- Joined
- Jan 8, 2012
- Messages
- 3,449
- Reaction score
- 1,925
- Points
- 398
- Location
- San Diego
- Resorts Owned
- Sands of Kahana, Desert Springs I, DSV2, Shadow Ridge Enclaves Dlx
The annual election for the board of directors will occur later in October.
There are a number of owners who want better representation on the board. Right now, there is (as far as I know) only one real owner on the board but he is more of a figurehead and is not active in meetings (if/when) held.
There are four people running for the three positions this year. Two of them work for AS-NY (the parent company of the management company, So-leil). The third has (at least in the past) provided the insurance for the Sands. All of them tout that they are owners. But I've read that they were given their timeshares in order to qualify them to run for the BOD (I don't know that as an absolute fact but I've read it numerous times).
So - - this year's election shenanigans? First, I received an email from the Vacation club alerting me that I "You will be receiving a large white envelope marked Sands of Kahana with a read stripe that contains a letter and a Proxy in connection with the upcoming director election. If you are not able to attend the meeting, please complete the Proxy and either fax it, email it or mail it using the postage-paid envelope enclosed in the packet." But for those that didn't catch it, the Proxy assigns all of the possible BOD votes to the vacation club to assign as THEY SEE FIT. I was told that they always assign the proxy assignment votes to the incumbents. Next, I received a ROBO call that said about the same thing. But neither of them said anything about actually voting for one or more of the four candidates. Then I opened today's mail and find the "real" ballot (you know, the one with candidate names that you can select). It came in a non-descript small envelope. Inside I found the ballot that is a "self-mailer". An owner is supposed to vote, sign and than fold it **** and send it back. I put asterisks because there is no mention on whether it is necessary to seal it, or exactly HOW it is supposed to be sealed. The USPS has lengthy and confusing directions on how to seal a self-mailer. I think that if a person seals it on the long dimension of the self-mailer that it is unacceptable and may result in it getting stuck somewhere. But as I said, it is confusing. So for the real ballot, we are given a only a single sheet self-mailer. For the proxy assignment to the vacation club, it includes a real post-paid envelope (inside the flashy white and red large envelope).
So, the fourth candidate is Bruce Rogers. He bought his timeshare on ebay. He doesn't work for So-leil, AS-NY or have any conflict-of-interest. To be fair, the Sands has made a bunch of improvements recently - - but only after receiving year-over-year criticism from the Sands of Kahana Concerned Owners group (not affiliated with So-leil, AS-NY). (You can register for the SOKCO and get periodic updates from SOKCO.info ) But I think that the credit for the recent improvements probably goes more to the on-island management than the board. I've read reports that it is typical at the BOD annual meeting that several of the board member don't show up. And I've read that when owners have asked for board minutes that they were told that there weren't any recent board meetings. So, my personal belief is that the board is only there for show and that they really aren't guiding things or reviewing the activities and expenses made by the management company.
I think that some of the issues that the Board of Directors should address (and require the management company to fix) include:
1. Beach erosion, mitigation and repair. Plus info on whether or not there are adequate reserves or if it will be funded by yet another special assessment.
2. Use of the pool, spa, BBQ grills, and other on-site facilities by non-owners (probably locals)
3. Use of the underground parking by workers, non-residents and non-guests.
4. Challenges in reserving back-to-back weeks for multi-week owners
5. Improved communications and responsiveness to questions asked of the board (I have sent emails to the board and have never received a single response and I know of others who also think that the board should be more responsive.)
6. Additional steps that maintenance and the pest control company should take to further reduce the rodent and rat issue. They have taken several steps and the rat issue is down but it hasn't disappeared. When I was in unit 482 in April, I saw rodent feces and urine residue under the kitchen sink and a hole chewed through the drywall by a faucet shutoff. I plugged the hole with a wad of paper towel to help determine if the signs of the rodents were old or new. The next morning the paper towel was shredded and most was pushed out. So that told me that the signs were fresh signs. To the credit of maintenance and the pest control company, they plastered up the hole, repainted it and left some glue traps. One thing that could be done but hasn't been done is to have screens on ALL windows. Right now there are windows that can open (and probably are left open because of the lack of Air conditioning) but are not screened.
6. "Straight" and additional communication about the special assessment for the recent remodeling. The fact that we will have two or three years of special assessments suggest to me that the Sands has been underfunding their furniture reserve. I have read comments on the SOKCO facebook site by owners confused why they are being assessed for furniture when there is a reserve fee. If the board/mgmt company feels that they are funding the reserves adequately, then they should communicate why we need this multi-year special assessment.
So, if you are an SOK owner, be sure to vote using the non-descript self-mailer ballot that needs to be folded AND sealed on the short ends, and ignore and toss the white and red envelope that encourages you to assign your votes to the vacation club to vote AS THEY SEE FIT. I would like you to vote for Bruce Rogers, but please vote your real ballot for whoever you think will do the best job. Toss the proxy assignment document. Also, FYI, there are three open positions and you can give all of your votes to a single individual if you choose.
Mahalo,
Bruce
There are a number of owners who want better representation on the board. Right now, there is (as far as I know) only one real owner on the board but he is more of a figurehead and is not active in meetings (if/when) held.
There are four people running for the three positions this year. Two of them work for AS-NY (the parent company of the management company, So-leil). The third has (at least in the past) provided the insurance for the Sands. All of them tout that they are owners. But I've read that they were given their timeshares in order to qualify them to run for the BOD (I don't know that as an absolute fact but I've read it numerous times).
So - - this year's election shenanigans? First, I received an email from the Vacation club alerting me that I "You will be receiving a large white envelope marked Sands of Kahana with a read stripe that contains a letter and a Proxy in connection with the upcoming director election. If you are not able to attend the meeting, please complete the Proxy and either fax it, email it or mail it using the postage-paid envelope enclosed in the packet." But for those that didn't catch it, the Proxy assigns all of the possible BOD votes to the vacation club to assign as THEY SEE FIT. I was told that they always assign the proxy assignment votes to the incumbents. Next, I received a ROBO call that said about the same thing. But neither of them said anything about actually voting for one or more of the four candidates. Then I opened today's mail and find the "real" ballot (you know, the one with candidate names that you can select). It came in a non-descript small envelope. Inside I found the ballot that is a "self-mailer". An owner is supposed to vote, sign and than fold it **** and send it back. I put asterisks because there is no mention on whether it is necessary to seal it, or exactly HOW it is supposed to be sealed. The USPS has lengthy and confusing directions on how to seal a self-mailer. I think that if a person seals it on the long dimension of the self-mailer that it is unacceptable and may result in it getting stuck somewhere. But as I said, it is confusing. So for the real ballot, we are given a only a single sheet self-mailer. For the proxy assignment to the vacation club, it includes a real post-paid envelope (inside the flashy white and red large envelope).
So, the fourth candidate is Bruce Rogers. He bought his timeshare on ebay. He doesn't work for So-leil, AS-NY or have any conflict-of-interest. To be fair, the Sands has made a bunch of improvements recently - - but only after receiving year-over-year criticism from the Sands of Kahana Concerned Owners group (not affiliated with So-leil, AS-NY). (You can register for the SOKCO and get periodic updates from SOKCO.info ) But I think that the credit for the recent improvements probably goes more to the on-island management than the board. I've read reports that it is typical at the BOD annual meeting that several of the board member don't show up. And I've read that when owners have asked for board minutes that they were told that there weren't any recent board meetings. So, my personal belief is that the board is only there for show and that they really aren't guiding things or reviewing the activities and expenses made by the management company.
I think that some of the issues that the Board of Directors should address (and require the management company to fix) include:
1. Beach erosion, mitigation and repair. Plus info on whether or not there are adequate reserves or if it will be funded by yet another special assessment.
2. Use of the pool, spa, BBQ grills, and other on-site facilities by non-owners (probably locals)
3. Use of the underground parking by workers, non-residents and non-guests.
4. Challenges in reserving back-to-back weeks for multi-week owners
5. Improved communications and responsiveness to questions asked of the board (I have sent emails to the board and have never received a single response and I know of others who also think that the board should be more responsive.)
6. Additional steps that maintenance and the pest control company should take to further reduce the rodent and rat issue. They have taken several steps and the rat issue is down but it hasn't disappeared. When I was in unit 482 in April, I saw rodent feces and urine residue under the kitchen sink and a hole chewed through the drywall by a faucet shutoff. I plugged the hole with a wad of paper towel to help determine if the signs of the rodents were old or new. The next morning the paper towel was shredded and most was pushed out. So that told me that the signs were fresh signs. To the credit of maintenance and the pest control company, they plastered up the hole, repainted it and left some glue traps. One thing that could be done but hasn't been done is to have screens on ALL windows. Right now there are windows that can open (and probably are left open because of the lack of Air conditioning) but are not screened.
6. "Straight" and additional communication about the special assessment for the recent remodeling. The fact that we will have two or three years of special assessments suggest to me that the Sands has been underfunding their furniture reserve. I have read comments on the SOKCO facebook site by owners confused why they are being assessed for furniture when there is a reserve fee. If the board/mgmt company feels that they are funding the reserves adequately, then they should communicate why we need this multi-year special assessment.
So, if you are an SOK owner, be sure to vote using the non-descript self-mailer ballot that needs to be folded AND sealed on the short ends, and ignore and toss the white and red envelope that encourages you to assign your votes to the vacation club to vote AS THEY SEE FIT. I would like you to vote for Bruce Rogers, but please vote your real ballot for whoever you think will do the best job. Toss the proxy assignment document. Also, FYI, there are three open positions and you can give all of your votes to a single individual if you choose.
Mahalo,
Bruce
