Charbonneau Villager Newspaper April 2021 | Page 2

2 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER April 2021

By GARY NEWBORE

Hello everyone . As he had previously announced and as reported in previous Villager articles , Gene Tish

NEWBORE retired from the CCC Board president position in late February .

Gene felt that he had accomplished his two main goals of merging the golf course into the CCC , and securing our financial future to modernize Charbonneau . Yes , we did sign our loan with Columbia Bank on Feb . 16 that will provide funding for our new Activity Center and hopefully other projects as well . At the March regular CCC Board meeting I was elected president . I am both awed and humbled by my fellow board members ’ faith in me . It is not a position I lobbied for or coveted , but it is one that I will do to the best of my ability .

Kathy Harp agreed to rejoin the board and was appointed to fill the rest of Gene Tish ’ s term . She was then elected vice president . We are so lucky to have someone of Kathy ’ s skill and experience on the board ! I have served on the board under the two previous presidents , Kathy and Gene , and they are both mentors to me . I learned a lot from each one of them . I don ’ t have the class or the instincts that Kathy has , nor the brain power that Gene has , but I think board members would agree that I am a hard worker . The three of us do share a common vision , which is to upgrade and improve our amenities here on our campus for the benefit and use of all our residents . Unfortunately , the virus has temporarily forced us to shutter many activities , but with sufficient vaccinations , we are all hopeful that the pandemic will pass and life can return to normal . This has really been a rough 12 months , forcing most of us to stay home . First , the virus caused the governor to issue stay-at-home orders , then the wildfire smoke caused the same and finally the ice storm and resultant power outage caused many of us to huddle around our fireplaces to stay warm .

It is only fair to tell you a little bit about myself . I ’ m not the type of person who talks about myself much , so future columns will have very little about me . I would much rather talk about others and where appropriate , give them acknowledgement and praise for their service on behalf of the community . In my second job after graduating in engineering from Oregon State University , I worked for Multnomah County , where I had various stints managing public works , land use planning , building permits , parks , Glendoveer Golf Course and the Expo Center . The middle third of my career was spent managing one of the largest hazardous waste remediation and construction companies in the country . A large percentage of our revenue was derived from contracts with the EPA , cleaning up Superfund sites

and military bases . The last third of my career was spent managing various divisions of nationwide engineering consulting companies .

I am a goal setter , so before I joined the board a couple years ago , I set eight goals : three A goals , three B goals , and two C goals . The A goals were to limit additional airplane flyovers above Charbonneau , merge the golf course into the CCC and build a new clubhouse . The B goals were to raise $ 162,700 in new non-dues revenue ($ 100 per household ), to increase attendance at our amenities by 20 %, and to reinvigorate the Village Center . The C goals were to increase non golfer use of the golf course and to improve the ambiance of The Turn . It is important to note that these are not CCC Board goals ; they are my personal goals . There has been some progress made on all these goals , however , at this time only one goal , the golf course merger , has been totally achieved .

Here is the status on those goals :

� Aurora Airport . I am pro-business . I just don ’ t want more and larger airplanes flying over my house ! The FAA has stopped the expansion for the time being , indicating that the existing master plan is too old and a new one needs to be developed . In all fairness to the Aurora Airport , they do have a noise avoidance plan in place and are encouraging pilots to follow it . The challenge is that it is voluntary and not all pilots and situations comply . I just ask that they follow our state ’ s land use laws when developing a new master plan .

� Merge the golf course . Done !

� Build a new clubhouse . Construction should be starting about now and

the building is expected to be completed by December this year .

� Raise new non-dues revenue . I was somewhat naive when I set my goals and Jim Meierotto informed me that we are not in business to raise money . So , I have been trying to accomplish this goal by raising money for the golf course to make it more profitable , which is a benefit to our community . Maybe the golf course will issue dividends to its favorite shareholder ! Regardless , marginal operations look for ways to cut corners so it is in all of our interests to have a profitable golf course .

� Increase attendance at our amenities by 20 %. I am confident that when we have two clubhouses to provide activity space to our residents , we will see an increase in attendance and meet this goal .

� Reinvigorate the Village Center . Certainly , the construction of a new clubhouse and the construction of a new restaurant will bring a new vibrancy to the Village Center . But in all honesty when I set the goal it was to get more retail outlets in the village . The pandemic has put a damper on that for a while .

� Increase non-golfer use of the golf course . The Red Course was opened for sanctioned walking this winter for the first time and it was well-used and wellreceived by our residents . I know the CGCI Board has other ideas as well , which unfortunately , are awaiting Mr . Corona to leave .

� Increase The Turn ambiance . Construction on the new restaurant , which will use the space The Turn and the CCC staff currently use , is expected to

See PRESIDENT / Page 3

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