I’m writing to express Tommie Sue’s and my profound appreciation of the extraordinary efforts by Joe-D Belknap and Christie Ann Baugus to maintain, repair and manage Brady Mountain Resort & Marina and M/N docks this spring.  I’ve been sailing on Lake Ouachita since 1978, and have been a slip lessee at Brady since 2004.  I don’t recall a spring posing as many marina weather challenges, such as very low lake levels followed by high winds, tornados and massive flooding.  As you may recall, Tommie Sue and I lease two slips, M-5 and M-30 on M dock, an old wood dock built in 1986 that had been showing its age, particularly as dock maintenance by Brady’s prior owner, Ned Bass, could have been better.  The high winds on multiple occasions caused extensive damage to M dock, which separated from N Dock (destroying two slips), grounded against the shore, and severed the electrical trunk and water lines.  The flooding washed out the road to the “Caribbean” docks.  The tornado severed all electric power, telephone and internet lines to Brady.  Joe-D ran shuttles to the isolated docks cut off by flooding, lengthened ramps to provide dock access, worked through the night until the early morning hours on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend to restore electricity to M Dock, and worked the following Sunday to restore water.  He’s showed exceptional patience with the insurance company.  This weekend Joe-D was anchoring dock cables to the lake bottom so sailboats could pass without their deep keels snagging.  Joe-D manages the marina by doing and by example.  And Christie has dealt with countless lessee and customer issues due to service interruptions.  During times when she’s had internet and phone access, she phoned and emailed all of us lessees with Dock status updates.  Christie is also on M dock and based on when she passes by slip M-5 her “normal” work day this spring has most often been from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm including weekends.  With Joe-D so hands-on when it comes to the numerous problems caused by the weather, Christie’s “administrative” workload has to have exponentially increased.

Just as important, Joe-D has brought the dock lessees together in member/management meetings to discuss ways to improve the Brady experience, and organized events, such as the New Year’s  Eve party,  Easter Egg Hunt, July 4 fireworks, August Luau, and end of season Bonfire, that bring us all closer together.  And, for the first time in years, Tommie Sue and I are again frequenting the restaurant as the quality of the food and service is now consistent with our tastes and price.

In short, Gregg, I’ve never seen two more dedicated, accessible and just plain nice employees making excellent decisions and working under such difficult circumstances.  The selection by Marinas International of those two in the management of the marina has been a godsend to us lessees.  I believe most, if not all, M Dock and other dock members share our sentiments.  Thank you so much.  The key to a successful business is finding and keeping good employees and you get an A plus.  Please share this email with all the owners and managers of Marinas International.