Thank you for becoming members of RPOA for the current calendar year. We are also grateful to the members who attended the special membership meeting held April 29, 2023.

By vote, our members approved 4 of the 5 resolutions placed before them at that special meeting. Those 4 resolutions have been incorporated into the existing revised bylaws. The rejection of the 5th resolution led to further amendments to the revised bylaws. As a result, the board will again ask you, RPOA members, to approve the proposed revised bylaws. This request will be forthcoming.

Today, we want to share with you the following items of business accomplished at a special meeting of the RPOA Board of Directors held May 10, 2023:

  • Appointed volunteer Lon Freeman to fill the recent vacancy on the board through the remainder of the current term of office and to fulfill the position of vice president. This appointment returns the number of board members to three.

  • Appointed LeeAnn Chastain to fulfill the role of treasurer.

  • Created a standing Treasury Committee, chaired by the treasurer, to assist in running the day-to-day financial affairs of the association.

  • Created a standing Website Committee to administer and further develop the public- and member-facing website of the association; appointed Greg Hancock as chair of that committee.

  • Amended the proposed revised RPOA bylaws based on members’ comments at the special membership meeting of April 29, 2023 and approved the submission of the amended revised bylaws to the 2023 RPOA members for their approval by written consent.

Sent on behalf of the board: Greg Hancock, president; Lon Freeman, vice president; LeeAnn Chastain, secretary and treasurer.

Two additional announcements:

  1. Patricia Benton is the Rosario neighborhood coordinator for the food bank project. Food is collected every other month from a list provided by the Orcas Island Food Bank. For more information, or if you are interested in donating or assisting with neighborhood donation collections, please contact Patricia at [redacted for privacy - contact info@rpoa.site].

  2. Updates from Christopher Peacock, General Manager, Rosario Resort & Spa (as of April 29, 2023):

We’ve had lots of projects going on the past few months here at the resort. We have reroofed the 1300 Skagit Guest Building and The Beachhouse, as well as reroofed and painted all our various employee housing around Eastsound. We are currently in the process of remodeling all of the guest bathrooms at the 2400 Harborside building. We will also be reroofing the Orcas Dining Room shortly. Problems with metal availability have delayed the start of reroofing the mansion and we do not want this huge project to be underway during the summer season, so it has been postponed. However, we have power-washed the shingles on the upper level of the mansion and hope to get that painting project started shortly.

As I am sure you are all aware, the resort is actively being marketed for sale and has seen a lot of interest. The Barto Family ownership is also proceeding with business as usual, preparing for our summer season. We are excited to get the Cascade Bay Grill back open by Memorial Day weekend, and Chef Rudy Lopez has lots of great plans for the menu.

We have seasonal staff beginning to arrive, with our first international J1 Visa college students arriving in the next few weeks. It is a cultural exchange program, so please help us welcome them and engage in conversation, as they all want to improve their English!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or guest experience issues, please do not hesitate to contact me.