President John Porter's January, 2015 Message                                                     

I first want to recognize our recently retired Board members, David Peters, Karen Jorgenson and Wayne Karp.

These dedicated individuals have served our Community for the past three years. Karen, as you know, stepped up to serve through 2014 when one of our Board Members had to step down for personal reasons. David served as a member at large in his first year. In 2013 he served as Secretary and in 2014, David stepped up to serve as our Board President. Wayne's three years of service included holding the position of Vice President in 2012 & 2013 and Member at large in 2014. Karen has accepted the position of ALC Director (Architectural and Landscaping Committee) and will continue to serve in this vital role.

Each of these individuals deserves the gratitude of our Members and Staff.

Please join me in thanking David, Karen and Wayne for a job well done!

The discussions resulted in the following:

            Hire our General Manager to replace our retiring GM, Clark Champion

            Develop the Organizational Objectives

            Review and update our Governance Policies

            Review Governance Models to direct and support our Policies

Now the work will begin. Our first objective, hire our GM. This is proceeding at a fairly rapid pace currently. We have a candidate that is being vetted and we should have a pending offer out by no later than February 4th.

In preparation for our GM, we the Board, working with our current management team, will complete our Organizational Objectives. These objectives will be directly linked to our operations. The Board will define the Objectives, the expectations (performance goals), the accountability and the metric. We will work with Management to develop the method and representations of the targeted output.  

Management will report on a regular basis. The GM is responsible and will be held accountable for resolving any deficiencies. Action plans and timetables will be submitted as part of the reporting process if the output falls below the expectation.

Our Policies that govern our Association's direction, manage our finances and direct and hold accountable our Management Team, are in dire need of review and updating. We have already started this process. Gary Market has taken on the task of collecting, reviewing content and categorizing these scattered Policies. Our next step is to organize these Policy documents and fill in where more detail and/or additional Policies are needed.

Governance through policy is an objective of this Board. We will be reviewing models for this process over the next couple of months. We believe that with a strong policy program and reporting process, the Board will be utilizing its time developing our Communities Strategic future to build value and ensure the quality standards we expect.

The Board recognizes that we, the Membership, have grown impatient and that the current costs and quality of service and goods associated with IronOaks amenities' will deteriorate the value of our Community and deplete our finances. Your Board accepts the responsibilities that you have bestowed on us! Actions have been initiated to begin to resolve the issues. We will develop Objectives to further these programs and to launch others.  

We will hold regular Workshops devoted to specific objectives. Town Hall meetings will be scheduled.

Respectfully,

John Porter

Building and Grounds Committee Held Its First Meeting          

Welcome Committee Update

Weed Watch                                                            

Homeowners are again asked to walk around their property and remove any weeds they find. After this last rain, new shoots are appearing amidst the granite on many front yards. The Architectural Landscape Guidelines state, "Any growth of weeds or other nuisance plants shall be controlled and removed in order to maintain a neat appearance of all landscaped areas at all times. Failure to maintain the landscape area around your home is subject to citations and possible fines." The ALC staff and committee hope you will want to keep your home looking the best it can possibly be. Please help us in this endeavor.   

Thank You, ALC Office 

Litter on the course

Golfers, we want to make a good impression when non-residents come to play our courses. We all want to enjoy a round of golf and not see unsightly debris scattered around our courses. At times, you may see any or all of the following: fruit peels and apple cores in the rough, peanut and sunflower seed shells on the tees and greens, or discarded cigarettes and cigar ashes dropped on the greens. With the course renovation projects well under way, we are encouraging proper maintenance by our golfers to maintain the appearance of the courses. Your use of receptacles would be appreciated. Let's make golf an enjoyable activity for all. Please make an extra effort by properly disposing of litter, yours and someone else's, when you see it. It is just like fixing an additional ball mark on the green along with your own.  One more thing, please drop those broken tees in the Tee Caddy. Thank you in advance for your efforts to keep our courses beautiful, clean and playable. 

Rake Placement in Bunkers

Ever have your ball roll into a trap only to find that your ball has rolled into the sand and against a rake placed parallel to the edge of the bunker? Your shot out of the bunker probably got harder because it is too close to the grass edge. To help minimize this issue, we ask that our golfers simply lay the rake in the sand near the edge, perpendicular to that edge ( 90 degrees to the grass). This should allow the ball to roll deeper into the bunker allowing an easier shot out of the bunker.

If the ball is caught between the rake and the bunker edge, and moving the rake causes the ball to move, you must replace the ball. Placing the rake perpendicular to the edge will help in avoiding this problem. A stroke penalty may occur if the ball is not replaced.  

Missing Range Balls 

Over the past couple of weeks we have noticed that our range ball supply has diminished substantially. At the beginning of the season, we had enough range balls to fill up the ball bin with extras to spare. This past week we barely had enough to fill the bin to three quarters full. This means we are missing close to 1500 golf balls. Please refrain from taking the balls with you if you haven't finished your bucket. Last year it was the baskets that disappeared, this year it's the balls.We will probably have to order another 200 dozen range balls to make sure we have enough to make it through the season.