The Wedgefield Examiner has been on vacation off and on, for most of the summer. We've had lots of company and made a few trips. Tonight, we headed back to the WPA Board Meeting. Here are a few quick notes and comments. The comments will appear in red. The Wedgefield Times will have a tape of the meeting up in a few days. Verify information for yourself, by listening to the tape at the Wedgefield Times. The Wedgefield Examiner has done their best to provide accurate information. COMMENTS are the opinion of The Wedgefield Examiner and are provided in red.
Board members in attendance: McBride, Anderson, Garrison, President Walton, Johnson, and McMillin. Board members absent: Cline, DeMarchi, and John Walton. 13 residents were in attendance.
Since the board meeting ran long, due to McMillin (about 40 minutes of our time), we are just going to hit two main areas - roads and grounds.
Road Chair, Anderson, reported the big project is nearly complete and the contractor is cleaning up. As the current work was being finalized, Anderson had the contractor review pot holes in the association. There are 41 places that need attention, for the most part, not a little attention, but root cut backs, etc. It is estimated that the cost to adequately solve the problems in those identified areas would cost another $60,000. There weren't any motions to move forward, Most of these areas are beyond "cold patch". COMMENTS: First, Anderson appears to be responsible in his handling of the current project, and his effort to seek cost estimates for the balance of real problems. With the current effort completed, our funds at least of now, appear to be exhausted. Want to say, "oh well"? You shouldn't stop there. We have elections coming up soon. As in all elections, on what ever level, if the candidate has a record, it would be wise to review it. Additionally, if a board members term isn't up, you should be tracking their performance for credibility on votes and information, and for the place in time, when they run again. In 2011 we spent approximately $29,000 for road repair with a contractor that was eventually sited by the state. Three current board members - President Walton, Garrison, & McMillin, voted, ignored another - McBride, who said we needed engineering, root cut back, etc., and threw good money to a worthless project - $29,000, and a less than stellar contractor. Now, McMillin is running for board again. McBride is running for board. People, please start your homework now. Wouldn't it have been better for all of us if your board had listened to McBride in 2011, and saved $29,000? Today, we might be looking at finding an additional $31,000 instead of $60,000, to solve our road problems.
Tonight's snap shot will include portions of McMillin's Grounds' Report. It was about 40 minutes long. WE ARE MOVING TO COMMENTS IMMEDIATELY. THE WEDGEFIELD EXAMINER WILL PROVIDE A CLEAR REPORT LATER. QUITE FRANKLY THIS GROUNDS REPORT WAS RIDICULOUS! First, why does a legitimate legal entity, a board in this case, give license to any member repeatedly taking this much of our time, without legitimate substance? I have raised three daughters who by proximity in age, were all teenagers at the same time. I would have never expected, or allowed, the simpering, eye batting, coy, lack of clear thinking behavior, from any one of them, including the youngest, on what should be valuable time (ours), and the provision of concrete information, intended for firm decision making. Listen to the tape. He is worse than any comic cartoon of female teenage behavior. He is all over the place. He makes a motion. He holds the motion. His project is $1,500, but he saves the day, negotiates it down to $995.00. That is contingent on his getting a resident to pay the large portion of a equipment rental fee that he/she will pay the bulk of. He will run the equipment on that residents property, pay a small fee over that for a second day, and he and his volunteers, will do part of the work. Then he mentions something about since it is under $1,000, he doesn't have to get other bids. HMMMMM, it is a miracle, suddenly, it is under $1,000, by $5.00. He states that rule is written someplace, he isn't sure where. REALLY?????? We have too much of this nonsense, and he is one of the worst. He is a board member first, his first job as a board member is to adhere to our governing documents and know which ones he is following. He's always saving us money. Other projects were mentioned tonight which we will relate later. How much money did we save on roads when we spent $29,000 in 2011?
More to follow. It was a long, unfruitful night at the WPA board meeting - at least for about 40 minutes.
