Aquarina Townhall Blog

This Blog has, for years, brought attention to the needs of Aquarina’s amenities and infrastructure. One of the needs was a pipe rail for the south beach access like what was installed at the north beach access. These beach crossover stairs can be a challenge to some of the Residents, and accidents with the stairs have occurred. This newly installed railing will be much appreciated, even though it was a necessity long overdue.

Hopefully, this installation will not be a Board token to the community, or a thrown bone, to placate the folks that see most of our funds going to golf and the golfers. Rather, this will not be a gesture, but an indication and example of a new Board direction where the whole community is served, and all its amenities and its infrastructure are proportionally addressed per Resident usage, and with a focus on community presentation and functionality.

The Beach Club Area is probably the most used Aquarina amenity , which means it requires regular maintenance and repairs. For example, the steps, in many places are splitting and splintering at the horizontal edges. These steps should be replaced with boards that have edges that are beveled for longevity. Any wood on the beach side requires regular painted treatment, that includes not only the stairs, but the upper deck too.

Keeping the sea grapes at the permitted height level, will keep continued ocean views from the upper deck, which the deck was meant to provide. The outside Club House windows and the deck furniture should be on a cleaning schedule. They are constantly exposed to the ocean air of mist and salt, in addition to their continued use by the Residents.

Working together and recognizing the needs of the whole community, rather than having a selfish strengthening of a political cabal of followers for their own purposes, will bring Aquarina to higher level of consumer demand, where we all can flourish.

PART TWO

An HOA is meant to be a democracy, a Board of Directors (BOD), a voluntary position, are voted in by the Residents of a community to oversee, in a fiduciary manner by state statute, the finances and maintenance of the community.  In addition, the BOD is also responsible to enforce the BY-LAWS and add further Amendments as may be needed.  However, any changes to the current HOA Documents, e.g. BY-LAWS, are voted upon by the Residents.  It all seems rather simple in format.

Unfortunately, politics, rather than ethical and fiduciary responsibility, can, if unchecked, infest the BOD and change a democracy to an oligarchy. It appears that an oligarchy, i.e. a cabal, apparently has infested itself into our Aquarina Community.  It could be said that our documents have been interpreted and twisted to serve this oligarchy, and not the Community they were meant to protect and serve.  This Blog, through the past years, has disclosed the self-serving action that our recent past BOD has thrust upon us, and it apparently is continuing with the current BOD.

Word on the most recent BOD Meeting this past week was that call-ins came into the meeting from folks who were not pleased with The Brassie’s food.  Ironically the BOD discussed a $600,000 renovation of The Brassie. What! On a somewhat positive turn, the BOD also discussed a repair of the horrendous roadway at our Community entrance.  Bids for the repair were mentioned. This Blog, for years, has red flagged the entrance. The Blog suggested more asphalt and less pavers as an approach to the fix. This approach was considered by the BOD. Wow! We’ll see. However, a $600,000 capital improvement would certainly be a Resident vote. Can that be expected from past BOD behavior?  Remember what drives The Brassie is golf members and other golfers.  How does the number of these participants compare to the numbers of the whole Community or even Beach Club participants?  Hmm.

The bottom-line appears to be that no change will come to the current situation of how our Community’s funds are spent and how the Community’s infrastructure will be maintained, unless a new set of Board Members are elected who see that the whole Community should be served, and not just a small group that has political control. BTW – two recent past Board Members now sit at the current BOD table and participate, AND appear to vote on matters.  What! The cabal has stacked the BOD with now two additional “De Facto” BOD. The BY-LAWS state seven voted in Directors should make up the BOD, not nine of which the added two were not even voted in.

Board elections will be coming up in the next month. The process is in place within our BY-LAWS, where the Residents can make a change. Those that agree with any of the issues that this Blog has discussed, should communicate among themselves as a fellowship to form a group that sees a different direction for the Aquarina Community to follow. For example,

• Subsidizing the AGI through Resident fees to support the golf cabal is self-serving and can easily lead to collusion and incompetent control, especially with the current non-transparency of AGI detailed financials.
• There needs to be an arms-length relationship between the BOD and The Brassie and Golf.  The best way is to hire, through a selective process, a professional management group to run the Golf Course, and a restaurateur to run The Brassie.
• With an arms-length relationship, a management group would provide a monetary return to Aquarina, and a restaurateur would lease The Brassie building, and provide lease payments to Aquarina. By having this approach, our financial risk is diminished and any culpability by a self-serving BOD is reduced or eliminated.
• The BOD’s time and efforts could then be more directed to the whole Community.

However, we have a democracy, and the Residents have a choice to act for a change or do nothing. Doing nothing to change the current course is acceptance or apathy, though is not apathy acceptance?

BTW – It is totally understood that the Golf Course is a Community asset that requires maintenance and overseeing, especially so, since there is a significant loan that has ongoing payments, though it has been heard that this loan has dropped the course as collateral since Aquarina, as an HOA, has a large enough Residential base with required fees to cover the loan. Now the golfers can play on a loan free course. However, as a business model, the fees to play the course and be a member should absolutely reflect in its fees a contribution to the outstanding loan that the course created.  Do we know that occurs?  We don’t because the itemized financial details of AGI are illegally non-transparent to the Residents. Bottom-line, the golfers enjoy paying less expenses for their enjoyment than actually exist, riding on the financial backs of all the Residents, since the Residents subsidize AGI.

Hello Aquarinans and Neighbors,

PART ONE

It’s been a bit since the last Blog Post, but we have just completed our move to another neighborhood here in Aquarina. I call this neighborhood “ET Village”, since the folks here are social and a sharing group, and there is a sense of a village community.  Being a Resident in Aquarina since 1995, I have probably owned and lived in more neighborhoods here than arguably anyone.  But enough on my update to you, let’s jump into our Aquarina community.

Aquarina can be seen divided into categories with each category tiered into a series of social demographics, i.e. the number of Residents in each tier, the money spent on each tier, and the social events for each tier. For Aquarina, there are four categories, i.e. golf, tennis, beach goers, and the general community. Our Board of Directors (BOD) determines how our funds (through are fees) are allocated to each of these categories.

Of course, we know that golf is always first, which includes the golf course, social events, and The Brassie (apparently all subsidized by the Residents’ funds, that should be for Reserves), tennis follows, with lesser embellished activities, the Beach Club, an afterthought and a suffering category, and finally, the Aquarina Community as a whole, the forgotten category.

The tiers for each of the categories can be seen as follows.

• The golf group (AGI) is the most prominent since it dominates the BOD, spends most of the community’s funds, e.g. golf course improvements, exorbitant salaried positions, and subsidized social events. Its low Resident participation number and high spending causes a disproportional spending per participant, i.e. high. You would think that since AGI is expected to generate revenue to pay its expenses, the spending per the participant should be low. Hmm.
• The tennis group, appears as a more modest and balanced functioning category, i.e. with its apparent reasonable spending per participant.
• The Beach Club category probably is the most Resident used and attended of all our categories, yet its proportional funding is the lowest of the above three categories because of the combination of high Resident participation, its lack of sufficient funding, and, more so, its neglect.
• Finally, we have Aquarina as a whole, where there may be a few scattering of mundane events for the Community and minimal maintenance.  However, the spending per Resident, when combined with the required servicing of our infrastructure (e.g. repairs and reserve funding), and Community events, is abhorrently proportionately the lowest of all the categories because it serves all the Residents, is also under funded, and neglected.

Though you may expect the Beach Club and Aquarina Community as a whole to have the lowest spending for its participants and Residents; the spending on these two categories has been, unfortunately, much lower which has resulted in a lack of maintenance for both these categories, e.g. pavers, roadways, decking, stairs, dune trimming, etc. The irony here is that you would expect the pool of Residents and participants for these two categories, that are enjoyed by the most of the Aquarina Residents, to certainly be provided the sufficient funds to service the neglected needs of these two categories. Instead, specifically golf and AGI tap into these two pools to subsidize their shortfalls in spending. This spending is for a minority of the Residents, i.e. the golfers and their social cabal.

The rankings could be seen as the following.

Spending per category.

1. Golf.
2. Tennis
3. Beach Club
4. Aquarina Community

Social Activities per category.

1. Golf
2. Tennis
3. Beach Club
4. Aquarina Community

Number of Residents per category.

1. Aquarina Community
2. Beach Club
3. Golf
4. Tennis

This seeming inequity can further be complicated by another category that has faded away from discussion, i.e. The Community Pool. Aquarina allegedly received a chunk of money with the Kahama settlement, for some beachfront property. A focus committee for pool design, location, etc. was formed. When was the last time we heard of any information on the pool? Have the received funds been spent? The recent past BOD’s apparent historical reckless and irresponsible use of the Residents’ funds would make you wonder. We certainly should not forget the continued non-transparency with AGI spending and funding. A courageous Resident hired an attorney to gain legal access to the AGI books, which, BTW, is a State Statute Community Right.  AGI is using the Residents’ funds to pay attorneys to fight the release of the detailed financials. How ironic is that! Lastly, CPA Companies, who are expected to certify our financials, come and go at Aquarina. Hmm. CPA’s are ethically required to follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Some suggested solutions to this obvious imbalance in our Aquarina Community shall be coming in a few days as PART II to our discussion.  Until then. . .

I’m still your Aquarina Ombudsman and Advocate.

A time for vigilance, family, and prayer.

There certainly can be joy, for the most part, that we are leaving 2020, and hopes for a much better 2021, where we can strive to return to our past good health and prosperity, compared to what we were given in 2020. Again . . .