Questions and issues for our AGM

As you may know, our HOA annual general meeting is this coming week.  This would be a good time to confront some serious issues that really do call for answers from our two most senior Board members.  I speak, of course, of Mr. Flink and Mr. Feldman.

Indeed, it was Mr. Flink, who, at our Meet The Candidates evening in April, posed the question to the panel: "Can we trust you?".  It was my belief then, and is now, that Mr. Flink would rather have asked us when we had stopped beating our wives, or, in Mrs. Bulkin's case, her husband.  However I suspect he knew that that would not pass muster with our affable moderator for the evening, Mr. Russell.  In light of what I have found out, it would seem to be a fair question for Mr. Flink and Mr. Feldman, though, turn about being fair play.

Excessive speed on Queen's Wreath.

This issue is the one that has been the subject of most debate on our community forum.  There are two groups of people involved on this issue, and they actually address different things.  There are those who live at the top of the hill who are glad to see the back of the speed bumps.  There are also those who live on or near Queen's Wreath who are concerned about the sometimes wildly excessive speed of vehicles on that street.  The general consensus is that  speeds have increased since the speed bumps were removed, although to the best of my knowledge and belief there has been no objective check.  The Board refuses to answer my questions on this issue.

With all due respect to the first group, this is not an issue about speed bumps, it is an issue about safety.  I personally do not care how speed is to be controlled -- but it does need to be controlled.  Residents of our HOA may reasonably demand that their directors look out for their safety in our community.

With that in mind, I researched the issue in our Board minutes.  In the minutes of August 20th, 2009, an engineer engaged by the Board attended the Board meeting.  This is an extract from that meeting:

OK, well at least we now know what the priorities were. I don't think this is originally what was said, as the bit about individual drivers was added in the approval of these minutes the following month.  We will never know now, but, as I say, at least we know how the Board's priorities were ordered.

Fast forward now to the Board meeting of  February 18th, 2010, when the issue was voted on:

Speed Humps – Bill Fuchs made a motion the remove the four most easterly speed humps and then stripe bike lanes and start a communication program with speed limits and verbal reminders as well as quarterly mailings as additional reminders.  George Jurrow seconded the motion.  There was further discussion about this motion.  Joe indicated that he would like to see a stronger form of education for the homeowners in regards to the safety for the kids.  George Jurrow mentioned that it is a parental responsibility and not the HOA’s.  It was discussed that communication through a newsletter was a good form of communication without coming across as though they were lecturing parents how to drive.  George explained that bad behavior happens on other streets as well and that there is a human nature aspect that needs to be considered.  George also explained that the motion on the table was strongly suggested in the engineering report that had been received.  George said that it repeats in the report that speed humps are strongly discouraged due to emergency response vehicles.  He said that the there was strong support in the engineering technical report to remove the speed humps.  David George disagreed with George Jurrow.  He did not recall it saying in the report to remove speed humps.  David’s recollection was to add bike lanes along with speed tables.  David mentioned that speed bumps will not hold back emergency response vehicles from getting to a scene.  After the discussion, the motion was passed with four votes in favor and one against.   

Having read the report to which Mr. George refers, I conclude he was the only Board member who actually read it it, or at least remembered it.  Two of the four parties voting for that motion were removed from the Board in January this year.  That leaves Messrs. Flink and Feldman.  Now let's look at the report of the engineer commissioned the Board, Gutierrez Civil Solutions, LLC.  Copies of the full report may be obtained from our community manager or I will send you a copy if you e-mail me.

This extract is from page eight:

OK, if we take out the speed bumps speeds will increase.  Later the engineer discusses how effective "education" is:

And here are the engineer's recommendations:

So, our Board had been told in no uncertain terms that to remove the speed bumps without replacing them with another traffic calming measure will result in increased speeds on Queen's Wreath.  By the way, bike lanes are discussed in the report but not as a traffic calming device.

So, to summarize: Mr. Flink and Mr. Feldman, knew, or should have known, that removing the speed bumps would lead to higher speeds on Queen's Wreath, but they went ahead anyway, AND, have proposed nothing to remedy the situation since AND are defensive when confronted by homeowners at Board meetings.  That's a problem.

And, in addition to decreasing road safety in our community they have also probably exposed us to liability as if anyone is injured on Queens Wreath and litigates the issue, this engineer's report is bound to come up in discovery.

January Board Minutes

Another question that remains unanswered is who is responsible for the shameful and scurrilous additions to the January Board minutes.  The issue is covered in detail in the two preceding blog posts, so I won't rehash them again.  Mr. Flink was the Board President at the time, but that does not mean he was the author of the additions.  Given the mean-spirited nature of the writing I have my own suspicions, but who knows?   Someone needs to man up here, stick his hand in the air and tell us why he felt the need to adjust the minutes as he did.  Someone apparently had enough courage to write the edits, but that courage appears to have disappeared now it is time to claim pride of ownership.

Meet The Candidates

At the April meet the candidates evening, in posing me a question  referring to the banking of cash in the  May 2006 financial statements of Cimarron Hills HOA , Mr. Feldman concluded his presentation by asserting that "the bank failed eight months later".  Which would have been January 2007 by my estimation.

It was clearly Mr. Feldman's intent that his statement suggest that the choice of bank was unwise by alleging that it failed shortly thereafter.

According to the FDIC, the bank in question was merged into Mutual of Omaha Bank at the FDIC's direction on July 25th, 2008, some twenty-six months after the date of the financial statements offered, well after I had left the Board, when Mr. Feldman was Treasurer,and when many other national banks were also turning to the government for assistance.  For the record, no-one lost any of their deposits in that merger, or even access to their funds.

Now, I may choose to attach various adjectives to Mr. Feldman, and he to me, I am sure, however careless and stupid are not among them. So, I have to conclude that Mr. Feldman knew or should have known that his statement was untrue and likely to mislead.  I have twice asked Mr. Feldman to substantiate his assertion.  He has failed to do so.

It's a sad thing to say about your HOA treasurer, but based on this experience I will forever have to question if I am hearing the truth from Mr. Feldman or if he has again chosen to mold the truth to meet his needs.

On to the AGM.....