GTYC Friday News Round Up 7/25/2008

We have our ducks lined up to start the demo process. The last two items that need to take place in order for it to start are 1. The gas line needs to be cut, which is on order and 2. The final demolition permit from Leelanau County needs to be received, which has also been ordered. These two items should take place next week sometime. Then the bull dozers can roll!

During that week of the demolition we are not going to be able to store any boats in our parking lot. This is due to the large machinery that it's going take to get this done in a timely fashion. What we are working on is an arrangement with Elmwood Township for that week so we can still sail with out dropping the rigs each time. I'll keep you posted on what arrangements we can come up with.

The board has authorized an offer to be extended to the old E&J pluming building on Carter Road . The terms of this offer and price is still being negotiated with the buildings representatives and a final conclusion has not been reached at this point. The BOD has done the research to determine a budget, terms of the lease and LCC details. We are working with some very tight constraints unfortunately. We are just waiting for a response at this juncture from the owner.

Doug and I spoke to Chris Branson this week about a settlement date from our insurance company. Chris indicated that an appraisal had been ordered by our insurer on the building making the extraordinary assumption that it was still in tact and functional. This was a final step in the settlement process. He said that he expects a letter and a rather large check to be issued next week. The insurance company is planning to settle the claim in two phases, ½ now, ½ when we start reconstruction. The BOD has not seen a final number from them yet however, and has not agreed to accept any amount at this point. We should know more next week by this time.

Based on some initial figuring and estimates it appears that we are going to need to take out a small mortgage. The Board will need to be granted permission per the voting membership to incur this debt. The plan currently is to send out this authorization with the election ballots in September.

It will be extremely important for us to get your ballot back this year. Per the GTYC bi-laws (Section 10) we will need ½ of all the voting members to agree to take on this mortgage before we can proceed. That means 76 yes votes in order to make this happen.

The terms of our settlement, mortgage and the proposed construction budget will be explained in detail within the ballet. This information will hopefully provide some clarity to your decision making process. Being that it's an election year this should be a good warm up you for November's elections.

The Wednesday night afterglow and race results are going to take place on the lawn at the Club this upcoming week. I want to invite everyone to come down and enjoy the festivities.

Mac VanStratt

2008 Commodore