December 10th Coffee with the Directors

President opened with a warning to the audience towards the use of bad conduct
Director Hansen wanted to address the audience and was recognized by our VP. He apologized for his actions at the town hall meeting.
From the suggestion box
Lot 249 asked that an independent party collect the ballots and proxies at the annual meeting. VP Young said this has already been arranged and will be done that way.
Lot 158 asked if the Board operates under Condominium Act section 82. We felt the board is in violation and want the owners to stay after to request funds for legal counsel to clarify this manner. VP Young said he assume were while looking at the members of the Board. Director Burke spoke right up and said in an apparent snide tone, don’t look at me, I’m not your attorney. Director McBride said we do and the last meeting to which this is addressing was done proper. We had our attorney there to make sure it was done proper. That meeting was one that the Board had asked Director Mulch to step down as Secretary.
Lot 107 complained of a lot which has not been touched since the hurricane. It was said it smells and looks terrible. Armando, who subs for our GM taking a stress test, said contacts are still being made and everyone still has until February’s cutoff date to verify the start of repairs.
Lot R complained about the use of the basketball court area to dump loads of dirt and park equipment. After a short discussion Armando said he would take care of it.
Lot 155 complained that the Board was not listening to the people and are not following the court order. The President made a comment on this and nicely said this person is entitled to his own opinion.

Owners Speaking
Our President Sullivan talked about wanting to use the parking area next to the welcome center for boat trailers. A man asked him to include car trailers. This continued for quite a while with Director Burke giving everyone a history on Mr. Freeland actions towards LIV residents parking on his land. This was to continue at the workshop.
Lot 161 asked a question about the current lawsuit court order. The president answered it. Director Burke corrected our President on a minor subject and continued with saying that the Board was acting according to the court order but not toward the spirit of the order. She stated her opinions on what she said were four reasons in which the Board Secretary was replaced. Her rendition of this meeting lasted for over twenty minutes. When she was done Director Hansen said that the majority simply lost confidence in Director Mulch. The President said he considered this matter done and wanted to move on. There was some vocal opposition to that from a few of the same people who have been previously disruptive.
Don Pelletier explained a previous Board tried to make that same area a boat trailer parking lot and the reasons they why they couldn’t. He also thanked everyone at the cocktail party for all the children’s gifts and money.
Lot 285 brought up by-laws pertaining to first term eligibilities of Directors. The Board President cleared any questions as to appointing first year Director McBride to replace Director Mulch. He stated the by-laws say a first term Director cannot hold the President’s or Vice President’s position. Director Burke intervened with saying that the board added to this by-law at some point back to include the Secretary’s position. It was ask politely for her to provide proof of her statement and was left at that.
Lot 129 asked for Time Warner information. Director Dodson said that Jan 1st is still the start time and the bundle pricing will be available near this start time. There were many other minor questions throughout the entire meeting by owners who didn’t identify themselves or their residence number.
Lot 556 asked if there can be an easier way for outside people who participate with regular owner group activities to get into the park to dine at the Village Grill. This issue was discussed in great length and asked to continue at the workshop.
A man who didn’t give his lot number questioned our Time Warner contract and had a problem with the restaurant constantly losing money. Several Directors commented about the amenities and losses. This lasted for a while with no apparent outcome.
Lot 28 recommended that our Board should negotiate harder with Time Warner. He said the new Board members will have to run this place as a business and hard negotiations are a part of that..
Lot? Said we need more restaurant signs to guide people as to where it’s located.
Lot 638 wanted to congratulate Director Dodson for her fine job towards Time Warner.
Lot 96 said several times in a row the restaurant’s Sunday buffet food was cold and her husband will not return. She complained about the water being turned off and the lack of communication from management of when it is to be resolved.
Reta Priest did not give her name or lot number. She seemed to intentionally ignored addresssing her question to President Sullivan with pointedly asking Director Burke where our Village stood with the Arroyo Cable lawsuit. After the President gave Director Burke the go ahead and to shorten up Directors Burkes answers, she said we feel we are in a good position and it’s currently in an answer and discovery stage.
Lot 617 said the restaurant is great, everyone should try it.
Lot SC95 said 6 or 7 years ago when there was a $50 grand loss, he offered to take over the restaurant for $1 so owners wouldn’t have such high losses and was told that they just make the books look like there are losses. They said no.
Director Mulch reminded everyone of the employees Christmas Party Friday Dec.12th .
There were various short notifications of other parties and acknowledgements and the meeting ended.

The Workshop
There was a lengthy discussion of making it easier to enter the park to use the Village Grill.
It was announced the no wake signs were paid for from an anonymous owner.
The Board talked about new restaurant signs and their locations.
The Board members talked about giving away this and that to try to drum up more restaurant business when Director Peterson said he thought before we start giving away anything, we should find out what our food costs are. He said no one has yet been able to tell him what it cost us to make a simple hamburger, fries and drink. He said no one knows. This stirred up the board and the owners in the audience.
Director Hansen said he would like to provide a questionnaire to the owners with the annual meeting packet.
The parking lot for boat trailers was discussed at great length but rendered to further review due to the legality of charging owners for common ground use and or not being able to provide all the owners the use for free..
Director Peterson to the table the pool bottom issue with a bid of $3500 to patch the outdoor pool instead of re-plastering for $31,000 to $60,000. He said they would acid wash it for a little more. It was discussed and appeared not well accepted. Read more on this article...

What to do?
Our Village’s first two re-plastering bids for the outdoor pool were pretty high at being around $60,000. It was somewhat interesting that Berry Pools was using LIV as a reference last spring saying they were picked to do this re-plastering. When our Village finally received a third bid at $30,846, everyone got skeptical. It never crossed my mind to just patch the bottom one more time as Director Peterson had proposed. He received a bid of only $3500. It struck me as a grand idea and a means for our Village to get by for the next several years?
This bottom sitting for over six years and with the history of inconsistent water chemistry, one would think that most of the defective bottom has occurred. South Texas Pools, who originally did the work, gave our Director the same after warranty patchwork price of $3500 that they quoted almost three years ago to our GM, but now will be doing a much bigger patchwork job. It appears they felt a little committed after doing such a poor job. The only concerned I heard told by the Board of why we want to redo the pool bottom was to keep people from cutting their feet.
One might ask do we need to make this pool bottom perfect to correct this problem.
Currently our Village has an unknown amount owed for lawyer fees due to numerous pending litigations. A few of these lawsuits make us now pay tens of thousands of dollars more a year to provide a high risk insurance coverage for our swing bridge. If it's available at all, these insurance premiums will continue to quickly rise. Our problemed economy has cause large increases in our Village’s COGS, utilities, and employee wages. We are to pay more for a dearly needed licensed security. We have thrown thousands away for a silly sidewalk to nowhere and the relocation of one fire hydrant. Our Village is paying through the nose for a constant overbilling of our trash pickup to which our management appears unable or unwilling to correct.
Is it smart for us to now spend ten to twenty times more money to make the pool bottom look perfect for a year or so?
Wouldn’t just fixing the bottom areas of the pool at this time be far wiser? Think about it, for $3500, our Village could patch our outdoor pool for eight years in a row and the total cost would still be thousands less than the lowest re-plastering bid. Most pool professionals will tell you the life expectancy for re-plastering is from 4-8 years. This new plaster will be considerably more susceptible to stains and damage caused from poor water chemistry than our current diamond bright pool bottom.
For years our management has known and has not corrected the circulation problem which stabilizes the outdoor pool’s water chemistry. Now who’s to say if we did re-plaster our pool today that in a few years we wouldn’t be in the same or different mess as today. Does our pool bottom have to look perfect?
By using a small amount of the thousands saved with area bottom repairs, we could correct the outdoor pool circulation problem and finally, for the first time, meet the minimum Texas State code requirements for water filtration turnover. Our outdoor pool bottom may not have to be perfect but our pool water should be.
Should we think hard about just doing only these pool bottom area repairs, pool lights, along with correcting our circulation problem and save over tens of thousands of dollars, or instead, re-plaster our outdoor pool bottom and take our chances?

From David Cooke Pool Plaster Co. LLC
PLASTER IS LONG LASTING: The secret to long life of any pool surface is properly maintained water balance. Improper water balance will destroy any pool surface and in many cases, void the warranty of that surface.

From Ultraguard Inc
Pool contractors today have no compassion for their customers. They know, what is being offered for pool interior restorations are a perpetual chronic application. UltraGuard has been the best kept secret in the pool industry because plastering and painting pools have always been a high volume, high profit business, with a life expectancy of only 2-6 years with no real warranties

PLASTER & PAINT
Plastering- Renewing the interior surface of a pool to a beautiful smooth finish & then applying a number of coats of either, Epoxy of Chlorinated Rubber Paint , has been the choice of thousands of pool owners. The system is very efficient but does not last as long. The repaint will need to be done each 4-5 years. Paint can be used to give some brilliant effects in pools using many different colors. Read more on this article...

Town Hall Meeting 12/06/2008

Larry Schroeder was the moderator of this town hall meeting. He said purpose of this meeting was not to vilify anything; it is not to tear down anybody’s reputation. It is to simply give the people of this association a chance to air their perceptions, their assumptions, of why we are here and why there has been such a problem. Moderator Schroeder gave his opinions of our Village’s current situation from attending one meeting. He gave us the long history of Outdoor Resorts that evolved into Long Island Village. He explained that the Dec. 3rd, 2008 by invitation only Wednesday meeting was not about putting up a slate to run for the board as a political party but was an informal get together to discuss their concerns of not having enough candidates to run for the board this March. He said his group would help anyone who wants to run. He proposed that they will support meetings so candidates can voice their opinions and discouraged what he called “sound bites”. He said owners elect directors from their agendas and it appeared to him that agendas of the new directors is what got us in the position we are in today. He explained the position was that we have more lawsuits against us than we ever had in our lives. He said it didn’t bode well while trying to sell his home and having somebody a few days ago rescind an offer based on that. He said twice that this upsets me.
Moderator Schroeder said since the original meeting was canceled, his group decided to have this meeting. He said Bill Zerbe took it upon himself to just schedule the hall and is not his meeting. Mr. Schroeder said this meeting has the same agenda as what the original meeting would have had before it was cancelled. Larry Schroeder talked about the Declaration and bylaws, their importance, and proceeded to say in his opinion the use in executive session for the purpose of business not normally covered in executive sessions, is a violation of the Texas open meetings act. He then went on to state that if a board member takes action in an executive session that he is not allowed to, they waive their right to director officers liability insurance. The said this board has had more executive meetings than the three previous boards combined and that amounts to someone making decisions when I don’t get to hear the discussion. He said twice that’s not right.
Moderator Schroeder discussed their agenda items. The first was to be about the conduct of the directors. He said they, the directors, will get an opportunity to address that. He said the second item was by court order this board was to remain status quo and the directors are not following this. This court order was imposed after one director, Leroy Mulch and Reta Priest, recall leader and previous board candidate who lost; suing six directors of our Board The third agenda item was a board code of ethics in which moderator Schroeder thought we didn’t need it. The fourth item the people supposedly wanted to discuss was in Mr. Schroeder’s opinion the cause for all of this; the discussion of what created the problem with management and the current board’s explicit desire to terminate the manager. He gave the audience his rendition of the hierarchy of board and management with a lengthy synopsis of his perceptions about board procedures in which should result in blaming the prior board instead of management themselves for any unacceptable performance.
Moderator Schroeder said what we hear today may be hearsay and assumptions, and in some cases false hearsay and false assumptions. If someone says something incorrect, just get up and correct them. He said if it gets into a shouting match, I’m going to just walk out.
The Board President Dennis Sullivan said this was exactly what he had intended as a meeting. He mentioned the lawsuit and its cost. He felt that the dissention could have been mended without this lawsuit to which you could hear the start of the ahs and moans start from the crowd. He thanked everyone for coming to the meeting
Owner Bill Zerbe began asking why the board President didn’t let the owners know in the meeting cancellation letter, that there will be a member’s town hall meeting. He said he did things that he shouldn’t have out of frustration. He criticized the seating arrangements of the directors. He brought up issues that had not been accomplished in a timely manner. He asked why discussions could not be done on a personal basis between the directors instead of at the meeting where it appears I’m going to nail you on something. He thought this all started with the firing of current director Jim Peterson and gave his reasons why. He said current director Ed McBride mentioned at a party he wanted to get rid of our GM. Mr. Zerbe said if they were unhappy with things they should have express that before being elected. He gave his version of this summer’s history from the replacement attempt of the GM up to this Town Hall meeting. He said this lawsuit came about when certain people in the park were unhappy about what was going on. We started with a recall and gave the number of responses that were received. His opinion is that these directors were not representing persons in the park and needed to step down. He said people had a problem with these directors not being present at a 9 am board meeting. He had a problem with our Village lawyer’s actions towards the recall, but agreed with her that instead of suing they should have compromised. He said the Board President left us no choice but to sue when he wouldn’t change anything we wanted. He said it’s time for everyone to start changing and get along. Mr. Zerbe said a minimum three times that we filed the lawsuit.
Lot #677 said he was confused. He said the directors didn’t follow their agendas stated in March. He called the new directors puppets. He complained about executive meetings. He said there are rumors that the new directors were going to take over and run this park. He complained about the new security company. He talked about other stuff I am not sure of.
Lot 354 & 391 said they’re here during the summer and announce he and eight others will run for the board. He said he would like to personally like to see where we have to go to get it back to the way this place was before. He mentioned the problems the swimming pool wrist band enforcement was causing and the increased perception in vandalism from the renters the past year. He wants to bring the summer and winter owners together.
Lot 306 complained about the lawns not being mowed. She said management should not be part of our board in meetings. She referred to everyone as being a stock holder and to put a pencil to the issues. She talked positive about our Village lawyer and said right now our security is a joke. She said the previous board was at fault that many things have not been done correctly. She said the board lawsuit was pure craziness. This received loud ahs and moans from apparently the same group who disrespect our board meetings.
Moderator Larry Schroeder corrected her metaphor of being stockholders. He said this is run like a business but it is not a corporation. He described in length his security background and made the statement that a license security officer was no more than someone who went to the quickest 40 hour class to get certified. His impression was our Village will not gain from it.
SC27 said he was asked what side he was on when he came back. He said the people here are acting like kids. He said the Board should make policies and management should manage. He referred to our management as experts. He said if a person has an agenda, they should not run for the board. He said our GM was great during the Hurricane. He said to the board, don’t get on an agenda to fire our GM.
Lot 779 said he wanted the new elected board to hire a professional to come in and teach the board what their roles are and do the same with management.
Lot 28 said he has never seen this kind of hatred. He said the only horse he has in this race was his investment in buying here. Whoever runs for the board please keep in mind that these properties are an investment?
Lot 759 said she liked the idea of Sat. meetings. She said the newsletters say nothing and asked for a little more information. She said she would not blindly sign her proxy anymore. She said she had both types of experiences with the GM. She questioned the evaluation of him. She asked what his duties are. She asked for someone to answer.
Moderator Larry Schroeder gave his take on how our board meetings schedule came about. He commented about the size of this current crowd. He talked lengthy about the minutes and complained that the Village attorney is here way too often and inferred that the board is using an attorney to make every business decision. He said we should have a court reporter instead of an attorney if there is a problem in taking of the minutes.
President Sullivan addressed the evaluation procedure of the manager and the current proxy. Moderator Schroeder said they did not have an evaluation of the manager when he served on the Board. Someone from the crowd said that there should be something available to the owners to evaluate the management.
Director Hansen said the prior board did not evaluate the GM. He said he felt that all nine board members have the park at heart. This brought out the disrespectful moans and ahs. He went on to explain the history about our LIV funds not being evenly distributed for them to be insured after numerous times being told by management it was to be taken care of. He explained the history of our Village consistently being overbill on trash pickup. He said he made our GM aware of it and requested the GM to come up with a solution. He said our GM did nothing. He said that three board members sitting to the President’s right have voted the same on every issue while the five on his left haven’t. This received a loud chorus of boos from the same people as before. He corrected the history given on the number of meetings before the GM’s April replacement attempt. He then commented on the number of times he received the finger from Bill Zerbe and started to walk towards him. The crowd came unglued and Moderator Schroeder started yelling at Hansen and Hansen was yelling at Zerbe and Schroeder. The lady from Lot 759 came up to the mike and said excuse me but you are all out of order.
The people in the meeting started to disband with moderator Schroeder started pleading for people to stay.
Director McBride came up to explain the different attacks, rumors, and lies that were let loose on him from certain people. He said it was sad that people are having to make decisions on such conjecture. He said he just simply does not think our GM is doing a good enough job for our Park.
It had appeared that about a third of the people left this meeting. It continued with:
Lot 213 said good things about our GM and didn’t want him to be called hired help. She said the upside is that it seems now more people will be more involved. She said be happy with what we have.
Moderator Schroeder summarized what he thought that we, the owners think. He seemed to validate the totally invalid recalled with saying it was invalid because the I’s were not doted and the T’s were not crossed, then brought up Reta Priest’s tabulation as a somewhat valid number that people weren’t happy with what was going on and said that’s a wakeup call twice.
Lot#? I couldn’t hear what lot this lady lived at but she was upset that she was laugh at by the board last March when she asked a question about breaking laws and then received death threats afterward over the phone saying we are watching you.
Lot 96 complained that people don’t obey the stop signs. Let’s have the Christmas spirit year round.
Lot 97 said when the board speaks, it speaks for me and I don’t speak to people like they speak to people. He said we need to have more respect and get the President a very large gavel.
Moderator Schroeder said this is a record for the number of people who spoke and again talked about this has affected home values and sales. A person in the crowd asked who would like to run for the board.
Moderator Schroeder brought up that the bylaws in which we live by here were done solely drawn up by the outdoor resort developers. He said they wanted to make it impossible for the owner’s to have ratification rights to the changes to our common grounds in making the bylaw to require 75% of the owner approval
Lot 499 asked with the technology today why we can’t have board members who stay here only six months out of the year serve?
Director Burke explained the evaluation form. She explained also that she got too busy the year before to evaluate the manager. She explained the procedure she said she laid out on the GM’s 90 day evaluation prior to Sept. She said in her opinion the evaluation of our GM is done. Ms. Burke explained that in 2002, her mother transferred the ownership of the property of where she lives to her six children. She rambled for fifteen more minutes about herself. She spent ten more minutes explaining the different lawsuits we have. She made a point at saying she made a living as a criminal prosecutor. She wishes to have everyone get along until the elections.
Director McBride said Leroy Mulch has not held up his end in any of this with suing the six of us and should not be in his appointed authoritative Secretarial position.
Moderator Schroeder said I’m not an attorney, but said to Director McBride and the audience if you make that decision in an executive session; you are in violation of Texas open meetings act.
Lot? An owner asked the question about if the board is following the court order. President Sullivan responded that all have not.
Lot 79 spoke about the letter her sister drafted and basically wish for everyone to get along.
Our GM spoke about having just not having one evaluation but three a year. He spoke highly of himself and said that many people have asked him why you don’t retire be on the board. He said his reply after talking with his beloved wife was that he could better serve the park as your general manager. Read more on this article...

SATISFY the RATIFY

For years our board has been asked to follow our Village by-laws in allowing the owners their right to ratify the many alterations and substantial additions that have occurred in our park. The response from our Director Burke and others has been the babble of one lame excuse after another. Excuses such as we aren’t able to define the word “substantial”, or you need 75% of the owners to approve it. Other excuses were if owners ratify everything, you don’t need us as a Board, or it’s why we were voted in as directors, to make these kinds of decisions for the owners. This latest excuse from Director Burke was you haven’t ratified the concrete cartpaths on the golf course, so why the need to ratify our new sidewalk to nowhere, leaving a person thinking the theory that two wrongs will make a right.
Many of us believe that this by-law was not put there just to fill up space. We believe it was to ensure that the power of changing the appearance within our Village will always be in the hands of concerned owners and not a majority of nine directors. The previous Boards, from which several senior directors are still serving us, have led Village owners to believe this task is virtually impossible because they say this by-law requires at least 75% of the owners to ratify (768 owners out of 1024).
We believe their assessment of Article VII is wrong We believe these very concerned people who painstakingly wrote our by-laws, would not have expressed Article VII if they meant to tie the owners hands on input towards our Park's appearance. If that was their intention, we feel they would have simply said the directors shall have sole authority instead.
Please read this phrase of the by-law and tell me if we are interpreting it correctly.

ARTICLE VII. SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONS OR ALTERATIONS

There shall be no substantial additions or alterations to the Common Elements or Limited Common Elements by the Association unless the same are authorized by the Board of Directors and ratified by the affirmative vote of the Voting members casting not less than 75% of the total votes of the Unit Owners present at any regular or special meeting of the Unit Owners called for that purpose.

We read at any regular or special meeting at least 75% of the owners present must cast a vote, and of these votes, 51% must say yes to ratify the subject item.
E.g. There are 100 owners at the meeting, 75 wish to and do vote (75%) and 38 of those vote were yes (50.7%), the item is ratified. Otherwise it is not approved and the board finds out the reasons why so they can compromise towards ratification.
So far we have had a new parking lot, gazebo, new concrete area between the pools, doubled the restaurant’s patio area, altered the locations of the activity office and mail boxes just to name a few.
We feel we are reading this By-Law correctly and that this is a check and balance right to all the concerned owners of our Village. We feel owner’s ratification rights have been ignored far too long.
How do you read Article VII ? Read more on this article...

November 19 Directors Meeting
Owner’s request to speak that pertained to the agenda.
Bob Hall Lot #170 asked for a special owners meeting so owners can have their say about making this park go back to way it was years ago.. Director Burke gave her orientation of the by-laws pertaining to special meetings of members. Our President said it would be addressed after board meeting business.
Selba Campbell voiced a thank you to everyone for voting.
GM report
After the fines and building code revenues, the fire hydrant was addressed again. Our GM said there was a change order done to raise the fire hydrant to the proper height and this added to the cost. He was bringing it up to the Board since Director Dodson voided the check to pay for the work when was presented to her to sign. Director Dodson said she voided the check because our GM said this work that was to correct the installation would be done at no cost to our Park what-so-ever.
Director McBride said he has found no record that the board approved this. He said he had called around and was given a figure of $4000 to install a brand new hydrant. Our Gm said that the board reviewed the bids, approved it, and then insisted to get this job done immediately.
Director Hansen asked Director Mulch to provide them with where in the minutes was this approved. Director Burke said she remembered it coming up before the board. Director Young said he thought it was brought up last January, but didn’t remember voting on it. Director Mulch said it was done before you, referring to the new directors. Director Burke said it may not be in the minutes. Director Hansen said if there is a contract made for $6000 that was approved by the board; it would be in the minutes. Our President said he remembered this subject coming up also but didn’t recall voting on it. He requested Director Mulch to provide these minutes.
Our GM said the problem with the indoor pool and hot tubs was that his pool employee had over reacted when he saw dirt in the pool and shocked it. He let people in right afterward and that was the reason why these problems occurred. Our GM said he would take the blame for this employee who tried to do what was right and correct this problem. He said equipment failure was not the cause.
The rental dept, bathhouse repair, exercise room repair, and restaurant were discussed.
Approval of the minutes
Director Burke immediately expressed that the August 28th minutes were tabled so the President could review the tape of the meeting. Director Burke said since you haven’t reviewed them, she wants the board should approve the minutes as is. This went on for 30 minutes about this tape with Directors Burke and Mulch wanting the minutes approved without further review. I believe it was determined that the tape is to be reviewed so the minutes would reflect what actually happened. I say that because it was hard to understand what was being said with all the interruptions from the audience when the new directors or the president said something. There was very little respect shown by certain people.
The 10/22/08 minutes were approved after a few corrections asked for by Director Dodson. Director Dodson was told that a certain correction was uncalled for by Director Mulch’s wife who was at that time in charge of writing the minutes.
Treasurers Report
Director Steffensen went through the usual fund balances, expenditures, profit and losses. Director Steffensen also broke down the five revenue centers like they use to do four years ago. A review of what the balances were in LIV’s different accounts. Director Hansen asked if we could look into higher interest bearing accounts. Our hurricane insurance claim amount brought up certain questions about what was included.
The Audit Committee
This committee was doing the revenue centers now and there were recommendations for the Pro shop from Director Steffensen. It was to raise green fees, beverages, replace valves for the sprinklers and use a different herbicide for weeds. The board approved the audit committee’s recommendations.
There was a breakdown on the numerous activities from Thanksgiving through the New Year.
Golf Report
President Sullivan gave the update the different projects they were finishing up and on concrete golf cart paths. Our GM provided us with an education on the reasons why and when they cut the grass on the greens and tees boxes.
Time Warner
Director Dodson said it's still on schedule to be done by Jan.1. She will try to have bundle pricing advailable shortly.
There was an subject under other that was brought up about the golf course. The misuse of having golf carts too close to the greens was the subject. The golf committee came up with measures to enforce this misuse and our president asked the board to approve those measures. Director Burke questioned as to when this committee met and if people were informed of such a meeting? The Board approved the measures.
Unfinished business
Director Burke made a motion that Feb. 15th 2009 be the deadline that at least a permit is to be obtained by owners to show that their damaged home from Hurricane Dolly is starting to be fixed. Motion was approved.
Director Mulch made the motion that all the sidewalks be approved. Our President brought up an easement issue about the sidewalk to the guardhouse. Director Burke and our GM said this was not an issue. The total cost for these sidewalks will be $18428. It was asked to separate the sidewalk to the guardhouse from the others and Director Mulch said no, I want them all. Director Hansen questioned if we even owned the property. Director Burke, Mulch, and the GM said LIV did. Director McBride asked again if we could look at this sidewalk separate. Our GM started raising his voice with Director McBride talking the reasons for all the sidewalks, then yell, what’s your point? Director McBride said he was questioning the need for it. Burke argued on the side of the GM. Then the crowd started commenting and Director Burke catered to that by saying let's ask the audience. President Sullivan abruptly stopped this. Our GM then gave everyone a nice story about a sidewalk where he lives up north. I had to say that there are at least ten times more people walking the Letter Lots than on this road, and what about the people’s right to ratify this. Director Burke said here’s my take on that. How many people actually got to vote on the cart paths for the golf course? She said it would need 75% of the people to ratify. She said this is the same thing. The Board approved it.
Outdoor pool bids showed that Valley Plastering of Pools was the lowest. It was left tabled with checking the references and why they were way lower.
The fire hydrant was on the agenda, but our GM decided to address it while he had the floor. He was asked if it was ever tested and that seemed to upset our GM saying the fire marshal won’t test it because it was out of his jurisdiction. He went on and on until Director McBride said never mind.
The question was asked by Director Hansen about when are we going to do the GM’s updated evaluation. It was said to be at Year’s end. He said it was near that time and requested an executive session towards it.
The President said there will be an executive meeting for the discussion of the Secretarial position on the Board on Saturday, Dec. 6th at noon. Bob Hall spoke up and asked if we could have the meeting he asked for on that day. It was at that point Director Burke who steered this meeting to be prior to the executive meeting so, in her words, if they feel it is necessary thereafter. She said it may affect the people more than the board. Director McBride said he thought Director Hansen’s request for this executive meeting for the manager’s evaluation was not an arbitrary one. Director Burke said that the evaluation had been forestalled and saw no need to have an executive session for it. She then added it should be done in front of the membership so they can give their feelings on the management and on the board. It was asked from the audience, what about the current court agreement? Director Burke said she wasn’t any party to that court agreement at any time, I didn’t sign it, I wasn’t sued, I wasn’t part of the action, and I am not bound by it. She then made an innuendo about the board having mini meetings to circumvent these open meetings. Then this same small crowd got boisterous again as it had the entire meeting with one man complaining of the childish bickering. Our President approved to have an open meeting of the membership from 9am to 11 am and is to be followed by this executive session.
Director Dodson expressed her feelings about the small crowd calling her names and showing such disrespect to all the members of this Board and said she always has the park interests first.
New Business
Tom Cain, our Bridge Board Chairman, was asked by our President to talk to the audience. He spoke about the increase in our insurance cost because of the two lawsuits. He feels the cost to operate the bridge will go from $369K to 507K. In easy terms it, it will cost each member at least $10 more a month.
There was a short recess
Bids
Director Burke wrote up the bid proposal she wanted. It said that $7500 and above will require the manager give out specifications in writing and require a minimum of three sealed bids within 20 days. It wanted to be tabled for review because of the waiver of 3 bids wording.It read you can waiver the three bids because of sole source, prior contract, extension of contract, or lack of bids, which allows a broad interpretation for reasons in not pursuing bids vigorously to give our Village a chance for the best pricing. This motion to table failed. Director Hansen pointed out other flaws in the wording and said that we should take our time on this. These flaws were corrected and the Board approved it.
LIV new website quote was $3630. The person creating this bid and site may appear at the December’s workshop. More bids are to come. The new computer price was $16,000 for Dell and are working on a gateway quote.
Privacy and security
A policy about the information on our owners is being discussed said Director Dodson. Questions were asked and not really answered as to who in the office has access to owner info. Our GM was asked what about the hacker who ruined LIV's email. He said the server is going to look into it. He said he had words with the FBI twice about this and they told him they won’t pursue this unless it was a terrorist act. There was no new info about our new security.
Computer and copy usage
This is being brought up when an owner noticed the unsigned non company approved letter she received, which had been sent to all the owners criticizing our attorney and this new board, was apparently done on Village stationary and having LIV owner address labels. This owner wondered why and how this could happen and gave recommendations on how to stop it. Director McBride explained these recommendations and said this could stop any potential problems of misuse in the future. Director Burke started in on what are the reasons for this in the first place and where was there a problem. She wanted proof that there was misuse before thinking of doing something to prevent it. Director Mulch said the labels for this letter in question were bought from the office. Director Hansen asked how you were able to buy these owner address labels from our Park.
Our GM said he has our Newsletter mailing list available for $25 to anyone who wants it. Director Burke changed the subject back to the proof of misuse of the copy machine and argued that this policy is not required.
Director McBride asked that our manager isolate the problem with the smell near the manhole cover at Lot #870 and #820. GM said he was waiting for the owner to call him when the smell happens. It was left at that.
Other
The projection TV is broken for the exercise group in the Rec. Hall. The Board approved to replace it for under $1000. Read more on this article...

NOVEMBER 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...

There was a correction made in the Status Quo article. Don Hall was corrected to Bob Hall. Thankyou. Read more on this article...

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...