ECA Board Request

I would like to congratulate the new members of the Board and request that you: 

1.    Be totally open and transparent except where privacy is mandated

a.     Don’t make non-confidential decisions other than at a Board Session; e.g. elimination of certain financial reports/information from the Board Meeting and dilution of financial expectations and information in the Agenda package

2.    If workshops are used for topics that need extensive dialog—please summarize the dialog at the session and make the actual decision at the Board meetings. Documentation for both the workshop and the Board decision should be transparent and informative (and available to all members)

3.    Individual Fairness—As some of you know, IBM is known for valuing and respecting the individual as a corporate core value, Eastman also should have balanced and fair policies to all current and past members of the community. At issue is our policy for residents who are 30 days or more delinquent – who can incur interest charges and suspension of the owners’ rights to use Association Land and the amenities and facilities of the Association.

We ought to treat delinquent Eastman homeowners at least equal to how we treat our vendors, yet last year (FY2011) we forgave the restaurant vendor $26,226 in past due rent. Future rents were suspended or forgiven. The ECA accepted past due utility fees of over $38K as of the end of last Fiscal Year. To my knowledge the vendor is (did) not paying ECA finance charges on his overdue accounts payable even as he makes payments on his delinquent account.

I think that our policy on delinquent assessment payments is aggressive bordering on punitive, for residents who may be experiencing financial difficulties in the worst financial recession since the great depression.

On the other hand, we excessively forgive a vendor who is unable to meet his financial commitment to the community. The Board’s behavior in my experience is discriminatory and inappropriate and does not convey a sense of community for homeowners in financial difficulty.

I made this request to the ECA Board at its September 2011 meeting. Regretfully and wrongfully the ECA Board made the decision in the fall of 2011 to destroy the ECA Financial and Audit report formats which had been in place for this community more than 15 years. The methodical implementation of this destructive decision has occurred over the past three years under the direction of General Manager/CEO Ken Ryder.

Furthermore the decision was made to NOT comply with the Generally Accepted Accounting Practices of publishing the ECA Financial and Audit Reports in both formats:  the old format and the new format when the transition occurred.

At the ECA Board’s December 2011 meeting I filed a formal complaint on these wrongful actions. The key portions of that complaint will be found in our Post “Board Acts to Eliminate Financial Continuity and Information”. As a result of these wrongful acts, today’s Eastman financial reports provide cumulative expenses regardless of where and why the money is expended—be it G&A, recreation, golf, restaurant, security, Center or maintenance.

The result of these secret financial manipulations has concluded in a makeover of the former Eastman Community Association into the Golf Resort Enterprise that we are today as detailed in  Blog Post of 9-30-14  which describes how the Board acted to eliminate financial continuity and knowledge.

 Submitted by Robert Logan who is the CEO of a consulting practice since 1993 which provides expertise on improved business, financial and operational performance as well as leadership.