“It’s time for a change and I am running for the HOA board to represent you and your interests. The goals are simple: enhance property values, reduce fees, promote financial transparency, and manage assessments responsibly.” ~ Drew McManus
GETTING BACK ON TRACK
THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP
While it’s essential to acknowledge the efforts of any leadership, it is equally crucial to address concerns when they arise. This process creates a culture of good decision-making, accountability, and progress that leads to higher property values and an even higher quality of life.
Under the leadership of Board President Scott Timmerman, fees have skyrocketed, our property values have lagged, and our community has witnessed the most punitive rules changes in over a decade.
Replacing Timmerman and any of his leadership team and current committee chair picks ensures our community is led by individuals with sound judgement and high ethical standards.
GET EMPOWERED!
Here’s How You Can Make A Difference
VOTE!
There are two goals:
- Elect members that respect the rights of owners and support transparency.
- Withhold your vote for Scott Timmerman and any member of his leadership team overseeing projects or serving as current committee chairs.
Talk to your neighbors.
Encourage them to participate in the HOA election process.
By casting their votes, they have a direct say in the decision-making processes of our community and can hold the current leadership accountable.
COMMITMENT
Platform
As a board member, I will work toward the following goals:
I recognize that assessment increases can be a significant concern for homeowners. I will work to minimize the financial burden on homeowners while maintaining our community’s overall quality. This can be accomplished without concerns about underfunding our reserves by replacing outdated financial systems and implementing standard operational efficiency best practices. These measures alone can potentially reduce our assessments by up to 10%.
Several factors contribute to the challenges of securing loans for this building, including policies set by the board. By reversing punitive rules and enhancing owner relationships, we can reduce lawsuits. Taking action to clarify the business-to-residential ratio calculation and launching a comprehensive communication campaign with lenders will help improve the building’s reputation and make it more attractive for loans.
The process employed in the past year to revise our House Rules was marred by leadership issues. This led to a lack of transparency for owners and a failure by the Association to comply with the Illinois Condominium Property Act’s notification requirements.
I endorse the refunding of late fees imposed on all owners for assessment payments made since May 2023, and the immediate suspension of the current fee rule. We should initiate a thorough review and approval process that aligns with the Illinois Condominium Property Act.
*I commit to refraining from seeking any refund, serving as a demonstration of the ethical standards that board members should uphold.
The Association currently relies on a complex and outdated network of spreadsheet formulas to monitor transactions exceeding $12 million annually. Transitioning to a contemporary accounting system promises not only a reduction in human error but also a comprehensive automation of assessment invoicing, enhancing the security of payment options for owners, and delivering the crucial financial dashboarding tools we urgently require.
Our existing platform falls significantly short, preventing us from accurately reporting monthly discrepancies when expenses or revenue deviate from projections. This fundamental financial safeguard remains out of reach.
The upgrade to our platform will yield significant benefits, saving countless staff hours, establishing open data connectivity to enhance financial oversight, and greatly improving the invoicing experience for owners.
Having a secure digital voting method for Homeowners’ Associations (HOAs) is of paramount importance in today’s digital age. It not only enhances convenience but also safeguards the integrity of the decision-making process within these communities. Traditional paper-based voting can be cumbersome, prone to errors, and often limits participation to those physically present at meetings.
In contrast, a secure digital voting system allows HOA members to cast their votes from the comfort of their homes, increasing participation and ensuring that a broader range of voices is heard. Furthermore, a well-protected digital platform can significantly reduce the risk of fraud, tampering, or other irregularities, instilling trust in the HOA’s governance and fostering a stronger sense of community engagement. Overall, a secure digital voting method empowers HOAs to make informed decisions efficiently and transparently, benefiting both the association and its residents.
The current Board President, Scott Timmerman, has been firmly against secure digital voting for his entire time on the board.
In the last ten years, the board leadership has actively worked to sideline the voices of property owners. They’ve even taken measures to restrict owners from speaking at board meetings and have limited communication to just the board president, who does not believe it’s their duty to convey your concerns to the entire board. I want to reverse all of those policies and reestablish meaningful communication.
You deserve to know how your HOA fees are being spent. I will advocate for greater financial transparency, ensuring that financial statements, budgets, and expenditures are readily available to homeowners. I will advocate for active communication with owners and seek your input on major financial decisions affecting our community.
Presently, the board is endorsing the Sudler Automated Clearing House (ACH) solution, SNAPP. However, this payment method falls short in providing even the most fundamental consumer protections and does not align with the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA). Unlike common online transactions, Sudler does not furnish owners with essential Terms of Use outlining their EFTA protections, which are typically encountered when making online credit card payments, signing up for social media accounts, or conducting transactions with online retailers.
Instead, owners are compelled to grant the Association sweeping authority to debit any sum of money from their bank account as long as it appears on their statement. Notably, participants’ bank account details are stored on the very server that was compromised during a Ransomware attack in 2022. Owners rightfully expect to have the same level of consumer protections for their HOA-related payments as they do for any other online or electronic financial transaction.
Upgrading our accounting platform to a reputable provider would solve this problem automatically.
I am committed to fostering transparency, fairness, and accountability in our community. One of my top priorities is to eliminate cronyism and single-source contracts within our association. Cronyism erodes trust and can lead to decisions that do not benefit the community as a whole. I believe in promoting a level playing field where all qualified vendors have an opportunity to provide their services to our association and enacting ethics policies will reduce the potential for lawsuits.
I recognize the importance of open communication and unbiased decision-making within our community. One crucial step towards achieving this goal is the implementation of owner surveys that are truly unbiased. The few surveys owners receive are riddled with bias and I am committed to ensuring that owner surveys are designed and executed with transparency and objectivity as top priorities. This means that survey questions will be carefully crafted to avoid leading or biased language, and the survey process will be open to scrutiny to maintain its integrity.
Rules of Governance, such as Robert’s Rules, were developed to ensure that meetings are fair, efficient, democratic, and orderly. Skilled chairpersons allow all members to voice their opinions in an orderly manner so that everyone in the meeting can hear and be heard.
They promote transparency, help prevent abuse, and keep our collective investment safe and secure. Currently, our Association maintains no formal adopted rules of order and instead, provides unlimited authority to the President to operate using executive orders free from accountability or oversight. Pledge signatories agree to present and/or support motions to make Robert’s Rules of Order the Association’s official rules of order and vote for leadership who support this policy.
The current Board President, Scott Timmerman, remains firmly against any effort to institute even the most basic governance rules of order. In all of my years as a nonprofit governance expert, I have never seen board leadership resist these efforts.
At present, committee chairs are designated by the President, who then handpicks members. Entire ad hoc committees can be formed by the president without any notice given to owners or the full board.
This procedure enables the Board President to establish committees in secret, often without informing the entire board. This practice has occurred on numerous occasions, spanning from our most crucial providers to lower-budget matters.
As a board member, I am committed to presenting and endorsing motions to formalize the process of committee formation through a majority vote of directors. This approach ensures transparency and collective decision-making in committee assignments.
I support a House Rule requiring officers to reside at 175 E Delaware PL as their primary residence. If their residence changes outside of 175 E Delaware PL a new president will be voted to succeed the departing president as soon as practically feasible. This provision would only apply to officers, not rank and file Directors.
Currently, the board’s leadership disbanded a Technology Committee and refused to acknowledge a seconded motion to reinstate. In today’s day and age, a technology committee is a cornerstone of an effective Association.
It addresses issues such as, but not limited to, high speed internet, WIFI, Cable vendors, and helping to establish a modern and connected environment. It would be responsible for creating a Request For Proposal, review and meet with prospective vendors and present findings to the Technology Committee and then to the Board of Directors with Committee’s recommendation.
I will present and/or support motions to codify the formation of a standing Technology Committee.
Currently, the board’s officers user personal email addresses for all Association communication.
All board business is conducted using outdated methods of communication that consume a great deal of our office staff’s time. For example, if a board member wants to contact a committee chair, they have to send a message to the office manager, who in turn, forwards it to the chair.
Each exchange works this way. Even members on the same committee are restricted to this laborious communication process. The current board leadership has prevented efforts to update and modernize communication or establish any Association owned email accounts or cloud storage accounts to securely store and share necessary documents.
I will present and/or support motions to make this provision a House Rule as well as vote for leadership who support this policy.
Currently, our HOA has no ethics policy for board members.
I will present and/or support motions to make this provision a House Rule as well as vote for leadership who support policy with the following provisions:
- Conflict of Interest: Clearly outlines procedures for disclosing potential conflicts of interest and the process for recusal.
- Fairness and Impartiality: Emphasizes the importance of treating all homeowners equally and avoiding bias. This includes avoiding favoritism or retaliation against homeowners who voice concerns or dissent.
- Confidentiality: Protects sensitive homeowner information.
- Transparency: Requires open and transparent decision-making processes.
- Accountability: Establishes clear mechanisms for reporting and investigating ethical violations, such as a dedicated ethics committee or an independent ombudsman.
- Education: Mandates ongoing ethics training for board members and committee members.
- Prevents board officers from publicly endorsing candidates for the board.
Curious to learn more about some of these issues? Feel free to get in touch, I’m happy to chat.