Commodores Message February 2018

Another month is upon us and there has been a lot of activity already in this new year.
We have a major accomplishment to the improvement of the club and for its members that being the Bylaws.  The Bylaws were outdated, last revision 2011, several attempts to upgrade was unsuccessful.  I appointed Ray Pyne a trustee to head up the Bylaw committee and gave him the challenge to update, correct, modify, and simplify them. Ray took this as a personal challenge and put together a committee, after long hours he completed it in a record amount of time.
You must know in your understanding when reading the bylaws, your club, its existence and longevity must come first. It’s a document not to benefit one but all. We are also governed by state and local government agencies.
In the February’s meeting you will be asked to vote on them and except them as a document and agreeing on the contents as it is written.
Like the constitution of the United States the Bylaws can be amended to meet the changing needs of our club. The forefathers of this country and the forefathers of our club knew no document is perfect and without a way to amend it only leads to an ineffective club. Within the Bylaws there is a section whereby there is a process to amend the bylaws. Please use this process to exercise your rights as a club member. Again, like the constitution of the United States as it starts; We The People the same applies to our club; We The Membership.  
I would like to thank the Board of Trustees for their time in the reading and understanding the bylaws, their input and the debate that was required to bring the final document to the membership.
As the commodore I would like to thank you the membership for voting in the best group of officers and trustees, they know how to listen to each other, debate each other and know how to compromise for the betterment of the club, I also thank them.
Another major event that still has not been resolved is our ongoing court case that involves the summons we received from the Toms River Township to fix the bulkhead that borders east and west of the inlet to Dillions Marina.  We hired a lawyer back in 2016 to help us fight this summons because we knew we did not own it.  The lawyer that was hired came with the credentials that even the US government goes to him to research these types of cases.  He initially stated that the costs would be in and around 10,000 this seemed to be a no brainer for the reputation this lawyer had. Because the board of trustees can only spend $1,500. The board went to you the membership for the approval to spend this money and it was approved.
Since then it has gotten more involved than we ever anticipated and whether the lawyer knew this or not we will never know. I am coming to the conclusion the lawyer knew because he knows the process every case has to go through but here is how it stands.  
We have had 4 interim reports from him, several extensive emails and phone conversations regarding the case.
Research on the type of deed that was granted to the GPYC.
         In 1936 the club was given a deed of easement. That means what we got was a privilege/service or convenience to use a portion which in this case is about 50 feet running perpendicular from Riverside across the 1888 Riparian grant out into the water and that is it! No land was given to us.
We have also been told this deed can never be taken away from us as long we maintain the conditions of the grant which the club has done from its inception.
         Through the lawyer’s research it has determined Toms River had no justification to write the summons in the first place because the groin or bulkhead is really called a jetty and Toms River has no ordinance governing jetties only bulkheads.
         Further research has determined that the east and west jetty walls were built by Sica not by GPYC.  In this evidence, it clearly shows Dillions Creek when it was truly a creek. Many of our members have told me all they had to do back then was to put down a plank and walk across to Island Heights and not a water way into Dillions Creek Marina as it is now.  Further research shown pages and pages of documentation showing who actually built the inlet to Dillions Creek Marina (Sica).
         Further research on this case also has determined that we never owned the land above and below the water line and that the deed granted to GPYC is 200 feet away from Dillions Creek Marina inlet.
All the above research was obtained from 3 – party independent contractors to which we thought was in the quoted prices the layer was giving us.  This was false we paid in and around $13,000 For these services all required to fight the summons.  
         All of this research led the lawyer telling us it would be best for the Gilford Park Yacht Club to claim a quiet title to end any future problems.
         The Board of Trustees thought this was the road to travel down because it would forever get rid of all the deed restrictions and claim what we’ve been taken care of and make it ours for good so the approval was given to the lawyer to go ahead and file to the courts for a quiet title.  This required additional work on the third-party contractors to accomplish this.
Then the lawyer had to take all this information and put into his briefs.
I don’t know how this is all going to end but we lose a lot of time every time there is a change in direction and money each time we have to come back and ask the memberships permission to move forward.  Like when the building was being built we asked the membership to give us the ok to spend money and make decisions without permission to move the building process forward.  We would like you to give us the same responsibly with this action.  This will not excuse the Board of Trustees from reporting to you every step of the way.
The New Year’s Eve party was a success.  We had 72 people that attended. It was always said to me it’s not the size of the party it is the people that attended it.  They were all happy to say goodbye to 2017 and hello to 2018.
Thanks to all who helped make it a success.
Thank you, Bruce for the donating the cheese.
See the website for up coming events.
Your Commodore
Ed Horton