President’s Comments, February 2016 Board Meeting

By Tom Sopko

1. The Board is charged with making decisions in the best interest of the entire Association.
   1. The Board members are volunteers.
   2. The Board believes that we are acting in the best interest of the Association
   3. The Board represents about 1100 Active Members. Not just those Members who attend Board Meetings or those members who attend special meetings like the location of the new Office.
   4. Update: The Board announced that the new Office is being relocated to Route 6.
   5. Update: The Board announced that the Club House renovations are underway. These include repairing the undermined floor base, new doors and windows, new lighting and new flooring.

2. Considerations on the selection of the Office back to the Route 6 location.
   1. A cash flow analysis, an outcome recommendation by a Member at the December 10 meeting, showed owning a building to be much less expensive over the long haul than renting a building. Building and owning was selected over renting.
   2. The building had to be a commercial building and not a residential building. Some residential properties, available for purchase, that could be good locations, were eliminated. This resulted in planning to build a commercial building.
   3. Adding on to the Clubhouse was eliminated due to the cost of bringing the entire Clubhouse facility up to current building code. This left the Clubhouse entrance and the Route 6 as potential locations.
   4. The Architect estimated that for the same identical building, at either the Route 6 location or the Clubhouse entrance location, would be $40K to $70K less expensive at the Route 6 location. The existing Route 6 location already had parking, utilities and the proper grading.
   5. The Architect wanted a specific location defined to finalize plans. These plans allow the Association to get construction estimates from various contractors.

3. There are four Bylaw Amendments being considered. The first three amendments under consideration will need to be read three times:
   1. To do away with the three readings in favor of posting on the Association website and doing three considerations of a new Amendment.
   2. To dispense with the Director Ballot process if there are insufficient candidates and candidates run unopposed.
   3. To change husband and wife, to spouse or spouses based on the US Supreme Court decision. Highly recommended by Kaman and Cusimano and OLCA.
   4. Under consideration is a Sexual Offender amendment to prevent Tier 3 sex offenders from living in the Association and being Members. Considerable legal controversy around this. Highly recommended by Kaman and Cusimano and OLCA. It is posted but will not be voted on tonight. There are no known Sex Offenders registered in the Association now, and now would be a good time to institute it. Let us know what you think.

4. Issues on Board Communications as related to the Lawsuit. Members have commented that they have not received enough information on the Lawsuit. Last month David King, our Corporate Attorney, addressed questions about the Lawsuit brought by Neighbors for a Better Roaming Shores, Barry O’Connell, Joseph Petraus, and Pat Long. One point made by King, that the Board would like to highlight, is that the Board had been advised to not comment on the Lawsuit. Publically available information can be obtained from the Ashtabula County Clerk of Courts, both online and in person.