Article 7 (Financial Affairs) lays out how the finances of Aquarina should be handled by its Board of Directors. First, a little history on who was in charge when these Bylaws and the other now existing Documents were formulated. In the 80’s, when Aquarina emerged as a new and upscale community with its German investors, i.e. the Warsteiner Beer Company, our economy was sluggish at best and development was slow. Warsteiner later sold the Aquarina development to private investors, which is another story for another time.
Developer, Warsteiner, had our Bylaws and the other documents crafted, keeping in mind that a Board of Directors would be controlled by the developer as long as it had a majority of the developable lots, which can be typical in property development. These Bylaws and documents are still with us today. Article 7 Section 4(b) addresses how our reserves are to be used and spent, at the Board’s discretion. The use and spending of our reserves is limited to Maintenance, Replacement, and Betterments. The word “Betterments” is the loaded gun. With the then developer controlling the Board, it spent the Residents’ funds at its discretion, i.e. for Betterments, e.g. new amenities, upgraded amenities, etc. The Residents were exposed to spending without a voice or a vote for approval or not. It could be argued that a developer needs this latitude and control when it’s building a community, but when the community is sold out or passed to the Residents (where we are now), then do we want to place the sole discretion of spending our funds with an elected Board of Directors without a say?
Well, that’s what we have now.
Our elected Board, which by the way is not a developer, has a fiduciary responsibility to be prudent with the Residents’ funds by prioritizing its spending on Maintenance and Replacement, but the Board majority rather has selfishly spent our funds on lavish and indulgent new amenities (i.e. Betterments) that have caused an enormous financial burden, which will ultimately result in further items to be maintained, and at more cost. As a fiduciary body, the Board is obligated to use our reserves for practical repairs and to accumulate funds for future replacement of worn equipment, infrastructure, and existing amenities. Our Documents (Off. Rec. 2434 Pages 1162-1163) specify a process where the whole community becomes involved when equipment, infrastructure, or existing amenities are in need of repair or replacement. It is a step by step methodology that is spelled out. Our majority Board by-passed this frugal process for our funds, and instead, decided on the extravagant approach of “Betterment”, e.g. Golf Maintenance Yard and equipment, irrigation well and pump system, new sand bunkers, moving the gym, subsidized parties, etc.
As this Blog has concluded and communicated to the Residents since its inception, Aquarina has been hijacked by a well-organized group, i.e. cabal, whose purposes are to serve its selfish needs, i.e. golf and entertainment, at the expense of the rest of the Residents. The silence to this takeover by the majority of the Residents could be seen as a deafening statement of complacency and denial. Hopefully, a surge of resistance will emerge from Residents that want their community back to normalcy, where the whole community receives measured treatment.
BTW – it’s interesting to note that a Blog, such as this one, which offers the opportunity to engage in a dialogue of ideas and debate through Comments, has never been challenged other than a few naysayers in its beginning, who were promptly answered and countered, but were never to be heard from again. The truth can be a formidable foe to those who deny, ignore, and abuse it.