09-08-2014, 03:40 PM
Here is my take on the meeting, as a first time attendee of HPP owner meeting:: I will comment on my experience at end of post.
There seemed to be a BIG turnout, not sure what attendance was but guesstimate over 150, most people I would think came looking for concrete FACTS ( unfortunately I left meeting without these, not sure if this was others' experience).
There were TWO agendas handed out as you went into meeting-- one from the " cabal that hijacked" ( a prevoius post's term, not my term)the meeting and ? the other was from the board.
When the meeting started, a gentleman stood up and presented a motion that " the cabals" agenda be accepted without introducing who he was or how agenda was arrived at ( obviously, there had to be a meeting to put together this agenda but who/ how many people were involved). This motion was passed by a broad majority and hence the meeting jumped right into unfair dismissal of employees.
A motion was proposed and passed that mediation would occur, rather than litigation. No member of board is to be involved in this mediation, 5 members of owners are to be chosen ( but there was no discussion on how these 5 individuals would be chosen, my sense is that they are already chosen!!). During this discussion, one of the board members stated that " mediation is already occurring ".
[Mediation does not mean that litigation will not happen, if mediation fails, then it could progress to litigation, is my understanding.]
Then an INCREDIBLE amount of time was spent on the motion to release this boards executive meeting discussions, which was then amended to ALL executive meeting from past and going forward( it was apparent that there were axes to grind with previous board also!) Luckily, good sense prevailed and this motion was not passed.
The BOARD was then given the floor for 15minutes, only one board member chose to say anything ( I do not know her name, as they were not introduced-- it was assumed all present knew them). I can't remember the specifics of what she said but do remember that she stated that when this is all over and completed, she gave a personal commitment to discuss the details of firings.
A late motion ( when majority of people had left) asking for board to step down was passed.
Now for my thoughts about meeting, these are my PERCEPTIONS, everyone present will have their own.
1...The board should have been ALLOWED to present the details of the firings, at the outset of the meeting, then all present would have the same information. As it was, no one knew the same details, it was presented during meeting that people were taking kickbacks from a company, but I have no idea if this is factual or not.
2... The "cabal" kept referring to Roberts rules but as previously stated did not abide by them. Furthermore, the agenda developed was developed without all owners input... If it was truly representative of what owners wanted discussed, we would all have had input into it.
3... There was a general tone of disrespect for each other... I kept thinking that i don't believe that people are behaving like this...Shouting, talking over when someone at the microphone talking, board member " screaming" , it felt unsafe, as if physical fighting could have started at any time( maybe that was the plan, I'm not sure)and on and on and on.
I left the meeting before the end ( as it was 8.45, another rule of effective meetings broken, END when you say you are going to which would have been 8.30) and outside the door, there are 5 policemen---when I asked them if this was usual or unusual for a home owner association meeting, one said " this would be unusual".
So not a very informative meeting if you were looking for some facts about this whole fiasco.
Finally, I think there is so much animosity to this board that I am not sure how they are going to be effective in their jobs.
There seemed to be a BIG turnout, not sure what attendance was but guesstimate over 150, most people I would think came looking for concrete FACTS ( unfortunately I left meeting without these, not sure if this was others' experience).
There were TWO agendas handed out as you went into meeting-- one from the " cabal that hijacked" ( a prevoius post's term, not my term)the meeting and ? the other was from the board.
When the meeting started, a gentleman stood up and presented a motion that " the cabals" agenda be accepted without introducing who he was or how agenda was arrived at ( obviously, there had to be a meeting to put together this agenda but who/ how many people were involved). This motion was passed by a broad majority and hence the meeting jumped right into unfair dismissal of employees.
A motion was proposed and passed that mediation would occur, rather than litigation. No member of board is to be involved in this mediation, 5 members of owners are to be chosen ( but there was no discussion on how these 5 individuals would be chosen, my sense is that they are already chosen!!). During this discussion, one of the board members stated that " mediation is already occurring ".
[Mediation does not mean that litigation will not happen, if mediation fails, then it could progress to litigation, is my understanding.]
Then an INCREDIBLE amount of time was spent on the motion to release this boards executive meeting discussions, which was then amended to ALL executive meeting from past and going forward( it was apparent that there were axes to grind with previous board also!) Luckily, good sense prevailed and this motion was not passed.
The BOARD was then given the floor for 15minutes, only one board member chose to say anything ( I do not know her name, as they were not introduced-- it was assumed all present knew them). I can't remember the specifics of what she said but do remember that she stated that when this is all over and completed, she gave a personal commitment to discuss the details of firings.
A late motion ( when majority of people had left) asking for board to step down was passed.
Now for my thoughts about meeting, these are my PERCEPTIONS, everyone present will have their own.
1...The board should have been ALLOWED to present the details of the firings, at the outset of the meeting, then all present would have the same information. As it was, no one knew the same details, it was presented during meeting that people were taking kickbacks from a company, but I have no idea if this is factual or not.
2... The "cabal" kept referring to Roberts rules but as previously stated did not abide by them. Furthermore, the agenda developed was developed without all owners input... If it was truly representative of what owners wanted discussed, we would all have had input into it.
3... There was a general tone of disrespect for each other... I kept thinking that i don't believe that people are behaving like this...Shouting, talking over when someone at the microphone talking, board member " screaming" , it felt unsafe, as if physical fighting could have started at any time( maybe that was the plan, I'm not sure)and on and on and on.
I left the meeting before the end ( as it was 8.45, another rule of effective meetings broken, END when you say you are going to which would have been 8.30) and outside the door, there are 5 policemen---when I asked them if this was usual or unusual for a home owner association meeting, one said " this would be unusual".
So not a very informative meeting if you were looking for some facts about this whole fiasco.
Finally, I think there is so much animosity to this board that I am not sure how they are going to be effective in their jobs.