NOMINATING COMMITTEE CANDIDATE
I’ve been a Seabrooker since 1979 when my late wife, Jackie, helped run a US Tennis Association league tournament held at Seabrook’s Racquet Club. We took annual vacation trips to Seabrook, bought a condo (Courtside Villa), then a lot on Otter Lane where, in 2002, we built our home and lived full-time. Some years after Jackie died, the widow Sally Schenck (as they wrote in the 1700s), a Seabrook resident since 2001, and I married. Sally was on the SIPOA Board for 3 years, serving as secretary for part of that time. She was co-editor of The Seabrooker and a writer for the “Tidelines Blog.” She also founded the Seabrook Island Village in 2000. So, when I’ve served SIPOA, it’s a kind of “two-fer,” since I treasure her counsel. In 2016, we built a second home in the Berkshires where we spend summer and autumn until the leaves fall.
Thus, my Seabrook experience includes renting, owning and renting a villa, full-time residence, and part-time residence.
After college came seven years active duty in the Navy, including teaching at the Naval Academy. I ended up in a 40-year academic career, writing about U.S. foreign policy, particularly about Churchill, Roosevelt and the Second World War. In a change of pace, in 2018 I published a history of the U.S. Tennis Association. I had long experience (some 30 years) in volunteer work with the U.S. Tennis Association, in the grass roots and organizational aspects, culminating with two terms on the USTA national Board of Directors.
I have been consistently active in the SIPOA over the last sixteen years. I worked on the Special Projects Committee and the Finance committee, before being elected to the SIPOA Board of Directors in 2009. I was re-elected in 2012. I served as Secretary and member of the executive committee for five of those six years. I was an active member of the Legal Committee, which was a wonderful learning experience. In 2017, I was again elected to the Board for a term, and served a year as the Board member/chair of the Nominating Committee. I chaired the Long-Range Planning and GOMC Committees, each for some 3 years. I remain a member of GOMC.
Governance is a team effort of the Board, the committees, and the staff, with the agreement of the community. Policy-based governance develops strategic and short-term projects and establishes goals and objectives that direct the budget. Candidates should appreciate that approach.
As a member of the Nominating Committee, I would look for persons who bring to the table common sense and extensive experience, and a commitment to sensible compromise. I would not be concerned about specific issues faced by SIPOA, although I would look for candidates who had made themselves informed about those issues. Experience on SIPOA committees is the very best way of gaining such knowledge.
I do not believe that Seabrook needs a revolution or dramatic reforms. Our island is well prepared to meet the future, thanks to the efforts of recent Boards. Bad things happen; challenges pop up. Experience and common sense, along with new thinking from new property owners, provide the solutions.
One caveat to that optimistic statement. Seabrook’s Autumn hurricane seasons have demonstrated that, given predictions of rising sea levels, the POA (in conjunction with the Town and the Club, and even the County) needs to continue its long-range study of how our island must adjust, even rethink itself a bit, so as to survive and prosper. Hence the current initiative – development of a Master Plan. Candidates for the Board should be aware of that project.