MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

The title for this post comes from the Who song “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. I’m old enough to remember it being played on the radio back in the early seventies and have seen it play out more than once in our national political circus. However, after reading the latest submission by our trusty Farmington Woods Insider roving reporter I can see that it even applies to politics in communities as small as Farmington Woods.

The people speak: think May’s referendum on the bond issue. New leaders are elected. Change is the expectation. But in the end the status quo is maintained because leftovers

from the previous administration somehow manage to hold onto power through backroom deals and shenanigans. This month’s Executive Committee report is living proof that sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same.

But I’ll let our roving reporter give you all the sordid details. Her report is living proof of another of life’s most profound axioms:  that the only constant in life is Change. Unfortunately, that change can be for the good or the bad depending on your point of view.

Anyway, hats off to the new board members who fought the good fight for change, but lost because, well, life’s just not always fair I guess. Hang in there guys.  

MEET THE NEW BOSS, SAME AS THE OLD BOSS

I heard through the Farmington Woods “grapevine” that there would be a major coup at the Sept 27, 2012 board of director’s meeting which explains why it was standing room only when I arrived. (If the fire Marshall had seen the room, he would have cleared it in a heartbeat). And true to the rumors, there was a coup but not the coup that was expected.

At the beginning of the meeting the newly elected members were introduced. After that came the vote for new officers. Yes, dear readers, Irene Loretto is no longer president (she's now secretary) but in some ways, she still is. Sara Harrigan was elected president through a tie breaking vote cast by, you guessed it, none other than our outgoing president.

What did I just write you ask? Well, here’s where the coup comes in. When one of the newly elected board members nominated someone other than Sara Harrigan for president, Irene looked shocked, almost indignant: How dare she do such a thing; she hadn’t even been sitting in the seat 10 minutes!

Anyway, four board members voted for the new member’s nominee and the other four voted for Sara. The tie breaking vote was cast by the sitting president. And of course, she voted for Sara who quickly took the president’s seat and read her prepared speech. Not only did she have a prepared speech but later inadvertently admitted to calling our outside financial consultant to discuss “our rating and understand our financials” before the voting process even took place.

It seems that the plan behind the coup was to make Sara president so that we can continue to run Farmington Woods further into the ditch we currently find ourselves in. During the bond fiasco, Sara spoke out in favor of the $4M bond, the golf irrigation system and the need for the elevator and clubhouse renovations. I suspect with her at the gavel, we will be revisiting these issues again.

The shining stars, however, were the new board members. They asked when they would be receiving Robert’s Rules of Order, the state mandated rules governing all condo meetings. Irene looked shocked and puzzled by the question and then an older gentleman from the crowd yelled three times, “they’re on the web.” Irene looked at the staff for confirmation but none came, so she finally managed to squeak out “are the rules on the Farmington Woods website?”, completely misinterpreting the older gentlemen’s statement. It was apparent he was talking about the internet and not the website. He just was not up to date on his terminology and Irene was not up to date on the CT Condo laws requiring associations to use Robert’s Rules of Order.  

But back to the requests of the new board members, not only did they ask for Robert’s Rules of Order, they asked for the financial data for the golf course and restaurant. In fact, there was much discussion on the missing golf reports and current membership status. I sense we have a bean counter or two on the new board which will make future meetings interesting. Can’t wait!

The golf task force was also discussed as was the subject of why non-golfing residents are not actively being sought out to participate. The golf “Pow Wow “ that took place a couple months ago was also discussed.  A new board member had heard that non-golfing residents who attended the meeting weren’t allowed to speak. She wanted to be sure every resident’s voice, golfer or non-golfer, was heard. Hear, Hear!  

We were told there are two good candidates for the General Manager position. I hope they have a college degree and the required certification. The job description has been rewritten so I’m assuming that education and certification was included this time around. Moreover, I think the job description should be available to all residents online.

At the end of the meeting Sara requested that all board members send her emails so that she could add their email address to her contacts. She said this will make it easier for her to maintain contact with them. One older board member told her she didn’t use email and wasn’t sure she could do it. Sara insisted she find a way to use it and send her an email. I thought that was cruel on Sarah’s part.

The next meeting is at the clubhouse. Elections will be held for the Farmington Woods Tax District. It ought to be fun. See you there!