Letter: Treasurer should be replaced

Letter: Treasurer should be replaced

Michael E Humphreys
St Johns, Florida

Dear Editor:

I write today to share my deep concern about the office of the Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Julington Creek Plantation Property Owners Association. As I am sure you are aware, the Treasurer only attended 1 regularly scheduled Board of Directors meeting during 2013.

I brought the subject of the Treasure’s excessive absences up at the Annual Meeting of the association last year and have heard the 3 excuses:

• this is a volunteer organization
• sometimes life gets in the way
• the business is getting done; the bills are being paid

I’m sorry, but all three of these excuses bother me. Let me explain.

1. “This is a volunteer organization” – Yes, but only attending 1 meeting in 2013? This is unacceptable, even in a volunteer organization. If an individual is only able to attend 1 of the scheduled meetings in a 12-month period, it shows me a total lack of commitment.

2. “Sometimes life gets in the way” – If something in “life” gets in the way, the officer must consider resignation so that someone can be placed in that office who can direct the attention to the multi-million dollar budget that this board has been elected to oversee.

3. “Business is getting done; the bills are getting paid” – This, perhaps, is the most disturbing excuse I have heard. I have heard in reports from certain board members that they, individually, have been in contact with the treasurer and discussed fiscal matters. I do realize that the POA is not subject to “Government in the Sunshine” laws, but this method of handling the fiscal functions of this organization is unacceptable.

Therefore, I formally request that Henry Stevenson resign from the Julington Creek Plantation Property Owners Association Board of Directors, and thereby vacate the Treasurer’s office.

If Mr Stevenson refuses to vacate his seat voluntarily, then I must respectfully ask the Board of Directors to remove him from the Board as specified in the governing documents of the association.

Finally, if both of the above requested actions are ignored, I must insist that any and all communications between any individual Board member or sub group of such members with Mr Stevenson regarding the fiscal issues of the association be transcribed verbatim and submitted with the minutes of the next regularly scheduled Board Meeting.

I write this letter out of an abundance of concern regarding what appears to me to be a total lack of commitment to the office of the Treasurer of this organization specifically, and in general, a lack of commitment to the seat on the Board of Directors.

I know that apathy reigns in this association and that a very small number of property owners are aware of this situation. It is therefore incumbent upon the duly elected representatives, you the board members, to rectify this egregious situation and assign the responsibilities incumbent upon the office of the Treasurer to someone who has the appropriate level of commitment.

You have a duty to the members of this community to, at the very least, be as transparent as possible with how you spend our money. No other organization, public or private, would allow their finances to be conducted behind closed doors without adequate disclosure to the stakeholders.

I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with any of you individually or as a group at a board meeting. However, I feel that the above actions must be taken immediately and that, upon his removal from office, either by resignation or board action, the office should be filled immediately.