PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Here is a quick summary of current issues:

Budgeting. A well attended and well received town hall was held on April 20, 2023 to explain where your dues go. This was a great kickoff to budgeting season, which will last from now to September or October. We are fortunate this year to have 3 outstanding financial specialists on our board to drive this process: Ken Silveira, Jim Siegfried, and Michelle Pandori. As I mentioned in a previous President’s Message, our painfully underfunded reserves are a key issue in budgeting, along with coming to terms with our lagoons challenge and aging infrastructure. This will be an important budgeting process.

Bulkheads. We are planning to replace the Cove 3C bulkheads this summer, which will be a big cost hit on those owners. But it must be done. A failure of the bulkhead could collapse the building, and that would be bad… Also, we are awaiting results of a “life expectancy study” on the bulkheads for St. Moritz Isle and Bavarian Isle bulkheads. Those bulkheads are individually owned by the lot owners, but if one fails it could affect the adjacent home and of course the waterway. So the board is compelled to push this study, and the inevitable replacement project(s). This will be a big topic of discussion in the coming months, I suspect.

Well 3. Well 3 is our main producer, located on west Venice Ave. It is capable of producing 2,000 gallons per minute (gpm), but has been restricted to 800 gpm due to the uranium treatment process. At the April board meeting the board approved having a contractor pull the pump and clean the well screen. Mark Madison felt that by doing this, we could improve water flow from the shallower aquifer which has less uranium. Fingers crossed that when this is done, we can reduce or eliminate uranium treatment at the well and restore its full capacity.

Common Area Landscaping. Damage to our common area landscaping caused by the 2021 drinking water crisis offered an opportunity to re-envision these landscapes, rather than just replant. The board hired Design Workshop to develop landscape designs for our common areas. They presented two alternative concepts for each of the first four areas of focus at the April 14, 2023 board meeting. The new concepts reduce turf and add interesting features. We plan to hold several town halls to discuss these with the membership and get input.

Once a preferred concept emerges for each of the four areas, they’ll develop cost estimates, and we’ll get down to figuring out how to pay for it. Again… budgeting.

CMT Year 2. This year we will be testing laminar flow aeration, bottom barriers, diver hand pulling, and UV light in various areas. There will be no dammedoff areas and no boating restrictions. Year 3 will be much the same. We need to see if these less invasive techniques are effective in keeping the weeds down in last year’s herbicide zones, as well as whether those techniques work in untreated zones. This is a necessary 3-year scientific experiment to guide our long-term management program.

Board Election. Every year we elect roughly half the board, and this year is no exception. There are 3 positions up for election. The self-nomination process is underway, and the ballots will go out this summer.

New Staff. FirstService Residential has made numerous permanent and seasonal hires over the last month to fill our staffing vacancies. I can tell you that in years past, our HOA struggled mightily to recruit and retain. We had career fairs with no attendees, for crying out loud! Recruiting success is a huge benefit of professional management, and a key motivator for the board in going this direction. Our aquatic weed harvesting, all-round maintenance, and capital improvements programs will be far more successful this year. On a related note, FSR bid out our common area landscape maintenance, and the board approved a vendor for each of the coves. However, for the non-cove common areas, the bids were high, so the staff recommendation and board approval was to perform this landscape maintenance in-house as in past years.

City of SLT Vacancy Tax Emails. The City is proposing a vacancy tax, which could affect a substantial number of our members who are second homeowners. At the April meeting, the board agreed to an email notice to members penned by Mr. David Jinkens to alert you to that process. But I received objections that Mr. Jinkens’ note was biased one way, so I approved a second email by Susan Chandler with the other viewpoint. This type of notice will only be done when there is an issue of potential widespread impact, and only on a case by case basis as approved by the board.