Mr. Williams, Surfside Board President, once again appears to be acting on his own and in his own words, " correspondence is made only in his individual capacity and has not been approved by, or made on behalf of, the Board". Is this also the case in Williams sending this Email and cost of first class postage?
It is true that there are several motions proposed to be made from the floor by members. They have to do with approving electronic voting and member voting approval of covenant changes. Hopefully, another motion will also be made to remove Williams from the Board. He time and again exceeds his authority on association issues including unauthorized spending. You can expect that there will be an effort to block motions and the accurate results of any member vote.
Mr. Williams, once again, only makes matters worse for the members and his fellow Board members. I hope there will be standing room only at the Annual Meeting. The members need to send a clear signal that enough is enough.
Click on the letter to enlarge.
31 comments:
I have transferred these comments from "How I will Vote" They are relevant to this topic.
Anonymous said...
I received an email from SHOA stating that Patrick has sent an email to the SHOA members telling them how in his opinion showing up to the annual meeting would be a good thing to do.
Then in the second paragraph Gary Williams has in structed the office staff to send a email.to try and stop the members from attending as I read it.
I think they are trying to restrict our voting rights!
June 29, 2018 at 1:37 PM Delete
Blogger Deb Blagg said...
1:37 - you are very perceptive.
Patrick Johansen sent an email to members from his private email account. He did not represent that he was writing as a Trustee or on behalf of the HOA. This was a private email sent by a Member of the HOA to the membership.
Laura decided to draft an email to send on behalf of the HOA to all Members in response to Patrick’s private email, which he did not send to the HOA. She queried the Trustees about the letter and I saw four replies - both Patrick and I said we thought it was inappropriate for the HOA to send such an email. James Clancy, Scott Winegar and Annette deLeest approved the mailing. Gary Williams, Jim Flood, Mark a Scott ans Larry Raymer did not respond. Nonetheless, the email was sent with the approval of 4 of the 5 Trustees (I assume Gary approved since it went out under his name). This is yet another example of Laura initiating action by the Board and of Gary Williams’ complicity in another inappropriate action.
Clearly the Board does not want Members to participate in this election, as evidenced by the wrong date being published in the Surf n Sider for the Annual Meeting and the Board voting down my motion to put the Proxy Ballot on the HOA website. The minority faction of SHOA Members continue to overtly control the Board, the HOA and stifles participation by and communications between the Members at large. This blog and my Facebook page (Deb Blagg, SHOA Trustee) are the only public forums for Members to connect and communicate. The Board doesn’t allow Members to publish in the Weekender or on the SHOA website and deletes posts on the SHOA Facebook page.
Note that Patrick obtained member email addresses legitimately when he purchased the member records two years ago for $10, which the RCW says must be made public to all members at a reasonable cost and may only exclude unlisted phone numbers. The Board has subsequently decided $100 is a “reasonable” charge for this list - and they removed email addresses whether members requested this or not.
This Board will do all that it can to facilitate the exclusion of Members who don’t reside in Surfside fulltime, especially those who own vacation properties, RV lots and undeveloped lots.
I realize we all come to Surfside to escape the frustrations and confict of the “real world”. As nice as it is to camp, relax, fish, clam, beachcomb and toast marshmallows when you are here, the time will come when you will be personally impacted by our out-of-control Board as it continues to ignore the RCWs and repeatedly flaunts it’s abuse of power.
June 29, 2018 at 2:27 PM Delete
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Gary Williams is an idiot and those who voted for him were duped or stupid. Patrick J. has proven to be a guy that most of us would want not for a neighbor. I hope the rumors are true that he is selling out and moving on. I live in hope that all the troublemakers will become so uncomfortable that they vacate this HOA. There are ways to make sensible changes to improve a community without stirring up trouble and hate.
June 29, 2018 at 2:34 PM Delete
Williams is the one who is stirring up trouble and hate.
Pay your fifty bucks or so and enjoy you lot, home, friends and the beach and surrounding activities. The services received justify the fee in my opinion. I drive to my home and into my garage. Until I leave I do not even think of this as an hoa. It's my home and a place on the ocean I never in my wildest dreams thought I would ever have. It could just as well be in OP or LB but this is way cheaper and quieter and away from the commercialization of other area's. Crack open a beer or some wine or fire up a bowl and don't sweat the small stuff. Problem solved.
Deb is mostly stating her opinions mixed with a few facts. She appears to be the blog host's Darling Deb. If she said "hop", he would be buying bunnies.
LOL...good one.
The board has long attempted to exclude any and all members from having any influence over their management of Surfside. This is what incompetent, power mad people do.
Blagg's opinions represent a small minority within Surfside. Some people have the emotional and social intelligence to set aside their personal wishes when serving on a board with interests and concerns wider than their own. Blagg is laser focused on her limited perspective. She said she does not want to serve on the board because it is difficult and she has other things she wants to do with her time. We had hoped that she would follow through with some disengagement. Instead, she manipulates to achieve her self interested concerns as if it is her personal right to have all things her way. I EXPECT THIS TO BE DELETED JUST AS MY PREVIOUS COMMENT WAS.
The incompetence and wasteful spending of the Surfside Board has been the plague of Surfside. Our HOA remains less than it could be and a place of distrust and annoyance because we are saddled with terrible board members and personnel that are not up to the tasks in the Business Office and the Water Department.
Have you noticed that ever since Deb and Patrick arrived how much drama they have created. They complain about not getting their ways because the board treats all SHO members the same. RVer's, part timers or full timers don't make any difference they have always been treated equally. But they don't want to have to follow the tree height rules or getting approval from the SHO when building sheds or fences. They only want to pay one HOA fee when they have adjoining lots which would increase fees for those who only own one lot. They want to leave their RV's on lots year around. The list goes on and on. So when Patrick arrived on the scene it was "Make Surfside great again" Are you kidding us Patrick.. Surfside has always been a great place, well at least the last 38 years I've been around the peninsula and a home owner in good standing with SHO since 2011. Never a problem with those who volunteer to manage our HOA. You obviously do not agree with the majority of the board or for that matter the majority members of SHO and we all can see clearly what you and Deb are trying to do by your character assignations of those who you disagree and who too see through your continued attack on the rules that have guided this HOA since its beginning.
"The board looks forward to seeing you at the annual meeting next month".
Exactly how do you make the jump to Williams trying to stop members from attending? Sorry, your extreme bias is blinding you.
Agree with 4:54. Notice how people who spend the least amount of time here complain the loudest.
When is the meeting?
Love how only one of the current board members has the guts to regularly dispense with being anonymous, too bad the other board members, past n present don’t have the guts.
Ever think that maybe they just don't like to come here to be attacked by anonymous people?
The approval or decision to consider the mailing of this letter and the cost in mailing and employee time, should not have happened. This is a violation of rules and regulations. This should have been done in a regular meeting or a special Board Meeting called by the President and/or Board Secretary. We have an open process for doing Board business. Process was clearly not followed.
The only Board members who acted properly in this matter was Jim Flood, Mark Scott and Larry Raymer. They made the right choice by not responding. You can not vote outside a legal meeting. Even if the vote majority had been to not send the letter, the process would still not have been legal. You do not conduct Board Business by Email. Those who did not respond are aware of this.
Gary Williams has been around long enough to know the rules. I can dismiss the others who participated because of their inexperience. Obviously the association attorney was not consulted on this. Deb and Patrick made a mistake by participating and were played by Gary Williams. Maybe they thought they were just in a discussion and not a vote.
It appears that a majority of the Board members are ignorant of the governing documents on what you can and can not do. Unfortunately, those in control are not ignorant and deliberately violate the rules and regulations to support their own agenda's and ego's. They are the real danger and should be removed. A knowledgeable General Manager would provide the needed guidance for the entire Board.
There is no doubt about it. We are in a mess of our own creation.
Attacked by anonymous people? Like the anonymous board members that cowardly comment on this blog you mean? They need to have the courage of their convictions.
6:32 AM your post is hilarious as you are anonymous and so am I. Your courage is just as absent as mine. Turn this into a verified name to post and the blog disappears. It was tried before.
As Surfside grows, so does our funding base and budget. While we all want to enjoy the beach and take time to relax, we all have to recognize that HOAs can be a terrible indifferent beast without its' members' participation, and monitoring of the Board of Trustee's actions.
I think that there has been an increase in dialogue on our community issues, and both Patrick and Deb have openly engaged in conversations and blog commentary, as this is how a democratically fashioned government (HOA in this case)is intended to work. We try to discuss civilly, and find common ground that leads to solutions.
We try things, we get rid of what doesn't work, and we try to improve on that which does work, to make it better. I think that circumstances in Surfside have reached a breaking point, where dialogue and willingness to elect new folks, and try new approaches can lift our spirits and make S.S. a better place.... or we can pretend that nothing needs improvement, and continue a very dysfunctional dictatorial system run in secrecy, that does not answer to the membership.
P.S.... In other words, people espouse change in Surfside because it is needed. Creating a dialogue to explore ideas and opinions is NOT trouble-making, but IS how a democratically inspired government must work. If you are a thinking individual, you have opinions and ideas - that does not make you a "Troublemaker", but someone who recognizes how it all is supposed to work.
The only conviction those in control have is no change. They have infiltrated most of the committees and along with their uninformed friends, control everything. They are perfectly happy with the way things are. rv people and those with trees unfairly discriminated against, trees killed for their view, and able to make anonymous complaints.
Those who want transparent and majority agreed upon changes do not form closed a closed group on Facebook to build a closed minded coalition. Troublemakers do that.
Respectable change makers are willing to take in information from any opposing opinions and give the input some open minded thought. Manipulative change makers present only one side of an issue and tend to spin the facts to present a slanted view.
It is not a matter of discrimination to abide by the existing covenants. It is what we all agreed to do when we purchased our property in Surfside. The people affected by the RV and tree covenants had a choice about what property to purchase. Some sections of Surfside are not restricted with the tree covenant or the RV year around usage limitations. Buyer's remorse is not a fair or reasonable reason to make changes in the covenants. Review the issues and be fair minded not just self-interested to cover for a poor decision in where you bought your property.
Blah,blah,blah, can’t you do anything than repeat the Sam thing over n over, oh, btw, I’m not a board member, so have no protection if I put my name out there. Agree or not, at least Johansen n Blagg, use their names, unlike the cowardly other board members that constantly comment negatively on this blog.
5:04 You are a rude nincompoop who makes the same stupid accusation of repeated comments that is patently untrue. Speaking of blah, blah, blah, you are a master at saying the same damned thing again and again. I have gotten a laugh twice as you have accused that a comment is a repeat by the same unidentified person when I know that is untrue because I made one of the comments that you accused of being a repeat. And, thanks so much for the anonymous comment praising two other narcissist trouble makers.
I'm thinking that 5:04 is Deb or Patrick making anonymous comments to support themselves.
Thank you for proving my point 6:03.
Neither have any reason to create "pretend" support. They have put themselves in the public eye because they have convictions to a better Surfside. Making yourself vulnerable by stating opinions and encouraging dialogue in a conservative venue cannot be considered selfish. To be a spokesman for change you accept that there will be opposition, and likely, insults. But you hope for genuine support, and dedication to the community's betterment.
Many folks, myself among them, like and respect Deb and Patrick, and appreciate their courage to speak their minds, and work within the system to open dialogue among all of the Surfside members. The time has come to step up to the challenge of retooling our Board of Trustees, insisting that it operate transparently and with good conscience, serving the entire community.
That IS NOT currently happening.
There is a significant difference between voicing an opinion and working on building minority coalitions to take over an HOA with more liberal covenants regarding sheds, RV, trees and added today signs. Change making is an art, not a matter of a minority bulldozer tearing through the community
Deb and Patrick has made it clear that they do not want to serve on a board unless all their personal dreams and wishes are supported by every other member of the board. These people have been a negative influence on the hoa by creating divisions among owners that previously did not exist. The animosity created by these two is playing out with neighbors distrusting and disliking their neighbors.
The email and letter must have been sent to a select few. We didn't receive either of them. But then again, we are considered RV riff raff.
Dana, now it appears you are on the LIST! Join the club of the underinformed and underpriveleged in SHOA. if you speak up like i did, you are spanked with no mailings, etc. 3 times is a charm in my case. What i lesrn is from Georges blog. Greatly appreciate your updates george.
1:20 .... Fear rules your life apparently. Homeowners outnumber RV owners by about 10 to 1. RV owners are NOT plotting to take over the community. How would they do this ? You are delusional. Thinking people discuss issues that affect their lives, so no doubt, Surfside members discuss community issues. Dialogue on such issues can be contentious, but all controversial issues elicit different points of view.
It amazes me that some people in this country don't recognize that the only way democracy works is by citizens taking part, discussing these issues in their communities, voicing their opinions, and making their government responsive to their needs and expectations.
It's strange that by trying to inspire discussion about our community issues, Patrick and Deb are so maligned. Without leadership, problems linger, because there is no drive to solve problems or try new approaches. It takes courage to put yourself out in the public eye for the sake of your convictions, such as they have.
12:12 great points, Patrick and Deb have been crucified for their coutage in speaking out. I, for one, would never use my name as thats a curse of death in Surfside. Kirby and his buds can verify that.
Speaking out is not the problem with Patrick and Deb. We do live in a free speech country although this right appears to be at peril currently. The problem is the misrepresentations/lies/deceits and persistent will to ignore the covenants to suit personal whims. Free speech does not mean that you get a pass to freely lie and cheat. These two people have put in some effort to attempt a takeover of the HOA so that they can have things their way. I'll be damned if I'll be quiet while some people use arrogance, aggressiveness and misrepresentations to achieve changes that the majority of HOA members do not want.
Here, here 7:59 July 4th....I wholeheartedly agree. The persistence is what angers me also. They push, push, and push! It's enough to anger the most passive of people.
Post a Comment