03-01-2016, 06:42 AM
I will post in two parts...this is the presentation regarding chip seal given at the membership mtg 28 Feb 2016:
At the Oct membership meeting, a motion was passed requesting the board give us an informational Chip Seal presentation, to include total costs per mile and the determining factor on which roads would be done first. After their presentation the membership would vote on whether we wanted to go with chip seal instead of asphalt for our road improvements. The motion included their not doing any chip seal work until the membership vote. Their having a presentation would give the members an opportunity to ask the board questions before voting.
The following month at the Nov 2015 board meeting, the majority board voted to hire an attorney to see if they could overturn the membership vote. If the board is acting in the best interest of the association, why would they do this? This board action is oppositional and resistant to the members' wishes to have a presentation and the right to vote yay or nay on a very important decision that affects all of us and the roads we'll travel on for years to come.
As you know, we have a 12 million dollar bond that the membership voted for several years ago to have our roads paved with asphalt. Asphalt raises our property value because it's a proven product that lasts at least a decade.... The membership voted for asphalt. The board wants to put a lesser value product on our roads that doesn't last as long as asphalt, and will require more maintenance than asphalt. At an RTSC mtg, the GM stated the turn around period of chip seal is 5 yrs.
A previous board contacted an engineer several years ago to see if chip seal would be an option for HPP and he said no. The reason was our wet climate and humpey roads. This is why chip seal wasn't discussed again and a previous board and management started a Test Road Committee to explore different road material mixtures to improve our dirt roads. This is less expensive than chip seal and would suffice until our roads were paved with asphalt.
The board won't discuss any of the details with us and has now taken away our right to vote as is evident in their overturning the membership vote. This decision will affect all of us for years to come, long after this majority board has gone.
The majority board hasn't been transparent about the chip seal project for almost a year now. They continue to conduct chip seal business in exec session which is against our bylaws. It's evident to us since it's not being discussed in the open at board meetings. Members have asked simple questions at board meetings and have gotten no response. Per our bylaws, Article VIII Sec 9 under meetings of the board, "only matters of personnel issues, matters of litigation, or matters of attorney/client privilege" is discussed at exec sessions. Why is chip seal business being conducted privately at exec session meetings?
Many members were very upset when they learned the board overturned the membership vote and questioned the board's motives. Since this is a lot OUR money involved and it's OUR roads many spoke up stating it's the members' right to vote on whether we want to switch from asphalt to chip seal for road improvements. And most agreed that the membership should've been given a presentation to inform us and include us in the decision.
At the Oct membership meeting, a motion was passed requesting the board give us an informational Chip Seal presentation, to include total costs per mile and the determining factor on which roads would be done first. After their presentation the membership would vote on whether we wanted to go with chip seal instead of asphalt for our road improvements. The motion included their not doing any chip seal work until the membership vote. Their having a presentation would give the members an opportunity to ask the board questions before voting.
The following month at the Nov 2015 board meeting, the majority board voted to hire an attorney to see if they could overturn the membership vote. If the board is acting in the best interest of the association, why would they do this? This board action is oppositional and resistant to the members' wishes to have a presentation and the right to vote yay or nay on a very important decision that affects all of us and the roads we'll travel on for years to come.
As you know, we have a 12 million dollar bond that the membership voted for several years ago to have our roads paved with asphalt. Asphalt raises our property value because it's a proven product that lasts at least a decade.... The membership voted for asphalt. The board wants to put a lesser value product on our roads that doesn't last as long as asphalt, and will require more maintenance than asphalt. At an RTSC mtg, the GM stated the turn around period of chip seal is 5 yrs.
A previous board contacted an engineer several years ago to see if chip seal would be an option for HPP and he said no. The reason was our wet climate and humpey roads. This is why chip seal wasn't discussed again and a previous board and management started a Test Road Committee to explore different road material mixtures to improve our dirt roads. This is less expensive than chip seal and would suffice until our roads were paved with asphalt.
The board won't discuss any of the details with us and has now taken away our right to vote as is evident in their overturning the membership vote. This decision will affect all of us for years to come, long after this majority board has gone.
The majority board hasn't been transparent about the chip seal project for almost a year now. They continue to conduct chip seal business in exec session which is against our bylaws. It's evident to us since it's not being discussed in the open at board meetings. Members have asked simple questions at board meetings and have gotten no response. Per our bylaws, Article VIII Sec 9 under meetings of the board, "only matters of personnel issues, matters of litigation, or matters of attorney/client privilege" is discussed at exec sessions. Why is chip seal business being conducted privately at exec session meetings?
Many members were very upset when they learned the board overturned the membership vote and questioned the board's motives. Since this is a lot OUR money involved and it's OUR roads many spoke up stating it's the members' right to vote on whether we want to switch from asphalt to chip seal for road improvements. And most agreed that the membership should've been given a presentation to inform us and include us in the decision.