Generally speaking, I’m happy with my Homeowners Association (HOA). Having moved from an older neighborhood with absolutely no neighborhood standards, I have no problems with rules such as,
“Garbage cans must not be put along the curbside prior to 6 p.m. the day before pickup and must be removed from the curbside by 8 p.m. the evening of pickup.”
Rules are OK, when they are logical and when they are evenly enforced.
Every year we have our HOA meeting and last year, though it was abysmally boring, they at least served beer and wine and kept everyone from getting too annoyed with the 2.5 hours it took to listen to each Committee chair.
This year, in the announcement for the meeting, the President of the HOA made it very clear that they were going to try and limit each Committee head to a five-minute presentation in an effort to keep things moving along.
So, I cooked an early dinner, ate, and then headed down while CareerMom stayed home with the boys.
When I walked in, the first thing I noticed was, “Hey, no beer!” And I wasn’t the first to notice either. It seems that a Georgia law was passed that says non-profit Corps (which our HOA is) cannot serve alcohol during meetings. So, even though we are just a bunch of homeowners sitting around a clubhouse, because we are technically part of a non-profit, we can’t drink.
Wow! What a worthwhile law.
Anyway, things were going smoothly until some woman stands up and–get this–makes a motion to abolish the $5 charge that any resident who plays in the local tennis league (using our courts and others to do so) must pay.
$5! Let me say it again…$5.
Would you believe that her complaining, and our HOA president’s explanation of why this charge is necessary, went on for 45 minutes!
By the time it was over, I was about ready to go home, pour myself a drink and walk back down for the remainder of the meeting!
But finally she shut up and we voted the very same incumbents in that have been there forever because nobody else wants to be the target in the front of the room for stupidity such as this women had just shown, and THEN, once we had adjourned with a very official-sounding, “Yes, I second the motion to adjourn” agreement, we were allowed to drink.
But by then it was 9 p.m. and I needed to get home. Man, what an enjoyable night outta the house. Tonight, CareerMom’s youngest sibling graduates from High School, so while she goes and celebrates, I’ll be home with the kids. I could go with her and drag the boys, but I’d just end up watching them anyway, and at least tonight the swim team (for which residents pay $85 for each child on the team) doesn’t have practice and we can get in before 7 p.m.
Hooray for me!
Postulates & Pastimes 
Argh, I would have gouged my eye out for the 45 minutes spent on a necessary $5 charge. That’s how I felt in the meeting where an hour was devoted on a $200/yr supply budget. I think I take it personally…like the person has stolen precious minutes of my life…time that I could have spent reading, walking, or giving my kid piggy-back rides.
I don’t drink, but that sounds like a stupid law to me.
Re: That’s exactly how I felt! I’d gotten outta dishes, bathtime and card games and what did I have to show for it other than legs that had fallen asleep thanks to the hard metal chairs!
I’m sure it was far more awful than it sounds – and it sounds pretty bad.
As for the no-alcohol rule, I can see that going both ways. On the one hand, a frosty beverage might have made sitting through the long-winded committee reports. On the other hand, if people can argue over a tennis court fee for 45 minutes when they’re STONE COLD SOBER, imagine how what they could dream up if they were a little tipsy!
As you can see, my intellect and insight are often so intense that I can’t be bothered with finishing sentences.
Please add “a little easier” to the end of the sentence about the long-winded committee reports.