Calling the comments she is hearing "rumors, rumors and more rumors," POA Secretary Dawn Haggerty provided the following answers to members' concerns.

Today at a meeting, I was bombarded by people asking (and telling) me what was going on in the community. Obviously, some persons are having a field day spreading false information to those willing to listen and, unfortunately, there are many who do listen and take what they hear as the truth – 99.9 percent of it is not!

These people “informed” me that our Food and Beverage Manager laid off (with pink slips) all of the employees and they were told they could reapply when the Country Club reopens. These people also insisted staff were informed, at the meeting, that the Country Club would be closed for three months. This is totally false. I confirmed with several employees and the Manager.

What was said was, “Because of health and repair issues, the Country Club could be closed for up to a month.” It was later decided to close for 14 days. All the staff were not given pink slips. The Manager did tell staff he would be making some cuts and some of them would not be returning. He is currently evaluating all employees. We have been top-heavy with staff in the Food and Beverage Department for some time and can’t continue to run this department at a significant loss. That subsidy comes out of everyone’s pockets. These are the facts.

I was also told, “We should not be operating without a HR (Human Resources) person," that “everything the Board has done so far has been bad for the community” and that it was "a big mistake forcing managers to leave.”

Regarding the HR issue, we are conferring with an HR attorney on any issue that is of concern, and are in the final stages of hiring a new HR person. We are not going off making crazy decisions that could jeopardize members.

The Director of Operations resigned his position. He was not “forced” into this action, as was stated. Yes, this department has been reduced. The Operations Department cost the members over $2.3 million a year and we needed to find ways to reduce this cost.

We are considering outsourcing some work and looking for additional efficiencies. We are running a business and each department must be run efficiently and lean in order to cut costs and keep dues as low as possible. We will find a person with solid Operations experience. No one is indispensable.

The Board, General Manager and Director of Finance will have reduced costs, by year end, well over $1,000,000. That equals to about $21 per annual member. We have to do this. Our water rates are way up this year. Our Workmen’s Compensation Insurance went up 51 percent. We are settling very costly lawsuits from the past. We are working to fix these problems so we can get our Association running efficiently and, hopefully, be able to maintain the dues level, even with raises in costs.

Now, when I was told, “Everything the Board has done so far is bad,” it hit me like a brick and really made me ponder. Who, if well informed, can really say this unless they have been listening to a lot of misinformation without bothering to get the truth?

This Board, from my prospective, has done an amazing job so far for the overall good of the members. We have reduced our budget by well over $1 million and more by fiscal year end as we’re still working on reducing costs further. I would say that is a major change from prior Boards and a major accomplishment.

I did not want to spend two years of my life taking this kind of criticism while working this hard. I did it because, after reviewing financial statements, budgets, costs etc. and realizing how bad our situation was, I just couldn’t sit by and do nothing.

For those who sit by and do nothing but criticize those who are trying to make things better, I say you need to pick up the phone and ask questions or personally analyze the latest financial statements against past ones to see how bad it was and how much better it is already – before making such an uneducated statement.

Stop listening to the handful of malcontents that are in our community, who criticize everything because they have nothing better to do or their candidate lost the election so they are dedicated to making this Board look bad, regardless of accomplishments.

This Board has done some amazing things and, appreciated or not, I know the fiscal welfare of our Association and resolving personnel and other problems is the prime concern of this Board. Problems are being resolved. Yes, changes are being made. They had to be. All is going well and, in time, the result will be a lean and well run POA. Be patient.