HOA BOARD MEMBERS

Greetings from the LFHOA Board of Directors,

April is here. 

The clocks have been changed.

The golf tournament has been played. (With Lake Fairways maintaining the golf trophy – congratulations Lake Fairways golfers.)

Easter is here.

Lake Fairways has a new Board of Directors. Changes are being made as to how your Board of Directors can be more effective. 

One of those changes: The Lake Fairways community has been divided into districts.  Each district will have a director responsible for that area.

The purpose of this change is that the Directors want to have a more hands on approach with residents. Now when a new resident moves into a district, the Director covering that area and the Court Captain will be calling on them to welcome them and give them the information about our community. The Director will also make it a point to walk his/her area, get to know the residents in their district and be available to help, inform and answer questions. 

As many of you have read, many ELS communities are having major issues with the management. Lack of services, rules and regulations ignored, unsafe areas in the community, rent increases, etc.  Lake Fairways has joined with 8 other ELS communities in the area to see what we can collectively do to improve our situations. As we go forward with meetings, we will keep the residents informed as to what actions we will be taking. There is far more strength in numbers, and as we have met with representatives of other communities, we have learned how they have dealt with issues.

One of the major complaints we hear is that management has not responded to the comment forms we have been asked to write. Please be sure that one copy of the complaint form comes to the Board. The LFHOA has an office in the copy room. When you make a copy, just put the extra copy under the door of the office. That way the board can follow up and monitor if there is a response. (A new three-part concern/complaint form will be available soon. Then one copy to ELS, one to the Board, one for you. No copy work.)

Many of our residents will be leaving our community to return to their northern home. We wish them safe journey and the wonderful summer. 

 February Greetings from the Lake Fairways Homeowners Association Board of Directors,

New beginnings. You can almost feel it in the air. We are survivors. We are rebuilding. We are welcoming new residents into our community. 

February is an exciting month. It is election time for the Homeowners Board of Directors. We have two board members that are retiring. Bill Fleckenstein and Jerry White. These two gentlemen have been on the Board, serving the community for years. Both Bill and Jerry have been members of our community for years and dedicated their time to our Board and residents. We thank them for their dedication and service. I know they will always be available as advisors for the new Board. Two members of the present Board are running for reelection. 

If you have paid your HOA dues, you will be able to vote in the election. This voting will be on February 21st, at the clubhouse in Lake Fairways. There presently are 6 candidates for 5 positions. Please read the biographies of the candidates. Make yourself aware of the qualifications of each candidate. This is not a popularity contest. Every Board member contributes not only their work history but their awareness of the history of the community, and a knowledge of Roberts Rules of Order, the system which the Board should operate by. It takes time and dedication, patience, and tolerance to be a Board member. The Directors that are elected in this election will serve for three years. 

It is exciting to see the rebuilding that is going on in the community. People are getting their lives in order. 

For many, this is a new beginning, as we have new residents that are coming from other areas where they may have lost their home, and now are making Lake Fairways their new home. 

We see many activities going on in the community. The Women’s Club just had the annual Trash and Treasure. The Entertainment Committee is starting their series of concerts. The Lake Fairways baseball team has started their season. Look at the monthly calendar. You have the opportunity of participating in events, clubs, and meetings throughout the week. 

Saturday morning coffee is still the best place to learn what is going on in the community. All residents are invited to the Lake Fairways clubhouse. The doors open at 8:30 and the announcements begin at 9. Tickets for upcoming events are always on sale. Items for the less fortunate are also collected and delivered to either All Souls Church or the Mission. New residents are introduced.

Lake Fairways is a wonderful community of caring people. 

The Board of Directors is continually working to improve our amenities as well as promote good will with ELS. 

The HOALF Board of Directors wishes you health and happiness. 

Karen Pratt Beals

HOALF Board of Directors President 

Greetings from THE HOALF Board of Directors

This a very difficult message to write this month. It if filled with all the images of this past year and what this community has endured. We question why? Why us? For those of us that have our faith to fall back on, we still ask?

We know that in our aging community of residents we will always read the loss of loved ones. We pray for them, we grieve for them, we support them with our love. 

Our community suffered 80% of damage to our homes. For many of us this is our only home. For years of storms and hurricanes we have had nothing more serious that a few car ports lost, many a little siding damage. This year, homes were lost. Lives changed. Residents put into financial situations they never thought they would face. Some of our residents had to walk away from their homes, find other shelter, move back to families or if they were lucky enough to have another home somewhere to move to. How do we help them? Again, we pray for them, help them with support if we can, and always be there with understanding and love.

The community is trying very hard to get some type of normalcy to life back. We have had Christmas tea, we have had the Holiday Home Tour, we have had the magnificent Cart Parade, Bingo on Fridays gives so much cheer to many from all over, clubs and organizations are having their Christmas parties and programs. These are just a few of the ways cheer is coming back. It is not forgetting the past, it is moving on with hope. 

In February we will have an election of Directors for the HOA. I hope those of you that have the time and energy will consider running. This is not a position to be taken lightly. This is an honor to be a director. But know this: It is work, it is time, it is being there, it takes dedication. You can’t do a good job of being a director if your life is so fragmented that you belong to every organization. This Board, with all the corrections, improvements and changes that need to get our community to where it needs to be will take your making this commitment a priority. We have had an awesome Board these past two years and we will continue to work as hard as we can to be that liaison between you residents and ELS. We are losing two of our greatest this year to retirement: Bill Fleckenstein and Jerry White. Their dedication and support will be missed. They are just AWESOME!!!!!!!! We wish them well, but remember guys, I know where you live.

I do need to talk about one of the greatest sources of contention in our community. I know – but all I am hopping is that this next year we can stop, or at least eliminate some of the negativity and insaneness. Facebook can be a wonderful medium. The pictures of the wonderful families, the parties, the parades, the events – fantastic. But can we stop worrying more about what the community and our neighbors are doing wrong and focus on what is going right. Can we fill it with more praise and less negative?  The Board of Directors has means of dealing with the lack attention to our needs in the community. We will deal with this. Your negative comments are not even read by ELS.  The insaneness of someone gluing the feet of a kitten to the boulevard – we do need to know this, and we need to find the person and report accordingly.  

We will rebuild. We will welcome new residents. We will cherish the memories of those we have lost. There will be a rebirth of hope. There can be a new attitude of kindness, compassion, charity, love, commitment to growth – can you dedicate yourself to that? That wave on passing each other means so much – it’s the little things what make our community our home, Lake Fairways. 

Karen Pratt Beals

President of HOALF Board of Directors    

IAN changed the course of history for Lake Fairways. Our community has survived many storms and several hurricanes, but nothing has ever caused the changes in Lake Fairways as IAN.

Leaving just prior to the storm, packing the car with what we considered to be the most valuable and necessary items, we thought of everything we had left behind. We saw neighbors packing their cars, making their last-minute preparations to protect their homes, exchanging hugs with neighbors, and looking back for that one last look. We left the gate and drove north. Not a word was said. I think we were each trying to deal with “what if?”

As we returned to Lake Fairways a few days later, you had that terrible feeling of what was left, was everyone okay, would our homes be there, “what if?” 

80% of the homes in Lake Fairways suffered damage. Some homes down to just the frame of a home. Carports, lanais gone, walls torn apart, roofs caved in, aluminum everywhere, fences down, trees crushing homes, it was like something out of a Steven Spielberg movie. Yet these were our friends’ homes. This was our home. This was our community.

Immediately our community was in action. Neighbors checking neighbors, CERT checking neighborhoods, friends helping each other emotionally and physically. Within days ELS had equipment in here, picking up aluminum and clearing trees. Teams of people were brought in to help restore and make safe what they could. Our maintenance teams were here, working to help our community even though they had their own damage at home to deal with. 

We had supplies being brought in to help with the physical damages, we had meals brought from a local church, we had good neighbors that we did not even know bringing in cleaning supplies, water, food. We had a local medical office bring in supplies, food, and offer to assist people that needed medical attention. Strangers helping strangers. People reaching from one community to another to see if they could help. 

It was a time of caring, sharing, helping, do what we could for each other. Many families have had to make decisions about their homes, whether they could rebuild, whether they should stay, where should they go. Financial decisions had to be made. Futures had to be decided. For a period there were not the negative comments on Facebook, the drama, the tearing down of the community and others. We had survived. We were alive, and we were grateful.

Our community is moving forward, we still have a long way to go. We have a new manager who is dedicated to our communities. Bryan Baskin is here to help restore, rebuild, and help correct many issues we have had for a long time.  We will have days the hot tub is not hot, the trees need trimming, the gate isn’t down, someone is driving too fast on the perimeter road, and Facebook will still have comments that do nothing but find fault with ELS, with people. But WE SURVIVED, lets move forward with positive actions, with helpful suggestions, with kindness towards each other. 

Alone we can do so little, yet together we can do so much.

Karen Pratt Beals

HOALF Board of Directors President 

As our residents know, we lost our Manager, Jason Myers, this past month. In the interim the office is being managed by Crissy Betancourt, assistant manager. Unfortunately, she is also handling the positions of others that have left ELS as well.

In the interim, of having a manager on site at our community, I want to remind our residents that we have a very active Board of Directors, that are available to assist you with your questions and concerns.

Issues and concerns that are given to a director will then be addressed by the Board, communicated to Crissy, and should an answer or solution not be forthcoming, we will send those issues on to the Tampa Regional Director, and if necessary to Chicago. 

The Directors and their areas are listed below: please do not hesitate to contact them with your concerns, issues, and questions.

Bill Fleckenstein – Golf Course, Tennis Courts

Kevin Walsh – Pool, Maintenance and CERT 

Jerry White – ARC – architectural, agricultural issues

John Donahue – Clubhouse equipment and Men’s club

Dora Dissmeyer – Resident (friendship committee), Woman’s club

Pete Greco – All sport related activities, e.g., bocci, pool, etc.

Tom Charboneau – dues and membership issues

Judy Carson – Ad hoc committees, Food Truck

Karen Pratt-Beals – any Board related issues, Vendor numbers

We hope that we will have a new manager in our community as soon as possible, however, you do have a Board that is here to help call attention to issues and help resolve in any way we can.

 Remember, the Board does not make the rules, we do not enforce the rules, we are here only to assist residents get the attention they may need to resolve issues.

Karen Pratt Beals

HOALF Board of Directors President