For those of you who may not have received my email please find it reproduced here. My purpose with the message is to be transparent about my expressed positions and thinking about some of the major issues facing Tahoe Donner. Securing the Future - Vote For Rob McCray!Dear Tahoe Donner neighbors,
Since 1987 my family and I have been part-time owners in Tahoe Donner with a full-time stint in 2016-2018 when I became actively involved in TD affairs. My current volunteer role is Chair of the General Plan Committee and I split time between the East Bay and Tahoe Donner. The principal threats to Tahoe Donner are climate change, over-commercialization/crowding, and a rapid increase in dues recommended by two of my opponents. With a high functioning management team and board of directors I am convinced that we can successfully manage these threats through open discussions of major policy issues and predictable and modest annual assessment increases. The Issues, My Positions and Thinking. This is an important election for Tahoe Donner. The next board will likely decide: 1. How many $millions should we spend on a new ski lodge? My opinion: Replacing the ski lodge with a new facility (rather than another remodel) will best serve members, families, and guests for the long term while accommodating current levels of public users. It will likely be about 10-20% larger (and much more efficient and attractive) than the current facility. 2. Should the assessment be increased to build the ski lodge? NO! The multi-year ski lodge project, supported by management, has always been grounded on the principle that the project will be accomplished without an assessment increase. We should only raise the funds necessary to serve owners, family and guests. The estimated cost difference between the smallest (16,000 sf) and largest (25,000 sf) lodge alternatives currently under consideration is $6.3 million ($11.2 - $17.5 million) or about $973 per lot. 3. Should we strive to increase public use of Tahoe Donner amenities? (hoping to make a profit from building more capacity then needed for owners, members and guests) NO! I do not think Tahoe Donner should invest owner-supplied capital in speculative profit-seeking ventures. This includes the prospect of oversizing the lodge or developing new projects in order to sell more tickets to the public. Last year the Finance Committee proposed a 4-year by $300 annual assessment increase in order to raise about $7.5 million in addition to an $80 regular assessment increase. I consider this incremental assessment of $1,200 per lot to be premature and unnecessary. 4. Should we shift some amenity operating costs from guests to owners? NO! I do not agree that owners should pay more to offset lower fees for unaccompanied guest users from rental properties. Should personal guests pay more? I suggest we let owners answer that question. 5. When utilization of an amenity must be limited (e.g. COVID-19 restrictions) should unaccompanied guests have the same reservation rights and priority of access as owners? Under the CC&Rs Tahoe Donner lot owners have a personal right of access to the amenities. When space is limited, I believe owners deserve priority for themselves, their families, and friends over guests and the public. Securing the Future. The next board majority will have a big role to play in the success of our new General Manager. Will he be empowered to leverage the management team to lead the Association to long term solutions for these issues and to proactively anticipate and solve others, or will Tahoe Donner's strategy continue to change with each election? On this matter, I have learned from my (ongoing) experience as a board member to nonprofits and businesses how to empower management and hold it accountable for performance. I look to the General Manager to deliver the sustained executive leadership needed to protect the Association and avoid the wild swings in policy that have been occurring with each annual election. My full background and experience are described in my candidate materials at https://robmccray.weebly.com. In the interest of transparency, I also share more details about how I think about important matters. I urge everyone to review the candidates’ materials and records. We have clear differences of opinion about important details about what the community should be. Based on our records and comments, Courtney and Steve have disagreed with my positions on all five of these issues. They are fine people but support the wrong plans for Tahoe Donner. I would like to hear from you. My website is at https://robmccray.weebly.com. Use this email to contact me directly – [email protected]. Please Vote for Me! Rob McCray
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |