LICENSED TO FILL

Because of this recent lawsuit by Director Mulch and invalid recall leader R.P, our Village will be deprived of a licensed security presence until January 1, 2009. Directors Burke, Mulch, and Steffensen have made it quite clear they do not support this new change. Their only real tangible objection seems to be its additional cost. Do these senior directors understand the effects of using untrained personnel as security and the magnification it creates towards our Village liability? They show opposition and concerns towards spending 8% more to better protect our Association, owners, and visitors, but apparently none when squandering the Village's money with not fixing the outdoor pool bottom correctly while under the pool warranty ($50,000+), wanting to construct this sidewalk to nowhere ($10,000+), paying Berry Pools to do management’s job ($10,000+per year), consistantly losing money after subcontracting the running of our laundry facility when management was suppose to have made our Village such a sweet deal, and my personal favorite of taking ten months to move a fire hydrant approximately 30 ft.($6400+) instead of relocating a new valve and pipe for a few hundred dollars. There’s more but is there a need to?
Even though the majority of your elected board approved this LICENSED security, there is little doubt that these three senior directors still wish to keep our currently unqualified GM and unlicensed Aramark as the masters of our gate.
Not once, but twice the general manager and company were approved to replace our Village Security. They were to do so as a LICENSED operation. Our GM failed twice to provide our Village with such a license.

In 2005 when Aramark first backed out, our GM’s excuse was that Texas had outrageous liability limits. It took just four months to come to that conclusion. In 2007, our GM tried for almost a year to get another security license only to give Village owners a cock-and-bull story as to why Aramark had once again changed their minds. He said at a Village Board meeting that Aramark decided not to acquire a security license because the State of Texas was going to charge them an out of state annual license fee of twenty thousand dollars.
At a Work Shop Meeting this May our GM repeated his fabrication, only this time he was asked to explain it. Director Burke intervened to say this was not an out of state fee but now a Texas franchise tax, as if that would explain it all. It did not. This franchise tax she spoke of passed in 2006, effective January 1st, 2008, applies a 1% franchise tax towards revenues (the initial being $187,000+) that Aramark receives for running security less the payroll and other deductions. We should be talking a cost of around $800 and nowhere close to this fictitious $20,000 number. Our GM finally admitted at this workshop that his corporate boss did not want to sign the appropriate Texas security paperwork.
Had anyone, especially those Directors wishing to keep our GM, dared to ask the purpose for his apparent deception? If not, why not? If so why no action towards some kind of accountability? This was not a lone incident and should concern every owner in our Village, regardless of the feelings about what’s going on currently in our Park
Our GM did tell us it was not because his management didn’t qualify for getting a security license but it was Aramark who declined on obtaining one. Now knowing that Texas is not going to charge Aramark this bogus $20K fee, might we ask them to step up to the plate the next time and get a Texas security license if they really want to run LIV security? I’m a little curious since the management supposedly did qualify to get a license why Aramark just didn’t get someone else to sign for the security license, especially now with knowing that it’s the reason they are being replaced?
What are your thoughts?