By Dale Wiley

I am a little late in reading this months Telegraph, but found a couple of interesting items that gave me pause to think that maybe they apply to our HOA elected leaders as well, especially since the comments are written by the HOA President.

QUOTE : President’s Message – Bill Burt, President

I would like to see our elected leaders – from the local level all the way up to highest echelons of government – trying to set an example of how to work together in a respectful and productive manner for the good of us all

I would like to see our elected leaders – from the local level all the way up to highest echelons of government – trying to set an example of how to work together in a respectful and productive manner for the good of us all.

We have great community; it is very rewarding when we work together to solve our differences.   UNQUOTE.

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Now in my own opinion, I think these are all good ideas, and worthy of every ones effort. Even more so, the Board of Directors has an excellent opportunity here to be the catalyst and leader in this effort by making sure that all Board members and Committee members adhere to the civility also mentioned in the Telegraph and to be the example for how elected officials relate to the people who elected them by making sure that name calling, finger pointing and personal attacks are a thing of the past and that there will be no additional behaviors that violate confidentiality, that disparage any Ranch resident for any reason, and that written communications distributed to all residents are written in a professional manner and resident input is welcomed, and that every property owner and resident is treated with equal respect and consideration.

Given the amount of corruption that is found in most governments today, at the federal and state levels, citizens / residents inputs are largely ignored unless that government connection is much more local such as school boards, county commissions and city councils.

We can only try and affect changes at that local level. Even though our HOA Board of Directors is a private group, they should conduct themselves in the same manner as a city council or county commission would in their dealings with the elected people they represent and be held to the same high standards as public elected officials when it comes to interacting with the represented public.

What a great time for the Board of Directors to put forth that good faith effort to bring a level of civility to all their public interactions and work together to solve the problems facing the Ranch and to do so in respectful manner that allows HOA residents to express dissenting opinions on matters without personal attacks by elected Board members, committee members, without violations of confidentiality, without the HOA having to defend lawsuits ( at members expense) brought on by such behaviors.

Given the small numbers of people involved in the various groups, and other agencies that have to conduct business with each other it amazes me that the responsible governing groups and members cannot sit down and solve these problems without somebody suing somebody. This HOA simply does not have the financial resources to be involved in legal actions over matters that are preventable or should be able to be solved by the involved parties around a conference table.

The fact that President Burt brings up these suggestions on setting examples of how people should work together says that at least the President of the HOA Board of Directors is aware of these needs and changes, and he should be the leader to start implementing these types of positive interactions and behaviors in everything the HOA Board and the HOA Management does, and see that such behaviors and protocols are put in place immediately, if needed to see that outside training is brought in to bring all involved members up to speed on these civil behaviors.

Dale Wiley