Preamble

• Jerry Kafka demands to know the identity of the board member, who he presumes leaked a copy of the FYE2024 budget, at the board meeting held on Thursday, March 23, 2023;
• The board engages an out-of-county general contractor, who reportedly is a relative of Paul Bradley, to build a new guard house, replacing the original one at the intersection of Dune Road and Bridge Road; and
• Why did the board wait to engage a general contractor until this point of the season, when local contractors are the least likely to have available resources to perform the work in time for the Summer season?

My name is Gregory Pichler with the MXB Wire reporting from Studio Toronto and you are watching my update for Friday, April 7, 2023.

Canada

As this is the first time I am broadcasting from the portable studio in Toronto, Ontario, I thought I would take a moment and acquaint you with the Greater Toronto Area. First let's view the Nathan Phillips Square cam. Okay. Looks like we have a few flakes today. That's actually not that unusual for April. Prior to the advent of the Sky Dome, Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto where the Blue Jays play their home games, Major League Baseball opening day was often played in the snow at Exhibition Stadium.

Regarding the Canadian media, the media tends to folow the policy, ABT, or always blame Trump. The botched Afghanistan withdrawl? Trump. Banking Crisis? Trump. The Truckers protests in Ottawa? Trump. The second global Ice Age that occurred 12,800 year ago? Trump.

the board meeting held on Thursday, March 23, 2023

The board held a board meeting on Thursday, March 23, 2023. [1] Over the course of the meeting, Jerry Kafka reported on the Association financial situation. Kafka announced that he anticipates that the Association will realize a surplus in the amount of 75,000.00 dollars or thereabouts. Kafka largely attributes the surplus to the work that Bradley's law firm is performing on behalf of the association. Kafka stated that the final financial reports will not be available until September, 2023, when the Association receives the financial reports from the Association's staff Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Kafka also reported that the financial transition between property management firms is proceeding "well".

Association President, Paul Bradley, announced under the heading of Unfinished Business, that the board approved a budget, that the board distributed a summary of the budget and that the board presented a summary of the budget at a virtual town hall function, all according to Delaware statute (e.g., DUCIOA). [1] Bradley further announced that a vote on the assessment will be held at the community meeting now schedule for Saturday, May 6, 2023.

Jerry Kafka stated that despite following the Delaware statute that a member of the community reported being in possession of the FYE2024 budget. Kafka further stated that the only way a member of the community could come into possession of the FYE2024 budget was that a member of the board leaked a copy of the budget to a member of the community. Kafka further stated that some of the figures that were discussed in social media and in e-mail message chains were erroneous, reiterating what he stated in the virtual town hall meeting on Thursday, May 16, 2023. Kafka further stated that Geoff Sella "admitted" to the wrong doing.

Editor's note: I recall the opposite. I recall Geoff Sella stating that he understood the board had approved of a line item worth 120,000.00 over the course of a past board meeting. [2] If the error that Kafka references is the contract labor portion of the expense in the amount of 95,000.00 dollars compared to Sella's take away of the 120,000.00 dollar figure, then I fail to see the significance of such an error. Whether the drainage ditch work totals 120,000.00 or only 95,000.00 dollars, it is still a significant expense for the community to be absorbing year after year. Further, both men may be correct. The contract labor portion of the expense may indeed be 95,000.00 which constitutes one component of the total cost of the work and that when you add up all of the components associated with the drainage ditch work, the total figure may be 120,000.00 dollars or thereabouts. Kafka never clarifies how the figures advanced by the two men differ.

This is perhaps the best reason yet as to why we need a transcript of the meeting published for all to see and why such material should not strictly be the domain of the members of the board only. As Chris Powers touched on in her remarks at the virtual town hall meeting held on Thursday, March 16, 2023, it is called transparency and it is sorely lacking in the Home Owners Association. It is this very strategy of obfuscation routinely orchestrated by the board that is the mechanism by which the board applies to control the public discourse.

Kafka further stated that during the virtual town hall meeting that there were allegations that past drainage ditch work was an "experiment" and that ultimately community member, Joe Woolman "'fessed up" that the characterization that past drainage ditch work being an experiment was his words and not the words from the lips of a board member.

Editor's note: Again, I recall the opposite. I recall Joe Woolman stating that he lifted the term, test, from the minutes of a past board meeting.

Kafka further stated that the leak caused considerable "mischief" in that the owners of approximately 200 properties—the ones who did not attend the virtual town hall—were in his mind left in the dark with erroneous information. Kafka further stated, that the leak was the one of the "worst things that could happen to a board".

Kafka then raised his hand to state unequivocally that he was not the source of the leak. Kafka then proceeded to invite each member of the board to make the same unequivocal statement as to whether the member leaked the document or not, effectively kicking off a proverbial witch hunt.

Nora Alter was one of the first to attest that she did not leak a copy of the FYE2024 document. Alter not only affirmed she did not leak the document at the outset, but also Alter repeated the pledge on three separate occasions for emphasis.

Don Deraska stated that the board discussed the contentious line item in open forum and that any one of the members on the call could have ran with the figure the board was deliberating on. Deraska further admonished members of the board that given the contentious debate over the line item in the budget by the various board members that the board should have polled the community prior to approving a budget as David Wiecking had suggested in an earlier board meeting.

Kafka stated that confidential material of this nature must be kept confidential as the staff lawyer, Mary Scheider-Fox, had advised the board. Kafka then pointed out that Deraska did not offer a denial that he had leaked a copy of the FYE2024 budget to a member of the community.

Deraska to his credit refused to engage in Kafka's witch hunt, stating he would not respond to Kafka's demands.

As Bradley asked the board to move on to the next item in the agenda, Holly Fluty-Dempsy weighed in, challenging the members of the board as to why the board was not discussing the objections raised by the community at the virtual town hall conference hall. Bradley answered Fluty-Dempsy, stating that the budget had been passed by the board and now it was up to the community whether to affirm the budget or vote it down.

Fluty-Dempsy referenced a section out of a report published by DNREC on the MXB water retention, citing areas, including soil permability, that the Association omitted addressing in any of the Association's communication with DNREC. Fluty-Dempsy further stated that there is no urgency in proceeding with the drainage ditch work. Fluty-Dempsy further stated that the Association is comprised of "thoughful" members, who are sensitive to the needs of the community. Fluty-Dempsy stated that in her opinion the audience at the virtual town hall conference call were asking the board to take a "pause". Fluty-Dempsy further stated that the proposed work on Addy Road would effect in the order of fifty trees and that the landscaping committee should be consulted and a professional, third party opinion should be solicited.

Deraska urged the board to survey the community to gather their wishes.

Kafka refuted the usefulness of a survey, stating if the survey does not achieve 100% participation then it is of little value. In effect Kafka was stating that only a census that polls all of the members would suffice.

Editor's note: Is not the vote on the budget at a community meeting not effectively a census? I guess that is Kafka's point. I guess he is saying that only a community meeting can validate the pulse of the community.

The point of a survey is to get a pulse of the attitudes of a population to a degree of confidence. A survey that is accurate to plus or minus 5% is largely regarded as an accurate barimeter of what a population thinks about a survey topic, provided the participants of the survey are not bias in one way or another. In the case of the town hall meeting the population is biased and skewed to property owners, who are actively involved in the community.

Bradley stated that should the budget be voted down, the Association will revert to the budget that was approved last year, e.g., the FYE2023 budget.

Prior to moving on to the agenda item, trash enclosures, Don Deraska stated that he was "disappointed" that the board is electing not to conduct a survey of the community to determine the community's wishes on the contentious topic of further drainage ditch work. Deraska stated that not only does the board have fudiciary responsibility to the community, but also the board has an obligation to "listen" to the constituency. In closing Deraska acquiesced to Kafka demands and volunteered in open forum that he, too, did not leak a copy of the document at issue.

Bradley interjected that Deraska was welcome to draft a survey, present the survey to the board and bring a motion to the board at the next board meeting—now scheduled for Saturday, April 15, 2023—to proctor the survey to the membership.

analysis

What became clear at the meeting is that Jerry Kafka is mad. Kafka is very angry that in his mind, someone on the board leaked a copy of the FYE2024 budget to the community.

Why is Kafka so mad? The 2021 board invited Kafka to coordinate the Comcast broadband initiative at the community—an initiative that despite the broadband service running into the plumbing of the foot washers at the end of each common walkway, went off reasonably well. Later that year, the board presumably invited Kafka to run for a positon on the board and presumably with the help of proxy ballots being directed towards Kafka by the proxy ballot holders, Kafka won a seat on the board.

The episode with the alleged leak, is not the first time Kafka has been upset. In the Fall of 2022 Kafka reportedly threatened to quit as a board member.

Kafka is clearly getting overwhelmed by the weeds of his argument—a belief on Kafka's part that the DUCIOA protocol was violated by a number of "mischievous" members of the Association and Kafka's naive presumption that had the protocol been properly executed in the absence of such mischief, the board would have easily skated off the ice with the Stanley Cup in hand, e.g., a majority vote affirming the FYE2024 budget. When in reality the argument turns on the degree of confidence a small number of active members of the community—who question the effectiveness of the current approach towards water management—have towards the board regardless of whether any confidential material was breached or otherwise. The fact that one or two members on the conference call on Thursday, March 16, 2023 quietly agree with the current approach towards drainage ditch work and the importance of such work, the vast majority of vocal participants clearly objected to the prospect of a large portion of their assessment being directed towards an endevour that—in their minds—has questionable merit.

If the assessment is affirmed that does not necessarily mean the community agrees with the five members of the board who advanced this particular budget. Far from it. In that scenario the board would be confusing apathy with agreement. The vast majority of property owners are not actively involved in the conversation nor wish to be. These members trust the powers that be to do the right thing. When presented with a proxy ballot with board letterhead to approve a budget, they will in all likelihood simply mark to affirm, sign, and mail the proxy back to the property management company like they have always done.

The board hires an out-of-county general contractor to rebuild the guard shack

analysis

Closing

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Finally, I wish you a peaceful sky wherever you are and have a great time.

References