Post by jimherbst on Aug 19, 2019 5:40:56 GMT -5
"For one think having a Canadian President of the Board seems like a real conflict of interest.
>Canadians don't give a hoot about American's Constitutional Rights, they (Canadians) only want Americans to provide cheap/free internet and phone FOR them. They don't want to afford the cost of transferring their services from Canada or getting roped into a 2 year contract say like with Sprint or any other bundle of services provider. "
"There are USA based providers that are in the business of supplying theses services, you should honor the Americans by paying like we Americans do. We don't expect Canadians to give us a cheap/free ride in their Country just because it costs us extra $ or requires a minimum contract." (Shmoopy)
>Canadians don't give a hoot about American's Constitutional Rights, they (Canadians) only want Americans to provide cheap/free internet and phone FOR them. They don't want to afford the cost of transferring their services from Canada or getting roped into a 2 year contract say like with Sprint or any other bundle of services provider. "
"There are USA based providers that are in the business of supplying theses services, you should honor the Americans by paying like we Americans do. We don't expect Canadians to give us a cheap/free ride in their Country just because it costs us extra $ or requires a minimum contract." (Shmoopy)
The issue is not whether the Saddlebaggers from Canada have some hidden agenda to benefit themselves at the expense of the rest of us. Rather, the issue is whether certain members of the Board –past and present – are observing their fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the Association as a whole.
Back in March when representatives from Verizon held a demonstration on the “Verizon Jetpack” in our community room, a former president of the Board took it upon himself to grab the microphone and start a rant about being falsely accused of having a financial interest in KCNET. He vehemently denied this, saying that he was simply a “close friend of Bb stab”. The question that immediately went through my mind was “did your friendship with stab color your decisions as a Board member, to the financial detriment of Association members?”. If so - as one of our Saddlebaggers (and a retired attorney) pointed out - Board members who fail to exercise reasonable caution in carrying out their fiduciary duty can be held personally liable for resulting financial damages to Association members. The decision by the Board to give KCNET exclusive use of our communication towers (at $0 rent) left Saddlebaggers with little choice when it came to internet service. If that weren’t enough, there was even an attempt by some Board members, back in 2014, to include the cost of KCNET’s service in our HOA dues. Recently KCNET made a change in its billing policy whereby its customers were required to pay in-advance for the entire winter season. As a result KCNET owes at least two months of refunds to its customers. By my estimate, the total amount of refunds KCNET owes to its customers is between $50,000 and $150,000. One way that loss could have been mitigated is to have required KCNET to post a surety bond to guaranty its performance under the terms of the tower lease agreement. That is a common practice for any long term service contract.
A couple of months ago, leery listerine, the current S-bag president, initiated an email discussion with me in response to my past criticism of the Board’s actions regarding KCNET. During that exchange, I made a number of constructive suggestions regarding what the Board could do, with respect to the new tower lease with TRS in order to avoid the problems we had with KCNET. Among those suggestions was a requirement that TRS post a surety bond to guaranty performance, as well as to cover any damages to our towers caused by TRS. That suggestion was precipitated by Mr. listerine’s statement to me that TRS has to make extensive repairs to the towers. Considering that the Towers were inspected by the County Building Inspector less than two years ago in conjunction with our building/zoning permit application, one can deduce that those “damages” were caused by KCNET’s removal of its equipment from our towers after KCNET went defunct this spring.
My other suggestion was in response to Mr. listerine’s justification to me for the Board’s decision not to charge TRS any rent for its 3 year lease of our towers. According to listerine, TRS expects to make little to no profit during initial St ages of its operations. Having once been in charge of a Sm all business loan program for the City of West Allis, Wisconsin, I understand that it often takes a year or two before a new business begins to make a profit. On the other hand, once TRS does begin to realize a profit, the Association should get a share of that profit as compensation for leasing our towers. I suggested, therefore, that our lease with TRS include a “percentage rent”. Percentage leases are commonly used in retail mall settings, whereby the mall owner receives a portion of the lessee’s annual revenue as rent. The lessee’s income can be verified by the requiring the lessee to provide a certified copy of the lessee’s Schedule C to his/her federal tax return.
In response to my suggestions, all I got back from listerine was something the Board may want to pursue when the tower lease with TRS comes up for renewal 3 years from now. I regard that response as totally unsatisfactory and not in the best interest of the Association.There is one final point I’d like to make with respect to our tower lease with TRS. I have attempted to research Mr. Scheerer’s past business background, but could find nothing to indicate he has any experience with operating a wireless internet service. So how does he plan on running TRS – especially since Scheerer is a snowbird from the Toronto area? Could it be that TRS is, in reality, a front for the owners of the now defunct KCNET? Will Scheerer be “hiring” stab to run the internet servers in Scheerer’s absence? leery listerine insists that is not the case, and that – contrary to what Bb stab publicly stated during a community meeting last April – TRS did not purchase any of KCNET’s equipment. So, how does Mr. listerine know that for certain?