||| FROM DAN BURKE for EASTSOUND WATER USERS |||
Your Eastsound Water Board just approved the sharing of the culminated work on our forthcoming bylaw update last night – and we can’t wait for you to read them!
As a reminder where we’ve been up to this point, I’d like to recap the hard work that has gone into this update, as well as to highlight the community involvement that has helped generate this new draft.
- If you remember, we set up a webpage for members last fall with a copy of the proposed bylaws update in full, as well as a summary of all changes: https://www.eastsoundwater.org/bylaw-review-2023
- We held two recorded member-engagement meetings and videos of these meetings can be found here:
- First Meeting: Monday, September 18 Meeting on Zoom at 3PM
https://www.eastsoundwater.org/september-18-2023-bylaw-review-meeting-1/ - Second Meeting: Friday, September 22, 2023 on Zoom at 3PM
https://www.eastsoundwater.org/september-22-2023-bylaw-review-meeting-2/
- First Meeting: Monday, September 18 Meeting on Zoom at 3PM
- A lot of good feedback was provided to the Bylaws committee and that was returned to our legal counsel in charge of the new Bylaws for comment and integration.
Then we paused. The community felt that the Bylaw update process was too close to the controversial fall Board of Director’s election, so the Board decided to suspend the effort until the new Board was established.
At the first of the year, members of the new Eastsound Water Board picked up work on the bylaw update as promised from the fall. Over the past few months, they integrated changes and now have a candidate for member review.
Now It’s Your Turn!
Please review this version of the proposed Eastsound Water Users Association 2024 Bylaws Update. This is the version your Board will use as a basis for approving next month, but we want to hear your feedback on it before they do.
How this works:
Today you received a copy of the 2024 EWUA Bylaw Update
You will have 10 days from today to submit any questions or comments for the Board to consider
The Board will meet to review and discuss each comment/question after this 10-day period is over
The Board will iterate the document if needed, and respond to the membership with the outcome of their discussion
Get the Document: Please visit our website to download or review the Bylaw candidate online.
How to submit your comments or questions: We want to expedite this experience for all members, so all members will be required to submit their comments and/or questions to the following email address only: president@eastsoundwater.org
Due to the time constraint, and the potential for a lot of volume, the Board asks that only this email be used to submit your feedback. The President will share each and every email with the rest of the Board equally. Any other method of feedback will not be acknowledged for expediency.
Please do take the opportunity to help craft the rules and regulations that will govern the Association for years to come. Every voice counts; every comment will be honored.
Thank you for your time and for being a valued Eastsound Water member.
**If you are reading theOrcasonian for free, thank your fellow islanders. If you would like to support theOrcasonian CLICK HERE to set your modestly-priced, voluntary subscription. Otherwise, no worries; we’re happy to share with you.**
Despite claims to the contrary made by Jim Nelson and Leith Templin at the March EWUA Board meeting,
https://theorcasonian.com/a-tumultuous-ewua-board-meeting/#comment-362170
there is nothing in these draft bylaws that addresses the recommendations that Robert Austin, Elisabeth Britt, Fred Klein and I voiced in our proposed “Open Meetings” amendment. In fact, these bylaws include a sentence that is exactly the opposite of what we advocated: “The Board may conduct meetings of the board with at least 24 hours’ notice where member participation is limited.” (Article V. Section A.b) This is not at all what open meetings are about.
Looks to me like there is more mischief afoot at EWUA.
Here the membership is expected to comment on revisions to its bylaws where there is NO INDICATION WHATSOEVER as to what the revisions are.
Common practice when revising a document for member (or public) review is to use a “strike-thru / underline” format wherein DELETIONS are shown with a line striking through words to be deleted and ADDITIONS are shown as words which are underlined. Thus the reader can easily determine how the document has been revised. A good local example of this is how SJC presents revisions to the Comp Plan to the public.
It is IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE READER TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS of the current revised text of the EWUA bylaws because there’s no way to tell what has changed.
I highly recommend that the 10 day timeline for member review and comment be suspended until a fresh copy of the bylaws is presented to the membership which clearly and explicitly shows what has been deleted from and added to the current bylaws.
I wish to highlight concerns regarding the following two proposed changes to EWUA’s bylaws.
1) The amendment to Article IV C, which states, “The Board will honor all existing agreements, including but not limited to those regarding Impact Units.”
2) The removal of the following duties of the Secretary-Treasurer stated Article VI. H. c. iv.
” c. Duties of the Secretary/Treasurer – The duties of the Secretary/Treasurer either by direct action or delegation to staff shall be to:
iv. Supervise the General Manager’s maintenance and safe custody of all funds, records, properties, and membership records of the Association”
While interviewing former EWUA employees, it came to my attention that EWUA’s historical challenges with record-keeping may have been exploited by some community members to secure free memberships. Memberships are currently valued at $14,000 per Impact Unit.
Without access to EWUA records, I could neither verify nor deny these claims nor could I take any action to safeguard EWUA from potential future losses of this nature. Ensuring the financial integrity of EWUA was the primary driving force behind me stepping up as Secretary-Treasurer. Having sound record keeping practices to prevent such exploits was part of this goal.
During my tenure as Secretary-Treasurer of EWUA, my responsibility included safeguarding the organization’s records. Regrettably, my efforts were hampered by Dan Burke and Vice-President Jim Nelson, who, along with others, restricted access to EWUA documents.
This obstruction seems to persist, now impeding the current Secretary-Treasurer, with apparent backing from President Teri Nigretto, Board Member Michael Cleveland, and newly appointed Board Member Leith Templin.
By stripping the Secretary’s or Treasurer’s safeguarding duties from the bylaws, the proposed changes allow obstruction to be legitimized leaving EWUA vulnerable.
We should reject bylaw changes that strengthen the “Culture of Secrecy at Eastsound Water” (https://orcascurrents.com/the-culture-of-secrecy-at-eastsound-water/).
ps- I would like to echo Fred’s concerns despite my statement. It is likely I am better equipped to detect the differences in the bylaws than our average co-op member. I have strong knowledge of the current bylaws derived from my study of them during my time on the board. I repeatedly referenced them during my unsuccessful attempt to convince the sitting board to follow the bylaws and state laws. I also had an idea of some changes to look for in the proposed bylaws thanks to my experiences on the board. However, even if I am more likely to detect the changes that our average member, there may be changes and implications that I have missed.
Even with my strong knowledge, I made a mistake in my last statement.
To correct, it appears the item
” c. Duties of the Secretary/Treasurer – The duties of the Secretary/Treasurer either by direct action or delegation to staff shall be to:
iv. Supervise the General Manager’s maintenance and safe custody of all funds, records, properties, and membership records of the Association”
was not removed. The proposed bylaws split the Secretary/Treasurer position and this duty was assigned to the Treasurer.
I apologize for my mistake, even if it could have been avoided with a “strike-thru / underline” format.
Below is my modified statement. Thank you.
Dear EWUA Board Members,
I wish to highlight concerns regarding the following proposed change to EWUA’s bylaws:
1) The amendment to Article IV C, which states, “The Board will honor all existing agreements, including but not limited to those regarding Impact Units.”
While interviewing former EWUA employees, it came to my attention that EWUA’s historical challenges with record-keeping may have been exploited by some community members to secure free memberships. Memberships are currently valued at $14,000 per Impact Unit.
Without access to EWUA records, I could neither verify nor deny these claims nor could I take any action to safeguard EWUA from potential future losses of this nature. Ensuring the financial integrity of EWUA was the primary driving force behind me stepping up as Secretary-Treasurer. Having sound record keeping practices to prevent such exploits was part of this goal.
During my tenure as Secretary-Treasurer of EWUA, my responsibility included safeguarding the organization’s records. Regrettably, my efforts were hampered by Dan Burke and Vice-President Jim Nelson, who, along with others, restricted access to EWUA documents.
This obstruction seems to persist, now impeding the current Secretary-Treasurer, with apparent backing from President Teri Nigretto, Board Member Michael Cleveland, and newly appointed Board Member Leith Templin.
This obstruction leaves EWUA vulnerable.
I urge EWUA board members to reject bylaw changes that strengthen the “Culture of Secrecy at Eastsound Water” (https://orcascurrents.com/the-culture-of-secrecy-at-eastsound-water/).
Thanks for the details, Tenar, which I had not previously noticed. But the text you cite raises an important question. If the Secretary/Treasurer (or under the new bylaws, Treasurer) delegates “the maintenance and safe custody of all funds” to a staff member (who is presumably the General Manager or reports to him), how can she fulfill her responsibility to the EWUA members when she cannot obtain sufficient information to substantiate his claims? It sounds like you have had some experience with this problem. Which looks to me like a problem with the bylaws.
I’m happy to report that a “strike-thru / underline” version of the proposed revisions to the EWUA bylaws has been posted on the website, eastsoundwater.org…just click on “learn more” under “Read the Bylaws”…thus enabling the reader to clearly understand the proposed changes.