Recall Effort Fails In Close Vote

Tonight’s special meeting to vote on the proposal to recall the whole Board as well as the proposal to add term limits for directors was well attended with perhaps 30 owners present. The meeting was all business with an attorney from our new legal firm, Peters & Freedman, keeping things moving smoothly. Here are the results announced at the end of the meeting:

• Recall the whole Board? 114 votes cast: 53 in favor; 55 against; 6 abstentions. The recall proposal needed a majority of the votes cast (i.e. 58) to pass, so it failed.

• Add term limits for directors? 105 votes cast: 55 in favor; 46 against; 4 abstentions. The amendment of the Bylaws needed the approval of at least 51% of the owners (i.e. 86), so it failed as well.

The official numbers to be announced later in writing by the Association may be somewhat different, because the three Inspectors of Election (Kate and Sue Besek from Stratus Management, as well as the attorney) couldn’t explain the discrepancy between the 114 votes cast for the recall proposal and the 105 votes cast for the proposed amendment. They promised to re-count the ballots at least once more until these numbers match.

The attorney ended the meeting by pointing out that the issues leading to the recall effort (and an almost evenly split body of owners) are still present and suggested the Board hire a mediator to organize talks between the two sides.

Board Recall Meeting Rescheduled for Monday, November 19

Stratus Management sent out a letter earlier this week that the Board Recall meeting originally scheduled for October (but canceled due to the fires in San Diego) has been rescheduled for next Monday, November 19. The location of the meeting has been moved to the more convenient Doyle Recreation Center on Regents Road. Owner registration will start at 5:30pm, the actual meeting at 6pm.

Two proposals are still on the ballot: first, whether the entire Board should be recalled and new elections organized; second, whether the Bylaws should be amended to institute term limits for directors. The first proposal can be approved by a majority of the quorum (i.e. 85 owners); the second proposal requires approval of at least 86 owners.

November Board Meeting Report

The regular Board meeting wasn’t as well attended this month, with only 7 owners in attendance. Luckily, the Board was represented by president Marilyn Dupree, vice-president Sam Goldberg, treasurer Glenn Lyons, and member-at-large Marius Ardeleanu. (Only secretary Cathy McVey was absent.) For the management company, both Sue and Katie Besek attended. Items of note:

• The Board Recall meeting has been rescheduled for next Monday, November 19 (see separate post for details). The three Inspectors of Election will be representatives from Stratus Management. Owner Ezra Van Everbroeck pointed out that this violates the Association’s recently adopted Rules and Procedures for Elections and Balloting (see section D. (1) (i)), but president Dupree stated the Board felt owners should not be counting the ballots this time due to the contentious nature of the recall. Owners will be allowed to witness the opening and counting of the ballots, however, as this is California law. Owner Larry Harris suggested forcefully that the Board should allow ballots received in the mail to be superceded by ballots cast by the same owner at the recall meeting. The law appears to allow this scenario and it has the obvious benefit that it would prevent the scenario that left many owners unhappy at the last elections. Mr. Harris also made several other suggestions to increase owner participation in the election process, but the Board’s reply to all of them was that they would have to check with the Association’s attorneys first. Mr. Harris asked to be notified of any decisions by email, which in turn led to a suggestion by directory Ardeleanu that the management company should offer to collect the email addresses of owners who would like to be notified of Association news. This may happen in the near future.

• In the management report, Sue Besek mentioned that they are now collecting bids for repairing decks and fences. As pointed out by president Dupree, contractor prices are likely to go up soon because of the rebuilding after the firestorm, so the Association will try to get the repairs started as soon as possible. If the cost for a particular repair is less than $1,500 the community manager can accept the bid without Board approval. For higher amounts, three bids are required and the Board must choose one. Also worth knowing is that any deck or fence that is at least 40% damaged will be replaced entirely as this saves money over the long term. Ms. Besek also announced that new violation notices (e.g. for trash cans left out) will be sent out this week, and that the monthly dues from December onwards can be paid via automatic debiting.

• Also worth knowing: the official newsletter will be sent every month again. It will contain the trash/recycling pick-up schedule, and announce the time and location of the next Board meeting. Look for it with your next dues statement.

• Finally, the heater for the (larger) West Pool will be shut off until April 1, 2008 to save money.

November Board Meeting on 11/14

The next regular Board meeting is supposed to take place next Wednesday (11/14), starting at 6pm at the Doyle Recreation Center on Regents Road. One item presumably on the agenda is the re-scheduling of the Board Recall meeting that was canceled due to the fires last month.

By waiting till Wednesday, the current Board will have taken more than 20 days since the cancellation to re-schedule the Recall meeting. California Law gives a Board 20 days to schedule such a meeting. On the other hand, the current Board took more than 20 days to schedule the initial meeting. California Law also states that such a meeting should take place between 35 and 90 days after receipt of the request for a meeting. The current Board scheduled the original Recall meeting to take place after no less than 92 days. One can easily notice a consistent pattern here and it is likely to be held against the Association if the issue ends up in court one day.

The residents in our community who have expressed concern about noise disturbances will be happy to hear that the City of San Diego will be enforcing a new program in the University City area (among others) as of December 1st. Landlords and tenants of noisy dwellings can be fined $1,000 by the City itself. More information about the program can be found in a recent Sign-On San Diego article.