The $100,000 Plus Rip-off of the Residents’ Funds

There is a reliable report that our Board of Directors have decided to heed the recommendation of the new Golf Superintendent.  The recommendation is to renovate, upgrade, and restore the sand bunkers on the Aquarina Golf Course at a cost way north of $100,000. What!  Bunkers are a penalty box, and are probably the least of the priority items to maintain on a golf course.

I’m on the golf course, and I have never seen any maintenance and grooming of any of the sand bunkers, e.g. raking, fluffing, cleaning, edging, etc.  Let’s start with ongoing daily maintenance rather than wasting thousands of dollars redoing each and every sand bunker, which this proposal will cost.

Explain how this expenditure is a priority expense and helps all our Residents.  Our entrance, the front door to our community, is over 35 years old.  It is tired and pleads for upgrading and maintenance, e.g. resetting sunken pavers, pressure washing the curbing, re-coating and re-striping the asphalt roadway, and tuning the accent lighting. Remember all the entrance and highway lawn areas that were neglected and left to burn and die because of no irrigation.

Addressing our community entrance will absolutely raise the values of the Residents’ homes in the eyes of Buyers.  Renovating and replacing sand bunkers will not.

What is the source of the well over $100,000 of the Residents’ funds?  Our Reserves are the answer. Remember the purpose of the Reserves?  Reserves exist to maintain the condition and workings of our common elements, replacement of them is the last resort.  Unfortunately, the Board sees our Reserves as a lump of dollars to spend on selfish and whimsical desires, which happens to be dominated by golf.

Let’s look back a bit on some current Board disasters.  Have you been to a Board Meeting at the Community Club House lately?  All the living room nook furniture is gone, and what is left is a large empty room.  The reason for this situation was to house and accompany the hordes of folks expected to be at all the meetings and ongoing parties.  The living room nook area was a wonderful place for Residents to use for small gatherings to watch sporting events, just be social, or a relaxing place to use the Internet. Certainly this low key use occurred many more times than the number of parties or meetings.  Further, the previous gym facility, which was centrally located, had ample parking, and was open and bright – is now gone too.  Instead the gym is in a claustrophobic and cave-like setting.  Ironically, 100’s of thousands of the Residents’ funds were spent to accommodate these disasters.

It is so obvious that the current Board of Directors and its President have blinders to the needs of the whole community, and they just have a selfish, irresponsible, and unethical focus on their golf cabal needs and wants.

One more thing.  The mom and pop Aquarina Utilities facility that services our water and sewer needs has been reported to have neglected a timely maintenance of its components even though a raise of rates was granted to Aquarina Utilities by the Florida Public Service Commission. Hmm.

Yet another matter, which is late breaking, and will be discussed soon at this site – the Golf Irrigation Well has risen, with a spin justification that makes no sense.