By Patrick McCarthy, September 21, 2021
My Thoughts about our Board/POA
As an organization, we’ve had a tough time in the last few years. We property owners have had our share of disappointments. Senior-level POA staff have made poor choices concerning the needs of the Village which has resulted in squandering of our resources, misadventures, lawyers, and lawsuits, and wasted time and opportunities. Elected Board members have said one thing and then done quite the opposite. In short, I would say our POA Boards over the last few years have disappointed owners more than they have met their objectives in their decisions and spending.
With John Paul serving as interim General Manager for a second time, we are again looking for a “permanent General Manager”. And the Board’s solution is a nationwide search which will automatically call for higher salary costs, significant headhunter expenses associated with this search, and obviously other peripheral related costs (i.e. a big price tag).
My question is why are we doing this? Spending more money in the past has not gotten us quality, viable long-term candidates, why will it now?
We repeatedly talk about the quality POA staff we have and their talent. Aren’t our own employees and the local talent pool the first place we should look? If I was on this Board and saw potential talent within the employee ranks I might ask that person if they had any interest. They either do or don’t, it’s that simple. And we wouldn’t have asked them if we didn’t already see the potential.
Let’s look at or near home first, it just makes sense. They are here (no moving, etc.), they have housing, they are part of the community. You know we rave about our staff/employees being so good – let’s take a look at our talent, maybe our next GM is among them.
We’ve also had offers from some property owners, let’s revisit them.
I’m not on board with this nationwide search business unless other more local searches have been tried first. This kind of rampant spending will not get my vote for a big fee increase, Quite the contrary. I will want to control our Boards with the purse, restrict the money.
As a matter of fact, I think I can say now that my vote will not be for a big fat increase. I just don’t want to entrust a big increase in funds to the current and/or many of our former Boards. I don’t want anyone to think I am singling out this Board, they have plenty of Board history to live down.
If there is one thing I would like to see it would be more creative, outside the box thinking – more common sense thinking on spending, a priority list on jobs, real transparency, a dollars and cents picture for most any project, and last but not least giving trust to get trust.
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Jeff Olson
09/21/2021 — 12:51 pm
Agreed, and well said Sir! And I would add that no assessment change of any kind should be considered until we have a new GM (hopefully) providing the benefit of his/her knowledge, experience, wisdom and prudence so very much needed at this critical juncture.
Mark Oliver
09/22/2021 — 7:54 am
Agreed. Another case of champagne taste on a beer budget. I also want to see the “policy” that designates where the assessment money will go. With a policy in place, I likely would have supported one of the other options, but can’t support the current proposal. I only have 2 votes, but they will be no votes.
Linda Anderson
09/29/2021 — 8:32 pm
Patrick, Thank You for your understanding of the past and current situation of the Board/ POA. This assessment raise cannot immediately fix a 50-year-old problem. The Board should step back and look for a better solution. What is needed is a reasonable increase to continue for at least 5 years with a legal and binding Special assessment so that we will know how this money will be spent. I don’t think that is too much to ask. A policy can be changed by our next GM. Throwing this money into a general fund is unacceptable. Without accountability, Vote No.
Robert Busse
10/01/2021 — 9:25 am
If you were unable to attend or watch the BOD/FRATF town hall on Oct 28th you missed an excellent presentation and Q&A sessions that I believe opened many eyes.
First off, the first week in OCT, the Board will publish a new, very difficult to change, governing policy concerning how all our future money is to be spent focusing on maintenance. When passed by this Board, it will make it very difficult for future leaders to disregard or change this emphasis on maintenance. Secondly, if this dues increase is not passed, Village services and maintenance will be downgraded/decreased because we will not have the revenue to pay for levels we now have. In order to cover vital expenses, some services will be reduced or eliminated, assets sold, and fees increased even more. It is apparent that with costs increasing and inflation increasing, without a revenue boost our Village will begin to suffer even more than it is presently.
I strongly recommend you watch the video of this informative public meeting.