The ACSA strikes again. A change in the Bylaws is being requested which basically serves the ACSA in its continual push to secure its grasp on the Aquarina Community. There is a change proposed to increase the term limits of the ACSA Directors with the excuse that we need to keep knowledgeable and experienced Directors in their positions; another change is to increase the number of Director candidates to run for Directorship from any one of the Neighborhoods from 2 to 3, to foster taking advantage if a particular Neighborhood may have folks that the ACSA feels will better assist it. It also can be said that the information provided to the Residents reads unclear in its explanations for what is to be voted upon. The information lends itself to multiple interpretations, and what has been added and deleted from the Bylaws with the red-line technique was bungled. All intentional, or just being over the ACSA’s head in what it wanted to say.
Let’s take a look at each one of these requests of which a vote will be placed for a Yes or a NO.
Remember, we are dealing with a political machine that wants to continue its hold on the community, as it has over these past several years, where rampant spending, without Resident input, has gone wild, as it has been chronicled and reported in this Blog. These decided, discretionary and exorbitant costs have been blatantly forced on the Residents, e.g. the sports bar turned into full restaurant at over $1M cost, and the decided, unneeded, and currently stalled total renovation of the Lakeside Pool, at over $300K with this assessment amount sitting somewhere, but the ACSA won’t disclose where.
As alternative, how about crafting an Amendment to the Bylaws requiring a community vote to approve or not a requested expense amount offered by the ACSA Directors, if it’s over a threshold amount? The Directors would need to sell its spending amount to the Residents, where the Residents would vote Yes or NO. Further, the threshold amount could be agreed to by the Directors, which they would include in the Amendment. I’m sure with this process, they would not exercise foolishness with placing a ridiculous amount in the Amendment to be voted upon. If they were foolish, then there is the NO Vote.
Increase Directors’ Terms. VOTE NO
If you have a successful and powerful political machine, then wouldn’t you want to keep it. The longer the hold on a Directorship, the more time you have to secure it. If the excuse is that a particular Director is so valuable, then certainly after a fruitful term for the cabal, the Director can serve in a consultancy role, where another respected Resident can serve in the Director position. With the current and disastrous Lakeside Pool fiasco, do we really want the current Directors to have extended terms?
Increase ACSA Director Candidates from a Neighborhood. VOTE NO
Again, if a particular Neighborhood is full of followers for the current political machine that is in place on the ACSA Board, then certainly you want an Amendment to increase the number of like followers a Neighborhood could provide as Director Candidates. Be forewarned, the Egret Trace Neighborhood has been usurped by what this Amendment would do to a Neighborhood.
Egret Trace has three Directors, like many Neighborhoods, three to four Directors are the Neighborhood norm. Of the three Egret Trace Directors, two are ACSA Directors also. These two dual Directors therefore can vote together from an ACSA perspective on Egret Trace matters. BTW, and unfortunately, the third Egret Director, apparently is an ACSA follower. It could be said that the ACSA oversees the Egret Trace Residents. With the current Lakeside Pool issue, where does that put the Residents of Egret Trace?
Here is an example of what can occur. Spoonbill Villas approached Egret Trace and Blue Heron to assist them in requesting Lakeside Pool documents from the ACSA, as is their right per Florida Statute. The ACSA ignored the request. Blue Heron passed on the Spoonbill Villas’ invitation. The Egret Trace Board of Directors refused to participate too; HOWEVER, this invitation was not disclosed to the Egret Trace Residents by its Directors. The Directors made the decision not to participate on their own without the Egret Trace Residents having the chance to participate with Spoonbill Villas, as a Neighborhood or individually. Why no participation? Maybe because the participation would not be in the ACSA’s interest. Hmm.
The Egret Trace Residents never knew about the invitation. As an Egret Trace Resident, I never was told by any means. This situation is a full stop conflict of interest for these Egret Trace Directors, and they apparently showed where their loyalty lies as a result of this matter, and it shows how Neighborhoods can be not properly served with Directors having two roles, one for the ACSA, and the other for their Neighborhoods.
The further irony is that Egret Trace is a Lakeside Pool Neighborhood. There is obviously an “Us and Them” scenario now among the three Pool Neighborhoods and the ACSA. The dual Directors existing on the Egret Trace Board of Directors certainly made their loyalty choice known to their Neighbors.
Laying the groundwork for dual Directorships in a Neighborhood is the proverbial “letting the wolf into the chicken coop.”
VOTE ALL NO’S