MCA Meeting Recap: December 2021
The annual meeting of the Central Park MCA took place on December 15th, covering the fundamental responsibilities of the MCA, e.g., overseeing parks, pools, and programs. The meeting also covered the ongoing community election, which is currently set to end on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, and which is explained in detail below, as well as the five-year controversy over funding for community infrastructure, which too is detailed below.
Please Vote for John B. Holt by 01/19/22
If you have not yet voted, and value the in-depth community reporting I provide each month, coupled with the action I take on multiple fronts, from street racing to neighborhood clean-up efforts, please vote for me, John B. Holt, to continue serving as your Community Delegate in District 11, the North End neighborhood, by emailing Jenifer Graham of the Central Park MCA at jgraham@mca80238.com, thank you. To learn more about me, and to gain deeper insight into the neighborhood we collectively share, please visit the North End Neighbors website.
Annual Voting Explained in Detail
While the MCA’s five board members are elected by community delegates, serving two year terms, offset at one year intervals to provide continuity, delegates are elected by community members annually.
Across Central Park’s 12 neighborhoods lie 11 districts, each represented by a unique delegate. While some regions are highly competitive, with multiple entrants vying for a singular opportunity each year, others are totally safe, with no competition whatsoever, affording select individuals the opportunity to hold elected office indefinitely. Still other regions, e.g., Centerfield, District 7, go unfilled, and uncontested, year after year.
As it currently stands, there are no term limits for board members or delegates, and a person may serve concurrent roles as a board member and delegate, which may prove controversial at some point, i.e., the potential exists for a conflict of interest. Another point of note is that while delegates are directly elected by community members, board members are elected by delegates with no direct community input.
To serve in either role, be it board member or delegate, a person must own property in the district he or she represents, and cannot serve in a different district, e.g., a Bluff Lake property owner cannot represent Centerfield, even though there are currently four candidates for Bluff Lake and zero candidates for Centerfield.
Although not currently up for debate, it is worth noting that by allowing some districts to go unfilled the community is effectively giving the existing delegates outsized voting power, for while the board is ultimately responsible for passing resolutions, agenda items are brought to the board by the delegates, who speak on behalf of their constituents.
Another point to consider is that the larger the district the harder it is to achieve quorum, i.e., the minimum number of votes required to certify an election, so even if one person has significantly more votes than his or her rival candidate(s), as is often the case after the initial round of voting, he or she will not win if quorum is not met, which is seldom the case in any district due to a universal lack of voter participation.
In Central Park, quorum is defined as 10% of the total voting population on the first round, and 5% on the second round, which makes voting vital to a healthy, prosperous democracy and vibrant, welcoming, and diverse community.
Please note that District 11, the North End, is the largest district in Central Park, making it particularly difficult to achieve quorum, so here specifically every vote counts.
As quorum was not met for the majority of districts in December 2021, voting remains open until January 19, 2022.
Again, if you value the in-depth reporting I provide, and the quick turnaround I offer to questions posed by residents, etc., please vote for me now by contacting Jenifer Graham at the MCA via her email, jgraham@mca80238.com, thank you.
Decoding the PCMD Letters
If you received a couple letters from Park Creek Metropolitan District (PCMD) in recent months that left you with more questions than answers you are in good company, and if you questioned who covered the cost of sending these letters to 13,000 plus households, you are not alone either.
To be sure, many people I have spoken with were not only confused by the messages but also put off by the fact that their tax dollars were used for one-sided political messaging.
While an exact figure for the two separate mailings has not been determined, one can estimate the figure as follows: 26,000 letters x $0.55 stamps = $14,300. Of course, when one considers the cost of envelopes, printing, and any legal assistance in drafting the messages, the price could easily exceed $20,000.
During the annual MCA meeting the ongoing dispute between Park Creek Metropolitan District (PCMD), Westerly Creek Metropolitan District (WCMD), and Stapleton Development Corporation (SDC) referenced in the letters was discussed in detail, however, the most comprehensive overview of the matter can be found in the January 2022 edition of the Front Porch newspaper in a piece titled, “Message to Central Park residents: ‘The financial health’ of your special district is being ‘negatively impacted.”
Over the course of several weeks leading up the annual meeting, I spent multiple hours speaking with Central Park Resident and WCMD President, Justin Ross, regarding the dispute to better understand the underlying issues, and am grateful to Mr. Ross for his time and insight into the conflict. In my experience, Mr. Ross has been forthcoming, explaining his stance in careful detail.
That said, I find it intriguing that King Harris, who represents PCMD, and Justin Ross, who represents WCMD, both serve on the SDC board, which lies at the heart of the ongoing controversy, and encourage every resident, every business owner, to contact all parties involved, PCMD, WCMD, and SDC, each of whom is detailed in the Front Porch piece, in an effort to expeditiously resolve this costly matter.
If you wish to learn more, please visit northendneighbors.com