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. 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