Six Candidates and one Unhappy Homeowner

On Sunday afternoon, some 60 Marsh Creek homeowners pulled themselves away from an afternoon of NFL football (made easier by yet another unfortunate Jaguars’ loss) and met in a rare display of civic engagement: a “Meet and Greet” with the six candidates vying for three upcoming vacancies on the Marsh Creek Board of Directors.

For the first time in maybe a decade, Marsh Creek has a truly competitive election and it played out for 90 minutes in the Community Park.

“We’ve never had a group of people who’ve wanted to run for office and that’s a sad thing”, noted current Board member Lynn Pauquette, who is running for re-election.

Peter Clayton organized the successful “Meet and Greet” as Chairman of the MC Board Outreach Committee.

“I was hoping for 60 (attendees)” he said. “And for Marsh Creek, you know, if you’ve been to an annual meeting …”, his voice tailing off in acknowledgement of years of historical homeowner apathy.

“Happy? Very much so. Good turnout”, said MC Board President, Barbara O’Connor. “I hope we do it again and hope we get the same level of participation. It’s been great.”

All 6 candidates in the race also gave the Sunday afternoon event a “thumbs Up” and praised homeowner engagement.

“I think it’s been a very productive afternoon and a good turnout and good to see neighborhood engagement”, said Tom Burkhard, a candidate..

“Questions are on point, appropriate and they’re difficult”, said Scott Herrington, a candidate. “That means that people care and are engaged.”

Frank Merenda, another candidate, backed up that assessment.

“They’re asking good questions, serious questions. What are you going to do about this? What are the biggest issues facing Marsh Creek? Those are great questions. So, it’s definitely been worthwhile.”

“I think a lot of people feel they don’t have a way to get their voices out there and so this has been extremely helpful for me to try and rethink how to communicate with the patio homes people and make sure their voices get heard because I think a lot of that has been lacking”, said Pat King, another candidate.

John Hutson, a former Board president, observed that “what comes across is everyone loves Marsh Creek. Everybody wants Marsh Creek to thrive and be as good as it can possibly be. Nothing is ever as good as it can possibly be, so you are always striving. That can be a good thing.”

However, in recent weeks, the presence of three relative Marsh Creek newcomers campaigning on a modulated message of change and stability, has sparked an undercurrent of quiet grumbling among some. Marsh Creek is a community where a changeover in directors more often resembles a coronation of handpicked successors than a competitive election. Newcomers are often expected to build alliances with current board members and pay their dues in committee work, awaiting a nod for higher office.

Two of the three newcomers, Burkhard and Herrington, currently serve on Marsh Creek committees.

As the temperature dropped in the Park, heat was coming from another direction.

In yet another first for this day, a lone unhappy homeowner showed up and spent the 90 minutes circulating among the candidates to distribute a 2-page denunciation of the actions of the current Board.

Jane Muir accuses the Board members of “targeting a group of homeowners” in the Villas. The homeowners are collectively described as “The Spartina Eight”, named after the marsh grass in the protected “upland buffer” behind homes along the Intracoastal.

In her handout, Muir said the Board acted in a “vindictive” fashion against the eight, charging them with “illegally destroying the marsh” behind their properties. She claims the Board wrongly took “$20,000 from HOA Reserve Funds” to launch legal action against them and alerted the County to the supposed infractions. When the County subsequently “exonerated” the homeowners, blaming the original Marsh Creek developer for incursions into the marsh, Muir says the Board pressured the homeowners into “signing a confidentiality clause agreeing not to speak with anyone about the Board’s actions”.

“We refused to sign”, she wrote, referring to her and her husband, and she has been a frequent presence at Board meetings asking to be heard.

With her eye on the current elections, Muir pleads for “better governance, transparency and respect for homeowners”.

Most homeowners will have received their election ballots and are encouraged to return them promptly if they do not plan to attend the Annual General Meeting on December 6th at 6:00 pm at the Marsh Creek Country Club.

(Learn more about the six candidates HERE)