Failure to Elect a board

Official Proxy Ballot

A Quorum was not reached during the Association election September 26, 2019
The failure to reach a quorum was announced by the Judges of the election (management and one owner as ballot count witness). This occurred because insufficient owners voted to make the election a valid one. According to the by-laws of the association 20% of the owners constitute a quorum. It would require 68 votes to achieve a quorum from 336 units (0.2 x 336 = 67.2 units).

Prior to the election, these were the 2018 board members, whose term  expired on September 26, 2019; This is per Management letter to owners prior to the election. Mr. Scudder was not present during the election proceedings.  At least one of the following was not elected and was an appointee by the board:

1. Sheryl Bailey (former President and Maintenance)
2. John Scudder (former Vice President and Landscaping)
3. Andrea Winship (former Treasurer)
4. Cara Calvo (former Newsletter)
5. Mary Prendiville (former Rules & Regulations)
6. Sondra Seery (former Secretary and Welcoming)
7. Nancy Walters (former Recording Secretary)

Does the association have a legal board?   This raises some questions. During the meeting the "President" stated there will be another election attempt in November. Here are a few questions for the interim:

1. Who is signing checks?
2. Who is conducting critical business and making decisions. Management is authorized for up the $500. All other decisions require board input. Of course, many things are on "automatic" but will critical business functions overseen by the board cease?

Furthermore the official governing documents (Declarations recorded on 10/27/2014) state that Three board members are to be elected in even years and three board members in even years. 2019 being an odd year, that means that three board members will be elected:

Article III, Board of Directors Section 1 (a):

"At each annual meeting of the Unit Owners thereafter, the Unit Owners shall elect a large the Entire Board for the forthcoming year. In all elections for members of the Board or each Unit Owner shall be entitled to vote on a cumulative basis, and the candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be deemed elected. Members of the Board shall serve without compensation for a term of two (2) years, or until their successors are elected, three directors to be elected on even numbered years, and  four directors on odd numbered years. The Board shall meet at least four times annually. Board members and officers may succeed themselves." 

The elected Board can appoint other members, per the Illinois Condominium Act:

"(765 ILCS 605/18) (from Ch. 30, par. 318) Sec. 18. Contents of bylaws. The bylaws shall provide for at least the following: (a)(1) The election from among the unit owners of a board of managers, the number of persons constituting such board, and that the terms of at least one-third of the members of the board shall expire annually and that all members of the board shall be elected at large; if there are multiple owners of a single unit, only one of the multiple owners shall be eligible to serve as a member of the board at any one time;........"

Filling Vacancies per the Illinois Condominium Act:
"(13) the method of filling vacancies on the board which shall include authority for the remaining members of the board to fill the vacancy by two-thirds vote until the next annual meeting of unit owners or for a period terminating no later than 30 days following the filing of a petition signed by unit owners holding 20% of the votes of the association requesting a meeting of the unit owners to fill the vacancy for the balance of the term, and that a meeting of the unit owners shall be called for purposes of filling a vacancy on the board no later than 30 days following the filing of a petition signed by unit owners holding 20% of the votes of the association requesting such a meeting, and the method of filling vacancies among the officers that shall include the authority for the members of the board to fill the vacancy for the unexpired portion of the term;"


Notification of owners per the Illinois Condominium Act:
"(6) that written notice of any membership meeting shall be mailed or delivered giving members no less than 10 and no more than 30 days notice of the time, place and purpose of such meeting except that notice may be sent, to the extent the condominium instruments or rules adopted thereunder expressly so provide, by electronic transmission consented to by the unit owner to whom the notice is given, provided the director and officer or his agent certifies in writing to the delivery by electronic transmission;"

The following is the published agenda for the meeting, from the official association website. There was no formal time allotted  for owners to address the board or candidates.  Several owners attempted to do so, but the President declared the meeting over. Thereafter several informal discussions occurred between some owners and one or two board members. One board member stated that I was "an asshole".  But I'm not the one who misled owners and raised fees even though the budget indicated a $124,000 surplus was projected for 2018. Nor am I the one who stonewalled and delayed the water main project since 2018 ultimately at great cost to owners ($500,000 spent to date by management and stated so to the owners during the September 5 meeting). Nor am I the one who failed to preserve Lakecliffe in 2019, or replace several failing driveways, or seriously deteriorated garage floors,  etc. This per survey with management in 2018. In my opinion those people are the "assholes".

Official agenda of the annual meeting:

Welcome to Briarcliffe Lakes Manor Homes!

BRIARCLIFFE LAKES MANOR HOMES ASSOCIATION

Wheaton, Illinois  60189

BRIARCLIFFE LAKES MANOR HOMES CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION BOARD MEETING AGENDA

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

BRIARCLIFFE LAKES MANOR HOMES CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION 

September 26, 2019 7:00pm

Illinois Institute of Technology, 201 East Loop Road, Room 203

I. Call to Order & Verification of Quorum

II. Introduction of Board and Management

III. Approval of Annual Meeting Minutes from September 27, 2018

IV. Condition of the Association Reports

 A. President

 B. Maintenance 

 C. Treasurer

 D. Landscape

 E. Rules

 F. Water Mains

V. Election Procedure

        A. Nominations from the Floor

        B. Introduction of Candidates
        C. Balloting

        D. Appointment of Judges

        E. Tally of Votes/Announcement of Results

VI. Committee Reports

        A. Welcome 

        B. Newsletter

VII. Old/New Business

VIII. Adjournment

===========================

(c) N. Retzke 2019 "all rights reserved"

Special Meeting about water mains

Unsigned posted notice of the meeting - no indication if it is "official" or not

Updated  August 31
There is a special meeting with the City of Wheaton about the water mains in our association. That meeting is scheduled for September 5 at 7:00 pm in the Rathje room of the Wheaton Park District.

More than a year ago, the City of Wheaton sent a communication to our HOA to discuss taking over the water mains.  This was a result of 5 years of effort by me. The current board has done nothing about this, to my knowledge.

A failure to act by the board will spend $millions of owners fees needlessly.

But the board seems oblivious. I sent and email to the management demanding that all current board members attend the meeting.

Added August 31, 2019:
There was no mention of this in the most recent newsletter (July) and the notice does not indicate if this is an official, sanctioned HOA event. This February HOA meeting notes mentions the water mains, but no mention of the formation of a special committee or who is on that committee. Note: the HOA never posted the January meeting notes, but it is mentioned in the February report.

This led me to contact Management and ask about the notice.

1. Did the Board ever send a letter to the City indicating it wanted to discuss the Water Mains, in response to the City Manager’s letter? Answer: Yes the Board asked members to form a committee and the committee reached out to the City discussing the water mains. This was the committee members idea to have an “informational meeting” concerning the water mains so owners can understand what this process will entail. 
2. The attached notice was posted at [my address] and I assume elsewhere. A meeting is to be held on September 5 regarding the Water Mains. According to the notice the Wheaton Water Superintendent will be there. I assume the HOA did not schedule this. Will the board be there? Who else for the HOA? Answer: The Committee did set up this meeting with the City and superintendent, again to inform owners of what this whole process is about. The Board will be in attendance, but this IS NOT A BOARD MEETING, no discussion with owners and the Board will take place, nor will the Board make any decisions at this meeting. This is informational only. I will also be attending, but I might be later I have a meeting before this meeting on the same evening.
3. In a later email Management stated this: The board does want owners to attend and they will have a drop box for owners questions for the supervisors at the meeting.

Grass - sod, straw mat, erosion control mat and seed

One of the challenges on a large property is maintaining the landscaping. Boards are sometimes inclined to take the low cost approach. Boards are also inclined to spend money on entrances and at the two addresses on Briarcliffe Blvd. Of course, the residents at 1825-1827 are all in favor of this. Sometimes the justification is "It is advertising".  However, if the interior is allowed to degrade, or ignored, then I have always taken the position that fancy and expensive treatments on Briarcliffe are possibly "bait and switch".

With rolling grounds, controlling the flow of water to get it to move away from buildings and walks should be a priority, but may not be.

From 2010-2018 maintenance did a lot of work to control the flow of water, reduce the number of "mud pits" and "mosquito glades" on the property. This was an expensive undertaking throughout the property. There were debates on the board. Some favored the use of straw grass mat and seed. I preferred sod.   Grass mat is possibly an acceptable solution if:

1. The area is predominantly level.
2. Watering at $5.05 per hundred cubic feet is acceptable. Add labor to this.
3. Frequent watering and weeding is acceptable during the grass sprouting period, perhaps a month or more. 

Nevertheless, we did try some grass mat. This worked adequately for the Lakecliffe Street replacement project where narrow strips were placed along new curbs. This was done as part of a large single source contract.

Newsletter and Communications - "Like Herding Cats"

About those dying shrubs - communication to owners

The previous post was about the most recent association newsletter and the board generated Landscaping Report. That report included the statement that "The bushes along most of our buildings are infected with an Asian beetle. Every hedge must be removed. This will occur in late spring."

The Spring 2019 newsletter article about these shrubs is not the most recent. In fact, the first article about this was written in 2017.  As as the case with many other newsletter articles, I was the "ghost writer" for the August 2017 article.

Here's a link to the previous post:

http://briarcliffelakes.blogspot.com/2019/05/about-those-dying-shrubs.html

Here are the newsletter articles or comments contained in the newsletters from 2017 and 2018. I frequently "ghost wrote" articles with the respective board members permission because had I not done so, there would not have been an article.  Click on the images to enlarge:

From newsletter published in August 2017

From Newsletter published in April 2018

From Newsletter published September 2018 - my final newsletter

Here's a couple of photos I took about this problem in 2017 which were formally submitted to the entire board with the monthly "board packet":

About those dying shrubs......

Dead Viburnums while other shrubs flourish.....

The most recent association newsletter included a Landscaping Report and a statement that "The bushes along most of our buildings are infected with an Asian beetle. Every hedge must be removed. This will occur in late spring."

That's inaccurate. Our association has a variety of shrubbery and many of the shrubs on the property are healthy. It is the Viburnums that are dying because of a beetle.  The photo above was added June 15, 2019 which is typical.  It shows healthy shrubs and dying viburnums. I encircled the viburnums in the photo above.

The issue was first observed in 2017
This was observed in 2017 and reported to the board. Only certain viburnums are under attack, and some as well as many other shrubs are healthy. I noticed this problem in summer 2017 and discussed with professionals, took photos in July and August of 2017 and submitted them to the board with the professional assessment. This was discussed during the August 10, 2017 association meeting and in 2018. In fact management and I walked the association with a contractor and a proposal was obtained in 2018.  The Landscaping Director was scheduled to make that meeting but did not show up.  Proposals were submitted to the board.......

The August 2017 email I sent to management and to the board member who was/is the landscaping director included two photos. These were printed for distribution to the entire board during the August 10, 2017 meeting. The email said:"Dave; Can we get some printouts of this email and the attached photos to discuss tonight? I’ve added a second photo at another location."

Here are the photos:

The pest is the Viburnum Leaf Beetle. It only attacks one species of shrub (viburnums). There are some viburnums that are very resistant to the beetle. 

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/vlb/

This was discussed by the board over, and over and over. LOL!

I advocated replacement of infected plants on a rotational basis. A meeting with a landscaping contractor was scheduled for June, but by summer 2018 the board had made no progress.

Here are some viburnums that have been observed to be very resistant to the beetle, per the Cornell website:

Viburnum most resistant to the viburnum leaf beetle:

• V. bodnantense, dawn viburnum
• V. carlesii, Koreanspice viburnum
• V. davidii*, David viburnum
• V. x juddii, Judd viburnum
• V. plicatum, doublefile viburnum
• V. plicatum var. tomentosum, doublefile viburnum
• V. rhytidophyllum, leatherleaf viburnum
• V. setigerum, tea viburnum
• V. sieboldii, Siebold viburnum

My email about the June 6 2018 meeting to replace dead viburnums.  Our landscaping director agreed to attend, but did not. This was my email and part of my report to the board after that meeting:

"John, and Landscaping Committee;

Dave Grill [Our manager] and I met with [Our Landscaping Contractor] today to discuss issues with the dying virburnum shrubs.  This is in accordance with the site survey conducted a week ago with ...... our landscaping director.

Here is what was discussed:

1. We need a plan to deal with dying viburnum shrubs on Plymouth Court and Harrow Court. This is the first step in a multi-year program. These seem to be the worst impacted by the leaf beetle. Thereafter, other areas will be dealt with in a multi-year program.
2. We want shrubs that are 3-4 feet maximum height to replace the viburnums. We want low maintenance and hardy. We want the “cut back” to be reduced to reduce the amount of bare soil. Length of the shrubs at each building to be about 15-20 feet.
3. Our landscaping director has proposed a tree nursery on the property. The board is aligned with this and we need to know how to proceed.
4. The board has a long term commitment to the property, but we do need to balance this with financial realities.  Street entries off of Briarcliffe Blvd, while beautiful, are not as important to our owners as the internal beautification  and landscaping maintenance issues.  Ergo, recent discussions on the committee about adding ground cover for these area.
5. Shrubs will be replaced early fall (August and thereafter). This is optimum for the foliage.
6. We request the numbers so we can discuss these during the July 12 meeting.
7. We do want to address the landscaping issues at the Plymouth pond, but any work in that area must be delayed until after the concrete work on the stream.
8. There are other internal property issues, but these will require specific requests.

I think this covers the recent discussions and immediate landscaping concerns. "

We did receive a proposal, but it included plants which would require additional watering. In other words, it added maintenance and water costs.  This languished for several months and I refused to approve it unless the board member who was the Landscaping Director would provide specific guidance. He did not. 

So that approach died when there was no action as of September, 2018...LOL...

And some wonder why I am no longer on the board.  Give me a break....if I wanted a hobby, I'd get a hobbly!  Like doing more painted rocks...LOL.   The butterfly in the center is a work in progress.......