A short write up about your AGM which I attended on behalf on owners in phase II. Except for one couple and me the attendants were all Spanish; the meeting was completely in Spanish
Nuria tried to intervene and refuse me entrance to the meeting but I came well prepared in cooperation with the owners so the administrator told her that just had no legal possibility to do so.
The actual proceedings of the DJ II AGM were very, very interesting. The owners revolted, the president disappeared during the meeting and it was decided to postpone the approval of the budget for 2010 as it was clear that a lot of money went into contracts with friends of the president and developer (one person as you will know).
This postponed was disputed by the administrator acting like she was the president but also stating that the developer still owned 30% of the votes so there was no real majority although the vote to postpone the rest of the AGM (budget next year, election of president and vice-president) was unanimous. Don Juan jr. was put under pressure to state why he voted the way he did as he was a representant of the developer and not a member of the committee although he sat at the presidents table. He declared himself to be just a neigbour but by that time the meeting was completely taken over by a few people who had prepared it. Some even had other quotes prepared for most items on the budget. I know who I would vote for as president. A person who prepared well, was calm but firm, had authority and didn´t become emotional but calmed down people when needed.
I succeeded in establishing proper contact with the key figures and tried to help them as good as I can, knowing our figures and knowing the law on horizontal property. They (more or less including me) formed a sort of interim working group of concerned neighbours. We exchanged phone numbers and e-mail addresses. The rest of the details about this part can´t be published on an open forum, but are available for sincere owners of phase II properties by PM.
Meanwhile they had a serious questions about the expenditures over 2009 which unfortunately can´t even be discussed in phase I. They formed a control group who would check on the committee regarding expenditures with a representantive of every block. Again an achievement which unfortunately was voted against in phase I by proxy votes. It could be that the developer wil vote against this as well (actually I´m pretty sure of it, but I´m open for surprises).
Meanwhile the president did achieve good things for the community. Se organized stuff which took us years or are still unsolved. There were serious discussions about how what money would be spend on which improvements. Again something which unfortunately is impossible in phase I. The security is very tight thanks to a guard and camera´s on every block recording everything.
All in all a meeting like in the good old days of phase I with really involved neiighbours who were assertive. I´m very attached to my own house, but otherwise I´m almost jealous of the owners there.
Now, I left a lot out as it can´t be posted, but there is one thing which can be done.
Make sure that the EOS readers and more in general the non Spanish owners are represented as well next time.
Nobody was even interested in discussing communal dishes as the Spanish Digital cable is excellent, but they would welcome active involvement from the non Spanish. I have promised them that I would do my best because that would be the best for this community which will go through hectic months now that there is an revolt against the developer controlling the community and paying friend to do overpriced jobs. The exact status and outcome of this meeting is unclear at this moment, but I´m certain that the owners won´t stop if they are outvoted.
EOS is one possible way to achieve active involvement, but luckily I know lots of owners already through email or by meeting them in person. Your community now needs active invlolvement, as they are facing the same problem phase I had in the beginning. We won that thanks for a well organized campaign and the complete cooperation between the Spanish and all the other nationalities. It would be very wise to make sure phase II can settle this as well. As long as the developer owns more votes changes, improvements the way you want it and cost savings are not possible.
Max ( a bit tired after four hours of Spanish so if this post contains slight errors please forgive me)
P.S the others who were there and can write in English are very welcome to comment as well!