October is when leaves and budgets drop
Introducing a volunteer
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2 October 2025 Charbonneau Villager
News from the Board
By DAVE MAUK
October is when leaves and budgets drop
As our glorious summer turns to fall, many of us take stock in how the year has gone, checking in with our families, friends and ourselves. Did we do the things we wanted under sunny skies? Did we get enough time with our favorite activities? Did we see enough of family and friends? The summer-to-fall transition is a good time to appreciate those special occasions. It’ s also a natural time to value our quality of life living where we do in Charbonneau.
In reflecting on summer’ s activities and memorable moments, a thought emerged about why many of us choose to spend the summer months here instead of traveling— besides the perfect weather! Charbonneau provides the amenities, activities and events that we value, which makes staying here meaningful. Summer at Charbonneau is essentially a vacation resort lifestyle.
Our amenities and activities don’ t happen and sustain themselves by accident. The combination of resident input, decisions by your country club board and implementation by dedicated staff enables these lifestyle choices to be enjoyed in every season, year-after-year.
October is when the gears turn, formulating operating, capital and reserve budgets. Your CCC board, staff and neighborhood HOAs are sifting through spreadsheets of maintenance, repairs, improvements, and the costs associated with them, to assure that our amenities and facilities meet expectations, while being vigilant about dues. It’ s a balancing act that your board and staff recognize as one of their primary responsibilities in serving residents.
This year, we’ re making an extra effort to drive the process“ bottom up” by having CCC committees submit their budgets to the board for consideration, along with staff and our accounting service( who advises us on our reserve allocations). It’ s part of best practices in budgeting, which, in concert with the financial discipline of CCC’ s board, is on a firm footing.
The board currently has three directors who have substantial financial expertise and experience and are able to make significant contributions in budgeting, measuring operating performance relative to those budgets and assuring that best practices are used in Charbonneau’ s financial decisions.
These directors, along with the CCC president and general manager, currently make up a new task force assigned with reviewing operations, procedures, policies, governance, performance goals and measurement. The task force is temporary, meets as needed, has no decision-making authority and reports its findings to the board. It’ s another example of what quality organizations do to stay on course, attract and retain the best people and to be accountable as fiduciaries.
As a whole, your CCC board has renewed its commitment to providing two primary goals: an excellent resident experience living in Charbonneau and offering value and a high quality of life.
Fall is seeped in special traditions: raking leaves, crisp walks under a colorful canopy, adding a sweater layer, looking inward, all things pumpkin and budgeting for the next year. You can have confidence that your leadership team, the country club board, is on task as the seasons change and a new year is on the horizon. Don’ t hesitate to let us know how we’ re doing and what else you believe we can do to attain these goals. Enjoy the season- and those pumpkin lattes!
Sunshine Services
By PATTY LEE
Introducing a volunteer
Well, the summer months are ending and we are heading into the beautiful fall season. Let’ s take a look at the services we offer that are available to you as a Charbonneau resident. On Monday through Friday during office hours in the Activity Center, the volunteers have access to a closet that stores a medley of medical equipment. The closet has walkers, commodes, bathing chairs, transport wheelchairs, knee-walkers and accessory supplies. Just contact one of the volunteers listed in the directory under Charbonneau Sunshine Service. We will make every effort to accommodate.
Let me also introduce you to one of our 15 volunteers, me, Patty Lee. I’ m a registered nurse and worked in critical care for 45 years. Now retired, I volunteer one day a week at the Clackamas Volunteers in Medicine location at the Clackamas Community College campus in Oregon City. My two lovely daughters live in the Portland area and I am blessed with three grandchildren that I get to spend time with through the week. I have lived in the Charbonneau community since 2005. It was so convenient to have been close to my mother at SpringRidge at Charbonneau. I am also lucky to live across the street from my brother and his wife. I ski, hike, paddle and enjoy traveling. It’ s busy but I always have time for you to call me or any of the Sunshine volunteers if you have any medical equipment needs.
J. Brian Monihan Publisher brian. monihan @ lakeoswegoreview. com
Corey Buchanan Villager Editor corey. buchanan @ lakeoswegoreview. com
Kim Stephens Circulation kim. stephens @ youroregonnews. com
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Mary Closson Advertising mary. closson @ youroregonnews. com
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The Charbonneau Villager is a joint publishing partnership between the Charbonneau County Club and the Wilsonville Spokesman.
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Have an idea for a story?
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