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Dear Sanibel Beach Club Owners:
I am in residence here at the Sanibel Beach Club as I write this update, and the weather has been unusually warm for early
February with highs in the low 80’s. All owners and guests have been enjoying all the activities our beautiful resort has to offer,
especially the pool and the beach.
The most recent meeting of the Sanibel Beach Club Board of Directors was held on February 4, 2012. All Board members were
present, as were Eric Ryffel, Donna Sage (VRI Director of Resorts), Jan Samson (VRI SR VP of Resort Operations). Several
owners were also present.
Here are some notes from the Board meeting:
1. The Board was briefed by three different design/furniture firms regarding replacing the living room furniture. We have
decided to work with Seltar, the firm that did the new furniture in the master and guest bedrooms. The first project, which we
hope to compete this year, will be replacement of the sleep sofa, two living room chairs, and bedspreads for the guest
bedroom. Next year we will focus on the coffee and end tables in the living room along with new bedspreads for the master
bedroom, some new lamps, new drapes, and possibly some new pictures. In future years we will look at the dining room
furniture and kitchen.
2. The new guest bedroom furniture and full-size mattresses arrived in the fall to favorable reviews. We expect the new king
-size mattresses for the master bedroom to be delivered soon.
3. Our landscaping engineer, David Salko, talked with us about our priorities. He will initially focus on the rain runoff from the
roofs of the buildings, which is creating erosion problems around the foundations. He would like to capture the runoff in
shallow garden areas that will be planted with native grasses and plants. Next he will look at the possibility of replacing
some of the boardwalks, which can be very slippery when wet. They would be replaced with pavers and/or natural stone.
The third thing he will examine is our entrance off Nerita Street and the path to the office.
4. All of our barbeque grills have been replaced and the handles to open and close them are not hot to the touch (a complaint that
we had with the old grills). They work very well.
5. BusinessMasters.Net has been updating our website with new pictures and new features. We hope the new site will be fully
operational by the spring.
6. The new Wi-Fi system was installed in late November, 2011, and seems to be working well. With this new system owners
and guests can have an internet connection from virtually anywhere in the resort. The service is free, but does require a
password (available from the SBC office). Comments from owners and guests who have used it have been favorable.
7. At the request of an owner, the Board again looked into the idea of offering discounts to owners who pay their maintenance
fees in cash. This was proposed because we have to pay fees to credit card companies whenever an owner uses a card to
pay. According to law, we cannot charge a fee to someone who pays by credit card. If we were to offer discounts for cash,
we would have to budget for these discounts and would not know until the fees were paid whether an owner was paying by
cash or by credit card. Because of these complicating factors, and because we have a very high collection rate thanks in part
to the use of credit cards the Board decided to stay with the current system.
8. The Board received the reserve report from Farrow Commercial right before the Board meeting. Farrow studied our reserves
to make sure they are adequate going forward. We will review the report over the next several months and discuss it at the
June Board meeting.
9. The Board decided to raise the insurance for employee theft from $100,000 to $200,000 with a $500 deductible. At the same
time we signed up for $50,000 in investigative expense insurance. Given our serious problem with employee theft several
years ago, we decided it would be in the owner’s best interests to raise the coverage. The increase in premium is only $750
per year.
Upcoming Board and Annual Meetings for 2012 are listed below. All owners are invited to attend all meetings. All meetings
are held at 9:00 a.m. at the resort unless otherwise indicated:
Friday, June 1
Saturday, August 25
Friday, November 9
Saturday, November 10 (Annual Meeting)
I hope that your winter is over soon and that you have a great spring, be it at home or at Sanibel Beach Club.
Tim Stranges, President, on behalf of the Sanibel Beach Club Board of Directors