I'd agree, except it's impossible to get this data from Starwood. We are deliberately kept in the dark. I've personally asked about rental income and gotten nothing back but a canned response re delinquencies. I've personally asked for an email address to contact my HOA, and Starwood has repeatedly denied me this information.
How are we to gather information if no one will respond to us? Not allowing us to contact our representatives is, in my opinion, is not only irresponsible, but unethical.
Lisa, I don't know how else to say this. I have said it before, without effect. So, please forgive the lengthy response.
It is not directed toward you, but to the discussion at large.
I will use the WKORV and its Governing Documents as my point of reference.
Like it or not, all owners agreed to invest the HOA BOD with complete authority to approve budgets, and manage them.
They alone can decide on special assessments, and any other financial matters which are required to run the resort.
Individual owners do not have a "right" to all the information which is considered when the BOD makes a decision. That is their job.
It is the only way an association can be run.
It is beyond my comprehension to understand how an individual owner would expect to receive the information necessary to determine the adequacy of board decisions.
An owner may not like the end result of the decisions the BOD makes. That does not somehow give the owner a right to demand the information they deem necessary to be comfortable with it. Or, to bless the adequacy of the decision.
How is the Board to respond to the myriad of individual questions owners may have? Never mind carry on a dialog which would result from never ending questions posed by the information itself. It is literally impossible. Nor, would all interested parties derive the same conclusion from the same information.
No matter how you cut it, it comes down to some number of individuals empowered to make those decisions to make them.
Yes, the BOD has a fiduciary responsible to the membership at large. If the membership is dissatisfied with the performance of the BOD, it can be replaced. So can the resort manager. The BOD will only respond to a majority of the membership. It must be so.
I implore you consider the reality of this.
The ONLY way you will have the opportunity to judge the actions of the BOD is to solicit and obtain a majority of the owners to: 1) amend the vacation plan declaration and by-laws, and/or 2) replace the BOD and the manager.
In so doing you can then assume the responsibility of appointing a new BOD and manager, re-writing that portion of the governing documents which may be modified (as it cannot be thrown out altogether), and then define how the new BOD is to report to the general membership.
The first step is to contact all owners.
Despite statements made to the contrary, the complete and accurate member list, including current mailing address, is available to any owner upon written request.
Certain procedural requirements must be satisfied, but they are a matter of form that relate to assurance that the list will be used for membership related business and not commercial purposes.
The requesting member will be charged a copy fee for the list.
At the end of the day, this all comes down to a crisis of confidence. No amount of information will satisfy some on this board. There will always be questions about motive, etc.
There can be no half measures. Once a campaign begins to demand that the BOD be responsible to other than their own good judgment, there is no other alternative but to replace it.
That also means replacing Starwood. The resort will become independent.
Having been an elected official of a Bay Area municipality, I can tell you with some conviction who is doing whom a favor by serving on an elected board. One should be careful to understand that.
I can also tell you that it is possible to change the status quo, if need be. It does take resiliency, stamina, organization, and a certain amount of money.
Tough talk won't do it. Especially when it is repetitive, to the same choir of 50 like minded folk.
Try it on 5000 folks who do not immediately see the advantage of having Starwood's name removed from the resort. The tiring and frustrating exercise of explaining the obvious to those who do not see the campaign point of view will, if nothing else, gain an appreciation of what the BOD must think of all who criticize and demean their efforts and intentions.
Every journey begins with a first step.
The message must be constructed and distributed to ~10,000 owners. Any thought to what the message would be, exactly?
Including postage and materials, say $1 per owner for initial distribution. A hundred passionate volunteers pony up $100 each. Each is responsible for getting 50 out of 100 owners to sign a petition. The effort is in business.
All the rest of what is going on here is getting boring.
