STATUS QUO

I received a letter from LIV saying that there is to be a special meeting of the membership on December 6th. I wonder if this is the same meeting owner Bob Hall asked for and our President approved as an open meeting of the membership, so owners, in Bob Hall’s words, “could have their say” to the board. I’m questioning it because in our November 19th regular board meeting neither the President nor Don Hall stated that their meetings were for the sole purpose of discussing the conduct of the BOD.
Our President did not request specific agendas nor were there any brought up by Bob Hall. This proxy attached to the meeting notification letter which was sent to every Village owner was not asked for by Bob Hall or the President. This notification letter was never shown to the President or most of the directors before distribution.
So who took it upon themselves to manufacture these agenda items 1-4 for this supposedly open now turned selective meeting? Whose idea was it to elect a new chairman (Agenda #2) to replace our Board President? Which unknown individual, (Agenda #4-B) wants to use this meeting to force change in the way things are being done. What group wants (Agenda #4-C) to specifically draft in their own brand of ethics and code of conduct as future guidelines? Finally, who added this proxy? It’s not to elect a chairman, so what is its real purpose? Approved for discussions, who added these agendas that only serve to attack our directors?
I see Leroy R. Mulch’s signature at the bottom of this letter. He along with Reta Priest has pending litigation against six of our directors. Odd as to why these “items to be discussed” appear to be displaying the similar rhetoric that is in their pending lawsuit and in Reta Priest’s failed invalid recall attempt? Are these people who seek to change the original intention of this meeting, the same recall supporters who claim they “speak for the people”. They say they speak for you, me, and all other owners in our Village. Well, they definitely don’t speak for me. Do they you?
This was suppose to be an open meeting and not a continuance of this unsubstantiated recall vendetta and definitely not a prolongation of this unjustified, costly to our Village, lawsuit that was the creation by these two and their friends.
Owners should take a hard look as to what has really been happening here. The truth needs to be told over and over again, until every LIV owner hears and understands that it was the Board President, alone, who decided it was time to put in motion the one and only attempt to replace our GM, not these new directors. After the executive meeting in which our Board President called for, alone, it was decided by the majority that there was enough cause to bring the GM’s issue for his replacement to a motion and vote.
In the end our President was left with having to make a tie breaking vote. He reconsidered his position and opted to give our GM time to improve his performance with agreeing to what many thought was a hollow 90 day evaluation.
Soon after this event it became hard if not impossible at times for this board to conduct normal business functions due to what seemed a flow of confrontational instances levied by Directors Burke and Mulch. For the last six months they also had to cope with this out of order and constant waylay of interruptions caused by a group of rude and unruly owners who are friends with our GM, Burke, Mulch, and Priest. Throw in an invalid recall attempt, a few smear campaigns, and a lawsuit for trying to make our GM accountable for his actions and it’s a wonder any business was done at all. These new board members have persevered through all this and have helped our park when others would have quit.
This notification letter with its questionable agendas is just another attack on these directors and the people of this Village should put a stop to it. Read more on this article...

Thoughts from those who attended this last regular board meeting? Read more on this article...

At the Coffee w/Directors owners again complained of having problems with our pools. Not only were the pool and spa temperatures way off, but swimmers were also losing their body hair. In addition many swimsuits were changing colors and swimmers found it hard to rid themselves of a strong pool odor. Our GM said the chemicals Berry Pools are using would not cause these problems described.
Not disclosed in the meeting was the repair to Berry Pools chemical equipment that had fail during this period of time. Below shows that bromine odor is more difficult to shower off and probably even more so if the bromine level was extremely high from the equipment failure.

Bromine (pronounced /ˈbroʊmiːn/, /ˈbroʊmaɪn/, /ˈbroʊmɪn/, Greek: βρῶμος, brómos, meaning "stench

Bromine advantages and disadvantages
Convenient to use...put tablets into floater and refill every 10 to 14 days.
Readily available...most pool and spa dealers carry it.
Can be used with ozone
Does not have "chlorine smell"
No difference between the effectiveness of free vs. combined bromine
Has low pH (aprox. 3.5 - 4.5)...pH levels need to be adjusted frequently to prevent equipment damage.
More expensive than chlorine
Can not be used with Nature2
Bromine odor is more difficult to shower off
Requires the use of 'sodium bromide' when water is changed to establish a bromine reserve


The hair loss was another story. Read this website article and tell me if it resembles what occurred in our pool.

http://media.www.gwhatchet.com/media/storage/paper332/news/2008/10/30/Sports/Swimmers.Report.Hair.Loss.Irritation-3515661.shtml?pop

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COFFEE WITH THE DIRECTORS

Lot #106 complained that a lot next to them has not had anyone keeping it up and wanted some action. Management is looking into the matter.
Lot #165 asked five questions about Time Warner. Lot #165 asked how many lawsuits are currently pending. Director Burke described four.
A request to know the director’s names and their responsibilities. The board did a roll call stating their positions..
A complaint about the indoor pool and hot tubs were read with the loss on hair on the body and swim suits changing color.
SC #57 commented there must be an excessive amount of chemicals used in our pools. She asked what chemicals were being used for the pools. Our GM said Bromine is used in the indoor pool and chlorine is used in the outdoor. The commenter said she didn’t think bromine gave off a strong chlorine odor. She said there had been swimsuits drastically changing colors along with the loss of body hair. The swimsuits were shown. Even after twelve hours you still had the smell on you. She said the indoor pool was also 90 degrees and the hot tubs were at 109. Our Gm said that the chemicals that they are using would not cause these problems you have described and he will call Berry Pools to try to find out what the problem is.
Lot #754 had a problem with paying for an extra key for his mail box.
There was a complaint of people campaigning and doing a fundraiser at chicken night. Director Dodson said the campaigning was approved at the previous meeting but not the fundraising.
A complaint about the gate keepers were letting in people without checking the sticker. They said they’ve seen it happen many times.
A complaint about the park paying 27K more for security and wanted to know what we are getting for the extra cost. Director Dodson answered with close to a dozen of things off the top of her head and corrected the amount of extra cost at $18K.
Lot #175 said our signs at the front entrance needs repainted.
Lot #494 gave concerns and solutions towards owner information privacy and publishing.
An owner expressed we should have more procedures to use of the copier and fax.
We had a representative from Time Warner took an hour to answer owners’ questions. on our new cable.
Lot #329 asked if the president and vice president were signing the LIV contracts. The answer was yes.
John Krysiak, previous owner of Lot #870 and holding power of attorney for the new owner was allowed to speak in accordance to the by-laws of representation, asked our GM about the sewage odor problem that had been plaguing lot #870 and neighboring residences. Our GM said it will be brought up at the Workshop.
Lot #389 asked about the Board's procedure of replacement towards Mary, the person that was taking minutes and asked why it was not done by board action? Director Burke said it was not the obligation of or in their Aramark's contract to have their employee take the minutes and anyone can be appointed to take the minutes. Director Dodson asked why the Sect. Mulch or the Sect asst. McBride couldn’t take the minutes. This went back and forth a couple of times until Director McBride settled it all by saying it was in Aramark’s contract that they have to provide an employee to take the minutes. This seemed to put a little stun at what had been previously said. Director Mulch went on a mini rampage as to what was to be recorded in the minutes and was very confrontational. Pointing his finger he said that since this board took over they wanted every word in the minutes.
There was a heated discussion brought up by our GM about the current court order as to who can talk to Aramark employees.Our GM who seems to want to lay down his interpretation that no one can talk to any Aramark employee. He said no one but the president, or the vice president in his absence can talk to me and they have to come to me and me only. This started a heated exchanged. Director Mulch for some reason gave his excuses as to why he is allowed to talk to office employees when no one else is, saying it was in our by-laws somewhere.

THE WORKSHOP

Director Peterson asked how long the exercise room will be down to remodeling. The answer was one more day.
Director Peterson asked if our GM had found out if his electrician was licensed in the State of Texas. After the different reasons why we didn't have need for a licensed electrician, the answer was no. He had a Mexican licensed.
Director Hansen again brought up the issue of still having over $200,000 in a bank that was not protected by FDIC. He also pointed out that it appears we are losing over twenty thousand dollars from interest available to LIV if we were putting them in the right accounts. It was said that they are now in the process of trying to do this. Director Hansen again reminded our management that this has been going on for at least ten months now. Director Hansen has only went back to the first of the year obtaining his information.
Director Hansen asked if there was a better procedure for using the boat dock gate and its lock.
Director Hansen said he has never seen it written where only an owner can speak at our coffee meetings. He made the point that if there was a problem with our Park, he would like to know about it, regardless of ownership. Director Burke made the comment that it was always expressed as meetings of the membership. She then brought up the cost of finding out if John Krysiak had the right to speak. It was not pointed out that it was her and our GM who originally objected that he no right to speak since he was not an owner that made it a question of a legal right?
Director Hansen asked if the lights in the pool could be adjusted to come on earlier. He announced the first speakers get together called "LIV, LIV, how does your garden grow" will be next Wed. at 7pm. He requested that the annual budget get started. He mentioned of an e-mail he received about an executive meeting pertaining to the Arroyo Cable lawsuit. It will be right after the regular meeting next week. Director Hansen pointed out that the electrical box near the bike rack is in need of repair.
The garbage issue was brought up by our GM. He took a long about way to say he got a bid near the same money for pickup. Director Hansen asked why we are charged for 14 bins when we have only 13. The problem that Director Hansen said he had was the constant charges we pay to dump empty bins after our GM had said it was not happening.
The bids for the sidewalks had the lowest bid not having much in describing the way or what was to be done by the installers and Director Dodson expressed a more complete bid if it’s to be accepted. It was said by our GM that LIV was not to help with the installation or removal of the sidewalks in this bid and was agreed that they would provide more information.
There were three Pool bids, one additional from the two last month. The bid from Valley Plastering Pools was $30846, almost half as much as the two previous bids which were almost used if not for the insistence by Director Dodson and the other new directors for the minimum of three valid bids. There was a long discussion on the Texas Health Codes for the outdoor pool.
Director Steffensen asked how the maintenance roof will be done and the GM went through a long speech to finally say it will be done internally. Seven office computers and server is said to need of replacement. On top of that new software is wanted. Our LIV website needs to be redone. Between now through Dec. 8th, it was asked to review and list suggestions in prioritizing the list provided for next years budget.
Director Burke talked about a timeline for hurricane repairs and disbursements of insurance money. She wanted to set requirements on bids and that 3 bids are not required by law. She was told to write a policy about it and we’ll vote on it.
Director Steffensen mentioned the No Wake signs need to be replaced. The GM, trying to be cute, asked for permission if he was allowed to fix the signs. He was questioned as to why are you asking like that and the GM pointed his finger and said that every time I do something you come down my throat. He was reminded that this is his job to repair these signs and if it was over $1000, tell the board so it can be approved.
Our GM addressed the sewage smell problem with the attitude that there was no problem with the new sewer. Regardless it was confirmed there is a problem and will be continued to be addressed. Read more on this article...

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?

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BOARD MINUTES; MOUNTAINS BEGIN AS MOLE HILLS

Have certain people been blessed with reviewing our Board minutes ahead of our Directors? Are these same people being allowed to edit our minutes in lieu of our directors? One would think so by the self-assured answers Director Burke gave to our Board members when a small change with our August 27th minutes was requested. Director Dodson wanted these minutes to correctly reflect there was indeed a response given to a question she asked of invalid recall leader Reta Priest. Director Burke within seconds of this request initiated her rebuttal with stating that Priest’s had said she denied that.

Odd to why Reta Priest would wish to deny something that our Village minutes had clearly agreed with her on.

Prior to this meeting, the minute correction procedures I've witnessed was those on the Board who made a statement or who asked a particular question were the ones to point out the discrepancies that needed to be corrected.. Now it appears we may have outside entities being allowed to influence the validity of our Board minutes.

It’s also peculiar as to why our Director Burke seems so emphatic at defending this questionable denial. She was ranting about the legitimacy of a tape recording taken at this meeting followed by repeatedly asking was Mary, our minute’s recorder, facing Reta Priest when recording her statement so as to know for sure it was her speaking. For that matter should it be asked once more in order to get an answer this time as to which directors were bothering and making life so stressful for our ex-minute writer Mary?

Director Burke also said if our Board does this corrective measure, our Village should be concerned about the possibilities of later issues. That statement would be construe that legal action might be taken against our Village.

Not unusual was why Director Burke seemed so determined to keep the minutes as is and have it noted a director disputes this sentence. Director Burke should know that any later reference to these minutes must ultimately conclude that all statements in the board’s minutes are looked upon as being true, even ones with a director disputing it, when such is approved by the majority the BOD.

In the meeting it appeared that most of the Directors expressed that they recalled Priest giving a response. Even our Board President said he was looking right at Reta Priest after the question was asked and said he saw her mouth say yes to the question.

It will be interesting to see if Director Mulch will hand over as requested by the Board, the tape recording of the meeting and the original transcript done in Mary’s hand writing.

What are your feelings?

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PERCEPTION

Click the site below, press play video and SEE if you get the number of passes right.
http://michaelscomments.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/very-interesting-test-of-perception/ Read more on this article...

OCTOBER SUGGESTIONS

We would love your suggestion that will improve our Village. Suggestions may be viewed by those visiting. We will renew the display each month. Anonymous are welcomed. So throw one in the box. Read more on this article...

A TIDBIT

In our October Board meeting Directors Mulch, Burke, and our general manager all made comments that board business towards our Village improvements were taking way too long and need to be done now before the Winter Texans season begins. Director Burke even wanted to forgo our Board policy of acquiring a minimum of three proper bids which were originally asked for, and after being given more than enough ample time was not obtained by our GM. Their concerns were for the completion of the sidewalks, bathhouses 1 and 2 (later changed to mostly internal work), and the repair of the outdoor pool bottom. One must ask why the rush? The outdoor pool was in need of this bottom repair since South Texas Pools first installed it wrong in 2002. Director Mulch and our GM didn’t seem to be in any rush to fix the pool bottom right when it was near the end of its warranty in 2005 and possibly save the Village this $60,000 repair bill. The two sidewalks have also been in need of repair for years with this expensive sidewalk to nowhere but the bank is a questionable necessity. The records seem to indicate that each one of these three have contributed to these project delays, but now seem to have this urgency to rush these projects through improperly. Amazing!

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS 10/22/2008

After the pledge of allegiance, our President asked Director Mulch who is taking down our minute information. Jan Mulch and Sandra Etter said Director Mulch. A Director asked why the change from Mary who had been doing a fine job for years? Director Mulch said directors and certain people in the park were bothering Mary. Mary is very sensitive he said, so she is no longer capable. Director Dodson asked who the directors were. President Sullivan said she’s been subjected to stress for reporting supposedly differences as to what may have occurred at the meetings. The President said this was to take stress off of Mary. Director Dodson’s question as to which directors were bothering her was never answered.
FROM THE AUDIENCE
Selba Campbell addressed issues about voter ballots.
A man from lot #326 expressed his displeasure with our Board and opposed in contributing owner’s money to OPM. He stated with a little ingenuity there were other ways to achieve this. Director Burke gave him a summationa on what her intentions were and that they have so far raised $1980 to give to 17 employees who had worked here during hurricane Dolly. They may add some owner money to it.
MANAGER’S REPORT
Fines, late fees, building permits were discussed. Nothing out of ordinary was said until near the end when our GM explained he’s currently having a problem with roofers doing our Rec. Hall and Activity Center roof repair because they along with the insurance adjuster that was assigned to us all went to Galveston. He said as of today no full written damage report has ever been received. The repair appears to be in the range of $100,000+ for our Village. He said he has contacted the insurance agent.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
When the President asked for the approval of the 8/27/08 minutes, Director Dodson asked for a correction to an answer given by Reta Priest. Director Dodson said she had asked Priest if LIV owners had signed their own names on the recall ballots. Director Dodson said the minutes state that she did not respond when it should read she answered yes. Director Burke immediately told Director Dodson that Priest denies saying that. Director Dodson explained she had to ask Priest three times before she said finally said yes. You don’t forget or misunderstand the answer when having to do that. From the audience Reta Priest jumped up and said I did not answer you. Director Burke suggested leaving the original answer as is and note that there is a dispute. She said that would be an accurate assessment. Many on the board disagreed. The Board would not approve the minutes for 8/27/08. It was mentioned of a taped that proved Priest saying yes. It was said that Mary wrote down that Priest said yes in the minutes. Director Burke in a cross examining way, asked at this time when Mary was taking down the minutes, was she looking at Reta Priest to know it was her that said yes? Director Burke went on to say if we put in the minutes what Reta Priest now currently disputes; it may bring up issues later. Our President Sullivan said he was looking at her mouth and it said yes when asked that third time. The President did ask what issue are we making here? Director McBride responded by saying this is a legal document that should be correct. Director Burke again expressed that this continue as is. Director Dodson asked Director Mulch if he had the notes that Mary took and the tape of this meeting. He gave his take on what Priest said and after being asked three times he finally said yes. Director Dodson said she would like it to be reviewed by appointed directors. Director Burke again communicated like an attorney talking about the validity of anything on the tape. It was voted to table the 8/27/08 minutes until further review.
In the 9/04/08 minutes Director McBride wanted to strike the sentence that reported he said the new fire hydrant recently installed was working. He said he never said such. He said it should read that he said that the fire hydrant was moved and was not working for almost a year. That was noted and changed. There were several more minor changes. These Minutes were then approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Other than the report which showed that some of the financial income was affected from Dolly, it was pretty much the same. It showed the Center losses as usual in the profit and loss statement. Director Hansen brought up a shocking discovery. He had the most recent records showing continuous monthly bank balances showing an averaged over $500,000 in one account and minimal or minus in another. It was noted by having that much in one account our Village could have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars from a bank failure. This happened after being assured in a previous meeting by our GM and the treasurer that these accounts are never done this way but instead they are evenly distributed so as to be federally insured. He said that this was totally irresponsible to our organization. The response was, it would be looked into.
COMMITTEE REPORT
Audit committee: (D-Steffensen) Rental Office had one recommendation to vote a change in our Declaration at the annual meeting for lowering the liability to $100K.
Decorating and Entertainment: (D-Dodson) there were too many upcoming events to list.
Golf: (P-Sullivan) Owner daily fees $1 increase, Renters/guests $2 increase, Beverages $.25 increase, credit cards will either stop being used or have a 3% fee. The remainder of concrete will be pour on hole #6.
Security Report: (D-Dodson) Securitas because of the court order will begin on Jan. 1st instead of Nov. 15th. There were no problems with Securitas from this court action that delayed the start date.
UNFINISH BUSSINESS
Employee Hurricane Bonus: (Director Burke) The board approved that the 17 employees received $125 each.
Bathhouse 1 & 3: (Directors Mulch, Peterson) A decision was made to combine the original April’s ideas with Director Peterson’s new plans and not to exceed $28K total for both bathhouses.
Sidewalks: (Director Mulch) The replacement of new sidewalks in front of the Activity Center and by the Heli Pad, plus install a sidewalk starting from the alphabet lots to the security building.1 bid was all that was received for this sidewalk work. Our GM said this is known by President Sullivan to be the cheapest we’ll get. Director Burke made a recommendation to suspend the original requirements to receive 3 bids because of the Winter Texans are coming soon. Motion was made to get 3 bids and was passed.
Margaret Gage Issue: (Director Peterson) Director Peterson through the recommendation of our President, secured an agreement that Mrs. Gage will pay $250 a month for a total of $1000 of the $2000 owed for attorney fees incurred when a restraining order was placed on this 80 year old lady. Our GM said this was done to stop her from capping or damaging Village water lines that she thought were put on her property. It appeared after talking to our GM she was reluctant to speak to anyone with respect. Director Peterson pointed out that this could have been handled a whole lot better by everyone involved and thought that the reason for him doing this was to stop the escalation of the attorney fees.. Director Peterson said he had talked to board members while working on this agreement, but before he could explain that this was done individually, our GM made the comment to the audience about another secret meeting. It was explained by Director Burke in short for her but lengthy for us speech, and by the general manager, of how this 80 year old woman did this to herself. This was seemingly confirmed by our President that he had numerous contacts from her and her daughter that were uneventful. It appears she had only verbally said what she thought of doing, but never physically did anything. Director Mulch said if we were to accept this agreement it will lead us to a very, very, deep hole. Motion to approve the agreement was voted on and was a tie with our tiebreaker Board President voting no to make the motion fail.
Swimming Pool Bids: (Director Mulch) Asked by Director Dodson if there was more than the two bids obtained. The answer was no. She was told by Director Mulch and Director Burke on how hard it is for our GM to get bids in South Texas. Director Dodson said she had found two additional pool companies that should provide legitimate bids and again explained that there was a Board agreement that a minimum of three legitimate bids were to always be obtained. A discussion about the pool steps. It was then decided to obtain more bids.
Other: Director Hansen wanted to talk about what our Village is being charged to do our trash pickup. During the weeks he was here, he had monitored what trash was picked up and what was being charged. He found that we have been noticeably overbilled with trash pickups. He said by his calculation our Village may be overpaying as much as $60,000. He said during the week of the hurricane when the bridge was non- passable, we were charged for trash pickup. Our GM explained that we transported trash to a bin across the channel and that is what they were charging. Director Hansen asked him if we had 14 bins over there, because that the number they charged for. Motion was made for management to implement a plan that includes recycling and get at least three sealed bids from companies. Director Burke expressed her opinion. Motion passed
Director McBride had obtained for our GM a national and a local fire hydrant height requirement off the internet with pictures. At the last Coffee meeting, our GM said he needed a standard or rule to give to the installer to show he needs to fix it.. Director McBride also said he noticed that in a 2006 GM report the sea cottage hydrants were raised to fire department requirements. The GM said the installer in coming out to correct it at no charge to us.
Director Dodson asked President Sullivan if there had been a meeting with our attorneys about the Cowen Lawsuit. Director Burke was the only board member invited by our President to attend this meeting that was dubbed by her as a discovery meeting. That was all that these two wished to say about the meeting. It was never asked or said who else was invited to attend this meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Cabrera Variance Lot 1 (Director Burke) Variance passed.

Meeting adjourned. Read more on this article...

It looks like the laying of Time Warner cable has started inside our Village. They were at the gate keeper’s building working their way down the road to the first stop sign. Git er done. Keep you posted.

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A TIDBIT

A fire hydrant issue normally would not get any attention, but this is not quite normal. Nearly a year ago a fire hydrant line broke under the corner lot of #127’s pad. Instead of just fixing and relocating the valve a few feet, it was decided by whomever to put a new hydrant and relocate it on the other side of the street for $6000+. We were without a fire hydrant for ten more months before the installer put it in so low the hose connections were almost touching the ground.

Director McBride asked if the installers were coming back to fix this. Our general manager responded by saying he had talked to the Port Isabel Fire Marshall and was told LIV was out of his jurisdiction. Our GM said they did discussed what was legal and together drove through Port Isabel. Our GM said he saw half of their fire plugs are lower than ours. Our GM said the Fire Marshall looked at our fire plug and didn’t have a problem with it and was not going to enforce anything in LIV anyway. Our GM said we are going to excavate around our hydrant a little more.

Director McBride posed the question if you pay someone to do a job and it isn’t done right, should not this person come back and make it right? Our general manager said this Fire Marshall was suppose to have gotten back with him with a rule or a standard and but doesn’t have one. Our GM explained to say to a guy you didn’t do it right, you have to have something that says he didn’t do it right.
Above was during our October 14th 2008.Workshop meeting.

Below was during our June 28th 2006 Regular Board meeting.
GENERAL MANAGER'S REPORT - Larry DeMah\de –#12. Fire Hydrants at Sea Cottages have been brought to the Fire Department's required height.

Go figure?
Our GM said he has not yet paid the installer. What do you think?

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COFFEE WITH THE DIRECTORS 10/15/2008

After the Pledge of Allegiance, Vice President Young started the meeting saying that the comments will be available three days after the Coffee meeting for later review by owners at the Library. Lot #155 asks the Board make owners more aware of new lawsuits and what they involve. President S. said his feeling is that we all should know what’s going on. Director Burke then gave her legal summary of the procedure. President Sullivan finally said it will be posted on Channel 2 to review such info in our library as it materializes.
Lot #686 commented about the lawsuit brought against the directors. They said they were unaware that our Village had an unlicensed security. Their third item was that they felt this board member doing the suing should not be able to participate with board business.
Lot #281 said all the board members should rerun for the board.
Lot #685 comments were the same as #686 with the addition if the owner who sued the directors was so upset with the way things are, she might consider moving. A member of the SGG asked for their name.
Lot #249 suggested more owner input on issues and that this blog should not represent the majority of the people views.
Lot #245 asked about the Arroyo Cable lawsuit. Director Dodson expressed that they are suing that we owe them over $1,650,000 but will settle for $750K. The thinking is that they have a weak case but a judge decides. LIV had a long history of each month monitoring how many units were occupied using the service and that is what we paid. Now they want LIV to pay for the past years the full number whether occupied or not.

Questions from the audience

Selba Campbell gave information about voting and asked for permission from the board to have a little campaigning done on the first chicken night. The OK was given.
Our general manager said our LIV email was hacked into and is ruined. He said he’s got the FBI working on solving this huge problem. Armando had a stint put in for the second time and is doing ok. Our general manager said he also had bypass surgery but would be back to work on Monday.
A sea cottage owner complained about the numerous sets of golf clubs being stolen and asked to enforce the after dark rule that workers have to leave by sunset.
Lot #65 said that our gate keepers were letting people in the park without checking.
An owner came up said that she thought security was on the ball most of the time.
Lot #312 owner said his guests were not being stopped at all by security. They gave passes with no expiration date and never looked at the pass when coming in the park.
Lot #689 wanted the butterfly garden to be taken care of when time permits.
Someone from the audience name John was kept from voicing his opinion when our general manager said he was not an owner.
An owner asked about adding a third employee towards the much needed grass cutting on the golf course. The answer was they added a part time this year already.

WORKSHOP

Director Peterson discussed the problem about a resident staying at lot #254 in which our Village had a TRO put on. It was brought up to clarify that he is suppose to help in this matter.
Director Dodson asked to mow the grass at the corner exit stop sign just pass the security gate and our general manager said that Marcus would take care of it.
Director Mulch wanted to present the three bids to the outdoor pool repair and put that on the agenda, along with the sidewalks at four locations and have the bath house be debated.

Director Steffensen brought up that on April 23rd she had allocated $27K to cover bath houses #1&3, not $27K for just for #1. A discussion took place about how to obtain an accurate dollar figure and it was put on the agenda.
The subject of this new fire hydrant was brought up. Our general manager said he talked to the fire marshal and was told he had no legal jurisdiction in our Village, but discussed what was legal. He told our manager that they too have to dig around some of their hydrants but failed to tell him if they were originally installed that way and approved. The fire marshal said he had no problem with ours and our general manager said he was going to dig around it some more. It was suggested to have the hydrant install correctly and the general manager said he has to have some standard to show them that it’s incorrect, which at this moment he doesn’t have. The people who had us wait ten months to install this according to our GM have not yet been paid. It was also asked if this hydrant had been tested. Our GM said no.
Robinson Pools gave a bid of $65,000, Berry Pools $58,500 to fix the pool bottom. It was discussed why only two bids and our GM said he contacted five or six.
Mary Steffensen said we had allocated $32,000 in the budget for the pool repair.
Mary Steffensen talked about revenues and the increase in prices for the cost of goods that will reflect on what we charge in the restaurant. The credit card charges have went up and a 3% credit card charge is to be reviewed for the Pro shop and rental department.
Director McBride asked to have shutoff valves to replace the pneumatic valves for the sprinkler systems.
Director Peterson requested that we start to work on the weed burr problem.
Mary Steffensen said we need to search for a cheaper transportation cost for our golf course sand.
Director Burke said that the Board had an outstanding variance to look at and put it on the agenda list.
It was put on the agenda if our Village should add to the employee appreciation fund raiser.

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THE LAWSUIT

The lawsuit was dropped after the both parties finally negotiated an agreement. The recall is out. All nine directors are back. Conditions agreed on were that our GM stays, Aramark stays, and all nine board member seats will be up for re-election in March. The new security starts the first of the year and we will revise our voting ballots and proxies.

In the courtroom Reta Priest told a bailiff that she wanted to have the courtroom cleared because she was being disturbed and was near a nervous breakdown. Director Burke said she was there not to give support to Priest and Mulch, but because she was given a subpoena.

This result seems to show the GM was what this lawsuit was all about, causing grief, turmoil, and loss friendships. This has set a standard, of what exactly is still unclear but it’s definitely not good. It’s still unclear who’s paying the lawyer’s tab, but in the long run the attorney fees will seem small in comparison to the future losses that our park may incur as a result of this event.

This one dance is over but the music I feel will keep on playing. Many wrongs have been done to too many good people over this. I hope I'm wrong. Read more on this article...

THE LAWSUIT

It appears nothing has been settled in this lawsuit today that Reta Priest and Leroy Mulch started. I will update any information tomorrow. Read more on this article...

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/user1/ptisabel/093008_to_members.pdf

VILLAGE OWNERS; Please click above to read the very important info from our Association attorney. It's your money my friends! Read more on this article...

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING!

Would you be surprised at receiving a letter from this recall clan targeting our Village attorney for doing her job? Well you shouldn’t be because that’s seems to have been their M.O. for months. Attack anyone who doesn’t agree and then distort, insinuate, and draw sympathy (the DIDS). You might note the one thing that might be missing in this surprise possible letter as was in their failed recall attempt letter, is detail information such as times, places, who had witnessed those involved, you know those silly things called FACTS or PROOF! It seems only things you hear or read from this crowd are conjecture, hearsay, innuendoes, and fabrications, topped off like a cherry with a touch of fear.
The Condominium Act states our By-laws must provide provisions for the removal of directors. Our By-law provides one such procedure using a recall, but Priest and Mulch appear to think they are somehow above this By-law. These governing By-laws were simply not followed and the way the proxies were prepared had absolutely no chance of validity. For all we know Priest, Mulch, and their recall gang could have made up or changed all of them.

Why on earth would Directors Burke and Steffensen see this recall as anything other than invalid? Are they also thinking suing over this seems to be OK?

Consider the possibility of having a legitimate Board election if we held it in July using this same recall procedure to elect our Directors. We would have no quorum of voting owners present. One director wannabe and his/her constituents will mail out every ballot to the Village owners as a proxy with an attached letter stating their opinions about all the opposing candidates. This information is all you are left with to make an intelligent voting decision that has to be mailed back to this wannabe’s group. They themselves do the tally but after seeing your vote are allowed to grill you on how you voted wrong and try to make you change it. Would you tolerate such a process? Is there something just a little wrong with this picture?

The above was the exact method done for this Recall and is a shameful way to try to force three of our directors off the Board.

Our three elected directors have never been against the association. They were against a previous board that did not recognize owner’s ratifying rights on substantial additions and alterations to our Village. They were for managerial accountability that the previous board seemed to ignore.

This unacceptable recall along with the ridiculous lawsuits against our six Directors may site several reasons why they are doing it, but appears to have only one true agenda, to regain a majority control of the Board to insure that your general manager stays. That’s it, end of story.

The friends of the general manager have turned this park upside down leaving us, the owners, with an undisclosed cost that could last for years. If this bunch really wants a recall, they should do it in a legitimate way and have the facts for a change be given to every owner and let them designate their vote without being questioned. Let’s obey our By-laws for a change.

Priest and company continually say they are the voice of the people and are working in your best interest. I for one have heard only their one voice and yes, they are working, but for who’s interest?

One more item to note is that no one is associated with this blog other than me. I don’t recall stating in any of my articles that Aramark is trying to buy out our Village. To also say that this blog is not reputable and not founded on the truth is saying that information I acquire and used from the general manager, Directors, the Board minutes, our Village Newsletter, and Board meetings are therefore lies. I can back up what I say, I question if the same can be said from this recall group. Read more on this article...

SEPTEMBER SUGGESTIONS

**Click here**

We would love your suggestion that will improve our Village. Suggestion may be viewed by those visiting. We will renew the display each month. Anonymous are welcomed.
So throw one in the box.


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IS THIS RIGHT?

There has been a majority shift within our Board of Directors. All the owners who had voted for the new Directors to help our Village be a better place to live have had their representation taken away. Your vote now belongs to director Leroy Mulch and his suing partner Reta Priest. Priest is the ring leader of this invalid recall and is a possible director replacement. They have sued six of our Directors. Three of those six also received restraining orders.

This action has made Directors Burke, Mulch, and Steffensen to instantly become a majority on our Board. It’s no secret that these three have been against the other Directors on issues, the latest being about the replacement of our unlicensed security to which our general manager and Aramark currently benefit from.

Does this seem to be in our Village’s best interest when one out of nine directors is allowed to sue and eliminate enough directors so as to create his own possible majority? Is that what the owners had wished and voted for?

Directors Mulch, Burke, and Steffensen have never once as a group attempted to work out their implied differences with these six Directors. Do you feel its right for them to obtain an authoritative majority from past selective mayhem caused at board meetings and these lawsuits?

Does anybody see something terribly wrong with this?

What did the six Directors do that was so wrong?
The answer is they tried to replace the Long Island Village General Manager. All other reasons seem to have come after or have spread from this action.

Prior to these six being sued, here are just a few things they allowed in part or as a whole in what is now a failed attempt to satisfy these disgruntle three amigos (Directors Burke, Steffensen, and Mulch).
1. They postpone replacing the General Manager in order to do a 90 day evaluation. This was also done in hopes management would attempt to do better. These six Directors even allowed the GM to participate in his own evaluation scoring.
2. They reluctantly but did allowed this recall to be recognized in a regular meeting, even though the procedures done by Reta Priest were clearly not within our By-Law guidelines.
3. They stopped this same regular board meeting in order to meet with the association attorney to obtain her opinion on the validity of the recall proxies being presented. This was to insure owner’s voting rights and that the By-Laws were adhered to. LIV (you) paid the attorney fee.
4. After these recall proxies were determined by our Association Attorney as overwhelmingly invalid for numerous reasons, these six Directors still allowed a members meeting discussion be put on the agenda to entertain again the issue of these invalid and tainted recall proxies.

Here are a few things our six Directors had to contend with before the lawsuit?
1. After agreeing to a 90 day GM evaluation, Directors McBride, Hansen, and Peterson had a voter recall started against them containing eleven reasons why they should be thrown off the Board. These reasons to date have never been proven. Reta Priest was known as an active participant in lobbying recall votes against these Directors.
2. Each Board member had received court documentation about a long ago divorce hardship experienced by Director Peterson. It was requested to the board that because of this very ancient past, they should take action to rid Director Peterson from the Board. It was a tasteless and shameful action by this recall bunch
3. Director Young was accused of mail tampering because he received mail that’s addressed to him. Director Burke gave a speech about this nonsense at a Board meeting and mentioned he should resign. Reta Priest initiated this accusation.
4. Since considering the removal of the general manager, all six have appeared to come under unnecessary verbal attacks from what seems to be always the same small group of friends associated with the general manager’s wife and Reta Priest. Meetings seem to have taken on an adversarial tone from both sides.

The new directors followed through on their campaign promises in trying to make Aramark management accountable for their actions, but were met with opposition from this management and their friends.

It should be importantly noted these new directors did not initiate the request to replace our general manager, our board President did. Those few who have wish to stop any accountability of this Aramark management has thrust our Village into a social chaos, pitting neighbor against neighbor. These same few have yet to provide owners proof of any wrong doing done by these six Directors.

This appears to have come down to this one issue. Do we keep our current general manager with no accountability towards his actions and at what cost to our Village, or let our elected board work this out and hold our general manager accountable or maybe even replace him at what cost to our Village?

Speaking of cost, this will make it the eighth lawsuit pending against our association. Even though these Directors are being sued as individuals, I read in our By-Laws the Association’s is on the hook to protect them with legal counsel. Below is our Indemnification By-Law. See how you read it. It should also be noted that Mulch and Priest wish to be reimbursed for their Attorney Fees. Guess who will pay for that?

ARTICLE XII. INDEMNIFICATION
The Corporation shall indemnify every Director and every Officer, and their heirs, executors and administrators, against all loss, cost and expenses reasonably incurred in connection with any action, suit or proceeding to which said Director or Officer may be a party, by reason of their being or having been a Director or Officer of the corporation, including reasonable counsel fees to be approved by the Corporation, except as to matters wherein said Director or Officer shall be finally adjudged in such action, suit or proceeding to be liable for or guilty of gross negligence or willful misconduct. The foregoing rights shall be in addition to and exclusive of all other rights to which such Director or Officer may be entitled.

Read more on this article...

MINORITY + LAWSUIT = MAJORITY

9/26/08 Today six Directors of our Board have been sued by Director Leroy Mulch and Reta Priest. Details are sketchy, but it’s known that these three, Directors Hansen, Peterson, and McBride have been sued and served restraining orders until this matter is brought to court. Also sued were Directors Dodson, Young, and President Sullivan. What has our Village become? It appears that Long Island Village may not be “the place to be.” Read more on this article...

September 14TH, 2008 Coffee with the Directors

After the Pledge of Allegiance we heard from the Suggestion Box

Lot 677 Asked that all suggestions make it to the regular board meeting. He suggested to have comments from the audience on the suggestions submitted. Plus hold over any suggestions not read to the next meeting if there were a considerable amount of comments.
Lot 143 to avoid a possible lawsuit, asked for the recall to be brought up again and be entertained by the Board and have some way to voted on it.
President Sullivan made a statement that he felt it seemed evident the recall has caused turmoil and division of the Board and asked the Board to quickly resolve its differences. Director Burke responded by saying the suggestion is worthy of consideration and disagreed with President Sullivan that the Recall group was the cause of the turmoil.

From the Audience

Lot 251 Asked how much the new security would cost us and what would it get us? Director Dodson explained the License officer will better enforce our rules, reduce liability, and more. Director Steffensen said in January, February, and March of 2007, LIV was still paying bills to Securitas. Director Burke felt a need to clarify the original 2008 budget figures only to say the obvious; if wages increase, the amount could reach higher and then made it quite clear this was not her decision to back a security change.
Lot 249 asks if Securitas was the same firm that had an employee steal from us? Director Dodson’s answer was yes and that this was not the reason we replace them. She said they were replaced because Aramark wanted to run security giving us the promise they would obtain a security license. Plus, our GM was at that time having conflicts with Securitas staff. She went on to say the Board will meet with them once a month and will have them on a one year probation. Director Burke again wanted to clarify that there is a warrant out for that former employee of Securitas and her boyfriend, who stole checks. She gave several other opinions of what Securitas did.
Lot #97 said for the extra money we spend on security, we will get what we haven’t had before. That would be to have someone that will enforce the rules. Director Burke again spoke contrary to that.
SC #111 criticized the fact the people didn’t appoint the security company and thought that the board had no right to do this themselves. She mentioned my name as if she had a problem with my minute impute I gave to the Security Committee. She went on a somewhat mini tantrum saying the Village is in a crisis, neighbors are turning against neighbors, and on and on. She eventually said the majority is not being heard while there are a few voices that are anonymous group on a blog that don’t speak the truth. She went on to say when we send information to the blog, many times it doesn’t get on there. You only hear one side, and that one side wants to get rid of Aramark and Larry. She then said that you have six people that can do anything they want, that's you Mr. Peterson, Mr. McBride, Martha Nell, Mr. Young, and you (President Sullivan), we have all heard you say that.( Not sure heard what it was that was said?) President Sullivan said everyone has a right to voice their opinion and told her that this was uncalled for.
Lot #806 said if there was a problem with someone drunk at the pool; why not make it a non-alcohol area.
Selba Campbell said she was available to register you to vote and provide you an absentee ballot.
33840 S. Garcia is starting to replace 950 S. Garcia on certain mail. This may or may not change back. Either are said to work until April of 2009. It was suggested not to change anything until the new postmaster is replaced to review our situation. Our GM spent five minutes on his experience with the number change.
Director Dodson reminded everyone of the employee appreciation party.
Lot #726 asked questions about function and who controled of the Bridge Board. Director Burke gave a five plus minute summation.
SC #2 said she would like to thank Mr. Peterson for raising the bounty on my husband’s head.
With that stupid and unrelated to the meeting remark, the meeting was adjourned.

Workshop
Agenda

Only one Bid was received on remodeling the bath house. The amount to do it as designed by Don Pelletier was $26129.
The sidewalk to nowhere, as it has been called from the letter lots to guard house, along with sidewalk by the helicopter pad, sidewalk in front of the activity center, and sidewalk in front of Rec. Hall parking lot was said by our GM to cost around $13,000.
Only one bid for the repair of the outdoor pool bottom has been received so far.
Director Dodson asked our GM if the Berry Pool chemicals were included with the $800 they charge us? The GM said yes, but only up to a certain amount. Director McBride said he had read the Berry contract and did not recall reading that chemicals were included. The GM then stated he was not sure but will look into it.
Insurance adjusters have given LIV a $20000 advance to fix the restaurant roof.

Meeting adjourned. Read more on this article...

VILLAGE SECURITY

At the September 4th Board meeting, Director Dodson’s security presentation did not immediately determined how much higher it would cost for our new licensed security company. We spent over $230K for gate keeping last year. This year $206K has been budgeted and that appears to be on track. During the security presentation, Directors Steffensen and Burke threw out figures they believed should be added to these bids in order to show its true cost. These figures were ranging from $16K to $27K, depending upon who was talking.

It has been established to this date we will pay $18K more than this year’s budgeted cost in order to have Securitas as our new licensed security.

It’s interesting why we even accepted an unlicensed security group in the first place? Here’s some history towards how all this came about..
Jan. 2005 Our GM proposed to our Board of having Aramark replace Securitas. The board approved this idea.
May 2005 Four months later with no security license, our GM said his company changed their minds because Texas has outrageous liability costs. Securitas receives a new one year contract.
August 2006 Aramark’s Senior VP gave our GM the go ahead to pursue contracting LIV for security. Aramark’s bid was approximately $3K less than Securitas. Motion was made to award Aramark the security contract and Director Burke seconds it. Motion was approved. It was decided that Aramark will run security while getting a security license.
June 2007 Ten months later and no security license; our GM stated that his company changed their minds and will not get a security license due to, in his words, a $20,000 Texas out of state fee. The Board ordered bids be obtained from license security companies for review.
August 2007 Besides his own, our GM acquired only two licensed security company bids to choose from. Both companies were apparently based substantially further than the maximum mile radius set by the board. Aramark was awarded the contract. The Board reasons were cost savings, more services, and direct control. Current Board members that served then were Directors Burke, Mulch, Steffensen, and Young. Director Young was the only Director to vote no.
To note; This $20K Texas out of state fee was later found to actually be a new franchise tax past in 2006 to start in 2008 that applied to all businesses located in and out of Texas, and had no apparent bearing at acquiring a security license?

Current reasons for the replacing our unlicensed gate keepers.
1. They are powerless to enforce most of our Village protocol legally.
2. Wanting to reduce our Village liability. Our Village is continually displaying the illusion of having a licensed security. It begins with being a gated community and continues with posted guards, vehicle screening, patrols, security cameras, uniforms, being called for problems, being called for emergencies, realtors advertising 24 hr security, accidently calling them security at board meetings, and more. This illusion increases our liability exponentially. Simple example would be a renter lets her guard down thinking we have train security and gets injured or abused by a perpetrator. Could our Association show we were diligent in securing our property or show we reduced the protection with untrained and unlicensed personnel in order to save a buck.
3. Untrained personnel
4. Untrained management training their untrained personnel.
5. Management failing to design adequate procedures for updating personnel on changing LIV needs.
6. Personnel not being trained properly. Unable to read the LIV Owners directory correctly and directing vehicles to wrong addresses. Unable to provide simple information when called.
7. The apparent need of trained and licensed personnel to communicate with the proper etiquette and be able to properly document current events.

Original reason to have our non licensed security
1. Cost
2. More services
3. Direct control

Is it worth it?

Ask yourself if it is worth $18 a year to better protect your physical well being, property, and enforce the Village regulations using licensed personnel that are trained and tested in this area.

How much is it worth to improve our Village’s posture towards future litigations? Having a License Security might it not even be possible to recoup this increase and more in the long run through lower insurance premiums and attorney fees ?

Are we really getting our $206K + money’s worth with this unlicensed Aramark team?

Shouldn’t we be looking after Long Island Village interests instead of the GM’s or Aramark’s?

Read more on this article...

HURRICANE COMMITTEE

The hurricane committee and all the contributors have done a great job on thinking ahead of the CONE. Ed McBride was the host of the meeting and explained very clearly the general design of the plan. They have figured it in two evacuation stages, recommended and mandatory. Recommended evacuation means they recommend but leave it up to you, the owners, renters, and workers. The park utilities and bridge should stay usable unless an outage is caused by the elements. Mandatory means all but owners will be forced to leave. Owners that stay need to tell the office and provide numbers to contacts if needed. They will not be the park’s responsibility. The power will be left on, but water will be turned off. The bridge will be locked open and not passable.
While in the hurricane’s projected cone, we will be in the mandatory evacuation stage. It is currently being requested everyone leave by 7pm Thursday. From that point on the bridge may close at anytime. This of course is subject to change as weather updates dictate every six hours.
Information numbers are 943-5670, 943-3113, 572-5670, 572-5671. Read more on this article...

BACK TO SQUARE ONE

My original purpose for this Blog was to bring out more of the facts while exposing any half truths and unclear answers when exercised by our management and Board of Directors. It was to help keep our board from lying idle towards owner’s concerns. It was created to help identify your owner’s right to ratify, by vote, on our Village’s substantial additions and material alterations that were denied to you by previous boards. It tries to make our management more accountable for their actions and was thought to be needed because our newsletter was never published in a timely manner. I felt the people in our Village also needed a means to express themselves. Pitifully, for fear of reprisals, most have to do it anonymously. I will continue to post comments within the same guidelines that have been previously set forth with the hope that someday people here can agree to disagree without being targeted.
I’ve tried to make every discourse be based on solid facts and posed questions from those particulars.
A board member’s wife made the comment recently that” it’s too bad the synopsis writer of this blog can’t take a more object view.” She right because for the most part I try to let a reader derive their own opinion about an issue. I try giving all the facts available and pose from them legitimate questions. But if she wants a synopsis about the current state of affairs that our Village has with our general manager, I’ll try to provide this simple one just for her.
For years our Village has encountered numerous problems with management. Many were with maintaining various entities of our common grounds, especially with the pool facilities and lawn care. Six months ago the majority of the voting owners elected four board members whose main campaign promises were to hold management accountable for their actions and show an active concern towards owners comments. Because they held to these promises, they have been made the bad guys by management and some senior board members. Friends of the GM and these certain senior board members have tried to rid three of the four directors by way of a recall. At best it was done in a most despicable way and failed to succeed. We are now left with a very disgruntled board that just needs to get on with the business at hand and either vote our general manager out or vote him in. Read more on this article...

Board of Directors Meeting 9/4/2008

After the Pledge of Allegiance, it was announced the recall ballots were invalid.
From the floor we had three people giving their endorsement to our general manager. Selba Campbell was one of them. Selba also said that the Cowen Group will be part of our Bridge Board since they now own island property. She hinted that certain things are cooking that are positive towards our bridge funding.
Reports
Manager’s report was short due to a non board issue speech he wanted to read. It pertained to a reward flier that was posted. The general manager claimed this person owning the phone number on said reward flier has constantly bothered him, his employees and had also threatened him and his wife. Director Burke made a motion to act upon this. The board complied.
The Treasury Report had nothing out of the ordinary to express.
D&E report had conveyed there will be numerous activities for the month of October.
Golf Committee reported they still had $18419 leftover from their fundraisers the previous year and construction on green #6 should be completed by October.
Swimming Pool Committee report said 1988 wrist bands were sold in nine weeks and netted a profit of around $4550 to be spent on pool chairs this year. At the request from the board there are now five more bids that will be considered for the outdoor pool repair.
Audit Committee report on the Rental Department recommended changes in the Declaration, a renter repair checklist, an emergency only list on units to be rented for emergencies, a change in the deep cleaning charges, a change in our advertising, and a rating system.
Security committee recommended three Security companies as finalist. Director Dodson motion Securitas to become our new security replacing Aramark. Motion passed. Aramark is to be given a sixty day notice.
Safety Committee wished to be given more time to recruit volunteers but wanted to immediately to sit down with management and form a better hurricane plan.
Evaluation Committee report said our general manager scored just above satisfactory. Director Dodson moved there were improprieties of this evaluation for allowing the employee to be present not after but during the evaluations proceedings, arguing any low scores, and causing one committee member to resign after being told to change their evaluation. A request to enter a closed session for discussion of this evaluation was voted down.
Old Business
Reflectors to indicate property for sell or rent was tabled to the workshop.
Director McBride had a safety issue and inquired as to why a fire hydrant was out of commission for 10 months so it could be move for $6000 when the hydrant valve could have been relocated to solve the original problem of it being under an owner’s concrete pad and deck. The estimated cost to do this would be under two hundred dollars. It will be an item of discussion at the workshop.
Director Peterson brought up issues with bath house #1. The possibility of a ceiling leak along with the current plans of remodeling. He deemed the plans as unnecessary and overly costly. It will be an item at the workshop.
Time Warner Cable is planned to be operational Jan 1st. Bundle packages will be introduced when received.
Director McBride asked the general manager why the golf course pump has to be shut off at low tide instead of extending the intake pipe further out so as to always be in the water. The cleaning of the screen was the answer.
Director McBride asked if the float valve and the backflow valve was installed for the single phase emergency sewer pipe. Answer was yes.
Emergency Modular Housing idea was downed.
New Business
There will be an employee appreciation party September 19th.
An additional bank account was started at Wells Fargo to protect LIV money under the Federal Insured Limits.
Truck paint and wheels was brought up as a question to our general manager after Director Peterson had been misinformed by office personnel that the work was approved to be done by the board. The general manager became very upset and loudly stated his displeasure in having this subject brought up.
Director Burke motioned that some regular board meetings be scheduled for Saturdays at 9 am. Motion passed.
Motion to accept True Line material for the seawalls was passed along with proper depth considerations.
Lowering the park model minimum height building code rule died from lack of motion.
There will be a modular home seminar in November for those interested. Exact date TBA.
Motion for sea cottage using 30 year TDI approved shingles passed.
Variance for Lot 1 is under review and discussion.
Cowen Group closed on their property on the 25th of August. There was a remark by Director Burke that the seller stated the sold property was to have a land easement through LIV.
Director Steffensen asked who took the director’s pictures away from the glass enclosure. It appears that five pictures were first removed and three more days later.
Meeting called adjourn. Read more on this article...