Governance

The Galt Mile Community Association, as an active Florida corporation, is governed by a mission statement and by-laws. The “Mission Statement” enunciates the purpose of the corporation. The “By-Laws” serve as the guidelines that provide direction and, when indicated, restraint. The keystone ingredient required for corporate sustenance is the ability to adapt and evolve. A credible reflection of the Galt Mile Community Association’s success in this regard can be found in the “Meeting Minutes.” The Mission Statement, By-Laws, and Meeting Minutes represent the GMCA’s corporate history and are available for review in the “Governance” section.

Mission Statement

Article II of the by-laws in the Galt Mile Community Association corporate documents reads as follows.

ARTICLE II – PURPOSES

The general nature and purposes of this organization shall be as follows:

  1. To improve the operation of our buildings by cooperative efforts and study.
  2. To improve and protect the area and the environment within the Galt Mile community.
  3. To continue a good relationship with the City, County, and State authorities and, to that end, cooperate with and secure the cooperation of said authorities.
  4. To encourage the members to understand and participate in the concerns of the Association.
  5. To facilitate a pleasant personal relationship among the buildings.

What This Means…

Article II of the by-laws in the Galt Mile Community Association corporate documents addresses the raison d’être of the Association. The section entitled “Purposes” refers to the “mission statement” of this organization. The critical buzzwords of this “mission statement” are “improve” and “cooperation”. Galt Mile Community Association serves to improve our area, our building operations, our relationship with the City, County, and State authorities, and our relationship with one another. Cooperation with the relevant political authorities and one another is our greatest and only weapon (or tool…depending upon the issue). While protecting and improving the Galt area was implicit in our creation, how cooperation is used to educate, develop, and organize its residents will determine the extent of our success. Communication is the raw material from which cooperation is sourced, stimulated, and sustained. The Association’s web site, newsletter, and scheduled meetings provide powerful formats to exercise this potent tool. This cooperation (and communication) is not limited to the active members of the Association. The Galt community needs to be concerned and educated about the issues that impact their home. The residents of Galt Ocean Mile are as the hairs on Samson’s head. The degree of success that is achievable by the Association is proportional to the degree of participation by its member residents.

Some of the obstacles separating us from our goals are formidable. Educating ourselves about these obstacles and the interests from which they spring is an emotionally and intellectually healthy exercise. Unfortunately, as individuals we represent little more than an annoyance to those that purvey or support those obstacles. No relevant political authority pays serious attention to the concerns of a community that is unclear about its expectations as a result of internal dissention. It is much safer to “sit on the sidelines” as opposing community interests either neutralize or extinguish one another. The Galt Mile Community Association allows us to replace the communal cacophony with a coherent fusion of focused positions on those issues that touch our lives. Any political authority that cultivates a survival instinct listens attentively to a single voice comprised of many thousands of avid voting constituents. The Association compels our “representatives” to “choose sides” and “get into the game”.

The Association protects us as a community much in the same way that instincts protect us as individuals. They operate subliminally, seldom seen but always there when called upon. As with instincts, the Association instrumentation needs to be honed to operate at maximum efficiency. While the opinions and ideas of the individual members are neither consistent nor unilateral, the fact that they all share common interests results in a balanced response to impending issues. The Galt Mile Community Association, via its mandate to “cooperate”, is the vehicle that transforms this varied input into the consensus required to identify issues, formulate achievable objecti