A Letter from your Board President

A Letter to the Members,

Now that the Annual Meeting has concluded and it won’t be long until that beautiful sunshine warms our winter bones, I would like to take a moment to share some thoughts.

First, I would like to express my personal thanks and deep appreciation to Jon Allen who served this last year as our Board President. Jon has been instrumental in moving the Association forward and has established a strong foundation for our community to continue that movement into the future. Jon, your leadership, advice and friendship will truly be missed and I wish you the very best in your future endeavors.

Secondly, a big thank you to the membership itself for your input in the finance process and the passage of our first 5-year plan for the lake and the elimination of the multi-lot fee. It is a big step in moving forward into the future and enhancing our stability as a community

On a personal note, it has been an interesting experience, to say the very least, to serve as a Board member for the past year, and I can truly say that I have learned a lot about the Association itself, its members and the wonderful employees who serve the members. I have nothing but respect for my fellow Board members, who have weathered the slings and arrows and yet come back for more as they have a true interest in the success of the lake. To Sherry Parkhurst who served, your input and knowledge has been truly beneficial to the board and the community as a whole. I welcome our newest Board Members, Susan Zalenski, who will serve a 3-year term, and James Funk, finishing the term of Jon, and I look forward to your input.

I have learned (although I have always suspected) that we have top notch employees who go that extra mile more often than not and who are truly the glue that holds this community together. Until you have spent time in the office seeing what goes on in the background of running an operation this size or around the lake during the weekdays when the maintenance crews or safety officers are hard at it, you cannot truly appreciate all that they do. For them this is not an 8-to-4 job, and their passion for the success of the community drives me personally.  For the majority of members who usually do not get to the lake until the weekends, I will let you in on a secret. When you arrive on Friday night, you see the “finished product” after a week of hard work by your staff. There is no doubt you are getting your money’s worth.

A key component in the success of the lake is the value of our volunteers who work tirelessly, often without recognition, to bring forth the best of our community.  These people frequently forsake time with their families or other outside interests to better our Association as a whole, and I encourage any of our members to seek out a committee of which you may have an interest and volunteer what time you can to help us. We as a board and individual members cannot achieve our goals alone, however collectively we can do great things. There is no doubt that when you volunteer on a committee you will see firsthand just how massive an operation this lake community is and what an outstanding job our employees and volunteers truly do.

As an Association we have rules and regulations that govern the operation and use of the lake to protect your investment as well as promote a safe atmosphere. I highly encourage each member to obtain a copy of the 2018 Handbook as soon as it is available and take the time to read it. If you are having guests out on the water, please take the time to go over the rules with them also. Remember, you as the member are responsible for your guests and their conduct.

Last year we encouraged our members to ensure that they carried their membership cards with them when they were using our amenities, so we could get a feel for non-members within our community. There were some surprising numbers in the level of non-members removed from our community by our safety personnel, and this enforcement will continue in 2018. Again this effort is not to place hardship on our members in using our amenities, rather it helps to protect YOUR investment. Please keep your card with you when out and about.

In closing, my fellow Board Members have nominated me to succeed Jon as the Board President for the 2018 Association Year. I am not sure if I should thank them for their confidence in me or understand that I am to be the token sacrifice. Understand that my objective, as is the entire board, is to protect the Association which in turn protects your investment. In doing so there is absolutely no doubt that I and the board as a whole will annoy and even anger some members from time to time, however we have some tough decisions to be made.

It is our goal to strengthen the community and its foundation while moving into the future. While I am not an advocate for a lot of change I also understand that we cannot thrive without some change otherwise we become stagnant.

The 2018 Board Members and their Committee Contact positions are as follows:

Best wishes for a SAFE Lake year.

Phil Stockard, Board President