The new members of the CME board just completed their first full year.  It has been a learning experience for us all.  Among the accomplishments of the board over the past year:

 

1) Arranging for the removal of the RV that was sitting at Lake Magnuson with the help of some very active residents.

2) Incorporating the lots around Lake Magnuson into the Lake Magnuson Common Area so it is now one large parcel. 

3) Purchased and installed five-16 box mailboxes and one large parcel box t Lonely Fox.  Three more 16 box mailboxes have arrived and are awaiting on the USPS to install them.

4) Instituted a plan to make our residents and guests aware of fire bans by posting color coded banners at each entrance along with information posted at each mailbox location on what the fire ban entails .

5) Our new  CME Wildfire Protection Plan is almost completed thanks to the hard work of Mark Harter.

 

As we enter our second year in office, our main focus will be on fire safety throughout the development. We had our first major fire within CME this year and were very lucky, to say the least.  The quick response by all the various fire departments in the area kept the fire from spreading—no easy feat given the 30-50mph winds that day.  The fire was started by a tree being blown onto the power lines.  We were very fortunate that the property owner had his property well mitigated so the fire did not climb into the tree canopy.

 

With that fire came a very important wake up call.  Are all properties within CME well mitigated?  The answer is an astounding, “NO”.  We all need to work together in making CME Fire Safe. First order of business is to make your home defensible.  This website is a wealth of information regarding defensible space. https://csfs.colostate.edu/wildfire-mitigation/protect-your-home-property-from-wildfire 

After getting your home and property defensible, consider helping neighbors and others who may need assistance.  We are trying to organize a volunteer mitigation group as a chapter of NoFloCo to help residents in our community with mitigation.  The more properties that are mitigated, the safer it is for us all. If you wish to volunteer, please contact us at office@CMEPOA.com. If you can pick up sticks, you can help.  The average age of NoFloCo volunteers is over 60.

 

Know your available exit routes out of the community.  Don’t wait until a fire to see where the exits are. Do it now!! We just received some great news from Jay Teague, the new Director of Emergency Management in Teller County.  Mueller State Park has granted us emergency egress through the park.  It can be accessed through the gate off of Rampart Circle.  There is a lock on the gate and the fire departments as well as the board have the access code.  Some mitigation may need to be done to make the route safe for vehicles without 4 wheel drive. Jay is working with Mueller on that.  Of course, on the west side CME, we have two exits, one north (N. Mountain Estates) and one south (Lonely Fox View) onto Teller 1.

 

In closing, I want to thank all of the volunteers who help things run in CME.  They are our most valuable asset, but we could always use more. We still need volunteers to fill positions on the Board, ARC Committee, Chipping Crew, Maintenance, etc.  The POA runs with volunteers which is why we are able to keep our dues extremely reasonable.  If interested in volunteering, please email us at office@CMEPOA.com.  We would love your help!