By Scott Auer Big Canoe POA General Manager
With some 2,500 inquiries handled since its launch last summer, Ask the POA has become an ideal resource for property owners to quickly address every Big Canoe issue imaginable. As a result, we introduced a new segment at the Feb. 11 POA board work session to recap and address the system’s most-asked questions from the previous month.
And with such a repository of great questions and carefully considered responses from the POA staff, we’ve compiled and shared the most frequently raised subjects that have come through Ask the POA in the last month. A full list is below, broken down into the trending topics and essential points that were raised.
Please keep in mind that we also use the Ask the POA tool for property owners to submit questions for upcoming board sessions held every second Thursday of the month; and to address topics in online gatherings, such as the Virtual Town Hall on the Lake Petit Dam at 10 a.m. Sat., Feb. 27. The session will be available in real-time online at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy-DCupUv3QARMxoLw5fVavw/live
If you have any questions on the Town Hall or any Big Canoe question, write to askthepoa@bigcanoepoa.org or click the Ask the POA button on bigcanoepoa.org.
Clubhouse Dining
- We received many questions about scheduling and why hours are reduced in the winter. The good news is that we go to extended hours on Tuesday, March 2. The new schedule is Tuesday and Sunday, 11 a. m.-4 p.m. (last seating 3:30 p.m.) with bar service 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Wednesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. (last seating 8 p.m.); and closed Monday.
- Reservations are strongly recommended as they not only ensure that your party has a table, but they also help the Clubhouse better plan their labor needs which in turn helps maintain labor costs. When seating permits, they will attempt to accommodate walk-ins.
- Weather events – and we’ve had more than our share this winter – have forced schedule changes if not closures. Our priority is the safety of property owners and POA staff, so any changes to the Clubhouse’s operations are made with everyone’s well-being in mind. We don’t want folks risking their lives for a burger by driving down the mountain in nasty weather.
Postal Facility
- The Postal Facility is not a U.S. post office, but a satellite office, which in our case means services and hours are limited.
- The workers at the facility are from the Jasper U.S. Post Office. The workers arrive as their delivery schedule dictates and leave when they have delivered all mail. The postal workers are there roughly from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
- To know if the workers are present in case you need to pick up a package, tune into the live video feed of the facility on the bigcanoepoa.org website by clicking the “My Big Canoe” tab in the upper left of the dashboard; then click “Postal Facility” at the bottom of the menu; then scroll down to the live feed.
- Another issue raised is how crowded the Postal Facility is – over the holidays USPS delivered 700 packages a day. To address storage limitations heavily impacted by everyone’s reliance on Amazon, I met with the Jasper postmaster and we have discussed alternate storage areas. We are now embarking on a project to convert the lower level of Village Station into a package pickup facility.
- Parking is another big issue raised, so I am happy to report that improving the slalom course that is the parking lot in 2021 will include adding guard rails, new curbing, repaving, and adapting the loading dock to allow mail trucks to parallel park, which will free up several spaces.
- It’s also important to note that the Postal Facility is among the next major capital improvements that the POA has planned, and long-range planning is looking at building an entirely new post office in four or five years.
Trash and Recycling
- The subject of improper dumping comes up often on Ask the POA. To that, we have a few reminders to 1) not leave full trash bags outside a locked gate and 2) let your contractors know that they are not allowed to leave debris at the facility
- To address this, we are in the process of setting up cameras so the community can see what bins are available – and open – before driving into the area. This also will discourage many from ignoring the rules.
- There also will soon be a transponder/card reader gate installed at the entrance so unauthorized people can’t dump their trash in our facility. The transponder update, combined with the camera, will help identify individuals who can be cited.
- To address increased demand, we are planning to add a large compactor.
- We also are going to move the yard debris dump area across Steve Tate Road to the borrow pit area off Hubbard Road in a few weeks. Its removal will give us the room to install a larger-capacity trash compactor.
- Many of these changes are aimed to reduce the congestion in the trash facility area.
Roads
- This is obviously a big one and we get many wide-ranging questions about this. Now that a lot of utility work is completed, long-overdue work with new asphalt and patching is set on McElroy Mountain Drive; Ridgeview Drive; parts of Quail Cove Drive; and Cherokee Trail for starters.
- We will continue expanding the road striping and reflector program.
- And we can’t say this enough about driving as it relates to winter weather. During and following a snow or ice storm, our priority is to get all 88 miles of our roads cleared of snow, starting with a single lane opened to provide access to emergency vehicles. And there is no safe way to drive on icy mountain roads. Not one. Stay off the roads.
- If you can’t change your plans to leave home and you know that a storm is coming, factor in enough time for a safe return.
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