A proposed “Code of Ethics” explained in relevant context with examples

A Code of Ethics is designed to represent key guiding principles for the Association’s officers, directors, and employees and should not be understood to replace or eliminate any additional obligations set forth in applicable Association by-laws or DCCR agreements. Perhaps a “Code of Ethics” pledge is best explained in relevant context with examples, as follows:

Canon 1. Directors shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and shall strive to comply with the principles of sustainable development in the performance of their Association duties.

• DO:  Remember that a disaster recovery plan for 648 homes means that all decision making roads (Swim, HOA & the ACC) CANNOT lead to one address if there is ever an emergency situation.
• DO: Validate the concerns of your home owners and find a way to meet them in the middle because arguing that “we have never done that before” when it is now 2020 and before was 1999 is not acceptable.

Canon 2. Directors shall endeavor to build and maintain a healthy level of honesty, civility, and good faith among the Board members and employees.

• DO: Recognize that lone dissent can mean that three Directors who are considered to be good successful leaders within larger firms have resigned due to one single person creating an all-volunteer environment of toxic dysfunctionality, negativity, and inaction where nothing ever changes.
• DO NOT: Undermine and devalue the VOLUNTEER work of others by making derogatory comments because you do not agree.
• DO NOT: Assume that every community suggestion should represent a win/lose opportunity to barter for power. This is about serving your community not your community serving you.

Canon 3. Directors shall issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.

• DO: Accept full responsibility and accountability for planning and execution across all communication channels and learn from poor outcomes.
• DO NOT: Suggest that the “Texas Business Organization Code” (which is a 700 page downloadable document) should be combined with our bylaws to provide ample “ethical guidance” since it only contains a small paragraph related to ethical professional naming conventions and there is no other ethical guidance provided.
• DO NOT: Stage a very public rejection when a disinterested, independent group of residents takes the time to build a point of view that all of the other board members think seems fair just because it will close your favorite loopholes.
• DO NOT: Announce in an email that “this position is solely needed and I can’t wait for <name removed> to help make things better on this Board” in response to the creation of an ethics committee and then publicly protest the proposed Ethical Code of Conduct in a campaign letter to the entire community to request votes.

Canon 4. Directors shall act in Association matters for each home owner or resident as faithful agents or trustees, and shall avoid conflicts of interest.

• DO: Lead modern meetings that respect the time of others and ensure that home owners will enjoy attending because they will be heard.
• DO: Remember that fully disclosing a possible conflict of interest means that you have to be “transparent”
• DO NOT: “Lie by omission” and actively lobby for other concerns on the HOA board without formally disclosing your conflict of interest for months.

Canon 5. Directors shall build their residential reputation on the merit of their service to the Association and shall not compete unfairly with others.

• DO: Run a clean campaign that shows our children that we value diversity and inclusion because everyone in the community should be heard and not just your friends and those who will always agree with you.
• DO NOT: Order specific BOD Candidate Profiles removed from the Annual Board of Directors candidate packet mailout without calling for a vote in order to favor your preferred candidates.
• DO NOT: Condone sending out an edited video along with a demonstrably false narrative in order to conduct a targeted attack of the current president.

Canon 6. Directors shall act in such a manner as to uphold and enhance the honor, integrity, and dignity of the Association and shall act with zero tolerance for bribery, fraud, and corruption. 

• DO: Learn to support the work of your fellow residents and committee members whenever you vote “No” by making sure to help if the board majority says “yes”
• DO NOT: Allow your rather volatile friend to continually show up in emails, online, and in person every time a vote doesn’t go your way to reinforce your disapproval and threaten your fellow board members with “retaliation”.

Canon 7. Directors shall, in all matters related to their Associa- tion, treat all persons fairly and encourage equitable participation without regard to gender or gender identity, race, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, political affiliation, or family, marital, or economic status.

• DO: Admonish others when they openly refer to other home owners who happen to be minorities as the “vocal minority” during discussions
• DO NOT: Ignore one home owner and then agree to meet with another home owner if they live next door to each other.

Canon 8. Directors shall help mediate Association home owner related conflicts and guide respectful and effective communication across all channels (US mail, email, SMS/MMS text, and online) between between home owners and residents whenever possible.

• DO LISTEN: Almost any community suggestion that anyone would like to discuss should not be met with some form of “back to the basics” sarcasm, passive aggressiveness or condemnation.
• DO NOT: Head the Architectural Control committee, sit on a zoning board as a professional civil engineer, and then deny that you have the ability to read a survey and help mediate simple property disputes between neighbors.

Aug/Sep 2020 Letter from the President - It is all up to the Membership

Thank you for the honor of serving on your board for my third year. Instead of the typical “Letter from the President”, this month I decided to respond to a few of the more controversial questions that I’ve recently received while communicating with residents about HOA Matters. This is an op-ed so other points of view are valid these are just my own.. It is up to the membership to decide who they want representing them and directing the community.

Can you or someone explain what is going on with the HOA Board of Directors?

The “2019 Board Accomplishments” and “2020 Board Strategic Plans” lists can be combined to provide a good overview of what we’ve completed and we still are working on. Our attorney has advised all Board Members of the following: a lone board member sending out a letter campaign asking for support or an owner’s proxy to vote is perfectly legal. In contrast, the remaining Board members could also send out a letter on an individual basis (not as the Board Members) advising owners as to why the lone board member’s concerns may be unfounded but of course, neither party should defame or slander the other. The day that the campaign letters were received across the neighborhood, I contacted candidates (four people) in my capacity as the Board President to specifically request that they stay in the race because I did not want the letter to sway any of their opinions so that they might withdraw their candidacy. Since I was truthful, then there was no problem with that. This type of behavior is part of the election process.

Why would anyone be against behaving ethically?

At one point early on, every board member agreed that we needed a “Code of Ethics”. The author of a very public rejection of the proposed Ethical Code of Conduct initially applauded the creation of an ethics committee. He stated in email that “this position is solely needed and I can’t want for <name removed> to help make things better on this Board”. The fact that his campaign is attempting to ensure that a simple pledge to behave ethically is labeled redundant requires clarification on several levels which is what I was doing when I visited all the candidates. The real elephant in the room is that not everyone agrees that one person should lead the HOA, the Swim Board, and the Architectural Committee at the same time.

Do the proposed changes mean that you cannot sit on the Swim board and the HOA board and the architectural control board at the same time?

No, the concept of fully disclosing a possible conflict of interest doesn’t say that you can’t serve on two boards. It specifically says that you have to be transparent about it if you do. Per our bylaws, Home Owner Association President, Swim Club President, and Architectural Control Committee Chair are intentionally designed to be independent leadership roles with total autonomy. The HOA President and SC President are elected roles. The ACC Chair is appointed by the HOA President. It may be technically legal for one person to be neighborhood czar and autocrat but some of us don’t agree that it is ethical because it does not work well in a crisis situation if all the decision making roads in this 648 home community go to one address. This is the real problem.

Should this potential risk be a concern?

The idea of one person heading the HOA, the Swim Board, and the Architectural Committee also runs counter to the fundamental principle of separation of powers and would be an inherent conflict of interest. Essentially, a person who seeks to occupy all three roles is proposing to be Crosstimber Mayor, Head of the Chamber of Commerce, and City Planner all at the same time. This is why you would have to be “transparent”. You can’t “lie by omission” and then actively lobby for Swim board concerns while you are on the HOA board. This risk has become a valid concern because it sparked a letter movement and has shut down all goodwill on this 2019 HOA Board.

Isn’t there a code of ethics already in place?

No. However, we have seen suggestions that the “Texas Business Organization Code” (which is a 700 page downloadable document) should be combined with our bylaws to provide ample “ethical guidance”. Upon examination, the 700 page downloadable document only contains a small paragraph related to professional naming conventions. There is no other ethical guidance provided. There is a section that provides general HOA operational advice that is similar to what is already contained in our 20 year old bylaws.

Why do we need to change anything?

There is no plan to change anything unless a quorum majority can agree that something needs to change. The “Invitation to Participate” clearly states that there may be a formal vote to measure home owner interest on various 2020 Strategic Planning related discussion topics in addition to the annual organizational vote. The need for a “Code of Conduct” is one of many such discussions.

What prompted the proposed “Code of Ethics”?

The “Code of Ethics” addresses the concern that there is nothing within the Crosstimber ByLaws and DCCRs that specifically prevents or discourages HOA board members from denigrating one another, holding contentious meeting discussions or offending home owners. Here are three examples of behavior that the Board feels need to change to better our community:

• We should eliminate board behavior that denigrates others who may disagree with the results of our decisions (EX: There have been a number of ACC committee related complaints over the years).
• We should minimize contentious meeting discussions (EX: Our last meeting lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes due in large part to “history of the world part 4” contributions).

• We should encourage behavior that empathizes with the needs of modern home owners. Specifically, we need every director to help update our website, use innovative methods to improve security at a lower cost, and modernize our bylaws. (EX: Just because you vote no doesn’t mean you get to abstain from doing the work that the rest of the team has committed to do for the community).

Is the proposed “Code of Ethics” a pledge or an amendment?

The two very different versions of the proposed “Code of Ethics” have sometimes been conflated: the board member pledge vs the bylaw amendment:

• The simple pledge (not an amendment) is the only version that has been agreed upon by a board majority (4 out of 5 members). It does not require modification of any bylaws. The most recent version of the proposed “Code of Ethics” pledge is available for review at the following location. https://drive.google.com/file/ d/1pm_k A0J7quN3oV0I3oweI_b-mjHqoM_p/view?usp=sharing
• The bylaw amendment that was put forth by the Ethics Committee is quite clearly still a work in progress and may not be enforceable per our attorney. Therefore, there is no plan to vote on the amendment at this time. The most recent version of the proposed “Code of Ethics” amendment is available for review at the following location. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GsIMxC TAuStkblScIY2P2WiOYTFigzFt/view?usp=sharing

Isn’t the board just trying to stifle a dissenting vote?

No, it is quite the opposite. It is stifling that this individual’s letter writing campaign attempted to label any commitment to behave ethically as redundant. It is hugely concerning to the other four board members because the 2019 Board of Directors has had a lot of accomplishments and success over the past year. It should be noted that Glen Britt, Tracey Lammert, and Dr. Pratik Parikh are excellent leaders. Yet, all three have resigned (or attempted to resign) and then continued to serve the greater good of the community while registering their sincere concern about the adversarial and hostile environment that remains.

Annual Event: 2020 Home Owner's Achievements and Outcomes

The board has been working continuously to enhance the community, improving the financial status of the HOA for future community projects and striving to update the current infrastructure and provide better security. Below is an outline of prioritized action items requested by the home owners who attended the 2019 annual meeting and the outcomes achieved by the board.

• Preparing a list of maintenance items that should be scheduled for every common area, dilapidated home, or gate. EX: Every common area should be maintained on a regular schedule (Power washing, Tree trimming, light bulbs replaced, etc.)
  OUTCOME: Currently fixing the damaged side walks. Power washed common area sidewalks as needed. The gates are from when community was built and obsolete. The board is in dis- cussion with vendors to replace the gates before they fail again.

• Increasing participation at Board Meetings by allowing RR Cross- timbers Homeowners to attend HOA meetings remotely using whatever communication channel makes sense for the community.
  OUTCOME: Every meeting since March has been virtual and “Zoom” meetings are now the preferred platform due to its ease of use. We are still learning how to time box these meetings and enable live survey voting etc.

• Hosting annual neighborhood pride events and working with other neighboring commmunities to clean up the greenways and hiking trails, etc.
  OUTCOME: A GoFundMe fundraiser page has been established for our new-joint-community hiking trail to access the Salado Creek Greenway (SCG). Check it out here: gf.me/u/x8szfv

• Addressing complaints that our current communication methods are not ideal. Our current “Pull” communication strategy requires RR Crosstimbers home owners to “opt in” to email only notification. 
  OUTCOME: Upgrading crosstimberhoa.com to a new smart phone compliant portal that will be released in time for voting in the annual HOA meeting.

• Building a better strategy to stay in touch with the needs of our community.
  OUTCOME: Expanded the board to 7 members because we felt that 5 members cannot keep track of all the items that need attention for 648 families without more help. Please respond and help prepare our community for the next decade. Pick a cause, bring a friend, and join us to diligently spur some positive changes for the better.

• Pursuing a healthier return on investment with a small portion of our investment capital.
  OUTCOME: We were operating at a 3% or less growth model year over year with our past portfolio. Board worked with a financial firm to established a low risk investment account in which $200K we moved on 6/25/2020 returned 1% in the first few weeks. We are headed toward achieving our goal of a 3 to 6 % growth rate annually! 

We are proud of our large and diverse Shavano Rogers Ranch Crosstimber community and we will continue to work on improving and maintaining high standards for the community.

Annual Event: 2020 Home Owner's Strategic Plan

Due to this recent pandemic surge, it looks like we are all going to be home a little while longer than we expected. The current board members strongly encourage each homeowner to become the change that you want to see in Rogers Ranch. Your active participation on the board or service within a subcommittee could make a difference and make this neighborhood a better place for your family. The Board handles the administrative decisions to keep the community functioning. Your thoughts and opinions on these issues are important:

• Current Discussion Topic 1: Enhanced security – Security Committee (Newly formed). The $50K cost of patrolling this Crosstimber for only 4 hours a day doesn’t deter crime in a neighborhood of 650+ high dollar homes. For this reason, we continue discussion with community members to come up with innovative ideas to improve security in the community. One popular idea is to modify the entry process to use TX Tags with enhanced cameras and/or the current RFID gate openers.

• Current Discussion Topic 2: Unify DCCRs – Architectural Control Committee. Ensure Architecture Standards are applied uniformly across each sub neighborhood. EX: Developers still have access rights to easement areas that they shouldn’t.

• Current Discussion Topic 2: Code of Ethics – Ethics Committee Add transparency and efficiency to the board, by working with home owners to agree on a general code of ethics. Here’s a link that describes how the proposed code of ethics will

define solid rules and metrics that will ensure that Crosstimber HOA members will enjoy working with the board going forward: https://blog.realmanage.com/creating-an-hoa-board-member- code-of-ethics-0

• Current Discussion Topic 4: Separation of powers – Per our bylaws, Home Owner Association President, Swim Club President, and Architectual Control Committee Chair are intentionally designed to be independent leadership roles with total autonomy. The HOA President and SC President are elected roles. The ACC Chair is appointed by the HOA President. Essentially, a person who seeks to occupy all three roles is proposing to be Crosstimber Mayor, Head of the Chamber of Commerce, and City Planner all at the same time. The idea of one person heading the HOA, the Swim Board, and the Architectural Committee runs counter to the fundamental principle of separation of powers and does not work well in a crisis situation for 648 homes. It may be legal for one person to be neighborhood czar and autocrat. Should this potential risk be a concern?

• Current Discussion Topic 3: Board Member Misbehavior – Under our current bylaws, the corrective action for board member misbehavior is rather extreme - removal from office requires a 50% (325) vote of all households to approve under our current by-laws. Do we require ethical behavior as a condition to board membership and ensure that all director-level violations are subject to progressive disciplinary action, up to and including termination. If so how do we implement this requirement?

• Current Discussion Topic 4: Disaster Recovery Planning Concerns – Our lawyer tells us that he is actively working with other communities to put together a plan in case things go from bad to worse. This is not about hiring guards and setting up a base camp. This is about establishing clear communication and coordination at the local level BEFORE an emergency escalation. This is just good leadership.

• Current Discussion Topic 5: Garage Sale – Because of our Covid-19 concerns, there has been no community garage sale this year. What is our stance on this topic? Do we need to coordinate with all of the other RR communities to discuss having one this Fall? Do we need to make sure that people don’t try to have their own within our RR community? This is a good idea but it raises safety concerns.

• Current Discussion Topic 6: Private community and Trespassing Signage – The board agrees that a survey of such signage to remind residents and visitors is required within Crosstimber. We need to ensure these signs are still present and/or visible. If any are missing they should be replaced with duplicates of the originals. We need to know what those actually looked like and where they were placed. Hopefully some examples still exist or someone has pictures. Getting these made may prove difficult if sign businesses are closed.

• Current Discussion Topic 7: Coordination w/ Law Enforcement and Surrounding Neighborhoods - I’ve contacted one of the Police officers assigned to our area to help us ensure that Police will issue actual citations when home owners report valid violations. I will also talk to the local constables to see if that makes more sense and we have to start serving people civilly. Comparing notes with the other HOAs and discussing what we find with our lawyers would also be a good thing.

• Current Discussion Topic 8: COVID-19 related concerns – Crosstimber has a large elder community at risk and a Swim Club with a younger audience. Social distancing is a concern with COVID-19 surging. We have taken measures in the form of signage. We are monitoring the situation.

We would like to hear from the community about suggestions and solutions which we can collate and discuss in the upcoming annual meeting.