After a few starts and stops, Spring has finally come to our area. We are welcoming more of our warm weather members every day. Mike and I are finally able to count ourselves as full time residents of our beautiful Cashiers-Glenville area.
In March, I attended the North Carolina Lake Management Society meeting in Greensboro. Interesting programs with the opportunity to see how other lakes are managing their water issues. Understanding other lakes and their issues around water quality gave me a new appreciation for our signature water quality program. FLG’s program continues and we have added new members to the team. Spring 2014 SE Regional NCLM Conference will be held March 26th-28th in Asheville.
Your Friends of Lake Glenville Board has been extremely active this year during the fall and winter months. In September, we developed our FLG Strategic Plan for 2013 and are implementing our goals. We identified several areas for needed action and attention:
Repairing our Membership Program. This includes a total repair of our data base and developing a new Corporate membership. Updates to member profiles are now part of a membership process that will help FLG to better serve and communicate with members. If we make errors, please give us a small grace period to work on perfection. Our new corporate program began with a great start. Hattler Properties became our first new corporate member and gave FLG a $1000 sponsorship for the Fireworks on the Point. We hope to add additional corporate members this year.
Early Execution and Planning of our Signature Events. These include Groovin on the Green with Hurricane Creek, Fireworks on the Point, and our Members only Summer Social. The goal was to deliver the plans and communicate early to our members via the newsletter. You will find articles, photos and invites to our Signature events in the newsletter. Our Chairs:
Groovin Dotty Ennis
Summer Social Sandi and Ike Eichhorn
Fireworks on the Point Juan Milcjuans
Our organization could not exist without individuals volunteering their time and talents.
Duke Relationships and 2013 Construction This year will be a challenging one for Lake Glenville boaters and owners. Duke construction of the new swimming area in November 2013 will require a overall 16 foot drop in lake levels by end of October. Please see the newsletter article and note the Duke speakers for our June meeting.
We have a new Duke Lake Glenville Services Manager, Kevin Holland. Kevin is a 18 year Duke employee from Franklin who has IT and mapping experience. Larry Lively and I will be meeting regularly with Kevin. Our former Lake Manager, Lisa Leatherman has a new role. She is now District Manager, Nantahala Area, Government and Community Relations.
A special “Thank You” goes to Juan and Loures Milcjuans for their photographs of our Groovin’ and breakfast meetings in 2012.
It has been a pleasure for me to serve with the members of our Board and we all look forward to a successful 2013 year for Friends of Lake Glenville.
Carolyn Franz
President, Friends of Lake Glenville
carolynfranz@msn.com
828.743.9323 home
828.200.2540 mobile

For a look at the complete Spring 2013 FLG newsletter and the Calendar of 2013 events before the paper version arrives, go to the Newsletter section and read or download them.

The final Member Breakfast of the 2012 season was held at the Mountaintop Lake Club, with a good crowd in attendance.  Newly elected FLG President Carolyn Franz greeted the attendees and outlined recent developments, including a Water Quality Team meeting, meetings with the Duke lake manager, and plans for a Winter Newsletter.  Outgoing President Howard Austin was given a beautiful lake photo as a memento for his years of service to the FLG.  Stephanie Edwards, the newly arrived Executive Director of the Cashiers Chamber of Commerce gave a very informative discussion of the Chamber, who it is, how it relates to other groups such as the Merchants Association and the  Village Council, and what it has as new plans and initiatives.

At the Board meeting after the Annual Meeting at Trillium Golf Club, the Board elected Carolyn Franz as President, Juan Milciunas as Vice President, Mark Newman as Secretary, and continued Ed Mohler as Treasurer.  Newly elected Board member Gary Wright and Larry Lively, filling the unexpired term of Ken Kitchens, joined the group for the first time.

Since most FLG communications are being done electronically, please send an email to “flg@friendsoflakeglenville.com” if you are not getting regular notes from the FLG.  If you are one of the few members to not use a computer, please discuss with Carolyn Franz some alternative method of communication that can work for both parties.

It is disappointing to announce Thursday July 19, 2012, that the Board of the Friends of Lake Glenville has concurred with the opinions of the Social Committee and agreed that the 2012 Summer Social event should be cancelled.  The basic issues are too many expenses, too few reservations, too few volunteer helpers, and no practical way to bridge those gaps.  No one of those problems was probably insurmountable, but together they became a challenge we could not overcome in the next nine days.

For many recent years, the event was largely put on by a group that may have numbered over two dozen, with much of the food provided by them at no cost.  We are indebted to them for doing such a great job for so long and maybe only now realize how Herculean their efforts were.  Transitioning to this year where most of those services or products were to be provided by outside vendors, the cost rose sharply.  Even raising the price members were being asked to pay or perhaps because of it, there were only 17 reservations as of yesterday, rather than the 60-80 needed to avoid having the FLG itself mostly subsidize the event.  It became fiscally prudent to cancel the event.

At the two remaining breakfasts and this fall and winter as preparations for the 2013 Season begin, we the members of the FLG need to discuss among ourselves what is to be  expected from this organization, both with regard to its basic purpose to “Protect and Preserve” Lake Glenville and how social activities fit in to that mandate.  No matter what mix of activities we choose going forward, all require volunteers to make them happen, another piece of the puzzle to solve.

If you have realistic constructive suggestions, please communicate them to a Board member or by email to “flg@friendsoflakeglenville.com”.  Replies will be aggregated and passed on to the Board and/or any appropriate committees.  Remember the two remaining upcoming Member Breakfasts, on Saturday August 25th at Trillium and Saturday September 15th at the Mountaintop Lake Club.