And a good time was had by all

Somebody thought there might not be a big turnout for last week's homeowners' meeting: just a few rows of chairs were set out. Not good news for the nice folks who had kindly kept the snack bar open past its time, in the hope of selling a few Co-Colas. I felt sorry for them. The only thing I can imagine, worse than having to sit through a homeowners' meeting, is having to sit through one without a dog in the hunt, so to speak. Anyway, by the time the meeting started, there was an overflow crowd. Not good news, perhaps, for the Community Liberty Management.

This suspicion was confirmed when a homeowner stood up, right off the bat, and raised the issue of people not paying their association dues and getting away with it. This, of course, put the Community Liberty Management off its assigned topic, which was to call for an increase in next year's dues. But they were not flat-footed: without missing a beat, they switched into an explanation of all the actions they had taken, on behalf of the Association, to bring the miscreants to heel. Logic, however, was on the side of the homeowner, who maintained that there were still holdouts who had ignored every action taken, and who should, therefore, have their names printed on the Management's web site. Patiently, the Community Liberty Management pointed out that this course of action would be fraught with risk and it probably wouldn't work anyway. But, after that, several other homeowners stood up to demand that the evil-doers be outted and shunned.

After what seemed like a long time, the Community Liberty Management regained control of the meeting by reading the budget aloud. Nevertheless, the loathsome topic of those-who-refuse-to-pay continued to be brought up by different homeowners, mostly in the back, who didn't know that it had already been discussed.

Eventually, the business of the meeting was conducted, including the inspection and enthusiastic election of three new board members by the group assembled. My own feeling was that they all seemed to be interesting individuals, in their own right, who could be relied upon to bring a little vinegar to the board, which is not to say that the current board is without vinegar. I would expect each of these new members, in short order, to present a comprehensive plan for dealing with the deadbeats.

My own plan, were I to be consulted, would be to print, on the Management's web site, the names of all the homeowners who had, in fact, paid their dues, faithfully and on time; so that, by their example, the rest would be encouraged to do likewise.