Aquarina Townhall Blog

But first, here is a glimpse of fall in Western Pennsylvania to encourage you for cooler weather coming.

The Board cabal continues with its manipulation of the Aquarina Residents. As this Blog has commented, a group of self-minded folks, i.e. the core Board and its acolytes and disciples, or the cabal, have hijacked Aquarina from its body of Residents to foist their own agenda on the community, with no whole community participation. Rather than first acting in a fiduciary and responsible manner, the Board makes its own determinations on what is best for it and their followers rather than what may be best for the whole community. The examples of this behavior are plentiful, e.g. the changing of the gym location, the renovation of the Administration Building to accommodate this change, the upgrading and re-building of the Golf Maintenance Yard, the refusal to be transparent with the finances of the AGI businesses, and now using the Residents’ funds for attorneys to defend not releasing the AGI data per State Statute, the renovation of the Community Club House, the re-building of the golf greens and the golf bunkers, the creation of a well and well irrigation system for the golf course, which has resulted in the Residents’ potable water rates to increase; the list goes on. How much input did the Residents have on these expenditures? Was there a democratic process put in place to discuss these projects and expenditures as a whole community, or did they just happen before our eyes without any disclosures to the Residents?

About a month ago, the Residents were emailed a survey to complete, which allegedly would provide the sense of the community on specific scenarios, as decided by the cabal Board. How nice of the Board to now include the Residents in what’s best for Aquarina, the appeasement. Interestingly, the survey was assembled in a manner where it had to be completed to be viewed, and then it was sent off at its completion to the Sender, the Board. Why so kept and secretive? No word yet has occurred on the results of this survey after over a month. Would the Board release the results to the Residents if these results were not in agreement with the Board’s agenda. With past Board behavior, can these results, if released, be counted on to be true? Hmm. Proper community surveys, especially with the current Board’s prejudiced politics in Aquarina, should be handled and tallied by an outside entity, e.g. an accounting firm, to ensure its accuracy and for it to be unbiased. Even better, and more democratically, the survey results from each Aquarina neighborhood could be sent directly to their respective Boards , and then counted up by each Board. A representative with the survey votes from each of these neighborhoods could then attend a Aquarina General Meeting of all representatives, where a final tally would be determine. That would be full transparency with no possible collusion.

. . . and then there is the community pool. Years ago, a nefarious developer, which could be argued, the present Board has virtually replaced as exemplified by the Board’s actions, took away a very nice Beach Clubhouse, including a restaurant, a pool, and a cabana area to sell off the lots where the Beach Clubhouse stood. The Residents were outraged, at the time, the developer controlled Aquarina. Ironically, today the whole of the Residents are supposed to control Aquarina. Do they? As you may know, the Aquarina Community, after a near decade legal imbroglio, supposedly acquired about $300,000 from the net sale of an ocean lot it had owned. Have those new found funds been disclosed? A past Board president, at the time of Aquarina’s ownership of this lot, asked me to do a market analysis as to the lot’s value. We, again, supposedly received the funds from this sale, and a discussion resurrected about a community pool being built as a result of the sale. Enthusiasm from the Residents began bubbling, and the Board participated by forming a pool committee to explore pool construction, yet another appeasement.

As would be expected, the Board cabal directed the committee what it wanted, i.e. basically a wading pool for partying, with a snack bar, expansive decking, a fire pit, restrooms, etc. The estimated price came to about $750,000. What about the Residents that may want a pool for recreation and exercise for a far lesser cost? The pool committee and any discussion from the Board has now gone dark. Hmm.

BTW – the heartily announced Halloween Party has been cancelled with no explanation. Maybe there is hearsay on the street why it was cancelled, but nothing official to the Residents. Hmm.

Again, Aquarina has a Board that does what it wants, since they know that any recourse from the Aquarina community will be silent.

USA

If you read the ACSA, i.e. the Board, email blasts to the Residents, you have been getting COVID-19 updates from the “COVID-19 Task Force”, which you may think had been federally appointed the way it is touted by the Board. Other than mixed updates, and cut and pasted information from the media, it has been harmless and somewhat informative. We did receive a notice that a Resident was being tested for the Virus, and who was eventually cleared.  A sign had been posted recently that golf cart service would not be available because of COVID-19, with no further explanation, which was not good. Now we are told that a golf maintenance worker tested positive for COVID-19, which certainly is not good, and we wish this individual a speedy recovery. More so, wouldn’t you think there be a follow up that a quarantine would be put in place for the entire Maintenance Crew, while they are waiting their test results?  No mention was made about a quarantine while test results were underway for determined infection or not.  After all, the crew is daily circling through the whole community tending the golf course.  They’re around my home every day. Yikes!

Here’s what we were told:

“The purpose of this newsletter is to inform you that an AGI employee and member of our golf course maintenance crew has unfortunately tested positive for COVID19.  Upon experiencing symptoms this employee followed our protocols, did not come to work and notified the manager immediately. This employee then sought medical attention and was tested. 

Once an employee has tested positive, the next step in our protocol is to test the entire work group.  This process is currently being followed with the golf maintenance team. Any employee with COVID19 is required to test negative before returning to work. These same protocols will be followed for any AGI employee and their work groups, if necessary.”

There could be explanations why we did not hear about any quarantine follow up after the COVID-19 disclosure, but I won’t even go there. It appears that when the golf course may have concerns and issues, a self-serving disclosure is warranted and no more. Certainly, further information and clarification to the community should be expected, when a member of a somewhat closed group that circulates our community has been infected in a climate of health uncertainty.  A quarantine of the entire Maintenance Crew should be put in place while testing is being completed and results determined.  The dates of the sequence of the COVID-19 occurrence should have been disclosed with a quarantine established for the crew until all were tested and results known. The email did not make clear that this even happened. We have the Maintenance Crew working through the Community waiting for test results? Yikes again!

Where’s the “COVID-19 Task Force” stand on quarantines to protect the Residents?  Hmm.

Per Florida Statutes, when an HOA adds or changes amenities, there should be Community input. These Statutes have been and are typically ignored with our past and current Board. The Statutes provide the HOA Resident members to certainly have a say when the amenities in their community, for which they pay and use on a regular basis, will be added to, or changed. Folks are drawn to a community because of its amenities.  It does make sense for a cabal of Residents, who do not necessarily act for the WHOLE community, to have control of the amenities for its personal pleasure.

The currently Board discussed Community Pool, which was intended to come after the Kahama VII settlement, where up to $350,000 was paid to the ACSA, has become a boondoggle of wants by the current cabal Board.  A pool design now being considered is directed more to a wading and party pool with pool water depth from 3.5 feet to 5 feet. Those who may consider swimming as more important than wading and partying will not see this pool as very accommodating. But are we surprised?  The proposed price floor for this considered pool is at about $.75 M with it rising to $1M very rapidly with the cabal wants, e.g. covered porch areas for snack bars, cooking areas, and preparation areas for future barbecues, maybe a hot tub, and a fire pit.

The $350,000 allotment for a practical and usable pool for the whole Community could grow to a price of nearly $1M when a pool and the pool entertainment areas are added. Added BTW, for the partying cabal, and not for all of us. Trust me, folks, watch for an assessment coming to pay for this extravagance, if it’s decided this is the direction the cabal will choose. Remember, our dying Community Entrance, our languishing roads, the never completed and negligently maintained Beach Club, and our underfunded Reserves? The cabal mantra is to ignore and neglect the amenities in which they, the cabal, do not have an interest, and spend anew the Residents’ funds on what they, the cabal selfishly want.

There should be a democratic process in an HOA, which provides for a fair approach to present possible pool plans to the Community, and have the Community vote on a pool plan that the Residents prefer. The pieces of this democratic process could be as follows.

1. The Presidents of each of the neighborhoods would be notified by the Board to have each neighborhood take a poll, maybe through a meeting or correspondence, to comment on Board proposed pools and each neighborhood would come up with a majority voted selection and comments.
2. The represented Presidents of each neighborhood and the Board would then have a round table discussion to derive a common consensus from the WHOLE community on what type of pool and what kind amenities would accompany the pool area.
3. Maybe three renditions of a pool could be done, including description, cost, and any assessment, to be seen in the Community Club House. A mail in vote, similar to the Proxy Mailing, could be sent to the pool committee for a tally on a pool selection.

All this may seem arduous, but we are speaking of maybe a nearly $1,000,000 expense with added costs for daily maintenance. The WHOLE Community needs to participate! Do we want this possible huge financial commitment made by a cabal of Residents, who have their own agenda to serve, which has been continually thrust on the Community these past several years?  A thinkable $1,000,000 plus expenditure deserves an unfettered democratic process.  We All deserve to have a vote and an opportunity to have a voice on this event.

BTW – if you want to see a practical and very usable pool design, look at the current pool for the Blue Heron, Egret Trace, and Spoonbill neighborhoods. It’s very accommodating for wading AND swimming with basic and cost effective amenities.  A larger version of this design would be worth considering.  It has been a viable and well accepted pool and pool area for decades, and cost effective.

Shouldn’t the WHOLE Community and all its Residents have a say on what kind of pool Aquarina will have?  Shouldn’t there be a process put in place where all the residents have an opportunity to be heard?

At this juncture, in this Blog’s continuous commentary on our Aquarina community, we all know that there are basically two descriptive groups of Residents, they are the social cabal of golfers and their following, and the rest of us, who are not part of this fraternity. Normally, in a community like Aquarina, where varied activities are offered, e.g. golf, tennis, beach, river, etc., it would be expected that social groups emerge from each of these recreational offerings.  However, in Aquarina, the golf group has selfishly taken over the control of the community through the Board of Directors and its cabal following, who in turn have used, in large part, the finances for their own purposes, and have decided what Aquarina will become.

An active community like Aquarina, with all its amenities, requires prudence with both its maintenance for these amenities and an accumulation of reserves to eventually repair and possibly replace these amenities. This is not happening in Aquarina as it should. Why? There are several reasons. They are:

• AGI (Aquarina Golf, Inc.), an entity that the Residents fund, soaks up $100’s of thousands of dollars annually for the golf course operation, the Brassie Grille, the tennis operation, and countless social events. There is no transparency of accounting for these AGI expenses that show specifically how these expenses are derived. Having a Board of Directors controlling these expenses with no transparency certainly opens up the possibility of collusion and begs the question – what are you hiding? It’s our money!
• State Statutes spell out that Residents of an HOA are owed and have the right to access and see how every penny of their funds are spent. We are told by the Board, and specifically, the recent past Board President, that there is no obligation to show the Residents the spending of their funds with AGI – What?! A Resident has filed a lawsuit to gain access to the specific spending. This recent past Board President is fighting against this request. The attorney(s) costs to defend this refusal of transparency is being paid by the Residents’ funds.  Again, What?!
• An HOA Board has the fiduciary responsibility to be far-sighted with the Residents’ funds. It seems reasonable that a prioritized schedule of community items would be addressed, e.g. first, pay all financial obligations, and second, provide funds to keep up maintenance, repair, and replacement matters for infrastructure, buildings, and amenities, etc.  Have you noticed how OUR golf course has been embellished rather than maintained?  $100’s of thousands of Residents’ dollars have been spent on these embellishments on a money losing golf course operation.  This discretionary spending has eaten up our reserve funds that are meant to be used for more dire needs, e.g. the Aquarina entrance and for beach club maintenance, where the whole community benefits.
• The Kahama beach property settlement was to provide funding for a community pool.  Can we trust the current Board to use those funds for a community pool based on the Board’s reckless use of the Residents’ funds on embellishments for the golf course, e.g. new white sand bunkers, a new golf equipment wash station, a renovated maintenance yard, an irrigation well, and rebuilt tee boxes? What say did the community have in these new golf amenities?  

The hopeful community pool should be a project where the whole Aquarina community has input. Sure, there should be a committee to come with pool designs and costs.  However, these findings should also be presented to the community to decide on what kind of pool should be built. Costs and renderings of the choices need to be presented to the Residents for comments for a voted decision. After all, we’re looking at a $350,000 to $400,000 expense; money that should already be in the Aquarina bank account to spend.

Email communication on the pool process should be provided to all the Residents with full transparency for full participation in making a pool choice. Will it happen? Not based on previous spending decisions, but community participation should start now.

• Folks, the Board needs to oversee and practice its fiduciary responsibility with our funds, and not develop the community to its selfish desires. Development or changes to Aquarina are a full community decision, and not a Board cabal decision. The Board should interview professionals to run The Brassie Grille, the tennis facility, and certainly the golf course. There are self-serving and collusion temptations, which allegedly may have already occurred, with these AGI businesses. I am sure there are professional companies and/or individuals that run tennis facilities, golf courses, and restaurants, who would pay a fee to and/or rent from our HOA, for the use of these AGI business amenities. Have the professionals run the risk of loss or not from operating these AGI businesses, not the Residents. The Aquarina HOA can then collect rent and fees, rather than struggle and lose money with these businesses, which has been continually happening, at the Residents’ expense.

However, there is a choice for the current Board, either to release its hands from the Residents’ funds and AGI, forego the choice to selfishly spend these funds, and rather provide engagement to the Residents, where funds could be spent democratically for the whole community, OR continue what we have now, a selfish cabal with its own agenda, and not a community agenda, where the community, as a whole, is neglected.  Will there be a Board morality to decide serving all, or will there be a selfish continuation of deciding to serve the cabal leadership as Board henchmen?