If you want to get down to the "nitty gritty" for wanting an owner-controlled board, or at least a few active owners on the board, since some former members have failed to be effective, the reason for doing that is clear to me.
Some independent resorts have great HOA's that actually "manage" everything, from the choice of toilet paper that will be in the units, to the decisions on which roofing company to use. I am personally going to help choose furniture as a board member, at the resort I own. It is a job that I have wanted since I saw the pink chairs in the living rooms.
We can also fire and hire whatever management company we choose and can give limited or limitless power to that company, depending on how involved we want to be as an owner-controlled board.
Worldmark issues are of a much bigger scale and would require lots more time and work, but if an owner is willing to step forward, then that owner should be applauded for caring enough to want the job.
It is not that the developer is not continuing to provide a good product, it is about building an equitable system where the developer does not control everything. Our founding fathers 230 years ago saw a need to create a "checks and balances" system that keeps each branch of the government in check. It is a perfect system and can be loosely applied to timeshares, even when the developers are still building.
I am waiting for a great outcome with the effort, for my own personal reasons. PAHIO has been increasing our fees exponentially every year. In 2003 our fees were $674, now they are $822 for 2006. The board is made up of all developer-chosen people. I would like to think that someone like PA would come forward and try to change that for our resorts. Who is watching the purse strings at PAHIO and what can we do about the rising costs? They can send a statement, outlying exactly why the fees are increasing, but who am I to question the costs? I would support anyone who wanted to analyze the financials.
Worldmark owners should be applauding PA's efforts. I wonder how many of these negative people really are so naive as to believe that the developer is going to be offended with a few more owners on the board? They will work fine with whatever candidate the proxies support, whether it is PA or someone else. But unless you band together, the board will be "stacked" by the developer again. It is about cooperation. I guess I don't understand all the negativity, it seems detrimental to keeping Worldmark the great system it is.
I have met with PA in person, we own at one of the same resorts. He is a nice guy, laid back, not what you are picturing at all. He has the best of intentions with this effort. Clearly, having owners on a board for the owners makes more sense than having developers control it. After all, it is the HOA.