Peculiar Situation and a Request of the Manager

This post includes the content of a letter I wrote to the Management Office.

There are peculiar things that I notice from time to time. One thing I have noticed is that as far as the newly elected members of the board of managers are concerned, I really don’t exist, and neither does this blog. (Actually, we are approaching 10 months on the board, so I really shouldn't refer to them as "newly elected").

That is a curious state of affairs. I realize that I am not publishing the official “party line” here. If you want that, all you need do is retrieve the latest copy of the “Manor Briefs” newsletter.

Of course, there will always be those who never read the newsletter. Others may only want the “good news”. “Don’t bother us with reality”, they may say. Or, “There’s sufficient bad news out there without reading about it in the newsletter”. But what about the rest of us? Isn't the primary purpose of a "newsletter", blog and website to "inform"? Or, am I to assume that the vast majority of unit owners aren't interested? Apparently, our Communications Director has made that decision. The newsletter is supposed to be an Association newsletter, produced by the entire Board of Managers. However, that is not the case, based upon conversations during association meetings. Various members of the board prepare information on their specific areas of responsibility, e.g. landscaping, finance, rules & regulations and architecture. This is passed to the Communications Director who adds that info to the newsletter. However, additional information as she sees fit is also published. This included erroneous "cost data" for the roofing project. I advised her of the error during the most recent association meeting. I have also emailed and advised a correction be printed for this and other recent omissions or errors.

As I said, I have no problem with good news and "not so good" news. Check out our municipal website and you will see that our fine city also publishes the "not so good" news.

It is my perspective that we live in an imperfect world and I can tolerate some "bad news" from time to time. My furnace will fail one of these days. That's the way it is; everything fails. Stream pumps, driveways, light bulbs, you name it! Now, I know I am not the only unit owner who is interested in the full scope of the debates and the issues which face our association. I know that because I have had discussions and received emails from other unit owners. I assure all of you that the entire board is supposed to represent us, too.

I think it is worthwhile to know reality and to be informed. I personally don't want some politician feeding me the line "it's all fine, just keep sending us the money each month; you can trust us to take care of all of the problems and to do what's right". I do want to know what’s going on in our association and, I do want to see how the various members of the board intend to spend “my” money. Of course, they are also spending YOUR money. I think you would want to know how they intend to spend your money. Sometimes the decision is made not to spend money. In April, during the board discussion about driveways in need of repairs, our professional managers were directed to prioritize driveways as not all identified driveways could be replaced with the budgeted funds available. The important thing here is, 1) the decision not to repair was made by the board; 2) funds are available, but are not currently budgeted for this purpose.

Why is this important? Well, for one thing, I have attended meetings where some of the members of the board permit unit owners to verbally attack our professional managers and to say disparaging things about the maintenance company. I suspect some of the board are passing the blame to others. This winter, when some of the driveways which should have been repaired or replaced in 2009 have a problem, I assure you that those same board members will again attempt to pass the buck.

I also think you would want to know the discussions and arguments that occur during Association meetings. There are diverse points of view among the unit owners and on the board. I think you would want to know why your driveway, which may be one which was identified as meeting the criteria for replacement, will not be replaced this year. Currently, it is not due to a shortage of funds. It is due to an allocation issue and differences on the board regarding budgeting and where that money is to be spent.

Those types of issues will re-occur. There will always be budget conflicts but we, the unit owners, are counting on all of our board members to make the right decisions and fulfill their fiduciary duties. That is why they ran for office and that is why they were elected. Their decisions will ultimately decide property values and the desirability of living in our association. I love the walks, streams and "gardens" but I really need a roof over my head, a paved driveway, and reserves for future repairs and emergencies.

So that is why I am and will continue to publish this blog. Consider it the alternative, "reality" view. You won’t get pap here. But you will get balanced information and some of it will be useful.

Letter to the Management Office

So, after months of the newly expanded version of the official newsletter, a non- functional “official” blog and a website which is apparently in operation, but has not been provided to the vast majority of us the unit owners, I decided to send a letter to our Management Office. Here is the body of text of that letter, mailed on June 19, 2009.

Dear [Professional Manager]:

I am making the following request. Please forward copies of this letter to the entire Board of Managers of Briarcliffe Lakes Manor Homes.

The Association has a newsletter, and a blog. However, the information contained is insufficient. This is in part due to the limitations of the printed medium and even though the newsletter has been expanded to eight pages, it does not contain detailed information pertaining to the operation of the Association including meeting highlights, explanations and discussions of projects, budgeting, finances, insurance, etc.

This information is very important. All unit owners, not simply the 5% of us who attend the meetings should be informed of special projects requests, etc. The members of the Board of Managers of the Association are obligated to treat all unit owners uniformly and with equal consideration. The information provided is not accomplishing that.

The official “BLMH Homeowners Association” blog at http://briarcliffe.wordpress.com/
has as it’s last entry the announcement of the February 12 Association meeting.

I request that each newsletter contain a bolded statement acknowledging the existence of the following blog at http://briarcliffelakes.blogspot.com/ and any reasonable disclaimers.

This blog, which has been ignored in the Association newsletter and any and all official communications, contains timely and informative articles and information on a wide range of subjects that would be of interest to members of the association.

It contains thorough analysis of budgets, Association meeting highlights, observations of maintenance issues, energy costs and trends, analysis and presentation of unit owner budgets similar to our association budgets, general insurance and legal matters, etc.

The goal of the blog is to inform and to educate the unit owner. The goal is to promote improved understanding of how our association operates, of what can and cannot be expected of our Board of Managers and of unit owners. It is intended to provide extensive information pertinent to the members of the Association and which cannot be readily obtained by other means.

If this is not acceptable to the Board of Managers, then I request a letter specifying why, of what specific changes I must make to the blog to make it acceptable, and specifically how and by when the association will correct the current communications deficiencies.

Very Truly Yours,