Forming a new BCC Advisory Board, to better represent the community, is exciting.  All the community project can get "standing" with the county and, even better, an official "Community Venue:" where they can engage the community for help.

But the recent work by County Employees highlights the risk:
    ==> it's a Roach Hotel!! <==

It is official: the Villages has displayed itself as totally clueless.
While there is strong evidence from their proposed Amphitheater, their tax paid for/ego building name tags/business cards/proposed Polo shirts/etc, ignoring the community, not holding Town Halls, etc,

Our illustrative Mr. Amphitheater err, ConnectOregon "I Certify", err Georgie, George Wilson has had his poor little feelings hurt.

She had a silly letter published in the Mtn Times saying that the Villages of the Darned should
    actually represent those stupid community folk
rather than have him tell them what they want.

Taunting Since Have He Has Nothing

Rather than address how he
"represents the community"
he does the usual
"hurt feelings but stupid" thing
of pathetically trying to taunt ....

Complete Communities was intended to allow the "community" to have more input to the Board of County Commissioners (BCC).
=> The BCC is now engaged in an immediate discussion about:
....."how do the Villages and Hamlets demonstrate they represent the community?"
The  numerous complaints of "bullying" and other issues, and, especially, a lack of community input/representation, has prompted this discussion.
It appears the former Liaison had cultivated a Pollyanna, "hands off' approach,
that allowed bullies and ego-centric zealots to grab "position" for personal ends.   Unfortunately, the previous BCCs ignored the Villages and Hamlets.  That allowed
them to fester under the very junior guidance of this "former Liaison".
Molalla planned on having an election:
.....6 openings, same old 6 people "running"
with no evidence there will be more than 6 or 12 votes cast
......to "represent" 3500 people.
No mailing, no outreach, a bit of CYA paper posting.

• In Villages, 3 openings, 2 people "running", and "18 votes" last time, when the count was extracted from them.
• This does not  "represent" 4500 residents and 8,000 summer people. 
• Where are the mailings, outreach, more than a bit of CYA paper posting?
• Why are Town Halls obscure, "dog and pony show" meetings ....

This seems to be just too funny to really happen: it must just be "creative writing"

It seems that our illustrative "Chair of the Villages of the Darned" is slithering and sliming to keep from being "responsible" for leadership or "representing the community".
    isn't lying to the State of Oregon just OK?

   ......read more

With great effort, I managed to acquire the, apparently secret, "ConnectOregon" Grant request submitted, allegedly, by the "Villages at Mt. Hood BOD".
I see why they decided "the stinking community don't need to see this" and all I can say is:

Grant Request was Submitted

It is clear that ODOT thinks this grant request was submitted "on  time" by Nov. 27, 2013.
From the PDF of "submitted grants" we can see the submission

Uh Oh.
A couple of "minor" problems:

1. there is no record that the "Villages at Mt. Hood BOD ever saw or approved submitting this that I could find.  A vote of at least 4 members is required and in the minutes up to Nov. 27 (or even March 31, 2014), while there was pompous bluster by the "submitter", there was never approval.
   Note: Since Mr. Wilson was the grant recipient, he must, of course, recuse himself.
2. I doubt the community never saw or approved this grant .......

I found this film which, apparently, is the training film for the Darned Villages folk.
=> but only if the block doesn't break. ;-)

When I requested copies of any new applications or resubmitted ones for the 4 open positions on the
            Clackamas County Complete Communities BCC Advisory Board
                         Villages at Mt. Hood
I got the response,
    No New Applications

At the December 6, 2011 BOD meeting, one of the BOD members, apparently summarizing the BOD's position on an ODOT action, said:
      "I am opposed to ODOT or any Government organization positioning themselves
       that they don't account to anybody."

It is truly a sad reflection on their integrity that, at the very next meeting, January 3, 2012, that Clackamas County Advisory Board schemed that the community should not be informed that Cam Gilmore, a key person in Clackamas County staff, will be attending the February meeting.

If you have nothing to do and no one pays attention, why, just change the bylaws so as to have better control by the fewer bullies!

If you have nothing to do and no one pays attention, why, just change the bylaws so as to have better control by the fewer bullies!

Apparently the meeting scheduled for Tuesday March 1, 2011 was canceled.
Then it wasn’t. Then it was……

So maybe it will be rescheduled for tomorrow… or next week… or sometime.    ......read more

The BOD meeting of 2011-03-01 of the Villages of the Darned is going to discuss what links can be put on the Taxpayer supported site.

The BOD meeting of 2011-02-01 of the Villages of the Darned was enlightening from the discussion that they had on how the community is to “vote” for BOD members.

The fact that they have had an open position for a year now and no one in the community wants to associate with these folk is a big embarrassment. Added to that was that the community managed to eliminate the most outrageous snake-oil bully last year really aggravates them.    ......read more

When, Oh When, Is The Meeting?

Meeting notices? Meeting notices?
         "We don't need no stinking notices" (to paraphase from Treasure of Sierra Madre :-)
    After all, the 7 days called out in the 'bylaws'...
          "they aren't laws, they are just guidelines"
                  (quoting from a recent 'former chair').    ........read more

Introduction: A Good Idea Corrupted

It is always sad when unbounded enthusiasm of volunteers of a volunteer organization gets ground into withdrawal and resentment by pompous, self anointed "leaders". Leaders who are:

• mostly kindly described as incompetent and clueless
• some older ones may seem to "be losing it,
• gain their position through wily, slick, less than honest talk and positioning
• if deceit doesn't work, then resorting to simple bullying and intimidation works wonders in eliminating volunteer contributions, and
• have a small number of close sycophant and parasites to do the dirty work

While we see these behaviors everyday in "politics", it is most disappointing when it occurs in volunteer organizations that are attempting to do projects for their community. ........read more

8.2 Hiding the Election from Sight
June 16, 2008

In politics as in marketing, it is all about

In this commentary, we will look at how the incumbents, with the assistance of the County Bureaucrat, withheld information from the Community.
=> with the effect of keeping the election and the lone non-incumbent, Community Member's candidacy a secret.
.....read more of section 8.2

8. May 2008: The Second Anniversary of the Formation of the
Villages of the Darned

Rigging the Election to Keep the Cronies on the Board

How exciting! Learning how to rig an election!
    Just like in third world countries.
.....read more of the introduction

8.1 Rigging the Application Process to Keep People From Being Candidates

The easiest way to make sure your crony friends are "elected" to help you control the Community is to make sure no one else runs! 
=> If there are 4 positions and only your 4 friends run, why then it would be very hard to lose.

In this commentary, we will look at how the incumbents, with the assistance of the County Bureaucrat, withheld information from the Community.

=> with the effect of keeping the open positions and deadlines a secret.
.....read more of section 1

8.3                  Biasing the Election Brochure

Elections, even for a farce such as the Villages of the Darned, are always scrutinized for 'fairness".  Issues of "who is first", positioning of statements, etc, can be determining factors in a close election.

The County Bureaucrat, VJG, either with malicious intent or just stumbling, managed to do a number of things to make sure the "outsider" was at as big a disadvantage as possible.

In this section, to help others understand how to do this dastardly type of deed,
.......read more of section 3