BLMA BOARD ELECTION RESULTS

Hi Folks,

I hope everyone’s 2026 is going smoothly. It’s hard to believe that Daylight Savings Time is just two weeks away.
I am pleased to share the official results of our recent Board election.

Election Results:
Nancy J. Perry – Re-Elected
Charles Lascari – Re-Elected
Bruce Tuberville – Re-Elected
Caroline Walters – Newly Elected Board Member

Your 2026 Board of Directors:
Nancy J. Perry – President
Jason Zullo – Vice President
Caroline Walters – Secretary

Eric McKenzie – Treasurer
Charles Lascari – Director
Bruce Tuberville- Director
Val Craciun – Director
We received 653 electronic votes. In addition, 19 paper ballots were properly submitted and counted. Unfortunately, 16 paper ballots could not be counted because they were either unsigned or returned in the incorrect envelope.

E-Vote continues to be a secure, simple, and cost-effective voting method for our community. It cannot be tampered with and significantly reduces expenses. Our next campaign will be in March, and I strongly encourage everyone to sign up for E-Vote so your ballot is received and counted.

When you cast your E-Vote you immediately get a confirmation that it was done correctly. If you need help the office will help you. 351 paper ballots had to be mailed out costing our community thousands of dollars. This money could be put to better use, especially when only 19 of them were correctly submitted and another 16 were submitted but done incorrectly. That leaves 326 totally wasted mailings.

Please remember that it is your responsibility to ensure the office has your current email and mailing address. About 30 of the paper ballots were returned as undeliverable. While the number of returned ballots was not enough to impact the election outcome, any undeliverable ballot is too many.

I would also like to clarify the use of proxies, as this can be confusing. A proxy cannot legally be used to vote for a candidate. Proxies are only valid for voting on questions presented on the ballot. Giving your proxy to someone does not authorize them to cast your candidate ballot. I want to update our Proxy Policy, so this is no longer an issue for confusion.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this election. Although participation has tripled since implementing E-Vote, we are currently at approximately 45% of total ownership. Let’s work together to increase that number — reaching 80% participation would be a tremendous achievement for our community.

In other news:

Lake Update

I am aware of the dead fish in Berkshire and Belville Lakes. I contacted our Lake Management Company, and they advised me that the most likely cause is the recent cold snap. I was skeptical of this answer, but have since heard the same thing is happening to many lakes in Florida. This was on the news. Although the freezing temperatures occurred a couple of weeks ago, it can take time for lake water temperatures to drop sufficiently to stress or kill fish. In order to be safe, rather than sorry, I have requested a full water quality test. The results should be available within about a week, and I will share them once received.

Henley Lake’s water has cleared up with the treatment we did a couple months ago. Water levels in our lakes are low this time of year, this has nothing to do with erosion. We are in the dry season and by August this will change.
Holiday Lighting

At last night’s Board Meeting, two residents expressed concerns about the holiday lights. The majority of the feedback I have received regarding our holiday decorations is positive, but in order to ensure we fairly represent the wishes of the entire community, I will be sending out a survey via email so homeowners can provide input on how they would like to proceed in the future. You can also email me in the meantime at: nancyjperry@yahoo.com. I have found that it’s usually just the people that have a complaint about something that speak up, so please if you are happy with things, speak up too so I can get a proper gauge of how everyone feels.

As a reminder, last year I asked for volunteers to chair and form a holiday decorating committee, but no one stepped forward. In previous years, white lights were installed on the entrance palms. However, in 2023 the electrical outlets were replaced and, per code requirements, they were upgraded to GFI-protected outlets. Unfortunately, GFIs do not perform reliably outdoors in damp conditions. Moisture frequently caused them to trip, resulting in the lights going out. When this occurred, Jason and I often had to go out multiple times per evening to reset them after receiving calls that the lights were off. This is not something we are willing to continue doing.

Currently, we own low-voltage lighting that allows us to change colors for various holidays, and these lights remain on consistently. While I have heard a few complaints, the majority of the feedback has been positive.

In fairness to everyone, we will follow the preference of the majority. If the community wishes to spend approximately $15,000 to have the white lights installed on the entrance Palms for two weeks in December, we can certainly do so. However, please keep in mind that if those lights fail due to GFI-related issues, we will not be manually resetting them multiple times per night. These installations are a significant expense, so please consider this carefully when completing the survey. We would also need to put this expense into the budget.

High fiber internet
The latest news is that this will be in by July. We have no control over this. The installation is initiated by companies that want to supply high fiber internet to communities. They have to go through the permitting process which can take time.

Please make sure to sign up for email communications so you get all the updates.

Thank you for your participation and for helping us make decisions that reflect the wishes of the community as a whole.

Warm regards,
Nancy J. Perry
President, BLMA