It's 4:00 am and time for another newsletter

It is that time for another HOA newsletter and so I have some articles to write. This blog post provides for some sidebar stuff. We got through the budgeting process this year with fewer bruises than in recent years. No one on the board was attacked from within. What a refreshing change since 2014. I did draw the red line in 2014 and 2015 and I'm no Obama. I meant it. That may have had some impact. A few years ago I considered wearing a "Don't tread on me" T-shirt. But instead I decided to play the game; as they say, give someone enough rope and they will hang themselves. I also follow the money and I am sufficiently smart to be able to do that.

Well, after the angst of the budgets of 2015 and 2016, we continue for 2017 with 1-1/2 percent annual fee increases. The "doom and gloom" projections didn't occur, much to the chagrin of one board member. In fact, we have a substantial budget surplus, according to the books as of December 31, 2016.

How substantial? We are about 8% under budget for $$$ spent for Operations & Maintenance and we are about 10% under budget for Maintenance hours expended.

In the past boards sometimes accomplished this by kicking the can down the road. In fact, some boards exceeded the maintenance hours budgeted so they rolled the deficit into the next year, reducing the maintenance hours available. I suppose they were hoping that the stars would align and they would miraculously come in under budget in the following year.  Of course, what they really did was hamstring the new board with a maintenance deficit.

That is not an acceptable approach and it has not been happening on my watch. How is that? Better management controls and information, that's how. In fact, we are pulling ahead with new streets, repaved/repaired streets, all new roofs, 80% new driveways, new garage floors as determined by surveys of condition, deck replacements and stream repairs underway, as well as substantial landscaping work and drainage work completed.  It wasn't easy and some board members have walked because the problems appeared to be overwhelming. What cowards!

So how was this accomplished? Better information. Better information means distinguishing between "information" and "data." Since 2010 that's been a challenge for me. Our monthly board packet is frequently 100 pages. We get 3-5 days to read it, absorb it and then use it to make decisions. "Data" can drown us in minutia and some board members have revelled in that. So I have tightened up the data, created or directed specialized reports, hired professionals and I make additional spread sheets, and present some to the entire board.

It is about empowering others. On the other hand we can control the information and disempower others, This is a choice to be made.

While some luck may be a part of running budgets that accomplish all of the tasks with end of year surpluses, it really is consequence of good decisions. Good decisions require good information. Then we can plan.  Not for one year or two, but for five or ten or more. In a culture with short term thinking that is not the norm. Politicians do what they must to be elected. Some blow smoke in our ears. Others blame everyone else. Some kick the can down the road and bury future HOA owners and boards with maintenance problems and fees.

It can take some time to change the course and I have likened this HOA to the Titanic. One can throw the wheel but the rudder cannot respond immediately, and for every degree of course change the vessel, our HMS BLMH will move forward. Timing is critical. Make a directional change too late and one will hit the iceberg. I timed my involvement based upon circumstance and opportunity. Too early and no one would notice; the naysayers would declare "what hazard? Too late and we'd hit the iceberg. So I waited.

I approached this HOA as a demonstration project, after watching the angst. I know what is possible, because I have sufficient mastery based on 50 years of difficult decision making, business management and large project management. Participating in really big projects with serious outcomes. How serious?  A single process unit is worth ten times more than this entire HOA. Duh! The current newsletter is part of the demonstration. Owners want transparency or so they say. However, they also want "good news." So for decades boards presented limited information in the newsletters which failed to reveal the true state of affairs. I did read the balance sheets each year and that painted a more thorough picture, although it did require "connecting the dots."

But the boards persisted with the newsletters and it got to the point of ridiculousness with one-fourth of the newsletter dedicated to an interview of the "resident of the month." What do I mean by "ridiculous"? Well, if you can't dazzle them with brilliance, then dazzle them with bullshit. So they did. I suspect it was a decision to avoid providing factual information. What a crock for a group elected to provide, among other things "improved transparency." But in 2008 they ran on "change" which was the buzzword of the year. They were elected, my, we are so gullible. For my efforts I got nails in my tires (I do have police reports to substantiate this).

But we now live in the aftermath of the "Hope and Change" Obama administration. Coincidentally the "warm and fuzzy" board of 2008 which published our "warm and fuzzy" newsletter also ran on "change." God, we really are gullible. Can we put "hope" in the bank? Will  it reduce our HOA fees? Can we use it to pay our bills? Did it reduce all of our health care premiums? Only with generous subsidies paid for by others. But in a HOA there is no largesse, and each owner must pay their monthly fees.

With the departure I am to believe that this heralds "The end of hope." Really?

I take the approach that the newsletter is not only to be informative, it is to be a training aid. I want to educate our owners and our future board members. Of course, that is not the most popular approach. Too bad.

We've had a few good years, but it isn't all roses. We've got some stream sections in "poor" condition. I provided a video report to the board in 2015. The diagram I presented to the board in the spring of 2015 which indicated about 90 scars on our property due to dead trees, etc. might have stimulated landscaping improvements, but we have removed even more and the work isn't complete. We have other street issues to address. There are some really long term infrastructure issues in a PUD. We can get creative, or we can punish owners. As perverse as that might sound, I do think some board members over the years have enjoyed and actually relished their roles in inflicting large fee increases on owners. One even admitted to me "You can slap paint on a pig but it is still a pig."

So why do they stay here? Because they can't leave. So they persist and spread bullshit. If I were to write a story, I'd call it "My life in hell and how I thrived in my HOA." Duh!

We do have one board member who is simply waiting for a disaster to occur so that individual can say "I told you so!" God, I really hate the "henny pennys." Of course there will be breakdowns. Of course there will be issues. This is a 40 year old HOA which kicked the can down the road and has an understaffed board. Should we expect anything but dead and diseased trees, or garage floors some of which require replacement? But why do some thrive on that crap? Why kick the can down the road for a decade or so and then complain about the lack of maintenance, or call the HOA a "pig."

I have concluded that in life, there will always be idiots and assholes to deal with. It gets ugly when they become the boss, or control HOAs. In our culture they make bad decisions, many of them, and then they complain and say "How could this happen" or "I told you so."

I say, "stupid is as stupid does." But I won't put any of this in the newsletter. I'll stick to the facts and let the owners figure it out for themselves.

Well, my newsletter articles are written, it's 4:39am where I am at and it is 40F outside. Time for bed.