President comments (given at Jan. 12 YLOA Board meeting)
Welcome to 2021!
I thank all of the YLOA & YSPUC managers and staff, and our General Manager Jonathan Penrose, for all their dedication and hard work during some very unsettled and difficult months.
And thank you to our YLP community for your understanding of the challenges and your patience with unexpected interruptions and closures.
And also a big thank you to the board. As volunteers this board has given, and will continue to give many, many hours of their time devoted to various duties required of a board member. The job sometimes comes with criticism and sometimes that criticism is levied based on assumptions and without full knowledge or understanding of information and facts. It’s not always easy to duck from those blows.
It is my belief that every member of this board takes their responsibility as board members seriously. Each member comes to the board with a different set of experiences and perspectives. Careers were different, families different, life experiences different.
Board members are not experts in all things HOA. We very often depend on committees to help. Most committees include board members as well as community members which helps to expand the scope of experience and expertise which is invaluable when considering implementing suggestions.
When an item comes before the board it has most often been vetted through a committee. Committees are made up, once again, of volunteers.
YLOA committees do a lot of leg work and research, they hold many and often long meetings and discussions, they write up reports and proposals to the board. Committee chairs keep a committee on task and moving forward.
An item before a committee might be simple and require a two hour meeting or an item might be very, very complex and require extensive research, consulting with experts and many, many months of meetings before recommendations are brought to the board for consideration. Committees provide a valuable service to the board and to the community.
There are statistics about the monetary value of volunteering but truly what is the value of volunteering? It is not all about the dollars. We can add up hours but not a dollar value.
Volunteering is about giving, contributing, and helping our neighbors and the community at large. It is working to make a meaningful contribution to a better community.
I would like to thank each and every one of the community members that gives their time to a committee to help further the work of the board and improve YLP. And to all of the board members who in addition to the many hours spent on board work also chair one or more committees, thank you!
One last thank you goes to the other many community members that volunteer in so many ways to make YLP a great place to live.
If you are interested in finding out more about YLOA committees, check out the ‘About Us’ section here at yosemitelakespark.org.
Sandy Eigenman
YLOA President