Now I have a Parks Committee, ho ho ho

I went to my first board meeting. It was pretty much as I expected -- every significant decision was deferred to the management company representative, nobody knows how to perform a RFP (request for proposals), and nobody seems to mind that there is no Treasurer.

I kept quiet most of the time -- I figure it'd be polite to mostly just sit on one meeting before I start bullying the existing board members around for serious.

I also noticed there was only the board and the management company present -- in other words, no committee people. Apparently, a) the committee people were invited and b) they were supposed to give a status on their individual projects (the committees do all the budgeting for the park, maintenance, publicity, etc.), and c) never actually have ever given a report beyond the initial budget requests, and d) never actually invited.

So, yes, pretty much as disorganized as expected.

I did vote to lower assessments from $43.28 or some equally impossible to remember figure to a flat $40/quarter. My proposal was based on the 20% or so delinquency rate on homeowner assessment payments -- maybe if it was a flat $40, people could remember it better -- but sadly, I was voted down 2 to 1.

Oh, it also was revealed that while we have a budget for a Parks committee, no one is actually on that committee (this kicked off a ten minute confusifest about what happens to budgeted monies that aren't spent).

So, as my first official act, I installed my wife in the position of Park Committee Chair, in a cunning-not-really move to expand my power base.

In other news, I've asked the other two boardsters over to my house to discuss my rather hateful distrust of the management company, and see what we can do about the massive leakage of money in their direction. Sadly, though, the President of the Board is so busy with her life that she can't carve out an hour until the end of the month.

-Vice-Chancellor HOAEater