As a working resident I’m unable to attend Board meetings since they’re held during the day.
Thanks to Frank Lennox Working Sessions were moved to the evening but, as of late, Working Sessions aren’t being held.
Our community is changing and more and more working families are moving to the Cove. Below is our latest ‘Resident Question’:
“At the last POASC meeting the notion of shifting meeting times to evening came up. The Chair said there had been little attendance when the meetings were held in the evening. I’d also heard that morning attendance isn’t much better except when there is a "hot-button" issue.
Nonetheless, I keep getting accosted about the importance of giving working folks and presumably younger folks an opportunity to participate in our governance and how evening meetings would do that.
Would it be possible to conduct a Cove Connection survey to get some kind of data on what our residents would prefer with respect to meeting times?
A good source might exist. When I attend a meeting I sign a sheet attesting to my attendance. If we’ve been doing that for some time we could simply sort those sheets into day and night meeting times respectively and then count signatures”.
Should Spanish Cove’s lifestyle be changed to reflect working residents or, since the majority of residents are retired, should it remain ‘as is’?
How can working residents “participate in our governance” and reflect their presence if Board meetings are held during the day? If held at night, do they want to participate?
I agree with Sally. It sure seems like we are letting the tail wag th edog
I don’t see what Update deadlines have to do with anything. Deadlines have been changed before. We used to publish on the first Friday, now it’s the first day of the month. So, change the publication date and deadline date to fit the board.
I’m in favor of evening, or better yet Saturday morning. One consideration, however, is the printing schedule of the Update. My Finance Committee cannot meet until the information has been put together and is currently held the day before the Board Meeting.
This results in my having to write the report after playing poker ’til about 10PM. I was unable to move the schedule of the Board Meeting by a day due to the need to get the information to the Update Editors on time.
If the Board Meeting were held the week prior there would be no Finance Committee report or financial reports available. I really don’t see the need to count heads between day or evening – either represents only a small slice of our overall community which is what we have to serve. I think the current Board Meeting dates being held in the evening starting at 7PM (or 6PM) would be a good solution. Frank can bring his martini with him.
Sorry Dave! The employed get the ribs-retirees get donuts.
LOL, be sure to add the icecream!
Ben, make my prime rib rare please
Anyone who works in Foley or Pensacola, and has a 5pm quitting-time, has barely arrived in Lillian by 6pm. If we served dinner, I’ll bet our attendance would jump dramatically.
There was a time when the Cove was almost purely a community of retired people. That is no longer so. As things stand now, in my opinion we are like our Government, that is designed for those that have the where-with-all to participate. Virtually everything that happens in The Cove happens between 7:30am and 4pm monday to Friday except on holidays. You have to be retired to attend Board Meetings, to serve on a committee, or even get to the office to take out a required building permit, and even get to use our clubhouses which are locked after 9 or 10 at night and weekends inspite of a security system that lets us identify users by time. I do believe there has to be a change of attitude to one that accomadates the bill payors. I admit I do not have all the answers. Frank is right in his observations that night Board Meetings draw less people than those during the day, but maybe that is caused by the time they are held. 6pm is dinner time for many, especially those who are working. I would like to see an extended trial of night or weekend Board and or Committee meetings. I am sure my friend Joan Fletcher will throw daggers at me, but maybe meetings of the Rules Committee should be held at night or on the weekend. This would allow many more people yo give imput on things that affect them the most, our rules. I think having PDM committes during the same times would be of value too. Let’s try something,
Sandy: Working sessions will continue to be held on the second Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. We decided this year to only have working sessions when we have a topic to discuss. If there is nothing pressing on the agenda there is no reason to hold a working session.
Frank
Correction to my post: First sentence should be, “It isn’t often…
W Hodge
Good neighbors,
It is often the case but here is a situations where we can have it both ways. Why not have the meetings on Saturday morning? Retirees have a whole week of Saturdays so using one of them once a month for a meeting wouldn’t be blasphemy. Frank Lennox wouldn’t have to miss any martinis. Working people could use a few hours on that one Saturday to attend the meetings. If we publish that we’re having coffee and donuts, we might get away with calling it a breakfast meeting. Furthermore, doctors and dentists are on the golf course on Saturday so no one will have appointments. Banks are closed for the most part so no one has to do banking. It just seems a reasonable compromise. Before some working person says, “But I work swing-shifts.” I say, we can’t possibly meet every situations and I think this one deserves some consideration as a workable solution.
W Hodge
Wally, what a great idea and compromise. Even every other meeting would be better than what is available now. It would also allow the tally of sign-in sheets to better determine if working residents are attending.
Frank, in the future will working sessions be held at night?
A personal observation: When I bought here in 2004 I was still working full time and coming over here on weekends. Board meetings were at night, and I was often able to take a long weekend and attend the Thursday evening meetings once a month. I still couldn’t attend committee meetings, but I looked forward to retirement and an opportunity to attend more Cove meetings and functions.
Now that I’m “mostly retired”, we’ve moved over here full time and I’m able to be more involved in committees and pretty much attend whatever I like. I’m glad that’s now the case.
My point, though, is that I felt somewhat excluded when I was unable to be here and participate in Cove activities, and I empathize with those who are today in a similar boat. Communications then also wasn’t nearly what it is now. Cove Connections has made a big difference.
I was a weekender, but I’m sure we have many full-time residents who are also full-time workers. What’s the solution? I don’t know. Changing to evening hours may increase participation by younger working folks. Conversely, it may decrease participation by folks who don’t want their evenings messed with. I guess for now we go with what the majority of the Board wishes to do, but keep the question out there in case the situation changes in the future. Further development of alternative methods of communication may help quite a bit, especially continued improvements in the “official” Spanish Cove web site.
Hi Dick, how are you? Thanks to Sally’s monthly reports, most of us get the information without even attending the meetings but since we’re not physically present we’re unable to participate on ‘hot topics’.
Sandy: When I have held evening meetings in the past year, the majority of the residents who attended were not employed or younger people. Our board is made up entirely of volunteers and the majority have indicated to me that they prefer morning meetings and do not like their evenings taken up with meetings. I will be attending at least nine meetings this month. I donot particularly like evening meetings.I am much better prepared toput up with the long sessions and bickering in the morning. I also like to spend my evenings listending to the news withmy feet up and sipping a martini. I hope you are able to retire soon so you can join us because I really enjoy your imput and company. My best to Ben.