After reading Shawn Hicks dissertation on his background and opinion regarding Rana Goodman’s editorial SCA Gets Wrong Advice, I must take umbrage to what he wrote in part.
1. First of all, in my opinion, his demeanor is an example of what we have seen in so many attorneys especially in the state of Nevada (1) arrogance (2) feels he can make pronouncements without any idea of the often sordid history of governance past and present in our community and sides with the existing attorney without knowing anything about his past.
2. It would have been wiser if he had spent his time researching how SCA has been run in the past by many board members who considered this community as their kingdom and the homeowners merely their serfs. Furthermore, these board members felt that homeowners should have no say in governance unless they agreed with the board and looked at homeowners as their source of revenue to do what they wanted with money including ordering meals from gourmet restaurants while working on board matters.
3. Ms. Goodman was “a breath of fresh air” when she first became president of our association. Furthermore, she has worked hard to change the laws to protect homeowners, especially seniors tirelessly. Is Rana perfect-certainly not, but neither is anyone in our community.
Mr. Hicks may take umbrage as to my comments and observations and wonder who I am to criticize him. I have been here 14 1/2 years and came from another state where I served on an HOA board for 21 years and 15 as their president while working full time for the Veterans Administration. We threw out two management companies and became self-managed. We always allowed homeowners to openly attend board meeting and comment both pro and con before any vote was taken. If a homeowner had committed some violation of a rule or law, they were taken into another area and admonished or told the consequences privately. We were extremely successful in this approach that 27 other HOA’s also threw out their respective management companies and became self-managed as well. We never were rude to any homeowner in public.
We also were very fortunate to have an HOA attorney who actually helped write the HOA laws of the state and he never ever allowed us to act illegally on any matter.
Finally, Mr. Hicks should not automatically side with our present attorney without observing his demeanor when he constantly intimidates board members and takes over meetings at times. Our present attorney is paid to offer an opinion which the board has the right to accept or not. He does succeed in spending huge amounts of money for his opinions. He forgets that he works for us and not the reverse.