It has been a while since I wrote last
but I needed to cool down from the events of Wednesday's Board Meeting in
addition to enjoying the weekend.
President Sal Lauricella resigned from
the Board after 33 years of service to The Colonies. The letter read from Sal was pathetic stating it was to coincide with his 80th birthday; a man
elected in May who did everything short to get himself and the other 4
incumbents elected but get the Sicilian Mob after the Petition Candidates with
underhanded tactics like the 'faux resignation letter' announcing General
Manager Carole Carlton, Administrative Assistant and Corporate Secretary
Assistant Jill Smith and Property Manager Jim McCracken were considering
resigning to bringing a stack of papers to the Candidates Nights saying it was 420
harassing emails and when people asked at a later time to see them, they could
not be produced. With Sal’s resignation,
the Colonies Board of Directors had yet another opportunity to ask one of the
Petition Candidates from the recent election to fill the vacant Board seat but
appointed TJ Crane who admittedly may have potential. TJ was questioning
contract duration and the number of bids being sought along with Peter during
the New Business portion of the meeting. There could be some hope. Only two bids for one service? A minimum of five
(5) quotes should be obtained anytime a project at The Colonies is to be done
particularly when Reserve Funds are needed to be used. Carol Brown was appointed President per a notice posted in all buildings the next day. Recently appointed
member Marie Gallagher was noticeably absent from the meeting and no mention of
her was made at all. One would think a new Board member would appear at the first
full board meeting before skipping a meeting or a member of the Board would at
least say something about the empty chair at the table. Would make absolutely too much sense with
this Board!
Peter Pollak bringing up amending a
Policy Resolution to enact No Smoking in the Administration Building and
Clubhouse was the second highlight of the evening after the announcement of
President Sal's resignation... Peter
would have been dead if the looks given to him by chain smoker General Manager
Carole Carlton were capable of killing him. Fight on Peter!
Co-Owner Pamela Pepe was on fire and
Marie Louise Ferreras brought to attention some interesting tidbits:
- Complaint has been filed with the Virginia Common Interest Community Board (CICB) citing them allowing smoking in the Administration Building in addition to 3 Virginia Condominium Act Violations and the ‘other companies’ were brought up
- The Colonies Board is not following Robert's Rules of Order (http://www.robertsrules.com/) which has been confirmed by the Community Associations Institute (The Colonies is not a member; their awards in 1991, 1993 and 1998 cited on the web page need to go; no one cares about anything more than 5 years previous but The Colonies does live in the past and that apparent as all one has to do is look at General Manager; the 'face of The Colonies').
Midway through the New Business
portion of the meeting Social Committee Chair Allison Martin had to remind the
Board that she had a report. It had been
since the Summer I had heard from her and she sent me an email early Thursday
morning indicating not only was she steamed on many fronts but she also
forwarded an email she had sent the office prior to the meeting that had included
her report. She explained she had stated
in her email if the report was too late to be included in the packet that she
would make copies to also provide and she got no response so naturally had assumed
all was good (I know, she should know better than to be logical with that
crowd). The email she sent with her report was:
-----Original
Message-----
From: Allison Martin <amartinva@aol.com>
To: coloniesboard <coloniesboard@gmail.com>
Cc: colonies <colonies@erols.com>
Sent: Wed, Nov 9, 2011 12:55 pm
Subject: Report - Social Committee
Hey there.
Sorry so late... Please let me know if copies need to be made to
have on hand if this cannot be included in the packets for tonight's meeting.
Allison K. Martin
How hard would that have been for the office to have sent an email saying report was received too late to have been included with the packets for the audience (she was informed at the meeting the packets for the Board Members are sent out the Friday previous to each meeting)?? All it would have taken would have been for one of them to have responded saying copies would have been appreciated! The Social Committee Chair asked the Treasurer a question about a budgetary issue and to have her say 'I will get back to you' was no surprise as this is the same person who did not have a report to give at the most recent Annual Meeting! Any normal Treasurer would have been able to look right in the books she should have on hand to address a co-owner's questions.... The Colonies has four (4) more than qualified people willing to be Board Members, whereas many communities are desperate for people to volunteer, but each time a seat becomes vacant; they opt to fill it with one of their 'cronies'.
Allison further told me about how she
had sponsored a function at the Clubhouse Saturday, October 29, 2011 (Halloween
Party). Yes, the deposit check was from a 3rd party but she was the Function
Co-Owner/Resident sponsor so Allison asked Jill about the status of the deposit
refund prior to the start of the Board Meeting and was told it was mailed back
to the other party. Allison submitted a proposed form update to the Board of
Directors to address just that issue. The question is would it have killed Jill
or whoever in the office to inform the function sponsor since they are the one responsible
for all damages sustained during the function as determined from inspections by
on-site personnel immediately prior to and following the function as per
the Clubhouse Rental Agreement. It was
entertaining when Allison Martin pointed out during the Owner's forum the two
virtually dead plants and a clock that had not been changed for daylight
savings time located above the TV. The
porters maintaining the clubhouse cannot be that clueless or is it they just
did not want to deal with getting up on a ladder/step-stool to change the clock
back in March or at any time since Daylight Savings Time began March 13, 2011?
I had also heard about the companies brought
up at the previous Board Meeting -- a few co-owners were seen reviewing a
series of telephone bills prior to the Board Meeting and I was told each
telephone line appears to be under a different company/separate bill. Most companies I know receive one bill with
each line itemized. It is not that
hard!! Likely more money being wasted
as pay phones have seasonal rate plans and I know it is working right now… yes,
there a bunch of people cooking out and using it at this time of year who would
need access to a pay phone.
The Colonies had asked for Holiday Decorations committee volunteers earlier this summer. Based on an email I was just cc’d on, it appears there was no follow-through on the part of the Colonies. The Administration gets their way with decorations yet again – bring on the tacky electricity-sucking decorations yet again in abundance!
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