OPEN LETTER TO S. ZUBKO

From: walkerworld@aol.com

To: sjz628@aol.com

Sent: Wed, Jan 20, 2010 10:52 am

Dear Ms. Zubko:

I am in receipt of your undated letter concerning our community. I was most hopeful when I read the opening paragraph indicating that you were opposed to "negative campaigning" and that you would provide "only facts". I thought that perhaps finally someone from the Bay Colony Board of Directors was going to show some leadership which has been severely lacking of late.Well, I can see how wrong I was to assume you were going to do what you promised in your opening.

You then proceeded to fill the remaining three pages of your letter with some of the most negative remarks, out and out falsehoods, and divisive positions imaginable. And then you sign your letter "On behalf of the board", which would lead one to believe that said letter has the approval of the entire Board of Directors which I clearly doubt.

1. You lead of with a statement clearly intended to divide this community by stating you are a ""full time resident" and then list three others who you say or not. Quite frankly, I have searched the Bay Colony Club Bylaws high and low and I cannot find a rule or regulation that there is a requirement for serving on the Board that requires a resident to to be "full time". Just what a "full time" resident is escapes me- does that mean that one never leaves the property. I see this comment as a ploy to divide the community between those you deem "full time" and those who have residences away from Bay Colony Club in addition to their unit here. As far as I am aware, we all pay the same maintenance fees, and we all are considered full fledged owners when assessments are required. I spend approximately nine months a year at Bay Colony Club- am I a "full time" resident in your definition.

2. You state that you attend "every meeting I possibly can", and then criticize two residents in an unsupported claim concerning their attendance. Innuendo can be a malicious tool place in a shot gun spray that define the letter you sent out. Not really something I would call "leadership".

3. You are the current President of the Board of Directors (although not elected) and you see fit to disparage three individuals who have resigned. Again in reviewing the Bylaws I cannot find an indicator that is illegal to resign from the Board and then again run for office.

4.Your diatribe concerning the hiring of the current Bay Colony Club Manager is full of errors and misstatements. I can recall the period when the current manager was hired ( who in my opinion has done and continues to do an outstanding job, even though it appears many of the current Board try to make it next to impossible to succeed) and my recollection from attending Board Meetings is that it went back and forth with the attorneys several times. You also state that Bill Brady was on the Board that approved this action, but my records indicate that while I have lived at Bay Colony Club, Mr. Brady has only served as a Director since the last election in 2009. You have a convenient way of making errors that favor your position.

5. You speak of the dissolution of the Special Recreation Board and again make misstatements as to what actually transpired and who was involved. You conveniently ignore the occurrence during this period where you used Special Recreation District funds for your personal purchases. If you are not going to allow "mistakes" by those who oppose you how can you justify them for yourself?

6. You speak of 'casting aspersions and unfounded accusations" and I totally agree that until something leaves the rumor mill and is proven that it is not worthy of serious consideration. However my distaste for the performance of the current Board of Directors is not based on rumors or false accusations, but rather on what I have personally observed while attending meetings and simply watching the goings on. I find it literally embarrassing the way these open meetings are allowed to get out of control,and run with no semblance of order. In addition I have found the actions of the current Board to be extremely secretive with what appears to be an attempt to keep interested residents from knowing what is going on. The current Board seems to appear to an outsider to have an agenda that need not be divulged until it is passed upon.

The Board that was in place in 2006 and 2007 was much more open and communicative. We actually received monthly updates and newsletters on a regular basis.You were critical of hiring the current Manager but as I recall the predecessor, I believe United Management Company, was performing in a totally unsatisfactory manner. My hat is off to the replacing of that utterly worthless entity.

7. How you can defend the Comcast Contract negotiations is beyond me. Once again, then President Sam Slota operated in his "lone wolf" fashion and struck a deal months before the topic was ever raised publicly at an open Board meeting. This community is not the personal fiefdom of the Board- each of the owners has an equal stake and an equal right to be heard. I for one would like a full, written explanation of exactly what occurred during this process.

8. While you personally have just recently been appointed to the current Board of Directors, and cannot be held responsible for their actions prior to your appointment, you certainly can be held responsible for the most disgusting action I have seen since living at Bay Colony Club. The hiring of a Private Investigator whose duties are clouded in secrecy is outrageous. I am totally flabbergasted that this Board would waste the money of this community participating in what to me is a Gestapo tactic. Just who is going to be investigated and who and what will be done with the information that is compiled. If for no other reason it is my hope that those who voted for this scurrilous proposal.

This Board has done a terrible job communicating with residents, has created animosity among neighbors simply for their own end means, For that reason. and not based upon rumors or aspersions or accusations. I will not support you or the others who voted the Private Investigator onto our payroll.

Sincerely.

Bill Walker

Building Eight

HATE MAIL, FANTASIES AND FUNNY BITS

People who have been oppressed, lied to, swindled and ignored will, when able, take their revenge. Think Marie Antoinette and Russian Czar Nicholas II…snuffed along with their families. BCCer’s reactions, when finally given a platform, are predictably enthusiastic. However, the blogs have been up for three months now and everybody has had their chance to vent.

Blog comments which are only personal attacks are counter-productive. Comments not making any material contribution are not helping to improve our community, and they make it more likely that folks won’t read through all the comments. There is a huge difference between calling an act idiotic and calling a person an idiot. These sorts of comments harden the defensive positions of the person attacked and put off those more gentle souls among us who HATE controversy.

Why do many BCCers avoid board meetings? Because the meetings are like a brawl in a low-life bar. We have a right to intelligently run board meetings operated by Robert’s Rules and managed by a reasonably intelligent, honest and polite Board of Directors. We cannot have a civil, calm community if we are only trying to stick our thumb in some bozo’s eye.

Please calm down, get constructive and use the blog articles and comments for positive change. Future comments which are ONLY personal attacks against an individual and without any other merit or substance (although possibly funny) will be rerouted and attached here.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN?

Ten Thousand of these fliers were passed out recently at a conference in London.

Anything in this that sounds vaguely familiar?

An honest Board of Directors goes a long way towards safe-guarding your investment in BCC.

Demand honest elections and open bidding on BCC projects... or, suffer the consequences.


For a clearer view, click on the link in the left column: "Condo-Warning to Europeans".

Mandatory Drug Testing??

Our manager, Joanne, has been ordered by President Slota to begin mandatory random drug testing of our employees.

I would like to know who decided to do this. It is a major policy change which should have been discussed and voted on at a public board meeting. And you have to wonder, is this expensive and time consuming process really an attempt to reduce our rampant drug problem, or just another demeaning harassment of our employees by a couple of directors whose life work seems to be to get rid of our own people and bring in contractors.

And who decided to bring in an outside landscape firm to do trimming at the entrance at Rec 3? How was that outside landscape firm chosen? And was the job put out for bid? Is this not the same company that botched the trimming of the trees (also decided without a board vote)? We've already spent $4,300 with them on two jobs. This is almost 20% of what it would cost on an annual basis to hire a full time replacement for the man we're short on the landscape crew.

I also saw a bid for janitorial service to replace our in-house crew. Maybe I'm going senile, but I don't remember voting to do this. This couldn't be another case of certain members of the BOD going off on their own. And again, who chose the company which submitted the bid?

It seems to me that if some of the board members WANTED to create the appearance of corruption and impropriety they couldn't do a better job than they currently are.

Bill Brady
Bill

Not What We Were Expecting

The Comcast Cable contract that was recently approved by the BCC Board of Directors and signed by Board President Slota, was, in fact, negotiated by a company called Communications Consulting Group, CCG for short, under a contract signed in September of 2008. This company (CCG) is a “savings contingent” company which is compensated for its efforts to negotiate lower cable rates than proposed by Comcast by receiving 25% of all savings achieved.

Under the terms of the contract there are two areas of savings. First there is a one-time $128,000 “sign-up” bonus for BCC agreeing to a 10 year contract, and second there is a reduction in the monthly rate per unit over the ten years of the contract. Under the terms of the contract with CCG they are entitled to 25% of both the “sign-up” bonus and 25% of the savings for the next ten years.

As Shakespeare said, “ay, there’s the rub”. The payment to CCG for the “sign-up bonus” is not a problem since it will be paid for out of the bonus itself, but since savings don’t generate cash, all the payments due for savings in the out-years, a total of more than $89,000, will have to come from the quarterly maintenance assessments. To my astonishment, this came as a complete surprise to all the other Board members. You have to wonder, did anyone actually read the contract before it was signed?

Now there are two responsible ways to solve this problem. The first is to take the net “sign-up” bonus of $96,000 ($128,000 minus CCG’s 25% or $32,000) and put it in a protected bank account which cannot be used for any purpose but to pay off the future obligation.

The second, and preferred, strategy is to negotiate a discounted, up-front payment to CCG which would extinguish the debt now. Depending on the discount rate used this could be in the $60,000 to $70,000 range and would assure that future Boards can’t raid the bank account for other purposes.

To be completely clear about this, if the Board spends the $96,000 for current expenses or unbudgeted improvements like updating the rec center bathrooms, future homeowner are on the hook for $89,000 in payments over the next ten years.

I’ve polled my fellow Board members for agreement with one of the two approaches and asked that it be placed on the agenda for the September meeting and have heard nothing, which leads me to believe that the Board wants to keep this under wraps and proceed with business as usual. This is just not acceptable.

Bill Brady
Secretary, BCC

THEY DID WHAT?!

This article is to provide a place for readers to post comments which don't really have a home elsewhere. Kind of a miscellaneous "In Box" to comment on BCC events, good and bad, which don't fit under other existing articles. PLEASE NOTE: GOOD AND BAD. Let's also hear it for those good and/or smart things that go by without recognition or comment as well as the gripes and grumbles..

MONTHLY FINANCIALS… FACT OR FICTION?

The following quote is from BCC accountant Donna Seidenberg’s every monthly Financial Reports' cover letter produced since December 2008. Underlining has been added for emphasis.

“Management has elected to omit substantially all of the disclosures and the statement of cash flows required by generally accepted accounting principles. If the omitted statement of cash flows and the disclosures were included in the financial statements, they might influence the user’s conclusions about the Association’s financial position, results of operation and cash flows. Accordingly, these financial statements are not designed for those who are not informed about such matters. “

In other words, the BCC Board of Directors has acted to keep BCC owners ignorant about what’s happening to their $2 million+ annual maintenance payments. In doing so, they are violating the generally accepted and required accounting standards and the advice of our accountant.

These Financial Reports are available on the BCC Official web site (see link in left column, go to "Resources" then "Documents"). Hard copies also available for pick up in the BCC office.