President’s Message—Tom LaVack
Hi! My name is Tom LaVack and I’m your president for this coming year. I made it to the west coast in 1965 from New York State thanks to the Air Force. I met my wife out here and we got married in 1967. We settled in the Olympia area and have been here ever since. We have two sons, Todd and Marc, and two granddaughters, Madison and Sydney. After leaving the service, I started working in the service station business for Mike Vavrinec. In 1969, a partner and I bought the station and partnered with Jerry Manuel. In 1972, we opened Marvin Rd Union 76. In 1975 we built LaMan Automotive, then sold it in 1986. I went into teaching auto mechanics and auto body repair, both of which I’m still doing.
One of my goals for the year is to bring the Capitol City Board into the age of computers for doing more of our daily and monthly business and having our web page serve as a place to go for information about our community and current information on community happenings. We also want to bring our financial program from long hand, pencil and paper to Quick Books. We will be working toward setting it up where you can pay your dues online.
I realize that not everyone is up to date with computers and email, so we will still be sending out the newsletter and dues invoices by mail. There will probably be some kind of form that you will be able to fill out so that we can put you on our email list. Another major goal of mine is to bring about peace and harmony, between both board and community members.
Renters and Owners
We’ve recently had a lot of comments on the high number of renters in the community and a fear that the renters will cause our properties to lose value. We understand your concerns and empathize with them. BUT… bottom line… it is the homeowners responsibility to make sure the property is maintained. Chances are really good that if the homeowner doesn’t care, neither will the renter.
Also, if you only take my street (pardon me for editorializing), I can point out four rented homes that are beautifully maintained by lovely people and are a credit to the community. I can also point out a couple that have long time owners and don’t look half as nicely kept.
It’s an ongoing concern and we have to take a more active role with absentee owners which we’re going to do. Any volunteers to help with it? In the meantime, we want renters to feel welcome and to feel a part of us and to be as proud of the community as we homeowners are.
Annual Meeting
The 2012 annual meeting was held at September 6, 2012, in the gymnasium of Chambers Prairie School. It was both encouraging and discouraging. It was discouraging because of the typical low attendance. With a community this size, probably 800 to 1,000 residents, there were only about 50 people in attendance. It’s sad because your officers and trustees work hard to bring you good meetings and it’s confusing because we know you care about your home and community (but not enough to attend one meeting a year?) But…it was also encouraging because the folks that did come were so great!We met lots of new people and many attendees volunteered to help with various committees or needs. That was so wonderful. (More of that later in this newsletter).
Among the topics presented was that of delinquent dues. Tom LaVack spoke to this at some length, emphasizing the seriousness of the issue and reaffirming the steps provided by the CC&R’s and By Laws to collect these dues.
Bob Moore elaborated on his plans for a Neighborhood Watch program, basing it on groups identified with the block mailboxes. A number of individuals volunteered to assist him with the program (thanks guys!!!). He’ll be in touch with them soon to begin efforts. The issue of having a full audit or a financial review was addressed but there weren’t enough in attendance to constitute a quorum so the topic was tabled until a later date.
The new fiscal budget was approved. It will be on our website for you to see. Attendees elected Bob Moore and Katie McDaniel to serve an additional term and voted Susan Derda in as a trustee to fill the seat vacated when Deb Laughery resigned.
There were brief discussions on annexing and the need to appoint a specific person to head the roads and signs committee. Also the need to hold owners responsible for renters who don’t maintain their properties. All in all, it was a productive meeting but we would so encourage everyone to attend. It’s your home and community.
Your support matters.
