HPP mailbox vote

[leo]

Old Croc, refer to Obie's post page 8 of this thread.

Thanks for the summary mermaid. I was at the meeting. The Board doesn't know how to conduct a professional meeting. It's scary to think these are the people who are making decisions for the association. They are handling millions of HPPOA dollars and hundreds of miles of our roads. Seeing them in action raised my concerns even more. I guess we get what we get never knowing what background volunteers have. It was a disaster. Where was the Board president? He should've been there. Wasn't he responsible for the mailbox chaos? Whomever was conducting the meeting did an excellent job of creating a chaotic and disrespectful atmosphere. The guy on the committee with anger management problems compounded the chaotic atmosphere. This is what turns people off from going to meetings. I see what Kenney meant by the Board's disrespect towards members.

From what I gathered it looks like they plan to continue with their distraction of chip seal and mailboxes. Never mind the potholes, overgrown shoulders and no road material. It was ironic that the Board talked about safety and liabilities in relation to the current mailbox locations but it went right over their heads when it came to people talking about safety and liabilities on our roads today. They're still taking the mailbox money and the mailbox votes people are sending in with their mailbox bill. What does it all mean? I agree with the idea of the mailbox committee being a members committee. The board needs to get back to road work.

[Old Croc]

Thank you. Ha ha, now I'm curious about the identities of "The wrinkled up Cheerleader and her Whiner Boy."

[reni]

Mermaid posts,

"The meeting started out with the lack of a recording secretary per our bylaws. The board didn't state why she wasn't there at a very important meeting. ".....There was debate on the legality of moving forward ......"

A debate????
"Ensure minutes of every board and membership mtg are taken by a recording secretary from an independent professional secretarial service having no other connection with the Association."

Thanks to the member who read our bylaws to the Board .

Leo writes,
" The Board doesn't know how to conduct a professional meeting. It's scary to think these are the people who are making decisions for the association. They are handling millions of HPPOA dollars ....."

Yep, scary ....and absolutely unbelievable.

[mermaid53]

There are add'l things regarding the membership mtg....

The consensus between the people I know that were at the mtg was that the membership decided no business would be done since we had no recording secretary which is required in our bylaws...black and white. That since we were all there, we would listen to the board's reports. But then the VP went right into approving the minutes. There was all sort of business done at the meeting that rightfully would be null and void.

Approving the minutes may seen trivial to those of you who don't have background. Many thought let's get this over and done with. Since Jul 2014, the minutes of our membership mtgs and our board mtgs have been "tweaked". Had to be someone on the board bc there was no one else who could've done it. Tweaked in inserting info that wasn't actually discussed, or put a spin on what members said to suit the board's agenda (character assassination) or insert words into an owner's mouth that were never said. One board minutes stated an owner called the board morons. I was there and this was a downright lie. I've done a report before the membership on CS and the report was replaced by board reps responses to my report, no report even though I submitted it to the recording secretary at the time of the mtg. One board rep asked after reading the board minutes if he had fallen asleep bc he didn't remember all that discussion. This is wrong and if the info isn't caught it goes down into HPP history that way. My hope is that we won't see this anymore now that the rep has resigned. This was abuse of power and plainly put, immature high school behavior.

There was a PMAR committee formed by Leilani Bronson-Crelly (new dist 5 rep). She should've stood before the membership as a member instead of sitting at the table like a board rep when she solicited the membership. The committee would rightfully be null and void if we're going to follow the bylaws.

After discussion that the mailbox committee should be a membership committee since it was thought the board has no authority to be working on mailboxes and needed to get back to their main duties of maintaining our roads, a member made a motion to form a membership mailbox committee. (The thought was that one board rep from the board mailbox committee could join the membership committee) There was a 2nd to the motion. At this point, new dist 5 rep and brand new board mailbox committee member interjected that there was already a board mailbox committee so why have duplicity? This was intentional to interrupt and take control. Dist 5 rep didn't want to relinquish control to the membership. After all, she had just joined the board mailbox committee. Very disturbing how that all played out and it worked! (for her) If the board mailbox committee gets the atty response they're seeking, they are going to proceed. What's happening to the $ they've received from members already when they're a long way off from getting The Plan proposed to the membership?

Please read Larudnab's post page 13 of this thread. If you've read it, please reread. The board could learn a lot from this very well thought out and professional report. He should lead a membership mailbox committee. I would have great confidence w/him at the helm.

There was another membership committee that was formed as I already discussed in the membership mtg summary to explore the inequity of road fees....so this would also be null and void if we're going to follow our bylaws.

[EightFingers]

So where WAS the secretary?

Just a giant waste of time. Oh, I was curious what presentations would be like.

Seems like the board had no intention conducting any other business <but> the mailbox thing which was basically, "This is what we're going to do." Membership was pretty much powerless to do anything about it at that meeting. Such a shame to waste everyone's time like that.

[kalakoa]

There was all sort of business done at the meeting that rightfully would be null and void.

...and the membership remained silent.

Silence = consent, right?

[Chunkster]

It seems the membership meeting was another mess. So tell me again why the whole thing shouldn't be thrown out and replaced with something totally different. As Einstein would say, it's insanity to think that doing the same old thing over and over will produce any real change. Participatory democracy doesn't work on any level for HPP. The board doesn't work. Membership meetings don't really do anything and are easily overruled by the board if they do. (The board has overturned membership resolutions going back to at least 2007 and probably beyond.) Interest and participation in elections is dropping despite a steady increase in full time resident owners.

I'll suggest two options for real reform. We could replace the current hui with a professional management company selected by a committee of the chairs of some independent community organizations such as the League of Women Voters. Or we could take kalakoa's suggestion and convert the hui to a Special Improvement District. Either of those two would be better than what we have now, which is worse than nothing.

[kalakoa]

I'll suggest two options for real reform.

My suggestions seem to fall on deaf ears. Hope you have better luck.

[My 2 cents]

"My suggestions seem to fall on deaf ears. Hope you have better luck."

Even if people were listening, it would still require cooperation between the board and the membership. What were we thinking?

[Chunkster]

" . . . it would still require cooperation between the board and the membership."

Not necessarily. In 1996, Judge Nakamura decided that things had gone too far and put HPP into receivership for almost four years. That reset obviously didn't work, mainly because the hui was reconstituted along the same general lines as before, only with a purpose restricted to road maintenance and some slightly improved bylaws. Another trip through receivership ending with a totally different system as outlined in my last post would be a radical departure from the failed volunteer board model. Of course, some people would have to find a new hobby, but we would all be better off in the long run.