Charbonneau Villager Newspaper August 2020 | Page 2
2 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER August 2020
CCC President’s
Column
By GENE TISH
Kathy Harp ends term
as Charbonneau
Country Club president
As I write this
column, Kathy
Harp is still serving
as Charbonneau
Country
Club president,
and I am serving
TISH as vice president.
This may still be
the case when you read this column.
As a result of the COVID-19 driven
delay of our annual meeting, new
officers will not be elected until after
the virtual annual meeting now
scheduled for July 29. Kathy is completing
her second consecutive term
on the board, and our bylaws prohibit
a third consecutive term.
With unanimous support of the current
board members, I have been
asked to serve as president of the
Country Club for the coming year.
Since that will not be official until the
election is held after our annual meeting,
goading me into writing this column
may turn out to be a memorable
practical joke. In the overall scope of
things, that might even be helpful. So
far life in 2020 hasn’t afforded enough
humor.
Carol and I have owned our home
here in Charbonneau since 1994, but
have never been active in communitywide
affairs. In the spring of 2018, I
was cornered in the Wilsonville Post
Office by my friend Bob Holm. I had
just finished a consulting project and
was at the post office mailing my final
report. He was serving on the Charbonneau
Golf Club board at the time
and said they could use some help addressing
the relationship between the
Golf Club and the Country Club. He
referenced my career in law and commerce,
as well as my work as a mediator
and facilitator, and asked if I
would apply for a board position.
More than two years have since
passed, and the merger is now complete.
I was privileged to play a role in
that process.
During these last two plus years, I
have had the privilege to meet and
work with some extremely dedicated
and talented people who call our community
home. While serving first on
the Golf Club board, I was privileged
to work closely with Joe Brouillette,
Golf Club president, and to serve as
his vice president. Without question,
Joe is one of the most talented and visionary
leaders I have had the privilege
of serving. And every member
serving on the Golf Club board brings
their own strong leadership qualities
and a wealth of experience. It was truly
a pleasure to serve with them.
While working with Joe on preliminary
consolidation discussions, and
while mediating development of the
Garden Terrace (Pavilion) License
Agreement, I met Kathy Harp, who
then served as Country Club vice
president. Soon thereafter, Tony Holt
resigned as Country Club president
due to deteriorating health, and Kathy
was chosen to succeed him. A few
months later when a position on the
Country Club board became available,
Kathy asked me to consider joining
her board. After discussion with the
Golf Club board, and legal counsel for
both boards, I resigned my position on
the Golf Club board to join the Country
Club board and was elected to
serve as Kathy’s vice president.
Once again, I am serving on a board
brimming with talent, knowledge and
experience. I would consider it an honor
to serve under the leadership of
any current member of the Country
Club board. The talent pool in our
community truly runs deep.
The information above might be interesting,
or not, but its importance is
found in the backdrop it provides for
the real point of this column.
One of the most frequently asked
questions I have heard over the last
few months is some version of the following:
“Why is a merger possible
now? We have been told many times
before by the lawyers that it was not
possible. Why is it different now?” If
you will allow an old man a story, I
would like to reflect on one of the many,
many watershed moments that occurred
on this journey.
Going through historical records
and written communications from the
files of both organizations, it became
apparent that historically the attorneys
for both sides spent all of their
time looking for problems. The old
saying, “Where there is a will, there is
a way,” is often true.
A joint meeting was called between
the two negotiating committees and
their respective attorneys in the
spring of 2019. At that time, I was on
the Golf Club board and negotiating
committee. As usual, the focus turned
to all of the potential problems we
would encounter. Kathy, using her
school principal voice, turned to the
attorneys and said something to the
effect that she wanted all focus and attention
to be on how it could get done,
not on why it could not, and instructed
the Country Club attorney to work
with the Golf Club attorneys to find
that way! After a moment of silence,
as everyone was processing what had
just happened, the entire atmosphere
of the meeting changed.
Until that meeting, I had a vision of
the path we could follow, but I could
only provide the vision. I knew there
was a way. I was not sure there was a
will. But when I left that meeting, for
the first time, I felt confident we
would get it done. There were a lot of
“but for” moments along the way, but
none more critical than Kathy’s leadership
in that moment.
Thank you, Kathy, for providing the
“will” when it was so critically needed.
All of Charbonneau owes you a
great debt for your leadership and
service to our community over the
last six years, but especially for your
leadership through the rough waters
of the last 18 months.
J. Brian Monihan
Publisher
bmonihan@
pamplinmedia.com
Clara Howell
Villager Editor
chowell@
pamplinmedia.com
Kim Stephens
Circulation
Kstephens@
pamplinmedia.com
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