Don't forget to vote on the Governance Document Amendments

 Here are a couple of truisms about the amenities votes:

• They're extraordinarily boring
• But they're very important

The Board is trying to hijack power from the Owners and is up to its usual procedural shenanigans in doing so:

First, the process. The Board has made it quite easy to vote for their bad ideas and against the two Owner proposals (which by the way are a right of the Owners). Moreover, it's likely (if not certain) that the Board has kept their thumb on the scale by receiving reports of how many people have voted and the current tally for each proposal. And of course, this information is limited to the cool kids.

The bottom line is that you need to vote "DO NOT APPROVE SLATE" on Ballot Item #2 and then individually vote on each item. You can click once and vote for the Board's bad ideas, but if you disagree you need to vote on each proposal individually. I wonder why they didn't also give the option to vote against the Board's recommendations? Don't be fooled.

Second, there are four out-and-out horrible proposals on the ballot:

• Ballot Item #24: The Board wants the right to write their own "code of conduct" and the ability to remove future Board members who violated this code by a bare majority vote. I note that the Board misrepresents that removing a Board member would require a 2/3 supermajority. But that's not what the proposal is. The Board's misrepresentation is what lawyers call a material misrepresentation that calls into question the validity of the ballot.
• Ballot Item #25: The Board wants to limit the ability of each Board member to have access to corporate documents relating to "confidential information." Put simply, the Board leadership doesn't want upstart Board members to learn what the key managers make and the terms of their employment agreements. This impairs the ability of a Board member to discharge his/her duty of care.
• Ballot Item #14: The Board wants the ability to raise "capital contributions" (i.e., the "transfer fee" or initiation fee") without limit. Let me be crystal clear--an increase in the capital contribution is a tax on selling Owners. Under the proposed language, the Board could raise this fee as high as they wanted without asking a single member. Do you trust this crew with that much discretion? I certainly don't.
• Ballot Item #16: Removes the 610 limit on golf players to ensure that "Full Memberships are always available for all Lots." I believe that this will result in golf course congestion.

Consider each item carefully and vote as you think best for the future of the Club. Just to be on the safe side, Debbie and I will vote to DISAPPROVE Ballot Items #3-26 and APPROVE Ballot Items #27-28.

Third, the Governance Committee was so busy trying to further empower the Board, that it failed to make some needed changes (this is not an exclusive list):

• The Board is not required to use a third party to count Owner votes.
• The By-Laws provide an unacceptably long period of time to conduct votes in response to a petition by Owners. The process shouldn't take more than 30 days--start to finish. But the proposed By-Laws give the Board as much as 90 days to delay a vote.
• The Covenant changes do not remove the 50% minimum on lifestyle dues as a percentage of full dues. Lowering lifestyle dues is the most effective way to ensure that you do not reach the 610 golf player cap. Removing the cap will eventually lead to congested golf courses.
• The Board retains the right to meddle in elections by receiving interim reports of the current tally as well as a list of Owners who have not yet voted. If the Board wants to meddle in elections, it should be required to post this information for all Owners to see.

We can always vote on the housekeeping changes when the deficiencies noted above are rectified.

THE VOTE CLOSES AT 5PM ON MONDAY, MARCH 14--PLEASE MAKE THE TIME TO BECOME INFORMED ABOUT THESE ISSUES AND EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE.