Post Election 2009

Our new board will meet during a "workshop" closed session early in October. This meeting will also be attended by our professional manager(s). The purpose will be to determine which roles and positions each of the board members will assume. This meeting will also be for the purpose of determining the budget for 2010.

Our association has a number of positions specified. However, last year some of these remained unfilled or the duties of multiple positions were performed by a single individual. For example, the Architectural Director performed that role and also the role of the Treasurer. The new position of "Communications Director" was created during last year's "workshop".

There exists in our association a list of duties and responsibilities for some of the positions. For other positions, such as "Communications Director" I am unaware of the job description, nor do I know if one exists. This information has not been released in our official communications, which is our newsletter. However, I did post an older list of board member job descriptions in June 2009, and a link is contained at the end of this post.

As of this morning, the official results of the election have not been posted in my building and so I, as is the case for any of the unit owners who are not in the inner circle or did not attend the election meeting to the full conclusion, am unaware of the official results. However, I do have some information.

Unit owners provided sufficient votes to allow the Architectural Director one additional year to work with yet another new board. He ran for a two year term, to assure that the programs can reach some level of fruition. Completion, if the board allows it, could take 5 or more years. I understand that he has declined this invitation because one year is unworkable.

The individual who performed the role of Architectural Director was also our Treasurer.

Among the reasons to vote against him, were the fact that he has supported our professional managers and he was not endorsed by our Communications Director. He also supported assessment increases and he has been criticized for allowing me to work with him. I volunteered to work with our Architectural Director last year because by attending meetings I became very aware of what he was attempting to do, became alarmed by the efforts to delay the projects, the formidable conditions that were against him, and the urgency facing this association. In 2009 he pressed hard to commence the roofing and driveway projects in the few months of available good weather. He was delayed in those efforts by our Communications Director and by our Landscaping Director. This was accomplished by disruption of meetings, bickering over such minutia as who was to change light bulbs in the association, bickering over the need and method for drainage improvements, the relocation of downspouts, arguing over bid necessities for such things as $500 concrete work, the delays in coordination of landscaping, etc. and lengthy discussions about the capabilities and qualifications of our maintenance company and unauthorized presentation by a competitor. All of this prevented the board from coming to a consensus and delayed project approval. This is why our 2009 roofing projects got such a late start, and the driveways have not yet begun.

At this time, the status of these projects is unclear. I understand we no longer have a Treasurer or an Architectural Director.

References
Job Descriptions: http://briarcliffelakes.blogspot.com/2009/06/board-of-managers-part-4-job.html

Duties:
http://briarcliffelakes.blogspot.com/2009/05/board-of-managers-part-3.html

Where To Go From Here? September 28, 2009

I’ll be posting the coming events but first, I have to acknowledge that I did not publish the notes of the meeting of September 10th. I did type these, but the latest incident of violence against me intervened. I will publish those notes and eventually, our Association will produce a “formal” or "official" website which will publish a version of those notes, or so we were promised a year ago and this was again stated by our Communications Director at the annual meeting. However, no dates were given. Running a campaign is the latest in a series of more important tasks.

As to the latest incident of violence, which occurred the night of September 16th, I did send a letter to the management company and to the board, but there has been no response. As I recall, the big campaign issue last year was “about being heard” and at that time our Communications Director stated that the “current board allows no communications”. Seems to me that this has now come to be true.

So, preparing that letter and meeting with police, etc. took some of the time I would have allocated to publishing the meeting notes. But that was one of the intentions of this series of attacks, wasn’t it? To attempt to silence me, a candidate, before the election, to get a continuing message across, and to disrupt my life.

After a year under the rock, er, ROC and now that we are beyond another election, I am wondering how the latest version of enlightened governance will manifest itself. According to the latest political missive of our Communications Director, it will “cultivate a fresh mindset among our community leadership that encourages rather than stifles the individuality of our homeowners and places the highest value on sincerity, honesty and respectfulness.” From my experience, it would seem that “individuality” is to be tolerated only when it conforms to some official viewpoint.

Earlier this year, “injustice” against a unit owner was a big topic for our Communications Director, and of sufficient personal interest to make it worthy of disrupting an association meeting. Supporting people who break the rules and the regulations seems to be something that activates her. But “injustice” doesn’t include the string of violence against me. There are several subtle and not so subtle messages that are being conveyed here. 1) I should be a member of the ROC, 2) I should be a member of the Neighbors Club, 3) I voted for the wrong board members, 4) I have associated with the wrong board members or former board members, 5) I openly stated at the most recent budget meeting that I was in favor of an assessment increase, in defiance of the Communications Director, who voted for a 0% increase, 6) I openly supported our Architectural Director and provided volunteer services for our roofing and driveway projects, 7) I have criticized our Communications Director for disrupting an association meeting, 8) I have criticized our Communications Director and our Landscaping Director for their activities which have stonewalled or delayed our driveway and roofing projects. 9) I didn't roll over when our Landcaping Director accused me of accepting special favors so maintenance would be performed on the building housing my unit, and I won't accept personal responsibility for the poor real estate sales in the area, and 10) I had the unimitigated gall to be so much the individual as to publish all in this blog. 11) Finally, for all of the above and other real or perceived transgressions, I deserve these attacks, which are to be ignored and allowed to continue. Looking the other way is collusion, I am told.

Returning to more important matters regarding this association, if our Communications Director practiced what she preaches, we probably would not have lost our President earlier this year, and with her, her husband who would by now have our “official” website up and running, and the driveways would already be in progress. But we do get nice slogans. The “cultivate a….mindset” statement is one that is frequently used in yoga and meditation. For example, “Cultivate a Positive MindSet Through Meditation” (reference 1)

The statement of placing “the highest value on sincerity, honesty and respectfulness” is probably borrowed from Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or some other mystic. For example, Sri Sri says: “At this time we need only to cultivate love and understanding……The timeless values of religions are……Nonviolence…..Friendliness and cooperation… [and] Integrity, honesty and sincerity.” (reference 2).

This also refers to ontological structures, which “manifest themselves in terms of the intangible human traits that we live by, such as patience, humility, tolerance, deference, non-action, humaneness, concern, pity, sympathy, altruism, sincerity, honesty, faith, responsibility, trust, respectfulness, reverence, love and compassion.” For a typical discussion, see the article from Buddhism Today (reference 3).

Reference:
1) http://www.specialtyansweringservice.net/articles/meditation/Cultivate-a-Positive-MindSet-Through-Meditation_26278/
2) http://sawf.org/newedit/edit02032003/aol.asp
3) http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/sociology/014-humanright.htm

Election September 24, 2009

Yesterday was the annual election and the results are in.

Our Architectural Director and Treasurer, who was running for a two year term, was not elected on that basis.

Prior to the results, he gave a great presentation and addressed issues regarding the livability of our complex, the state of the various projects, the finances of the association and also addressed questions about unit owners who do not properly manage their tenants. He also made a presentation regarding the state of the economy and the possible impact on unit owners and the association. He also related how he had come to change his perspective on life at BLMH to that of a community which should accomodate residents no matter what their age. He stated that this was the impetus for some of the recent work on driveways, in concert with other factors. He credited a Wall Street Journal article. He also discussed the various water problems which BLMH has and the solutions that are being implemented to solve them. There was no hyperbole. He has done extraordinary work, and as someone who assisted him in this past year with specifications and identifying certain infrastructure problems and possible solutions, I think I can speak with some authority.

I believe the Architectural Director/ Treasurer was perhaps the most difficult job on the association board. It was an incredibly time consuming position for someone who is an unpaid volunteer. There were plans and specifications to develop, bids to evaluate, contracts to award, contractors to manage, coordination with unit owners, compliance and completion meetings, funds to disburse and all manner of planning, including cash flow management. There were also continuous and sometimes lengthy presentations to unit owners and the other members of the Board of Managers. To those who attended meetings and harped or criticized him, I say you didn’t deserve his talents or efforts. Perhaps our new board members will do it better; last year they stated they would do it better. However, I consider 2009 to have been the year of misinformation, minutia and special interests. We’ll see if 2010 is any better.

In singling out our Architectural Director/ Treasurer, I do not mean to denigrate the work of other board members and in particular, our Rules and Regulations Director. That too was a very difficult job. Defensive unit owners, certain board members and ROC members would sometimes verbally attack her for doing her job.

For those in the association who voted I congratulate you for exercising your responsibility. If things do not turn out well, you will have every right to complain and to correct this next year and the year thereafter.

For those of you who did not vote, or who signed your proxy forms and instructed someone else to mark your ballot with their choices, you have done a disservice to the association and can consider yourself to be a part of the problem, rather than the solution.

During the meeting, the candidates who were present were given a brief opportunity to address the unit owners who were present. This is always a somewhat interesting spectacle, as the votes have already been cast and the owners of proxy ballots are not even present. I did not take a head count, but I would say that about 15% of the unit owners were present.

As a candidate I made a one minute statement and I closed by stating that while I am an advocate of long term planning, it is the unit owners who will decide, today, what this association is to be.

As I have not been elected, that will allow me to continue this blog and other communications efforts. I thank those who voted for me. I will be a looking for continued attempts on the part of board members to disenfranchise owners, in violation of the Illinois Condominium Property Act. I will also report the state of affairs. However, this blog will continue to be a clandestine affair as it is not recognized by our board or our Communications Director, who nonetheless has stated she is a champion of “open communications” and “forward thinking ideas”.

During the annual meeting, other board members made brief statements. Our Communications Director made a very short speech in which she advised those present that she had new help to continue the creation of an association website. She also requested recommendations from unit owners for content for the newsletter. However, I must state here that I do not get a response from her to my written requests. I assume I am not alone. Since our Communications Director does not reveal the requests received, it is impossible to determine how much censorship is occurring.

Our Landscaping Director made a brief statement in which he advised the unit owners who were present that fall trimming and preparations will soon begin.

I'll be posting over the weekend "Where Do We Go From Here", in which the "we" is the association. The unit owners rejected a program which was outlined as follows, in a letter:

"...The purpose of this letter is to discuss the important upcoming election. It is important because BLMH is entering it’s 4th decade, and there are many challenges to be faced by our Board. Our buildings and infrastructure are aging, therefore, we need new roofs, driveways, and landscaping.

We need your help, and we can’t do this without your vote. There are complex projects in progress. We want to replace the driveways, roofs and landscaping on a planned, long term schedule, thereby keeping fees reasonable. This is a beautiful and very large association covering over 40 acres which includes 800 trees, streams and lakes, over 40 roofs, and 80 driveways. We maintain our entire grounds, all streets, and even the lighting, water and sewer systems.

The reserves of our Association have been strengthened and the money must be spent in the proper areas.

The duties of the Board are essentially the business of running the association. This includes the overseeing of our management company, the determination of assessments, reserves, and finances. It also includes the selection and management of our various contractors, and all decisions concerning projects and the spending of all funds. All of this requires a special partnership between you, the other unit owners, the Board and our hired professionals.

Please consider re-electing our experienced board members who have made the commitment in the past, and are willing to volunteer their time and talents again, for the benefit of the association. There are also new individuals who have also stepped forward, some of whom have practical skills necessary for the Board...."

Instead, the unit owners accepted this proposal, as stated by our Communications Director:

“Hello ____,
It’s board member election time again and I wanted to send you this note regarding the four candidates that I’m endorsing this year. I personally know all of them -- ______________, ____________, _____________, and ___________. – and will be privileged to have any one of them sit on the board with me. They all possess the integrity, conscientiousness, and compassion that will help create a new kind of association governance. Together we’ll begin to cultivate a fresh mindset among our community leadership that encourages rather than stifles the individuality of our homeowners and that places the highest value on sincerity, honesty, and respectfulness....."

As a consequence of the election, we will have two members on the board with one year experience each, that is, our Landscaping Director and our Communications Director. We will also have four new members, as elected by the unit owners. Our Architectural Director ran for a two year term, and was not elected to that position.

It should be an interesting year. I have started a new blog in which, like one of those reality shows e.g. “This Surreal Life” I’ll be posting some of my more unusual observations about the operation of the board of managers and our association. The new site is:
http://amondocondo.blogspot.com/

I will not be deterred or intimidated

This morning, as I inspected my automobile, I discovered a nail in my tire. This is not a new morning discovery for me. Last year, at the time of the debate about assessments and that group called the Residents of Change, I stood up. I was immediately vandalized two or three times. I wasn't 100% certain the first incident was vandalism. However, that first incident alerted me, and I inspect my automobile each evening and each morning, and reported two of the incidents to the police.

This type of behaviour will continue as long as BLMH unit owners are willing to tolerate it. It will continue as long as others are complicit, or choose to look the other way. It will probably occur until ROC elected board members are willing to take a stand to prevent it. Recently, one of them told me that I am "bad for sales" in the association. This blog also received an anonymous email which stated that "People just don't like me, period". These and other reasons, may be considered as ample justification for these attacks.

The nail in the photo was not an accident. It "magically" appeared between dusk yesterday and dawn this morning, September 17th. I have again alerted the police.

An associate, who inspected my tire this morning at my invitation said "that's sick". I couldn't have said it better myself. They asked where I lived and I told them. Perhaps that will be bad for unit sales, but I prefer not to tuck my head in the sand.

I won't quit and I won't back down. In fact, this energizes me. As far as I am concerned, this association is worth taking a stand. But we already know that. So the question is, what about you?

ComEd on Site for Two Weeks

Our Electrical Utility company, ComEd will be on site for approximately two weeks. They will be replacing nearly 12,000 feet (that's nearly 2-1/4 miles) of underground power distribution cables. Some of these are very large cables (size = 3/0 AWG). This size is prononounced "three ought" and this refers to the size of the conductors, in American Wire Guage. The size determines the current carrying capacity.

This is probably more than you wanted to know!

You will see signs, pickup trucks towing flatbeds with large cable reels, IBEW electricians and a Vermeer boring machine such as the one in the picture below, for about two weeks.

Enjoy the noise, with the realization that this is a positive indication of "Change". This particular "change" has a specific and defined purpose, and a declared outcome. It will improve the power distribution to our Association, and should reduce the power disruptions that we have been experiencing.

Thank You, ComEd!

There is a Lot Going On!

This year at BLMH, occurs to me a “lost year”. After an incredibly rocky start, the new board has reduced it’s disruptive behaviors, and we now find ourselves with an awful lot to accomplish and very little time to do it. So our 2009 roofing projects are underway, the driveways which the board finally agreed were a “problem” will be redone, and even ComEd has gotten into the act and is replacing the underground power distribution system. Landscaping including the removal and planting of several trees began and a contract was let for stump grinding, which was omitted. The landscaper is now proceeding with fall plantings, fertilization and the list of projects assembled by our Landscaping Director.

I’ll be posting frequently during this and the next week regarding all of these projects, the election and my notes of the Association Meeting on September 10, 2009.

First, to get you up to speed, I’ll provide some information from the most recent Association Meeting. This post will be expanded with a more thorough and complete report in a day or so.

During the meeting, the board approved the work to replace seven driveways. These were agreed as being those in most need of repair. You will recall, this discussion began much earlier this year. Meeting disruptions, board disagreement, and other priorities and agendas on the part of our new board members, prevented the work from proceeding. But finally, that work will begin for this year. Our Architectural Director has been pressing to proceed, before asphalt plants close for the winter. Unfortunately, the “fall rush” is now underway, as many other organizations and businesses also proceed with their end of year work. I am of the opinion that our association could have saved some money if this work had been bid and awarded earlier this year, when the economy looked much bleaker and contractors were eager for work. But our Architectural Director’s arguments and appeals fell on deaf ears. Better late than never, I suppose.

The roofing projects are underway and actual roofing of one of the buildings is scheduled for this week. The second building is waiting for the arrival of the “dormer” windows.

There will be a lot of digging on the property, as ComEd installs a new underground power distribution system. The work will be accomplished with horizontal boring equipment, which will minimize the digging of our grounds. Trenching would have destroyed whole areas. Our Architectural Director has been presenting an argument about “aging infrastructure” for many months. This is another example; the power distribution system is over 30 years old and we have been experiencing more blackouts in the past few years than I think would be reasonably expected, from a distribution system that is protected from trees and similar storm related disruptions. I am sure there will be unit owners who will be relieved and there will be others who will take credit. True, our management company did write letters, various unit owners did the same and I understand the city went to bat for us.

Campaigning and A Candidate Endorsement

Comment added 9/13/09. The information on "Cumulative voting" as contained in our Communications Director's emails and letters is incorrect. The incorrect information was repeated in this blog post.

The information was corrected by our professional manager during the Association Meeting of September 10. For the correct instructions, contact me or our Architectural Director, our Rules and Regulations Director or our Vice President.

==============================
As posted September 7:

We are approaching the next election for our Board of Managers. I have received my “official” packet, including the list of candidates, proxy form and instructions.

Some, and perhaps all, of the members of our new “Neighbors Club” have received additional information and instructions. This club, according to the membership form is “dedicated to bringing together in a positive way the residents of BLMH.” The following was sent by our Communications Director, so apparently email addresses were passed from the club to the ROC leadership:

“Hello ____,
It’s board member election time again and I wanted to send you this note regarding the four candidates that I’m endorsing this year. I personally know all of them -- ______________, ____________, _____________, and ___________. – and will be privileged to have any one of them sit on the board with me. They all possess the integrity, conscientiousness, and compassion that will help create a new kind of association governance. Together we’ll begin to cultivate a fresh mindset among our community leadership that encourages rather than stifles the individuality of our homeowners and that places the highest value on sincerity, honesty, and respectfulness.

In our elections, votes are calculated according to the voter’s percentage of ownership. That percentage is divided into the number of candidates you vote for. For example, my D unit’s percentage is 0.002721. If I vote for one candidate, the entire value of my percentage goes to that candidate. If I vote for 2 candidates, each gets 0.0013605 or half of my percentage. If I vote for four candidates, my percentage is split into four and each candidate gets 0.006802. If I vote for the full slate of five candidates then my vote is diluted further and each candidate will only 0.0005442…….”

There are several things about this campaign endorsement:

1. There are 10 candidates running for five board member positions. Candidates include our current Vice President, Rules & Regulations Director, Architectural Director, myself (Yes! I am running), and six others.
2. I am publishing this so that you, and all unit owners of BLMH have access to the same information. I have been opposed to some of the events of the past year because they seem to be based on a vision in which there are several tiers of unit owners. However, all unit owners are equal, and we should all be treated as such. There should be no difference if we are living on site or off site, if we are employed or unemployed, retired, etc. Private emails, other forms of communication directed to specific groups of individuals are an example of an attempt to reduce many of our unit owners to a lower status.
3. I ask you, do you want an association that works? If you do, then contact your neighbors and discuss what type of association you really want. Do you want our architectural programs, which are in progress, to continue as scheduled? That includes new roofs, new driveways and other projected repairs? Do you want our association to develop a landscaping plan as thorough as the architectural plans? Do you want our reserves used for these purposes, or not? If you do, then I suggest you re-elect our current board members. I would like our Board to focus on its fiduciary duties and run our association. I would like to get beyond meetings in which there are lengthy discussions spanning multiple board meetings about how to get light bulbs changed, in which board members orchestrate disruptions to permit tractor trailers on the property, or to have arguments about the why and wherefore of developing thorough landscaping plans, and so on. I would like an Association that works for all of us and wisely spends our hard earned fees.
4. If you want to socialize with your neighbors, then by all means, join the "Neighbors Club". However, that club should not be politicized. This club is open to all residents, which includes unit owners and renters. Renters can be good neighbors, but they have no financial stake in our Association. They lack the financial commitment made by unit owners. Unit owners who do not reside on the property may not be able to participate and so this club cannot be anything other than a social club.
5. The campaign endorsement promotes an association where a “fresh mindset” will “encourage…..individuality”. You may recall this was the same generalized language that was used last year under the “Residents of Change” banner. Well, after a year our official newsletter has been expanded, but are we really getting more information? What do we know of the issues and challenges facing our Association? The newsletter has contained copyright infringed photos of cathedrals and ponds, for which the owners never received the proper acknowledgement, even after they asked for it. We don't have a timely and functioning blog. True, THIS blog exists, but if you are reading it, it is only because you or a neighbor took the initiative. If you find this blog informative, pass it along, because that is the only way any of your neighbors will see or hear of it.
6. We, as individuals, will choose the degree of neighborliness that we want, as I have written in earlier posts. However, I don’t want to confuse being neighborly with running the association. There seems to be an attempt to use “neighborliness” for a political slate. Isn't that inappropriate? I have yet to have any member of the board, and that includes our Communications Director, make a statement of how the Board of Managers will enforce the “neighborliness” that she and others seem so intent upon implementing by replacing the entire board. However, as a possible example, she did attempt to coerce the Board to effectively change the rules so that a semi-trailer, which weighs in excess of 30,000 pounds, could be parked on the property and to reimburse the owner with Association funds (collected from our fees) for towing charges when it was removed per the rules and posted signs. This event she called “unjust". I suggest unit owners consider the damage that parked vehicles of this type can do to our streets and the consequences of allowing such vehicles to be parked on our property. For example, to be fair to all unit owners, shouldn't we each be allowed to park our commercial trucks, campers, boats, etc. on the property? If not, what is the criteria for selecting who is to park their oversize and banned vehicles on the property? I do not want our streets destroyed by oversized vehicles. We pay fees to maintain those streets. We have parking issues due to lack of space. Even if our streets could accommodate these vehicles, where are we to put them? I am not in favor of arbitrary changes due to circumstance, nor am I in favor of changes to the rules, to accommodate a few people at the expense of the majority.

I'll be publishing additional election information in the coming days.