President’s Report and Message

January 23, 2007 

First, I wish to recognize the 2006 Board of Directors – President JoAnn and the other board members, four of whom are serving again this year – Cathie, Ed, Gerry and Larry.  I personally appreciate their running and serving again in 2007.  A lot of good things were accomplished in 2006.  It was a very worthwhile year. 

Secondly, on behalf of the 2007 Board, thank you owners for your support of this Board.  I am very glad for this group of Board members.  In addition to Cathie, Ed, Gerry and Larry, I want to welcome John back on the Board.  He led us through the aftermath of the hurricanes in 2005.  And we are fortunate to have Ned as a first-time Board member at Riverhouse.  He has experience, and like others on our Board, is also a leader in the greater Daytona Beach community. 

I want to recognize my partner Mary who encouraged me to run all along.  Numerous other people encouraged me to run as well.  Finally, there were some people whose actions made me mad enough to run.  So as recently as November, I had no intention of running, let alone being the president.  I felt I was making an adequate contribution through my committee work.  No one in their right mind wants to be president of a condo association! 

I am glad to be working with Southeast Management – Lynn, Jim, and Mary, our on-site manager.  I am thankful that they remain with us as our managers and applaud that 2006 decision.  Mary is a gem who has grown in her role, and soon she will have her CAM license which will give her even more confidence and strength.  As on-site manager, she represents us well. 

I also want to recognize our staff – Barry and Julius – who work for the betterment of our home, day in and day out.  They are with us every day, rarely taking time off, and they are very reliable and trustworthy people.  I think we have been good to them and they have been good to us. 

To me, 2006 was also a little turbulent, so I think things need to settle down and chill out a bit – and I think we’ve begun to do that in the last two weeks.  I hope people feel things settling down. 

My only agenda is to try to do the right things.  This is what you will see me struggle with.  I have no so-called personal agenda.  I see myself simply as an owner making my voluntary contribution to the Association over the next year.  As my guides, I am using our condominium documents, the Declaration and Bylaws, as well as the Florida Condominium Act (718) and The Condominium Concept publication, which applies case law to the provisions of the Condominium Act and is a very practical reference guide to getting things right.  Most importantly, I will also rely on the experience of our Board members. 

I want to thank former Riverhouse President Don Bell who gave me the gift of a copy of The Condominium Concept.  A former president did the same for him when he became president.

 I think my strengths are: 

·        Organization

·        Finance

·        Facilities

·        Systems

·        Analysis

·        Identifying Multiple Solutions

·        Planning

·        Follow-through

·        Writing 

Some things that I will need help with from the other Board members, which are weaknesses on my part, are: 

·        Cutting off unnecessary discussion sometimes.

·        I have no experience running a hostile meeting if that occurs. 

I would like us to set our overarching goals to work toward in 2007.  Some goals might be system checkups that every organization should review from time to time and some goals might be specific needs.  This is on tonight’s agenda. 

Since moving here in 2004, I have heard owners talk about the history of Riverhouse.  They talk about it fondly, including somewhat famous, as well as infamous, owners and managers in our history.  They also talk about the fun, friendship, camaraderie, and the quiet enjoyment that they have experienced here.  My wish is that we could feel more of that among us and a little less aggravation and consternation in our current lives. 

Condo living is a unique thing.  It can be miserable if we are not tolerant.  But it can be great if we are actually able to realize and enjoy those benefits for which condominium living was originally envisioned and designed.  That is, a group of people coming together to purchase desirable property in a location that, individually, many people would probably not be able to afford in a single family home – in our case, on the water.  What makes it possible for many of us to actually live here, me and Mary included, are 189 unit owners sharing in the common expenses. 

To conclude my report and message, I want to pull a quote from The Condominium Concept (section 1.4  Compromise and the Common Scheme, pp. 4-5):  “It is the association and the board of administration [board of directors] which continually face the responsibility of maintaining the delicate balance between individual rights of unit owners and preserving the common scheme for the benefit of all the owners.”  In my brief, two-week tenure as president I can see that this will arise time and time again and will be a factor in many if not most things that come up.  

                                                                                    Thank you,

                                                                                    Jim White                                                                                                                                                            President