The Niguel Shores Men’s Club provides an annual scholarship and three functions—camaraderie, two great breakfasts a month, and informative/entertaining speakers. New members, new residents and old residents are all welcome. Bring a neighbor.
Meet your neighbors. Pick up an application at the office or call your secretary. Sorry, we do not serve wine with breakfast. We love this place!
The Niguel Shores Men’s Club Morris/Wollin team provided another magnificent breakfast on November 7. Thanks guys. We learned that Jack Sweeney’s health continues to improve. Geoff Dunlevie introduced us to www.shoresangels.com (949) 359-1939, a new group formed by Rhonda Dunlevie dedicated to helping our neighbors with a need—errands, chores, lunch, reading or just visiting. Bob Enger announced that as the football season comes to a close, the Men’s Club sponsors a football pool for the benefit of the scholarship fund.
The state of the shores Our speaker, Bob Russell, arrived in Niguel Shores late in the last millennium. At the beginning of the current era, he joined the Men’s Club and then took on a position on the Niguel Shores Homeowners’ Association Board of Directors. Is that a government? Not quite. No pay and no perks—except contributing to making Niguel Shores a lovable place.
Bob indicated that the four-month process of creating a budget for the Shores resulted in three variations—two with a raise in assessments and one without. Considering that the reserves are good and projects under control, the Board selected for the sixth consecutive year a no increase budget, but one without a surplus. Inevitably, we can expect an increase in 2019. He said it’s always a tough management decision to choose between raising rates to create a surplus or keeping the budget tight and facing special assessments for unexpected crises. Our seventy to ninety percent reserves are better than the reserves in most HOA communities.
Bob explained that Niguel Shores financially benefits from having a management team that works for us rather than for a separate management company. A major extraordinary expense has been the soon to be completed major slope reconditioning and reconstruction. The water bill for Niguel Shores has been less than anticipated. Thank you, meters and rain. However, another drought will likely reverse that savings.
He said the Revetment project and path are proceeding. The plans have been approved by the Breakers, by Niguel Shores, by Orange County, and submitted to the Coastal Commission. Completion is targeted for four years after approval. What is the ten-year fear? The association faces no known risks. Legal actions provide the biggest unknowns. The most frequent cause of special assessments at all associations is costs related to litigation.
The compression of holiday publishing and a third Tuesday Men’s Club breakfast schedule (the Bernoulli effect) compel the creation of this report before, rather than after, the event, proving that once again your secretary makes it up as he travels along. We introduce our speaker, after a delightful Robert’s Team breakfast, as Mayor Dave Harrington, Mayor of Aliso Viejo. Is the mayor here to advise us Aliso Viejo plans to annex Niguel Shores? Or take over our breakfast teams? Impose a special tax because we have too much fun? Commandeer our beach bluff parking and access?
None of the above. In the never-ending political season, Mayor Harrington has announced that he is running, or is considering a run, for Orange County sheriff. (At a previous Men’s Club Breakfast, OC Sheriff Coroner Sandra Hutchens announced she would not run for re-election.) Before running
for Mayor, Dave served 28+ years in our Sheriff’s Department. By contract, OCSD provides all of Dana Point’s police services, a significant portion of the Dana Point city budget. At the time of writing, we are unaware of any other candidates for Sheriff. Although we may be politically incorrect, we strive for fundamental fairness, so future announced candidates will be given opportunities (if convenient) to be heard. We will learn how police services for Dana Point and Orange County will be expanded or compressed by the new administration and how our costs will be impacted.
Presumptively our costs will increase. We will learn whether Orange County will continue to enjoy a professional police service, or return to political factionalism by its uniformed officers. Will Sheriff Dave patrol on a horse? Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah.
—Robert Saint-Aubin, Secretariat
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