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All Orchidland owners have been sent a letter from the Board requesting proxy authorizations for the upcoming special meeting. The letter states that proxies may be submitted in favor or against the ousters. Am I the only one who finds it interesting/troubling that the return envelope is addressed to the home address of one of the Board member threatened with ouster? And that this Board member is one of the ones who conspired to permit proxy voting for the first time ever at the last meeting, and then only informed members who agreed with his position about the availability of proxies?
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We do have a lot in Orchidland,we drop our own gravel and all the holes are filled,we also give our mandatory dues and do the mowing on the road to our lot,as the Orchidland road board seems to have forgotten our road for the last 12 years.So we just do it ourselves with out asking approvals.
It is the least we can do to help our community and our neighbors.
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quote:
Originally posted by KeaauRich
All Orchidland owners have been sent a letter from the Board requesting proxy authorizations for the upcoming special meeting. The letter states that proxies may be submitted in favor or against the ousters. Am I the only one who finds it interesting/troubling that the return envelope is addressed to the home address of one of the Board member threatened with ouster? And that this Board member is one of the ones who conspired to permit proxy voting for the first time ever at the last meeting, and then only informed members who agreed with his position about the availability of proxies?
I just got the letter and have read it and the points put forward by the current board. I read the petition. I have decided to send it back voting against ousting the board thinking it was generated by an indignant trouble maker agitators. This fight is all deceptive and troubling and sad but I am taking the board at its word. Yes it's problematic that this goes back to a board member rather than an independent agent but it does require my signature and so it has a verification component.
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the proxy vote is one of the most fought about issues in Hawaiian acres . it has allowed control of voting issues to only a couple people . not a good situation .
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quote:
Originally posted by justthefacts
the proxy vote is one of the most fought about issues in Hawaiian acres . it has allowed control of voting issues to only a couple people . not a good situation .
Proxy voting is an issue in almost all the subdivisions not just this one.
If people do not take the time to assign their vote to someone specific and let them know how they want to vote, but assigns it to the board in general, it is a lazy tactic. But out of state owners may not be aware of issues, and not realize that this may or may not be a good thing (depending on what the vote is needed for).
It also depends on how the bylaws are written and how proxies are to be used as specified in those bylaws.
Some use proxies only for quorum purposes. Some allow the proxy holder to vote for board positions with them. Some go further and allow the proxies to be used for voting on bylaw changes.
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quote:
Originally posted by Amrita
I just got the letter and have read it and the points put forward by the current board. I read the petition. I have decided to send it back voting against ousting the board thinking it was generated by an indignant trouble maker agitators. This fight is all deceptive and troubling and sad but I am taking the board at its word. Yes it's problematic that this goes back to a board member rather than an independent agent but it does require my signature and so it has a verification component.
There are many ways to invalidate a vote. Losing a large number of votes in favor of ouster is the tactic that springs easily to mind. No need to worry about a signature, just blame the mails and quietly declare the ouster position to be defeated. You are far too trusting, if you believe that the threatened director will stand upon the edifice of Principle and not dare thwart the will of his constituents. It is highly irregular to receive the ballots at the home of one of the directors. Even if the vote had nothing to do with ouster, each director has a position on every vote, and if tempted by proximity, could easily nudge the results of any question in his or her favor. It is wrong to conduct official business in that way. When Yen Chin served on the board, he took great pains to receive the results of all voting at a neutral site, and have a neutral party conduct the actual count. That is the only acceptable way to conduct Orchidland business, and the fact that this current board does not appreciate the sensitivity of this issue lends credence to the petition of the "trouble makers" as you so generously labelled them, that these directors abuse their privilege and ought to be recalled.
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The first step in making sense of this issue is facing the reality that OLCA is a dysfunctional organization and then figure out if it can be made functional or is it a hopeless cause. These subdivisions were established as a money grab with no intention of being viable back in the 60s and it is only because of the resilience of the people who live here that any resemblance of a community exists. The only reason these are defined as "private subdivisions" is because the county back in the day wanted to collect revenue from all these lots that were created but wanted a buffer so they could excuse themselves from responsibility if people actually figured out how to live on unimproved property with no water and inadequate roads. Orchidland Estates sounds like a good name for a fancy private subdivision full of well off people who can easily afford to pay some extra dough to have great roads and facilities but that is not the reality here. Besides getting the roads up to par it would be nice to have a discussion about parks for the keiki and a building or even a pavilion to have community events plus maybe some semblance of bus service. I have to admit I haven't participated much in OLCA affairs but from what I've seen there aren't a lot of lot owners ready to step in and be board members if all these people are ousted.
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We've tried to be active in the OLCA since moving here 6 years ago. In our experience, very few people participate over the long haul. Most become active only when they have an axe to grind, then they disappear, only to be replaced by others who try to undo what the last group did. This Board is interested in getting 40th Ave paved and/or graded, so they wrangled enough votes to undo the membership vote of two years ago that collected funds specifically to fix lower Orchidland Drive and other chip-sealed roads.
I give them credit -- they figured out an effective plan: First, pack the board with their allies during Board meetings (where only those present -- usually 10-15 people --can vote). Next, remove two directors who opposed their plan -- directors who had been elected by the membership at large in a regular election. To do this, called a special membership based on a petition with less than the required number of signatures (Bylaws require 20 verified signatures, but they accepted 17 signatures representing 20 lots -- so theoretically 1 owner with 20 lots could call for special meetings. Strangely, when petitions with more than 20 valid signatures opposed them, they called for a Bylaws change to increase the number of necessary signatures.) Then they conspired to collect proxy votes from members who agreed with them without informing anyone else that proxy votes would now, for the first time ever, be allowed (yet in their letter, they now say "Why can't a neighbor who can't attend have a voice"). Then they waived part of an ally's outstanding membership dues so that he could run for the Board and accept an officer position (when word of this got out, the member in question paid all of the dues he owed).
Of the six sitting board members, only one was elected by the membership. At a Board meeting in two weeks, an election for 5 more vacancies will be filled, again by a miniscule number of votes.
Members who don't regularly participate in OLCA affairs are enabling the type of shenanigans that have typified this organization for the past decade.
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KeaauRich - I thought at the last general meeting the ~200k in funds were set aside for repair of all the chip-seal roads?
http://punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20102&whichpage=3
Are the funds for grading 40th coming from the general MRMAs?
What areas of 40th are supposed to be worked on?
Thanks for the great details on the situation!
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So the way it works in Orchidland is to either fix the problems yourself, maybe get a coalition of neighbors to pitch in, or get frustrated enough to join the board, get some attention for your own complaint, then get out of the way for someone else. They maintain this status quo then wonder why nobody wants to pay the road fee or raise them. The last newsletter I received was at least a humorous diversion, first the OLCA pats themselves on the back for finally fixing the washout on the paved part of 35th, then in a later article admit what a crappy job was done on that project. At least they won't have to install speed humps to slow down drivers, the poor workmanship does that for them, but at some point there will be a lawsuit because someone's car or truck will get ruined by driving too fast over it since there are no warning signs. Maybe there should be a sign at the beginning of every road that enters Orchidland informing people that they are driving on these roads at their own risk. The OLCA should have tried to get a state grant to pave 40th and the end of Pohaku Dr to help divert some traffic from 130 during construction but that window is closing. In the meantime at least our taxes are low because no one will pay good money to live here. The think about it guy on the local news just made Puna the butt of his joke.
