February 2016 Newsletter

Southfield Redevelopment Authority Board

Unfortunately at last night’s meeting of the Southfield Redevelopment Authority (SRA) the Board of Directors, by a 6 – 3 vote, voted to offer an employment contract to one of the SRA employees.  Why is this important and why bring it up now you may ask?  First an article from the Patriot Ledger from last month gives some background on the issue.  Essentially under the enabling legislation that was passed last summer, the SRA has the ability to hire employees “at will” but not offer contracts.  Now that the Board has voted to approve this contract you’ll likely read about this in the press soon and as much as possible we like to have you hear important news from the Association first whenever possible.  In the Patriot Ledger article Chairman Minahan says that they’re changing it from a contract to an agreement.  Under Massachusetts General Laws the terms contract and agreement are synonymous, changing from one term to the other makes no real difference.

The second reason this is important is because it represents a real financial risk to the taxpayers of Southfield.  The current SRA employees haven’t received a raise in several years and they are certainly due one now.  But the Southfield Neighborhood Association Board felt strongly that by creating and entering into a contract with an employee represented an unacceptable risk to the residents of Southfield and both resident Board members were made aware of that point.  First, offering a contract is in direct opposition to the enabling legislation which directed the SRA to have only at will employees like the rest of the Commonwealth.  But second, and frankly more important, is that should the employee be terminated it exposed the SRA and it’s taxpayers (us) to possible expensive litigation.  A terminated employee could file a lawsuit, no matter how frivolous, and the SRA would potentially have to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees or a settlement to fight the lawsuit thus increasing the taxes we have to pay.

What could have been done?  The whole situation could have been solved with a simple one and a half page offering to the employee.  If the employee had been given the simple employment offer, with the same employment terms as the contract, there would have been no grounds for litigation potentially saving the Authority and by extension the taxpayers thousands of dollars should there be a dispute.  Such an offer was on the table at last night’s Board meeting and for whatever reason the six members of the SRA BOD, one of our own resident representatives included in the six; ignored Mayor Hedlund, the Weymouth Town Council, and the Southfield Neighborhood Association Board and voted in favor of a contract.  Although the contract is against the legislation and shouldn’t have been offered in the first place, now that is has been executed the SRA is bound by the terms of that contract no matter how detrimental it may be to us.  At this point the only thing the residents can do is make sure that all future employees are not offered a contract.  Every employee that is offered a contract adds to the potential liability for the taxpayers in our community.  Now that the first employee has been completed the SRA will move on to the next employee.  

We need to make sure that all future employees are not also offered contracts.  Each contract just adds more and more cost to the SRA thus adding more and more tax revenue they need to collect.  Our Southfield rate has already increased from $0.50/$1000 to $0.54/$1000 for the current Fiscal Year.  If the SRA is allowed to continue to operate in this manner the Southfield rate could potentially because too burdensome to support commercial or resident development. 

The Southfield Neighborhood Association Board of Directors will meet very soon to discuss our strategy going forward.  We may need resident help to write letters or attend SRA BOD meetings in the future to make sure that the SRA doesn’t offer another contract to another employee.  If you have any questions or comments for the Board please send them to: ericjmillersna@gmail.com or reply to this email. 

Master Landowners Association 

For those that missed the meeting last month with L Star, they are planning on setting the Southfield Master Landowners Association.  Initially the Landowners Association will begin charging dues based on the rate plan in place when we all purchased our houses and included in our closing documents.  Once the Landowners Association is set up L Star will begin the process, with resident input, of amending the Landowners Association documents to bring them in line with the new vision for Southfield.

January 2016 Newsletter

Neighborhood Association Meeting

The Southfield Neighborhood Association Annual Meeting and Election will is Tuesday January 5th beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Commons.  At that time we will hold elections for President, Secretary, Director A, and Director C.  Any Active member is eligible to vote.  If you aren’t able attend the meeting but would still like to vote the ballot is attached.  Please fill it out this ballot, put it in an envelope with your name on the outside, and give it to someone attending the meeting.  For those attending the meeting please print out a ballot and bring it with you.  We’ll have limited numbers at the meeting.

After the election we will be joined by Phyllis DeLaricheliere from the Eventide project.  She will give us an overview of what their project will become and their progress with construction.

Master HOA 

We all knew this day would come.  L Star has informed our Association that they will be organizing the Southfield Landowners Association (this may or may not become the actual name) which will be the Master HOA for all of Southfield.  It will be this coming Landowners Association that, similar to those already in an HOA, will maintain the parks, roads, and other community property currently being maintained by L Star as the development grows.  The Landowners Association will work closely with but be separate from our Neighborhood Association.  Our Neighborhood Association is an organization created to represent the political interests of the residents of Southfield and will continue to do that.

Within the coming months you’ll receive a letter from L Start in the mail giving notice that they’ll be creating this Master HOA.  A meeting date will be part of this notice (Meeting date not set yet).  All residents are invited and encouraged to attend this meeting.  At this meeting we will be presented with a budget.

L Star has said that they will initially honor the Master Association rates that were being advertised by LNR when we all first moved here.  For those in a Townhome or Cottage the rate will be $19-$29 per month on top of any current HOA fee you pay.  For those in single family homes you will begin to pay $48 per month.

SRA personnel 

Luckily the politics of Southfield have been quiet lately.  Once the legislation passed the new SRA BOD began the hard work of implementing the new legislation.  So far their work has either had a neutral or positive impact on the residents that live here.  That may soon change.  The SRA is in the process of amending the Employee Handbook and reviewing their personnel needs.  Both of these items will be on the SRA BOD agenda at their January 11th meeting.

These two items become issues because as what was formerly the SSTTDC becomes the new SRA, the expenses and income become much smaller.  Thus every unnecessary expense is magnified because of a smaller tax base.  As the legislation was being amended the vision was for a smaller, slimed down redevelopment authority.  We need to make sure that that vision is put in place.  While the personnel review has already began, it isn’t finished.  There may come a day in the coming month or two where we will need the help of the residents to remind the SRA Board that we will not allow a return to bloated bureaucracy that was the SSTTDC.  Stay tuned.