General Manager’s Update – 6-25-21

Dear Landings Association Members,

During the June Board meeting, President John Holmquist reported on the Landings Harbor Project, followed by appointment of the Project Team Members by The Landings Association’s Board of Directors, and the work now begins in earnest. As a reminder, this project focuses on analyzing options and recommending a long-term plan for the Landings Harbor Marina and grounds to best meet the current and future needs of our community.

With more than 50 volunteer submissions, there were many candidates available to serve not only on the Project Team itself, but to serve on Advisory Teams that will be established in seven focus areas, each chaired by a member of the Project Team. The seven focus areas will be wet slips, dry stacks, engineering and technical, amenities, Landings Harbor Park, community outreach, and financial. Tom Souls has agreed to chair the overall effort. Many may know of Tom’s work heading the recent, successful Landings Club Capital Campaign. Tom’s extensive business background, coupled with a teamwork-focused, consensus-reaching style, provides the necessary leadership for success of this work. Look for frequent updates as the work progresses.

We also now turn our attention to completing year-end budget estimates by department, as well as draft 2022 operational and capital budgets. This work is performed within the Board and Committee financial policies and approvals, while recognizing market conditions. The good news is that the Association has been significantly better than budget in such categories as commercial decal sales, architectural review fees, and boat storage, as well as staffing. Should this hold throughout the year, more funds will be available for the capital reserves for future repairs and replacements. The downside is that the positive staffing variance is due mainly to more vacancies this year than last, due to a very tight labor market, and impacting planned work by your Association.

In June, the Association’s Governance Committee and Board moved forward for public comment the first extensive updates to the Association’s Rules and Regulations in a number of years. Staff, committee members, and legal counsel have suggested and reviewed proposed changes, based on recent experiences and best practices, and now it’s your turn to review! You can read highlights on here. If you have any suggested edits, please send to webmaster@landings.org so that the Governance Committee and Board can review your feedback before acting on the revisions.

Especially for the newer members of our community, and if you didn’t get a chance to attend our annual Hurricane Town Hall Meeting, please review the complete report here. Unlike floods, fires, or earthquakes that plague other areas of our country more frequently than here, we can monitor approaching storms and plan accordingly. The time to do so is now, so you won’t be in a rush should we have to evacuate the County. Please note that the Association conducts preseason preparations and practices for continuity of operations, and that the move of our technology to the cloud over the last few years allows for more seamless operations, even if staff must relocate temporarily for safety. Also, the Association will distribute messages before, during, and after storms to make sure all residents are informed of what they should be doing, and what steps we are taking to ensure continuity of services.

Finally, please plan to attend the Fourth of July celebration open to all resident at The Landings Club’s Deer Creek course. The Association helps pay for the fabulous fireworks display as well as assists in traffic control. You don’t want to miss one of the first opportunities to come back together as a community!