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Hello neighbors and friends in Paradise, well last week I said it had been a challenging week, I’m sure you can appreciate, it pales in comparison to the past 24 hours.
We said last week that we could not change the past and were committed to righting the ship and moving forward in a positive direction for the future.
In as much, we are not going to hide, run away or I might add, resign from the Board. However, we are going to continue to be open with you and give you the position the current Board finds themselves in as a result of past actions, or inactions of “the Board”, as it would appear we are all still painted with the same paintbrush.
I also want to assure you all that the full Board has been meeting a lot this week starting with an over 4 hour long Executive Session on Sunday morning. We are engaged, we are committed and we want to bring some normalcy back to Paradise.
So, to start right off with the elephant in the room, “the email”. We don’t like its suggestions anymore than you do, some of what was said didn’t need to be said, but it was and we can’t change that.
Last week I stated that we checked with legal counsel and the Board was within their right to buy lot #138 based on the resorts first right of refusal option which it exercised. While the Blackleys’ name may have come up in an email, it certainly was not a topic of discussion at the January 8th meeting or any factor in the decision making process. As Bud stated in the email, it wouldn’t stop them becoming owners anyway as they could simply buy another lot, which they have since done.
To again be totally clear, when the Board was presented with the motion on January 8th to buy the lot, it was presented as a good investment for the resort. As you all know by now, the motion carried, however, not unanimously. JL had a personal vision for the resort to buy up to five lots for investment and work-camper housing purposes and lot #138 was a perfect fit in his mind.
You may say, “But we were all copied on the email”, true. It is no excuse, but this email between Bud and JL came in on New Years Eve, one of probably hundreds of emails that pass between Board members and management on a weekly basis. Do we all read the context of every email, no. Do we all read the ones that are particularly addressed to each of us or involve an initiate we are working on, of course we do.
Is this an excuse, no. I received the email along with all other Board members, so I had every opportunity to read it and act on it, but I did not read it and I own that, I’m sorry, I am not perfect, you only need to ask Tina!!. Again, I cannot change the past.
Some have asked that the Board or portions of the Board resign, to what end? We have elections upon us, four of the seven seats are up for election, so 4/7th’s of the Board will be new as of April 12th. As explained last week, the Board seats are setup this way so there is some continuity combined with new blood each year. I can assure you with my term about to expire (thank God), there are many moving pieces to being on the Board. It takes several months as a new Board member to learn many of the components involved in running our complex resort. You only need to speak to past members of the Board to hear, never again, I can assure you it is not for the faint of heart. Speaking as an owner, I would not want to think a new Board was made up of seven totally new people having to learn their way. Frankly speaking, I would not wish that on anyone, nor my fellow owners.
On a very sad note and to only make matters even more challenging, Wendy handed in her resignation Thursday night with her final day being this coming Monday. We are very fortunate that she offered to provide us with some support while we seek a new General Manager and transition. As many of you witnessed during her speech at the fall owners week, she is so in love with the resort, many of us as owners and loves her job. However, those of us that have spent time with Wendy know that even with her thick skin and broad shoulders, the pressure was affecting her health and personal life. I for one am very sorry to see her leave us, while none of us are perfect in everyones eyes, she was 110% invested in her work here at the resort. I wish her well in her new career and hope in the future, she can more easily leave her frustrations behind her new office door as she leaves her workday.
To further clarify some unrelenting criticism of statements made in last weeks PfP:
- The resort owned RV is no different to a leased car for example. The vehicle (Mark’s RV) is owned by the resort, however, just like my wife’s leased Nissan, while Nissan still technically own it, I am required to obtain insurance for it with Nissan as the lien holder. No change in ownership of the RV has taken place.
- Spiros had already taken steps with Wendy to double check that lot #308 is covered under the resorts general liability policy as a property owned by the resort.
- To clarify, the Board did not reverse its position on using the two lot votes, they were never going to be used and could not be used, we merely clarified those points as to why.
- While owners are not allowed to take it upon themselves to make repairs etc. to common property. Mark does and will continue to ask from time to time for help from volunteers on various projects. The resort does have volunteer insurance coverage for people volunteering their help, however, the volunteers have to be asked and supervised by resort staff, in this case Mark.
Now, onto brighter subjects. Prior to the events of last night, all of the Board had been working on righting the ship and bringing harmony back to our resort and we felt like we have been making positive steps which we’d like to share, in no particular order.
1) We are almost at the finish line to hire the part time finance manager in the office. We are just checking final references ahead of formalizing an offer to the chosen candidate. This position has been in the budget for some time.
2) Owners week plans are progressing well, thank you to our volunteers working hard to bring this together, it sounds like it’s going to be a great week. Hopefully the Cruise Ship will be righted by then and no icebergs are in sight!! A hint at the weeks theme.
3) We have been looking at alternatives for Staylist who still have not released the promised update after demonstrating it two years ago. Wendy found some great options for us to look at with one very promising system that has some great features that will really show the resort in a great light.
4) MLS Listings – We finally have the live MLS feed on the Own – Lot’s for Sale page of our website. All lots listed on MLS for the resort are shown regardless of listing Broker. It went live last night, I still want them to make a few tweaks so the photo gallery’s are larger, but we are finally heading in the right direction.
5) Karen Gardner, while no longer wishing to fill the seventh open Board seat (can you blame her…), has graciously offered to continue to clean up the Owners Portal side of the website. In a few short days, she has already made huge progress which should make navigating the owners portal much easier once all of her changes are added to the website. Thank you again Karen.
6) With Karens’ resignation from the seventh Board seat, the Board will be meeting to discuss selecting another person to fill the spot as required in our covenants/bylaws.
7) As a Board we have spoken more about an owner Q&A. We are strongly considering an open Zoom general Q&A session, it would not be an official Board Meeting. It would be this Sunday morning. Please follow this link to give us your YES or NO to a Q&A Session.
https://url.emailprotection.link/?bRRuVpSUk1TXYDPzmAacISCARtv9_LMzKwKSEBxlE2Gqn8YlmTjatQBVvDSAQwsqEtLFz9SNMNfOnVJK_byv6-w~~
A lot to digest again this week. My plan is to continue to share advancements in correcting the ship each week, also clarifications we feel need to be made for concerns heard around the resort. Not to sound like a broken record, we are committed to open dialogue and bringing harmony, peace and joy back to Paradise.
Sincerely,
Tony Goddard – HHIMR Board President
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