The Meeting. Cluck Cluck!

On Saturday, July 28th, 2012 Pawnee Hills Community came together, 71 attendees (including proxies) met the requirements of quorum.  A formal HOA meeting was held.  A new resident, Dennis Brown and a long time resident and previous secretary of the board Ginger Wood were present on the ballot for the new Board Members.  Of the five positions available there were five candidates including the current board.  It really wasn't a vote, these volunteers would have become the board vote or no vote.  Regardless, it is nice to have two new members on the board.

But what about the Chickens?  Although we did not have the required 112 yes votes required to change the covenant, we had a lot of pro-change attendees and good discussion.  A few were outspoken against the change even going so far as to say the covenants were "perfect" as they are and don't need to change, and if we start allowing chickens when will it end?  It will open the door for llamas, goats, alpacas etc,.  There were negative comments indicating that if the community wanted it, it would have passed and it was obvious only a small group wants the chickens.  We did a straw pole vote and out of the folks present at the meeting (including proxies) 55 were in favor of chickens and 19 were not.  Clearly those in favor are NOT the minority.

Why didn't the change pass?  The requirement to have a change pass is very very difficult.  Out of 167 homes, 112 yes votes are necessary.  That is a really big challenge.  People are busy, some people don't pay attention and some just don't understand.  There was quite a bit of discussion on how we can reach everyone in the community in order to do all that we can.  It was decided that a Chicken Committee would be formed (outside of the board) to raise the money required to put together a mailing of ballots to each resident so everyone would have the opportunity to vote on the issue.  The Ballots will resemble a political ballot marked as such on the outer envelope and have a "return by" date. Calls will be made the residents as well once the ballots have been sent.  Any resident may donate to the committee and by the closing of the meeting $84 had been collected. Eight volunteers including myself comprise the Committee which plan to have their first meeting in the near future to get organized and get this going.

Am I disappointed?  Yes and No.  It would have been a dream to have it pass on the first attempt.  I am not disappointed by the amount of positive support and logical people.  This is not a petition to overrule the HOA or bring in Zoo animals.  We simply want to raise a few chickens, have fresh eggs and some cute pets.

The Campaign and the final countdown BGAWK!

Our HOA meeting is this Saturday July 28th.  This is our Summer meeting where they put on a Barb-B-Que to entice the homeowners to attend.  We are hoping for a stellar turn out for this meeting.  Al and I have been campaigning for the past few weeks by posting our sign "Vote yes for Chickens" at the community mail house and accepting Proxies for the meeting.  It has been great to meet our neighbors and talk so positively about having Chickens in our community.  A few have been HOA bashers, but for the most part they just want the ability to live a nice country life style with a few hens.  Some, in fact many don't want to have their own Chickens, they do want the community to have the ability to.

The past "Chicken Wars" has come up frequently and it is clear there are still open wounds, however most of them are healing as so much time has past. A common complaint we did hear was that the current board is too rigid, won't listen to the community and will entertain changes but in the end will make their own mind up.  I certainly hope this is not the case.

When we moved into Pawnee Hills I had no notion to have Chickens.  However as I see the counties, cities and HOA's change their covenants and ordinances to allow for poultry in the backyards it just makes sense to me for us out here in the country to be able to have a few hens to raise.  Fresh eggs, in this economy or any economy makes sense.  Gardening is second nature to me and this will be the next level of providing fresh food for my family.  I've done the research, I've presented the research to those in the community who were open to it.

There are a couple of scenarios that could happen at the meeting.  Al and I alone do not have enough proxies to pass the vote.  The best scenario is that others in the community have also collected proxies and those along with all that attend the meeting and vote yes, a quorum is met and the proposed change passes.  Oh my that is just such a nice dream.

Another scenario is that a quorum is met, however not enough yes votes for the change to pass.

The third scenario is that a quorum is not met - meaning enough people show up for the meeting, I think this number is around 53, meeting adjourned.  I'll carry the proposed change to the December meeting.

Regardless of how many attend the meeting I imagine discussion around this issue will take place.  Who is to know if those against the change will show up or not.  If they do will they voice their issues?  The only indication we have gotten that there are some against this change is by words written on my postings in the mail house.  "No Damn Chickens" was one.  When Al and I were campaigning for proxies, some residents went out of their way not to look at us, to completely ignore us.  That baffles me.  You may not agree with me, but I am your neighbor and I am waving at you.  Can't you still be friendly?  I hope we can have good discussion without anger at the meeting.  Perhaps a change on the board would be good.  Perhaps they are tired an would like a rest?  We have new residents who have expressed an interest in serving.  Lets discuss it.

Most of all.  Let's open our minds and try something new.  If your neighbor has chickens it is not going to change your life and if it does, talk to your neighbor and have them make some changes!  Let's make Pawnee Hills the place people want to live at.  Not the place people hear about because of the Chicken Wars!