The Charbonneau Villager Newspaper 2019 Nov issue Villager | Page 2
2 THE CHARBONNEAU VILLAGER
November 2019
Charbonneau Country Club welcomes new board members
By CLARA HOWELLL
Bringing unique skills to the table
E
ugene Tish says being in-
volved with any formal
board at this stage in his
life wasn’t his first choice
— he’d prefer sitting by his koi pond
and sipping a glass of wine. But he
saw an opportunity to have an im-
pact and address some important is-
sues in his community.
Tish was selected to replace Bob
Harland, whose term expires in 2022,
on the Charbonneau Country Club
Board.
The issues, according to Tish, that
are attracting a lot of attention right
now are the construction of the new
additional clubhouse where the Annex
currently sits and the golf course
merger.
“Those are both sort of really on
the top burner to be addressed,” Tish
said. “My goal is to help facilitate good
open discussions and hopefully find a
permanent resolution.”
And Tish believes his 45-year ca-
reer in law and commerce will help
him do just that.
He’s been a member of the Oregon
State Bar since 1974 and is still an ac-
tive member of the Bar, even though
he’s retired from private practice.
“I spent many years in private in-
dustry as general counsel but also
moved into general management in-
cluding general marketing manager,
chief financial officer, chief operating
officer, chief executive officer and my
last little fling after my third retire-
PMG PHOTO: CLARA HOWELL
Eugene Tish’s 45-year career in law and
commerce gives him a unique skillset on the
CCC Board, he says.
ment was to buy and operate a
50-room hotel on the coast that we
renovated and reopened as a bed and
breakfast,” Tish said.
Tish has lived in Charbonneau for
25 years with his wife, Carol, but for
about eight of those years, they had
the hotel in Garibaldi and spent a lot
of time at the coast.
When Tish was receiving his con-
tinuing legal education in 2018, one of
the classes he took was on mediation.
He now serves as a volunteer media-
tor in Clackamas County doing small
claims cases and community media-
tion intake to facilitate conversations
between people and help them com-
municate better.
“You live a career and you work
hard and there are rewards that come
with that but when it’s over, it’s im-
portant to use the knowledge and
skills you acquired to pay back to
your community,” Tish said.
Tish plans to bring his skills in me-
diation, facilitating community meet-
ings and his knowledge on how to
make meetings operate effectively to
the board.
This is what he’s most excited for:
“The opportunity to contribute to
positive dialogue and to hopefully
work toward resolution of some of
these issues in a manner that will ben-
efit our community years into the fu-
ture.”
Tish, who originally hails from Ida-
ho, moved to Charbonneau from Port-
land because at the time he was run-
ning a manufacturing company in Sa-
lem.
He and his wife were both members
of different clubs in the past but are
not involved in any formalized group
at this time.
“Whenever possible our focus is sit-
ting by the firepit at the koi pond and
having a glass of wine or martini,”
Tish said.
Data driven
When John McLain was encour-
aged to apply for a spot on the Char-
bonneau Country Club Board, he felt
he needed to step up and serve.
“I think I can help because you need
to take complex stuff and make it real-
ly simple and then you go out and you
host meetings and you talk to your
residents,” said McLain, adding that
part of the reason he agreed to join
the CCC Board was because he has
the “highest respect” for CCC Board
President Kathy Harp, he knows some
of the other board members and peo-
ple he respects encouraged him to ap-
ply to be a board member.
McLain replaced Larry Walker on
the CCC Board, whose term will ex-
pire in 2021. And even though McLain
noted he hasn’t served on the board
long enough to know what’s needed,
he said he has hit the ground running
with his consulting skills.
“I came into this as a resident to
add some consulting skills to help
them summarize and communicate in-
formation that’s useful for these big
decisions,” McLain said.
Some of the big decisions McLain
said the board will need to tackle soon
relate to the new additional club-
house, or activities center, and the
golf course merger.
McLain retired from a career at
Portland General Electric in 2014 —
the same year he moved from Lake
Oswego to Charbonneau. He currently
teaches business management classes
at Clackamas Community College
He said the way his wife Cathi de-
scribes Charbonneau is well put: “You
don’t buy a house here, you buy into a
lifestyle.”
That’s something he values most
about Charbonneau: the active com-
munity.
McLain became an active tennis
player, president of the Men’s Club, a
resident board member on the Asset
Management Committee and a consul-
tant for staff.
He said when community members
ask why the board has decided to do
something and why they think the
current clubhouse is overused, he
wants to have data to back important
decisions being made.
“I thought I could help as a consul-
tant going, ‘I can help you quantify
that,’” he said.
A Publishing Partnership...
The Charbonneau Villager is a joint publishing partnership between the Charbonneau County Club
and the Pamplin Media Group.
Advertising contact
Jesse Marichalar [email protected] | 971-204-7774
J. Brian Monihan Leslie Pugmire Hole Clara Howell
Publisher Editor Villager Editor
bmonihan@
pamplinmedia.com lhole@
pamplinmedia.com chowell@
pamplinmedia.com
NEWS
Kim Stephens
Circulation
Kstephens@
pamplinmedia.com
503-479-2377 [email protected]
Jesse Marichalar Rick Fryback
Display Advertising
Jessem@
pamplinmedia.com Real Estate/Auto Ads
rfryback@
pamplinmedia.com
Have an idea for a story?
We want to hear about it. Leslie Pugmire Hole [email protected] | 503-479-2377
ADVERTISING
971-204-7774
CIRCULATION
503-620-9797
ONLINE
wilsonvillespokesman.com
Published monthly at 400 Second St., Lake Oswego, OR, 97034. Periodicals postage paid at Wilsonville Post Offi ce and additional mailing post offi ces. POSTMASTER, send address changes to: Charbonneau Villager,
P.O. Box 22109, Portland, OR, 97269; 503-635-8811 (USPS 021-752) Subscription rates: $36 per year in West Linn-Portland area; all other areas inside Oregon and outside of Oregon $64.