One Year Review on the CA Board
Dr. Chao Wu
(This article was published on the Villager, May 2016.)
As another River Hill Board of Directors Election and election has come and gone again, I realize that I have been serving as your Council Representative for a year.
During the last year, I have been writing monthly articles in The Villager to bring what happens at Columbia Association to our residents. I created a new blog at http://www.chaowu2016.com( now http://www.chaowu.org) which discusses many issues inside and outside CA. I have been attending many meetings, both that of our Village Board and CA Board. I served as Vice-Chair, then Chair for the Planning and Strategy Committee, and voted to pass the FY2017-2018 budget. This budget has the largest-ever capital budget for CA. I serve in the audit committee and pay close attention to how CA is running and CA’s governance regulation. I have been talking to our residents, responding to their concerns, coordinating efforts between different stakeholders to get residents’ concerns addressed and get problems solved.
During the last year, CA re-opened the Hobbits Glen golf course, moved the CA Headquarters from downtown to the new location, and brought the membership service online. CA has been involved in the downtown development. The Inner Arbor Trust continues its Chrysalis construction on Symphony Woods. CA has also been investigating and exploring a new membership structure and pricing.
CA has officially approved a new sister city, Tema, Ghana. I also led the effort to initiate a new sister city with Liyang, China. CA’s International Exchange and Multiculture Committee has created a China Sister City subcommittee to foster this relationship. I strongly believe culture and education exchange will benefit our residents, especially our young generation to help them build a strong sense of global citizenship.
Nevertheless, among all achievements, we have many more issues to overcome. Our residents may notice the low participation rate in the River Hill Board of Directors Election. In six of Columbia’s Villages, there was only one contested election for the Council Representative position. It is unfortunate that many elections are uncontested or do not even have enough nominations to fill the vacancies. Why is there not enough interest from our residents to serve on these boards? Is this because our residents feel CA or our Village Board are not relevant? Getting more people involved with our community is critical to the overall health of River Hill. Since our residents are the primary stakeholders for our community, we want to hear from you and encourage your participation in the ongoing changes in our neighborhood.
Chao Wu, Ph.D.
River Hill Representative to Columbia Council
Columbia Association Board of Directors
Email: superbwu@gmail.com Tel: 240-481-9637 Website: http://chaowu2016.com
Disclaimer: This letter only represents Dr. Chao Wu’s personal opinion. It does not represent River Hill Board of Directors nor Columbia Association’s Board.