Image Up Advertising & Design

6 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MARCH 2017 By Leighton McLaughlin Ballots for district delegates have been mailed to homeowners for the election to be held on March 16. The delegates cast the ballots that elect members of the HOA Board. This year there is one opening on the Board and incumbent Jerry Monahan has filed to keep his seat. He had no challenger by mid-February, but candidates have until March 15 to file. This may be the last election that the district delegate system is used (see story below). The Board has proposed the system be scrapped and replaced by a simple majority vote of the entire community. That proposal will be voted on at the same time as the contest for Monahan's seat. The delegates act much like members of the Electoral College in U.S. presidential elections – with one major difference: In any district that fails to have a quorum of homeowners vote, the delegate can cast ALL the districts votes as he or she sees fit. If quorum is not reached, the district's votes are not counted. They are not even opened. If quorum is reached the delegate is obligated to cast all district votes in the same ratio as votes actually cast. Possibly because the system is expected to be ended, only seven candidates have filed for the 15 delegate positions. General Manager Jeri Mupo said the Board will appoint delegates for any district with vacancies. Each home receives one ballot. To be eligible to vote in the delegate election, escrow must have closed on the home by Feb. 9. Each district has a delegate and an alternate. The alternate acts only in the absence of the delegate. The ballots were mailed by Feb. 15 and a Meet the Candidates session was held in the RCN Building on Feb. 21. The district delegate election meeting will be March 16 in RCN Activity Room 3. If a simple majority is not met in a district or district, a second election, using the already cast ballots, is held with a quorum of 25 percent. The Board appoints delegates for districts that fail to meet the 25 percent. The five homeowner members of the HOA Board are elected for two-year terms. President Len Tavernetti, Vice President Jeanne Glanville, Secretary Fred Weck and Chief Financial Officer Claudeen Diaz all have a year left in their terms. Builder K. Hovnanian Homes appoints two members, presently Kevin Metcalfe and R.J. Hernandez. Their seats will remain appointive until build-out, when all seven members will be elected from homeowners. This year, ballots for the Board election will be mailed by March 24 and will be counted on April 25. Two days later, on April 27, at the annual meeting of the HOA, the delegates cast their ballots. By Leighton McLaughlin The HOA Board has proposed amending the CC&Rs to eliminate the district delegate system and cumulative voting in elections for Board members. The proposed changes to the delegate system would replace it with a simple popular vote across the entire community. The measures will be presented to Four Seasons voters with the ballots for this April's election for a Board member. Under the delegate system, Four Seasons is divided into districts – presently 15 of them – each with an elected delegate and alternate. The governing documents give delegates only one job, to cast the votes that elect the Board members, much like the electors in U.S. Presidential elections – with a major difference: A delegate from any district that does not meet quorum votes the district's entire voting power for whomever he or she pleases. If the quorum is not met, the district's votes are not counted; they are not even opened. That makes it possible for a delegate or two to overturn the majority vote of the community and decide who sits on the Board. In districts that meet quorum, the delegate is required to cast the district's entire voting power in same ratio as the votes cast. The system has been criticized for giving unintended power to delegates and adding an unneeded step in selecting Board members. An election for delegates, with its attendant costs, has to be held before any votes are cast for the Board. And the delegate election can be a two-step affair: Districts that fail to meet a 50 percent quorum participate in a second ballot count with a 25 percent quorum requirement. Board President Len Tavernetti said the delegate system "is designed for HOAs with poor participation in which a majority of the members of the district do not vote." That is not the case in Four Seasons where "two-thirds of the membership participated" in last year's election, he said. The delegates have traditionally encouraged voter turnout and Tavernetti said the Board will continue to appoint "neighborhood representatives" to get out the vote, but they will not be elected and they will have no vote but their own. The second CC&R amendment would eliminate cumulative voting. Presently, if there are three seats open, a homeowner may cast all three of his or her votes for a single candidate. "Such voting skews the popularity of a candidate or a single issue … making consensus … difficult," said Tavernetti. In the upcoming April election only one Board seat is open, so cumulative voting is not an issue. However, next year there will be four seats open and "by changing the CC&Rs now the problem will be avoided then," said Tavernetti. CC&R amendments require a majority of all homeowners to pass – not just of those voting. Escrow must have closed by Feb. 17 for a property owner to be eligible to vote in the Board and CC&R election. BALLOTS MAILED FOR DISTRICT DELEGATE ELECTION DISTRICT DELEGATE SYSTEM MAY BE ELIMINATED

• Cover