"A Very Short Honeymoon"

Board President Speaks (whines) 

 Well now, isn't that just to bad. Apparently your self proclaimed "Honeymoon" didn't last.  News flash!, You never had one.  There is no such thing in an HOA.  Without your own vote for yourself, you would not be Board President. 

Your job is to conduct Board meetings and see that proper procedure is followed.  The rules and procedure are clearly written in our governing documents and Operations Manual.  READ THEM.  Smarter people than you and certainly me, have spent over 50 years formulating and improving them.  

We have a Board of 9 Trustees and each has the power of one vote.  Transparency begins with your fellow Board members.  Communication between Board members should be for the sharing of information with all and no decisions are to be made outside of a Board Meeting.  Transparency includes back and forth dialogue with the members. 

Past Board President, Gary Williams, is not required to turn over anything. His only requirement was to vacate the Board position when he was rejected by the membership several times.  The Business Manager is not the Board Presidents employee.  She is an employee of the association, that is you and I.  The Board gives her direction in her management of the Business Office.  Policy decisions are made by the full Board, not an individual Board Trustee or an employee. 

Social media (This blog) is what it is.  To whine about it is counter productive.  The best way to quell rumors is with full disclosure.  My suggestion to the New Board President:  Present information in a factual way without your personal opinion on anything.  Stick to business.  No one gives a damn about your personal honeymoon or  self perceived Surfside one.  You need to deflate your bloated head and listen to the members. 

"If you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen". I may be wrong. but that's the way I see it.

A Very Short Honeymoon

Marrying my wife Phyllis, our honeymoon was one week. With the love for that woman, as the days passed, one might say that the honeymoon has lasted twenty-nine years. When a President of the US is elected, often time it is said his “honeymoon with Congress” is six months, a milestone just past by our current President. Not that these presidencies are even close, apparently from feedback of usually reliable sources, my “presidential honeymoon” has been less than a week. For you see, rumors have been reported about private meetings with Surfside Business Manager, Tracy Lofstrom as well as talks with former President Gary Williams. Secret? Tracy is now my employee and Gary Williams is required to turnover all the direction or plans he had envisioned from the past year as well as this next year.

As stated earlier in the Weekender, my decision to run for Surfside HOA presidency came less than an hour before the actual vote of the newly sworn in Board of Trustees. This position was neither sought by me nor desired. However, many significant volunteers had encouraged my candidacy. By the slimmest of margins (5/4) the election was complete. For these next seventeen days with no preparation, it has been my duty to form Trustee assignments to include three Trustees who have never served in a volunteer position at Surfside. Three very capable people have left the leadership roles, so filling leadership positions has been difficult. Two of the new Trustees are not permanent residents making trustee assignments difficult, My solution was to talk to each one of the Trustees privately, assuring each Trustee, new or tenured, understood their responsibility, accepting that responsibility, and were comfortable in that position.

Noting many recent social media posts, the Surfside Board of Trustees has been accused of many things from graft and corruption to self-interest. As a Trustee completing a second year, none of these accusations were ever experienced by me. As a matter of fact, quite the opposite. Now, those past two years are part of history. As we look forward to the newly formed Board of Trustees, each one has expressed to honestly do the best job possible, not to have a conflict of interest, and to serve the membership of Surfside representing the majority of members. Everyone of us has committed to a very difficult voluntary position that will be subject to long hours with committees that are the backbone of the community and pledged to uphold the oath each one of us took, a few days ago, last November, or two years ago for your Treasurer Kurt Olds or me, your President. We are a diverse community and each separate area of Surfside has specific concerns. Please understand that not everyone is going to feel satisfied all the time. We are an eclectic community. Give our newly formed Board of Trustees the opportunity to represent all of our community, fairly. Our property lots are small, what we do on those properties will immediately affect our neighbors, either positively or derogatively. Please let that be your choice to be a good neighbor.

This weekend a special meeting will be held Saturday morning entitled New Board Orientation. Two years ago, upon my election to BOT this was not offered as the two others elected with me where one was an incumbent, the other was returning as a Trustee after a year’s absence. The next year was the late November election when we were all isolated using Cisco WebEx. The longest tenured current Trustee of this BOT is two years, nine months. Consequently, all nine Trustees will attend the board orientation allowing a refresher and catching up as well as preparation for the August Board of Trustee Meeting. Any Surfside member is invited to attend as a matter of transparency. No business will be conducted at all during this orientation. In that regard there will be no public Surfside membership participation except as a spectator. Your presence if desired is welcomed. Thank you.

Ric Minich, President, Surfside HOA