Proposed changes to The Villages Association Policy APo 304 Replacement Reserves Policy were approved for publication and member comments for the required notice and member comment period prior to formal approval consideration at the June 24, 2025, monthly board meeting.  The purpose of the proposed changes is to modernize and align Reserve Account analysis with current updated software.  This will improve the accuracy and efficiency of reserve planning. 

As reported at the board meeting, in prior years The Villages staff was responsible for maintaining the Association reserve accounts, utilizing spread sheets and basic accounting methods. In an attempt to maintain an acceptable balance in our accounts, four rules were written into APo 304. These rules were found in APo 304 5 (b).

The Association Board authorized management to hire a Certified Reserve Analyst to modernize and refine our reserve accounts, and we have installed reserve software named Smart Property.

Smart Property has given the ABOD the ability to analyze our reserve plans and achieve results, in less time with greater accuracy in real time allowing us to protect, maintain and enhance Association assets – our homes.

Due to the sophistication of Smart Property, requirements of Davis-Stirling and the hands-on approach of our Certified Reserve Analyst, the rules in APo 304 paragraph 5 (b), as written, are no longer needed.

Therefore, it is recommended that the rules paragraph 5 (b) 1 through 4 in Apo 304 be deleted and replaced with the updates as reflected in paragraph 5, along with the additional updates as reflected in the redline version of APo 304.

Response to the proposed policy changes may be made by one or more of the following methods:  1) Participation in the discussion of the proposed changes at the Association Board of Directors at the June 24 board meeting, or 2) via written comments delivered to the Board through Board Services at BoardServices@the-villages.com

Deletions are noted in strikethrough font; additions are underlined.

Welcome everyone to the May Association Board of Directors meeting.

Today we are honoring David Cook, Past Association Board Director and President, among many other positions in The Villages. David has been an extremely valuable member of this community and I believe this is the last meeting he will be attending as a Villager. I know he closed on his new house in Manteca last week and should be closing on his Montgomery property shortly, if it has not already happened.  David has led a very interesting life so far which was thoroughly laid out in The Villager article about him in the last issue and is posted on the portal. We will be having a reception for David and Evonne following our executive session this morning and invite everyone to stay and celebrate with us as we say goodbye to two outstanding Villagers.

In a few minutes we will get to hear our first water advisory committee report from Ed Logg. Ed has been very busy and his first report to the board is just over four pages long in a small typeface and packed with information. Apparently, there is a lot of work to be done in the area of water and Ed is going to give us the highlights and point us in the right direction. I would only ask Ed not to direct us to take baths in a 5-gallon bucket.

This will be the last Board meeting for David Raskin, and I sincerely thank him for all his hard work this year. David volunteered to serve a one-year term after our sudden loss of John Epperheimer last year.  David will be returning to the Montgomery DAC, his first love, but has agreed to continue in a number of committee positions for the Board. We will miss you at the head table David, but I am sure Montgomery is happy to have you back. 

Finally, I would encourage everyone to attend the town hall meeting tomorrow, May 28 at 5 p.m. in the Cribari Auditorium. This town hall is going to be held instead of the Fireside chat that was previously scheduled and will feature a discussion with Villages General Manager, Theresa Ostrander, and Chief Financial Officer, Blake Kennedy, about the increase is dues and assessments occurring as of July 1.  

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

—Association Board President Michael Schwerin

Congratulations to Montgomery’s David and Evonne Cook. After 13 years they are saying goodbye to The Villages and hello to their new home in Manteca.

David Cook was an Association Director on the Board of Directors for six years. He was President of the ABOD for three of those six years.

David was President during turbulent times. He helped pull us through the COVID-19 Pandemic, two droughts and a new management agreement.

After leaving the ABOD, David chaired the ABOD Insurance Committee that has done a super job of helping The Villages manage our biggest expense, insurance. He was also a board member of the Bocce and Pickleball Club, webmaster for the Bocce, Pickleball and Pinseekers Clubs. He was Vice President of the Ironmen Short Nine men’s golf club, five years of Handicap and Championship calculations for the Ironmen, Pickleball Ad Hoc Committee member for the Club Board, Staffer at WOW training sessions and a volunteer for EPC communications staff. David also created The Villages Webmaster Guild and served as its President for three years.

David hiked all of The Villages hiking trails in one day. And that was just for a warmup so he could actually climb, at age 65, Mt. Kilimanjaro. But his real claim to fame was hitting a golf ball off the top of Kilimanjaro with a 7-iron and posing with a copy of The Villager.

He has also hiked Mts. Fuji and Whitney. David has participated in three Ironman Triathlons in France, Florida and Idaho. He has done dozens of shorter triathlons and mountain bike triathlons, dozens of marathons, one 50-mile ultramarathon run and several 50-K mountain ultramarathons. David has run segments of Calistoga to Santa Cruz 18-hour group run (including the full-moon midnight section over the Golden Gate Bridge past the National Guard units stationed there just after 9/11), a dozen Alcatraz to Aquatic Cove and Crissy Fields open water swims.

David has done the San Francisco to Los Angeles Diabetes Ride. Mountain biked San Jose to Capitola for brunch. His favorite “short” bike rides these days are through the hills from The Villages to Morgan Hill to meet up for lunch with his wife. In fall 2024, David did a bucket-list ride up Mont Ventoux in France, one of the hardest peaks in the Tour de France routes.

Born in Modesto, California, he rewrote his high school’s Student Association constitution, and earned a college scholarship from the Modesto Bee. He was a Life Member CSF and gave the invocation at his high school graduation. It’s no surprise David became President of The Villages Association.

David went on to graduate from UC Davis in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Chemistry, was President of the UC Davis Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society and student speaker at the College of Engineering Graduation in 1973. He was President of the student chapter of IEEE.

David received his MSEE from Stanford University (Got an A+ in Donald Knuth’s Algorithms graduate computer science class at Stanford), and graduate seminars with Vint Cerf on this new thing called the internet! Robert Metcalf was his advisor, who had just invented and deployed the ethernet at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC).

Not only was David there at the beginning of the internet, but he also attended the Homebrew Computer Club meeting and spoke with two young guys introducing their new invention. Their names were Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, and they were introducing their Apple 1 personal computer.

David’s career as an engineer had him traveling internationally and earning him multiple million-mile frequent flyer miles. He’s made 60-plus trips to Japan, side trips to Hong Kong, China and one round-the-world trip—Japan/Hong Kong/Thailand/Nepal/India/Egypt/UK—and now, Manteca.

David has expressed his enjoyment here at The Villages, with the supportive and friendly environment created by the clubs and staff and the beautiful and safe environment. He wants to share his constant amazement at the diversity, skills, and knowledge of Villages residents, and give thanks to the many friends he and Evonne made over the years and their kindness. He will miss The Villages and The Villages certainly will miss him. Thank you, David, for your time and your many contributions. We wish you and Evonne, your bride of 52 years, the best at your new home.

One last thing. David’s new home is a Davis-Stirling HOA community. We wonder what he’ll be doing in six months!

IRS Resolution Vote

Wednesday, June 11, 2025; 4 p.m.: The Villages Clubhouse

(California Civil Code Section 5115 (b)

Candidate Registration List: As certified by Michael Schwerin, President of The Association Board, the following Candidate Registration List contains a full and complete list of qualified candidate nominations received by the Association on or before March 31, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., the deadline established by the Board of Directors for receipt of nominations for the annual election of directors of the Association. 

List of Candidates:

Stephen Gilbert

8374 Riesling Way

Notice of Election Information: As of the published deadline for receiving nominations, the number of qualified candidates for election to the Board does not exceed the number of directors to be elected, as determined by the Inspectors of Elections. Additionally, all conditions outlined in The Villages Association Election Rules, Sections 2.5 through 2.5.6, have been met. Therefore, Stephen Gilbert, as the qualified candidate, will be placed on the agenda and may be declared elected by acclamation at the April 29, 2025, monthly meeting to serve a three-year term beginning at the close of the June 11, 2025, Annual Meeting. Furthermore, The Villages Association will hold a vote in May and June to elect directors and vote on the Association Resolution regarding the Excess of Membership Income Over Membership Expenses to be refunded to members.

The Villages Association maintains a Voter List.  Members are permitted to verify the accuracy of their individual information on the Voter List (California Civil Code Section 5105(a)(7). The Voter List is available for review in Business Administration Building A upon request. Please contact the General Manager’s office at (408) 223-4634. 

Ballots will be sent to all Members indicated on the Voter List on May 9, 2025. Ballots may be mailed or delivered to the following so long as the ballot is received no later than Monday, June 9, at 8:00 a.m.: The Villages Association, Bldg. A, 5000 Cribari Lane, San Jose, CA 95135

The ballots are scheduled to be opened and tabulated at an open Association Meeting on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. at Vineyard Center, 9100 Villages Fairway Drive, San Jose, CA 95135. The results of the vote will be announced at the 2025 Annual Meeting of Members, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at 4 p.m. at The Villages main Clubhouse, 2800 Villages Fairway Drive, San Jose, CA  95135.

The Board Meeting Schedule provides the monthly Club, Association and Homeowners’ Board meetings–where, when, day and any pertinent information. Click the link above and go to the Board meeting details. If you see anything that is incorrect, please notify our Webmaster at webmaster@the-villages.com. 

The Annual Membership Meeting for all The Villages corporations is Wednesday, June 11 at 4 p.m. in the Clubhouse.

Association

• The Special Open Meeting to count ballots is Tuesday, June 10 at 9:30 a.m. in Vineyard Center.

• The Annual Membership Meeting for all The Villages corporations is Wednesday, June 11 at 4 p.m. in the Clubhouse.

• The Villages Association Board of Directors Organizational Meeting is Friday, June 13, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Montgomery Center.

• The Villages Association Board of Directors Monthly Board hybrid meeting is Tuesday, June 24 at 9:30 a.m. in Foothill Center and on Zoom.

Meeting ID: 917 8108 3392; Passcode: 223468; Dial: 1-669-900-6833; Join meeting here

• The Villages Association Board of Directors Study Session Re: Policy, Procedure and Rule Changes is Tuesday, July 15, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Foothill Center.

Club

• The Annual Membership Meeting for all The Villages corporations is Wednesday, June 11 at 4 p.m. in the Clubhouse.

• The Villages Golf & Country Club Board of Directors Organizational Meeting is Friday, June 13 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Montgomery Center.

• The Villages Golf & Country Club Board of Directors Study Session Re: CPo 305 is Tuesday, June 17 at 2 p.m. in Foothill Center.

• The Villages Golf & Country Club Board of Directors Regular Meeting is Tuesday, June 24 at 1:30 p.m. in Foothill Center and on Zoom.

Meeting ID: 961 5036 4740; Passcode: 260616; Dial: 1-669-900-6833; Join meeting here

Homeowners’

• The Annual Membership Meeting for all The Villages corporations is Wednesday, June 11 at 4 p.m. in the Clubhouse.

• The Villages Homeowners’ Corporation Board of Directors FY 24/25 Quarterly and Organizational Meeting is Thursday, June 12 at 9 a.m. at Montgomery Center.

For the full meeting schedule, please refer to the Events Calendar on the Member Portal.