HHP Board Slaps Its Voters Back Into Place
no more guessing about their intent, but why?
The old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” provides a load of wisdom in just seven simple words, words that a substantial majority of members of the HHP Board of Directors should have taken into consideration before voting to adopt a change to its committee guidelines. After today’s action those of us who voted for those Board members and who fund whatever needs funding in OUR community must get permission to attend committee meetings. Who said it ain’t broke, you ask? General Manager Peter Kristian did, to the Island Packet.
Kristian pushed back against the online outrage, saying that under the new proposal residents could still attend board meetings or committee meetings by asking either the board president or committee chair for permission. Property owners rarely attend these meetings either way, he added.
“Property owners rarely attend these meetings…” Doesn’t that mean precisely “it ain’t broke?” Now just to be clear, we would contend that it was always profoundly broken for the following reasons:
The time and place of committee meetings has never been announced, as the now-discarded committee guidelines required
Residents never had any idea what might be on any committee’s agenda, in part because no committee’s agenda, or the Board’s, was ever made public and in part because committee and Board minutes detailing discussions at previous meetings are never posted before a committee’s next meeting
Committee reports presented to the Board at each Board meeting are not public either
Now conspiracy-minded folks might see in that a covert and purposeful effort to discourage residents’ involvement, including attendance at committee meetings, by subtly failing to publish or slow-walking information about what any particular committee was going to discuss to avoid attracting attract attention to some unpopular plan. We think that might be a bit overboard. Well, we thought that might have been a bit overboard.
What now? It’s unimaginable that the Board was not aware of the Island Packet attention yesterday before their vote this morning, and we know many residents emailed Board members. The single fact that the Board didn’t take a step back and make some time to explain their purpose or hear directly from residents who opposed this move, coupled with our knowledge that the Board had every intent to not publicize this beforehand (as always), tells an ugly story that is impossible to justify. This is what happens when there is no opportunity for oversight from the community of voters because there is no way to see inside in this system the Board and Management have constructed over years (more on that at some later date).
President Dallas, you definitely did “raise the visibility of the Board.” Congratulations on that. One thing about the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” wisdom, though, is that fixing it when it ain’t broke is likely to attract attention — to trigger questions, to give rise to suspicion, to inspire unanticipated reactions when exposed. It’s funny and ironic how the simplest little thing can blossom into a giant something else when one fails to give sufficient thought before acting. I mean it’s taken years to build this opaque wall between the Board/ Management duopoly and the community-at-large, but what if this one little crack opens wider to reveal a much clearer view of the Board’s disdain for its responsibility to those who voted them into this position of responsibility. We shall see.
In the meantime, please Mr. Dallas, no more pretense about being more open and transparent or getting more familiar with the community. That facetious claim is plenty transparent enough already. Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.
I have heard from previous owners that the management and board is too controlling! No insight into the going on’s!
I asked about having Low Speed Vehicles (LSV) in HHP, was adamantly denied, yet was told the ones that were already here are grandfathered in, yet in the past week I have seen 3 brand new ones driving around in HHP. Again, a decision made without resident comment or discussion! Too much control! We residents must take a stand!
Come to the Coffee with Peter meetings and voice our concerns! Demand changes!
Remember without us they don’t have a job or paycheck!
Note: We learned today that the ARB is a board; not a committee. Oh, and the room is small so only those with a pending permit will be invited to attend. If you’re concerned about untoward construction activities, say a proliferation of docks in the Salt Marsh Conservancy, too bad so sad. You can’t attend.