I recently received the following e-mail and would like to address each section.
I appreciate you being on the board and keeping us all informed about interesting topics. There appears to be a constant "us vs them" or "new vs old" disagreement going on. It's also curious why your questions are not always returned with straightforward answers. I hope it doesn't discourage you - it might discourage me!
Truth be told, I do get discouraged serving on this Board because of the 'us v them' disagreements and the lack of simple civility in the meetings. The 'us' is me and AK Babers; the 'them' is the three members who are all up for re-election this year in November - Sharyn Smalls, Byron Watson, and Arthur Washington.
The Board fails to act in a professional manner, with nearly every meeting falling into some sort of petty dispute. And lately, those arguments have not even been related to policy matters. They have been personal attacks on AK.
I had not posted on these matters because, quite frankly, it's embarrassing enough to have to endure them at the meetings. Rehashing them here seemed pointless. However, there was a concerted effort on the part of 'them' to sanitize the minutes of the 11/15/11 meeting regarding the discussion surrounding the vote on the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) Board. I think it was a grave injustice to AK and he and I both voted against adopting the minutes in their sanitized form. I will speak out on what really happened here.
AK expressed an interest in serving on the HCAD Board and we nominated him for the position. At the 11/15/11 meeting we were presented the ballot of candidates for the HCAD Board. Arthur asked if AK would be able to make the HCAD meetings, considering he was already serving on our Board and had a full-time job. AK said he would.
Sharyn then stated that AK should know more about HCAD and hadn't done any research to show he was a serious candidate. AK objected to her accusation and the fight was on. Sharyn made several unfounded accusations about AK's intentions and his performance on our Board, including inflating the number of absences that AK had at our Board meetings. She also overstated the number of absences that I had. Tempers flared and many harsh words were exchanged. Eventually the motion was made to vote for AK on the HCAD ballot, and it passed 4-1, with Sharyn the only dissenting vote. She then refused to sign the HCAD ballot, which was her duty as President of the Board, but eventually relented.
It was later discovered that her information on the attendance records started as an open records request from a former Board member. Because there is no official record of attendance except for what the minutes of the meeting reflect, Sharyn had instructed our attorney to provide the bookkeeper's payroll records to the former Board member and herself in reply to the request. There was no attempt made to inform me or AK that the request had even been made. She then used that information to blindside AK in the meeting. Needless to say AK had every right to feel that her attempted assault on his character was more than unwarranted, premeditated, and disrespectful.
At the next meeting on 12/5/11, AK asked that the Board's continuous lack of professionalism in the meetings be addressed. He also stated that any open records requests and any responses made should be shared with the entire Board, which the attorney agreed to do.
FYI - I have attended all but 8 of the meetings since elected to the Board. As I stated in previous blog postings, I was laid off in January and had major surgery on June 29th, which interfered with my ability to attend several meetings. The dates/reasons I missed meetings are below:
8/17/10 was on vacation planned way before I was elected to the Board
2/1/11 new job - was in training
2/15/11 new job - was in training
March - made both meetings and tried to get time of meeting changed due to conflict with Commissioners Court meetings, which my new job required me to attend. The Board voted 3-2 to not change the meeting time. AK & I both voted to change it; Arthur, Sharyn, and Byron voted to not change it.
4/5/11 in conflict with work duties - arranged for someone else to cover CC meetings so I could make Board meetings.
6/21/11 work related conference out of state
7/5/11 recovering from major surgery
7/19/11 recovering from major surgery
8/2/11 recovering from major surgery
By the way, I actually like the fact the elections have been moved to November - I like the cost savings and I think we will get a much better response. More people make an effort to go to the polls in November than in May.
I agree that moving the election of Board members to the general ballot in November is more efficient and hopefully will result in better turnout. My only concern is that we will be at the bottom of the ballot and might be skipped as a result.
Two people from Brunswick Meadows have petitioned to be put on the ballot - Karri Garza and CG Johnson. I plan to request information from every candidate, including the incumbents, to post on this blog closer to election time so that everyone can make an informed vote. Now on to the next part of the e-mail....
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