Is anyone on our KCA Board of Trustees curious enough about the most recent spate of CMC resignations (manager, assistant manager, and recreation manager all at once!) to investigate the events and publish the results? At the very least, the Board (and not just one Board member offering opinions on behalf of the Board) should pay some tribute to the adage that "he who doesn't learn from history is doomed to repeat it." There must be some lessons learned embedded in these and previous similar events, and we all have an interest in being made aware of them.

-- David Fetzer (dfetzer@ex-pressnet.com), June 20, 2000

Answers

Let's not forget the "Town Crier" editor and, more recently, the Acting Editor too. The secrecy that shrouds these occurrences is disconcerting and is a real turnoff for anyone even peripherally interested in the activities of the KCA. The Assembly is supposed to be OUR governing body made up of individuals whom WE elected to represent us! Why are these events not more transparent?

-- Dee Aronson (deearonson@erols.com), June 20, 2000.

I called CMC and asked the lady who is resigning (I don't remember her name) why she would make such a decision based on only a few weeks in the job. (I understand that her deputy is also resigning.) She replied that she had not realized the time commitment required to get the job done right. She did not want to go to all those meetings taking place after normal business hours! Huh? Lady, were you not thoroughly briefed before you took the job? What did you expect? Bruce Steele of CMC is a pretty straight-talking guy; I cannot imagine that you were given a sugar-coated version of what Kentlands is like.

In any case, she also told me that she and her assistant planned to submit a written analysis of the kind of staff structure required to run our community efficiently, based on their extensive experience running other communities. I suggust that this document be made public and openly discussed.

-- Bob Mauri (newurban@erols.com), June 21, 2000.

I am not a participant in the current governance of our community, but I do talk to board members from time to time, and I have been involved in community associations and architectural control issues in previous commiunities where we resided. I look forward to the day when we dismiss CMC as the managers of Kentlands, and find someone residing in our community to take on the task of taking care of our public - community owned areas. All CMC does now is bill us for our monthly fees and manage contracts for snow removal, pool management, and landscaping (I may have left out a couple). We should be able to do this in house. CMC takes a cut of what we pay in monthly fees, not only to offset the costs of doing business but also for a profit. I have no problem with that but it seems we are not getting what we pay for.

With respect to resignations from the paper, I fear that we are guilty of "running them off" by the way we treat them. Diane Dorney resigned after some unwarranted criticism by guess who. Our neighbors. The next editor resigned after some perceived unwarranted criticism from guess who? Our neighbors. Now I read that some woman berated the pool manager for some unspecified problems with how the pool is run.

Get over it people. If you have a problem with how things are going, take it up with Barbara Moidel or one of the other board members. It is their responsibility to keep things on an even keel. If they can't do it, then we will "throw the rascals out" at the next election.

Just venting a bit.

-- Jim Hubbard (jhubbard@legion.org), July 05, 2000.

Getting back to David's original question, and Dee's addition, yes, I am most interested in knowing why we have had so many resignations in Kentlands in recent months. (It is hard to believe there have been so many since just February!) Furthermore, given that the first round of resignations was apparently not followed by corrective action--as demonstrated by the swift and simultaneous resignations of replacement CMC staff members--it would seem that, as titleholders with stakes in this community, we are owed an official explanation of this adverse trend and the measures being taken to correct the situation. What was the last group trying to tell us by all resigning at once?

-- Mary N. Macdonald (mnmacd@his.com), July 17, 2000.