HPP Biz

[PaulW]

I too am totally confused, no idea what's going on in HPP, except that some people have bizarre paranoid fantasies about Obie. Some of us actually know the guy and where he lives.

Could someone give an objective summary?

[kalakoa]

Could someone give an objective summary?

Meta-summary: where a sufficiently large budget exists and is funded by mandatory dues, bad actors will hijack the governing entity in order to redirect those monies to themselves and their friends.

See also: Orchidland, OHA, Country Club Condos on Banyan Drive, selective road maintenance by HARC, raises for County workers, etc.

[punaticbychoice]

kalakoa @ 10:43:46 02/07/2018-
Yes indeed kalakoa.
Yes, yes, yes.

[Eric1600]

I'll try, but I only have been following the drama recently. My surface understanding of the HPP issues currently is that road maintenance has fallen off dramatically after the board started the Chip Seal project. Many members were against the Chip Seal for a variety of reasons and rightly so as it seems to already be failing and was very expensive. The board seems to be some what isolated and secretive making understanding what they are doing, planning and spending money on somewhat vague.

Recently 2 new board members have been pushing to get road problems taken care of. I understand the Chip Seal has been stopped completely and funds were used to buy a mower and get the road crews working again and KKK (or "Triple K") maintenance is no longer being hired to do road work (hiring them was another controversial move by the board).

In the past 2 months I've seen a lot more road work getting done, including mowing. So that's a positive step. Also in the mix though is the "Forensic Audit". Due to all the odd things that have been going on (Chip Seal, Triple K, etc.) members have demanded an audit which the board has somehow managed to continue to avoid through backroom maneuvers. So many members are upset.

In addition it appears the board is trying to remove some of the new members who have been rocking the boat by calling emergency meetings without disclosing what the emergency is. The latest one is "Board Assignments". http://www.hppoa.net/special-board-of-di...ification/ only says

There will be a Special Board of Directors Meeting on Friday February 9, 2018 in the Activity Center library at 6:00 pm.

The meeting is being held at the request of two or more Board Members and is to cover board assignments.

It is suspected they are going to kick some people off the board or add in some members in vacant seats to garner more proxy votes for whatever they seem to be planning.

There's also a wide range of weird things they've been doing. For example the hppoa website developer was paid something like $5000 and no one seems to know how that happened. $5000 for a word press based website is ridiculous. Then the mailbox nightmare which I still don't understand. Apparently people who "got theirs" voted against it and a few more aggressive types pretty much drove the guy who did all the work and proposal out of HPP. So no mail boxes or upgrades.

Add on top of it that there are rarely any published detailed agendas, minutes, or recordings to meetings and all these secret meetings, a lot of people have lost confidence in the board and are at the point of demanding an audit and that they follow the bylaws (which they often seem to violate).

Finding the truth is hard because the sand is always shifting and very little is verifiable. But this is sort of the state of things as I know them.

[PaulW]

Thanks Eric, that was very useful! Really I just want my road fees to not rise too much and as long as I can drive to my house the rest of it is of little interest to me. But then there's always a chance they'll waste all the money and go bust.

[kalakoa]

just want my road fees to not rise too much and as long as I can drive to my house

Part of the problem is the complacency of those who don't mind "too much".

[mermaid53]

Rob if I may I'd like to say something to explain my rash post that was removed....

I don't do facebook, my husband does. A former board member has been viciously attacking my husband on facebook to get to me, telling him to tell me this or tell me that. It's been allowed to go on by the administrator. Ironically this former rep has criticized PT of allowing the very same thing.

I was pissed and I in error used the PT forum to deal w/this person, after I learned she reads PT. Rob did what he was supposed to.

[mermaid53]

Eric1600...you got most of it. If I may, I'd like to bring you up to speed on some other points you mentioned.

"It is suspected they are going to kick some people off the board or add in some members in vacant seats to garner more proxy votes for whatever they seem to be planning."

They want to depose the board president and the treasurer who are the ones bringing transparency back to our finances and other important business. By having their people in as all the officers of the board, they can stop all this transparency that's been "recently" going on.

"There's also a wide range of weird things they've been doing. For example the hppoa website developer was paid something like $5000 and no one seems to know how that happened. $5000 for a word press based website is ridiculous. Then the mailbox nightmare which I still don't understand. Apparently people who "got theirs" voted against it and a few more aggressive types pretty much drove the guy who did all the work and proposal out of HPP. So no mail boxes or upgrades."

A person was hired and paid more like $4000+ back in 2014/2015 to revamp the HPP website. It was discovered this person was former Dist 5's niece. The hiring was done outside of a board mtg and no other bids were solicited = no board approval.

Dist 2 rep wants the mailboxes no matter what. She claims that all those that voted No are people who have mailboxes already, which is totally false. Despite the overwhelming # of No votes, she's forging ahead saying the Memberships votes don't matter. There is no land they can use for the mailboxes as HPP's 20 acre lots can only be used for parks and schools. The board can't assess members for mailbox $$$ as there are no bylaw provisions that allows this. If the board officer makeup changes, I believe she will actively forge ahead.

The resignation of a mailbox committee person occurred after the mailbox project blew up in their faces and angry members came forward. There was no board approval to assess the membership $$$ for mailboxes and attach late fees if not paid by such and such a date. There was no board approval to spend $$$ for the printing of the flyers inserted in our billings, nor board approval of the verbiage on that flyer. It got people riled up esp after just getting their road fee bill w/a 10% rate hike.

Add on top of it that there are rarely any published detailed agendas, minutes, or recordings to meetings and all these secret meetings, a lot of people have lost confidence in the board and are at the point of demanding an audit and that they follow the bylaws (which they often seem to violate).

Finding the truth is hard because the sand is always shifting and very little is verifiable. But this is sort of the state of things as I know them.

I believe "the sand is always shifting" has something to do w/these people kicking people off the board, deposing people from officer positions at their whim to suit their agenda, and reps who were elected by their constituents resigning over the mess they see going on, and their bringing in their own kind to fill the vacancies.

The other main thing to add to the mix is this...the former board president who they just put in to fill a board seat vacancy for Dist 3, handed over the board's fiduciary duties to the GM to hire/fire and sign contracts w/out board involvement. That is against our bylaws and Corporate Policy. This has created a potential liability to the association to allow the GM to conduct this business w/out board knowledge.

And as I said earlier, our biggest enemy is complacency.
Edited for clarification.

[kalakoa]

That is against our bylaws and Corporate Policy. This has created a potential liability to the association to allow the GM to conduct this business w/out board knowledge.

Apparently without consequences, other than this lengthy forum thread.

[Kenney]

Mahalo Eric1600and Mermaid for the great synopsis! That was really good information. From my perspective, it was an honest evaluation of the concerns of HPP residents who are involved and able to attend Meetings.

The goal of most people who post here is to give information to Owners who are not able to attend Meetings, and there are thousands.

I went to a couple of meetings when I first moved to HPP in the early 80’s. My concerns voiced diring Owner input were negated and ignored. I didn’t go back.

Fast forward 3O+ year’s, I Retired and started noticing that the roads were not being taken care of, and it was costing me more and more for less and less, ( and now I was on a fixed income so money is tight) so I started writing letters and attending Meetings. I didn’t want to leave this bottomless pit of Mismanagement to my heirs so I tried to be involved enough to effect change for the better. When I questioned the (then) BOD and Manager, I was at first fed BS, then lied to, then labeled “obstructionist” because I questioned the actions of the BOD and Management. I have been followed, shoved, slandered, threatened by BOD Members and Management. I pay the Management, and the BOD is supposed to REPRESENT us, not Dictate to us.

After another few BOD and Management changes, things have gotten worse! We now have huge legal fees because the BOD fights Members on everything! Our Insurance rates have gone up. We have DOH fines to pay. Meantime the roads have gone to h—l, and the fees have increased.
Illegal hirings of unlicensed people, missing equipment, BOD Members being appointed without Vacancy being announced, disrespectful, nasty BOD Members dissing Owners at Meetings are common, and absolutely NO transparency with financial matters.. This is unacceptable, and in many cases, illegal.

Now, what those of us who are are able to attend Meetings want is not to Obstruct proper actions of the BOD, but to insure that HPP is Managed in a Legal and proper manner, and we want to know how our money is being spent since obviously it is not on the roads! We don’t want to be fined because we are not following the laws that govern our Association, and we want our roads maintained.

I am not a BY Law scholar. I don’t give a rat’s patoti about Robert’s rules, but I know the difference between right and wrong, and the Majority of the BOD and Manager here have got it wrong. It’s time for more people to speak up and demand to be heard or we’re all getting shafted.
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