A Few Tips to Have Better Conversations: H E A R

Lots of opportunity in this article to help us all build a strong community, a stronger world.

To have better disagreements, change your words – here are 4 ways to make your counterpart feel heard and keep the conversation going

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2024 Annual HOA Meeting

 

This post is purely opinion and reaction to events at the meeting, which was primarily a well-orchestrated attack to discredit me as a board candidate. I looked back at the board minutes a number of years and this year was the first time an item was published on the agenda to designate a slot for people to  share their “concerns” about candidates. In my opinion, this was a bullying tactic fully intended to attack me so I knew what I was in for.

David McPhearson, re-elected to the board this year, even sent me a “shame on you” email and told me he was going to speak against me. I did not respond to his email. Ya gotta wonder what makes the board so angry at being questioned and criticized. Is it a threat to their power, their egos? Hmmm.

Thanks to those who voted for me. Even though I would not have been able to effectively represent you because the majority of the board would have continued their bullying of anyone who would present an independent position that was not in line with theirs, but I would have tried my best.

I joined an organization called Braver Angels (https://braverangels.org/) back in 2015-16 when our country became so divided over issues and interactions with  our fellow Americans became so difficult. I have practiced Braver Angels strategies of respectful engagement communication with great enthusiasm and success. I have been able to find common ground with so many people. Below are the core principles of respectful and productive engagements that are taught by the Braver Angels organization.

Years ago when Sue was president of the HOA I volunteered for the yard of the month committee. I was treated with great disrespect, not by Sue who made a strong effort to “fix” whatever the problem was. But I walked away; I chose not to get in the fight.

But my concern for sustainable, biodiverse landscaping brought me back to try again. After attempting to volunteer for the help with landscaping efforts at the June 2023 board meeting and being sucked into a shouting match that made my head swim, I began attending HOA board meeting. What I observed and heard made me realize none of the skills of communication I have practiced my whole life would prove successful with the majority of the Donahue-controlled).

Many examples of an unwillingness to engage in respectful conversations were displayed at the annual meeting. Carl Fisher stated that “when Mark talks, I stop listening.” The personal attacks made by Jim Donahue (and others) at the annual meeting, as well as at monthly meetings, have become normalized and accepted by the HOA board president and majority of board members.

At the annual meeting, Matthias Schmid bullied me on why I don’t talk at the monthly meetings. One, I have tongue cancer and talking is often challenging; two, I don’t engage in shouting matches; and three, I have observed the HOA board long enough to know that anything I would say, any idea, any offer of volunteer service, any correction of information, any sharing of expertise and knowledge would fall on deaf ears and incite more bullying.

Someone at the annual meeting challenged all of the board candidates to take a loyalty oath and to support all board decisions. Really? I stated that I support democracy and have been doing so all my life. However, I will never vote in lock-step with a decision that I deem illegal or unethical. And I won’t be bullied into silence.

January 2024 Board Meeting Summary

This information is what I observed, what I could get confirmation of, and what I think about it. It is entirely independent of the Orchard Farms HOA Board. My comments and opinions are in italics.

Due to the expense of copying and my commitment to conserving materials, I will rarely distribute a paper copy of my summaries. If you would like one, email me and I'll print one for you. 

The meeting started 20 minutes late due to an executive session. As I understand it, the purpose of that meeting was to “censor” Mark Balcer for filing a complaint against the board with the South Carolina Consumer Affairs Department. A copy of that complaint is included at the end of this document.

Guest Time

A homeowner spoke in favor of raising dues, prohibiting parking in the street, and not allowing dogs to be off-leash.

Several guests discussed the landscapers parking large vehicles at the entrances and blocking safe traffic flow.

Jim Donahue spoke against the complaint filed with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs and stated that he didn’t want the county or state ever involved in HOA activities. He also spoke against the flyer that I distribute calling it all lies and attacks and stated that issues should be dealt with internally.

If the issues in the complaint had been resolved internally, no complaint would have been filed. The complaint is a public record on the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs website. If you would like a pdf copy of the complaint, let me know via email (johnniemckenzie@att.net).

Mr. Donahue also threatened to sue me for putting material in the newspaper box under our mailboxes, which is legal. Open, honest, respectful interaction -- that’s how problems get resolved. Several homeowners objected to my putting the flyer in their newspaper box and Mattias Schmid and Doug Blake requested that I not put one in theirs again.

Meeting Summary

Committee chairpersons gave updates. Carl Fisher displayed a spreadsheet showing how the HOA’s spending vs. budget came out for 2023.

Pool service contract for 2024 was approved by unanimous vote.

Kim (president) and Gwen (property management) reported that the residential electrician who installed the outlet for Octoberfest got a permit near the end of December and the County inspected and approved the installation. The costs of the permit and inspection was $624. Gwen said “we must trust our vendors” but could not explain why the electrician didn’t get the permit required before installation and had to make repairs to bring it up to code.

Proposed Changes to Bylaws

David McPhearson presented the proposed changes to the Bylaws.

1.     Charging rent for the clubhouse will be proposed with the same rules as currently in place.

2.     The second change proposed is increasing the number of board members to nine with the term for the three highest number of votes at the annual meeting serving three years and the one with the fewest serving 2 years.

3.     Charging fines for violations will be on the ballot. David McPhearson stated that the board will have the power to remedy the violation if the homeowner does not do so within the specified time limit and the homeowner will be liable for the total amount spent by the board. Kim stated that all of the bylaws “track back to the covenants.”

Landscape Committee Brouhaha

Ricky Wallace made a motion to dissolve the landscape committee because the line of sight issue has not been corrected. He said that the single intent of the committee was to “push out Chris [Donahue]” because the committee requested that Ricky get some information from Chris since the board mandated that no one on the committee talk directly to Chris. He stated that the committee “intentionally slowed down progress of making our community better.”

Jason Lockerby seconded the motion.

Gwen (Town and Country) said that the landscape’s suggestion of using volunteers is a “big liability.”

Carl Fisher stated that the landscape committee should “leave Chris alone.” He said that she feels “beaten on with a hammer,” and that Ben Harrison [landscape company] will “quit if Chris is not in her role.”

Jason Lockerby said he is okay with volunteers distributing playground mulch.

This is the only task the landscape committee suggested that volunteers help with.

Stacey Sherman pointed out that the landscape committee had no budget in 2023 and that no member of the landscape committee ever discussed using volunteers to operate major equipment and that the HOA uses volunteers on lots of projects. She pointed out that the pool committee uses volunteers who work with toxic chemicals and that doesn’t seem to pose a big liability.

The landscape committee submitted a sample waiver of liability to the board early on in their work and it was never approved. I have found no evidence of a waiver of liability being signed by any volunteer in the past.

Jason Lockerby stated that the issue is what did not get done.

Mark Balcer stated that the board would never sign the landscape committee’s documents that the board demanded they create and that the board kept asking for more and more documentations. He also listed the options provided to the board to remedy the line of sight issue including trimming the holly trees and treating them with a growth inhibitor, limbing them up high enough to clear the view, both of which would be less expensive than removing the trees.

Mark gave Kim the final documents they requested as well as the RFP document at the meeting and as of this writing there is no evidence either is signed.

Jim Donahue stated that “enough is enough with this nonsense” and that the committee only wants to make trouble and attack her [Chris].”

All board members [except Mark Balcer, Stacey Sherman, and Chavonne Good] voted to dissolve the committee until three months after the annual meeting.

It was not clear why three months was proposed.

Stacey Sherman placed a hand-written note on the table in front of Kim and left the meeting. [her resignation]

David McPhearson stated that Chris Donahue will continue her role which has been stated as landscape liaison to Ben Harrison and keep doing everything involving landscaping with the help of Ricky Wallace for three months after the annual meeting. He further stated that we “don’t need a landscape meeting” and wants only Chris involved.

Carl Fisher stated that there was a lot of “misinformation on the Batesville entrance project” and mentioned something about “save the trees” sentiment that was the preference of some homeowners and made a comment about a previous board member who resigned and how she kept speaking about the amount of landscape spending.

David McPhearson said Chris was part of the landscape committee working on the line of sight issue.

Chris was not a part of the landscape committee that I participated in and in fact she refused to communicate directly with any of us.

Chavonne Good stated that it takes time to resolve the line of sight issue and the landscape committee has not been active for even six months.

Carl Fisher said there needed to be immediate action on the safety issue at the Batesville entrance and that Chris Donahue has quotes to resolve it. Kim said she asked Chris to get quotes to remove the holly trees in August, 2023, well before the landscape committee began meeting and “held them in my hip pocket” waiting to see if the landscape committee could submit a solution.

This quote was never given to the landscape committee. If the safety issue was a priority of the board, why did Kim keep the quote in her hip pocket so long? If the board wanted the landscape committee to succeed, why keep the information secret?

Jim Donahue presented a quote from Cochran for $9,500 and one from Ben Harrison for $2950 to remove the holly bushes and plant twelve 5-7 foot arborvitaes with a 1-year warranty. The majority of the board approved the motion to give the work to Harrison.

There was no RFP issued for this work.

Kim stated that the complaint Mark Balcer filed with the South Carolina Consumer Affairs would not be addressed at this meeting. Mark objected and stated that the full text of the complaint was not given to all board members. Mark Balcer distributed copies of the full complaint to all board members. Mattias Schmid in the audience said “the case is closed.”

The board responded to the complaint to the Consumer Affairs Department but did not agree to mediation. The next step could be to file a case in Magistrate’s Court. This unwillingness to engage in a conversation with Mark to resolve the issues and to so quickly refuse to mediate the claim with the Consumer Affairs Department puts all of us homeowners at risk if a case is filed in court and the board loses. It’s you and I, the homeowners, who will pay the price. If the local media features the issue, it is likely to adversely affect our property values, as well as increase our dues to pay the penalty and keep up our amenities and required expenditures.

Also at risk is the board showing movies in violation of copyright law. The penalty for copyright violation is high, the cost of a license to show a move is not.

Jason Lockerby accused Mark of “holding the board hostage” and said that the majority of board members favored censoring Mark.

Kim announced she would respond to the flyer I distribute on the HOA website.

 

Johnnie McKenzie

johnniemckenzie@att.net

https://ofcommunityvoices.blogspot.com/

 

November Board Meeting - Upcoming Annual Meeting

 November HOA Board Meeting Report (Distributed week of January 1, 2024)

This information is what I observed, what I could get confirmation of, and what I think about it. It is entirely independent of the Orchard Farms HOA Board. My observations and comments are in italics.

Two complaints have been filed against the board with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affair

Complaint 1 lists these six issues:

• Failure to give notice and hold meeting when increase in dues is voted on.
• Failure to amend By-Laws to allow more than 5 board members.
• Denying homeowners access to public documents.
• Directing Board members not to talk to contractors.
• Continuing to show movies even though they have knowledge it is in violation of copyright laws.
• Illegal limiting a board member term in office.

Complaint 2 addresses the installation of the electrical outlet for Octoberfest. The complaint requests that Carl Fisher, Gwen Miller, and Kim Anderssen-Lee reimburse the HOA for the $2500 cost and be responsible for any additional costs to remedy the issue since it was their actions and not the board’s that caused the safety concern. Greenville County posted a demand notice on the clubhouse door giving the Board until January 2 to get a permit for the electrical outlet.

I have no update as of this printing as to whether that was done. Any fine levied by the County and additional costs to meet code should be paid by the parties who made these decisions, out of their personal funds, not HOA dues. They did not inform the entire board they were moving forward.

November Meeting Homeowner Questions and Concerns (Approximately 30 homeowners attended the meeting at the clubhouse. No record of how many joined online.)

• The board told a homeowner at the October meeting that the trimming of shrubs along her property line and Batesville and whether the HOA would continue to do that work would be on the agenda this month. It was not.
• The state of disrepair of utility boxes in some front yards was brought up by a homeowner. Gwen Miller of Town and Country said that if the boxes are causing a safety issue, the utility company will not do anything until the property owners remove the tree and roots causing the problem. She said she will contact the property owners with recommendations for remediation if the utility company finds safety concerns.
• A homeowner expressed concern over the amount of time the swim team uses the pool. The president said two lanes are open to homeowners during swim practice.

My concern is the homeowner’s real issue was not fully explored. Perhaps the president could have explored his concern at more depth and offered to explore some options for the gentleman rather than just shutting him down by citing current rules, e.g., working with the pool committee to establish some “quiet hours” for those who would really enjoy that. Until you get to the real reason for someone’s complaint, you can’t solve it.

• A homeowner asked about the cost of the Batesville entrance being $21,000. The president said it was only $16,000. A board member corrected her statement and confirmed the cost as $21,000 including plantings, irrigation repair, and mulch.

Cheers to the board member who was willing to step forward with facts.

Board Actions

• The covenants committee activities around changing HOA documents is on hold waiting for direction from the board.

I have no idea what “direction from the board” means. This is a huge story with more details below.