Welcome And Who’s Here

Speaker 3 0:00

Welcome, Bonita Bay Club members. Today is our second podcast of our Clubhouse series, keeping our members informed. We're welcomed by David Treadwell, our board president, and also by David Weatherbie and Jay Belwoer, board members. Welcome today. We're going to be talking about super seniors and what is a super senior membership.

Speaker 2 0:23

A super senior membership is a new membership category that the board has created that applies to any member who is age 80 within the calendar year, at any point within the calendar year, or their 01, that is primarily their spouse, turns 80 within the calendar year. The member must elect into the new supersenior membership category. And the impact of being in the supersenior membership category is that you are not required to pay any capital assessment that requires member approval under the bylaws, and you don't have any votes on a matter that involves a capital assessment that requires membership approval under the bylaws. So anybody that is age 80 or their 01 slash spouse is age 80 in 2026 may opt in to the new supersenior membership category.

Speaker 3 1:27

And once they opt in, they're no longer required to pay future capital assessments?

Speaker 2 1:32

Very important. Future capital assessments that require membership approval under the bylaws. Yes.

unknown 1:39

Okay.

Speaker 3 1:40

Now for members ages 77 to 79, there's a pre-election option. How does that work in simple terms?

Speaker 2 1:47

In simple terms, if someone is age 77, 78, or 79 in calendar year 2026, they have the option to pre-elect in to the new supersenior membership category. If they do elect that option, when they turn 80, they will be a supersenior member. The reason why we have this pre-election now is that we have allocated a reduced percentage of the assessment to someone who pre-elects in and a corresponding reduced number of votes. So for example, if someone is 77 in this calendar year, they would be obligated to only pay 75% of the assessment for the West Clubhouse project, and they would receive 75% of their allocable votes for the West Clubhouse project. Another example is someone who is 79 in the current calendar year would only have to pay 25% of the allocable assessment, and they would receive a corresponding 25% of their votes to apply to the West Clubhouse project.

Speaker 3 3:02

Okay. So once you become a supersenior, you give up the capital assessment matters, but you still vote on everything else?

Speaker 2 3:10

Yes. Okay. That's a simple answer.

Speaker 3 3:13

That is a simple answer.

Speaker 3:14

Trevor Burrus, Jr. And everything else would include the abort elections, any bylaw changes would be the two primary areas of that.

Speaker 3 3:21

Correct.

Speaker 3:22

The other thing I think that's important for people to understand is once you elect in, it's irrevocable, even on the pre-elections. So if you pre-elect in at 77 and there was a capital assessment that required a member vote coming up in 79, you would have the same rights as the 79-year-old. So in that example, you would be 25 percent assessment liable, and you'd receive 25 percent of your votes.

Speaker 3 3:47

Okay. And I think it's good for members to know, too, that all of this is explained in the book that they're going to be receiving hopefully next week.

Speaker 2 3:57

Yes.

Speaker 3 3:58

Okay. So if members want to elect or pre-elect between the ages of 77 and 80, what's the deadline?

Speaker 2 4:07

April 10th, 3 p.m.

Speaker 3 4:09

Okay. And if they don't sign up by that time?

Speaker 2 4:14

They can move into that category later, but it won't not apply to the West Clubhouse project.

Speaker 3 4:19

Okay. And they will be liable for the full assessment.

Speaker 2 4:23

If it's approved by the members and they have not elected or pre-elected into the C per senior membership category, they would be liable for the full West Clubhouse assessment.

Speaker 3 4:33

Okay.

Speaker 2 4:34

And they would have their full votes for that project as well.

unknown 4:38

Okay.

Speaker 3 4:39

So those members that are between 77 and 79, the only trade-off is that their voting changes?

What You Still Pay

Speaker 1 4:46

Well, the assessment changes for them and the voting changes. So again, to Jay's example, if somebody is 77, they would pay 75 percent of the total assessment payable in the three installments, and they would get 75 percent of their applicable votes towards the project.

Speaker 2 5:04

Aaron Powell And the other thing that we haven't spoken about is that the other impact of being a supersenior member is that you're not eligible to serve on the board. So if someone pre-elects in at the age of 77, when they turn 80, they would not be eligible to serve on the board. However, if they are then on the board, they could serve out their term.

Speaker 3 5:26

Okay. One last question. Yesterday, when I was standing in the lobby where members can come and sign the form to elect to be in the supersenior membership, he said, Well, if I sign this form, will I ever have to pay another assessment?

Speaker 2 5:41

Well, the answer is that if you sign this form, you'll never have to pay another capital assessment that requires member approval under the bylaws. That type of assessment you will never have to pay. There are other assessments you would still have to pay. For example, capital dues, operating assessments, hurricane assessments, those kinds of things. Anything that doesn't require membership approval under the bylaws would be something that all members would still have to pay, regardless of membership category.

Fairness Rationale And Next Steps

Speaker 3 6:11

Aaron Powell Okay. Anything else that you want to add?

Speaker 6:14

I would just say from a fairness standpoint, all of this is aligned to the old saying that taxation with representation. So if you have the full liability for the assessment, you have the full vote. If you are not liable for the assessment, you shouldn't be voting on a project where other members may or may not end up having to pay for it. And the same thing with the pro-rata vote. So if you're only paying half of what you normally would pay, then you you get half the vote. So we think that makes a lot of sense. It's very fair for all the members. And it's their election. If somebody is 84 years old and they want to have the right to vote or want to have the right to serve on the board, don't opt into supersenior status, stay as a full member.

unknown 6:54

Trevor Burrus, Jr.

Speaker 2 6:54

Good. I would add, I think fairness is behind all this, the attempt to be fair. The reason for the new supersenior membership category in the first place is the idea that this West Clubhouse project will not be online, you know, we'll not be able to use it until 2031. So our older members, age 80 and above, you know, will have to wait five years before the West Clubhouse project opens. So the idea that they would pay an assessment for something that is five years out, and then when it does open, they would only be able to use it for not as much time as someone who is 65 years old. The thought was that it was fairer to not require the assessment for that older age group.

unknown 7:46

Okay.

Speaker 3 7:47

So this is a meaningful decision that has benefits and trade-offs, and we encourage everyone to take a close look at how it applies to them.

Speaker 2 7:56

Absolutely.

Speaker 3 7:56

Right?

Speaker 2 7:57

This is an option, not a requirement, and it's designed to be fair to everybody.

Speaker 3 8:03

Okay. Encourage everyone to attend the April 2nd spring meeting if they have any other questions. And thank you, gentlemen, for joining us.

Speaker 2 8:12

Thank you. Thank you.