Last Updated on February 1, 2024
Among several others, one of my challenges each month is to come up with an interesting and informative article for the Sunburst. Those of you who have had to write periodic articles for some purpose in the past know exactly what I mean. So, here goes for February.
I just got the word that our efforts, in cooperation with the Administration, to reduce our campus deer population will be carried out before the end of January, which is the end of the bowhunting season. It may, or may not, need to be done again in the fall sometime after Labor Day. Several residents have asked why we are undertaking this effort. Among other reasons, our deer have destroyed our forest floor by eating up all the saplings required to restore our dwindling forest. I have watched them on many occasions searching for food wherever they can find it, and that of course includes eating many of the plants around our buildings. It is unfortunate that we must do this, but it really is best for us and for them because they really do not have enough food to sustain their population.
Just to share information about the partnership that your Residents’ Council has with both the Charlestown Board of Directors and, in fact, our corporate partners, we are having meetings with both shortly. First, we will have met with the Erickson Regional Vice Presidents of Operations, Finance, and Sales to discuss with them topics of concern/interest to us about things such as the protection of residents’ personal data in their IT environment; how they plan to handle the level of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion activities considering the heightened opposition to such programs; and their awareness of Maryland State legislature initiatives in the area of CCRCs operation and the like. Then we, the Council, will be having meetings with our Board of Directors in early February to discuss things such as the latest information on the Historic District renovation project and their awareness of the Maryland legislation mentioned before. Additionally, the President and VP of the Council now have a seat on the Board’s Resident Life committee, something new in the last year. Hopefully, this gives you a sense of the close relationships we have with Admin and Corporate.
Recently, at the request of Executive Director Don Grove and with our support, we have established a Design Review (DR) committee of residents to provide the Administration and the Corporate design staff with our inputs into their planning for the nature of the renovations of our buildings now and into the future. The specific areas currently under discussion are improving the type of furniture to be installed in the Herberts Run and Brookside buildings. So, initially, the residents on the DR committee are from these two buildings. As renovations proceed on to St. Charles and the Historic District, we will be adjusting the membership of this Committee to include residents from those campus areas. One of the charters of the DR committee will be to solicit ideas and suggestions from other residents as part of their work. We will be sharing the names of the Committee by various means.
Regarding the suggested Photo Directory of residents, we should soon determine whether there is enough interest to pursue publishing an updated photo album/directory, with the last one printed in 2015. Now, in the latter part of January, I am very curious about the level of interest to be seen. If there is indeed enough interest, we will be actively soliciting help from quite a number of you to help this project succeed.
Hopefully, soon we will be hearing the results of the Holleran Survey, the response to the concerns of the residents, and the Administration’s plans moving forward. Stay tuned!
As I said at the last Residents’ Council meeting, ISOLATION is my enemy and SOCIALIZATION is my friend. Please, if you can, socialize with your new, or old, friends and neighbors. It is an opportunity that should not be lost.
Finally, it is now one year since Don Grove was appointed first as our Interim Executive Director and then formally as our Executive Director. Congratulations to Don and we thank him for a job well done.
Till next month,
John Remias, Residents’ Council President