A Special Message from the President

Hello Indian Lake Members!

It’s hard to believe how quickly a year can fly by. I have always admired the past Presidents for the time, effort, energy and dedication they have given to this wonderful lake, however after experiencing all that comes with being President my admiration has hit an all-time high! Regarding my Officers, Executive Committee and all Trustees, I could not have made it a year without each of you. Thank you for all your volunteerism! To the Sub-Clubs, you make Indian Lake GREAT through your tireless efforts. To the membership, your desire to be a part of something that is more than a neighborhood and rather a community that comes together for good times as well as the sad times, to lift each other up and lend a helping hand. I thank you for your commitment to the ILCC. This community is by far very unique. There is a bond here that some will often refer to as a cult of sorts. Well … we wear green a lot, we cheer each other on in just about every sport imaginable, we win many of those sports because we show up with spirit, we love to show up inside or outside for events and when you add it all up we have some haters. That’s ok! Jealously is the best form of flattery. If that’s a cult … then … I guess … we are cult.

Now I don’t want to spoil any of the Trustee reports in the annual meeting but I will vaguely touch on our general state as a club. First, as you survey the state of non-mandatory clubs in the area, other than our own, you will find none are in a good position. The reasons for this vary, but it largely boils down to the level of membership and the fixed costs of operating facilities, maintaining properties and a lake. For illustrative purposes I will highlight the Lake Parsippany since it was actively in the news earlier this year. Lake Parsippany has 2,200 potential member households and they opened their borders some years back to virtually anyone in an effort to increase membership. Earlier this year it was reported that they had ~270 in-boundary members and ~202 out-boundary members. That’s an in-boundary membership rate of 12.3%. I want you to remember this rate when you hear from Dan Sforza, Membership Trustee, so you have a point of comparison. We are in a significantly better position.

When you have a mature, synergistic and well-structured club, people become drawn to it. Next community home values rise, membership rises, event attendance rises and people begin to ask for more. These are all things taking place that our Membership Trustee, Entertainment Trustee, Bar Trustee and just about any Realtor can validate. When you hear from our Treasurer, Gini Varga-Haukenhauser, it will be apparent that we spent more money this year but that’s because we have more money to put in to the club and as a non-profit re-investment is important. Overall, our financial position is one that most non-mandatory clubs would admire. Long-term, part of that re-investment will likely need to include significant work to our clubhouse. During this Annual Meeting the topic of the Clubhouse Renovation Evaluation will come under new business at the end of the meeting. What I will say, is that we have not finished our evaluation. With that said it would be ignorant to believe that our clubhouse, as parts of it approach 100 years, is as structurally sound as it was 50 years ago. The reality is that something will need to be done to ensure we have someplace to congregate.

In the Spring, many of you undoubtedly noticed that we contracted raking services to increase the water depth of our diving board area and swim lane area as required by the Township of Denville and USA Swimming. A special thank you to Mayor Tom Andes, Town Administrator Steve Ward and Director of Public Works John Egbert for all their efforts to help us dispose of the sediment. While I will not get into the details it is clear that the project was a significant success, one that we expect to repeat when and where we can in the coming years. It was the success of this project that drove me to solidify the Denville Lake Council. Earlier this year I made it a point to begin to form a relationship with the Estling President. Given we are neighbors it makes sense to develop lines of communication. Those initial discussions led me to believe all Denville Lakes should talk and leverage our knowledge, buying power and position within the community. When I approached the other lakes it didn’t take long to gain their agreement. I’m happy to say we had our first meeting earlier this week. While I can’t say what will come out of it, my hope is that our ability to maintain and improve our individual lakes will rise to a new height.

The Board that sits before you is 100% volunteer and I may be biased when I say this, but it is one of the best boards that has sat in these chairs. It’s important for you know that the Board of Trustees at Indian Lake Community Club takes a thoughtful approach to every decision it makes, working tirelessly, in representation of each of you.

I will leave you with one last item. In my first Crier I said the following: “My only ask is for each member to do at least one thing to help the club this year … volunteer, convince a new member to join or participate in a club. It’s simple … we rely on each other and our future is "better together.” What did you do to help make a great lake even better?

Thank you for the opportunity to serve as your President.

Mike Gavin

ILCC President