Hi Scott, as usual, all good thoughts. I guess it was about ten years ago that, after months of discussion, the members voted on a definition of the Reserve Fund. This definition (attached) should be included in the Guidelines because, unless you were there and kept a copy, few members know of this information. With regard to the history of the Reserve Fund, decades ago, when our pier was rebuilt, the club had saved sufficient money to pay all of the cost and therefore not burden future members with the cost of the pier. At that time (this is second hand knowledge), the members began the Reserve Fund with the same goal, that when our current pier had to again be rebuilt, the money would already be saved. Since that time, we also learned that if our septic system fails, the cost of a new legally permitted system will run approximately $50,000. Because of the obvious importance of both the pier and our septic, Club members felt that it was important to have the replacement cost of both of these projects readily available when needed. That said, it might be a good idea to get an estimate of the remaining life of the pier and its replacement cost so we can calculate if we need to continue to save, or if we have extra funds available for other projects.

I really like that the Board is in favor of block over timber because the life span is so much longer for block. It's obvious that the Board has done a lot of research on this subject. With regard to the color choice, I lean more towards the brown and warm colors, like the Adobe blend or the Golden Brown blend. The Granite City blend seems a bit more industrial and may pick up and possibly emphasize the color of our asphalt driveway. I would prefer that we highlighted the earth tones of the landscape that will be behind it. That said, I am not a designer and would certainly defer to our members who have design backgrounds.