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Wednesday, May 19, 2021
BOARD CANDIDATES INFORMATION
As published on the Surfside "Official" web site...
surfsideonline.org
2021 Board Candidates Applications-click on each name to see the application, resume and statement
I hope all the candidates are in favor of improving communication with ALL members. I hope the new BOT will implement online surveys to discover what ALL members really need/want. I think Survey Monkey is an option, but I am not an IT person. I hope the new BOT will then act upon the results to represent the interests of ALL members. Decisions the BOT make significantly impact the lives of our members. Thank you to all willing to volunteer their time and energy.
The world according to survey monkey. That is a very bad idea and I will tell you why. Most issues facing our board are complex. There are legal aspects that must be investigated and reconciled. There are unintended consequences to every action the board takes. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Decision facing the board need to be carefully considered, deliberated, researched, and tested before implementation. It is foolish to believe the entire membership will do that work before completing their monkey survey. Most of the time less than half of the board takes the time to do that work. Be careful what you want. You just may get it. BTW, what percentage of membership participation in your monkey survey will be considered valid? 90%, 75%, 60%, 50%, or the same 10% who participate know. You are trying to change a world that does not want to be changed. Even so, it is your energy to waste. Carry on.
That's the exact point 9:20. How do you members don't want change if you don't ask them. Who cares what method is used to collect input. The point is to collect the feedback. Use whatever method you want, but do the outreach. Posting something for a few weeks on the website is NOT soliciting feedback. Do all the trustees really NOT want to know what people think? Why is that?
What I think is trying to reinvent government, even one as feckless as an HOA, should not be done by a bunch of malcontents without careful planning, clear heads, and extensive deliberation. Radical ideas rarely lead to satisfactory change. Rabble-rousers rarely represent more than their shortsighted group. Do you represent the majority of members. Why not do your own monkey survey to find out? Monkey surveys are not expensive. Of course you don’t need to prove your point. You are secure in your arrogant and self righteousness position. Yet you demand the board prove they have the backing of the majority of members. Typical behavior of bully’s. News flash, there is zero evidence your views are the views of most members.
Yeah kinda how they tested the proactive tree destruction compliance during a pandemic before implementing it. That was a really well thought out plan.
So now we’re bullies because we’re standing up for equal and fair treatment? You have no idea how much work, reading and talking to others has been done! And such thought and arrogant behavior that was given during 2020 when members couldn’t use their RV lots! Even home owners were notified to stay home!
Yes, what a complete crock of nonsense. The BOT is a volunteer group of HOA members elected by about 12% of the membership voting. they are NOT elected for their specific expertise, and only some have experience with HOAs. Some never become familiar with our documents, or care to. They do not consistently adhere to our Bylaws and Covenants, so themselves are of questionable judgement at times, even of character, as this haughty individual makes clear.
Most of our covenants are 50 years old, and few changes have ever been made. The Tree Restrictions which are about 50 years old, have become an annual well-spring of member abuse and HOA legal action. What has become enforcement on an industrial scale, as many as 300 false complaints have been processed in the last couple of years, as pressure on members has been ratcheted-up. The business manager said one person turned in 50 tree complaints, and since she is new, she doesn't realize that this has been allowed by the BOT for years now.
This resistance to taking surveys has popped-up recently, as more members see this as essential to our future. Regardless of how many members respond to a survey, the information gleaned is given more or less weight. What we are certain to find by making a few surveys, is that more people will take interest over time.
The Board has been proposing various covenant changes, intended to increase enforcement pressure on lighting and personal choices of landscaping. They have started experimenting with different approaches to enforcement patrolling and without any apparent need, have instated the $200 to $300 closing inspections. We hear that without specific guidelines, these inspections are paid and no inspection takes place, or variations of attention taken.
We do not see evidence of this highly professional staff employing great expertise and care that defies the abilities or mental grasp of the "common" member. Where do these gifted individuals come from anyway ? Surely outer space to have such superior capabilities to the "members". Seriously, there persists, this adversarial notion that they are on a higher plane and are doing the rest of us a favor. Mr. Olds makes statements like this frequently.
Surveys are a great idea. Would they gain more response after a few attempts ? We can't say for sure without trying. The Lighting proposals have shown a complete lack of research into member's needs or wants. The Tree Policy continues as an obsession.
Looking at the qualifications/resumes of some of these people, namely Williams/deLeest, you sure can tell their resumes are either inflated or they have forgotten all their claimed expertise. That much procurement, engineering, administrative background should reflect on due diligence, customer service, and fiscal responsibility. Though in the HOA, their livelihood does not depend on them being proficient in those skills as history of their actions show. I would like to maybe see different questions added that would give a better view of how they would handle something.
The only complex issues the board faces are related to running a private water district. While I respect the time and effort some of the board members invest in educating themselves, as 9:20 states, "Most of the time less than half of the board takes the time to do that work." Doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence in the expertise required. Especially since the board members are constantly changing. Getting rid of the water department would certainly simplify things. The budget would be cut by about 2/3s if not more. Wouldn't think issues such as the compactor, covenants, beach paths and common areas are too complex for the membership to grasp.
Not being allowed to leave a home in a city and come here during the pandemic was what I was referring to. If you own a lot here or a home, in my view you should have been welcome to use your property.
Does anyone know if the May board meeting video has been posted yet? I checked facebook and website and don't see it but not really sure where to look since this time it was a Webex.
I guess I look at things differently. The "government agency" was doing its best to protect its citizens, ironically the key group being in JoAnne's demographic. But some people could only think about themselves. Those that made that choice I find morally reprehensible.
Just because you have a right doesn't always make it right to do so.
I worked for the federal government for over 30 years and Survey Monkey was used all the time for employee input. It's a good product to obtain opinion. Stop trying to make this little HOA into some complicated complex legal entity.
March 23rd architecture meeting minutes are also missing. They have March 16th posted on March 23rd. Have been looking through them trying to figure out why the prebuilt shed issue is so convoluted.
If you demand action from certain trustees, they will accuse you of harrassment. At least they all learned within the last few years to not use their personal emails and publish their personal emails on the HOA website and written correspondence. They will soon set civility covenants and begin calling the cops on members. Wow! Bullies!!! They knew what they signed up for when they became a trustee. In this role, a reasonable person expects to be treated nicely and badly. They need to be a leader and deal with it professionally. Or they will probably continue to act like dictators and treat the membership like children.
Owners of second homes were discouraged from traveling to their other properties. The so-called "travel ban" wasn't actively enforced, but was a State recommendation that was intended to help prevent exporting the virus from heavily infected urban areas to areas of little incidence like Pacific County. Infections jumped by the Summer when travel restrictions were eliminated.
No one was prevented from traveling as it was left to owner's discretion. State officials make such decisions based on the advice of viral experts, with infected people often not knowing they are carriers, and severe reactions often not developing for nearly 2 weeks after exposure.
It's ridiculous to think anyone got their jollies over recommending the ban, but saw it as the best option, same as masking and distancing. All of these measures had positive effects in fact, on limiting spread. Because of resistence to accepting restrictions and vaccinating, new variants will have time to develop and prevent our reaching so-called "herd-immunity".
It is a trip that many people think that our best scientific knowledge in 2021 is just alchemy. We ignore their advice at our peril. Wishing, hoping, praying, are all part of being human, but we have vast scientific knowledge that is a gift of our God and our human capabilities to do good things for the human race.
Someone I know said that the vaccines are "the mark of the beast". I said "are you serious? That's crazy-talk."
32 comments:
I hope all the candidates are in favor of improving communication with ALL members. I hope the new BOT will implement online surveys to discover what ALL members really need/want. I think Survey Monkey is an option, but I am not an IT person. I hope the new BOT will then act upon the results to represent the interests of ALL members. Decisions the BOT make significantly impact the lives of our members. Thank you to all willing to volunteer their time and energy.
The world according to survey monkey. That is a very bad idea and I will tell you why. Most issues facing our board are complex. There are legal aspects that must be investigated and reconciled. There are unintended consequences to every action the board takes. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Decision facing the board need to be carefully considered, deliberated, researched, and tested before implementation. It is foolish to believe the entire membership will do that work before completing their monkey survey. Most of the time less than half of the board takes the time to do that work. Be careful what you want. You just may get it. BTW, what percentage of membership participation in your monkey survey will be considered valid? 90%, 75%, 60%, 50%, or the same 10% who participate know. You are trying to change a world that does not want to be changed. Even so, it is your energy to waste. Carry on.
So Anonymous at 9:20. Your problem is members are too Clueless to vote? Our welfare should be left to experts? Really?
God forbid we think of some new ideas or for sure not find out what the members want!
That's the exact point 9:20. How do you members don't want change if you don't ask them. Who cares what method is used to collect input. The point is to collect the feedback. Use whatever method you want, but do the outreach. Posting something for a few weeks on the website is NOT soliciting feedback. Do all the trustees really NOT want to know what people think? Why is that?
What I think is trying to reinvent government, even one as feckless as an HOA, should not be done by a bunch of malcontents without careful planning, clear heads, and extensive deliberation. Radical ideas rarely lead to satisfactory change. Rabble-rousers rarely represent more than their shortsighted group. Do you represent the majority of members. Why not do your own monkey survey to find out? Monkey surveys are not expensive. Of course you don’t need to prove your point. You are secure in your arrogant and self righteousness position. Yet you demand the board prove they have the backing of the majority of members. Typical behavior of bully’s. News flash, there is zero evidence your views are the views of most members.
Yeah kinda how they tested the proactive tree destruction compliance during a pandemic before implementing it. That was a really well thought out plan.
How does someone simply asking for better communication turn so hostile?
So now we’re bullies because we’re standing up for equal and fair treatment? You have no idea how much work, reading and talking to others has been done!
And such thought and arrogant behavior that was given during 2020 when members couldn’t use their RV lots! Even home owners were notified to stay home!
Yes, what a complete crock of nonsense. The BOT is a volunteer group of HOA members elected by about 12% of the membership voting. they are NOT elected for their specific expertise, and only some have experience with HOAs. Some never become familiar with our documents, or care to. They do not consistently adhere to our Bylaws and Covenants, so themselves are of questionable judgement at times, even of character, as this haughty individual makes clear.
Most of our covenants are 50 years old, and few changes have ever been made. The Tree Restrictions which are about 50 years old, have become an annual well-spring of member abuse and HOA legal action. What has become enforcement on an industrial scale, as many as 300 false complaints have been processed in the last couple of years, as pressure on members has been ratcheted-up. The business manager said one person turned in 50 tree complaints, and since she is new, she doesn't realize that this has been allowed by the BOT for years now.
This resistance to taking surveys has popped-up recently, as more members see this as essential to our future. Regardless of how many members respond to a survey, the information gleaned is given more or less weight. What we are certain to find by making a few surveys, is that more people will take interest over time.
The Board has been proposing various covenant changes, intended to increase enforcement pressure on lighting and personal choices of landscaping. They have started experimenting with different approaches to enforcement patrolling and without any apparent need, have instated the $200 to $300 closing inspections. We hear that without specific guidelines, these inspections are paid and no inspection takes place, or variations of attention taken.
We do not see evidence of this highly professional staff employing great expertise and care that defies the abilities or mental grasp of the "common" member. Where do these gifted individuals come from anyway ? Surely outer space to have such superior capabilities to the "members". Seriously, there persists, this adversarial notion that they are on a higher plane and are doing the rest of us a favor. Mr. Olds makes statements like this frequently.
Surveys are a great idea. Would they gain more response after a few attempts ? We can't say for sure without trying. The Lighting proposals have shown a complete lack of research into member's needs or wants. The Tree Policy continues as an obsession.
Looking at the qualifications/resumes of some of these people, namely Williams/deLeest, you sure can tell their resumes are either inflated or they have forgotten all their claimed expertise. That much procurement, engineering, administrative background should reflect on due diligence, customer service, and fiscal responsibility. Though in the HOA, their livelihood does not depend on them being proficient in those skills as history of their actions show. I would like to maybe see different questions added that would give a better view of how they would handle something.
Williams is all about lean management principles. Hahahahahahaha!!!
The only complex issues the board faces are related to running a private water district. While I respect the time and effort some of the board members invest in educating themselves, as 9:20 states, "Most of the time less than half of the board takes the time to do that work." Doesn't instill a whole lot of confidence in the expertise required. Especially since the board members are constantly changing. Getting rid of the water department would certainly simplify things. The budget would be cut by about 2/3s if not more. Wouldn't think issues such as the compactor, covenants, beach paths and common areas are too complex for the membership to grasp.
Do I understand JoAnne correctly? Are you saying that by asking people to not travel to control a pandemic was arrogant behavior?
Resumes shouldn't be required anyways 11:21. At least according to Ms. Personality.
Not being allowed to leave a home in a city and come here during the pandemic was what I was referring to. If you own a lot here or a home, in my view you should have been welcome to use your property.
Joanne, no government agency or any community members can tell you to stay away. I was here quite often and we used our property.
Yes, but the board voted to not make an exception to people using their RV lots that year.
Correction, they did not vote, but agreed to leave the covenants as stated and review requests as needed
I hope the new board members fight to end the tree policy. It is illegal, divides the HOA, and only serves an elitist attitude of the J Placers.
Does anyone know if the May board meeting video has been posted yet? I checked facebook and website and don't see it but not really sure where to look since this time it was a Webex.
I guess I look at things differently. The "government agency" was doing its best to protect its citizens, ironically the key group being in JoAnne's demographic. But some people could only think about themselves. Those that made that choice I find morally reprehensible.
Just because you have a right doesn't always make it right to do so.
They are having problems editing it, code word for tampering with it, and that is slowing them down. They promise, it will be a direct recording.
I worked for the federal government for over 30 years and Survey Monkey was used all the time for employee input. It's a good product to obtain opinion. Stop trying to make this little HOA into some complicated complex legal entity.
Off-topic, the April 6th Architectural meeting minutes are missing. They have March 2 posted on April 6th
They don't care. Too bad for you. There's nothing you can do about it. I'm sure glad Scott and Tom are gone.
March 23rd architecture meeting minutes are also missing. They have March 16th posted on March 23rd. Have been looking through them trying to figure out why the prebuilt shed issue is so convoluted.
If you demand action from certain trustees, they will accuse you of harrassment. At least they all learned within the last few years to not use their personal emails and publish their personal emails on the HOA website and written correspondence. They will soon set civility covenants and begin calling the cops on members. Wow! Bullies!!!
They knew what they signed up for when they became a trustee. In this role, a reasonable person expects to be treated nicely and badly. They need to be a leader and deal with it professionally. Or they will probably continue to act like dictators and treat the membership like children.
Hey Gary, take your code of civility and shove it!
@5:38, editing it? You mean taking out Kurt's anger so noone sees it, like it never happened, lol
How about a bully covenant?
Owners of second homes were discouraged from traveling to their other properties. The so-called "travel ban" wasn't actively enforced, but was a State recommendation that was intended to help prevent exporting the virus from heavily infected urban areas to areas of little incidence like Pacific County. Infections jumped by the Summer when travel restrictions were eliminated.
No one was prevented from traveling as it was left to owner's discretion. State officials make such decisions based on the advice of viral experts, with infected people often not knowing they are carriers, and severe reactions often not developing for nearly 2 weeks after exposure.
It's ridiculous to think anyone got their jollies over recommending the ban, but saw it as the best option, same as masking and distancing. All of these measures had positive effects in fact, on limiting spread. Because of resistence to accepting restrictions and vaccinating, new variants will have time to develop and prevent our reaching so-called "herd-immunity".
It is a trip that many people think that our best scientific knowledge in 2021 is just alchemy. We ignore their advice at our peril. Wishing, hoping, praying, are all part of being human, but we have vast scientific knowledge that is a gift of our God and our human capabilities to do good things for the human race.
Someone I know said that the vaccines are "the mark of the beast". I said "are you serious? That's crazy-talk."
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