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Board meetings are the 3rd Wednesday of each month in the library. Good way to see the board in action. You can sign up for 3 minute owner input though they don't listen. Take a copy of the bylaws. You will be shocked at how they do not know them or follow them.Membership meeting is coming up next month. The board runs it like a repeat ot their previous board meeting. They don't understand that it it a MEMBERSHIP meeting, and unfortunately most members don't either.
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I concur w/Katarina...all it takes is one to poison the whole barrel. That's what's been going on since Jul 2014. None of the reps since Jul 2014 have ever experienced sitting on a professional, ethical and law abiding board. They've experienced disrespect and bullying and many have resigned since 2014 bc of this. When reps resign, it creates an opportunity to fill the vacancy w/like minded people. Sometimes, that's the strategy. One rep was asked to resign bc they had another person in mind. Dist 5 and Dist 2 reps' friend who was hired to work in the ofc w/a good salary designed for her by them, even cld the rep and said she'd write his resignation for him and all he'd have to do is sign it. Yes, this is the kind of whacko stuff that has been going on since a certain rep has been on the board.
Another problem was not having anything in place in our bylaws that allows temporary dismissal of reps involved in a lawsuit. This made HPP vulnerable to unethical and bylaw breaking business maneuvers to serve those reps. A good example is the recent "recall" policy created by Dist 5 rep who is in the process of a recall...this is a clear conflict of interest writing a policy to circumvent our bylaws. Blatant disrespect of our bylaws and members' rights.
Regarding dedicating our roads...there was strong dialog between the county and HPP during 2013, perhaps even earlier. They said if we got our roads up to county standards, they'd consider taking our roads....our signage and it's placement, driveways on the main drags, and the encroachments were mentioned. We've not had any enforcement to speak of for years on our driveway and encroachment issues. You'll see rocks placed along the frontage of lots, planting of coconut palms (which drop coconuts and huge fronds onto the roadway=liability), lots of landscaping fronting people's lots on association land. We had an issue w/that when the county came to fix RR during the lava scare. RTSC was called in to mediate this issue w/some of the lot owners there. It was a contemptuous situation bc one lot owner had to approve removing a rock wall, and another their entire line of areka palms to make way for required road shoulders. The county did the labor. Our humpy roads are also an issue which creates blind spots. Couple that w/line of sight issues on some cross roads and you have a very dangerous situation. The current GM and board are oblivious.
Then in 2015 around springtime, Gregor Ilagan came to a board mtg asking the board to come up with a wish list w/3 items on it. When he left, dedicating our roads was #1 on the wish list. The next time he returned, Gregor was discussing a park. No one knows when the change occurred bc it didn't happen at a board mtg. There was a flip flop of power around then, the GM was hired, and chip seal was being pushed hard by Dist 5 rep. Many have said the motive to hire this GM was for chip seal. He told me at a 2015 Finance Committee mtg not long after he was hired that there's no such thing as a good dirt road, in response to my saying chip seal is more costly. They were already discussing purchasing a water truck bc chip seal requires a lot of water during the application process. I asked if we ended up not going w/chip seal, would the purchase of the water truck be justifiable. The treasurer said yes. The county has good dirt roads and a tech geologist told me it's all about choosing the right bonding mixture....may cost a little more but will pay off in the long run. That the material on our roads would not bond...cinder will turn to dust and the hard rock will be all that's left. That's the exact description we see on our roads today. The GM's assessment told me he had a chip seal agenda as soon as he was hired.
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what's been going on since Jul 2014
Two and a half years later, it's Jan 2017.
they'd consider taking our roads
How nice of them to "consider" abiding by HCC 2-162.
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You had good roads 3 years ago because you had an excellent road supervisor, road crew, office staff and GM.
Since they were fired you got the world according to Jo.
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it cost when it’s free...now here come the taxes.....
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You are correct kahunascott. The apathy and lack of correct knowledge by members in HPP is in a sorry state. It causes indigestion to see there is a new treasurer who has no bookkeeping or money management skills.(does the word 'pawn' come to mind)I do not let someone who is not a professional handle my investments. Should we here? I guess so by the nonaction of members by not even acknowledging the source of our problem..you know, the one who is rewriting recall policy while there is a legit recall petition for her. Many did not appreciate what they had and now think it is easier to just lower their own standards and fork out more cash.
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the nonaction of members by not even acknowledging the source of our problem..
By which definition, there is no problem, and any complaints are a wasted effort.
Wake me when HPP's management gets written up in the mainstream media (Star-Advertiser preferred, but will settle for HTH).
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Some of you posted encouraging members to apply for their district election this year. But will we have a repeat sham of last year's election??? They were successful last election w/no accountability so may try these maneuvers again. No, Putin wasn't involved. But the same reps we have trouble with today were and therefore, I have NO confidence in our election process.
We can't even have a professional district election run w/integrity w/out board reps and their supporters meddling to affect who WE the membership votes for. Check the board minutes, who were the board reps during Apr-Jun 2016 and are repeats this term? Who was the Nominating Committee chair that was involved last election and is a repeat member?
Are the board and Nominating Committee going to make up their own rules again this election? At the Dec 2016 board mtg, the board formed an "election committee", a board controlled committee. Isn't this a conflict of interest? Is that why an "election" committee was formed to circumvent the bylaw's checks and balances?
Here are the facts....Members and reps on the Nominating committee are also on the Election committee. Who's cross checking whom here? There's at least one candidate from the last election who's 3 yr board seat was stolen from him, and no one knows how many other districts were involved since no investigation was done.
If you attended the last 2 membership mtgs, you would've learned we indeed had a fraudulent district election. 1) How does a candidate get invited to an Orientation mtg, reserved for winning candidates, given board rep material, and sev days later told by Dist 5 rep that he didn't win? 2) How is it that a winning candidate wasn't told he had won? He wasn't asked to attend the Orientation mtg (bc you can't have 2 winning candidates from Dist 1) nor to attend the June membership mtg 3) A member requested a ballot count in Aug 2016 and picked it up at the ofc. The document had "Theagels" at the top, the wrong Eagles adrs and a date in Aug 2016, not dtd Jun 2016 when the election results would've been recorded.
When someone at the Eagles was questioned and shown this ballot count document, they said they didn't produce or provide it, and the HPP board hadn't requested a ballot count document from them. They showed the HPP member their Eagles stationery w/letterhead w/a different adrs. It didn't come close to resembling what was provided by the HPP ofc. The association hired The Eagles to do the ballot count and no one thinks they were involved in fraud. But they've circled their wagons once the fraud came to their attention. We've learned that a board member's boyfriend is on the Eagles board, hence the connection to the Eagles.
In 2015, the board set a precedence that NO applications will be accepted after the deadline. A member was turned away on that pretense at that time.
The Eagles didn't have anything in place to receive our ballots so they were delivered to the HPP ofc and stored in a cardboard box. No blame on the Eagles. It was the board's choice to break our bylaws.
Be attentive if there's a repeat of this. They did not abide by the following rules: Article VIII Sec 4 Nomination. "(d) Nominations shall be submitted by the nominating committee to the Association Administration Office for preparation of the ballots. The deadline for receipt of nominations shall be the end of the third week of March. Sec 5 Election (a) Each year the members in each voting district whose district's term expires, or whose director's position is vacant, or is being filled by a board appointee, shall elect a new director by confidential mail-in ballot. Prior to the ballot mail-out, the board shall select a reputable entity to receive, count, and report on the election results." A member came forward to remind the board of this bylaw before the ballots were mailed out and they disregarded it.
What board rep/s were involved in this election fraud? In an ethical world, the rep/s would be kicked off the board, any involved committee members banned from any more committees, and any ofc staff fired. Members were provided handouts of the fraudulent document and the Eagles letterhead stationery at the October membership mtg... incontrovertible proof.
We also learned at the membership mtg the GM accompanied 2 reps during business hrs to observe the ballot count at the Eagles facility. This is highly irregular and is a first in HPP history to involve and pay an employee to observe the ballot count. Another irregularity was the lack of any association members there to observe for OUR checks and balances. One tried to attend and "coincidentally" the time was changed. The woman from the Eagles stated one of the reps at the ballot count was noticeably upset at the outcome of one of the districts.......hmmmm, that's interesting...Be attentive association members on how the elections are managed this year. And does your ballot have your name printed on it for checks and balances or do you have to write it in like last election? Is the return adrs the HPP ofc?
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This has been my "Wish List" for HPP. Granted, I am not a lot owner, however I worked in the HPP office for 18 years and have seen up close many of the problems and my wish list may solve some of those problems. But as it is with Congress, it would need the cooperation of the Board of Directors and the Bylaw Committee in particular.
#1. Change the name of the Corporation to "Hawaiian Paradise Park Road Maintenance Corporation". This name change would eliminate any notion that HPP is a "Home Owner" (HOA) Association with all that that entails. Besides which, not all lot owners have homes in HPP. Working with mortgage lenders and Realtors I saw the confusion. I had to really struggle to collect back fees because of this misnomer.
#2. When I started, there were no districts and so, because candidates were not restricted to certain areas, there was no problem of finding candidates for the Board. Districts were created because folks complained that all or most Board Members were coming from only one area in the subdivision and the rest of the population was feeling left out. My solution would be to keep the Districts but open up elections to any qualified owner regardless of district. Depending on how many positions are open, that many winning candidates are chosen. Once you have them, let them draw the numbers of the open districts from a "hat". Even if they live on Kaloli Point but draw a #1 (as an example) they would then represent Pohaku Circle (District 1). Or as another option...
#3. Have all Board Members come from outside the subdivision. NO OWNERS = no personal agendas. Get resumes! Oh....9 Board members too many (like herding cats?). 5 is plenty. Hawaiian Ocean View Estates, which is larger than HPP did that and solved a whole host of problems. They also split the Road Maintenance Corporation from the billing and other business of their Corporation. It worked for them.
#4. The Bylaws contain wording that is ambiguous and open to interpretation. I don't know if it's normal for the Board of Directors of most Corporations to be involved with the day to day running of the business. That's why you hire a Manager that has been vetted and in which you have confidence to run your business. HPP has a history of adversarial relationships with its Managers. It hires a Manager, (which used to have bookkeeping skills) with a fiduciary duty to keep the Corporation financially secure. But whenever some Managers tried doing that very thing, they either get fired or made so miserable that they quit. Case in point.....the Manager at the time the Bond was being researched warned the Board that the Bond was a bad idea and gave multiple reasons why. She was "escorted" out of the office shortwith. YOU are still suffering from the bad decision made despite the warning of an excellent Manager doing her job. I've seen similar scenes besides this dramatic one, but I digress. The way the Bylaws are written makes it seem like the Board should be in the office, causing chaos, stopping the office staff from doing the work of collecting fees and other work of the business while they cater to Board members. And monthly Board meetings are too many unless there is an issue that needs immediate attention. A board meeting before each Membership Meeting should be sufficient with maybe one other one to discuss the three year plan.....see #5 next.
#5. Something the Board should be doing but I have NEVER seen done is creating a long term plan....usually a three year plan. They should be taking that plan to the Manager who will, with Board approval, break down that plan into one year "bites". The Manager would take that one year plan, do research on the costs and logistics and take his findings to the Board for further approval. Once approved, the Manager would proceed and set the plan in motion. Regular road maintenance would continue as long as the annual plan isn't unrealistic.
#6 It may not be possible, but maybe the subdivision be divided back to Increment #1 and Increment #2. I believe HPP has gotten too big (populated) to be manageable any more.
#7. CREATE A BOARD OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE!!!!! Hold them accountable for their actions. Just make sure this committee isn't made up of Board cronies.
I have probably taken up too much of your time. I still miss much about HPP and many of the lot owners. I'm sad that you are all still struggling with many of the same issues for the past few years. I hope some brave, smart and knowledgeable people can step up and make positive changes to HPP.
Aloha,
Morgan
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#3 is key. HOVE is much larger than HPP and does more work with less money. The more that HPP can emulate HOVE in the roads department, the better!
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quote: Originally posted by Kapoho Joe
#3 is key. HOVE is much larger than HPP and does more work with less money. The more that HPP can emulate HOVE in the roads department, the better!
The roads in HOVE were all paved or chip and sealed.
Their maintenance costs are a lot less than HPP !
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