MY LAST GOOD DEED*

"The gods had condemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, whence the stone would fall back of its own weight. They had thought with some reason that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor."        "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus.

NEVER BEEN ONE FOR POLITICAL GAMES

Like the average American I don’t get involved much with politics, but I try hard to stay abreast of what our leaders in Washington are doing, even if there’s not much I can do to change their behavior.  And I have zero control of how they spend the thousands in taxes I give them every year. So I cast my vote and hope for the best.

On the other hand, like many Farmington Woods residents I spent the first thirteen years of my time here paying little or no attention to what was going on politically with our little community and never really got involved with the process.

But when the District Board presented us with what they called a $4M “investment opportunity" in January of 2012 my curiosity got the best of me and I attended the Public Hearing to find out what they had in store for us. My wife had attended one of the informational meetings and told me I'd be shocked  to hear the comments from the residents  in attendance. 

Prior to going I did voluminous research, talked to a lot of people in the golf business and came away convinced that what was proposed was not in the best interests of the majority of Farmington Woods residents. On the night of the meeting I stepped up to the lectern and voiced my disapproval as did many, many other residents, some more passionate and informed than me. It was so far from the norm it felt almost surreal to me. 

Later in the meeting the Chair of the committee, Dirk Aube, took a question from a resident who was concerned that she did not have enough information to vote on the issue and as a result was going to have to vote "no" on the bonds. In his answer to her he addressed the entire audience, telling us that he was impressed by their participation in the democratic process. He also made it very clear that “they” had enough votes to win.

That self-assured attitude rubbed me the wrong way and after the meeting my wife and I approached Irene Loretto, then President of both boards. We asked her how the board intended to disseminate the information we had just been given: that if both bonds passed it would mean an 18% increase in District Taxes.

Her response had the same self-assured tone. She told us that they had held two informational hearings and now this Public Hearing on the matter and that they had done all they needed to do to get the information out. Besides, she said "If residents were interested they could have attended the meeting." End of story.

Since it didn’t seem like enough of an effort to either of us, my wife asked her if it would be OK for us to get the information out. Her response was “Go right ahead”, as if she knew this sisyphean task could not be accomplished by two individual residents. How would you get the information out to 1,084 unit owners, let alone convince them to vote down a budget at Farmington Woods, something that had probably never happened before.

We took her challenge and started on a mission which included the creation of Residents for Fiscal Responsibility, an eight member committee that paid for the mailing of flyers to each unit owner not once but twice. These people, very concerned owners at Farmington Woods, saw no benefit to either proposal. My wife convinced me to create this blog as a way to inform and educate residents and I spent the next two months doing what I had never done before: I got involved with politics.

MY LAST GOOD DEED

I spent countless hours writing articles for just about every print media that gets delivered to Farmington Woods. I wrote articles for Avon Patch and several for CtWatchdog.com that got picked up by many Connecticut newspapers and sent letters to every local television station asking for their help. In the end Fox61 News was the only one  to respond but they showed up twice at Farmington Woods, including the added Public Hearing and got the word out so that this community could make an informed decision. 

The results of all this hard work were gratifying. With a record turnout of over 1,000 votes cast, the bonds were overwhelmingly rejected. This was not like most district votes where 70 to 90 "yes" votes can pass a District budget. This was a message from the great majority of residents. The people had spoken.

The next week I attended the annual budget vote at the Clubhouse and since they contained virtually no increase at all, both the District and Association budgets passed with ease. There were actually 33 "no" votes to 77 "yes" votes, but I learned later that compared to earlier years the no’s had increased dramatically.

Earlier this month on May 14^th my wife and I attended this years budget vote, again held at the clubhouse. As I looked around the room I saw some familiar faces, but missing were a number of faces that I would have expected to see. For all the struggles they went through leading up to the actual budget vote I saw only two Mom’s and missing were some of the people who had worked hard to defeat the budget last year. In the end both budgets passed with ease.

After the bond victory and the increased turnout last year I was surprised to see both budgets pass so easily: the District budget 98-32 and the Association budget 179-46. I found myself, as they say on the internet, SMH, (shaking my head) and asking how this could happen. How could a budget with almost no increase garner more "no" votes than one that had nearly a five percent increase? And where were all the potential "no" voters?

Then I recalled what I had seen during the voting process: individuals voting against their own interests, many afraid to raise their “no” vote for fear of being singled out by the glaring group in the front three rows, heads twisted to see who the traitors were. They were of course those 32 brave souls who stood by their convictions and voted "no", which took courage considering the transparent manner in which the vote was held.

As a result, even though the bonds were voted down last year, the plan continues to replace the irrigation system, renovate the clubhouse and add the clubhouse elevators that got voted down in last year’s historic vote. The restaurant still needs it’s fix from residents in the form of a monthly assessment and the golf club itself is still losing in excess of  a hundred grand again for the fifth year in a row but you’d never no it by the voting results of that evening.

LET IT BE WHAT'S IT'S GOING TO BE

I left the meeting a little disgusted by the lack of progress in the past year. It seemed that the momentum built up last year had hit a wall and ground to a sudden halt. I felt like we failed.

But then I thought of all we accomplished in the last year: voting down $4M of indebtedness for a sport in decline worldwide and following that cleaning house both at the board and management levels.  We actually did a lot more than we set out to do.

Put in terms of real world politics, we won the battle but lost the war. And in real world politics there are essentially two kinds of people (with some crossover in the middle): those who want change and those who resist it and will continue to resist it until their dying breath.

The problem is those who resist change know exactly how they want things to be: just as they are now (or were in some golden era that exists only in their minds). The people who want change? Their interests are usually so varied that it’s like herding cats. It’s a nearly impossible task. Almost, Sisyphean.

In the end politics is a lot like sports. The people who want it more usually win. In this case the group that voted yes to the budget got what they wanted. Good for them. At least they showed up.

As for me, I’m no Sisyphus. I can only take the rock rolling back on me so long before I decide to step aside and watch what happens when I let it go. After all, Sisyphus was serving a sentence from the Gods. I'm not.

I’ll  be here, but for now I’m back to following politics and not participating. Besides, I've got my own boulder to push.

*Title and subheadings inspired by Adam Carter, better known as A-Plus, from his CD "My Last Good Deed".

APRIL BOARD MEETING: LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE MOMS!

I have been a season ticket holder since 1999 at CCSU for both basketball and football. I love sports and have played many of them. The MA Board Meeting this past Monday was like watching a good game and there certainly were upsets. In the end it looked a little like both sports; the Mom’s Group had a last minute touchdown, and slam dunk if you'll pardon the mixed metaphors.

There was only one comment at the beginning of the meeting and that had to do with water aerobics. Apparently the program is changing days, times and routines. A live instructor as will be taking over the activity as opposed to the old tape recorder. It sounded like a cost may be involved which is why there was a comment about it. Ultimately the discussion was taken off line and there was no mention in the minutes of it. So for those who enjoy water aerobics, I encourage you to contact Jim Samia, Chair of the Pool Committee to get answers.

The pools will be opened for Memorial Day weekend with the exception of the Mallard pool which probably will not open until June 15^th at the latest. Seems it needs quite a bit of work and no one is sure how long it will take to complete. They would like it to take only two weeks but have allocated three weeks just in case.

The Greenwich pool now has solar panels on the roof of the bath house. I found this to be most interesting and fascinating because it was mentioned at a prior meeting. In fact, Farmington Woods received a grant award from the Clean Energy Finance & Investment

Authority. We were all told this was the first grant ever given to a condo association but unfortunately it was less than the amount needed, and the project will not be going forward. I didn’t think the project was for solar panels on the pool bath house which would heat the water in the pool, but it sounds like that’s what happened. The pool would have been my last choice for solar panels; the clubhouse or MA seems more deserving.

The meeting opened with discord about the minutes. One board member refused to accept the minutes because her corrections were not reflected. When she pressed our president, Sarah Harrigan for answers, sighting Roberts Rules of Order she got the same answer we all get, “We’ll have to check with our attorneys”. Why are we spending money on questions to attorneys that seem like they could be solved within the group? Clearly, there is a rub here.

Our general manager,Bob Elwood, said the clubhouse is making some improvements in sales and changes in the menu. It sounded positive. Seems residents really like the flatbread pizza. There has also been some networking with the outside community in an effort to bring in private parties and functions. But access to the club house continues to be an issue. Sarah really wants the two elevators, but for now the wheelchair lift will have to suffice. They are looking to replace the present one and would like a “more elegant” one in its place. It was also noted that Bob is really trying hard to make a go of a troubled community. He can be seen working around the community, painting and apparently as one employee put it, “he’s here all the time”. He should be, he works and rents a condo here. But Bob, you are doing a good job and we are happy to see you and your family about the Woods.

The budget was once again a large discussion item. It seems employee’s raises for employees is an issue. At the town hall meeting last month our GM made a statement something like this, “The employee’s did not receive a raise last year and are budgeted this year for a 3% increase.”  The Board members took offense to this statement saying it wasn’t true. The employees did receive bonuses which were distributed at the discretion of our previous GM. He in turn, as it was told at the meeting, gave each department head a sum of money that would be used for bonuses after the employee received their evaluation. So it wasn’t a wage increase, but a bonus from a pool of money which was somewhere in the neighborhood of $11K total. Some employees received a good bonus and some didn’t receive anything, but again, it was based on their performance review. It sounded as though the board was going to do the same thing this year as opposed to the 3% across the board raise as indicated by Bob at the town hall meeting. By giving bonuses as opposed to pay raises the cost to Farmington Woods is lower due to increased contributions to employees 401K that raises bring. I’m not sure if our employees know that.

Golf was a slim discussion topic at this meeting other than to say, golf membership is up to 196 not including the junior golfers. This is still a far cry from the 300 members necessary to break even, but they continue to work hard trying to recruit new members both individual and corporate. The new platinum program is flourishing and everyone seems pleased with the results. Good job Margaret Darby! Does this mean we are nearing the day when the golf department is self-sustaining? One can only hope.

The meeting closed and there were comments from the moms, who with their children waited patiently to speak about their Trick or Treat proposal. They wanted to know from the board why the Covenants Committee rejected their request.  Jamie Lee, Chair of the Covenants Committee, indicated that they were not turned down but told to come back to the committee with a new proposal that addressed one, child safety, two, residents living in 4-plexes with a common entrance way and three, ways to have trick or treat in a confined area of the community. The first objection, child safety was a joke. Parents are always concerned about their child’s safety and I’m sure Farmington Wood’s parents are no different. The second objection, resident’s living in a 4-plex was one covenant committee member’s pet peeve. Yes, you read correctly, pet issue. He doesn’t want the kids disturbing his dog although his dog disturbs all of his neighbors with incessant barking all hours of the day. The third objection leads me to tell the following story again and the resident who suggested it was in the room to clear matters up.

It was suggested that Trick or Treat be held out of a car trunk; after all, other communities are doing this. This goes against everything mother’s teaches their children about safety and accepting candy from a person in a car. Heck, I was told that as a kid. Anyway, the Moms called area towns only to find out that this was not advocated by town officials and was actually discouraged. The suggesting resident explained schools in West Hartford are doing this and kids were told that this was the exception to the “candy from a stranger” rule. The parents in the room, rightfully so, saw this as giving mixed messages to their children who have the same rights as all other residents.  

And that’s when the football crossed the goal line for touchdown or a slam dunk if you prefer the basketball metaphor. One very brave mother got up and scolded our president Sarah Harrigan for being rude and condescending to both her and her children who, before the meeting were sitting in chairs usually reserved for adults and committee members.

Prior to the start of the meeting Sarah approached the mother asking why kids were taking up chair space. The mother promptly replied, “They can sit on the floor or in our laps.” The mom called Sarah on her bad behavior and suggested this was an example of the children being seen and not heard attitude in Farmington Woods almost to the point of discrimination. But Sarah couldn’t and wouldn’t simply apologize for the off-handed remark.

No folks, she had to make matters worse by saying that she has a dog she dresses up for Halloween, as if a dog was comparable to a child! We certainly have a long way to go in attitude adjustment when it comes to acceptance of children in our community. By the way, the kids were well behaved at the meeting. They busied themselves with play dough and crafted all sorts of things with it. We have some creative and talented children in our community. How about we lighten up on the kid bashing?

Oh, and one more thing: Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. You're doing a great job!