||| FROM MICHAEL RIORDAN, FRED KLEIN, and ROBERT AUSTIN |||
Having written recently about the serious cultural problems at the Eastsound Water Users Association, we are pleased to see that there are two strong women candidates with good organizational credentials on the ballot this year. Carol Ann Anderson and Teri Nigretto have the strong financial and management expertise that will be required to help turn things around at EWUA.
Well known to the Orcas Island community, Teri has enjoyed a distinguished career as the Senior Title Officer at First American Title Insurance and was co-owner of The Lower Tavern. Less well known hereabouts, as she came to the island just a few years ago, Carol Ann has deep experience in project management that includes decades of service at the world-renowned company Bechtel, Inc., one of the best in the field. We therefore strongly recommend that EWUA members vote for both Carol Ann and Teri. Their election will help restore a semblance of gender balance on the board of directors.
A blank proxy form was also included in the recent EWUA elections mailing that goes far beyond merely assigning one’s vote to another party. Signing this form would enable the EWUA Board “to vote and exercise all [your] voting and related rights, with respect to all Membership Agreements in the Association” for an entire year. That could include overruling one’s vote for Carol Ann and Teri and any other matter — for example, on the sale of major assets to a private company — that requires a vote of the entire EWUA membership.
The Board could also use signed proxies to outweigh and thus overrule the members’ majority vote for a given candidate. In order to avoid such potential mischief and loss of rights, we strongly recommend that EWUA members tear up these proxy forms and discard them.
Personally, I believe the best way to improve the culture of EWUA and Board oversight of the GM is to get two financially-savvy, no-nonsense women elected to the Board. If you “click” on the names of Teri and Carol Ann in the article, you’ll be able to read about their backgrounds and understand why I feel this way.
No more “boyz club”…it’s 2023, it’s NOT 1950 anymore !!
By voting these two women to the board … Would that possibly eliminate the need for the planned $9,000.00 in spending for management/board/staff training on behavior improvements?
Much of the accumulated legal spending could have been avoided (in my opinion) if the current team had balance prior to these tense events. By adding two women to the board one can hope for improved manners without more community cost. Yes?
That’s the hope, Wendy. At least the two would have each other to lean on when times get tough. That’s something Tenar Hall could have benefited from when that happened earlier this year.
They each have my votes.