Saturday, August 25, 2018

Surfside HOA Board Goals

How did they do this past year?

The present Board Trustees were requested to present their suggested Board Goals for the 2018-2019 term. Board President Gary Williams stated that he would be working with the Business Manager to present those goals to the Board at the September Board meeting.

I suspect that many members do not know that the Board has a set of goals each year.  There has never been discussion of their standing and measurement of progress during the year at Board meetings.  Below are the Board Goals for the past year. How did they do? and do you have suggestions on what you think they should be.

Some have been done and some have not. I find it interesting that some of the Board Goals could at least have had a start with the Technology Committee. Note: The strange numbering below is exactly as it appears on the Surfside Web Site.

Click on the report for a larger view. 



20 comments:

Anonymous said...

The blog host has had a romance with board goals forever. Setting goals has not produced anything that is viewed as worthwhile in Surfside. It is an exercise in making up stuff to mostly ignore.

blog host, George said...

LOL, your probably right on all points.

Anonymous said...

Goals are a joke right ?

Anonymous said...

Some companies and organizations use well thought out goals to achieve measurable results with great success. Surfside could do this but it appears to be beyond the brain power of the various board members that I've seen in 13 years. Goal setting could serve well to measure the performance and development of the association's employees. As it is, they get a bonus and raises whether they perform well or not. This has encouraged mediocre and poor performance. A skilled General Manager could do so much to improve our association instead of the mess that we have now.

Anonymous said...

Whether you choose to believe me or not, I don't care, but as a newby to this communication, I would like to make a few observations. I serve on the Board of an organization netting some $200M per year. I say that just so you can get an idea of the size of the organization. I moved here a number of years ago to slow down my life and to just to get away from the bigger cities and was able to continue my business through telecommunication. At that time, the Board here was somewhat dysfunctional but I didn't worry as I had no time to devote to it. To the crux of this entry though. As a Board we had the CEO, COO, CFO and executive vice presidents submit a statement addressing their specific annual goals. These were goals set by the individuals and assessed by the Board as to their viability and direction of the organization. As a member of the executive compensation committee I was able to use the stated goals to measure against the individuals actual performance when setting compensation and rewards. Anything short of achieving the maximum attainable with reference to the goals resulted in a subsequent downgrade of achievable compensation. So too do we need an overview of this Board, specifically there needs to be an outside evaluation process to measure this group you call your Board of Trustees and the personnel reporting to them. These goals that have been listed in the communique are general in nature, are merely a continuation, inferred or expressed, of the same items delineated over the last number of years. In other words, they are not challenging and do not expressly do anything good for the members. I would also say that from #6 on down they are not really being given any modicum of attention. Perhaps this organization could benefit by utilizing the services of a real business expert. Find out why so many people are dissatisfied with the Board and why the Board seems to be incapable or at least unwilling to take the initiative on progress. They should not be, as it seems they are content with trying to only maintain the status quo or maybe even regress. The Tech Committee is a classic example. Practically all of the business transactions today are done via the internet. Why does the Board show such bias against this? Part of the answer, I would presume, are the scare tactics employed by some individuals. Name calling and threats of retaliation are tools of a societal group who try to use fear mongering rather than negotiation (probably because they know they cannot win that way). My best of luck to you all as this is my one and only association with this post, just felt compelled to speak out based on what I have seen with my association with other similar types of governance. The lesser civil of you may blast away at my comments, but I hope someone out there with common sense will try to organize a common sense alternative and bring these people back to their mission to support the community, not to pursue personal agendas as it seems the leadership has chosen to do.

Anonymous said...

Compensation and rewards 10:13?

These positions are voluntary with No compensations or rewards!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry but compensation was not the point of the post. Doing their job as they are supposed to and being measured for what they do or don't do was the point. If they are not being effective, remove them. Please, see the big picture.

Russ said...

12:009

Right on !!!

Anonymous said...

Reading through these "goals", it is hard not to be sarcastic, though it's not George's creation - so no need to dump on him. Some of this shows so little awareness of what is involved to achieve the goals.

Create better communications ? That was the point of creating the Tech Comm., which the Board dissolved after meeting only a few months. Their first survey was taken to task, when it was just a test-run of baseline interest. This is new ground and needs some time to evolve.

Reduce non-compliance ? About 3/4 of the compliance "issues" have to do with Tree height restrictions. Change the guidelines to 24 feet, or eliminate it altogether.

If there IS interest in reducing conflict in the community, modifying the Tree restrictions is the place to start. There has long been great resistance to complying to this policy, and for good reason. It exists solely for the sake of J Pl. owners, and is blatantly unfair. It assures that the community will never be as attractive as it could be, and preys on the less developed properties.

Folks with a lot of business management experience have continually pointed to a need for greater expertise in a business manager. Retool the management.

As goals for the year - SAFETY was the first ? Ironic that the improper handling of asbestos related pipe has gone on for years, and this year someone fingered the HOA as at fault. While safety is important, most safety issues are individual owner responsibilities, such as fire safety awareness and related maintenance.

The HOA can offer recommendations on such matters - and do - but we don't want the Assoc. mandating the specifics of private property management. This is the source of conflict with RV owners. Too much micro-management by the HOA. Some standards can be relaxed, and closer monitoring may be needed in the Summer to assure basic courtesies and compliance are being observed.

It seems that the RV Comm. was a good idea as a bridge to communication and harmony.

Anonymous said...

Maybe if the BOARD was paid, like the general managers position would be, we could do performance reviews. But there is no merit raises, or bonuses or any compensation at all. What's the incentive?

Looks to me like a pretty thankless job. Criticism is all I hear on this blog.

Anonymous said...

Pay this Board for not following their own rules, engaging in frivolous lawsuits and generally ignoring the common good?

Only if termination notices are included with the paycheck!

Anonymous said...

That's what this blog is, a complaint site. No one here will ever get up and be an active part of the community. Its much easier to sit and complain while throwing stones.

Anonymous said...

That's not accurate. Deb has often made comments on the blog, and has been harassed mercilessly here. Patrick has also commented at times, identifying himself. George created the blog and served as a Trustee, and other Trustees have commented here, but have not identified themselves.

At the least, the BLOG shows that there are people with interest in Surfside affairs, and opinions, verifying that there are thinking responsive people in the community.

We also see that many folks base their opinions on here-say and shun facts that may bear on the issues they address. Some just jump into the middle of a thread without reading it from the start of the topic, so have no interest in what others have to say. But it is a source of information if you can weed it out, and a sounding board for opinions and ideas.

Anonymous said...

This blog also is a place for commentors like 8:40 to add their informational and thought provoking comments. Over and over.

Anonymous said...

3:03 seems to be a wealth of information, astounding!

Anonymous said...

George has been an abbreviated Board trustee on two occasions (so far) and I don't recall much positive or negative coming from his tenure.

george said...

And what have you done?

Anonymous said...

Have not yet served on the board. However I ave volunteered for various functions around SHOA so at the end of the day have still done more than you.

Anonymous said...

"Various functions" ? Not convincing. George served most of his 2 terms, over 5 years, and required committee memberships as well.

Anonymous said...

Doubtful.