NOTE: I will relate what occurred to the best of my ability. As always, I highly suggest that you go to the tape of the meeting at the WPA website, or The Wedgefield Times, to verify information for yourself. COMMENTS, are provided at the end of the article, and noted as such.
Just as we thought that the meeting was coming to a close, somewhere between new and old business, Treasurer/Drainage Chair, DeMarchi, said he was tired of hearing about the gatehouse, and wanted something done. Grounds Chair, McMillin said he had been busy, and the guy he had quote on the gutters, didn't follow up. DeMarchi said that he had some contractors that he could contact, would McMillin like him to do that? McMillin said he would like to be present when they came out. Each, at times, blamed the other for nothing being done. There was a bit of a angry/frustrated air - and words, as don't blame me, for a few minutes. Vice President/Legal/Compliance Chair, Garrison, said they had had a contractor at one point, who would have done the job for $5,000, and he didn't know why they hadn't moved forward with that. At the end of the meeting, during resident comments, a resident said that they had had the best contractor for the job, but some idiot, had stopped that from happening.
COMMENTS:
You'll have to go back over the meeting tapes, or previous articles on the blog, but briefly the chiefs of the hold up for over two years, have been DeMarchi and McMillin. Garrison, as Legal Chair, and President Walton, are almost neck, and neck, with them. Every other member of this board comes in, in unison, as a close third, in mass.
Briefly, two years ago, DeMarchi, took charge, and issued a 3 stage bid request (The work was outlined in one package, with 3 areas.), and sent it off to contractors, including our President's company. Surprise, surprise, the president's company bid came in the lowest, and your board, minus one (now off the board), who questioned conflict of interest, and your board awarded him the contract for stage one. The conflict of interest questioning was called moronic, by our legal chair.
Our president ordered custom windows for the gate house, and they have sat in storage since. I asked to see the bid package, bid responses, and the contract. It should be noted that the contract I was handed, was the president's bid, which included all three stages. There was no date of contract, award amount, terms of payment, or a place for both parties to sign. I also wrote the board, included a conflict of interest document that every board member had signed, and asked each and every board member, how they could have voted to give the president's company a contract, after they had signed the document. I had one more question for the president. How could he have accepted the request to bid, and sent a bid, after signing the document. No one answered those questions. Several months later, the board's attorney, reviewed the conflict of interest document, and it was a conflict of interest. The president's company, gave back the contract, and the board paid his company for the custom windows, that continue to sit.
About a year later, another request for proposal was written, bids arrived. One was our treasurer's old boss, and the other a contractor, who wrote a very detailed bid said, "Removal of dry wall and floor coverings. (This will be done by a mold remediation company due to the severity of MOLDS that are growing ". There was laughter at the board table, regarding the bids. McMillin said volunteers could do the work. McMillin and Garrison removed the moldy debris, which were seen piled in an open trailer, outside the gatehouse. The board has not answered written questions, regarding the windows, remediation of the molds, or where they disposed of the moldy debris. There were no reports provided at meetings, after the removal of the moldy debris, or any updates at all. This is a surprise, as McMillin usually goes to great lengths to report on his volunteers at work. Yet, they have all gone silent at the board table about this project. I reviewed the correspondence file it June, and the only letter, with any mention of the gatehouse, was mine. What can DeMarchi be tired of hearing about?
Who can even guess which contractor Garrison was mentioning. It couldn't be President Walton, because he bid under conflict of interest. Who was the resident calling an idiot? Maybe that resident feels the board attorney is an idiot for his legal opinion, regarding President Walton's contract. Maybe that resident enjoys living under the administration of a board, whose members give so little credibility to signing a legal document, they intend to ignore.
Like DeMarchi, I'm tired, but I'm tired of a lot of things. This boards failure to use proper bid procurement, honor the documents they sign, failure to report at the board table. failure to vote according to our governing documents, their constant manipulation of the policy manual to suit their, often unprofessional business goals, and failure, in this case to repair, and maintain, the gatehouse - the front door, of our association.
P.S. I'm also tired of hearing about speed bumps, and DeMarchi tried to bring them the table again this month, after they were voted down last month. Our next article: Will the speed bump drama, between guess what two board members, ever go away?
Just as we thought that the meeting was coming to a close, somewhere between new and old business, Treasurer/Drainage Chair, DeMarchi, said he was tired of hearing about the gatehouse, and wanted something done. Grounds Chair, McMillin said he had been busy, and the guy he had quote on the gutters, didn't follow up. DeMarchi said that he had some contractors that he could contact, would McMillin like him to do that? McMillin said he would like to be present when they came out. Each, at times, blamed the other for nothing being done. There was a bit of a angry/frustrated air - and words, as don't blame me, for a few minutes. Vice President/Legal/Compliance Chair, Garrison, said they had had a contractor at one point, who would have done the job for $5,000, and he didn't know why they hadn't moved forward with that. At the end of the meeting, during resident comments, a resident said that they had had the best contractor for the job, but some idiot, had stopped that from happening.
COMMENTS:
You'll have to go back over the meeting tapes, or previous articles on the blog, but briefly the chiefs of the hold up for over two years, have been DeMarchi and McMillin. Garrison, as Legal Chair, and President Walton, are almost neck, and neck, with them. Every other member of this board comes in, in unison, as a close third, in mass.
Briefly, two years ago, DeMarchi, took charge, and issued a 3 stage bid request (The work was outlined in one package, with 3 areas.), and sent it off to contractors, including our President's company. Surprise, surprise, the president's company bid came in the lowest, and your board, minus one (now off the board), who questioned conflict of interest, and your board awarded him the contract for stage one. The conflict of interest questioning was called moronic, by our legal chair.
Our president ordered custom windows for the gate house, and they have sat in storage since. I asked to see the bid package, bid responses, and the contract. It should be noted that the contract I was handed, was the president's bid, which included all three stages. There was no date of contract, award amount, terms of payment, or a place for both parties to sign. I also wrote the board, included a conflict of interest document that every board member had signed, and asked each and every board member, how they could have voted to give the president's company a contract, after they had signed the document. I had one more question for the president. How could he have accepted the request to bid, and sent a bid, after signing the document. No one answered those questions. Several months later, the board's attorney, reviewed the conflict of interest document, and it was a conflict of interest. The president's company, gave back the contract, and the board paid his company for the custom windows, that continue to sit.
About a year later, another request for proposal was written, bids arrived. One was our treasurer's old boss, and the other a contractor, who wrote a very detailed bid said, "Removal of dry wall and floor coverings. (This will be done by a mold remediation company due to the severity of MOLDS that are growing ". There was laughter at the board table, regarding the bids. McMillin said volunteers could do the work. McMillin and Garrison removed the moldy debris, which were seen piled in an open trailer, outside the gatehouse. The board has not answered written questions, regarding the windows, remediation of the molds, or where they disposed of the moldy debris. There were no reports provided at meetings, after the removal of the moldy debris, or any updates at all. This is a surprise, as McMillin usually goes to great lengths to report on his volunteers at work. Yet, they have all gone silent at the board table about this project. I reviewed the correspondence file it June, and the only letter, with any mention of the gatehouse, was mine. What can DeMarchi be tired of hearing about?
Who can even guess which contractor Garrison was mentioning. It couldn't be President Walton, because he bid under conflict of interest. Who was the resident calling an idiot? Maybe that resident feels the board attorney is an idiot for his legal opinion, regarding President Walton's contract. Maybe that resident enjoys living under the administration of a board, whose members give so little credibility to signing a legal document, they intend to ignore.
Like DeMarchi, I'm tired, but I'm tired of a lot of things. This boards failure to use proper bid procurement, honor the documents they sign, failure to report at the board table. failure to vote according to our governing documents, their constant manipulation of the policy manual to suit their, often unprofessional business goals, and failure, in this case to repair, and maintain, the gatehouse - the front door, of our association.
P.S. I'm also tired of hearing about speed bumps, and DeMarchi tried to bring them the table again this month, after they were voted down last month. Our next article: Will the speed bump drama, between guess what two board members, ever go away?
