2/28/22 DRAFT — hope to get statements from the candidates for president:
- William Needham
- Louie Kimbrough (write-in)
Maybe the board will finally respond to my questions in November and provide the requested documents and there might be some corrections.
3/1/22 UPDATE: Mike at the RV Park is supposed to open a PUBLIC well on Charles just west of Pierce Ferry. Originally he wanted to open in January and run it off a generator, but I just heard yesterday that he’s now waiting for Unicource to finish the power upgrade. I’m sure everyone driving Charles noticed the new power poles.
Obviously, that will have a HUGE impact on the water co-op as the fees have been increased so dramatically (almost doubled) to over $200 a year now! I was against that BEFORE I knew about Mike’s plans for a new well and it will most likely cause a serious drop in membership and I doubt that many newcomers will want to pay over $350 to join UNLESS they are very close to the well and huge water consumers.
I was very excited about putting my new lots 1/4 mile from the Greentree well into the co-op last fall, but after the last meeting, I decided not to because it’s a very bad investment if we didn’t get the Biden grant as the co-op will be bankrupt soon. I get what little water I need there from the Guardian well.
Don’t know yet how much Mike will charge, but 500 g at the co-op are currently $2.75 and at Guardian it’s about $4.25 Anyone who can still do basic math and is close to Pierce Ferry like Louie and Mickey will obviously go to Mike’s well instead of down to Sandy Point. And the Montgomeries with their HUGE hauler and 1/4 mile from the well will most likely continue to pay the co-op fees.
The only downside is having to cross Pierce Ferry to get to the public well and people with unlicensed/uninsured hauling vehicles may be reluctant to do that.
There’s also a safety issue because of the hill towards Kingman.
There’ve been accidents at PF & Charles and I almost got hit once making a left by a speeding car going towards Meadview. Water haulers are slow … I wouldn’t want to cross PF with a hauler like the Montgomeries’.
Many members are rather intoxicated when they haul water — not a problem on the dirt roads, but crossing PF without getting hit is hard enough sober.
For some members, there are good reasons to continue to pay the co-op, but I doubt we’ll see many new members and expect membership to steadily decline.
We’ll certainly lose members who are using very little water.
For me it’s an extra 2 miles and I haul a lot, but not having to pay for the base fee helps to pay for gas / tires, etc. So I’ll definitely keep on paying the co-op for now, but I’m no longer stressed over the prospect of the wells closing.
The co-op board needs to address this issue and plan accordingly.
Increasing the dues was a HUGE mistake, and I told them so at the last meeting. Nobody ever listens …
Our current board is clearly NOT capable of managing this co-op without bankrupting it and now we can’t even replace the pipes for Well 3 unless we get the Biden grant.
Throughout this post, I refer to the “board” because I don’t know the individual board members’ positions on the issues. Apparently, the board has PRIVATE meetings that are never announced or disclosed to the membership. I don’t know who’s “job” it is to respond to member inquiries and requests for documents. I got no reply whatsoever to my specific questions and document requests and there may be board members who disagree with the majority.
On 11/6/21 I requested bylaws, financials and all major repair estimates and I had questions.
I received nothing, no reply whatsoever. Here’s my submission to the Co-op FB Group (not approved and not replied to):
11/6/21 questions and request for documents to co-op FB group
My post was not approved and I got no reply!
A brief co-op history – please submit corrections and additions!
For decades the co-op board members VOLUNTEERED.
Bob Herrin was the unpaid president for countless years. When he became ill, the board members had to get paid as people didn’t want to volunteer anymore.
There were many others who volunteered over the years, but I guess they all got too old or moved away. I don’t think all directors get paid now, but it’s very sad that the next generation of retirees is so incredibly greedy and/or lazy and they won’t do anything unless they get paid.
And then there was the embezzling treasurer. The co-op was in chaos. I have no idea how much money was stolen.
When we first voted to pay some of the board members $200/month, I asked how we could afford that, won’t we run out of money?
I was laughed at because there was so much money in CDs. I sure wish I wasn’t always right.
Why are people surprised that members complain about the pay when this board won’t tell the members what they’re doing?
Eldon was extremely upset because he overheard members complaining about his pay while he was making so many runs to the wells to restart after low voltage shutdowns and to meet Unisource due to all the power problems.
Back when the wells were down so much, I submitted a post to the FB co-op group asking that Eldon be paid $20/hr + IRS mileage for each trip. As a socialist, I value everybody’s labor and Eldon obviously deserved much more than the $200.
Then I heard that Eldon did get extra pay, but I have no idea how much.
Instead of billing Unisource for all the expenses related to the power problems, they sent them a thank-you card! Unreal.
We had the funds to replace the pipes at Well 2 at Smith and fortunately, the old pipes didn’t break, but I have no idea about Well 3 at Greentree.
Nobody I’ve talked to knows whether we got the Biden grant. I’m not in the right cliques and my questions to the board remain unanswered.
The board’s solution to the constant well outages was to limit hauling to 500 g/day.
How is THAT going to help anyone?
- We get more dust
- We waste more fuel and tires etc.
- We do NOT save water by making more trips!
The insanity. And I’m the one with brain damage.
The big problem was that everybody tried to get there early in the morning and then the tanks were empty! DUH!!!!
The proper way to handle our dire situation:
- Ask members to keep their tanks at home FULL so they didn’t need to haul when the well tanks were empty or low
- Ask members with large haulers to go in the evening when the tanks are full so that the wells can recover overnight.
I haul my water in the evening and the tanks were almost always FULL!
That’s when the Montgomeries, Mickey and the other members with big haulers should have gotten their water, around 8 or 9 pm when the wells have all night to recover.
How do we save water by limiting hauling to 500 g/day and therefore requiring members to make more trips to the wells?
I’d really like someone to do the math for me!
Why don’t I volunteer for a board position?
I’m sure some readers are wondering.
It’s not because of my stress-induced brain damage and/or because I only get $266 social security and literally work every day, just about always 10+ hours.
It’s because the board members have been so incredibly hostile toward me on multiple occasions.
For example, the board seemed to enjoy that I was verbally assaulted at the last meeting. Previously, Paul yelled at me at Well 3 because I posted about the Co-op here and several of the board members stood there doing NOTHING to shut him up. Tim Weaver?
Add to that their desire to run the Co-op like a secret society and the complete ABSENCE of any intelligent discussion of financials and planning for long-term survival of the co-op, idiotic rules like limiting hauling to 500 g/day — it’s too frustrating and stressful.
I used to volunteer for the well cleanups when I didn’t have to work.
And I volunteered to put the co-op docs online and to try to get the members more informed and engaged. They’re not all demented and even people with Alzheimer’s have good days and can contribute. Clearly, the board needs a lot of help!
It’s been said that the STATE will take over the wells when the co-op is bankrupt.
I’d actually very much prefer the wells to be run by the state.
I don’t enjoy the harassment and verbal attacks at the meetings and at the wells and all the BS and idiotic rules. But, I’m not sure how quickly that would happen.
My preferred option would be to vote to dissolve and hand the wells and their management to the state as long as our water supply isn’t interrupted.
Of course, that’s not going to happen at this meeting, so who should you vote for?
The only contested position is PRESIDENT:
- William Needham
- Louie Kimbrough (write-in)
I tried to get info from Louie about his views and the only thing that wasn’t bla bla bla was that he wants the co-op to be more transparent.
That definitely gets MY vote.
I’m going to repost on FaceBook and maybe someone will supply William Needham’s email. Definitely would like to hear what he has to say.
