NEW BOARD TRANSITION COMMENTS!
The 2024 Board election was contentious and with Sandy Seddon’s voluntary departure scheduled for June 19th her presence is still a factor as the new board finds itself with lots to contend with as it must organize and staff properly for success. A number of resignations of key personnel have happened but only some are losses while others are opportunities.
Seddon’s tenure created a difficult workplace for many and the abuse of power against certain homeowners was just wrong. I talked about my ordeal with a kangaroo court when I was convicted of harassing and threatening then Community Manager Doris Logar. It was fabricated by Seddon with help from Clarkson Law Firm as Doris and I knew no such thing had happened. They wanted to silence me. That entire incident led over time to the creation of this blog with the objective to clean house. What is truly validating is that Doris Logar who left after her two weeks notice sent me a thank you note acknowledging she was at risk should she have spoken earlier.
The Board’s challenge is to create a new organizational chart as it is widely accepted that having only a Chief Operating Officer reporting to the board was probably a mistake. I recommended three positions report to the board. The CAM( Community Association Manager) responsible for administration, records, HR, Communications and compliance be one. Second an operations manager currently occupied by Jim McNamara responsible for all maintenance, capital projects, IT, Theater, Restaurant and any other operational areas including strategic planning. Third the Controller responsible for Accounting and Treasury functions.
I am somewhat surprised that this wasn’t one of their first agreements as to how to proceed as if properly implemented would stop or should stop the board from being overworked as worker bees. The Seddon culture of upward delegation has to change for SCA to run efficiently. Three strong employees independently filling leadership roles in their areas is the best formula. And that leads to another surprise which I believe to be a big mistake.
With Doris Logar’s resignation as CAM it provided a great opportunity for the new board to go to the marketplace and find an outstanding CAM to perform this licensed position. In fact NRS116A.630 spells out a CAM’s standard of practice. I believe the board has made a significant error that needs to be corrected. For what ever reason they approved the promotion of James Arteaga from compliance to CAM. He has no experience warranting him be chosen as SCA’s CAM. In addition the board missed an opportunity for new blood not molded by the Seddon culture. Mr. Arteaga has a record of sub standard performance with many homeowners’ complaints. Perhaps they need him on a temporary basis in an interim capacity because he is licensed. But Mr. Arteaga as the permanent CAM is crazy. Our legal expenses have been ridiculous and one way to lower them is to have an experienced CAM who can intercede and avoid and resolve issues with homeowners.
But most importantly let’s understand that this new board has a lot on its plate with major change taking place in this transition. It may take them a number of months to get the house in order but it is my hope by the time the 2025 Budget is approved they will have figured it out.
Until next time…Robert