2012 CMIA WORKSHOP - IT JUST COULDN'T HAVE BEEN BETTER.
OUR HATS ARE OFF TO DAVID RITZ, OUR HOST
Well, that was a fun way to spend 3 days! The 2012 CMIA Workshop was held at the Ocean Reef Community Association (ORCA) in beautiful Key Largo, Florida. The event started out on Sunday afternoon with registration at the 4th floor ocean front suite that served as registration site, hospitality suite, breakfast nook, happy hour joint and late night hangout. Since it happened to be Mother's Day, beautiful orchids were given to all of the female attendees. The opening reception and dinner was held on the beach overseeing the Atlantic Ocean and the resort's swim lagoon. The weather was perfect and we were entertained by a musician playing reggae tunes.
Monday morning started the tour of the 4 square mile community of Ocean Reef. It was billed as an in-depth/behind the scenes event and it did not disappoint. We walked through a large home under construction and learned about architectural rules and setbacks, saw the airport and dog park, witnessed the sewer plant and reverse osmosis (RO) water plant - ocean reef waters its 3 golf courses and common area with a combination of sewer reuse water and RO water - garbage and recycling operation and then off to the Public Safety Building. ORCA employees answer the 911 emergency system and send out ORCA firefighters/paramedic/security officers to the emergency. The county sheriff also resides in the building and is dispatched by ORCA. The Coast Guard, Border Patrol, Customs and other law enforcement agencies also use the facility.
Lunch was served at the Cultural Center which houses the theater, museum, library and meeting rooms. First run movies and Broadway shows are presented in the state of the art 300 seat theater. A DVD highlighting ORCA's services and a short talk by the Ocean Reef Club President preceded a detailed financial review of ORCA's budget and assessment categories for the 2000 unit community. The large number of 501c(3) organizations created by ORCA were also discussed.
After lunch, the group went to the Front Gate and Welcome Center to examine the software system that seems to controls everything. One homeowner likened the system to St Peter guarding the Pearly Gates of Paradise. The Blacksky brand software actually is a comprehensive package that keeps the community records and ties everything into a front gate clearance system. A short visit to the private Academy where grades pre-K through 8 are educated preceded a walk-by of the Club's $8 million spa and fitness center construction site. The animal control function was next on the list which meant a visit to ORCAT, the feral cat center. Ocean Reef once had over 3000 cats and through a Trap, Neuter and Release program has reduced the number to less than 300. The nationally acclaimed program was recently visited by primate specialist Jane Goodall. The working part of the day was concluded with a walk through of the Fishing Village lined with quaint shops and bordered by the 200 slip marina home to many 100+ foot yachts. That evening our crowd left Ocean Reef to take a Paddlewheel boat tour of Key Largo and enjoyed a dinner on board.
The next day was reserved for a tour of Fisher Island - a 775 unit private island off shore of downtown Miami accessible only by boat. We knew something wonderful was about to happen when we were greeted with a personal ferry to take us to the Island. Fisher Island was rated the highest income zip code for 2010 and a golf cart tour around the 220 acres was a real treat. Like most large scale communities there is a private club within the community that works closely with the HOA. The Club is under a $60 million renovation including the historic Vanderbilt mansion so most of our time was spent with the HOA which is known as FICA.
We went behind the scenes seeing the maintenance yard, garbage transfer station, green waste area, ferry maintenance and other back of the house facilities. We also enjoyed the aviary, small observatory, and a tour of Club's nine- hole P.B. Dye golf course, 3 swimming pools, 2 deep-water marinas and lush landscaping. Then over lunch at one of the many restaurants on the island, each of FICA's department heads highlighted their area of expertise.
A short ferry ride later and we were back on the bus headed for Keys Gate, a large community at the southern tip of Florida and the gateway to the Keys. We took a short driving tour of the many subdivisions that make up the Keys Gate community and heard about the community's U-turn from a retirement community to one made up of hundreds of families with small children. Keys Gate has also been very aggressive in collecting unpaid assessments and has received national press in their creative approach to getting paid.
Dinner at Ocean Reef that night lead to breakfast the next day and the last day of the workshop. The CMIA board had their organizational meeting and annual meeting followed by round table discussions covering such topics as lobbying, security, creating a 501c(3), assessment collection and succession planning. There was plenty of time to commiserate and network with colleagues over the 3 days and several people extended their stay past the conclusion of the workshop.
Next year the workshop will be held in Austin Texas, April 7 - 10, 2013. Jim Romine and Sun City will be sure to have an event that will be memorable to all.
