AT FARMINGTON WOODS, WHEN GOLF RULES, WALKERS DROOL: A TRIBUTE TO PAUL SCHORNO

“Always walk on the sidewalk; if there is no sidewalk, walk facing traffic.” from Safety Tips for Pedestrians at www.walkinginfo.org



Author's Note: I wrote this post as someone who has logged 5-6K miles over the last 14 years walking at Farmington Woods. It's intent was to show the glaring difference in priorities when it comes to residential vs golf course infrastructure and what happens when the business (golf) of Farmington Woods takes precedence over residential needs.

So, to the anonymous person who left an unsigned letter in my mailbox calling for me to "retract" certain statements in the post, I have two things to say: One, you yourself, just broke a federal law by using the Postal Service box for private distribution. 

And two, when you get the courage to put your identify out there on a blog of your own, you can then decide what the thesis of your posts will be, what statements they contain and how they are titled. You have clearly missed the point of my post and are blind to its ironic intent. 

History is my favorite subject and I know the history of Farmington Woods very well.


ANYWAY

When we moved to Farmington Woods in 1999 there was one stretch of sidewalk that ran from the top of Heritage to the upper clubhouse driveway. At the time, the Woods still considered itself a golf community and the attitude was “if you want to walk, join the golf club”.

No, seriously, that was the response you would get when you asked board members or administration about the chance of getting some sidewalks built, you know, for the safety of walkers. So if you walked, you did so at your own peril. And walk we did, as did many others.

Somewhere at the turn of the 21^st century the mindset began to change. I wasn’t part of the push, just an avid walker, however slowly but surely sidewalks started popping up year after year. One year, Paul Schorno, our general manager actually consulted me as to where the next stretch of sidewalk should go.

In no particular order we got sidewalks built on Heritage from the clubhouse to the crosswalk near the guardhouse, on upper Byron to the Byron Pool, on Mallard in various stages and finally on lower Byron. We celebrated the completion of each one. 

There was some controversy concerning the Mallard stretch. For years golf carts had to travel out onto the street to go from hole 3 to hole 4. When the sidewalk was built, someone decided to make it a dual use proposition: as a sidewalk for walkers and a cart path for golfers.

While walkers were ecstatic to have a new and safer way of traversing Mallard, the dual use aspect soon became a problem. Carts got parked on the sidewalk, forcing walkers onto the road, inpatient cart drivers would follow on the heels of walkers to get them to move faster. Finally signs were erected requiring carts to yield to walkers and a cart parking area was constructed at the end of the path.

All of these improvements were done during the tenure of Paul Schorno. Many things accomplished during his time here benefited the golf community, but he seemed to understand that in order to keep the community as a whole happy, things like sidewalks and yield signs went a long way. After all, there were then, and are now, more walkers at Farmington Woods than golfers and he seemed to understand the dynamics of that.

Unfortunately Paul left in 2009 just at about the time that golf worldwide and especially at Farmington Woods was beginning its decline. With the exception of golf, budgets tightened and as a result a moratorium was placed on funding for sidewalks. With the exception of two short pathways to the front and rear entrance for children exiting school buses, no resident fees have been appropriated for new construction since.

Back in the early 70’s when Farmington Woods started out, it was a much smaller place with a lot fewer residents than today, so there were fewer cars to contend with. Unfortunately Farmington Woods has grown considerably since then and the number of cars on America’s roads now totals around 250M, more than twice the roughly 120M on the road in 1970.

The demographics have also changed since then. There are certainly more children than when we moved in, certainly more walkers and as we all know fewer golfers. And yet every year since the last significant sidewalk was built here, the residents have been asked to subsidize the golf operation to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

Believe me, the folks that plan the future of our community can accomplish things when they set their minds to it:

That’s the new cart path on the 9^th fairway. Another project accomplished with resident fees is found between the 1^st green and the 2^nd tee:

There are folks at Farmington Woods who would rather I “sing a different tune”. Why do I constantly target the golf operation/clubhouse for criticism? Rather than go into some rant about the “zero sum” game that our budget process is, let me just once again repeat that every dollar borrowed from resident infrastructure funds for golf improvements is one dollar less spent on improving things for average residents.

As a result we get a painted "invisible shield" to protect walkers on lower Heritage:

And at the busiest intersection in Farmington Woods walkers are forced to do this:

With traffic coming at them from three different directions these walkers are forced to break the cardinal rule of walking with their back to the traffic and their next steps will take them to the second most traveled street in Farmington Woods, Mallard:

And while walkers are constantly reminded of the dangers of walking on the course, no one seems to even mind that hundreds of people take their life in their hands by trying to navigate the busiest area of the Woods protected only by an invisible shield and the kindness and (hopefully) sobriety of drivers.

No it’s not the 70’s anymore. Our condominium has twice as many units, there are twice  the number of cars and from my experience folks are just too busy to stop for signs like this:

How about a pedestrian-controlled walk light instead? And a real sidewalk instead of the invisible shield we have now that forces you to walk with your back to the traffic coming down the hill behind you?

As I said earlier, the demographic of the Woods has changed considerably since its beginnings. There are a lot more walkers. There are more school kids left at the front gate. I see some of these kids walking up a street with no sidewalk where I’ve had people almost hit me to avoid an oncoming car. I’ve seen mothers pushing baby carriages through this hazard. I've seen folks walking adorable dogs too. How is this acceptable?

It just doesn’t make sense. In their efforts to market Farmington Woods as an upscale condominium with a golf course and full service clubhouse, our leaders have put a lot of ordinary residents at risk by not properly finishing the walkway from its end on Heritage and through the hazards of the front entrance on up Mallard to Great Meadow.

As demographics have changed over the years and more families with children as well as young adults who enjoy running and walking as an activity move here, I think they have missed the mark. Why don't we have a fitness course that says we value resident's health?

With fewer golfers and more walkers why not market Farmington Woods as the safest walking community in the area? For that matter why aren’t our leaders speaking with the town of Farmington about constructing a sidewalk into Unionville?

We could then market ourselves as “within safe walking distance” to the center of Unionville AND the safest community for walkers in the area.

The reason this doesn’t happen and won’t until new leaders are elected is as I stated at the beginning:  “At Farmington Woods, when golf rules, walkers drool…”  

The $50K our leaders spent on a plan to spend another $4M on the course and clubhouse (that was soundly rejected last May) could have been used to design an alternative walking path for the 21^st century and to redesign the front entrance to give Farmington Woods the look and feel of a condominium community that takes the health and safety of its residents seriously.But that would require compromise and vision.

I don’t know where Paul ended up, but I can say we could use another general manager just like him, that is, with the sense to know when you take from people you have to give at least a little back to keep them safe, healthy and happy.

FEBRUARY BOARD MEETINGS: NO SEQUESTER AT FARMINGTON WOODS

The U.S Government may be having trouble balancing its budget, but it appears from the following report that the Boards of Farmington Woods see no urgent need for austerity, at least not when it comes to our golf operation. There always seems to be an endless supply of Fifty-thousand dollar bills laying around for "strategic planning", cart paths and golf infrastructure. 

I realize some of our leaders believe the Long Range Strategic Plan is still in place, despite its being soundly defeated by 2-1 margin last May, but there are other needs like providing safe sidewalks for walkers, a playscape for children or upgrading our ageing pool areas, that never seem to make the Public Works priority list. 

Maybe we'll be surprised when the actual budget comes out. Maybe some of the increased revenue will be used for things that benefit all residents for a change, not just one special interest. If not, it may find itself sequestered.

MA Board Mtg.    2/25/2013

Golf had projected it would run about $125,000 for the coming budget. Newer figures indicate that it could run an additional $50,000 shortfall.  Total shortfall would be about $175,000.  They will review proposed expenses to see where they might save money over the coming four months. How about scaling back on the number of holes we are trying to complete this year or raising revenues from the people who actually use the course?

Golf lost only 28 members this winter. Golf Committee members were pleased that the number lost was fewer than last year.  There was no discussion of what percentage of membership this number represents, and no mention of what level of memberships were lost.

There was a vote to accept Gary Zahorodni as a new member of the Community Awareness Committee. Passed unanimously.

There was a vote on whether to renew the contract with FW’s current CPA.  The vote was 4 in favor and 4 against. President Sara Harrigan used her authority as President to break the tie, and the CPA’s contract will be renewed. It is nice to see the Board members expressing varying points of view. 

Report on Storm Nemo by Lou Parrott.   Difficulties in clearing snow were hampered by the extra hours spent responding to requests by individuals who said they were medical personnel or first responders and needed to be dug out right away.  It seems that some of these requests were coming from people making false claims.   FWMA will continue responding to emergency requests but will also ask all medical and emergency personnel, as well as people with special health needs to register with the MA so that we can plan for future storms.  There was mention of asking for proof of employment.  Does this mean we are going to ask doctors for a letter from another doctor? Are we going to require that people with special health needs get medical excuses?

Pool Committee is developing a process for residents to apply to hold pool parties. Want to charge $100 per party. Chair of the Pool Committee explained that they would want to have a lifeguard on duty. Estimated cost of lifeguard is $9 per hour and expected time of coverage is 6-7 hours (determined by having the lifeguard arrive an hour before party to help with set up and to get his/her equipment ready and then stay longer for lingering guests, plus for an hour of clean-up). The Pool Committee hopes to be able to put aside a little of the $100 fee to create an income for its purposes.  Here's an idea: maybe they can borrow a few bucks from the golf operation to spruce things up!

James Caldwell presented summary of safety issues associated with outdoor cooking.  How to handle the matter is difficult because Connecticut did not adopt the guidelines put forward by the National Fire Prevention Association, and even the Farmington and Avon Fire Marshals have different ideas.  Charcoal grills seem to present the biggest problem, and propane is less of a problem.  A number of years ago there was a fire on a balcony, but there has not been a problem in recent years.  The Board is sending the issue back to the Covenants Committee for more consideration.

Margaret Darby is working with the Board to help the members work together more efficiently.  The Board has established  4  committees to concentrate on different aspects of their concerns:

                        Requirements to become a Board member

                        Governance and Operations

                        Finance

                        Farmington Woods District Policies and Board reporting.

Hopefully the requirements to become a Board member will not be so limiting that only past experience as a Committee or Board member in Farmington Woods will allow a new volunteer to serve on the Board.  If that does become an absolute requirement, then it should not take effect for several years.  Otherwise it will take forever to get new thinking in the Board.

The Finance Committee is working to produce a budget proposal for the Board. When Finance originally reviewed the proposed expenses before it, the figures indicated that our MA and Tax District Fees would need to be increased between 7 and 11%.  The Finance Committee is working to reduce the budget and the size of the increases to residents ---- perhaps 4 -7 %.

Very brief budget discussion at the end of meeting.  Katherine Rogers proposes that the budget be developed on price-based costing. She explained this to mean that the budget would start at zero, with items being added to it according to the recognized needs rather than simply accepting something because it was in the budget last year. It would also include using competitive bidding whenever possible.

FW Tax District Board Meeting 2/25/2013

The Minutes of the November 4 meeting were approved.

The Net Capital Income of 2012-2013 year’s budget fell short by $40,000 due to unbudgeted golf expenses. Chairman of the Finance Committee, Brian Petrovits explained that the 2012-2013 Budget had been passed without the $40,000 included. Did the Board know the $40,000 would be coming when they passed the budget last year?

$33,000 which had been awarded in 2012 for a solar project, appears in the 2013-2014 as a line item. 

The Board discussed whether to approve a contract, which included a pay increase of about 3%, for Farmington Woods part-time CPA.  Board member Peter Janus questioned the proposed contract because of the fact that the CPA had given the Board a letter listing several aspects of work which she does not accept responsibility for, including inaccuracies and assessing management’s financial decisions/actions, and the fact that there was no attempt to go out for competitive bidding on this contracted position. Peter Janus asked if the Board should open the position to additional applicants who might be willing to undertake more responsibilities. Other Board members did not want to do so, saying the CPA’s charge for the part-time work was acceptable and her familiarity with Farmington Woods was valuable. The contract was approved, with Peter Janus as the one dissenting vote.

There was discussion of the “jobs” of each of our Farmington Woods Committees.  President Sara Harrigan said that the Charters for each committee describe the job of that committee.

Margaret Darby suggested that if the Board “raises the bar for qualification to be a Board member, it may get better qualified applicants.”  She will assist the group which is working on board member qualifications, with their work.  Margaret Darby is also interpreting the By-Laws.  She said she believes the Board can work with the By-Laws we have rather than go to the expense of filing new ones.

The Finance Committee will meet on Monday, March 4, 2013.  Brian Petrovits reports that the Tax District budget will be challenging.

            

1 YEAR: 17,000 PAGEVIEWS

We're getting close to the anniversary of our first blog post on March 7, 2012. (We actually created the blog in February of last year.) The fact that we've had 17,000 pageviews since then leads me to believe that we're reaching quite a few residents at Farmington Woods with our little blog. 

As long as you keep reading, we'll keep writing.

STORM RESPONSE: NEGLIGENCE OR MISPLACED PRIORITIES?

We all know this storm was a bad one. It caused us all some inconvenience and for many, a healthy dose of anxiety. But this woman's experience, shared with others in her four-plex, is downright scary and inexcusable. 

This is what happens when Farmington Woods uses funds that should be available for the safety and security of residents to shore up two losing operations at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. It's really a sad, scary tale.

Farmington Woods Snow Storm of February 8-9, 2013

I am very grateful to our grounds crews and road crews for working long, hard hours with insufficient equipment and too small a staff. I am grateful to staff members who took calls from residents and worked hard to keep residents informed and to coordinate snow removal.  I am grateful for their efforts to free doctors, nurses, first responders, and residents who had important medical appointments.

Let’s thank them as soon as we can and, then, start to honestly look at the risks we faced during the February 8-9 snowstorm.  Although this was record-breaking storm, we were warned of it several days in advance. While weather reports forecast 30 or more inches of snow and hurricane force winds, which they warned would cause serious problems with drifting snow, governors and mayors all around New England put their emergency plans into action.

We should have been prepared. We should not have had at least 2 snow blowers broken and one truck out of commission. Rather than plowing a parking area around an empty Club House, we should have been clearing the walkways to the homes of people.  Instead of subsidizing the golf course, and continuing to make plans to re-design/re-decorate the Club House, we should be fixing equipment when it breaks down and purchasing or leasing whatever is needed to keep residents safe.

I live in a 4-plex, and those of us who were at home on the night of the storm were literally trapped inside our building.  The two doors to the building were blocked by more than 30 inches of snow and could not be opened more than two inches. Had there been a fire, or had one of us suffered a medical emergency, we could not have gotten out of the building, and any emergency response crew would probably have taken 30 - 60 minutes to get into our building. Those are precious minutes in the event of a stroke, a heart attack, a fall which breaks a major bone.

In my courtyard there are two 4-plexes, and two buildings with 2 side by side units in each.  Not all units are occupied at this time, but I know that 4 of the 11 occupied units are home to people who are physically compromised and who might require considerable assistance in an evacuation.  In any case, our homes were firetraps --- deathtraps.

On the second night of our confinement, using a Loctite penetrating oil and some tools, I was able to detach the screen window on the building’s front door, move the Plexiglas windows, and stick my hand through the door to scoop away enough snow that I could push the door about 7 inches and squeeze through.  Once outside, I was able to shovel off our front doorstep, so that in case of an emergency, we could escape the building, or open the door to a rescue crew.  On the third day of being so confined, my neighbor dug a 60 foot path away from the building and another path to a neighbor’s home, while I dug the path to a second neighbor’s home.  On the third night, working well into the dark of night, our road crew came to dig out our garages.  We can return to work now.  Hopefully the rest of our community will be freed soon.

Now it is time to ask, “What can we learn from this experience?  Do we prefer subsidizing an expensive irrigation system, cart paths, and other golf course improvements to keeping ourselves and our neighbors safe?  Do we prefer a fancy Clubhouse entrance or even an elevator, or would we rather feel we have provided for the safety of everyone? What are the prudent decisions we need to make to protect our community?”

Lucinda Hannon           

73 Mallard Drive

THE REAL DISASTER? THE RESPONSE TO IT!

Seems like the storms keep getting bigger and the disastrous ones more common.The last disaster to devastate Farmington Woods was Alfred, the Halloween Storm of 2011. It was an experience so dreadful that I hope to never repeat it again. We were without power for 10 days, those that stayed the course were tired and irritable, especially when they learned that the clubhouse had a generator but wasn't available for residents. In years past, the clubhouse has been a "refuge from the storm" for residents without power but not so much anymore.

By noon today, myself and the many residents I spoke to had the sinking feeling that no plows were coming to free us from the grip of Storm Nemo. So a group of neighbors, mostly women, started shoveling the driveway and clearing two feet of snow from in front of garages so that we could get our cars out. Five women and one man shoveled out a total of 6 garages and the driveway. And, as happened during the Alfred disaster, one neighbor took issue with our communal efforts; this time, however, we kept our heads down and continued working. We hoped this would send a strong message. By 2 :00 pm  we were all out of our garages and offering assistance to others who needed it. 

At 3:00 pm I decided to walk the neighborhood to see what other residents were doing and what they had to say about the storm. Everyone I encountered was "pissed", as one man said, with the plowing, or lack of it. Some talked about times in the past when the plow woke us at 4:00 am scraping a mere dusting off the driveway between our units. At one point a resident confirmed our previous fears of being stranded when she told me she received an email blast stating we would not be plowed out until Tuesday. She was concerned because she had to work on Monday. I later received an email blast that said the clubhouse would be closed and that “all snow removal efforts were on resident units.” 

My walk ended at the Clubhouse and I was flabbergasted to see that all the parking lots had been cleared, for a restaurant that was closed until Tuesday at 6:00pm, while residents were digging themselves out in order to get to work on Monday.

The clubhouse was closed and not scheduled to open until Tuesday but when I spoke with the plow driver he told me that he was told to clear the clubhouse parking lots. So he did. All of them, lower and upper. Then I saw three trucks on Heritage with their plows up. There was only room for one car at a time and yet clearing snow from the closed Clubhouse parking lot took precedence over widening the road. I saw two plows parked on Mallard with no driver in sight, but garages and driveways blocked by deep snow. I saw snow blowers running but no operators.  Below is a a picture of the units on Heritage two driveway’s down from the clubhouse taken on the same walk.

 The contrast is striking, isn't it?

Farmington Woods needs to be accountable to unit owners, especially during disasters. Not every resident is retired; some of us are professionals who have to work nights and weekends. We don’t have 9-5 , Monday through Friday jobs. Plowing should have taken place all through the night of the storm. If there are power outages, the clubhouse should be made available to residents without electricity. When will the board wake up to the real needs of residents?

BTW: Matthew’s is OPEN!

JANUARY BOARD MEETING: HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM 1998!

Cicero wrote: “To remain ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain always a child.”

If you missed the January 7^th Executive Board meeting you missed the repeat of a scenario that caused an uproar at the November meeting due to its sequence: comments from the floor were taken after our president, Sara Harrigan called the meeting to order.

Because she called the meeting to order and then took comments, those comments should technically appear in the minutes because they were presented inside the convened meeting. Normally, comments are not included in the minutes, which is why it’s so important to go to the meetings:you actually get to hear the concerns of residents.

And the comments came. The Farmington Woods Young Mothers’ Group representative spoke first. She asked the board to consider a playscape for children, a very good idea which many of us have wanted for years. Another brave soul made a request to ask questions at the end of the meeting, which I guess is a no, no. She was told the board would “think about it”.

Another gentleman was very concerned about speeding in Farmington Woods, especially on Heritage. He wants radar during peak times: early morning and late night commutes. He wants the security patrol officer to hide to catch as many speeders as possible. He believes paying a steep fine for a first offense will boost our bottom line. Not sure if that would happen. It would probably cost more in salaries between Murphy Security and Farmington Woods office staff to catch and process the speeders. But I do agree people should slow down. A lot of people walk here. And if you've ever walked in the "imaginary" walkway on lower Heritage you know what I mean.

Last, but always troubling was the subject of garbage. One district rep commented on garbage on street corners, in driveways and on top of the garbage bins. He complained that residents in his area are tired of seeing it for days on end. He was told to call the MA and someone would pick it up but he wasn’t happy with this solution. It certainly is a common and unsightly problem in Farmington Woods.

We heard the usual social reports: Connect, Community Awareness and Communications. Most reports were like other month’s except the announcement that Farmington Woods proposes to enter the 21^st century by developing a Face Book page even though the board thinks they reach most residents with the monthly “In the Woods”. The sad fact is that they are delivered to our doors, but most residents, at least in my neighborhood, take them directly from the mailbox and deposit them in their recycling container. I watch my neighbors do this every month.

The Farmington Woods website, with its registered users and over 700 email addresses was brought up but it seems to be used more for golf/clubhouse marketing purposes than to deliver important information to residents like the change of location of last month's executive board meeting.

According to the board we also use the Valley Press, Avon Patch, Farmington Life and the Valley Press to get our message out regarding golf and I assume, the joy of residential life here. There was one in Avon Life's October edition. (See  blogpost "He Said, She Said Journalism" October 7, 2012 .)

There was no mention of this blog but our stats show an average of 1500 monthly visits from residents and non-residents alike. In the last ten months we have received scores of unsolicited emails from prospective buyers asking very specific questions. We try to answer them as honestly and positively as possible. We are not here to bash Farmington Woods as a community. We like living here and when people ask, we tell them so.

The most disturbing event at the meeting was the budget discussion. It started by the board declaring that “we need to pick a number from 1 to 100 but we need a start somewhere.” At first, I didn’t understand what "picking a number" had to do with the budget. It soon became very clear when Finance Chairman, Brian Petrovitis  stated, “I don’t really need a number, just a place to start. Last year we worked hard on the budget and in the last hour had to scramble to adjust it for the vote.”

Now, I understood. The discussion involved picking a number to decide the percentage raise residents would incur for the next fiscal year, in both district taxes and condo fees. As a professional who manages budgets in my job, I was shocked to hear we pick a number and then work towards it!

One board member suggested a 3% starting point! What was wrong with starting at a 0% growth budget and reengineering Farmington Woods working processes? Why not look at what we spend and decide if we can spend smarter? What projects are needs versus luxury wants?  There are other approaches available before we just “pick” a number as a starting point.

For the umpteenth time a board member brought up the “fact” that we have never had an assessment here at Farmington Woods. This is categorically untrue. Read your documents (or read “Reassessing Assessments below.) We’ve had an ongoing monthly assessment called a restaurant minimum since 1998! It started out at $20/month for ten months and went to $25/month for twelve months a few years later. It’s now $30/month and if some board members have their way it will be increased in the new budget.

So yes, you, me and every resident of Farmington Woods has a monthly assessment, one that will only go up and that allows the clubhouse the luxury of $562K in staff salaries in this budget year alone. (I wonder if four star restaurants like Matthews, Apricot's or Cuginos pay that much in staff salaries. It would be interesting to know.)

In our fourteen years here the minimum assessment alone has cost us over $5000! I think if I were representing Farmington Woods as a board member I would be careful about spreading false and misleading information to prospective buyers. There may be legal ramifications for distorting the truth. 

We just received a survey with our monthly statements. I encourage everyone reading to complete it. Farmington Woods is trying to get a handle on the population, needs and wants of the community. There was much discussion about what we get for our money: pools, clubhouse, golf, tennis, sidewalks (or lack thereof) to name a few. One board member said “We should ask what residents don’t want.”

I’m not sure what residents don’t want, but I can tell you that based on the Focus Groups held roughly two years ago in 2011, what they do want. Of all the concerns and suggestions coming out of those groups one thing stood out quite clearly: the overwhelming majority of Farmington Woods residents want the golf/clubhouse operation to be a self-sustaining enterprise. We need to work towards that.

The meeting closed without any report on golf or clubhouse activities. That produced major groaning and grumbling from the crowd as they exited the meeting. I happened to overhear a comment regarding the playscape. One resident wanted to know who would be watching the kids (my guess would be their mothers) and what would happen if a kid got hurt. I guess we would just follow the same protocol we do for any other accidents here at Farmington Woods, (resident sidewalk or clubhouse falls, slips at the pool): liability insurance. Every resident pays for it.

A closing note: Thanks to the many friends and neighbors who showered us with Christmas cookies and email Holiday cards. As for the cookies, we enjoyed every one we ate and cursed the scale the next morning. Worth every bite though.

NOVEMBER BOARD MEETING: NOT A(N EMAIL) BLAST

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.