October 2010 Board Meeting

Some last minute family business prompted my tardiness to the board meeting this afternoon. I was lucky to walk in during a presidential tirade coming from the black box on the board table, with the president loudly declaring that he is  "THE PRESIDENT!", as he further chastised the members of the board for not supporting a decision he made all by himself. The Boos from the audience were unbelievable!! Our president must understand that the members expect no one on the board to rubber stamp his ideas. We elected a diverse group so there will be diversity of opinion in all public discussions. His opinion is merely one of the nine. Besides, we're getting very tired of the talking box. Why the heck isn't the VP running the park in the president's absence?

It seems that our president attempted to pave the way to approve an under-age resident, without the proper board discussion and approval. I got the impression from statements made by several of the board members that emails were flying behind the scenes. I believe that several of the board members didn't want to even publicly discuss this hot topic. What should have been discussed is the proper procedure for a resident to request permission for an adult child to come into the park permanently or for just a long-term visit. No one, manager nor vice president, bothered to explain the procedure to the resident requesting the special consideration. This could have been done quietly, correctly, without public outcry at the meeting.

Every member of our board knows that it is illegal to conduct board business by email. With the president out of the country for more than half of the year, it is getting apparent that it is not in the best interest of the park for him to maintain his iron fist over the board.

The Infrastructure Committee reported to the members on the $96,000+ spent on the three completed capital improvement projects that I can't seem to find on the 2010 budget. Some of the money came from our reserves. The rest came from the "miracle contingency fund" formerly a mortgage fund, which few at the table seemed sure of, other than Rose and Susan, and of which some disagreement arose between Paul and Rose. Are you confused? Me too.

Kudos to Patti for her research on lawn care contracts. The four bids she provided to the board produced an interesting cost-saving option for the park. A motion was approved to accept Short Cuts Lawn Care, pending approval from  the manager, Ed Scobee, and the Infrastructure Committee (?)  I guess our contract review committee is defunct.

Another $1,000 was approved for new lighting under the newly completed shuffleboard roof. Your park dollars at work for you.

Regarding the publicized computer observance of the security system, no residents will be issued passwords to watch the security camera displays. Only three people will be allowed to view camera recordings, two Safety Committeemen, and the park manager. Real-time displays will continue in the Office,  so our gates can be opened and monitored by our Office staff. Supposedly, our president's monitor has been turned off. And that's a good thing.

The final hour of the 3+ hour board meeting was spent on the 2011 budget. Susan has been working well with Cheri. For some reason, Parker, not Rose, is a member of the Finance Committee. Rose has considerable experience and made valuable contributions to the budget discussion. No comment from Parker. I hope that the Finance Committee begins to work in earnest with the key players, and eliminates the unnecessary ones.

I really worry about Mr. McCumber's proposed reserve pooling. He needs to listen to his more experienced board colleagues, and  speak less.