By Heather Michon
Correspondent
The Lake Monticello Owners Association (LMOA) announced on Thursday (March 26) that the annual meeting of members and election of new board members scheduled for late June is being postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve a resolution postponing the meeting and rescinding the March 27 due date for the submission of member resolution proposals and petitions and applications by candidates for three open Board of Director seats.
“The Bylaws of the Association expressly authorize the Board to schedule the Annual Meeting at a later date for ‘good cause,’” the communication team said in an email blast to all members on Thursday night.
“This Association will not and does not make any of the decisions mentioned above lightly,” the email continued. “These actions are being taken to assure the health and welfare of the members of this community and its staff,” including the many volunteers who work on the Election Committee.
No new date was set. The resolution stated that it would be rescheduled “depending on Covid-19 developments and official directives by governmental authorities.”
Former LMOA communication director Judy Fish, who turned in her paperwork as a candidate for one of the open board seats on Friday, said she and other candidates she had spoken to had not been informed that the election might be postponed until the directors had already voted on the resolution.
Fish feels the community should have been informed ahead of the board’s decision and given some voice in deciding if the meeting and the election could be held in June, perhaps as an online event.
“We need more transparency,” she said in a text to the Fluvanna Review. “Opening up these discussions, like delaying the election, may result in ideas from our members that the staff and the board had not even considered.”
It is unclear what the postponement of the election means for the status of Directors Richard Barringer, Tom Braithwaite, and Bing Spitler, whose terms are set to expire in late June. An email to General Manager Steve Hurwitz on their status was unanswered at press time.
