Conservative PSJ.US

NOTE: Not all links work at this time.

As a member of the Port St. John Home Owners' Association (PSJHOA), Pete Costello and I tried to attend the scheduled Board of Directors' meeting at the Community Center at 7 PM on July 19, 2004. Unfortunately, only two Board members showed up. Who knows where the others were? The two Board members waiting at the Community Center didn't know. Pete and I guessed that they privately decided to meet elsewhere, probably in one of their homes, where Pete and I couldn't go. You see, if they meet in the Community Center, it is a public place and we are allowed to go there. If they meet in someone's home, they can keep us out of there, can't they?

Let's take that as a starting point for considering the current image of the PSJHOA. The image of the PSJHOA has become over the last ten years - compiling what I've heard from residents in the PSJ area and in the Four Communities and what I've observed myself over the last 20 years of living here - a bossy, secretive, negative, overbearing, untrustworthy, aggressive, uninteresting, political, lying organization. Note that I do not accuse any one person of being this: I say this is the reputation the organization of the PSJHOA has deteriorated to in the last ten years, according to what I have heard said and have observed myself. And, to top it all off, the PSJHOA leadership does nothing to change that image.

I have heard talk at PSJHOA General Membership meetings and at PSJHOA Board meetings of supposedly wanting to change that image. However, when some serious suggestions were given by Pete Costello (he raised his hand and was called upon) on that issue at the close of business at the June Board meeting (the one they called the Sheriff's Dept. on me for taking notes), suddenly Ms. DJ Olson made a motion to adjourn and the room emptied quicker than water from a broken glass. Is the current leadership only interested in giving lip service to cleaning up the reputation of the PSJHOA? See any evidence of change?

However, since I am interested in putting in my 2¢ worth, here are my suggestions for cleaning up the image of the Port St. John Home Owners' Association:

1. Change the attitude of the leadership. The PSJHOA, in my opinion, is currently a tyranny. As clearly illustrated by their latest effort to silence me. The PSJHOA was set up as a democracy and every leader - President to Treasurer to Chairman of the Board to Board members - needs to remember that first and foremost. It should be run with true fairness to every member; not just those who agree with them, or who never question them. Every decision should be voted on and every person given a chance to speak.



2. Deal openly and honestly with the membership as well as with non-members. This includes taking detailed meeting minutes (and maybe even recording the minutes and making a copy of the unedited tape available at the PSJ Library), and publishing all of the minutes in the newsletter, not just publishing the issues that make the PSJHOA look like neighborhood angels (NNNO, fireworks, community garage sales, etc.). For example: in June, 2004, I was asked to be the volunteer note-taker because the Secretary was sick. I took notes and sent the President of the PJSHOA 3½ pages of notes from the meeting. They were never read into the record of July's General Membership meeting. No regular member ever saw or heard those notes that I know of. Was it because they contained the fact that the PSJHOA leadership used scare tactics against Titusville and a supposed 26 traffic signal debt PSJ residents were supposedly going to have to pay for? (If so, the fact remains: Titusville City residents pay County taxes as well as City taxes so they weren't skipping out on anything.) Try comparing my notes to official PSJHOA newsletters published by the organization. It's an eye-opening experience. Find an old - or current - newsletter and compare what is on my PSJHOA pages (minus my opinions) to what they put in their newsletter. See anything at all in the newsletter about using scare tactics, negativity, or calling the Sheriff's Dept. on me for taking notes at the Board meeting in their version? Now look at the truth in my version. See any PSJHOA angels in the truth? Remember, I have tapes of most of the meetings to back up my notes.



3. Stop politicizing everything; try to educate people on both sides of the issue, not just the side you agree with or want to win. The PSJHOA has been used by too many of its leaders on too many occasions to make statements that were totally untrue, half-true, or "mostly" true. If the leadership is going to be speaking on an issue, there should be information or a speaker from the other side of the issue: information made available that is pro whatever the leadership is con. Let's take, for example, the current Desalination plant issue. PSJHOA leadership is speaking against even doing a study about the issue. The study may prove that the HOA leadership is correct in opposing the desal plant. But it may also show that the desal plant won't hurt the Indian River Lagoon. Don't just give one side of the story. Without a study, we won't know. Give both sides and let the people decide for themselves.



4. Make all meetings open to the public, and hold them when and where they are scheduled to be held unless a catastrophe prevents this. Showing up at the Community Center and finding just two Board members present was surprising, but not alarming. Waiting until 7:15 and no other Board members showing up was alarming. What are the odds of eight members (Randy Rodriguez, DJ Olson, Bob Lewis, Jay Phillips, Greg McComas, Ed Warner, Gay Keebler and Helen Dezendorf) all missing the meeting on the same date, at the same time, at the same place; and all without being able to contact anyone who would be there to tell them they wouldn't be there? Astronomical. Note: We recently found out that the meeting was held at DJ Olson's house, without notifying the Community Center that they would be changing the venue, and without all of the Board members receiving their notification. This is when and where they decided to vote Pete Costello and I out of membership status; which, according to the ByLaws of the PSJHOA, is not provided for unlesss you're a Board member. A member, according to the ByLaws, is anyone who lives in PSJ and is current on their dues (I am).



5. Don't run roughshod over the membership. Calling the Sheriff's Dept. on me for taking notes is a great example of this. It was ridiculous and wasteful of taxpayer money. It was totally unnecessary because I have the First Amendment protecting my right to free speech and there is nothing in the By-Laws of the PSJHOA that prevents members from having a voice outside of the organization. Calling the Sheriff's Dept. on me for exercising my free speech rights is aggressive, mean, bullying tactics, sullies my good name and is not worthy of the Chairman of the Board of any organization that (quoting their website) "is here to serve all the residents of Port St. John, Florida, both home owners and renters." They also tout that they, "enhance community spirit on many levels and improve the friendly, family atmosphere." Oh? Calling the Sheriff's Dept. on members enhances community spirit and the friendly, family atmosphere?



6. Leadership should respond promptly and courteously to all courteous communications from members. I sent a courteous e-mail request for a copy of the PSJHOA By-Laws to the current President on 7/13/04 and haven't heard back from her yet. I haven't even received a message asking me to wait until her schedule slows down a bit, but that she will get them to me as soon as possible, or tell me where I can find (purchase, copy, whatever) the By-Laws. A simple, courteous request should be responded to simply, courteously and quickly.



7. Open the PSJHOA records to the membership and store them where the membership can have easy, quick access to them. Ask the PSJ Library (of which the current PSJHOA President is a Board member) for space for the records. According to the By-Laws I have - and I helped come up with the amendments for two years ago - all members are welcome to access the records of the PSJHOA at the convenience of the person storing the records. If the PSJ Library would store the records for us, that would be more convenient for everyone concerned and they could require seeing a current membership card before allowing access to the records. Two locking filing cabinets is all it would take, and from what I understand we have two filing cabinets already.



8. Don't break the rules for convenience's sake. The By-Laws state that you must have 35 members in good standing present to change the By-Laws. In April of 2004 the rules were ignored and broken because it is "impossible" to get 35 members to attend so that you can change the By-Laws properly. If it's that difficult to get 35 members to attend, that in and of itself should tell you something about the PSJHOA. But if you can't change the By-Laws according to the By-Laws, don't find something in Robert's Rules and go against the By-Laws for convenience's sake. It's too easy to do so on another issue, and another issue, and another issue, once you go down that road. Stick by the rules you were brought into until and unless you can change them properly.



9. Don't tell anyone - County Commissioners, desal survey people, or anyone else - that the PSJHOA speaks for ALL of the residents of PSJ. The PSJHOA speaks for some of the people who attend (not all: not I) and a few people who don't attend. Period. There are some active members - like me - who are active in order to "know thine enemy." We like to keep an eye on those who are supposedly representing us and we want to stay informed. Too bad, due to the "PSJHOA is an angel newsletter," most of those who keep their membership up in order to keep an eye on the organization don't get all of the information they deserve to get, unless they read my website. The PSJHOA should tell people that it represents a very small portion of PSJ and only those who agree with it. Period. No one else should be under that representation umbrella.



10. Apologize for the PSJHOA's past infractions. The words "I'm Sorry" go a long way in today's world (ask Bill Clinton). People who attend are not interested in an apology: some agree with those infractions, some just want to prevent them from happening again. It's the people who don't attend who are not attending because of something the PSJHOA did, didn't do, or whatever. Apologize for the past even if the current leadership had nothing to apologize for - and we know that's untrue - an apology from the organization should be forthcoming. This tells the public that the PSJHOA is responsible for its past and knows that the public does not appreciate all of the organization's past. It doesn't mean that the public will automatically rejoin the organization and all will be forgiven. It means that at least acknowledgment has been made that things weren't always done properly by the organization.

Well, those are my suggestions. And it is my opinion that if the PSJHOA took my suggestions, they would be much better off. I don't think that people would run, en masse, to rejoin and become active in the PSJHOA. But, given some time and a continued presence of the exercising of my suggestions, people would see that the PSJHOA is on the right road and, I think, would slowly start trusting the organization again and then the PSJHOA might see an increase in membership. But it may be too late and the damage too serious. It may be a fatal case of bad reputation and the PSJHOA may never recuperate. One thing is certain: If my suggestions are not put into action by the PSJHOA, their reputation will never be any better than it is now and the chances of increasing membership are slim to nill. In fact, given the truth of attrition, then membership will only decrease and the PSJHOA's membership rolls will be at a fatal level and it is only a matter of time before the organization will have to fold due to lack of funding, lack of active members and lack of interest. According to the organization, that day is not too far away.

Anyone want to lay even money my suggestions are ignored?

Editorially Yours,

Linda McKinney

Find the TRUTH!