GTYC Update 5/8/2008

Progress continues to be made on several fronts as we start the summer season.

Our insurance company is in the process of getting bids back from various contractors. The first bid came in yesterday afternoon; a second bid should be in today or tomorrow. These bids will determine the size of our claim. When we receive these initial bids back the reconstruction committee plans to go through every detail to verify that nothing was missed. At that point we move forward with our vision which is to be determined at this point. This leads me to my next topic…..

In the next couple of weeks the reconstruction committee will be sending a survey to the membership. This survey will help the committee determine what the vision of the membership is for the Club's new facility. There are going to be two different avenues to get this survey back to us. 1. Steve Wyckoff and Ken Stepnitz will be opening up on online version of the survey which each member will be able to fill out (once) and submit electronically. 2. The survey will also be in print form in the next issue of the Waterlines. This version will have to be mailed back to us via the Clubs PO Box. The committee will then tabulate those results and apply them to the design process of the new building. Please take the time to take this survey as your opinion is extremely important to the Club's future.

Jamie Stuursma and I became amateur documentary film makers last weekend. We spent a couple of hours on Saturday taking stock of the Clubs contents. Sarah now has the unenviable job of listening to our bad humor and transforming that data to a spreadsheet for the insurance company. This spreadsheet will then be turned over to our Insurer to process our contents claim.

The Club had our traditional Oyster Clam Bake last weekend. It exceeded my expectations despite the weather and we had a great turn out. The event did cost more then usual for obvious reasons but as a moral booster it was well worth it. Thanks to all who helped (Dave Hollis, Jim Milliman, Katie Horvath, Dave Skibowski, Bud Cline, Ken Stepnitz, Jay Kraft, Jessica Gerber, Scott Reavely, Doug Higgins, Steve & Deb Wyckoff, Annie Floeter, Jim Dye, Bob Clark, Sarah and Neil, and the staff of Wares Bros.)

We are still attempting to establish limited services on the lawn for the summer. The township, county health department and the LLC have all been contacted. Unfortunately this process is not moving along with great speed at this point but the pressure will continue to be applied. We will also need a spot to relocate temporarily until a new facility is completed. There have been several options that have been researched in the Elmwood Township corridor, however nothing seems to fit quite right yet. If anyone has any suggestions of a location that we should consider please drop me an e-mail and I will look into it.

The re-construction committee has been working with Bob Cornwell of Cornell-Callahan Architects PC. Bob is a long time member and has been donating his time on this project to help us get our land use permit. Bob has extensive experience working with Elmwood Township which is also very helpful. We have learned that in order to get a demolition permit we need to first have a land use permit, which is a little backwards but that's the way it goes. We owe Bob a big thanks for donating his time to us.

The Club also has received a full survey of the property from Mansfield & Associates. This survey enables us to apply for the various permits that we will need to move forward. Petra Kuehnis & Libby Tomlinson both donated their time to get this done for the Club, so we also owe them a big thanks!

Last night was the first tune up event of the Spring Racing Series. We had a good turn out of hardy souls after the race at Apache Trout Grill for some food and drink. I'm sure as it gets warmer we'll see more of you on the starting line.

There are plans to re-attempt to put the dock in this Saturday; hopefully the weather cooperates this time around. If your available on Saturday and want to learn the finer points of vinyl dock engineering stop on down to the club on Saturday morning….Don't forget your waders!

That's all for now, I'll send another update next week.

Mac VanStratt
2008 Commodore