GRF President on insurance, . nances and more

LEISURE WORLD DIRECT

by Janet Isom

GRF Director

There are a number of rumors about the GRF Executive Director being repeated around our community that need to be dispelled. Now is the time to clarify the situation with both historical and current facts.

Rumor No. 1:

We have gone from $1.1 million excess income in 2021 to a $2 million loss (or debt, depending on who is describing the issue) in 2022, since the current Executive Director was hired. FALSE.

FACTS: There was $1,118,521 million in excess income in 2021.

However, the 2022 budget and annual audit confirmed a loss of $237,983, which is 11.9% of the claim being made about a $2 million loss. The 2023 budget and annual audit confirmed a loss of $648,970, mainly due to an exponential rise in insurance premiums.

Audited annual financial documents from GRF’s CPA firm, Clifton, Allen and Larson, are available to support these facts, both on the Resident Portal or via a Record Request.

Rumor No. 2:

Neither the GRF Board, the Executive Director or the Executive Manager of Mutual Services have made any meaningful attempts to address the rising insurance costs for the community, both at the GRF and Mutual levels. FALSE.

FACTS. The GRF Board requested the Executive Director create a Request for Proposal to hire an independent, third party commercial insurance broker (who did not sell any insurance products) for a flat fee, to review all of our insurance policies for suitability.

We received three bids and chose a broker with 40-plus years of experience in the insurance industry who evaluated all of our policy types, coverage, terms, premium costs, and exclusions. We were greatly reassured to learn that our community was not overinsured.

The GRF Board and upper management were also offered eight hours of comprehensive training, which was included in the flat fee charged. The report and training provided clear suggestions, explanations and rationale, as well as specific questions to ask our existing insurance broker (and other brokers we will interview in the new year).

Both the Executive Director and Executive Manager of Mutual Services interact with our commercial broker, DLD Insurance, on a weekly basis to answer questions the potential insurers sought, as they made decisions on whether or not to bid on our various policies. They also coordinated with DLD to perform risk mitigation (assessing what risks were most likely to lead to claims based on our resident population), to prove that GRF was proactively addressing major areas of concern expressed by the carriers. Our Executive Manager of Mutual Services, Dave Potter, also successfully

negotiated for an incredible $250,000 discount in the commission paid to our commercial broker, DLD Insurance.

GRF budgeted conservatively in 2025 for potential premium increases, based on the best possible data available from DLD and other market sources Rumor No. 3:

Only one candidate was interviewed for the Executive Director position in Spring 2022. FALSE.

FACTS. There were 12 candidates who passed the initial interviews and background checks, while only six candidates were scheduled for interviews for the Executive Director position. We made the best hire from the candidates recommended to us by the recruiting firm.

Rumor No. 4:

The Executive Director is solely responsible for excessive payroll increases during her tenure. FALSE.

FACTS. All raises or bonuses for the Executive Director are approved by a majority vote of the GRF Board of Directors.

All other employee raises and bonuses require Administration Committee approval, as it has oversight over personnel matters. The Administration Committee is comprised of the four board officers—president, vice president, treasurer and corporate secretary—along with the three GRF board directors who serve as chairs for the Facilities, Operations and Member Services committees.

Rumor No. 5:

The Executive Director was responsible for the costly purchase of the new accounting and community management software (CINC) that she chose, coupled with related launch costs for data cleansing, import and conversion, monthly subscriptions and training. FALSE.

FACTS: The proposed new software purchase was discussed at length in multiple Operations Committee meetings, which included IT staff feedback on the ease of cleaning and exporting the legacy database and integrating it with existing software, before being recommended to the Board of Directors for a vote and approval. The purchasing decision was not at the sole discretion of the Executive Director.

Rumor No. 6:

The Executive Director mismanaged the Mini Farm project.

FALSE.

FACTS. The Mini Farm project was initiated and driven by the Board, not the Executive Director. It was a board-approved project overseen by the board, with direct contributions from an Ad Hoc Committee of board members. While there was input by senior staff from the Facilities and Recreation departments, the ultimate responsibility and decision-making authority for the project rested with the Board of Directors.

I hope the above serves as a factual basis addressing rumors that are currently circulating in the community and helps eliminate erroneous information being spread.