The edicts don't have to be grand and they don't have to be whatever you think has any reasonable probability of coming about, either. Remember, you're Kit for a day, so what you desire will be!
Share your items with your neighbors by way of posting comment(s) to this post. You may do so anonymously if you wish and you may make as many comments as you would like.
*One request, if I may...please don't post that what you would change is that you could be Queen for all time. Someone's already giving that wish all they got.
And please let's keep the queen jokes to a minimum - I'm aware that there are many queens here at GIL, but I'm not talking about 'queen' like fabulous...I'm talking about 'queen' as in 'off with their heads!'
Word for the day: SUTHER-LIE - Something you say that sounds like it could be true to fool everyone in the room: you say it is backed up by facts and studies/emails that you are holding in your hand but won't show anyone, but it is actually false and you know it.
ReplyDeleteAlso note that the word SUTHER-LIE is often used in conjunction with Curiously Scurrilous.
ReplyDeleteDear Blogger...
ReplyDeleteI would:
1. Assure our association members of their rights, and those rights would be clearly reflects in our by-laws and adhered to without exception.
2. Our BOD would operate with 100% transparency for all business and financials dealings of our association.
3. Impose term limits for Board Officers, including a two-year break in service.
I would:
ReplyDelete1. Demonstrate greater respect for the fact that our Association's financial resources belong to all of us who fund its existence by making all accounting, budgetary, financial and contract information more accessible to homeowners - the ones who are paying all the bills.
2. Work with homeowners and residents to implement real and substantive improvements to security, both personal and property.
3. Work with homeowners and residents to amend our Bylaws with a "Homeowners' Bill of Rights" to better safeguard the rights of individual homeowners from the ever-expanding usurpation of those rights by the Board of Directors.
4. Install proximity readers next to exterior access doors so that homeowners and residents can unlock them without having to fumble around with keys and arms full of groceries.
5. Enforce rules and regulations uniformly (not selectively) and do so in an open and transparent manner.
6. Establish a check on the unrestrained power of the Board of Directors to, at their discretion, impose fines of any amount, place liens on members' homes and even foreclose on same by creating a jury-type system whereby 5 (or whatever) homeowners are empaneled, at random, on a per-case basis, to hear from both the homeowner and the Board - in a forum open to any homeowner who wishes to observe - before determining, by majority vote, if the Board may proceed with an action that exceeds an established minimum dollar threshold.
ReplyDeleteNote: I have personally experienced the very real and damaging consequences of the Board having unrestrained power to place liens on members' homes even in cases where the homeowner doesn't owe the Association any money!
Several years ago, the Board placed a lien on my unit for approximately $1,800 for legal bills THEY incurred as a result of THEIR decision to have any and all of my e-mail correspondence with the Board reviewed by an attorney before replying. No one ever sent me a bill (probably due to the fact that it isn't legal to attempt to collect attorney's fees from a member incurred merely as a result of the Board's arbitrary decision to have an attorney review every e-mail a member may send the Board through the course of ordinary participation in the affairs of the Association, absent any legal proceeding) and no one ever informed me of the Board's intent to file a lien, despite the fact that in filing the lien, the filer has to swear and attest that they have attempted to collect the alleged debt from the presumed debtor (an act of perjury since they did not once attempt to collect or even inform me of a debt and debt itself wasn't mine to pay).
Eventually, the Board's attorney cancelled the lien, but only after the unlawful lien derailed my application for a line of credit, required me to incur the expense of hiring an attorney, consumed well over 30 hours of my time and cost our Association who knows how much in legal fees in the end.
The Board's unrestrained use of Association funds for frivolous legal escapades can result in a substantial waste of our money and everyone's time. I can tell you that first hand from my own experience.
I would stop aggregating expenses and doling them out by square footage. Water, cable and internet can all be done based on usage. It is outrageous to think that larger units use more television and internet than smaller units? The AVERAGE works out to $48/mo per unit for cable & internet, which doesn't sound bad if you use both services heavily every month. But the bill isn't divided equally between units. Since it gets lumped into the great abyss of the GIL Budget, we pay by SQUARE FOOTAGE. Bigger units have to subsidize smaller units cable television? WTF?
ReplyDeleteTaxation without representation... some things just never stop pissing Americans off. How about this... since dues are assigned by square footage, why not cast votes by square footage as well?
ReplyDeleteBURN THE BY-LAWS & START OVER!!!
ReplyDeleteDear Blogger,
ReplyDeleteJust one quick correction to the first "Fact" about the 660 Building and the meter/pipe correction. Although the BOD did not make mention of this at the Annual Meeting, it was in fact mentioned at a monthly meeting. Unfortunately, due to the sparse information presented in our monthly Board Meeting Minutes, association members would be hard-pressed to know the detail of the information. Unless they attend the monthly meetings. And, since the monthly meetings are not a requirement of the association members, the responsibility of capturing clear and detailed minutes is that of the BOD and specifically the Secretary of the BOD, unless otherwise appointed.
My question to our Board is...
When will our association members be provided with clear and detailed minutes, as they were prepared in the past?
Whose responsibility is it to take and maintain the minutes?
If the minutes are not to be maintained accurately, is the BOD allowing the association members to record the meetings, by default?