PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Wow, what a winter season we have had. To say the least it has been eventful. It was a tumultuous season that I hope is never repeated. On the plus side, we have a nice additional activity room, the maintenance crew has a nice spacious area in which to work and the putting green is complete. I hope some of you are using and enjoying these new areas.
The board is working very hard to find a way to work as a team. We have had quite a change over this season on the board. Each person brings something unique to the board and coordinating all of these talents together to work as a team is offering an interesting challenge.
Once again I want to thank each of you who have stood behind me and daily offered me overwhelmingly positive support. Without you I would not be able to keep going. Each day I pray for peace and unity. HVR has so much potential for all of us and we each need to find our place for happiness.
It is hard to believe it is time for the northern migration to start. I wish each of you a wonderful summer and look forward to your return in the fall. I know you, as well as I, look forward to seeing family members. Even though we stay in touch with family by email, phone and mail, it is not the same as seeing them face to face. I am especially anxious to head north because I have a new grandson to meet for the first time.
As we prepare to leave the valley, we need to remember to secure our property for the summer. Be sure you have someone to look after your lot for weeds, watering of plants and keeping your place secure.
I hope when we return in the fall we will all be ready for a new beginning. As you know, my most important concern about the park is the lack of respect for each other. There is a place for each and every one of us here at HVR. There is no need to fight each other. I believe in abiding by the bylaws and covenants and it is my responsibility to do everything I can to keep the association financially sound. I am committed to keeping our maintenance dues as low as possible.
I especially want to thank all the volunteers for the wonderful work they are doing in the park. The fall
season will definitely need your continued help. By
volunteering for fundraisers, we can add to our operating budget resulting in reasonable dues.
So once again I wish you a wonderful summer and pray everyone finds peace and contentment to return in the fall to achieve a wonderful season.
Mary Jenkins, President
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
9:00 a.m., Saturday, March 8, 2008
HVRPOA Clubhouse
PROPOSED AGENDA
Pledge of Allegiance
Welcome and Introduction of First Timers
Quorum Status
Call to Order
Approval of February Meeting Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
President’s Report/Announcements
Unfinished Business
New Business
Adjournment
BOARD MEETINGS
The Board decided to hold Board Meetings bi-monthly. The first meeting of the month will be the Wednesday prior to the monthly park meeting and the second meeting will be two weeks later.
You are welcome to attend Board Meetings but there is a procedure we would like to ask you to remember. Please turn off your cell phones, do not talk among yourselves during the meeting and most importantly remember you are only an observer and are not allowed to address the board or offer an opinion.
PROCEDURE FOR AGENDA ITEMS
Anyone wishing to have matters brought before a Board of Directors’ meeting present the request in writing at least five (5) days prior to the meeting. You will need to have nine copies of your presentation attached. Please give all nine copies to the gals behind the office counter.
If you wish to have matters brought before the General Membership meeting, present the request in writing at least ten (10) days prior to the meeting. You will also need to have a copy of your proposal attached.
REMINDER: Please have researched the project and include a summary of what work is involved, an itemized bid from more than one vendor, and the timeline for the project.
FUNCTIONS
Please remember items purchased for functions are the property of HVRPOA. If you have items left over after your function, please return them for a refund. If it is not possible to return, please offer the items for sale to recover the cost. Also, please do not remove food from the pantry or refrigerators and donate it to charity without prior approval from the Board. Please remember any food or drink staples in the pantry or any food items in the freezers or refrigerators were purchased by the association funds. Any use of these food items to create meals for serving to the residents requires a fee from the membership. The funds raised by such meals are the property of the association and are required to be given to the Treasurer for deposit.
NEW ACTIVITY ROOM
We have a little bit of a problem with noise we are still looking at options to make it better. Please remember the room is for the use of all the members of the association. Please be courteous and share.
NEED YOUR HELP
If you notice any maintenance items that need to be addressed, please tell the ladies behind the counter at the office and they will relay the information to the person(s) responsible for maintenance. If you don’t report it we have no way of knowing what needs to be done.
RESPECT FOR OUR NEIGHBORS
This is just a reminder to all members of the park. We need to show respect to our neighbors and not cross their property. The cul-de-sac streets have a walkway to the rec hall, use them but remember these are for walking only or walking while pushing your bicycle. If you live on Bogey, Broken Tee, etc where there are no cut-through sidewalks, use the street. Also remember if you have a pet you must clean up after them. Keep your pet in the street and not on other people’s property. I know some of you think the first eleven feet is right-way and you have the right to use it. But remember it is still part of the owner’s lot and they maintain it. Again PLEASE walk only on sidewalks or streets not across your neighbors lots and keep your animals off other members’ property and clean up after them. Also Mr. Martin has asked members not take their pets to the grassy area at the front of the park because of a liability situation with the construction.
CONCERNS AND SUGGESTIONS FORM
Please remember Concerns and Suggestions forms are available in the clear plastic trays at the office counter. Please use this form for your suggestions. We have been receiving suggestions on little pieces of paper, box
lids, etc. This makes it hard to handle for the Board Meetings. You must sign your suggestion or it will not
be considered. We want your input as it is important to us but we are just asking for a little help to make the handling easier. The items are picked up from the suggestion box (pretty painted mail box on wall) early Tuesday mornings. If you want your suggestion addressed at the next board meeting it should be in the box by Monday evening. Thank you for your help.
HVR CHAPEL TO CELEBRATE 10 YEARS
On March 9th the HVR Chapel will celebrate 10 years of service to the park. Everyone is invited to non-denominational church service at 9:00 with a Sunday Brunch to follow at 10:45. Please bring a dish to pass. Tableware will be provided.
APPRECIATION
This park operates on volunteer labor. It is unfortunate some people do not appreciate this fact resulting in loss of volunteers. Therefore, a big thank you from the Board to the following:
-Thanks to all the members who worked on the new telephone directory.
-Thanks to the members of the Credentials Committee and the Ballot Counters, you made our meetings run so smoothly.
-Thanks to all the members willing to step forward and sponsor an activity which put funds into the HVRPOA account. It is efforts such as these which help to control our maintenance dues.
-A great big thank you to everyone who volunteered for activities this 2007-2008 season.
-Thanks to the couple who donated the cases of orange juice for use at our functions.
CARDS & PRAYERS
Janice and I would like to thank everyone who kept us in their prayers, sent cards, called and prayed for us through my recent tough times. These prayers and thoughts have meant everything to us. God Bless all of you, Meredith and Janice Hughes
The following 2 pages were printed off-site, at editor’s expense, to avoid a possible confrontation in the office print area. We hope you will appreciate these changes in content and will give us a vote of support when we survey you at a General Meeting this fall.
CONTINUING “AS IS”
This newspaper's staff and policy have changed – AGAIN. The history of this publication exhibits many changes. Editors Vera Ludwigsen and Jeanne Moore have invited and joined with Barb Childress and Chuck Neuenschwander, both previous editors of this publication, to provide the community with an improved version of Hidden Highlights that we hope you will enjoy. We will survey the community, possibly at the main General Meeting next January, to see how we're doing and consider new directions.
Part of our change is to incorporate a Residents’ Corner. We recently invited two-dozen of our community, previous board and officers and newsletter editors to submit, each month, an article on given monthly topics. We made a presentation to the board, stating our intentions, not seeking permission, but explaining our intent. The board responded by denying the autonomy this newspaper has had throughout its history, and passed by a 6 to 2 vote a resolution tabling the issue and requiring the Highlights to remain "as is". No official notice of this control has been received by us to date.
So we've met, discussing what "as is" means. To one extreme, it would mean rerunning the February issue each month in the future, unchanged. That would lighten our workload, but would present the community with a worthless product. On the opposite end, it would mean that the newspaper is restricted from making any editorial changes, any improvements to content or presentation, or to introduce any new type of content. We whole-heartedly resist any such type of controls. Does the community wish for our paper to submit all proposed changes to this paper to the board for approval? We think not, and we would not permit this to happen.
We've also elected to include news articles of value to the community. Will they be biased? We hope so. We are biased in favor of wanting to see our community come together. We are biased in favor of freedom of the press, and against controls by the board. We are biased against unfounded accusations and rumor going through the park with no way to get the truth, as we see it, published for the community. We are biased for apple pie and the American way.
RESIDENTS’ CORNER
We’ve decided to run with an abbreviated version of this Corner, as a means of introducing it, and acknowledging the fact that, so far, we have fewer than half of the responses we’d hoped for. But the time for responses was short. Our plan at this point is to continue the same topic, HVR bylaws: are they being followed? In the November issue. That gives everyone contacted to do so, a LOT more time to put a small article together and email it to us. We hereby print two for your enjoyment and to serve as samples of what you may see in this Corner.
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For the most part the HVR by-laws appear to be being followed much closer than the Covenants. The by-laws govern how the corporation functions, and how meetings are to be conducted. The by-laws state that the membership can conduct business at the monthly meetings. Some members have a little difficulty with the manner that meetings have been conducted. They have been very short and to the point, but little business is being conducted other than voting.
The requirement that new suggestions must be explored, and bids received, before presentation, prevents members from making motions to the membership. This makes for a short meeting, but when all is said and done, was anything accomplished? It would appear items need to be discussed and accepted by the membership, prior to any one trying to secure bids. We need to relax this restriction, so people can approach the microphone and make a suggestion, or a motion, and see if it is something the membership would like.
The by-laws state the parliamentary procedure authority for the corporation shall be “Roberts Rules of Order”. While our Bylaws and Roberts permit closed board meetings, they should only be closed withsufficient cause. The membership is very suspicious when meetings are closed, as there is an appearance of impropriety.
At the General Meeting in January, when the President was unable to conduct the meeting due to a conflict of interest, a board member was appointed to preside, instead of the Vice President, which is clearly against the HVR by-laws.It has been said thatthis was done because the V.P. was biased. Just how many Board members, and community members do we have who are not biased? People who are not biased apparently have no opinions. Our (now former-) V.P. has served this community well for many years in many capacities and bypassing her was an insult to her and to her community and to the By-laws we are supposed to act within. Frank Bell, Former Board Member
Can you imagine a City or State or any kind of Government trying to operate without any form of constitution, ordinances or by laws to guide and direct the leaders concerning the every-day operation of the governing body? I'm sure it would soon become "survival of the fittest".
Fortunately we have a set of By Laws. Articles 1 thru 12 cover everything we need to function as a Corporation of Property Owners, such as, who is a member, where and when members should meet, and the place meetings shall be held, and what is a "Quorum"? Article 6 covers the Officers and their duties. Article 11 lays out the procedure for amending our By Laws. Article 12 refers to Roberts Rules of Order as the Procedure to guide us in Parliamentary matters.
Our By Laws may not be perfect, but we do have a system for revising them. To say the By Laws are just a guide line to go by or that they are antiquated is just not acceptable. I would recommend that every citizen of H.V.R get a copy of the H.V.R By Laws and read them carefully. Then ask yourself,who needs them? Are we actually using them? While you are in the reading mood, pick up a copy of the Covenants. Ahh, but that's another story...... Later. Marvin Rahn
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Our Security Committee, now dissolved by the President, has been developing a future mission of which we should be aware. Working with their counterparts in Leisure, our committee has a plan in place that would provide the combined 880 or so residents with controlled access at a guard-shack at a new common entry-point for the two parks. Total control of entry and exits is proposed. The plan provides for 24 hours, 365 day/yr coverage. It’s a plan worth consideration.
According to an email sent by the President, “I feel the Security Committee has overstepped their authority by trying to influence members based on their personal opinions instead of factual data; therefore, I am removing all members and they will not be replaced. The Secuirty Committee is being dissolved.”
There may have been other reasons, but this was the stated issue. This statement refers to the Rock Mail put out by the security committee, which stated a couple of scenarios in which a park resident would be glad to have and armed and CPR/Defib trained guard on duty, and suggested cameras would be nice, but not at the exclusion of armed guards.
This paper takes the stand that committees like this and plans like these are a necessary part of our operation. We encourage the President to re-establish a security committee. However, the last paragraph of the President’s email reads “In the future a member(s) of the board will be the contact for any security issues as well as the security guards. Any security issues members have need to be addressed to the Board of Directors.” That does not sound like we have a Security Committee in our future.
Likewise, the Environmental Committee has been dissolved by the President. There are emergency issues (water quality, flooding, hurricanes, fires, future sewer concerns, etc.) for which we should be prepared, and now we have no committee prepared to address these issues should they arise.
BOARD MEMBER’S CORNER
I am speaking to you as a board member who wants input from the membership. I know the stress we have had this part year has contributed to people doing and saying things that they really don’t mean.