The Third Revised ECIA Bylaws Adopted....Ave. Amistad Original Eldorado Monument...What Is Your 2 Cents?

Our Third Revised ECIA Bylaws were formally adopted at last night's ECIA Board Meeting. It was a beautiful evening and a quiet Board meeting. It was Pam Henline's first Board meeting, since being appointed last month to replace Ed Moreno who resigned April 4. I believe members will find Pam to be an excellent addition to our 'new' Board. She is our Board liaison to the Stable Committee.

Our Board has been very busy getting projects and business done. Members will soon see beautiful new refurbished tennis courts, refurbished basketball court, refurbished community center grounds, the baseball field looks great even without the grass (still deciding what to do with that), and there are plans to redo the old Amistad Eldorado Entrance monument. I have heard that they plan to knock the center part down and just refurbish the 'wings' of the monument. I am a bit sad about that as I had hoped we would refurbish the existing 'Original and Historic' Eldorado monument back to it's 'almost' Original state as in the picture below. But, I will not fight this one. It will just be better to have it looking nice for Eldorado members and for members of the other subdivisions who enter on Amistad. Here is an old picture I got from Mr. Donohue of our Original Eldorado Entrance sign from 1972.

Oh, now that I see that picture again, I do wish the Board would choose to refurbish the Original back to its Original state with the exception of instead of having a wood backing for the lettering, to carve the word Eldorado in a large post that would extend between the two pilasters and from that beam would hang carved shingles with the names of the other subdivisions on Amistad. Those  Name shingles would be secured at the bottom by a metal bar going across and into each pilaster that would stop them from blowing around. And, adding a cement curb and island would give it needed visual boundaries for safety. Don't you love that great lettering, especially the 'E'. It is so Conquistadore....

The plan is to just keep the wings on either side and refurbish them. It will look nice, I'm sure, but, I just think it is sad to knock down our original Eldorado historical center monument. That's my 2 cents...If you have any feelings or thoughts about the monument, I'd love to hear them. You can also let our Board and the Facilities & Grounds Committee know your preference as they are going into the final phase of deciding what to do with the center structure of the monument. Thank you!

NEW 2013 ECIA Bylaws APPROVED !!!

The 2013 ECIA Annual Meeting was well attended. Our NEW Bylaws passed 524 to 216! There was a total of 740 votes. The Bylaws must pass with 60% of the total, which is 444. This is very good news for Eldorado and our members. Our Board President, Jeanne Calzada, was very professional and warm and did an excellent job hosting the meeting and directing the questions that eventually came from the pro-livestock people. She did her best to satisfy them but, as the litigation re the 9 lot owners is still progressing, albeit slowly, she could not speak to some of their concerns.

Some of the pro-livestock people who spoke out were NOT LOT OWNERS. This has been a consistent problem since the beginning of the poultry/livestock issue, when Board meetings were full of non-members trying to tilt the opinions of members. There was one woman who spoke several times last evening who was asked her name and address but did not give her address. Her name is not on our members list and neither were two others. I believe requiring this information at all our member meetings should be a natural request to anyone wishing to speak because only members must be allowed to actually speak. We are a community that is owned by lot owners and it is the lot owners that decide what we want for our community as we have the stake in the results of those decisions. Others are free to discuss their opinions anywhere else...... but, Not at any of our member meetings. I hope all members will support this important distinction.

Committee Chairs gave informative summaries on what their Committees have worked on during the year and what they propose to work on. The Facilities & Grounds Committee will be very busy this Summer with work beginning TODAY on the new Tennis Courts! They are using post-tension concrete to resurface the courts and that will take 28 days to cure so, I would mark our courts off your list for the next six weeks and then check in at the office to find when you can look forward to getting in line to play on the new courts! The basketball court will also get resurfaced and the work will continue on the refurbishing of our Baseball field and Community Park.

Our (new) Board has had a very busy year. As some members were not re-elected in the Spring of 2012, some left for personal reasons, and some resigned due to community pressure re the poultry/livestock issue. There were members who stood up to the task of filling these Board seat vacancies and appointments were made to the Board to fill those positions. The last Board resignation was on April 4, 2013, when Ed Moreno resigned. With the strong leadership of our acting Board President, Jeanne Calzada, our present Board has been working very hard together on so much work that needs to be accomplished, including tightening up our website, financial, and procurement positions making Eldorado more sound and more professional. I hope President Calzada will be chosen by our Board to remain Board President as she is an excellent example of fairness, professionalism, knowledge and work ethic, strength in character, and she is 100% pro-Covenants. Our Board, along with our Committees, are working on many exciting projects, some mentioned above, that members will enjoy. President Calzada wants to include more physical activities to engage our young people in community activities and exercise with their friends. I believe tennis classes will be coming soon.

Our beautiful and wonderful community of Eldorado has been through much in the last two years. We don't want to look back but, we want to LEARN from our experiences. We must always be vigilant when voting for our ECIA Board. They have an important job in running our community, overseeing our staff, and enforcing our Covenants. As members, we must ask questions and demand transparency because our Board is investing in our community for us. And, we must require all on our Board agree to abide by and enforce our Covenants as members signed on to when we purchased our homes and recently confirmed in our Covenant Vote of September 30, 2012. If anyone has an agenda, let them speak of it prior to being elected. If a member is elected to our Board with a personal agenda the majority does not agree with, they will be pressured to step down, or removed from our Board by members. I hope members will come to our monthly Board meetings and Committee meetings and get involved! All meetings are listed in our monthlyVistas Newsletter. All ECIA Board Meetings and Committee Meetings Minutes are available on our website at Eldoradosf.org so I hope you will take the time to read them and stay informed. On a personal note, thank you for your support these last two years. You signed my petitions, attended Board meetings, made phone calls, and wrote emails to our Board letting them know how you felt about their actions and agenda. You also informed your Eldorado friends so they could take action. Thank you! It is very important that lot owners in Eldorado are able to contact each other in the event there is something very important they need to know about...I will be discussing the need for a Member's Telephone Book soon. Other residential CID's have them as  it is our right, as members, to have this information. Hope you will continue to stay tuned to the Gadfly and my Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/EHPOA

Have a great 2013! Viva Eldorado!

Pot Calling The Kettle Black - Seems The Sign That Was Stolen In The SFNM Article Was Stolen Last Summer From Rep. Easley's Campaign?!

This is a very interesting Letter in the SFNM from Rep. Stephen Easley regarding the front page article about the sign being stolen from the pro-poultry/livestock people, who claimed they used 'recycled' campaign signs from Mr. Easley's election last Summer. Turns out, a number of Mr. Easley's signs were stolen last Summer and I think we may now know who took them. Okay, it's just an interesting co-incidence.

May 6, 2013 - Santa Fe New Mexican, Letters to the Editor:

"Sign of the times

A recent story (“Signs on bylaw vote go missing,” April 30) on stolen political signs in Eldorado indicated that the signs in question were recycled from my 2012 campaign for the Legislature. Contrary to the message on the stolen signs, I voted for the bylaw changes. I never gave anyone permission to use my campaign signs for any other purpose. I am mildly amused that the gentlemen in the story were so upset that their (read: my) signs were stolen.

During the primary and general elections, I had approximately 50 yard signs stolen. Every sign we put out was placed with permission. Clearly, some persons have little respect for legally protected political speech. Stealing the signs is, in fact, a crime.

Although the thefts (worth about $200) annoyed me, we were unable to determine who took the signs. Perhaps next time I will have to invest in a GPS tracker. What a sad state of affairs.

Dr. Stephen Easley

state representative

House District 50"

Our Annual Meeting Is This Coming Monday, May 6, at 7pm - At La Tienda, Eldorado Community Church - See You There!

Message To Anyone Out There Named Jan Deligans Who Lives In Eldorado - Didn't Your Mom Ever Tell You To Ask Questions If You Don't Know The Answer?

For anyone out there named Jan Deligans, who dislikes the truth, so she makes up everything to suit what she wants, and then spreads her misinterpretations so she can have her way....which she won't..... Roberts Rules are used for corporate boards as well as non-profit corporation boards and so our ECIA was simply stipulating that the ECIA is going by the non-profit corporation points, not the corporate points, and will be used except where our Bylaws and State non-profit corporation rules apply.

Our proposed Bylaws state in Art. XVIII, Section 2. Rules:
Section 2. Rules
"The current edition of Robert's Revised Rules of Order shall govern all deliberations of The Association and The Board, except as otherwise provided in The Bylaws, in the Articles of Incorporation or in the Declaration of Covenants, and as long as the Rules are consistent with the management [an] and operation of the Association as a nonprofit corporation."

Jan, if you TOOK THE TIME to do some research, you would find, Roberts Rules of Order Revised, under:
Application to specific organizations

"In those cases in which the bylaws or other governing documents of an organization refer to "Robert's Rules of Order," the book may be subordinate to other rules, including (in descending order of authority as applicable) law, corporate charter, constitution and/or bylaws, special rules of order and then Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised. Standing rules and, finally, custom have the least authority."

Jan, there is no voodoo going on here. You claim our 'new' ECIA Board is implementing changes to make themselves more powerful over members. But, you don't take the time to research or ask questions to find the correct answers. If you did, you would find the proposed Bylaws changes made sense. Making sense doesn't agree with you, though, or serve your plans. So, you continue to create your own paranoid analysis without any basis or facts. Your followers are equally guilty as they follow you close behind, like lemmings, and don't 'check' your information or do their own research.

Recent ECIA Post On Our Website Addressing The Misinformation Being Sent Around By Jan Deligans

Here is a recent post from our ECIA Board on our Eldoradosf.org website. Our ECIA Board posted this information to clear up the 'misinformed interpretations' of the proposed Bylaws that are going around. Jan Deligans initiated these 'misinformed interpretations'. As a result, I assume our Board has received some inquiries, so they decided to post a clarification of these concerns. Here is the ECIA Board's post, in its entirety. Please read and vote YES to approve the new Bylaws and return your ballot to the ECIA office by May 2. Thank you.

Bylaw Changes Clarification Message from the ECIA Board of Directors regarding proposed amendments to the ECIA Bylaws. 04/22/2013 It has come to the attention of the ECIA Board of Directors that a certain amount of misinformation is being disseminated regarding the consequences and intent of changes included in the proposed new Bylaws.  We want to be sure that the Eldorado community fully understand the proposed Bylaws.  Whether the new Bylaws pass or not is perhaps of secondary importance.  What is important is that each lot owner be able to evaluate the proposed amendments based on their real merit, not on faulty interpretation. First, the new Bylaws do not convey any new authority to levy fines.  The ECIA Board has had that authority since the adoption of amended covenants in 1996.  Article V, Section 1 of the Covenants grants the Board the authority to establish, levy, and collect a variety of assessments or charges, including fines and user fees.  Similar language has been included in the proposed amendments for the sake of consistency.  Language relating to user fees exists in the old Bylaws and has simply been moved to another section in the proposed amendments (from Article IX, Section 1-a to Section 3). Similarly, the Board’s authority to place liens on property has never been used for any purpose other than to facilitate the collection of unpaid annual assessments.  The proposed amendments to the Bylaws, if passed, would not in any way affect any litigation that the ECIA is currently involved in, nor could any of the changes be applied retroactively. With regard to access to ECIA records, members will continue to have the same rights as before.  Proposed amendments to the Bylaws are intended to prevent private companies from using ECIA records and rosters for commercial purposes, and to protect the privacy of ECIA members. Finally, it is critical that the ECIA community understand proposed changes relating to Board member elections.  Due to unusual high turnover on the Board during the past year, the established pattern of staggered terms has been disrupted.  The current Bylaws give any new Board member, appointed to fill a vacancy, at least a year of service before he or she must run for reelection.  The proposed amendment is meant to deal with the present and possible future situations so that the 2-2-3 rotation of directors can be maintained to ensure the continuity of Board directors from one year to the next. We hope these comments are useful to members who have yet to cast their votes on the proposed Bylaws amendments.  More importantly, we hope that all ECIA members, whether they approve of the changes or not, will read the proposed amendments carefully and participate in our community’s democratic process by casting their vote after thoughtful consideration. With thanks, The Board of Directors of the Eldorado Community Improvement Association

POISON WARNING - Someone In Eldorado Is Wrapping Meat Around Poison And Two Dogs Have Died - CAUTION -PLEASE Call The Police Or Crime Stoppers @955-5050

Someone in Eldorado is poisoning off leash dogs by wrapping meat around poison. If you have any idea who is doing this, please call the Police or Crime Stoppers at 505-955-5050, if you want to report anonymously. Your name will be kept confidential but, this must stop and the person must be apprehended. Do not let your dog(s) eat anything when you go out with them for walks.

I understand off leash dogs can be a problem but, putting poison out can kill many different kinds of wildlife including people's dogs and cannot be tolerated. Thank you.