Board President Presentation

Reserve Fees 2002-2016 - Part of Video

I'm posting a link to a video because of the change to the HOA approach to online access.  Certain information will not be available but to BLMH owners.  The website WWW.BLMH.org was removed by management at the direction of the board a few days ago.  A new "portal" for the association is under construction and will be very limited in scope.

I began this blog on September 7, 2008.  There are presently 705 published posts. 

I may expand it with the removal of the BLMH.org website by the current board.  Odd timing, as the election is a few weeks away and any new board members will have no say on this.    Older newsletters were removed earlier from the website. With the ending of the website they are all gone.  I may upload them with links here. 

The diagram above is from a video I created for owners. I've included a link to the video in this post.

After significant effort by me, and equally significant effort by opposing forces in our HOA I was elected to the board of this HOA in 2010.  Eight years later I declined to run in September 2018. There were valid reasons, including the departure of the other board members who were the motive force for most of what was accomplished during that period. I saw no point in being a part of the board of 2018 and beyond because I saw no commitment to transfer the water mains to the City of Wheaton by that board. For example, even the most recent "candidates forms" for the 2021 elections doesn't mention the water mains and the newsletters which had been published every other month were changed immediately after my departure from six times per year to four.  I did create and send a MS Word template document for the newsletter to the board at the time of my departure.  I also provided a link to board members via email to management about a variety of important issues, with data.

There hasn't been a lot about the Water Mains transfer to owners in the last year and the board seems to hide behind management. Yet, the board makes all decisions.  

When I was on the board I could only do so much considering the headwinds posed by a few other board members. One voting block of three did its best to stonewall my efforts. 

I had taken on the production of the newsletter in 2011 because of my commitment to communications with our owners, who are our shareholders and do pay all of the bills via their fees. I left the owners and the board with a "Guidance" insert in the August-September 2018 newsletter and I created an elaborate presentation similar to the one in the link on this post. It was presented to any owner who attended the September 2018 annual meeting, as were all of the others from the period 2010 to 2018.

For anyone interested, here is a link to a YouTube video presentation which is a version of a presentation I made to the owners of our HOA in September 2016.  This is not representative of the methods and communications of the current board. In fact, with the removal of the website older newsletters, etc. are no longer available to the general public. 

President's address to Owners, September 2016

 (c)2021 Norman Retzke

30 minute Educational Video

As can be seen in the chart above, the fees increases have moderated since 2009. The red line is the trajectory we were on, the blue is the actual. There were good reasons for the moderation after 2008 and it occurred because of new boards, improved financial controls and a lot of work by the boards of 2011 to 2018.  There is a link to an educational video in the post, which helps to explain.

The above chart shows the fees for the average owners from 2001 to 2018.  You will notice that fees increased each and every year from 2001 to 2008. In fact, for 20 years the annual fee increases were about 5-1/2% each and every year.  The final decade of these fee increases the average was more than 7% each year. The board was relentless and continued this even with a disastrous economy, rising delinquencies and foreclosures. The primary reason the fees moderated was because the board that instituted those fees was overthrown in the fall of 2008.  Were these fee increases absolutely necessary? I say no, and the blue line in the graph above shows the actual fees from 2009 until 2018.   Sadly, these relentless fee increases contributed to large delinquencies, foreclosures and eviction of owners. In 2011 the delinquencies peaked with nearly 21% of all owners delinquent and the fees owed reached more than $85,000.  Why in 2011?  In part because there is a delay to foreclosures, etc. Some owners held on as long as they could.

From time to time I gave owners a presentation at annual meetings, I began doing so in 2010-2011. This YouTube video includes the slides presented to owners at the annual meeting in the fall of 2016. It was not the first such presentation my me.  The actual presentation was "live" and prepared using my notes and slides.  I prefer that to "canned" presentations. The video was prepared using those materials. It starts slowly, but the pace does pick up.  This link was sent to management on January 2020 with a request to put it in the board packet for the January 9 association meeting:

"Hello Dave;

I’d suggest that all board members view this short,  30 minute video. Please provide to the board. https://youtu.be/_ui4nr44ldw    Thank You"

It is the board's responsibility as fiduciaries to be informed and act in the best interest of the owners. I can't force the board to view this video.Here is the video:

https://youtu.be/_ui4nr44ldw

Original material:  https://Briarcliffelakes.blogspot.com/

"We will no longer film the meetings"

Screen Shot - My Board video Nov 9, 2017
 That's my PC - I was adjusting the camera.

I received the January 2019 newsletter. This is the first issued by the association since the one published for August-September 2018, when I was on the board.

The President's Message in the newsletter included this statement:

                               "We will no longer film the meetings."

The Illinois condominium property act allows such recording as follows:

 (765 ILCS 605/18) (from Ch. 30, par. 318) 

(C) that any unit owner may record the proceedings at

meetings of the board of managers or portions thereof required to be open by this Act by tape, film or other means, and that the board may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations to govern the right to make such recordings;

In fact, one or more owners were doing the recording. The newsletter implies that this was a board function. It never was. I and any other owners who filmed the meetings did so using our personal technology.  There has never been a board "approval" of such recording, nor is it necessary.  It is no secret that some board members disliked the recording of the meetings.  

I began recording the meetings in 2007 or 2008 and I recorded most meetings that I attended from then until the annual meeting of September 2018. I began recording as an owner and I continued as an owner function, even after I became a board member. There were objections by owners and by various board members throughout that period.

I had two interests. One was to tone down the rancor in the meetings. The other was to hold the boards accountable.

I began recording when the meetings were quite contentious and at times uncivil. It is amazing how people will modify their behavior when they know their every word will be a part of a recording. I took steps to minimize those captured within the field of the video, focusing on the board.

Recording brought objections from several board members. Some boards don't want to be held accountable. I am convinced that some of our boards ducked by discussing issues in closed (executive) session instead of open session with owners present.

As a board member I continued to video the meetings. I consider these videos to be my personal property. I provided the technology and the digital storage. It was my initiative and I asked for no permission. When boards attempted to prevent me I quoted the Illinois condominium act.

I'm not surprised the current board president made the statement that meetings will no longer be recorded. She disliked my recording of the meeting and said so. Some interesting things occurred and were captured.  I think I've got a recording of her giving me a verbal "F@ck You" when I was president and she was rules director.   

I suspect that's why one of the first actions of the new board was to attempt to gag me and prevent distribution of the videos.

(c) 2019 N. Retzke

Final Board Meeting as President

The final board meeting as president came and went. It was attended by five board members and two former board members. One spectator asked me if I would reconsider running for the board of 2019.  Two board members were unable to attend.

I've spent several days following up on loose ends, and getting ready for the annual meeting on the 27th. I dusted off my 2016 video and have been working on an update to that presentation. It's difficult to say what needs to be said in only 5 minutes.

Here's the summary video for my annual meeting presentation of 2016. That was a longer presentation.  [Note: This is not a video of the presentation I made to the owners and to the board in September 2016.  This is a graphic depiction of the data I presented during that meeting, with voice-over. On October 11 it came to my attention that a micromanaging control freak on the current board is concerned about the wealth of information which I possess and that I might put it out on the web from time to time.  Frankly, the board of 2019 has much larger and more important things to deal with, but when micromanagers rule, well, they tend to invent issues and then deal with resulting trivia!]

In fact, this video was also prepared and published in accordance with this subsequent blog post:

Creating a Smooth Board Transition in a HOA

The treasurer and I have honed the finances through August with management assistance. I've worked on the projections for project completions and the most likely reserve funding level as of December 31, 2018.

There's a lot to talk about. Hope I won't be wasting my time or anyone else's for that matter. As of Midnight September 27th my board commitment of eight years will be complete.

Video: A detailed look at HOA budgets, with real numbers and valid concerns

This post provides a glimpse into the finances of our Association. It provides insights into the budgets and the problems of budgeting. It includes a short video.

Sit back and enjoy the show.

As I write this the annual HOA election is approaching. With three open positions it will be interesting to see who steps up to be a board member. In this HOA, there is a real lack of interest in doing so. About a half of the owners vote, and about a third attend the annual meeting. Will this year be different?

I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July.

I hope everyone had a good Fourth of July. Great weather, IMHO. Here's something different; a couple of sunset videos I made. We spend some time in MI and we walk to the lakeshore to view the sunset as do many others. However as the park closes at 10:00pm and it is dark, if we decide we will stay to full dark we will drive in. Takes a season pass, which is inexpensive.

Waterfall Awakens

The waterfall and stream systems have been surveyed and inspected a week ago, they have been cleaned and some repairs are underway. This post includes a video of one of the streams in operation.

On May 4 maintenance began starting the streams. BLMH has three such systems. They are in various states and one is excellent, one is good, and one is "fair" but with some good sections. Stream repairs were restarted in 2011 and pump pits have been replaced and some concrete sections replaced. A large, collapsing deck and walk system was removed and a new bridge installed.

I am of the opinion the current condition is is a consequence of the decision to install high end architectural roofs. That project began in 2001-2002 at a time the HOA lacked the reserves for this $2 million + project. Nevertheless, the boards prior to 2010 decided to proceed and increased reserve contributions dramatically. That diverted substantial funds to this project.

However, our streams are functional and with the completion of the third pump pit replacement they will all be restarted as the board agrees.

The current masthead photo and the thumbnail for the following video show a replaced section of this stream. That concrete work was done in 2014. More remains to do.

Why our Landscaping is important

About 46% of our residents live on or within view of a waterfall, stream or pond.

Our owners didn't buy here because of the ambience of our 1978 units. Yes, many have been updated and there are a lot of benefits to owning a condo in a HOA such as ours. However, it's the landscaping that really makes the difference.

Here is a brief video I made at dusk on May 3 from my deck. I didn't enhance it at all. The sounds of the wildlife is exactly what I hear, although the volume might be a bit higher. My video camera has auto audio, so it sometimes emphasizes what one would hear.

I've sent this to the entire board of the HOA.  I think we all know why people live here.

My Walk May 13th

I purchased a HD video camera and decided to try it, and the video software. I edited and stitched several of the segments and then uploaded the results. My spouse's comment: we live in a unique place!  I'm sorry to say, the audio blocks the singing frogs at the end of this video.

For those who are unfamiliar with BLMH, this is about 1/8th of the 40 acres our association includes!

I was in a bit of a hurry to get to an association meeting, so the video is a bit crude and I didn't take much time tonight after the meeting to edit it; so it's not up to my usual standards. We had some heavy rains this morning and so a part of the walk is "under water", and this waterfall and stream is muddy.





Comments, Corrections, Omissions, References
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1. The video will play at 360p, which is good resolution. However, you can select 720p which is considered "high definition" or HD, if you want better graphics.
2. There's a typo at the beginning of the video.