The location
of November’s executive board meeting was changed from the master association
to the clubhouse but most residents were unaware of this because there was no
email blast to notify us in advance. As a result, attendance was very low and
familiar faces were missing. I guess email blasts are reserved for important
announcements, like farewell parties and such.
The meeting
started off with an important announcement. Our new president informed us that
if conversation between residents were to take place during the meeting it should
take place outside of the room. She then called the meeting to order. From
there she announced there was a quorum and asked if there were remarks from the
floor.
Why is this
sequence so important you wonder? In past meetings, comments from the floor always
came first so they weren’t included in the minutes. As a result, residents’
ideas, concerns, frustrations and complaints never appear on the record. But
tonight, they were included in the meeting itself.
A newly
elected board member expressed her gratitude for the change and that’s when
things heated up. Both the president and former president put their hands up in
a stop motion and said almost in unison “now wait a minute” as our president explained
that she had no intention of including comments in the minutes due to legal
reasons. Discussion went back and forth until the new board member retreated.
And then
came the second wave. While trying to approve the last two months of minutes,
the newly elected board member asked that the minutes be changed to reflect
that Roberts Rules of Order had not been followed during a special session
meeting. Once again, the president and another board member erupted. The discussion
got so heated that at one point the board member shouted, “What’s your point?”
to the requester.
She
continued to press as to why the minutes couldn’t be updated to include a
statement reflecting Roberts Rules of Order had not been followed. Boldly, she
asked the new GM to take off his manager hat, put on his legal one and tell
them the correct way to state that the rules weren’t followed. He had no
response. It was finally decided that a blanket statement would be made to
correct the minutes.
There was a
report from the clubhouse committee regarding the restaurant survey. Results
were published in the December “In the Woods” Some 320 residents responded and
most comments were favorable. There was some dismay about the stairs, service,
décor, and hours but overall, this committee saw the results as a favorable.
Interestingly, no one mentioned the fact that 800 residents chose not to
respond at all.
The survey
showed the age range of those using the restaurant to be 56 years and older.
The committee reasoned that this finding was an indicator of younger residents
not having discretionary funds to spend at the clubhouse.
But here is
the overlooked reality. The younger crowd doesn’t want to sit at a bar
drinking, watching golf and rehashing the glory days. We would much rather be
at the Olive Bar rooting for our favorite basketball, baseball, or football
teams, drinking with our peers and discussing the latest technology and
advancing careers.
We also
spend our discretionary funds on season tickets at local colleges, area comedy
clubs, and on massages, manicures and pedicures. We like gourmet coffee and
will pay $5.50 a cup several times a day without giving it a thought. We
occasionally drop $125.00 per ticket on a good concert. In case you’re not
familiar with the latest statistics, most young Farmington Woods residents are
young professionals with decent incomes.
It was
revealed at the meeting that. we are on track to lose $120K as budgeted on the
golf operation. The golf committee initially voted a dues increase and then
suddenly, rescinded that vote. There will be no increase in golf dues because current
members indicated that any increase would cause them to find other places to
play. And we all know, we cannot afford to lose more members. I am a little
surprised by their lack of loyalty to Farmington Woods Golf Course though.
On the brighter
side, there are plans in place to bring in new members that include corporate
memberships (The Hartford?) one day a week during the golf season. They did
stress the need to bring in younger golfers to Farmington Woods and are
actively wining and dining some private school golf teachers. I hope it all
works.
There was
also discussion on the siding of units, a project that is coming to an end.
Apparently 20 years ago Farmington Woods made the commitment to rehab all units
and little by little it is being done. The project was anticipated to take 20
years and now 20 years later we find that we need more time. The timeframe will
be extended but it was revealed that when the program started there were a
dozen or so carpenters. As of today we have four due to budget cuts. (The
scheduled $120K loss to the golf course could pay the salaries of several
carpenters and be a boost to our infrastructure at the same time.)
This report
began by criticizing the board’s lack of communication skills: the location of
the meeting was changed but residents were not informed by the email blast
system. So it was nice to hear our new president announce several times during
the meeting that all residents can log onto the Farmington Woods website membership
tab and receive updates including draft meeting minutes.
This is a
first at Farmington Woods and we applaud her decision to do this. If you are
having trouble logging into the membership page which does require a password,
the MA office can help. If you would like hands on help board members are offering
to come to your home to assist.
The meeting
closed with awards and gifts given to Farmington Woods volunteers. A nice
gesture and certainly we are all glad to have them and appreciate their work.
The next
meeting is scheduled Jan 7, 2013 due to holidays.
