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VOL. 17 NO. 4
APRIL 2024
Report from Your Master POA It appears that we have survived another “Season” as we are now in the “tweener” period between The Season and The Hurricane Season. March appeared to be very busy with northern visitors and spring breakers. Our visitors seemed to feel that the northern winter was milder than usual and were looking forward to returning to get started on their spring cleanup and flowers. Your Master Association February meeting was on the 29th. There were two items of interest besides the usual reports from the various operating committees. Jack Jones, our Communication Director reported that Susan Baker, the Gazzette Editor has indicated she needs to resign as her summer travel schedule will make it difficult to arrange for the publication dates. The Board voted to accept her resignation with thanks for her work on the behalf of the Master Association. Jack Jones proposed that Sue Sherwin, a longtime resident and frequent Gazzette contributor, be appointed as the editor effective with the May issue. The Board agreed and thanked her for volunteering for this important position. The other item was recognition of Cheryl McFarland on her 5th anniversary as our Property Manager. It has been a busy 5
years with recoveries from 2 major hurricanes; the transition from the previous Manager; and the major organizational changes at Vesta Property Services. Throughout these major challenges, Cheryl has provided the Master Board with valued advice and handles many resident questions on a timely basis. While we have not researched it, I suspect that for many of us, Grandezza has been our first experience of living within a Condo or Homeowners Association community. Suddenly, changes on our residences required the approval of the ARB or similar body. Cheryl has assisted our many HOAs and COAs in handling the transitions with a minimum of conflicts. “Thanks” to you Cheryl from the Master Board and our many residents. As you have probably been following in the papers, etc., the Florida Legislature completed its limited 60-day annual session in early March. This is a very unusual provision for a state as large and diverse as Florida but may work better than the usual year around sessions in many states and Washington. At least it limits the time we must be aware of what our politicians are doing. This session approved several bills refining the new High Rise Condo laws about inspecting
the structural integrity of older buildings. These laws require High Rise Condo Boards to take action to correct structural problems before the buildings become a hazard like Surfside. Previously a few vocal condo owners could block a Board from correcting building problems and “kick the can down the road” so future owners would have to finance emergency repairs. As an aside, I wonder what the financial impact will be when older high-rise buildings (such as in Miami) must adjust the annual reserve contributions to cover deficit balances with much higher annual contributions? Your Master Board has a policy that the Master capital assets must be evaluated every three years by an outside party. It recommends reserves that should be provided on a regular basis. We were pleased that when we repaved Grande Oak (our largest capital asset) last year, the balance in our reserves was sufficient to cover the cost even though the asset had an estimated 25-year life! Each of our neighborhood boards maintain reserves for its association’s capital assets which Report from Your Master POA on page 3
Grandezza Girlfriends By Cindy Fitzpatrick Did you know we have over 350 members in Grandezza Girlfriends and 200+ attended the fashion show! It’s definitely one of our most highly attended events every year. This year the show was led by one of our former models, Merrillee (aka Kara) Nickolas. Its not an easy job recruiting models, outfitting them, coordinating hair and makeup, and selecting the music but she did it, and did it fabulously! A shout out to our beautiful models, Julia Applegate, Melva Borley, Wendy Cohen, Elizabeth Flowers, Audrey Heaton, Lyn Lundell, Kelly McCormack, Jill McRae, Hilary Moleski, Mary Cay Rackers, Kathy Roman, Jennifer Seegers, and Patricia Van Duyn. Great job ladies! Special thanks to Darlene Polyschuk who was the DJ and to photographers Patty Accavallo and Mercedes Aza. The clothes were provided by Casual Connections and each girlfriend received a 10% coupon for the shop. Our VP, Nancy Rajtik is crushing it with the
monthly raffle items and this month was the best yet! Well done Nancy! In conjunction with the fashion show, we asked girlfriends to bring food items for our neighbors at FGCU. No surprise, girlfriends generously donated 430 pounds of food for their food pantry. We have the best girlfriends! A big thank you to Barbara Rieger, who brought the needs of the food panty to
our attention. Barbara will have a bin on her porch at 20048 Buttermere Court if you have any additional items to drop off. No glass please! Thank you to Dianne Linguadoca who graciously offered and drove the donations to the food panty. Lastly we celebrated the birthdays of girlfriends, Jody Altschule, Carole Bacon, Shirley Cook, Patti Hafendorfer, Felice Hurwitz, Patti Lowe, Sue Malick, Yvonne Mazzella, Grandezza Girlfriends on page 4
Let’s Make a Change By Yvette Bernosky, B.Ms., Director of Fitness & Wellness, The Club at Grandézza Have you ever had something in your life that you wanted to change, yet you struggled to do it for years, or are still struggling to get started? It could be losing weight, advancing your career, improving your relationships or dropping old habits. Most of us have had something at one time or another that we couldn’t seem to overcome. Making a change can be challenging and letting go of old ways can seem daunting. We need to ask ourselves this question first. Is this something we should change or must change? It’s very easy to ‘should’ ourselves. I should eat healthier. I should acquire skills to move forward in my job. I should put more effort into my relationships. Or, I should drop this habit that no longer serves me. When you think you should do something, chances are you have not linked the why you want to make a change to the pleasure of
seeking help is a significant stride in making this transformation. The initial consultation serves as a compass, guiding us towards our goals and bringing clarity to our journey. Embarking on a journey of lasting change requires a few key steps. First and foremost, we must disrupt our existing patterns as old habits resurface. We achieve this through a powerful triad for change: altering our focus, physiology and language in that moment. We repeat this process until our old patterns are so thoroughly disrupted that new ones can Let’s Make a Change on page 4
Editors Quote the outcome. You have not acquired the mindset to take massive action. When a client approaches me for guidance, I can often gauge their readiness for change by the depth of their ‘why.’ The more profound their reasons, the stronger their commitment is to the outcome. The pain of remaining stagnant has become unbearable, motivating them to take a proactive approach. The very act of
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou Susan D. Baker Ph.D.