Consequence of Having a Backbone

“𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬? 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.” - 𝐒𝐢𝐫 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥

Yes, I've had enemies while I turned around this association, and that continues to this very day. Board members and owners. It shouldn't be like that, but there are a lot of nasty, small minded people.  Nails were driven into my tires multiple times (I got police reports). Former board members apparently told owners that "Norm is dangerous." Owners who attempted to block my bid for the board told others "Norm will raise your fees".  I'll soon be leaving this association and believe me, I'll never miss it. I can count on several fingers the owners I liked and trusted. That included a former president (a CPA), our most recent treasurer and our most recent maintenance director. They were honest, functioned as fiduciaries and didn't run their personal agendas 24/7.  I can't say that about any other board members or owners.

Malicious damage according to the police

Fees and "Living in a ghetto"

Oh, and what did happen to fees once I got on the board?  One chart tells it all. The fees stop their 7% annual rise in 2010, coincidentally the year I was elected:

Believe me, many of the board members, the ones who operate by the seat of their pants, did little but talk and promoted their personal agendas, and hated my charts, reports, spreadsheets and photos. Why? Because they operated from their personal agendas and opinions. Facts interfered with this.   By 2009 owners wondered how and why this association had been run into the ground. During the 2010 Annual Meeting a former board member stood up and addressed the owners. She said "I didn't buy a unit here to live in a ghetto."  Yes, it really was that bad. 

I called out the board members for their poor decisions, for their personal agendas, for their inability to make good decisions. I was straight about who was responsible for what. That's how one makes enemies. But some board members refuse to this very day to take responsibility for their actions and inactions. Our owners deserve better, but as they would elect zombies if they were listed on the candidates forms, ultimately the owners are fully responsible for the problems at BLMH.  Because they all live in an entitlement bubble, I don't expect any long term improvements. Now that the competents have left the board we'll go back to the "bad old days" with personal agendas and boards that run the association as a personal fiefdom.