As we move into the next couple of months, you are going to see a lot of “WRITINGS”, about the different resolutions that will be coming to you for your vote as an owner. I want to take a few minutes and give you my take on them.
First, the Resolutions approving meeting minutes from last years Annual and Special Membership Meetings; along with the resolution on approving there to be an annual audit are both legal requirements under the law. I recommend that you vote YES on both.
The Resolution on the budget this year is fairly straight forward. The Board has determined that additional increases are not warranted so assessments will be the same in January of 2019 as they are right now. In order for the budget to FAIL, there must be at least 677 No Pass Votes. My recommendation is that you approve the budget as written.
At the May Informational meeting we introduced three (3) additional Board Resolutions. The first one (#2018-03-04) is all about clarifying language in the CCR’s that affects how we vote in Clearwood on issues. Incomplete and vague drafting of the language in previous Resolutions that had good intentions actually harmed the definition of member’s present and attempted to remove the ability to have a Proxy for a vote from the language. This resolution restores and clarifies the language to meet the intent of giving the community the greatest opportunity to vote by establishing that all meetings including Special Meetings will allow every member to vote if they so choose, no matter where they are in the world. You will be able to vote by mail, by proxy, by attendance and a drop in ballot. It even adds necessary language to position the Association for the ability to use Electronic voting once we have the technology necessary to do that.
The next Resolution (#2018-03-05) is also critical and I recommend you vote YES. This resolution is also admittedly controversial so you will likely see lots of opinions on this one. I wrote this resolution and took it to the Board. It started out with a discussion about the lack of candidates we have for the Board combined with a discussion about the huge turnover that we continue to experience on the Board “regularly”. The recall effort this past year highlighted the need for enhancement of the background check policy and while the law doesn’t allow law enforcement agencies to run NCIC checks for us, there are some things we can do to improve our awareness. The constant turn over that has been experienced in the last 18 months on the Board has highlighted a need for a smaller more agile board that can react quickly, have better and deeper conversations about complex issues, and serve the community with limited resources in both staff time and board support. Studies have shown that the effectiveness of group decisions is decreased with a larger board. At the current time we have five members ranging in age from 30 something to 70 something. We have male and female, moms, dads, grandparents, different cultures and religions, professionals, technicians, educators, and retirees, so please don’t let the argument that we need “diversity” on the Board resonate as a reason to vote NO. I ask that you look around at what has been done and is planned for this year to know that working with 5 is better. It takes time to recruit and train new Board members, and in the last few months we have had little to no interest. We have reduced the drama, the unprofessional behavior on social media, and have gotten down to business. We have a group that shares the work and that makes all of our jobs easier and less time consuming. That is important when you work full time and volunteer. So please vote YES. It’s the right thing to do for the community and its a good business decision.
The last Board resolution (#2018-03-06) is simple. It’s a YES vote. If you elect someone to serve on the Board you expect them to come to the meetings right? Vote Yes.
And lastly, there are two member resolutions brought forward. One is also about the mail in option for all Membership meetings and the other is about Professional Property Management. It is a non binding resolution asking the Board to look into PPM. PPM has been a conversation in this community for many years. This year the member resolution asks to discuss PPM. Many members have expressed interest and there have been several member meetings concerning this up to the point of contacting PPM. We are contacting several PPM companies to gain an understanding of actual costs and possible benefits. I have been contacted by one so far and am exploring costs and getting a better understanding of what they do. What if it could save money What if the community could be run better with a Management company? I want to have an open mind and check out every possibility. The Resolution will certainly tell us what the Community thinks, and if we spend this time checking into the possibility what is there to lose?
In closing, I am going to share with you how damaging some of our own community members are when they post half truths and inaccuracies on Social Media to stir the pot. While some may think it is funny, it is detrimental and unfair to the people who volunteer their free time to service this community. The drama that a select few create gives a totally inaccurate reflection of this community and its values.