ISMA Annual Meeting 2017

[Arthur Hoffman]

At the Annual Meeting the following were elected to the Board for two year terms with the number of votes in parentheses: Patricia Atwater (991), Tony Favicchia (961), Sam Wolstencroft (883), David Page (827), and Arny Landy (665). 

The Capital Contribution amendment was 25 votes short of passing with a 2/3 majority.  However, the matter is not dead yet.  The annual meeting was adjourned until March 23 when it will be resumed.  If additional votes are received sufficient to attain the 2/3 majority by that meeting, the amendment will be adopted.  So, if you haven't voted yet, obtain a ballot from the ISMA office and do your duty.

I spoke at the meeting.  Here are my comments.

I wish to make some brief remarks about the election process and the vote on the amendment to add a capital contribution by buyers to the covenants.

The instructions to cast ballots were incomplete and confusing.  The instructions implied that group class II members, that is, non-club members, are limited to just 4 seats on the Board.  There is no limit.  For that matter, the characterization that Class II members “who are dues paying members not affiliated with the club” is confusing and simply crazy.  Does anyone here know what that means?

Why is it that only 20-25% of homeowners vote in these elections but 100% of condo owners’ votes are recorded?  There are two reasons.  The election process for homeowners with ballot and proxy forms, multiple envelopes, and inadequate and confusing instructions just turns them off and they toss their packages in the garbage except for those who can read and understand the process, which is very few.  By comparison, about 55% of voting age Americans voted in the 2016 Presidential election.

The reason why 100% of condo owners’ votes are recorded is because of block voting: condo associations have that power but homeowner associations don’t.  Shouldn’t both association types in Indian Spring have the ability to block vote?

Interestingly, at the Meet the Candidates forum last week, I took issue with Tony Favicchia when he gave his reason for supporting block-voting.  But he was right.  Without block-voting there might not be a quorum at annual meetings and nothing would ever get done.  Block voting guarantees a quorum.  So, let’s extend block voting to homeowner associations if they want it.  Then 100% of all Indian Spring members’ votes could be recorded.

Finally, if the Capital Contribution amendment doesn’t pass and it’s a no brainer in my opinion, it’s because very few homeowners realized that they had to submit a proxy with their vote on the amendment checked if they didn’t attend the annual meeting to vote in person.

We have to make our voting process simple and understandable going forward to get residents more involved in what’s going on.  Block voting for all is the way to go.