bump where the water runs across and rips up the road. Everybody knows where that is. We are proposing to put a culvert and a turnout there, so the water stays out of that little brook and doesn't go into the lake.

Sam said LRA7-8 is redirected drainage at the second entrance of Camp Road. Robbie's going to do a very large turnout on Chaloff's property and install drainage barriers at the side of the culvert at the brook so the water can't go into that.

Sam said this is the extent of the areas that we identified.

Doug Campbell wanted to know if any of these were in priority order; which one is going to help the lake the most?

Sam said the ones that'll help the lake the most are the drainage issues. The first LRA 1-2 probably has very little impact on the water quality, just because of the location of where it is. The other ones all have some water quality impacts due to draining issues that allow sediment and phosphorus and bad things into the water. These are all that we have prioritized according to the road repairs.

Wayne Savini spoke up and agreed on doing anything that saves the lake.

Matt Reilly expressed concern with increased traffic speed with the paving of LRA1-2. He said people are going to shoot up that hill and he would vote NO on that one.

Deb Reilly inquired about using a roller on the hard pack. Why aren't we trying something like that before we pave?

Donna Mondeau asked if it would hold the gravel down better if it was compressed?

Sam said we put the gravel down with a backhoe now. We don't have that piece of equipment. We would have to either rent one or have Robbie rent one.

Many conversations were going on at the same time which were addressing the potholes in that area and how rain collects in the same holes over and over. Some people were saying the potholes naturally slow traffic down….like speed bumps.

Someone asked if we could try what was being suggested.

Sam said, we can. It would mean having to rent a roller to do that and have one delivered and try it…at an expense. The bottom line is that we’re going to gravel that area with 3 loads next week.

Doug Campbell wanted to know if we could ask UPS & Fed Express to drop packages at the post office to help reduce traffic. Many members were quick to say that the Post Office is already inundated with boxes. Sam said it is just the evolution of the lake with more and more people here.

Paul said we don’t have to do this all in one year; the Board looked at it as a long-range plan. The first one that we would like to do is the paving and it would involve a dues increase. The dues would be adjusted because we would need to have money going to these projects that come up from time to time. No one seemed to like the idea of assessments, and the Board does not like to have to do assessments after the fact. We'd rather look at the dues structure, which is low compared to a lot of others; our dues are fairly low for what we provide in terms of services, and we also are concerned about keeping a reserve. The little bridge you all cross over when you come in is at risk. It's not going to go away tomorrow, but if we keep seeing re-occurring flooding, it could be gone very quickly. We almost lost it a few years ago, but thanks to Robbie and his backhoe, he cleared all the debris that was getting plugged up.

Sam said that what happens is the brush washes down, plugs it up, and then the water surges up, and around it, and once the water takes out the foundations, we're done….the bridge is gone.

Paul said we want to keep enough money in the budget to take care of items like that. That's our reserve fund. I'd like to see a reserve of at least $30,000 for contingencies, like damage. He asked if there was any further discussion before moving to a vote on the paving. A motion was made by Sam Crowley and seconded by Anne Romano. Paul asked all those in favor of paving that section, to please raise your hand. A limited raise of hands showed that it did not pass – the NO’S have it!

It was asked what the increase would have been and Paul thought it would have been probably an initial increase of $50 per year and then would eventually be raising that to 100. It would have been a total dues bill of $500 per property per year. This is something that the Board hasn’t finished discussing though; we are going to be doing that this year. Paul said we'll perhaps look at other alternatives, and we'll come up with a firm dues number that would give somebody the ability to make a decision on. There's been discussion about charging contractors who come in and do work here. One of the other road associations is supposed to be doing that, charging any contractor that's doing work on a residence or building a residence; approx 1,500, just to make up for the wear and tear on the road. He mentioned that traveling fast when raining creates potholes. He has received complaints from residents of being passed by other vehicles on Lord Road. If we don’t pave, the speed bumps will be back up after we put down the gravel. The issue about the delivery services, no question, they've made a big difference. We see neighbors that have a UPS truck every day, but we can't control that. The road is a public way. That means the public has a right of access, whether we like it or not. The other issue is the boat marinas that are delivering and pulling out boats all the time. They do a tremendous amount of travel on the road and most of the problem is that it's not so much the travel, it’s the fact that they're traveling fast. And when it's raining, the rain makes puddles, and when people blow through the puddles, that makes the big potholes. If we don't do the paving now, then we're going to put the speed bumps back down again after the gravel goes down. We had the vote last year on the speed bumps. We passed it very strongly.

Elizabeth spoke up and said the majority does not want LRA 1-2. She would like to discuss the other ones; we should be doing projects that help the lake. I would like to vote on the other ones and propose trying to work on whatever one everybody felt was most important. And to get it within our dues expense this year. We can decide how we're going to address the other three; figure out if we want to take it out of the dues or do a special assessment. Can we take a vote on the other ones and get within the dues expense this year? Make a decision here today?

Sam said LRA 3-4 won't be able to be done this year anyway, just because there needs to be some engineering. There needs to be pavement; all of those with pavement estimates, we would need to get all of that information together. Time is really not on our side to get it done, but it's important to get that done. That's a big issue there. I think that one probably should go on the agenda for next year. That way it'll give us some time to do the engineering work and design, The other LRA 5-6, and LRA 7-8, those projects could be done at any given time. All of these are important to the lake (3-4, 5-6, 7-8). They all have run off issues, sediment issues; I think we should do them all, just to protect the lake…eventually. What can we afford to do?

Elizabeth said she would like to see the two $8,000 projects (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8) done this year; it would cost about $215 a household for us to do LRA3-4. If we wanted to do a special assessment for that one next year, we could put that on the agenda.

Jay Anderson complained that it said on FB that there would be no votes at the meeting. If you can't make this meeting you don't get a vote? He wanted it noted that Joe Carrier was told there would be no votes today other than members on the Board.

Paul said that we were not planning on a vote for the paving. He thought we were going to discuss it and see where it went from there. Elizabeth's point to approve the other matters, I think is a well taken point. We could afford the two $8,000 projects (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8) out of what we have in the bank. And that's reasonable to do. We’ll talk about the others with the Board and come back to the membership before the annual meeting with a number. I would recommend going for the two $8,000 solutions (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8) and coming back to Baronowski's (LRA 3-4). The paving is a little more discussable because it's not mandatory on LRA 3-4, but this situation has existed for years and is something that we should take care of.

A Member asked….. Why does the PRA not have to pay anything to use Lord Road? Paul said we can't charge anybody to use Lord Road. The only charges we can make are those that live on it. We can't charge people who travel through here. In other words, if there was a problem with that bridge, we'd be using other roads. The Member said the PRA has signs everywhere to not come on their road. Paul said you can put up signs.

Elizabeth mentioned that we did collect dues from some PRA people using Lord Road in the past; that has stopped.

Linda Ellis questioned if the Lake Association could pay LRA. Paul replied that no funds are received from the lake association.

Maryann Anderson asked…..with the current amount that we're paying for dues, how much each year could be set aside for these projects and could we come up with a five year plan? So much each year could be set aside. The budget shows $5,000 left over at the end of next year So how could we pay the $16,000 this year?

Elizabeth said we will have $48,000 at the end of the year to put towards these projects if we don't spend any extra money; we have to take a reserve out of that. We only accumulate $5,000 if we're lucky a year. So that's why I was proposing we do those two $8,000 projects (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7- 8). That will bring us down to approx. $30,000 in the bank, which is not that much given the things that can go wrong.

Jim Tisbert said we should charge everyone bringing in a boat and bring in police to enforce speed.

Paul said the road is a public way and ends at the gate. A private road is also public as it has a right of access. Every private road in the town of Wakefield is a public way.

Paul said the next thing we're going to do is take a vote on the two $8,000 projects (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8), which our Treasurer says that we can handle.

Elizabeth confirmed that instead of being $48,000 at the end of the year, we would be down to $32,000; we would have a reserve at the end of next year of $32,000 presuming we don't have any additional expenses other than what is on the budget. She mentioned that she would like to look into a Contractor Fee as another option.

Sam mentioned a transfer fee / entrance fee. A lot of times when they transfer property, the new owner has to contribute to the HOA or the Road Association. We could assess that to the people coming into the lake, so every time there's a house sale, usually Elizabeth would get a call from a title company to find out if the dues are current, or if there's any past dues. At that point in time, we could say there's also a membership fee that we assess to new members. That's another way that we could generate more revenue and give us some more liquidity. We would probably have to change the bylaws.

Paul said we were not planning to vote today but we would need a motion to move forward with the two $8,000 projects (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8). He didn't know we were going to be voting on this. A motion was made by Elizabeth and seconded by Anne Romano. Paul asked if there was any further discussion on the motion before we take a vote? Wayne Savini asked if this was just the two $8,000 projects? The reply was yes, LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8.

Paul asked for a raise of hands for those in favor of the two projects (LRA 5-6 and LRA 7-8) – 18 in favor and 2 against.

A member wanted to make a motion so that voting would be out to all of the residents, not just people who can participate in the meeting?

Paul asked for a second to the motion…..none was made, so the motion died for lack of a second.

Paul stated that we send mail to 128 households to make members aware of the meeting and if they have any concerns, to please come. People are well aware that we conduct a business of the road here at the meeting every year.

A member made a motion to adjourn the meeting which was quickly seconded.

Meeting minutes taken by Cindy Pfeiffer, Director and submitted by Jill Mailhoit, LRA Secretary and approved by the Board of Directors