A Message from the POA President, Steve Aasheim

Week Ending August 1, 2014

A Message from the POA President, Steve Aasheim

Being cordial pays dividends!

Our Resort was chartered (refer to the Covenants) as a vacation Resort, not a residential property. Our property's commercial zoning reflects our "resort" classification. Having rental guests was always part of the plan and key to the sustainability of our community. "Renters" (or "Guests" as I will refer to them) are important to us in at least two important ways: extra revenue to offset costs of operating the Resort, and as the source of future Owners. Over the past couple of years we have generated approximately $500,000 each year in total rental income. Half of this goes directly to the Owners of the rental lots. The other half goes into the LLC operating budget with the net effect that a portion of our costs are covered by the rentals and our quarterly fees as Owners are reduced. (The magnitude of this reduction in Owner fees is on the order of $500 to $600 per year for every Owner.) In addition to generating revenue that is shared by all the Owners our Guests account for nearly 100% of our future lot owners. When Guests enjoy their visits, it translates into lot ownership with a high correlation.

We need buyers, people like you willing to invest in our "Paradise." The average owner keeps their property for approximately 7 years; we need to sell more than 50 lots per year to keep pace with that statistic. Otherwise, inventory of lots for sale builds up and prices drop. A lot of inroads have been made this year in converting renters to buyers. In the first six months of the year, as Suzanne has reported, she sold nearly as many lots as had been sold in each of the previous couple of years. This is in part due to the economy, but it's also due to marketing and efforts by staff and most Owners to make Guests feel appreciated.

I'd like to express my personal thanks to the vast majority of Owners who go out of their way, without prompting, to contribute to a positive experience for all who choose to be here--whether Owners or Guests. By this "note", I'm appealing to everyone to "step it up" and greet our Guests and your fellow Owners with warmth and cordiality. I ask all to be friendly, be positive. A fewnegative people can undo the best efforts of many. I know it will be in the best interests of your community, and I'm pretty sure it will make your personal experience in the Resort a better one as well. This is an incredible place and I'm so appreciative of the time I get to spend here. But that doesn't mean it can't get better. If you have constructive feedback to make this a better place, please feel free to contact Suzanne or any of your Board Members to talk about your ideas.

Maintenance Items

The tennis court lights are 35 years old. For the past several years the lights have been inoperable except for night lighting on courts 1 and 2. We had considered restoring or replacing all 12 lighting standards with new ones but it is not cheap. During a recent storm, one of the metal lights came down and it is evident the poles are rusted throughout. Therefore, we are removing all of the lights as they present an immediate hazard. The Finance and Long Range Planning Committee has been tasked to evaluate the necessity and cost to replace these lights. Then the Board will make a decision on whether to replace them or not.

When the pagoda lights were originally installed, they were a direct burial which makes them highly susceptible to the elements, weather, animal and human occurrences. Over the past several years, when time and labor allows, we have been trenching and installing the cable in conduit. This is a time consuming task; therefore, please bear with us as we continue with this ongoing project.

Pool Hours Policy

The resort’s rules and regulations state the recreational complex hours are 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. for renters and guests and the other hours are considered “Quiet Hours”. This applies to the pool, clubhouse, exercise room and laundry. While owners have access to the clubhouse 24/7, we ask that owners also honor the “Quiet Hours”of the resort as it relates to the pool area. In other words, the pool is closed to all after 10:00pm. These hours also coincide with the Town’s Noise Control Ordinances.

Wi-Fi Update

Hargray representatives came to the resort to discuss the Wi-Fi and CATV project. Let me first state that converting from our current Wi-Fi system to the upgrade is not an event like turning on a switch; it is a process with many variables in this unique environment that can affect the outcome. A predictive computer model was used to design our system that consists of 38 access points and 8 root nodes in various areas for an intended result of providing a mesh network system whereby all users share the network.

The access points are up and functioning individually but could be functioning better as a system. We are currently in the “optimization”phase where we are getting feedback from the operating system dashboard, field technicians and user/owner input. We are then making changes and allowing the system to readjust. The system is designed so that the 8 root nodes act as a hub and a signal goes from the node and hops to one, two or three access points until the user finds the desired signal. The industry standard allows for 8 hops but Hargray’s benchmark is no more than 4, and we will actually be better than that. The system doesn’t require the user to locate individual access points but consecutively finds the system for the user between the node and the access point (tower). One of the optimization steps is to make some access point changes: a few locations either need to be raised, relocated or converted into a root node. The problem areas are the towers at 123, 140, 187, 308, 323, 328, 338, 358 and 384.

In the optimization process, we are trying to increase the signal strength of radio frequency while reducing the noise such as:

•Interferers–Things that cause the frequency (signal) to be less reliable such as oak trees and palms (not so bad) and pine trees (the signal cannot go through pine trees), height of coaches (with coaches being up to 13 ½”in height, towers need to be installed from 14 to 16 feet), etc.

•Signal strength –need to be able to determine how much radio frequencies your computer sees.

•Bandwidth –this is the pipe from your device to the access point to the outside internet world.

•Noise –these are interferers that cause the frequency to be less reliable such as compact fluorescent light bulbs which operate on the same frequency as Wi-Fi signals and negates the signal, Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, hvac, piping, tinting, fiberglass vs. metal coaches and even the location of your computer within the coach if it is in the front of the coach by the window or the back of the coach.

Also in the optimization process, we have to figure out how the 100 Megs of bandwidth are distributed. This is easily changed as demand requires. The root nodes control the distribution and the network protects each owner from any other owner using too much bandwidth. Having said all this, we are working out the final elements of the process and expect to be fully operational by August 8th.

Beginning August 20th, the process will begin to upgrade the physical plant of the CATV system. There are 5 line feeders with fiber optic lines. The utility company will be called to locate utilities in the resort so the fiber can be upgraded. Details will be communicated to the staff, who will communicate to the owners, when their area’s fiber is being serviced which will cause an outage in the area for a few days. The anticipated network completion is September 22nd.

During this process, some coaches will get bleed through of the new channel lineup. Please be aware that you will still be able to get analog as well as high definition. However, ESPN in HD is a very expensive separate station that is cost prohibitive to include in the residential package Hargray provides to users. A user would need to have a set top box and is not available to individual users and would need to be set top box use by all users. We are investigating the possibility of having one set top box in the Clubhouse.

Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout the installation process.