Outgoing Board Leaves Gift That Keeps On Giving

time to say the quiet part out loud

There was a rumor. To be more accurate given my minimal level of “plugged in,” there were rumors of rumors of a rumor — Peter Kristian would be retiring after this year. We learned at our annual meeting last week, however, that the outgoing Board has extended Peter’s contract for three more years. Surprise!!

So it’s time somebody says out loud what everybody seems to know — by and large, our Board of Directors acts as a wholly owned subsidiary of Peter Kristian, Inc. Want proof? Every Plantation News, in its “From the President’s Desk” inside cover, says you can “communicate with the Board” via email at board@hhppoa.org. Send an email to that address with a salutation for any Board member and see who answers (many of you, of course, already know from your own experiences). Our first substantive post in May 2024 — Having Reasonable Expectations is Not Unreasonable — dealt with the issue of establishing dedicated email addresses for directly contacting the individuals we elect to represent our interests. There could hardly be a simpler or easier-to-implement expectation for those responsible for our money, our safety and security, our recreational opportunities, our drainage and roadways, and our investments in real property.

The response — the following month (they must have read our post) the Communications Committee addressed this issue and, “After input from Mr. Kristian it was determined that the existing communication flow through the board@hhppoa.org email was sufficient.” That translates to “the existing communication flow through Peter Kristian is how Peter Kristian wants it” in a not-so-camouflaged sort of way. Not enough? Ask one of our community’s members of Spring Lake tennis how much input they were able to provide to recent changes ruling court reservations. Before you ask make sure you have some time to listen to a lengthy and vigorous response. Surprise!!

It’s not really fair to blame Peter in total. It is abundantly clear that any concept of transparency and openness is repellent to him, but the concept of getting direct emails from residents, or having any personal contact directly from the masses, must be frightening to our Board members as well. One Board member (I found out later) visited the Garage Band Club one evening, part of the former President’s “outreach” program I assume. He did not announce his presence or speak to our group, and he looked so uncomfortable and skiddish that I decided, before we even began playing Born To Be Wild, to flush my psychedelic drugs down the Plantation House toilet just in case. They love our votes, but not much afterwards.

Setting the question of Board members-in-hiding aside, however, it’s pretty clear that Peter’s fingerprints are all over other questionable routines. Over the next three years it’s likely we’ll remain frozen out of the workings of our Board and management in the same old ways.

• We’ll puzzle over another “Resident Opinion Survey” with its biases, its misleading and misdirecting questions and it’s absence of a single space to actually express an “opinion.”

• Board meetings will remain closed to HHPPOA members, but streaming “Coffee with Peter” will be presented, as before, to be a suitable alternative — it is not a suitable alternative

• Board and Committee meeting minutes will still use the phrase “After Discussion” to paint over any public view into Board disagreements and to impede our ability to know which Board members best reflect our own views. There are legal standards for documenting official minutes — I’m not so sure “after discussion” meets the mark of creating an accurate record

• The inconsistencies and mysteries we have written about related to elections will remain inconsistent and mysterious. Peter obviously hates the minimal “campaigning” where candidates actually answered unfiltered questions from residents the past two election cycles. This will end if he can swing it — too much uncontrolled openness.

• The selection of candidates and strategic planning activities will continue to omit unpredictable “outsiders” for the most part.

• The new Peter Kristian Plantation House will, in reflecting Peter’s values, possibly have no doors or windows

Meeting minutes should include some detail of “major discussion points” and “any relevant detail that led towards a decision.”

I do not mean to diminish the benefits of having a General Manager with 25 years experience developing effective and frictionless processes and procedures for budgeting and personnel management and cooperation with local and state governments over the years. And I won’t deny that dealing directly with residents’ issues and soliciting input from residents who are “out of the loop” will have its frustrations. But no one can dispute that our General Manager has also built an effective and frictionless system to keep residents at arm’s length and to construct a Board which is perfectly satisfied at being shielded from the “troubles” of the masses.

Of course there is an alternative path forward. We just elected three new Board members, none of whom have served on the Board before. Perhaps they will band together and adopt a new attitude of transparency on behalf of the thousands of HHPPOA members they represent? It’s even possible that new attitude could rub off on other Board members. I do not think this “new attitude” will rub off on Peter. Somebody will have to tell him.

HHP360’s substack blog will always be free, and we will never share your information with others….we’ll maybe if we were tortured or like if one of us was kidnapped, tied up, taken away and held for ransom (Tom Petty, Refugee)