We had 108 POALH members attend the April 7th Special Meeting. We received overwhelming support from an estimated 90% of those present to proceed with the request to fund the pavilion project up to $190,000. The project plan takes into account not only the structural needs but security, lighting, electrical, and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) needs warranted by the activities that we hold in this community space. Please click here to read further comments by committee co-chair Bob Sudell. We are now looking for a committee chair to head up the Equipment Replacement Committee to help us with provisioning needed items for this season. Please contact Gail Grzegorczak if you would like to lead this effort. We will continue to keep you posted as the project unfolds. Please click here to see presentation slides (pdfs) of the pavilion design. Construction is moving along! BACKGROUND Early on the morning of September 22nd 2012, the first beach Pavilion was destroyed in a fire. Click here to read news article. All of the evidence points to an electrical fire, likely caused by the refrigerator, and not an act of arson. Thanks to equipment provided and manned by John Allegra, The Properties Crew and volunteers (Brian, Dave, Don, Dan, John Jacoby and Security Chair, Dave Glazier), the debris was removed. On Saturday, September 29th, members of the community were invited to meet at the Polish Club in Colchester to discuss the fire and restoration plans. 50 residents attended and shared their thoughts about the design and capabilities of our new pavilion. At the October 13th board meeting, President Gail Grzegorczak appointed Larry Lusardi and Bob Sudell as co-chairs for the Building Steering Committee for the Pavilion Rebuild Project. The core steering committee is made up of a small number of people who are charged with design recommendations, costing, building applications and permitting, RFP process and award recommendations, and construction oversight. There have been questions regarding the appointment of committee members and how the committee was chosen. We have been sensitive to the long list of volunteers and want to assure you that the work of the committee will be inclusive and transparent. Since the core group needs to be manageable and accountable to specific timelines and milestones, it was a deliberate decision to limit the number of board members on the committee and to avoid any perception of conflict of interests within the group. This committee’s task will end at the completion of the construction of the pavilion and storage structure. We lost quite a bit of property and accessories and much more work will need to be addressed–landscape design and planting, security, donations, fundraising, internal storage organization, painting, ribbon cutting, etc. These committees will be formed in a few months. Larry Lusardi, your Vice President, and Bob Sudell both have impressive professional backgrounds with expertise in managing building projects, but also have the personality and leadership to work with a diverse group of people. Bob is an engineer with a strong background in construction. For over 30 years, Bob has been a consultant for various insurance companies and has provided risk management (non-financial) advice to contractors large and small. He has been a volunteer firefighter for 30 years and was an officer, including a Chief Officer, for about 25 of those years. He has learned to manage people and delegate tasks, including those with diverse backgrounds and agendas. Larry is a proven manager and leader and has done great work on your board and organizing Lake Hayward Days Week. Professionally, Larry has over 30 years experience working for the State of Connecticut and has much experience working on large and small building projects. We are equally fortunate to have non-board owners Steve Nelson, and Brian Bagnati–both individuals bring commercial and residential construction expertise; and Dave Edgington and Gary Petersen, veteran and novice board members and members of the properties committee who have first-hand knowledge of our storage requirements. A full-time firefighter, Gary is also a professional carpenter. Jason Griffing and Felicia Tencza, also non-board owners bring administrative management experience and will contribute to community communications and support for tasks assigned by Bob and Larry. (Committee members will not be eligible to bid on the construction project.) I am confident, with your support, this team will help us build a better, safer, and great looking pavilion. The committee is developing a proposal to present to the association that includes a scope of work, costs, and project timeline. The design will be a 36 x 36 pavilion with a 12 x 36 shed, a similar footprint to what we had. Instead of three separate sheds, our goal is one shed that accommodates all our needs. We are striving for a project completion date by June 1st; however, with the need to work through the town’s permitting and approval process, our schedule is contingent on factors outside our control; i.e. East Haddam committees’ meeting calendar and funding approval from the association. We should know more by the time we have our Town Hall meeting sometime at the end of January or early February. With our insurance claim now fully settled, we are in the process of reviewing our insurance needs and risks and soliciting quotes and interviews with a number of agencies who specialize in community associations such as ours. While we started this process earlier this year, the fire and subsequent risk assessment recently conducted highlights the importance of having adequate property and liability coverage to minimize the exposure of our property owners. We will continue to keep you posted on these developments and recommendations.

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