11 April 2011
Dear Forest Glen Home Owner,
This year we have the responsibility of voting for or against each of two amendments and for selecting three members of the Board of Directors who will serve 2-year terms starting in May.
Here’s how to proceed:
1. Review the amendments and their rationales.
2. Review the candidates’ résumés, which are provided in alphabetical order. (All candidates have e-mail accounts.)
3. Vote for your choices by marking your ballot as follows:
o For each amendment, circle FOR or AGAINST.
o For board members, circle the names of up to THREE candidates. If you vote for more than three, none of your votes will be counted.
4. Fold the completed ballot and place it in the small envelope labeled BALLOT.
5. Place the small BALLOT envelope into the larger mailing envelope, and seal.
6. Sign the upper left corner of the mailing envelope. If you do not sign the envelope, or if you remove the return address label, your vote will not be counted. (Note: Your identity cannot be associated with your vote because the ballot envelope will be removed from the mailing envelope and isolated from it before the votes are counted.)
7. Mail your ballot so that it is received by Tuesday, May 1.
The 3 candidates with the highest number of votes will be elected; a quorum is 69.
Thank you for participating in the governance of the Forest Glen Homeowners Association.
The Nominating Committee
Taryn Apgood, John Barnum, Miriam Bloom (chair),
Sue Ann Simon, and Bernadette Velick
Amendment Increasing Owners’ Power
to Demand a Special Meeting
WHEN AN ISSUE IS OF CONCERN to condominium owners, the Utah Code allows 10% of them to address their concern by demanding a special meeting or by voting on it via a written ballot. Forest Glen’s Bylaw 2.3, however, stipulates that 33.3% of owners are required to achieve the same goal.
That’s a mighty big hurdle to overcome.
While Forest Glen’s bylaw makes it extraordinarily difficult for us to have our voices heard in the governance of our homeowners association, we can change the situation by passing this amendment.
The amendment gives Forest Glen owners the rights the Utah Code allows them. Moreover, it states that it is the Board’s responsibility to carry out the demands of the owners and specifies what happens if the Board does not act appropriately—all in accordance with the Utah Code.
Thus, to increase the power of owners by making it easier for us to have our voices heard, vote FOR the following amendment (91 FOR votes are required for passage; a quorum is 69):
Amendment for a Smoke-Free Forest Glen
EXPOSURE TO SECOND-HAND SMOKE is the third leading cause of preventable disease in the United States and is associated with approximately 50,000 deaths each year. According to the 2006 Surgeon General’s Report, there is no risk-free level of exposure.
Smoke-free housing has been permitted in Utah since 1997, when the legislature enacted amendments that established smoking as a nuisance and gave apartments and condominiums the authority to prohibit smoking in units and common areas and on the premises.
Condominium and apartment complexes that ban smoking are now the norm. All 426 condominium units recently built by City Creek Living are smoke-free, as are all of Wasatch Property’s 453 new apartments and all 16 multi-unit apartments and condominiums owned by Cowboy Properties. Because we are one of the last communities in the valley that allows smoking, we continue to attract smokers. Units that are smoke-free, however, are not only healthier, they are also more marketable.
Smoking is not a protected activity so we are not required to “grandfather in” any units that are currently occupied by smokers. As long as sufficient notice is given as to when Forest Glen will go smoke-free, all owners will have to abide by the new policy.
To help us protect our residents, families, and friends from the negative impact of exposure to second-hand smoke, ensure a good quality of life, and safeguard the value of our property, vote FOR the following amendment to the Declaration of CCRs (91 FOR votes are required for passage; a quorum is 69):
Dale Young Cromar
I don’t think I need much of an introduction since I have been serving on the Forest Glen Board for 4 years, but here is a brief summary of who I am and why I am running again.
My primary interest is in the legal underpinnings of condominium governance. I have been interested in the subject for more than a decade. That is why I served for a few years on the Legislative Action Committee of the Community Associations Institute—an organization that I believe all Board members should belong to so that they can stay informed and better serve the Homeowners Association.
I have studied our Declaration of Covenants, Conditions, and Restrictions and our bylaws for 7 years now, searching for ways to make them better, and the reason I am running for another term is that there is still work that needs to be done on them. Here’s what I’m after:
I want to see an accelerated amendment process for improving the Declaration and the Bylaws
I want to change a stated policy to a binding rule that requires the Board to get 3 bids for all contracts and projects over $5,000 and 2 bids for all contracts and projects between $2,500 and $5,000. This policy is ignored too often.
I want to establish a culture of due diligence. Renewal of the 2-year Earthwork contract that bound us to a $300,000 expense with no competitive bidding was a flagrant example of a lack of due diligence.
I want to see continued progress toward greater consideration of the owners by the Board.
I want to strengthen the powers given to the owners by the State relative to the powers given to the Board by the State.
I want the Board to engage in long-term planning instead of indulging short-term whims or doing things a certain way simply because they have always been done that way.
.
If you are after the same things, please vote for me.
Rebekah Hepworth
I believe it is my responsibility to keep tabs on, or participate in, governing bodies that affect me or my financial well-being, so when I read in the Nominating Committee hand-out that future board meetings would be held at a time that’s compatible with work schedules, it pleased me, and I decided to become a candidate.
The work I do is with the law firm of Jones Waldo, where I have been employed since 1996. I am an administrative assistant there to the head of the Corporate Securities Department, to the head of the Business Department, and to a corporate shareholder. I have been working in the legal field for thirty years now, and I believe that my experience, and the insights I have gained, will be of value to the Forest Glen Board, should the owners decide to elect me.
Since 2007, I have been the administrator of the Utah Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors, a nonprofit membership organization for corporate board members. In that position, I have gained in-depth knowledge about the responsibilities of board members and their risks and obligations, and I have learned about board management. One of my important responsibilities, and one that I especially like, is to gather educational material for chapter members. Since condominium boards, like all other boards, need to stay informed in order to serve the people who elected them as well as possible, I believe that that experience will be of particular value.
Gloria Mumford
Gloria Mumford has been a resident since 1996. She very much enjoys the complex and is impressed with the dedication of so many residents who work together to maintain the beautiful surroundings. Gloria will be happy to contribute anything she can to continue the high level of watchfulness to keep our homes safe and beautiful. Gloria is the mother of 7 children, 27 grandchildren, and 42 great-grandchildren.
Patrick A. Shea
My wife Deborah and I moved to Forest Glen from a private home a little over a year ago, and we appreciate how much condominium life has freed up time for us to live a fuller life. We are both busy people—she is a nurse at Huntsman Cancer Institute and I am a practicing attorney with various outside interests.
One of those interests includes land and water. In the late ‘90s, I served as the Director of the Bureau of Land Management and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior for Lands and Minerals. That put me in charge of 265 million acres, an experience that might help me contribute to the management of our 10. I have also been an adjunct professor of agronomy at Kansas State University, where I specialized in grasses. More recently, I have served on the Salt Lake City Public Utilities Advisory Board, and right now I serve on our own Water Conservation Committee.
Education is another interest. My own education began in Salt Lake City. I went on to earn my undergraduate degree at Stanford, my master’s degree at Oxford, and my law degree at Harvard. With the exception of the travails at the last institution, I benefitted from extraordinary professors and fellow students. Here I have been a fellowship and grant advisor at Westminster College and an adjunct professor at BYU Law School. I am currently an associate research professor of biology at the University of Utah.
Then there’s government. I ran for Governor of Utah in 1992 and for the US Senate in 1994. I hope to have better luck running for the Forest Glen Board of Directors in 2012.
Linda Smithers
When I decided to move back to Sugarhouse in 2010, I selected Forest Glen because it met most of my requirements and, with some up-dating, I was able to create a pleasant living space that suits me very well.
In the year that I’ve lived here I have made an attempt to attend meetings of the Board to witness how it operates. I am now seeking a Board position myself because I have an interest in securing my investment, main-taining the beauty of our complex, and growing our reserves; I would also like to stay advised as to how we can connect with the larger community around us.
Formerly a businesswoman, I conceptualized and started my own firm in Sugarhouse in 1998. It was successful for the 7 years I operated it (I then sold it to one of my best customers), and I attribute its success to my keeping up with trends, budgeting wisely, sticking to budget, maintaining significant cash reserves, and respecting and working well with others.
Before I started my single-owner business, I was a partner in an extremely successful party rental shop in Las Vegas, where for 8 years I served as a consultant to many major hotels, assisting in the creation and assembly of event décor. My business experience also includes many years of working in outside sales for several major corporations. Again, respecting and working well with others was of key importance.
With the benefit of experience in the business world—and our Home Owners Association is a business—I believe I could be an asset to the Board in many ways. I fully understand that every board member has a fiduciary responsibility to the owners and that the good of the whole is more important than any single opinion. I believe we must make changes as needed to maintain and improve our financial solvency. I am not afraid of responsibility or change, nor am I reluctant to explore ways to make even better the good thing we already have (and I feel fortunate to have it).