On October 12th, we sent the following e-mail to the Star Island Corporation Board transmitting our work to them:
By this e-mail, we are sending you two documents. The first represents the final submission of the IOL committee to the Star Island Board of Directors. We believe we have thoroughly complied with our charge “to review the elements which led to the delayed opening of the 2007 season and recommend any changes to board policy and process or the staff and its process.”
In an informal conversation before the start of this process, Brad noted the conflicting tensions inherent in this process: “Take as long as you need, but complete your task as quickly as possible.” His statement was prescient. We have no doubt that this report could be improved in various details if there were more time to work on it. Nonetheless, we have researched all of the “fact” issues included in this report to the best of our ability and believe they are all supported by the evidence we have gathered.
We also appreciate that delivery at this time significantly improves the ability of the corporation to move on with the immediate practical work needed to ensure a successful 2008 season. Certainly the deadline has been useful, (if inconvenient!) for us; to paraphrase Samuel Johnson, “nothing concentrates the mind so wonderfully as the imminent prospect of a deadline.”
While we have been unstinting in our candid criticism of all parts of the Star Island community as regards their role as “elements which led to the delayed opening of the 2007 season,” we have striven to make our recommendations constructive and of a type that allows them to be acted upon. It has been our intention to provide the Board with the signposts it needs to chart our course where “board policy and process … [and] staff and its process” do not result in similar events in the future.
As we state in the introduction, “This report will not solve any of the problems confronting our island and its community. This report can only serve to begin a process, or a number of processes, by which we redefine ourselves, re-invent the way we run our island, change our expectations (including financial expectations), and change our personal relationships to one another and to our island community.”
We hope the Board will use this document to begin that process.
The second document is an edition of the final report that has been edited to remove any material that may be problematical if released in a public setting. This document was created with a strong eye to the concerns of the SIC Counsel. It is the opinion of the attorneys on the committee that this document does not represent a risk to the corporation beyond the normal course of doing business. It is the opinion of the expert in regulatory matters on the committee that this document does not create any exposure vis a vis our regulators.
It is our hope that the board will see the value in releasing this version of the report to the corporation membership. One of our significant recommendations is that we “establish transparency as a community value” in the confidence that “the entire Star Island community will respond positively to factual information. We should trust one another not only to handle the truth, but to want the truth in a clear and complete picture. Stating that the Island has shortcomings, what those shortcomings are, and encouraging input as to ways to overcome them reflects a trust that should be a cornerstone of Star Island.”
It is in this spirit that we offer the edited edition of our final report.
On my own part, it has been a privilege working with this extraordinary group of people, and I commend Brad and the Board for assembling such an eminent group. The dedication and love for the island in the room was palpable; the accumulated life wisdom and professional expertise that each of the members brought to bear was extremely impressive.
Respectfully submitted,
Jordan Young
For the Island Opened Late committee:
Martha Copithorne
Nick Dembsey
Doug Hatfield
Jack Lightfoot
Russ Peterson
Kristi Vazifdar
Jordan Young
Full disclosure: At the request of the board, there was a minor edit between the version we sent to them and the version published here. We do not believe the change is material.
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