March 30, 2007
Dear Editor:

I want to express my personal opinion on the PMC financial situation as a member of the finance committee. I want the PMC members to know how the Finance Committee has been treated by the board of directors for bringing up the bad news of the half million dollar budget deficit that exists right now.

In the Condor, Mrs. Nelson stated the Finance Committee was plagued by problems. We did have a big problem: The Finance Committee had not met for seven months due to the fact that complete financial data was not ready from our association. Former COO Kohl, had not hired any trained accounting persons until February, one year after we installed the new computer and accounting system.

At the February meeting we learned that almost every department had gone over budget every previous month. This was a direct responsibility of the COO who did not control spending and especially overtime. In spite of this, the board chair praised the outgoing COO in effusive terms.

One example of our concerns is that the board chair decreed that the Finance Committee meet on Friday in spite of a unanimous vote by the committee to hold our meeting on the Wednesday prior to the board meeting. The chair said she wanted somebody to join the committee who could only meet on Fridays. The fact that the people who had volunteered their time and effort for years could not meet that day did not seem relevant. We think it is. The experienced members all felt that Fridays are not a good time to hold these meetings. Then Chairperson Nelson sent an email to inform us that husbands and wives cannot serve on the same committee together, even though couples have done a lot of work in PMC and most served on many committees together for the history of the association.

My husband Dave Martin and I interpreted this as an attack on us personally for emphasizing the alarming deficit.

We are being set up for a huge assessment increase to cover the failure to control expenses, especially overtime, and the over $70,000 per year loss in the Bistro.

Our committee does have suggestions about how to cut the deficit and we will itemize them in a future article.

Brenda Martin
Pine Mountain

Editor’s Note: I’d like to note for our readers that I have attempted to verify elements of this letter prior to publishing it. I held it back last week, as I inquired of various members of the Pine Mountain Club Finance Committee whether they had received sufficient financial information to hold their regular meetings.

I received contradictory information, some agreeing, others not, as to the extent and adequacy of the data given to the committee. Therefore it seems appropriate to give Mrs. Martin her opportunity to voice her personal opinion.

The effort to keep couples from serving on the committee has been verified.

The statement that no qualified bookkeeper capable of using the upgraded software was hired until February is also subject to dispute. Judy Crary was brought in as a Temp in August and hired formally in December, she said. “The employees and managers of PMC have been working hard to bring things together,” she said, expressing pride in the staff she works with.

The question as to why a board chair would tell the volunteer committee when they must hold their meetings has been sent to the chair for reply. We will print that when it is received.

—Ed.

This is part of the April 13, 2007 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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