BLA Parents’ Association: How would you make sure the perspectives of families with young children and teens are represented in Board decision-making?

As co-chair of the Security & Safety Committee, I helped lead our community-wide security survey. I believe residents' voices should be considered in decision-making. I'm proud that the survey reached an unprecedented 75% response rate, and I hope you were among those who weighed in. The results gave us a broad picture of how residents feel about community security, and I personally read every one of the hundreds of comments you submitted.

I am in support of conducting another community-wide survey, this time focusing on achieving a better understanding of the demographic makeup of our households. We currently do not know how many families with young children and teens our community has. My sense is that the numbers have grown during the 5 years we have been a part of BLA. Are we allotting appropriate resources – and the most appropriate resources-- to this group?

I am in support of alerting the Parents’ Association—and other constituencies—to issues in advance that come before the board to ensure the board has input.

Too many committee meetings and Board meetings take place during work hours on weekdays, when most working individuals are not able to attend. I support having more meetings on weekends and evenings to allow working parents more opportunities to participate.

BLA Parents’ Association: What have you done to engage with and support families with children, and what have you learned from those experiences?

After an incident in which teens had been approached by a trespasser, I researched what resources were available to provide safety education for our community’s teens to arm them with better skills. I learned that the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Dept provides opportunities for educational programs to groups that can be tailored to the needs of the group. I met with Emilee last spring to make aware of that opportunity if there is interest and inquire what else we could do to ensure their safety.

I participated with a security patrol on a spring weekend afternoon security patrol. Most were teen residents, usually with one or two guest friends and there were several families near the beach with guests. To verify if individuals were residents, even though we requested to not provide street addresses, some still automatically divulged that. I consulted the operations manager at our security partner of the most sensitive way to verify residence and was informed that asking the name of the parent would be best to minimize revealing sensitive information.

I repeatedly have brought up in discussions that consider access control devices for boathouse and clubhouse entry the need to have a variety of devices that address age-specific considerations for teens and pre-teens (eg, wristbands, keycards, cellphone apps).

I was involved with developing a presentation for kids on beaver activity around our lake for Earth Day and handing out activity handouts for the kids.

I have participated in spreading the mulch for the clubhouse playground on several occasions.

BLA Parents’ Association: What do you see as the most important issues facing families with children and teens in Biltmore Lake, and how have you developed that understanding?

I'm a proud parent of 4 grown children and 8 grandchildren and I value living in a multi-generational community. I also recognize that the needs of a family with a five-year-old aren't the same as those of a family with a ten-year-old or a teenager. That's why, on the committee, I've made a point of seeking input from parents rather than relying on any one perspective.

Security and safety are on the minds of every parent, and that’s a big part of why I’ve valued hearing from families through the Security & Safety Committee. I’ve also heard from parents about clubhouse access, especially with the changes coming. Our current limit of two badges per household doesn’t work well for larger families. And because badges have to be worn around the neck or clipped on, they’re fine for a walk but impractical for swimming, sports, or kids at play. Any access system we adopt should work for all residents, from retirees to families with young kids.

The demographic survey I support will help us to develop a better understanding of how we are succeeding as well as where we are failing to address the needs and issues most important and develop initiatives to address those. We will have a mechanism to  develop targeted notices and queries specifically designed for families with children,