Success finally

Started by NancyM2 • 11 replies • 1389 views

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NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Dear HOATalk friends.

You possibly remember my many posts/questions about an Ombudsman and "in house Attorney" that was bleeding our HOA. It has taken me several years with several elections to finally get success.

Last May we had a hard fought election, with yard signs, volunteers and many letters sent out to HO's both pro and con... The opposing side campaigned very negatively (which hurt them) The Ombudsman went door to door collecting over 80 proxy's to try to save his job....(cumulative election) we won by seven votes cast out of 2,000 votes altogether.

Today we have successfully lowered our dues from a once $171.10/mo to $110.00/mo... We did NOT re-new the Ombudsman's contract, plus we hired another law firm.. We had to change grounds keepers, as well as Mgmt companies, both were depending on the Ombudsman to do their work for them. Both our Mgmt Co, and grounds keepers are costing us less, and doing a better job. The present board consists of professional volunteers that are "hands on" working very hard, and our community looks, and is run soooo much better

I was told the other day I was considered a "pain in the butt" ~~ right now, a very happy pain in the butt. Thanks for all the counsel, and help HOATalk gave me

NancyM2

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

Congratulations Nancy.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

GlenL (Ohio)
Posts: 5,491

Posted:

BTW I would set as one of the new Boards goals to eliminate cumulative voting from the Covenants.

Studies show that 5 out of 4 people have problems with fractions

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,047

Posted:

Nancy,

I also offer my congratulations.

It goes to show that it might take some time (I think the first time you posted about the problems starting to happen was in 2006), but if members care about their community and work at it, changes can happen.

Tim

JeanneK3 (Maryland)
Posts: 562

Posted:

Nancy:
Bravo to you. You're an inspiration to us all. Jeanne

NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Thanks HOATalk ~~ I remember some of your names as being their when I needed you , Thanks :-) Besides being called a ' pain in the butt' several HO's have offered to pay my way to Washington DC..

More good news Glen.... We are in the process of up-dating our C&R's and bylaws, which haven't been updated for about 30+ years now.. We are eliminating cumulative voting, as well as proxy's to be used for quorum purposes only. We are fully funded in our reserves. And have a very large slush fund to work with. Our grounds are looking much better, and our new mgmt co is wonderful and much closer (and cheaper) We have several new committees, with new volunteers working hard.

I think they under estimated my resolve...

NancyM2

NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Tim,
"Yes" it has been that long, YIPES does time fly by.. sometimes I would have to take a step backwards, then wait until I could take two steps forward.

NancyM2

CarolR11 (Colorado)
Posts: 2,563

Posted:

Hi Nancy, I wan't reading this site when you discussed the issues in your HOA, but I'm very happy for your success. Your entire membership already is benefiting. You really do prove that persistence has its rewards despite the discouragement that occurs along the way.

You are, indeed an inspiration to others who want to improve their communities!

Btw, when you can do away with proxies entirely when you revise your documents. We've added a sheet to our election materials for those who do not want to vote for particular matters or candidates that simply has a check box preceded by something like "For purposes of quorum only."

DJ1 (Ontario)
Posts: 798

Posted:

Lots of congratulations here so maybe I am missing how how getting rid of an Ombudsman is a good thing! An impartial person who hears boths sides and makes a binding ruling is usually part of a healthy democracy. Was your Ombudsman something different?

NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

Dear DJ1
This person was a homeowner/volunteer ~ (Friend of the Board)... He had been a sprinkler salesman that had lost his job.... The board felt sorry for him and created a position, and called it Ombudsman.... He then took a 6 week course (on mediation) and started drawing a salary of 85+K annually from our HOA... Since their was not much to do in the mediation field, he then took over a lot of the duties the Mgmt company should have been doing (they loved him) as well as interfacing with our grounds keepers... The board then changed his title to "BAC" (Board Assistant Coordinator) still making $12,500/mo Since he was a homeowner/vendor it was a little difficult to be neutral, so on several occasions we had to hire a Ombudsman service.

Our new Management company not only does all the things he did (plus more) they provide Ombudsman services at no extra cost to our association.

The new grounds keepers meet with two of the board members and several volunteers twice a month. All of us go out in the field at these sessions to see first hand what needs to be done, and create a paper trail to keep better records. They claim it will take several years to bring us up to acceptable to their standards (we are already looking better) and so far they are a lot cheaper.

NancyM2

NancyM2 (California)
Posts: 249

Posted:

CORRECTION

The BAC/Ombudsman was making $7,500/ mo The attorney was making the $ 12,500/ mo ~~ Sorry, my mistake

The mgmt company was making less per month than the BAC/Ombudsman was.

NancyM2

DJ1 (Ontario)
Posts: 798

Posted:

Ah, so he wasn't really an ombudsman, just called an ombudsman. Good riddance

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