If you only show up here just to get the latest details of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association (GNWCIA) then I've been a pretty crappy correspondent in the last few weeks, wouldn't you say?
Well, herewith the latest news available to anyone with two functioning fingers and an account on the Google: Our sitting board of three remaining directors appointed three more folks to take the open positions good through 2011. They are (in no particular order) Lee Besing, our former Chair, Janet Doherty, our former vice-Chair, and Ida Rodkey, one of the five folks who ran in the recent failed election attempt. I offer my personal congratulations to them all and hope they will continue the good work and progress the board had been making in spite of the buffoonery that some of the other directors had attempted to inflict upon the association.
And of course, comments like that can often upset folks, so I am pledging to myself to limit such observations in the future. I've never tried to be some sort of rebel voice attempting to sway opinions one way or another for issues faced by my HOA, but I can tell you when I see stupid.
A year or so ago, through no input or request from me, the fine people in charge over at the office added a link to my friendly neighborhood Blog on the front page of our HOA's official site. That decision was almost immediately attacked by a few board members who felt I was a threat to good order and discipline, certainly sophomoric in nature and quite often in bad taste. I don't know those to be actual quotes by the way, but I certainly accept them all as accurate descriptions of what I do here.
Upon hearing rumors of the complaints, I immediately contacted people in the know and suggested the link be removed to avoid any problems. You people should not be subjected to someone like me but, I'm happy to report that those critics were denied their requests and the link remained for some time (almost a year, really).
But all good things come to an end. Just as a matter of normal updating and such the link to the page was removed and I harbor no regrets or ill-feelings as a result. I'm just glad that a lot of my neighbors who looked over the community-sponsored web page followed my goofy picture to this page, and as a result, my wife and I have met quite a few neighbors we may have never met before. So thanks for the exposure.
Different topic: I received word from Councilwoman Delicia Herrera's office that Mr. Sean Fitzgibbons, aide to the Councilwoman, will begin attending our Neighborhood Watch meetings instead of the GNWCIA Board of Directors meetings, because they felt it was better for interaction with the community. Ya think? I'm sure the idea is that he won't have to wait for a lawyer to be consulted if he asks a resident "How's it going?"
So if you live in the GNW and think you'd like to get involved with things, why not try to do it by becoming a Block Captain? It's fun and, next Wednesday the 28th of May, we are going to precede our meeting with a cookout - burgers, dogs, chili, sides, dessert! Want to know more? E-mail me!
A quick note: Sorry to be delinquent with the posts this week - I have been overwhelmed with watching TV now that many of my must see shows are on (Lost!) and I have also been doing some work which causes me to have a little less time to fritter away my life banging away notes into the computer and posting pictures of people being goofy. But, I will try to do better and provide those of you who make this Blog a daily visit on your Internet journey, a rewarding experience each day. No, I'm not running for any elected office.
So, then. My wife and I made the short trip down the street to the Lodge of the Great Northwest so we could attend at least the first hour and a half of the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association. The audience was , dare I say, packed, with residents compared to normal meetings we attend. I don't have an exact head count, but it was easily triple or quadruple the normal crowd we see. Thank you residents; we need more people to show interest, and mark my words; you will enjoy the show, especially if you are a closet Springer Fan.
But I digress.
Following the fully participated in moment of silence and pledging to the flag, the meeting was called to order and such, then we heard from residents to complain:
Up first, Former Board Chair, Mrs. Kathleen Callahan and a few comments about the the content of letters from Board Chair Besing and Vice Chair Doherty in last months paper. Read it here. I'll save you some time and tell you that she was upset that two sitting Directors made comments in the official paper regarding intentions to run for the board. Multiple theories as to how this was a disadvantage to other potential candidates, and potentially, caused some candidates not to run knowing that they have to run against incumbents.
I don't know how I feel about the first part - is it an advantage? Who knows? Will it keep other people from running? In my estimation, if some potential board candidate made the decision to run based on whether or not an incumbent was running, I'll tell you right now, that person would not get my vote. Either do it because you intend to win and do a good job for the community, or don't run. If announcing their (Doherty and Besing) candidacy via Passages weeded out any crappy candidates, then I'm all for it.
Former (even before Mrs. Callahan) Chairman of the Board of Directors, Joe Martinez gave his concerns about a new GNW Group called The Happenings, not getting fair use of the GNW Lodge. I didn't quite get the full story, so I'd appreciate if someone from the Happenings group could fill me in, but the gist of it was that the Lodge people made the group meet at a smaller venue (Emerald Valley Lodge), which is not fair. That facility is not conducive to meetings, and I can testify. My understanding was that the reasoning was that it costs more money to open the GNW Lodge, so it needs to be for a group large enough to show that it is serving the interests of the community as a whole. I'm gonna have to side with Mr. Martinez on this one (at least the parts I understand). If a group is an officially sanctioned group of the association, let 'em have the good room. I recall my wife and I being the only attendees of a Board of Directors meeting, and our last GNW watch meeting only had about 5 or 6 folks in the audience.
Okay. You may recall the folks in Emerald Valley who had some drunk guy plow his car into their house. The residents spoke before the board to address their concerns and seek assistance from the board and security to help with the problem. This family has already made contact with the city and other agencies to try to address the problem, but you could see the look on the collective faces of the directors and most audience members; this is not an issue that the association can address in any substantive way. The resident made many informative and helpful points, explaining the problems with the street, the fact that vehicles speed and such. But, unfortunately, her suggestions of having the GNW Security basically sit on her street after hours and write down plate numbers of speeders is obviously a no go.
I was extremely proud of how Director Sigrid Long handled the matter in addressing the residents concerns. She made several suggestions on how to proceed and of course, mentioned the fact that the GNWatch group might be a place to start. (I later gave the family my e-mail address and number, and hope they will join the watch soon).
Have you had enough yet? There is more.
We had a surprise guest speaker, Judge Marcia S. Weiner who is the Justice of the Peace for Precinct Two, Place One. If you get in trouble, you will find her over in Leon Valley. It just so happens that my son is doing his Criminal Justice internship in her office, so, needless to say, I have nothing but glowing comments about Judge Weiner and her thirty or more minutes of informative material.
Seriously though, Judge Weiner has an informative pitch involving the the problems associated with truancy and the escalating troubles youth get into. She gave us ideas of the ways she deals with the little criminals to get them back on the right track. Turns out, she often gives the screw-ups community service and that if they live among us, they could perform said service here in the GNW! Sign them up! We need some fences painted.
Anyway, I believe the Passages will soon be running an article written by Judge Weiner, and if you'd like, she left some informative handouts with the office staff.
Okay. On to Committee reports.
Chairman of the Scholarship Committee, Mrs. Callahan gave a stirring report on the status of the committee and the resulting happy kids. Then the questions from Directors Garcia and Pucci started. There seem to be two concerns from the board members: Are there any conflicts of interest, and how is the money accounted for?
You should know that I have been sighted by two of the three factions of the GNW community for not giving a crap about all the details of every little thing in our community. But in the GNW, there are actually three factions.
One faction is made up of people who align themselves with former board chairman Martinez. A second faction is made up of people who align themselves with former board chair Callahan. The other 95 percent of the people in the GNW fall into my faction. We are the people who just want to pay our assessments, live in the community and not be inundated with this petty, petty, petty crap.
In this case, if some residents want to donate money to a scholarship fund and they want to take the proceeds of the vending machines at the pool to add to that fund, go for it. Keep it all legal and open, but go for it.
I have a better idea.
Do it, but do it as a private thing and don't even involve the association with it. They got a whopping $35 from the vending machines last year. My son is in college. $35 doesn't cover half the cost of his parking permit for one semester. The association (as far as I understand) doesn't provide any of the funds to the scholarship, right? So just do it on your own, and be done with it.
But, in the mean time, the deadline for this years scholarship is early April, so contact your high school and do whatever it takes to get the scholarship money.
I don't want to sound like I'm in a hurry, but it should not take 20 minutes of my life to hear about some stupid (Stupid is such a harsh and opinionated word - please don't let it taint the meaning of this report) scholarships at an HOA board meeting. What impact does that private group of well meaning neighbors (and I do applaud them) have to do with the running of the association? I'd like equal time for the Line Dancing committee and the Bunco team, please.
I was unexpectedly asked to give a few words about the GNWatch meeting coming up next Wednesday. I didn't expect to be peppered with questions from the board, but I was.
I have mentioned it before. I have a great deal of respect for Director Pucci. He asks everyone who speaks before the board questions that are intended to provide information he needs to make a decision. I'd like to think I had my shit together, but who knows? Bottom line, come out to the meeting next Wednesday, the 27th of February. I'll write more about it next week.
Our community Manager, Mr. Darrin Laraquente broke down a series of complaints he has received from residents and addressed each. I'm going to tell you right up front; Mr. Laraquente has hit the ground running and is doing a fantastic job for this association. He is still getting to know the community and trying to put people's complaints and concerns into perspective. Kudos to him and to how he is motivating the staff to get things done.
What he is facing is a series of things that are happening in neighborhoods all around San Antonio. First, people are tagging and vandalizing The Five Oh (78250 - get it?) daily. If that isn't bad enough, we have otherwise upstanding residents who are doing ridiculous things.
On a recent tour of the greenbelts in our area (also known as drainage ditches and dry creek beds), he got to see first hand how some residents simply dump garbage over their fences into the open area. Imagine this. You cut your tree limbs and you toss them right over the fence. Someone looks at them and can see exactly where the tree in your back yard has been cut, and exactly where the branch that matches the cut limb is laying on the other side of the fence. Hello? This isn't CSI people. You don't need a sperm sample to figure out who the donor is.
Okay. If you are still reading this, this is where it ends. My wife and I had another, more important meeting to attend, so we left promptly at 9PM.
On the way out, one resident stopped me to suggest that I stay for the next round of action. I'm sorry, but I'll wait for the official minutes.
Oh, I did hear from several people who stayed that there was an attempt to censure a few directors, but in keeping with my new policy of not reporting anything that I don't witness first hand, I'll have to read about it in the official minutes, and so will you.
Help me out people. We need more eyes and ears at these meetings. Why don't you come on down on the first and third Thursday of the month and sit in with us. You can pick any faction you want to sit with - there are no assigned seats.
As always, I tend to get things wrong. Don't file a lawsuit, just send me an e-mail or make a comment and tell me how bad I screwed things up. If you were at the meeting, I'll be happy to print your take on events, unedited, with or without attribution. My goal is to get the information out to my neighbors.
Yes, yes, we know; it isn't like this event takes place in some place like Minnesota or the North Pole, but for those of us used to 100+ degree summers and very mild winters, the water at 52 degrees with an official outside wind chill factor of a balmy 42 was as close to polar conditions as we can take, and for dozens of brave residents of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association, it was a nippy good way to mark the new year.
Each year, the young and the young at heart meet at the community pool at the Lodge of the Great Northwest to carry on the annual tradition which nets the participants a great T-Shirt and plenty of cookies and treats after the event. I must confess, my wife and I opted to cheer them on rather than dawn Speedo's and freeze any vital areas.
There was a large media presence with crews from KENS-5, News 4 WOAI, FOX 29 and the Express-News. Our Recreation Director, Stephanie was interviewed to provide background on the event and several of the participants gave the media their reasons for participating.
As the hour approached 12 Noon, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Lee Besing, provided the swimmers with the current outside temperature, the wind chill factor and the pool temp, suggesting that if anyone was having second thoughts, nobody would think the worse of them. No one backed out!
So as to accommodate the large crowd, Chairman Besing directed the younger swimmers to take the first leap and the group of kids lined the far end of the pool waiting for the excitement to begin.
As parents and friends waited at the near end of the pool armed with towels and blankets, the Polar Bear Swim officially begin.
There is nothing like chilly water to make you swim fast and these kids zoomed across the pool like it was a swim meet in an alligator farm.
Next up were the brave adults who would not allow all the glory to go to the younger folk. With perhaps a slightly larger splash, it was adult swim and there would be no chickens in this group either.
Though perhaps not as fast as the kids group, these folks demonstrated the Olympic quality skills (okay, not really) to get from one end of the pool to the other without losing body heat or swimming trunks. 
As the swimmers all huddled for warmth and a dry towel, GNW's first resident, Ms. Olivia Theroit, decided that she would not miss an opportunity to get in the New Year's Day spirit. Instead of impressing the crowd with a full length of the pool swim, Miss Olivia instead opted to feel the cool waters from some steps along the side.
When all the swimmers had completed their invigorating swim to get the new year off on a positive start, it was off to the warmth of the lodge to enjoy refreshments and collect on the T-Shirts passed out by volunteers.
Perhaps next year, if we can get up to a reasonable temperature of about 82 or so, I might make the big leap into the pool. But don't hold your breath...
My wife and our son and I all made the short trip down to the Lodge of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association so we could enjoy another fun filled, excitement packed meeting of the Board of Directors. Thankfully, someone made coffee and people like my neighbor Ruby brought in some delicious Christmas cookies, otherwise it may have been a wasted trip.
Nothing to see here - move along now...
Okay, they did have the auditor's report provided by a member of the Goldklang, Cavanaugh & Associates Certified Public Accountants firm. There were no major zingers here and the gentleman was kind enough to answer questions from the peanut gallery. I have a copy of the presentation and I'm guessing if you are so inclined, you can get a copy from the office. Really, I'd just wait for the movie.
But, as just an aside, there is a line item for Allowances of Doubtful Assessments. What that means is, there are people who have not paid their annual HOA fees and in fact, they are so overdue that the account has been deemed "doubtful". Doubtful as in getting that money from the homeowner who owes it to the GNWCIA who it is owed to. The amount is only $266,814.00. I know, chump change. But seriously, I agree with those who say, if we aren't going to pursue it, just write it off and be done with it. Why list it and feel miserable about it?
Okay, so after the report from the CPA, it was time to start the meeting. As has been the format with the meetings I've attended and as indicated on the agenda, they start with a Moment of Silence then the Pledge of Allegiance. Then they hear from people wanting to address the board and finally, the meeting is called to order. Once the meeting has been called to order, someone is supposed to move that they adopt the agenda (If you are keeping track, of the 8 items listed on the agenda, adopting the agenda is number 5.), then they start the new business.
So I point this out because during the moment of silence and the pledge, one of the members of the board, Director Pucci, chose not to participate. This created a visible stir amongst members of the audience and other directors on the board.
Before we all run out and get a rope or call for the McCarthy Commission, I must tell you that while I prefer to stand and go along with the assembled mob, I can't seem to find anything in the Bylaws of the association that explains why we start the meeting off with a moment of silence or the pledge. The association is not a church, a school nor a government entity, so I have to wonder where this little ceremony started.
Please don't misunderstand, I gladly say the pledge of allegiance whenever I get the opportunity in the same way that I proudly stand for reveille and retreat when I am over at Lackland AFB. These are things I do out of pride and habit. But I'm not about to tell the next guy (no pun intended) that he has to do it or should do it.
Would I be upset if the board didn't have a moment of silence or say the pledge? Not at all. But since someone is offering, why not go with the flow? Or, more importantly, why not make the board put it in the bylaws that it be required if everyone else feels so strongly about it?
Anyway, it wasn't a big deal; just awkward to those of us lemmings who can't be bothered to ask why we do the things we do - just because. NOTE: Please check out the Comments Section below - Director Pucci responds, revealing my inept journalism skills.
On to bigger and better muckraking.
One resident got up to thank the board for the recent cut in the yearly assessment and to let the board know that many of her neighbors appreciate the way the board is coming together recently. Bravo indeed.
Another resident had some concerns about the delivery of Passages, our neighborhood newspaper. It seems that the delivery of said publication has been spotty at best. I do recall not receiving it at least once in the last several months. Anyway, she was concerned about application process, do we have enough information about the kids doing the delivery and do we have back-up delivery boys. All valid concerns. The Community Manager is addressing this issue and informed the board that a plan is in the works.
Not to be adversarial (because after all, if these kids are getting paid to deliver the paper, it should be delivered), but out of curiosity, I asked the board if there was any thought of reducing the printed number of the paper and directing people to read it online, but making it available in hard copy format at the office for those who like to read it the old fashioned way. I must tell you, Passages has adorned the upstairs library on more than one occasion in my house if you get my meaning, but I just wonder how many people have it delivered to the door and promptly toss it in the garbage?
Director Doherty was very quick to point out that many residents enjoyed receiving the paper and not all folks are into the computer age, and as a service they are paying for, they should not have to go to the office to get it. Agreed.
Someone (I think Director Pucci) Chairman Besing added in that they could even offer a delivered version to those residents who opt to receive the hard copy but simply not deliver it to those people who opt not to receive it.
Who knows? I'm not really some kind of environmentalist but why add more paper to the trash can (or the recycle bin) when many people could read it online and be done with it? Just a thought.
And with that bit of excitement, the little party was over for the peanut gallery and the board moved into the executive session where they talk about the real issues.
Wow! That was a fast one with little to no controversy to report - which is a good thing, right?
My wife and I made the short trip down the street to the Lodge of the Great Northwest to attend the meeting of the board of directors for the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association.
A very brief agenda and Chairman Lee Besing knocked it out in near record time. Kicking off the reports from the department heads, Community Manager Darin is getting acclimated to the new position and the community. He and the staff have the yearly assessments ($222.00, down from $235.00) in envelopes and you should be getting yours soon. Pay it!
Jose our Deed Restrictions officer is back on the streets and hitting it hard. Having filled in as CM for a period, he had not been able to focus as much time on notifying residents of their crimes against good taste, and thankfully, he is back at it. He mentioned that yes, he does understand French, and many upset residents give him quite an earful when he cites them. Keep up the good work Jose!
Jose also mentioned that the five members of the Architectural Committee should be given new three year terms beginning in January so their tenure's can be normalized. It seems that there had been many members leaving and new people filled the slot. By resetting everyone's tenure to the same month, it will normalize things. Director Guy Pucci agreed and made a motion to do it and the board agreed.
Speaking of the Architectural Committee, did any of those five members approve the new color scheme of the painting project on the Lodge? Apparently, the color is Mustard (on the bottom) and Yellow (on the top). Egads! As I looked at it to take the picture, I could tell how it might work in an industrial sort of way, but again, Egads!
Then again, nobody has ever accused me of having taste or style.
Stephanie, our director of all things Recreation made note of the Hot Chocolate Social scheduled for Thursday the 13th of December. Santa is supposed to be there and apparently, pictures will be taken. Check out the GNW website for more details. She also mentioned that T-Shirts have been ordered for the Polar Bear Swim scheduled for New Years Day. If I weren't so concerned for the wellbeing of the public, I might consider plopping my own fat ass into the chilly waters, just to be able to report the commotion here. We'll see.
Chief Burton was out on business so Chairman Besing made note of the security related details: A new truck and new security systems. Taggers, beware.
Fred from Maintenance gave us details on lots of good work being done to improve the parks and also to make sure the board knows they are getting their money worth from the painters.
With that, Directory Janet Doherty wanted to bring to the boards attention that certain groups renting the lodge during December had some issue with the Christmas tree and associated decorations being in the lodge during their events. Though Jose had no issue with removing the tree to accommodate these folks, I think the idea of someone being offended by these type of decorations was 
equally offensive to many others.
Chairman Besing, though finding the idea (of being offended by the tree) silly, suggested that this was not so much a board issue but a personnel issue - as in, do we pay the staff to remove and replace the Christmas tree every time someone doesn't want it for their party? (Agreed).
At least one audience member voiced his disgust for these tree haters and asked what's next, are they going to want us to remove the Texas flag? Actually, they do remove the flags when the lodge is rented out.
Here's the deal and this is just my take on it from the perspective of someone who just recently rented the lodge. First, it is not a minor expense to rent the lodge if you pay for security and clean-up (security is required if you have any beer/alcohol). So, I don't recall the exact fee we paid but it was well over $650 from roughly 7PM to Midnight. Don't get me wrong; it was very much worth it.
Here's the deal. A Christmas tree would not have fit the scheme of my daughter's daisy-filled wedding. When you rent the lodge, you get the use of tables and chairs and such, but you are not required to use all the tables and all the chairs. In other words, the staff assists with set-up and sometimes the tables get set-up classroom style, sometimes they get set-up dinner style, or sometimes, there are no tables and only chairs. For all the work that it takes to set-up the tables and chairs, moving the Christmas tree once or twice during one month out of the year is not the back-breaker, or the offensive anti-Christian thing that it might appear to be at first blush.
Oh, and by the way, it was actually a religious group who rented out the room who were opposed to the tree. Go figure.
Sorry folks, wish I had more dirt to stir up but really, it was all very calm and everyone behaved rather nicely. My own observation is that our new community manager has had a calming affect and is quick to defuse things when blood pressures raise.
The final order of business had to do with adopting of the a few changes on the budget and there was one insignificant issue (to everyone but the person who raised it) and the CM was able to immediately rectify any concerns and the vote commenced. Great work!
NOTE: I appreciate the feedback that I receive from people present in the meetings, especially when they are able to clarify something that I might have recalled or mis-recalled. That was the case in my notes reported from a month ago. Specifically, I did something that I try to avoid with my blog in general and that is to present information that I wasn't first-hand aware of. Several folks e-mailed me to tell me that I got a few things wrong and of course, I made the corrections to the blog entry. But, I wanted to be clear that it is my intention when I present these notes, that I do so in an honest and hopefully accurate way. This doesn't mean that I expect you to agree with my take on things or agree with my opinion about them. I do appreciate when folks (especially Directors) leave comments that help expand the notes or at least give their opinion. I hope that these notes can make residents (and people interested in HOAs in general) aware of the activities with our little association. But by all means, if I get it wrong, let me know!
I made the short trip down the street to attend the meeting of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association board of directors this evening. Herewith my notes, but first, I really need to make something clear to those folks that live in the community who read my take on things.
There are in fact a few factions of homeowners who attend the meetings, belong to the board and are former board members or want to be board members. I fall into none of those categories. That is to say, I do not turn away from conversations with anyone at the meetings nor do I take cues from anyone when I write these notes. Yet, I have been told to my face by members of both groups that they know I am secretly for the other side. The funny thing about it is, if someone was keeping track, I routinely agree with and write about positions supported by a faction and a paragraph later, poo poo the ideas of the same group. But in my opinion, the bizarre part isn't that people are convinced I'm part of one faction or the other, the bizarre part is that there are different factions of people who attend these homeowner meetings.
When my wife and I attended meetings and we were the only residents in the audience, we sat there and reacted to things the same way we do when the audience is packed - we either roll our eyes and laugh when we hear something stupid, or we shake our heads in agreement when we hear something we agree with. The strange thing is, when we were alone in the audience, there was no one there to tell us which side we were supporting when we had our little reactions. And frankly, there still is no one telling us how we should agree or disagree with the things the board of directors say or do.
Having said that, read on and hopefully I'll write something that falls into your faction!
This was the first meeting with the new Community Manager officially present, and Mr. Darin Laracuente set the tone from the beginning. As the directors began to find their seats complete with the new awesome sounding audio system in place, the projection screen behind the board alternated a logo of the Great Northwest and guidelines for participation in the meetings. The bottom line was, if you fell to show respect, follow the rules or get out of hand, you'll be asked to leave. If you don't leave when asked, you'll be escorted out. Bravo Mr. Laracuente!
Residents to speak included a guy concerned about his filthy neighbor who never mows his yard, has a back yard that looks like a city dump, has junk yard dogs assembled in the city dump-like backyard barking and howling and when the dogs aren't barking and howling, they are howling and barking. He asked the board to look into efforts to do something about it.
The same gentleman went on to lambaste a writer to the Passages who called for doing away with the GNW Security staff. Good Call.
Next up, senior Silver Creek Resident, Ms. Olivia queried the board about a rumor she heard regarding the management of pools. Chairman Lee Besing nipped this in the bud, stating that yes, the board had looked at some options but found that our staff does a much better job for a lot cheaper.
Finally, Mrs. Rodkey had two points to make to the board - her first was to offer praise to Director Richard Garcia for his continued graffiti abatement efforts. As I wrote previously, Director Garcia is out and about painting over graffiti and fighting the good fight to keep the neighborhood free of the stuff. Kudos!
Mrs. Rodkey also asked the members of the board to please work together and vote their conscience, and not necessarily for or against other directors based on which faction they seem to be aligned with. I have it on good authority (Mr. Joe Martinez) that every current board member has been aligned with his Sentinel faction at one time or another, so I'm not quite sure how they line up now, but regardless, I believe Mrs. Rodkey was quite correct in her observation.
I should tell you at this point that the continuing display of the "Rules" must have been working as there were no real outbursts by audience members or board members alike.
As they moved into the agenda, Director Besing introduced Mr. Laracuente to the group and reported that there has been some minor restructuring of office personnel. Mr. Laracuente announced that the office would now be open from 8:30AM to 7PM Monday-Friday, and he hoped to soon open as early as 8AM to accommodate residents.
Chief Roger Burton did recommend yours truly to fill the vacant GNW Watch Coordinator position (which my wife will surely help me with) and the board approved my selection.
Maintenance and Recreation directors gave some updates and then the new business started.
Director Sigrid Long who is part of the GNW Scholarship Committee gave a report and provided a letter and information to the directors. In probably the only real fireworks of the evening, and I should say that it was extremely civil compared to previous meetings, Director Garcia asked a few thoughtful questions regarding the Scholarship Committe.
He asked if the board had oversight. Director Long responded yes.
Director Garcia asked if the names or the applications of the past winners were available to review. Director Long reported that there were some hard copies somewhere but added that they may have been destroyed to protect the privacy information of the applicants.
Director Guy Pucci then asked if the scholarship money was drawing any interest? Chairman Besing responded that the program was actually operating in the red.
Director Long stated that it was not actually in the red, but not drawing interest and that in fact, the account was losing $5.00 a month due to some banking penalties.
Director Garcia then asked if there was any criteria that would disqualify a board member from the committee as a conflict of interest. Director Long replied that none of her kids had applied for the scholarships.
I think several suttle points were made and the meeting moved on to the next item.
Director Long questioned why an article she submitted for publication in Passages was not included in the paper. Chairman Besing responded that they ran out of space and that the article will be in the next issue.
The meeting got to the budget discussion at which point in apparent protest (or not - I don't know for sure) several residents (or members of a single faction if you choose) got up and left. Too bad. The fact is, in just a short period of time, the new CM and (once again) temporary accountant have gone through and weeded out a boatload of items that were either mis-categorized or wrong. The budget looks a lot better than it did a few weeks ago. And, because there were hardly any procedural disruptions from the peanut gallery, the department heads were able to address questions the board and other audience members had.
Only one point I care to address and that is salaries. I overheard several audience members questioning the amount of money the staff is paid. We have a staff of between 18-24 employees supporting one of, if not the largest homeowners associations in Texas, covering over 5,000 homes and multiple community facilities, and apparently, many of you would like to hire people for minimum wage or less.
I was talking to my parents and my aunt and uncle this past weekend and they laughed when I told them people are bickering over an assessment fee of $235.00 a year. They pay that a month for their associations. Don't get me wrong; I'd like to see the board lower the yearly assessment if only to send a signal to the residents that they are trying to keep fees under control. But please don't tell me that you want to run the facilities of this association with illegal immigrant wages.
And with that, I welcome your comments. I don't always get it right and I may miss a few things, but I promise, you'll get more information from my notes and sooner than you will otherwise.
NOTE: Regarding the strike through of comments about the Sentinel group, Mr. Martinez advised me via e-mail that he did not recall the conversation I mentioned and further that at least two board directors, Mr. Sharma and Mr. Miflin have never been part of his group. I have no issue with making the correction and setting the record straight.
2nd NOTE: I received a second update indicating that Ms. Long also has no affiliation whatsoever with the Sentinel group. In other words, apparently very few members of the board have any affiliation with Sentinel. I apologize to any board members who may have been wrongly identified as being associated with the Sentinel group.
This evening, I was otherwise detained until around 8:30PM and was not able to make it to the first hour of the meeting of Great Northwest Community Improvement Association Board of Directors. Based on my brief attendance and by all credible accounts from what I missed, this was quite the event.
Herewith my notes of the short time I was available to dictate. And by the way, if you were one of the many residents who attended the meeting, held at the Emerald Valley facility, or a member of the board, please don't hesitate to pipe in with a second opinion. This particular evening, I wrote as fast as I could, but honestly, couldn't keep up with much of the banter and bickering.
When I came in, the discussion was hot and heavy about the tennis courts. If you recall from my last report, a few residents had voiced concerns about the crappy state of the tennis courts, and some people opined that there was not enough interest in tennis to spend the money needed to repair them.
A counter to that argument has been that if the courts were in good shape, people would use them. I fall in the group of people who probably will never step foot on the courts, but want them maintained simply because in a deteriorated state, they do not provide any added value to my home, and possibly detract from same.
So apparently, before I arrived, Director Guy Pucci must have been talking about spending the needed capital on the courts to bring them back to serviceability. Director Richard Garcia brought a quickly assembled plan before the board to propose a 30-day feasibility study with at least some of the following points:
- 30 days of free tennis lessons to interested kids and adults
- Fixing up/cleaning/painting the courts enough to make them usable
- Paying a tennis pro a reasonable fee to give the lessons
Director Garcia proposed that the board could do this study for $1,500 to $2,000. Director Pucci pointed out that this idea was less of a feasibility study and more of a new program. He countered with the idea that the Rec Director could poll the participants of existing sports programs to see what the interest was. Further, he would like to see a determination of how much other programs charge for participation. In other words, in the same way that the association charges a participation fee for soccer and other team sports, if we engaged in a program of tennis lessons or something like this, it would be for fee.
There was much "discussion". I had seen people in the audience yell out remarks in the past, maybe one or two people with brief comments such as, "Mr. Chair, Director Long is out of order.", but this was different. People through out the audience were making statements; hell, even I piped in with an unwarranted comment or two. One gentleman sitting behind me prefaced his remarks with, "I know I'm not allowed to say anything, but..."
Finally through all of the ruckus, Director SK Sharma, whom I had never heard speak before, gave quite an eloquent statement regarding the fact that he has lived in this association for over 22 years and when he finally retires and sells his house, he expects to turn a profit. Further, he pointed out that the facilities, including the tennis courts are intended to raise the value of the homes, not detract from that value. I don't have the verbatim quote but the gist of it was that even if a single person doesn't play tennis, we need to maintain the courts. At some point or another, he also used the word "Bloody". In the end, his remarks drew applause from the audience, though I must confess, I think I instigated it with my loud clapping.
Director Janet Doherty pointed out that the demograhics of the neighborhood has changed in the years since the original tennis courts were built and there is far less interest these days. Director Sigrid Long rebutted that if the courts were in proper shape, perhaps people would utilize them.
To this, Maintenance Director Fred Murphy made a suggestion that we could go from four tennis courts to two, relocate the basketball court onto the other tennis court, then turn the abandoned basketball court into a parking lot. This would relieve some of the parking issues at the pool. Brilliant!
In the end, Chairman Lee Besing had Director Garcia restate the motion about the feasibility study and it simply was not seconded by any other directors and thus died.
Up next, an issue near and dear to my heart: Grafitti. Turns out that this past weekend, the Lodge at Silver Creek got tagged. It was mentioned that Director Garcia has been going out and painting over the tagged areas on his own and sure could use some volunteers. Director Long brought up the fact that they should take advantage of the A-Team to help, but that drew lots of discussion from the crowd (myself included).
As a side note - and unrelated to the meeting, my wife and I along with several neighbors had signed up to volunteer for the A-Team a while back. Apparently, it has taken some time to get things going because none of us have been contacted by the coordinator. We'd still like to learn more about this program, so if you happen to be coordinating, please leave a comment or e-mail me.
In the end, I did volunteer to assist Director Garcia with his painting efforts and if you feel like you can help out, I'm sure he would love the company.
Given that the meeting was supposed to go to the discussion of the budget, Chairman Besing noted that a lot of time had already been spent on other business and that perhaps they should delay the budget discussion for a special meeting next week.
Director Pucci instead presented a motion to set the 2008 assessment to $222.00. This is a rollback from the current assessment of $235.00. His motion drew lots of quibbling amongst the crowd. Most residents were for the rollback but at least one person, former Chair Joe Martinez pointed out that it was senseless to make such a decision without having come up with a budget. Director Garcia quickly seconded the motion and Director Doherty immediately was in favor.
There was a very humorous exchange between Directors Long and Sharma during the confused discussions. From my seat, it was obvious that Director Long had been out of the room when the motion was made and seconded. It appeared that the other board members did not realize she had slipped out for a short potty break. So when Chairman Besing asked her if she had any comments, she was clearly confused, thinking the discussion was about a budget item. When Director Sharma started to restate the motion, Director Long interrupted him and Sharma quickly and bluntly stated that if she wanted an explanation she should be quiet and let him explain. This drew guffaws from the assembled crowd.
This time, when the vote was taken, Directors Long and Sharma voted against the motion and stating that it would not be prudent to set the assessment, Chairman Besing also voted against, killing the motion.
But this created a further discussion point and that is, that the GNWCIA has $926,000.00 in the bank. Yes, of course there are bills to be paid. But there are also assessments (whether they are $222.00 or $235.00 or more), the pot only gets bigger.
In the end, the board could not agree on a day to hold a special meeting next week to discuss the budget, so they will wait until the next scheduled meeting.
See you there!
My wife and I made the short trip down the street to attend the meeting of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association board of directors this evening. Herewith my notes for the portion of the meeting we stayed for. Frankly, while I know it is important, I don't have any interest in the bickering over the budget as long as the assessment doesn't go up; so we only stayed for the fun part - all the bickering about everything else.
I don't think it is said often enough and by enough residents, so let me say once again, to the members of the board of directors; thank you for your service to our community. Your volunteerism is appreciated, even if I don't always agree with the way you do things.
Following the standard opening, which by the way sounded great on the new sound system that is partially installed, several residents had signed up to speak.
Former Director Joe Martinez asked the board why meeting notes could not be assembled and e-mailed to the board of directors to allow them to be reviewed, thereby speeding up the adoption of minutes. As it turned out, according to Chair Lee Besing, this was in fact done. Mr Martinez also queried as to why security didn't maintain mileage logs on the security vehicles so it would show trends of whether or not the staff was consistently patrolling. As it turns out, Mr. Besing reported, they do check mileage and in fact a new security staff member was let go after only a few shifts when the mileage didn't reflect what was expected.
Moving on, a resident named Joy requested that the tennis courts be upgraded and repaired. I think her interest caught everybody off guard because just a few weeks (or maybe it has been months) ago some people questioned if anybody even uses the tennis courts. Director Guy Pucci asked the lady how often she used the court. She quickly responded that she doesn't use it as much since the court is in great disrepair, however, she would use it several times a week if it were in good shape. Mr. Besing opined that perhaps we could consider going from four courts down to two courts to save money but still make them available.
Another resident named Sandra agreed with Joy and expanded on her concern about the repair of the tennis courts. She said she used to always use the tennis courts but had not been able to in recent years due to the poor upkeep, bad lighting, and unusable backboard. Further, she pointed out that they never seemed to be swept and that trash was often overflowing in the cans.
Director Richard Garcia asked that any residents interested in tennis should please make their feelings known to the board, perhaps in the form of e-mails, letters to the board or even letters to the editor of Passages. Quite frankly, a few people out of the thousands that live in the GNW are not going to be able to sway the board into spending the close to $225K that one bidder suggested it would cost to put things into working order.
So, if you are a resident who wants to play tennis or you feel that the tennis courts add value to your home and the association, you really need to speak up. The GNW Homepage has links to the board of directors and to Passages. Let them know how you feel. And if you'd like to make your case for or against the expense to keep up the courts, tell me about it. I'd like to know your thoughts.
Following the residents comments, the meeting was called to order and a few items were added as new business.
Next, Mr. Chuck Christian representing a potential new business in the area came to provide an informative briefing on the plans to request rezoning of property near the Great Northwest. Near the open field at the intersection of Culebra and Village Park and beside what is a Daycare Center and a big cell tower (directly across the street from the Valero Corner Store). The property is currently zoned as C2 which means they can build retail stores there. What his client is asking is to zone the property as C2S which will allow the use for commercial soccer fields. The idea is to build a regulation sized soccer field and then a smaller kiddie sized soccer field, a retail store for soccer related products, and a concession stand. Mr Christian was not briefing the board to ask for permission, but as a way to proactively be a good neighbor.
Based upon the experience of our own GNW soccer fields and the parking situation every weekend, several directors and audience members questioned the plan for parking. The drawing showed about 30 parking spaces. That won't cut it for sure, but the good news is, the space would be yet another place to give kids and young adults a place to keep them occupied when they aren't tagging up the skate park. I wish the guy luck in his venture. If you have questions about the rezoning efforts, they will be approaching the zoning board on 6 November. If you would like to contact Mr. Christian e-mail me and I'll give you his number.
Next came the adopting of meeting minutes from past meetings. Director Sigrid Long (having received the minutes in advance via e-mail) found several problem areas that she requested to be corrected. During a flurry of comments and complaints amongst the directors and occasional rolled eyes and laughter in the audience of residents and staff, I overheard a discussion about signs being posted in the GNW facilities that indicated no use of foul language was permitted. I didn't fully understand what was being said, but what I gathered was that the board had adopted a plan to post signage reminding residents that on GNW grounds, that no cussing was allowed. WTF?
I guess. But I highly suspect that the people who would take their kids to a soccer game or swimming, then cuss it up, are not very likely to adhere to a few signs. Just a guess.
Rec Director Stephanie gave some updates on pool costs, the positive outcome of the masquerade party and reminded folks of the pending Halloween Party. They do need some volunteers if you'd like to help out.
Director Long announced that former Board Chair Kathy Callahan has agreed to coordinate the GNW Scholarship Committee. Kudos to her.
Vice Chair Janet Doherty had a concern that the GNW Garden Club was turned away from using the office Xerox machine. It turns out it was simply a misunderstanding regarding codes and such, and with only minor infighting amongst the board, it was moved and approved that the garden club could make copies.
I'm very pleased to report that the meeting was well attended (compared to times my wife and I were the only two residents in the audience). It is good fun and I encourage everyone to get out and meet the neighbors. We seem to meet new people every time we attend and it is not only nice to get to know others, but it is nice to learn how fellow residents perceive the actions of the board etc etc.
But, as I said earlier, I just don't have the stomach for the budget process, so my wife and I left at the break.
If you attended the meeting and I got anything incorrect, please leave a comment and set me straight. Likewise, if you stayed for the budget discussions and want to fill us in on it, please either e-mail me or use the little comment button below.
Last night, my wife and I skipped some other plans in an effort to be civic minded and attended the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association board meeting. This is the version where residents are not given the chance to speak, (though Chairman Lee Besing smartly opened up discussions of the DRAFT budget to the audience). The end result in my mind was, same stuff, different week.
The first part of the meeting where members of staff present information to the board went pretty quickly, though getting to that point seemed difficult. After the formalities, and an attempt to adopt the agenda, Director Sigrid Long wanted to add items, specifically discussion of scheduling special board meetings and discussion of an editorial that her and Director Steve Mifflin had written regarding the months ago settled lawsuit with Director Guy Pucci. The Scheduling discussion was added as new business and the letter to the Passages issue was added to the closed session. Hopefully someone brought a taser.
Moving on, there were minutes from three meetings that were to be adopted but after what seemed like an eternity of board members fumbling through stacks of papers, it could not be determined which if any of the directors had received copies of the minutes, and Director Mifflin smartly moved to table all the minutes for another meeting.
Following that fiasco, the meeting continued with an attempt by DRACO Jose Morlett to give an update in his capacity as acting Community Manager. Unfortunately, the borrowed sound system experienced a major malfunction and after a moment or two of observation, Chairman Besing pointed out that the system would function with greater fidelity if perhaps we would plug the power cord into the electrical outlet. This task was accomplished and Jose was on the air, broadcasting to an increasingly irritated audience as he tried to speak above a small daycare that had moved into the meeting room.
Jose introduced the newly hired Assistant Community Manager/Accountant, Cindy Johns. ACM Johns brings several years of experience as a Community Manager for another HOA, and she was warmly welcomed by the residents attending the meeting.
Jose also discussed the successful graffiti removal project held this past weekend. He mentioned that 16 out of 17 targeted locations to clean-up were taken care of by volunteers and that he had already received calls from several people thanking this group for their effort.
Next up, Rec Director Stephanie Larrabee had several items for the board including some budget concerns which would be addressed by the board during the budget discussion. She brought up issues regarding pool repairs and costs and Director Pucci made the request that she receive separate bids to cover some potential plumbing repairs, prior to the board approving a contract. Good idea. Ms. Larrabee also had some positive news regarding other activities including an upcoming Masquerade Ball (October 12th at the Silver Creek Lodge). This is a 21 and up event and they will be checking IDs at the door. She also mentioned the Great Northwest Haunted House scheduled for 30 and 31 October between 7 and 9PM, for the youngsters.
During the course of Ms. Larrabee's briefing to the board, some of the chillin's sitting behind my wife and I became disruptive to the point that their mother had to escort them from the meeting. I would like to make a motion that board meetings be limited to those old enough not to whine and carry on, but that would potentially eliminate some members of the board of directors. (No lawsuits, please).
Maintenance Director Fred Murphy got up to discuss the planned painting for the lodge and the new and much needed sound system. The good news is, the original bids close to $10K are now down to a reasonable $2k or less, and the man kind enough to lend the board the temporary sound is also offered his assistance in getting the new system installed. Kudos to him.
New Business: Apparently, there was a special board meeting called by Chairman Besing. He notified the directors via e-mail of this meeting, however, at least one director, Ms. Long, did not receive the e-mail in time to attend the meeting. On the outset, her complaint was met with rolling eyes, shaking heads and sighs of disgust, - and frankly, that was just my wife and I giving each other the, "here we go again" look. But technically speaking, Director Long was justified and on target with her complaint. She mentioned the by-law which requires that the Directors be notified in writing or orally (should that be verbally?), and when Vice-Chair Janet Doherty asked her to quote the by-law, director Long did so and it very specifically stated that the written correspondence must be delivered to the residence of record. In other words, as much as I think e-mail should be sufficient, the fact is, Director Long missed a meeting because she was not notified per the by-laws. Chairman Besing quickly made it a point to correct that by mandating that they will re-institute the use of Security Staff to hand deliver notices to the directors.
This little episode brings up a more important note in my mind, and that is that there is clearly turmoil amongst board members. And part of that comes from the "gotcha" attitude that is so prevalent in what we see at the national level in politics. That is, we care less about what a particular issue is and more for how it will play for or against our own side. From the time that I have attended these meetings, I have heard over and over about things requiring review by lawyers or this or that is against the by-laws. One resident and former board member told me that this was the reason you needed a strong Community Manager - someone to handle all the big issues and details, leaving the board to simply vote for or against things and get out of the weeds. I disagreed with her at first, but must say that I see myself coming around to the idea.
And hopefully, we will get a well qualified, strong CM and soon.
The budget discussion was in my mind a waste of time. It is a draft at this point, but as we found during the initial talks, the numbers were totally irrelevant. Hopefully, the various staff members can correct this and when the real work is done, behind closed doors and away from the prying eyes of the residents, the board and staff can get it knocked out.
Are you sensing a little frustration? I'd love to read your comments. Leave them here (click the comments button below), or e-mail me.
News-4 WOAI will do a Troubleshooters report tonight on an HOA that is selling some folks home due to the fact that these people failed to pay the yearly assessment. Not GNWCIA, but it should be of interest to any person who lives in an association community like ours.
Want to learn more about stuff like code compliance and mediation? You can attend a free seminar this evening, 7PM to 9PM at the Lodge of the Great Northwest.
See you there!
Also, in case you didn't hear, The Great Northwest received an Honorable Mention from the National Night out folks for our display about our events. Likewise, Janet Doherty won an award for her event.
The GNW contingent was represented by our own Chief Roger Burton, NNO Chair Betty Hood, Chairman of the Board of Directors Lee Besing, Vice Chairman Doherty, and several other GNW residents.
Thanks to Lee for the photo and the info.
As I mentioned in the teaser last night (I stole that idea from the San Antonio Lightning Online Paper), a few of my neighbors joined my wife and I as well as quite a few other residents for meeting of the board of directors, Great Northwest Community Improvement Association. This was a general meeting but one main order of business was discussion of the budget. I'll get to that, but let me recap the events so you can get up to date.
As I have mentioned before, residents have the opportunity to sign up to speak before the board in one of two ways; either as a topic that is already on the agenda or as a topic that is not part of the agenda. For example, if you wanted to simply get up and tell the board you think they are doing a great job, that probably would not be part of the official agenda. If you wanted to speak on the topic of the budget, last night was a good night to sign up for the other section.
Prior to residents wishing to be heard, the GNWCIA was addressed by a Mr. Jeff Peterson from Rep Jose Menendez' office.
Mr. Peterson spoke of recent state bills and such that may be of interest. I would suggest you learn more by going to the web page or calling the office. In my opinion, Jose has been a great representative for this area and I continue to support him until I find something worth complaining about.
Moving along, to the citizens to be heard. I'd like to be very delicate about this. Though I confess to often attempting to approach the information I post with a sense of humor, I have been told that some readers (and at least one director) don't always appreciate my approach. Having said that...
Sweet Sainted Mother of Charles Nelson Reilly! The first resident was, well, quite a plum. This resident, apparently a retired person, who I had not recognized from previous meetings, apparently didn't know the crowd when he got up to make his speech. The audience was filled with previous board directors, residents who have had years of involvement and participation, and at least a lawsuit litigant or two. So it made the speaker's opening statement to the assembled crowd that "You all may be afraid to speak to the board, but I'm not" an awkward confession of his lack of situational awareness.
Though a microphone had been provided at the center of the room, the man felt compelled to wander around and speak without it - for a sentence or two before one lady and several others insisted that he please use the microphone. I think this took him off his game.
The man went on to complain that he wanted to apply for the position of Community Manager, but because he did not use the Internet or apparently read any newspapers, he felt he was not provided adequate information on the process. As a fellow resident, I certainly applaud his desire to speak before the board and make his complaints known, but his approach was simply way off.
The crowd seemed dumbfounded at his long winded yammering about how he should have been able to obtain all information necessary by simply asking a person at the counter in the office. Aside from the obvious legal issues someone might bring up from this approach (okay, it isn't obvious to me, but I am certain someone can make some sort of legal complaint), I think any resident would agree that our next Community Manager ought to at least make it a point of familiarizing themselves with the Official Community Newspaper (Passages) at the official GNW Web Page - both of which have been advertising details of this position for months now.
After almost ten minutes of rambling, and I use that description purposely, Chairman Lee Besing finally interrupted the resident and advised him that he had exceeded the 3 minutes alloted to speak, and could he either listen to a response to the complaint, or at least wrap it up so we could move on. The gentleman questioned the three minute rule and several people piped up that it was in the by-laws, hopefully a document our next Community Manager will become familiar with.
The resident did very kindly take his seat, but not before warning us all that he would be attending future meetings. Bravo to him and I hope he does. He seemed like a genuinely nice man to me; just a tad bit off kilter. I hope that isn't offensive.
Moving along... Another fine audience member, Mr. Robert Rodkey, a former board candidate approached to give a long winded and ill-advised admonishment to the board about arbitrarily raising the assessments for the next budget without first collecting the fees to see how much was in the kitty. Director Richard Garcia pointed out to Mr. Rodkey that in fact, no budget has been agreed upon and further, the purpose of the evening's meeting was to discuss the budget. I had to stop myself from giggling out loud when my wife gave me the eye, but it seemed to me that several people had come to the meeting armed for bear, but really hadn't fully thought out the chronology of events.
Members of the staff got up to give presentations - Acting CM/DRACO Jose Morlett, Temp Accountant Teresa Carpenter, and Maintenance Director, Fred Murphy.
A lot of things worth skipping but a few items to note:
- Jose mentioned some new hires in the office - working out well
- Ballot documents ready for review
- Resident and former director/chair Mr. Joe Martinez astutely noted that the voting was to be done "secretly" and that by allowing a resident to review the ballots and proxies, private resident voting information was made available
- Director Garcia who witnessed the review of ballots acknowledged that information that should have been secret was in fact available to the residents reviewing the documents
- Director Guy Pucci suggested a change to the ballot and proxy documents to correct this problem
- Ms. Carpenter mentioned several accounting related things
- Director Pucci requested information on the use of the TOPS software and how it might be used for tracking GNW Security calls
- Mr. Murphy discussed several items involving spending money.
- Resurfacing of tennis courts - either asphalt which will crack again or a Rhino Court product that will last longer
- Both very expensive
- One resident questioned if the Rhino product was suitable for tennis courts
- Another resident questioned how many people even use the tennis courts
- Director Garcia suggested that the board put the cost to the residents to decide if it was worth the price to upgrade the tennis courts - ((If you play tennis, you better say something now))
- Fences at pool to separate bathrooms from pool - this allows the restrooms to be used when the pool is closed
- New sound system - wireless, about $3,500
- Just a side note on the sound. I hope that the new system will be fully installed and tested by professionals. Nobody expects the members of the board nor the residents who speak to be professional orators accustomed to projecting their voices as though the meeting was a Broadway play. Yet, most often (unless it is just my wife and I who show) the audience is made up of several folks who may have hearing issues. To get the most of the meetings, I'd push for spending a few dollars on a solid system that would make the important things people have to say, audible to everyone.
- New GNW signs - need to replace signs around the neighborhood
- Power washer is up and running to help with graffiti
- Lodge Painting inside and out - not cheap
Okay - it wasn't until 8:50 PM that we got to the budget. And I'm not going to say much about it. Before the discussion started, resident Mr. Ben Pucci (in case you didn't know, the father of Director Guy Pucci) gave a quick statement regarding how the board ought to proceed. I apologize for not catching it all but the gist was that the group should figure out how much money was coming in, stick to that as a budget and if anything, cut the budget.Mr. Martinez also spoke citing the need for reductions in several areas.
Smartly, Mr. Besing opened the floor to comments from residents even if they had not signed up to speak specifically about the budget, but he felt there was too much important work to be done without hearing from those attending.
One lady, Olivia Theriot, spoke of the need to keep in funding for the Parliamentarian. This created a stir from other residents who felt the board of directors should be the parliamentarians. Further, a gentleman stated his opposition to paying the money since now, the current board gets along with the residents who attend the meetings.
Kids, cover your ears.
WTF?In other words, what this gentleman was saying was that, we needed a parliamentarian because people in the audience - residents - could not be trusted to follow standard rules of good order and discipline if they didn't agree with the people they had voted into office as directors. That statement alone ought to put parliamentarian right up at the top of the list of things to fund!
Okay. I have to confess that my wife and a few neighbors left during the break and my neighbor Merle and I could only hold on until about 9:45PM or so before we left the budget discussions to the hardcore residents.
I urge you to go to the office and took a look at the information on the DRAFT budget proposals so you can learn more about it. It is only a DRAFT! Don't get your panties in a wad - make some suggestions if you don't agree with what you see. But as Chairman Besing was overheard saying, don't tell us to cut the budget, tell us exactly what items in the budget you want cut. Those are good words of wisdom.So, I apologize for this being so long winded. There is a lot of information that is important to you as a resident. Please, plan on getting out to the next meeting.
Also, if you were at the meeting and I got it all wrong, please leave a comment or e-mail me so I can fix it!
If you only show up here just to get the latest details of the Great Northwest Community Improvement Association (GNWCIA) then I've been a pretty crappy correspondent in the last few weeks, wouldn't you say?
