Jonathan Association's Poor Leadership

Last week the residents of the Jonathan Association learned of another unfortunate act of mismanagement by the leadership of the Board of Directors. According to the Star-Tribune, an Association employee is accused of misappropriation of Association funds. One may wonder, "Where was the Association Executive Director?" Oh, that's right. The majority of the Board of Directors didn't feel it was necessary to have an Executive Director. Where was the Association Manager? Oh, I remember, the majority of the board felt the position could be fulfilled by a well-paid part-time Manager whose attention was diverted towards fulfilling the Chairman of the Nominating Committee's demand to completely revise the Association's voting process, the same process that was in place for 35 years and was obviously good enough to get the board elected. Was he aware something was "not right"?

The manager’s time has also been diverted towards working on several of the board member's self-serving interests to dissolve the Association. Oh, that's right, according to the Association's Governing Documents they need to put that issue up to vote to the Association Members. Well shoot, they can't do that now, can they? That would be democratic, equitable and fair. "Maybe we should devise a bizarre lawsuit whereas we can ask Association members to allow the Association to sue them. Yes ladies and gentlemen, step right up and sign here so we can sue you!" Is it any wonder the leadership wasn’t minding “the books”? Maybe it is just a coincidence the Association had to elect a new Treasurer for these allegations to come to light, but obviously, the previous Treasurer had more important issues to tend to.

No wonder unusual things have occurred in the office. The leadership of the Association has done very little to fulfill it's fiduciary obligations to the membership and is more focused on destroying it, then preserving it's value for all homeowners.

Does anyone think this is just an isolated case of mismanagement? All one has to do is go to the Associations website (www.JonathaninChaska.com) and attempt to access previous meeting minutes and agendas. As of this writing, there are no meeting minutes from the 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 board meetings and most of 2007's minutes are "Drafts". Half the agendas from 2007 are not posted. Again, more mismanagement.

If Association Members are interested in learning what many of your neighbors are doing to address the incompetence’s of many of the board members or how you can contribute to their efforts, feel free to email the PBJ (People for a Better Jonathan) at PBJinJonathan@aol.com.