President's Update – April 2022
Brothers,
I'd like to open this report with an abundance of thanks to all the officers, trustees, committee chairmen, volunteers, financial contributors, and undergraduate brothers without whom none of this would have been possible. Their continued selfless sharing of time, talent, and treasure has not only met our challenges but exceeded our expectations. I'd also like to specifically point out the continued supportive efforts of Brothers Mike Wyble and Seth Downs during the transition and into the future. On behalf of the active chapter and its alumni, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to all of them and their families.
To say we faced a crisis upon our transition would be a severe understatement. Extremely low cash balances, mounting liabilities to both the contractor and operational expenses, and a completely unresponsive and uncooperative past president left us in a position I can only describe as an advanced spin. To add to our difficulties, the town code enforcer had filed multiple violations and set an impossible deadline to close the already severely overdue building permit. It was time to neutralize our throttle and stop all work. We partnered with the undergrads to address the property issues the code enforcer noted, and they responded quickly and efficiently, buying us additional time on the open building permits — neutralize the ailerons. 1855 revenues, the creation of a stop-gap funding via promissory note with 11 alumni, and summer rent all contributed to replenishing our funds to resume work — apply opposite rudder to stop rotation.
The team then created and participated in an Eta Iota Chapter House work week in August 2021, during which the active chapter rolled up its sleeves alongside our dedicated undergraduates and alumni to clean, trim, paint, retile, install floors, and repair the house for fall occupancy. This, alongside additional work from the contractor, direct use of subcontractors, and a visit to the magistrate by our House Corp VP Mark O'Neill, got us an extension to early September — push the nose down. Within the following week, all inspections were done and all but room 10 was made available for rent — neutralize the rudder. I'm happy to announce that the chapter has 19 of 21 rooms rented, room 10 was completed in the fall, and we're currently projecting a waiting list for this upcoming fall — returning HC to a financially stable state, return to level flight, on course to the future.
When we ran for office last year, our slate of candidates set forward both a mission statement and a vision for House Corp. I'm pleased to announce we've had great success advancing our mission:
To provide, protect and maintain a suitable house for the cultivation and maintenance of Friendship, Justice and Learning for the undergraduate members of the Eta Iota chapter of Sigma Chi. Manage the infrastructure for Alumni communication, involvement, and lifelong bonds of our Brotherhood. Facilitate these objectives through a system of synergistic management and mentorship.
We also outlined 14 directives in our vision, of which only four remain works in progress. Understanding that our quest is of a lifelong nature, we'll continue to improve and update everything on that list. Of the accomplishments of our team, I'm most proud of the repair of the relationship between our active brothers and the House Corporation, which was our top priority. The cooperation between all brothers is vital to the health and smooth operation of our chapter and House Corporation, and the positive environment allows for collaboration and prioritization of the needs of our business. We continue to work on creating a capital improvement fund — with an eye to our future above and beyond our maintenance fund — so we can act proactively on the needs of the facility. We're also still looking for a professional maintenance/property manager to handle the tactical concerns of day-to-day operations for a house of 21 brothers. The other two open directives, Scholarship and Website, have more to do with sharing the load of both the website and the scholarship fund — an unequaled thank you to Brothers Palmer, Banta, and Sprueil for their unwavering support in their respective efforts.
Looking to the future, we still have a good deal of work to go: replacement of the smoke detector motherboard (currently being sourced), 8 rooms left to renovate, an A/C upgrade and replacement for the wings, continued pool repairs including replacing the concrete deck with pavers for easier repair and maintenance access, exterior stucco repairs, gutters, a fire suppression sprinkler, and fencing of the property with accessible gates. The funding and prioritization of these strategic initiatives will be handled so they're only undertaken during the summer trimester, where impact to living conditions is minimal for our active brothers and finances are solidly in hand.
Our committee structure has allowed us to make significant progress on all our initiatives, as you'll see in their successive reports. Our efforts with the university and community relations will be self-evident this weekend through their recognition and attendance. This is only year one of the next great 50 years of Eta Iota, but we can only do it if we all work together.
Duties performed.
Gregg Dudzinski HC President