Recent Amendments to the Club's Governing Documents
Since 2019, there have been five Owner ballots relating to the governance of the Club. All ballots required a 2/3 supermajority and all were approved by the Owners:
Goodwin Purchase: Approved with 74.1% of the vote (341 of 460 votes)
Builder Programs: Approved with 86.1% of the vote (348 of 404 votes)
Membership Model: Approved with 89.3% of the vote (377 of 422 votes)
Entity Accountability: Approved with 93.2% of the vote (327 of 351 votes)
Amenities: Approved with 68.9% of the vote (335 of 486 votes)
In every vote, the ballots were sent to the Owners and the vote was mentioned in the daily email blast--at least until the Board believed that the Owners had voted the "right" way. For instance, the ballot for the Amenities closed on March 26, 2021, but the daily email blast stopped reminding people to vote about a week before the voting closed. My view is that everyone should be reminded to vote, but no one should be subject to pressure to vote one way or the other. Needless to say, my view is not the view held by the Board. There was also at least one instance where an Owner was accosted by a member of the Amenities Committee about failing to support the Amenities vote. Seriously?
The Goodwin Purchase and Amenities votes were subject to a major reach out by the Club. Meetings were conducted, the Board received periodic reports of the status of the vote (including lists of Owners who had not yet voted), and Board and Committee members reached out to Owners who had not yet voted to induce them to vote in favor of the proposal (particularly to Owners who the Club believed were apt to support the initiative being voted upon).
Meetings were held explaining the Builder Programs and Alternative Membership ballots, but the Board did not have an organized program of reaching out the Owners (although in each case, the vote was relatively uncontroversial and there was strong support from the Owners). No marketing was done for the Entity Accountability vote (which was a technical vote to ensure that the Club was able to require entities (e.g., LLCs) that bought lots to be financially responsible) other than sending out the ballots and mentioning the vote in the daily email blast.
All five proposals were approved by the Owners, although the Amenities proposal was dragged across the finish line by the Board. I note that a quorum of about 185 Owners is required for a valid vote--even the ballots with no sales job easily reached the quorum.
I provide this information simply for background for future Owner votes.
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