President’s Message

By Chuck Foster

Two important dates are coming up in the life of Lakeport Cluster. We have scheduled a property inspection by a professional inspector supplied by our management company for next month. And on September 25, Lakeport Cluster’s annual meeting will take place.

Property Inspections

The property inspections will be focused exclusively on maintenance items, which cover the condition of the exterior of the home. The inspector will be looking for problems such as   rotted/cracked wood, peeling/faded paint, mildew, mold, grime, mismatched paint colors, water damage, and otherwise needed repairs. The detailed guidance we will be giving the inspector was emailed to cluster residents on June 22. We will publish this list again as the inspection approaches. You can choose either to correct problems before the inspector arrives or to wait until after the inspection date. Because the inspection date is unusually late this year, the Board has established a deadline of March 31, 2024, to make needed repairs. 

Annual Meeting

The Annual Meeting, scheduled for September 25, is the opportunity for residents to hear from the Board about the state of the cluster, vote on candidates for the Board, and vote on any other items requiring input from the membership. The Board has decided to conduct this year’s meeting using Zoom. Our management company recently told us that a number of clusters have decided to continue using a virtual format due to generally higher attendance and greater ease of administration. Details of the meeting will be provided in advance. 

Three members of the current Board have terms that expire on September 25, leaving two with one year remaining. Our governance format is very favorable to the community because folks who live in Lakeport serve on the Board. However, for this format to work, we need volunteers. 

What happens if no one wants to serve on the Board? The cluster would have to hire an attorney to carry out legally required functions. This would be a non-resident professional performing a bare minimum of tasks. What happens if only one or two people choose to serve on the Board? In that case, the community loses out on the deliberative process among people of diverse backgrounds and experiences, which undoubtedly improves decision-making.

If you have not served on the Board, please consider registering as a candidate when the process is announced. If you want to know what is involved, reach out to a Board member for information. Also consider reading recent agendas and minutes of Board meetings by going to the bottom of the Documents tab on lakeportcluster.org.

My term as a Board member will end in September. In that role, I have learned a great deal about the operations of the cluster, met many residents I did not know, and tried to make the best decisions possible for the community. During my two years in office, I have been very fortunate to have worked with two very good Boards, composed of caring, cooperative, collaborative, compromising, thoughtful, and friendly people. I am very grateful for that experience.