I received word this morning that long-time Hawks Nest owner and former board member, Russell McNeil died in his sleep last night. My understanding is that he had not been sick and that this was completely unexpected. I will pass more information along as I hear.
Weeks 3 & 6 — Unit 205 — one bedroom
Call Bob @ 906-225-5063 or 906-869-9100
Weeks: 3, 6, 7, 11 — one bedroom
Weeks: 1, 2, 6, 8 — two bedrooms
Call Bob @ 906-225-5063 or 906-869-9100
When I started this website in 2007, a year after a few of us formed the Owners Group, I posted my very first blog introducing the Owners Group to the World Wide Web. I thought it might be interesting to look at again. Rather than flipping back through all those pages, here is a link to it:
That’s OK, just click and read it. I’ll wait. (It’s the last one on the page.)
http://www.hawksnestowners.org/hawkblog/?cat=17&paged=8
All done? That’s all right, I probably wouldn’t have read it all either. You’ll get the point.
How times have changed. First, our membership now represents nearly 600 unit weeks, over 40% of the total. The communication among us, the owners, has improved exponentially, at least judging from the postings on this site, as well as the literally hundreds of emails I received during the most recent election campaign, especially with regard to the anonymous letter. I have many new friends, most of whom I’ve never met face to face.
Communication from the leadership and management has improved as well, I’m sure that many more owners are more familiar with the members of the board than they were just three years ago, and the new Hawks Nest website has a tremendous amount of potential. Of course, you can’t spend potential, so to speak.
So what about this website? I can tell you that if the state of the board and the “Official” website had been in 2006 what they are today, I most likely wouldn’t have been involved in starting the Owners Group, nor would I have spent the countless hours and not insignificant number of dollars to put this website on the internet.
So. Should we just fold up our tent and declare victory? I don’t think so. We’ve heard promises before. We’ve been optimistic before. While the new website holds a great amount of promise, it’s not the solution to our problems, it’s only the mechanism by which the board and management communicate with us.
The solution to our problems lies partially with the people we have elected to look after our interests. To make the solution complete, we, the owners, need to look after them, and that’s where the Owners Group comes in.
If minutes aren’t posted, we need to ask, “where are they?” If we aren’t getting timely and complete financial information, we need to ask, “why not?” If the property starts sliding back into disrepair, we need to ask, “what’s going on?” There’s plenty for us to do.
So keep asking those questions, call or write the members of the board or the manager. If you have a concern, SAY SO. If you have an idea, SHARE IT. If you have a complaint, VOICE IT. If you have a compliment, PAT SOMEBODY ON THE BACK.
I think most of us are optimistic for the future, and justifiably so. But the people who we entrust to take care of our investment, and it IS an investment, need to know we’re paying attention, that we care about what’s going on.
DR. MARTY SHAPIRO – PRESIDENT
Summer:
409A West Spicer Ave.
Wildwood, NJ 08260
609 846-1159 (h)
609 523-2600 (w)
609 972-1846 (c)
Winter:
6622 Villa Sonrisa #813
Boca Raton, FL 33433
516 750-1708
gateway26@sisna.com
BILL BERGEY – VICE PRESIDENT
754 Forest Dr.
P.O. Box 99
Lake George, MI 48633
989 588-8017 (h)
517 214-5810 (c)
billbergey@charter.net
ROSEMARY SMITH – SECRETARY
3209 S. Ocean Dr. Apt. 2A
Hallandale, FL 33009
954 454-4248 (h)
954 445-2480 (c)
roro3209@aol.com
MIKE OOSTMEYER – TREASURER
P.O. Box 1133
Baldwin, MI 49304
231- 745-7870 (h)
kandmoostmeyer@voyager.net
JIM BARRINGER – DIRECTOR
4703 State Route 276
Batavia, OH 45103
513 732-2292 (h)
513 309-3377 (c)
513 732-6929 (f)
capnjim@adelphia.net
ALDEN CORLEY – DIRECTOR
1719 Poplar Dr.
Orange Park, FL 32073
904 264-1720
904 465-2810
dycor@bellsouth.net
PETE STADE – DIRECTOR
5769 Greenwood Circle
Naples, FL 34112
239 774-0417
stade@naples.net
We would like to rent weeks 6,7,8,9, & 10 if anyone has any of these weeks please contact Jean Novak at 319-857-4136 or 319-361-8191
Sometime yesterday, all of our blogs, postings and comments disappeared. Luckily, all that we needed was a software upgrade which we now have.
If you tried to do something during that time, and it didn’t work, try again or write me to help.
I am just realizing I won’t be able to use my week this year. Week 28 begins July 10, 2010. If anyone is interested, I will rent it for the fee $575 plus the electric charge. Please give me a call at 904-655-8474 or email me at deepark@comcast.net. Thank you.
If you haven’t seen it already, go to the new HN website, www.hawksnest-marathon.com and look at the rental page. They have posted about 50 units for rent between now and Week 17, next year. They show the week number and a general description of the unit (1 bedroom, 2 bedroom corner, center, etc.) This is located in the area of the website that’s accessible to the general public.
With this exposure, the rental program can now finally be the success it should have been all along. It’s user-friendly. What a concept.
Yup, that’s it. The new Hawks Nest website is now on-line. I’ve seen it. It’s state-of-the-art.
Like the old site, parts of it are open to the public, and parts are intended for owners only. That’s where the similarity ends. In the Owners section, there’s a President’s page, and Marty has committed to at least quarterly updates, and there’s a Manager’s page, where new General Manager, Gary Rumberger will be posting at least monthly.
Additionally, there’s an owners blog, a photo gallery, and pages with meeting minutes and with financial information such as the budget, profit and loss statements and receivables. Not all these pages are fully populated yet, but when they are, hopefully soon, this will be the kind of information we should have had all along.
I believe this shows the new board’s determination to provide transparent leadership, something that many of us have been insisting on for a long time.
Located within the public section of the website, which is aimed not only at the owners, but also prospective owners, renters and traders, there’s a “For Sale” page, which the office staff will be able to update as needed, as well as a page to show information about units for rent, something we have not had before.
When you go to the site initially and register, you may need to be patient. Each registration needs to be verified by the staff to make sure that it belongs to an owner, and each will have its own login and password. With the expected initial surge of registrations, it could take a little while to verify all of them.
Vice President, Bill Bergey and All Keys Computers have been working hard for some time to design and implement this world-class website. Go, look, and register. Remember, there’s a hyphen in the web address between hawksnest and marathon: www.hawksnest-marathon.com.