Association Board President’s Message—October 29, 2024

Welcome everyone to the October Association Board of Directors meeting.

This month I want to talk about how great it is to be a Villager. I just spent 16 days on a cruise from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale, Florida going through the Panama Canal. It was not a Villages organized trip but we had seven couples from The Villages on the trip. Some of the couples I knew and some I did not. But, after going on shore excursions with some couples and eating dinner most nights with these couples and just hanging around on the ship, I was able to get to know all of them much better than I did before we left. We had a fabulous trip, and you can see pictures of our group on The Villager Online. As it turns out, most Villagers are wonderful people. We just need to take the time to get to know them. We had numerous discussions about life in The Villages and the consensus is this is a great place to live. I was happy to hear that since I am always concerned about the state of our community.

As you all can see, turf reduction work has begun from the intersection of San Felipe Road down to the Public Safety Plaza gate. It’s been a lot of hard work and planning over the last few years, but the projects are finally under way. If our planning is accurate, we can continue to see this type of work throughout The Villages over the next 20 years. Yes, you heard that right—four acres a year for 20 years.  I hope to live long enough to see the completed project.

I would like to thank everyone from Theresa and the staff, the Villager volunteers on the Landscape and Water Committees and all the DAC landscape and water committees for the extensive time and effort given over the last few years.  It’s a learning experience for all of us and it’s nice to see everyone’s efforts are finally starting to pay off.

I would also like to thank the Insurance Committee for its hard work. The Villager articles on the importance of understanding our HO6 policies are extremely helpful. If you haven’t read them, they are posted on The Villager Online and I suggest everyone go back and read all three. Understanding your HO6 policy is important to ensure you have the proper coverage in the event of a catastrophe.

Thank you all for being Villagers, and, as usual, my phone, email and my door are always open and available for questions or comments.

—Association Board President Michael Schwerin