As the elections for the new board get closer and the prospect of 3 to 4 new board members becomes more of a reality, I find myself reflecting on the work that Ken Raymond, as co-chairman, and I, plus all the members of the security committee accomplished as volunteer representatives for Keene's Pointe.
 
When we started our work a year and a half ago, it became evident that in every direction, related to security, there were huge gaps in processes, management, technology and structure that needed to be addressed. It was not an easy task for any of us. All of us, in general, wanted the same thing that we felt every other resident wanted, which was help our quality of life and support the value of our homes by providing a reasonable level of security within the community. You can imagine that the operative word here was "reasonable", a term that seemed to take on many different definitions based on where one lives in the community, what relatives and friends live nearby, how golf residents and their buddies should be treated, what did the club want, what did the sales office want, what did the real estate brokers want, how many sheriffs are enough, how many security rovers are enough, how far do we go in managing traffic, how many people do you check in a vehicle and on, and on.
 
The discussions in the committee were detailed, emotional, difficult, complex and at times, heated. Everyone on the committee knew that no decision was ever going to please residents who were part of one group versus another. The common thread for all the work that the committee did, was that at all times, recommendations and decisions were made for the community as a whole and that follow through was applied uniformly. No critical decisions were made without some sort of vetting. Having said all the above, here is a list of things that the committee has proudly completed over the last year and a half:
 

1. The residents of Keenes Pointe have an outstanding security committee made up of individuals with multiple backgrounds, within and outside the security industry. Their total experience includes an executive with a long history with a residential security company, a sheriff, marketing, technology, high level executive experience, a third board member with extensive automotive and security background, and additional histories, all of whom encompass a group of highly intelligent individuals capable of making well thought out decisions and recommendations regarding security subjects at hand. 
   
2. The community has a Director of Security who is following processes setup by the security committee and working hard to maintain those processes while supporting answering to the consistent resident inquiries. Keene's Pointe has a new security team, the guards, who are being effectively managed by Michael, to fulfill the needs of the community; which is, as you can imagine, an ongoing process. There are no guards selling Amway, putting arms around young females as they stopped at the gates, no letting in of friends to go fishing and a host of other security problems with the guards of the past. Those issues have been alleviated.
   
3. A powerful and accurate perception, within the community, has been achieved that security has improved. That is a real plus. It is harder to get into Keenes Pointe. It is more secure and families feel safer than they did since the last major incident in the community and certainly much more so than when almost anybody could get in with a wave or a smile. Whatever the value of that perception is, that relates to quality of life and supporting the value of our homes is, it has been achieved by the efforts of the committee.
   
4. Revised post orders (the rules and regulations that guards follow to process traffic) that were created and recommended by the security committee to the board, of which the board approved. These continue to be updated. 
   
5. An understanding that any security company that wishes to provide us with security services in the future must meet certain benchmarks and requirements in order to be a vendor. Those requirements have been provided to Sentry Management and to the Board President.
   
6. A new security traffic management system, Capsure/Gatesure, that is used by the largest residential and commercial security company in the world, Securitas and it enables us to change and adjust our security processes now and into the future using this technology. Consistent software upgrades, at no cost to us, for improved functionality.
   
7. A new RFID antenna and tag system, the hardware of which is manufactured by Transcore, the largest and most successful RFID tag company in the world.
   
8. A transition, to be completed shortly, from everybody and their cousin having a clicker to only those that are residents or pseudo-residents, accessing Keenes Pointe through resident only lanes.
   
9. Improved reporting capabilities of multiple types of incidents which are routinely followed up on, by Michael Kiernan, our Director of Security-407-909-1886.
   
10. An RFID process and policy that maximizes security within the community without jeopardizing convenience for the resident.
    
11. Emergency backup processes in place for system component failures 
    
12. Performance benchmarks for the security team
    
13. Solid traffic management procedures
    
14. Consistent reporting procedures including categorized incident reports and 535 vs Chase traffic statistics
15. Gate replacement plan
16. Recording technology to track and report critical events to law enforcemnt and follow up internally, whenever necessary.

There's No Place Like Home
 
     Upon moving to the Central Florida area five years ago I was faced with the myriad of issues that we all face when moving to a new area.  The top two priorities were finding both a neighborhood and a school that we could call home.  I include the school because as anyone who has young children knows that becomes as much your home as your place of residence.  We explained to our realtor that in a residence and a school we were looking for a place with a strong sense of community where we could feel comfortable raising our young child.  He quickly guided us to Keenes Pointe and we were fortunate to find a house that quickly became our home.  We were welcomed into the neighborhood by generous and kind people and quickly felt as if we had lived there forever.
 
            Looking for the right school community for our son was a little more challenging.  We had decided to pursue a private education, and felt overwhelmed with the many choices available to us.  In performing our due diligence we looked at the majority of private schools in the Greater Orlando area.  We ultimately settled on Windermere Preparatory School and have been increasingly satisfied with each passing year.
 
            Windermere Prep is located right around the corner from Keenes Pointe.  I, along with the over 150 Keenes Pointe Families who attend Windermere Prep, like to refer to it as our Neighborhood Private School.  The proximity of the school is extremely conducive to building a strong sense of community amongst the children as well as the families.  This not to mention the added convenience of carpools , those dreaded trips to the school for "forgotten" items, and the ability to pop over to the school when need be.  While the proximity of WPS to Keenes Pointe has been an added bonus, it was certainly at the lower end of my priority list.
 
            What really attracts me to Windermere Prep is the school's philosophy that every child will thrive and evolve intellectually, emotionally, morally, physically, and socially in a safe and challenging environment.  They truly take a Whole Child approach to education. I believe this approach is vital in raising happy, well adjusted and productive citizens of our world.  These basic beliefs are manifested in a strong educational community at WPS evidenced through small class sizes, an exceptional faculty, an advanced curriculum, fine arts and athletics.
 
            Windermere Prep has been through some rocky times in the past several years.  Throughout those difficult times my child's educational and social experience never suffered.  It is a testament to the community of the school that they were able to persevere through these times. The past two years have been a new day at WPS thanks to the leadership of the Meritas Corporation which acquired WPS in June of 2007.  At that time we became a member of a much larger family of domestic and International schools and all of the resources that go along with that.  Meritas has made a multimillion dollar investment in WPS through Capital expenditures in the past two years.  They will not be stopping there.  The ground breaking for the new High School Building is to begin this November, and  the school is well positioned to attain International Baccaluareate Status for the Fall of 2009. 
 
            Clearly Windermere Preparatory School has become one of the preeminent private schools' in the greater Orlando area.  How fortunate are we as Keenes Pointe  Residents to have this wonderful institution right in our own backyards.  Don't just take my word for it, come and visit WPS and see for yourself what an engaging and outstanding educational facility looks like.
 
Nancie Byrnes
Keene's Pointe Resident