Do I need a license to rent my apartment?

Had the "pleasure" of attending the community meeting today.

After 2 frustrating and mind numbing hours I had to leave before I did myself an injury with a sharp biro!

I wasn't the first to leave early, I think the general feeling was that the same ground was gone over 6 times in Spanish and English and no actual decisions were made.

Good luck to the newly elected President and the 2 Vice Presidents.

Can't say that I am at all surprised to hear this news.  Who are the newly elected President and Vice?

Hi David

the president is a bilingual Spanish girl called Monica  that lives far from Almeria, and the 2 VP are a Spanish guy called Julian Sanchez, that lives about 100 kms from Thalassa and comes often, and Lorraine Braid.

I also think the meeting was not decisive at all; this is usual at Spanish community meetings. Probably the (reasonable) fact that most comments (not all) were translated contributed to the mess, as interventions did not follow a logical order, and the lack of microphone made it a difficult task to hear all interventions. Besides, most people focused on just a couple of issues that seemed never to end.

Cheers

Francisco

I am pleased with the result and it reflects what Lorraine stated in previous posts,we needed a President that was fluent in more than one language,she will be able to build bridges between the different cultures in the community.

Congratulations to Julian and of course Lorraine ,who has always had my support,a person with common sense and intelligence.

The meeting was a success we have started on the road towards a community .Welcome Monica and congratulations.

This message was last edited by kenshaz on 3/8/2008.

Forgive me, but how come two of the positions have gone to non-residents?

What possible interest can they have in the community?

Are these paid positions?

Must stop, have got to have a lie down!

As far as I am aware these are non paid positions.

With regard to 2 of these positions going to non residents, out of the many attendees these people were the only ones to volunteer, (in fact Lorraine did not volunteer, someone else volunteered her!!) 

Grumpyoldgit has that answered your question?

 

Thank you Ken, flattery will get you many brownie points, but if you really want to succeed....ask a toothless budgie how they do it!!!!!! (only joking chuck!!!)

I know that certain issues were not addressed at this particular meeting, some things were lost in translation, others were completely disregarded..........certain peoples views and opinions were totally ignored........welcome to the first, and hopefully not the last meeting of Al Andalus Thalassa Residents!!

Let us not  forget that there has been a concerted effort firstly by Andrew Rampton (the instigator of the "Rampton 100"), and secondly by  Gareth Rolls and Noreen Manson who have kindly furnished owners with information allowing individuals to formulate opinions which may assist the community in the long term, and to the people who entrusted their proxy votes with Noreen, be assured that had she been given the opportunity to use them, I am sure that she would have used them wisely, and for the benefit of our newly established community.

Which leads me to the actual conduct of the  meeting. I did, in a previous thread paint a somewhat, "graphic description"  regarding the first community meeting, and after being in attendance, I don't think that I was too far off the mark! However, I am lead to believe that this is the normal way to conduct a meeting and should not be too alarmed when voices were raised (and not just because there was no microphone), points were driven home (albeit rather like being on the M25 at rush-hour..........are we really still going round the houses??!!!****), soap-boxes were expectantly erected and positively  trampled in the stampede to be heard................... and, rather alarmingly, issues raised were skated over with the speed and grace of Torvill & Dean!!! CONFUSED?..........................So was I.......

One very important issue raised was the timing of this meeting, obviously KeyMare and Seasun House neglected to check the calender of events in Spain (general election day TODAY..... 9th March), so, unsurprisingly, the Spanish contingent were  conspicuous by their abscence, so it is important for forthcoming meetings to check both the Spanish and English calenders so that there is an equal representation. Ample notice is imperative for all nationalities, and we should explore alternative venues for such meetings as a means of saving money for the community and individuals.

I will keep people up to date with any developments and would hope that, should there be any problems you wish to be addressed, you will inform me and I will pass the information to Monica and Juan so that the situation can be resolved with the minimum amount of disruption.

Regards,

Lorraine Braid. 12-3-07.

So, why were they there and why would they have an interest in Thalassa?

Thank goodness Lorraine was there and accepted the position.

This message was last edited by Grumpyoldgit on 3/9/2008.

They were there because the have homes on Thalassa, but do not live there permanently

Ahh - the mist is lifting.

Thanks

"The meeting was a success"

I would strongly disagree that the meeting was anywhere near a success!!

It was a complete shambles from start to finish.

The people on the panel did not even bother to introduce themselves until someone asked them to do so when the meeting had been running for about 15 minutes.

There were no microphones used either for the panel or the questons from the audience. This wasn't helped by the man who brought in stacks of chairs after about an hour & the panel just kept on talking!

The translator could not be heard & when things got really heated she chose just to translate to the front row, despite being asked on 3 separate occasions to translate to the whole room.

The panel did not control the meeting at all & there wasa 20 minute discussion about choosing the day before the election as the meeting date.

There was a request for volunteers fpr the role of President & Vice President - after much discussion, 2 Spanish owners (non resident) volunteered. At this point, in an effort to support the English contingent, I volunteered for the VP role (despite having no intention of putting myself forward, even though I had been asked to do so before the meeting).

There followed further discussion, where one Spanish man was quite insistent that there be a permanent resident of Thalassa in these roles. It was at this point that Lorraine was nominated & a decision taken for there to be 2 VPs.

The result is that Monica is our President, she speaks English fluently & had the courtesy to actually translate from Spaish to English as she was speaking, which I think is very much to her credit.

Juan, who is Spanish & does not speak English, together with Lorraine (who is full time resident) are our Vice Presidents.

If nobody had volunteered, they basically would have just chosen a name (any name!) from the list of owners. So on that basis, I think we have a very workable situation in place, that should suit everybody.

I took the opportunity to speak to Monica after the meeting & she is very pleasant & as I said before, her English is excellent. I have passed to her the list of issues that was put together originally through Andrew & Gareth, so Monica is aware of the concerns that people have.

The budget for 2008/2009 was accepted & the individual community fees were provisionally accepted as Seasun are going to re-issue them, showing the breakdown of charges more clearly. There may be some small adjustments to the figures within this process.

The new figures should make it clearer who pays for the various facilitie in each block, sucha s private gardens, stairwell lighting, lifts etc.

There was some discussion around the other issues on the agenda, Awnings, Stellite TV, Security Guard & Spa - No decisions were made other than that the President & 2 VPs should form a committee, together with anyone else who wishes to assist, to discuss these issues & bring them to the next meeting.

YES that's right, there is going to be another meeting in May, June or July to vote on these issues.

Following this, about a third of those in attendance just got up & left & 3 or 4 groups developed & were holding their own discussions with no control or order in evidence.

That is basically what happened. To those of you that kindly arranged to give me your proxy vote, I will send you an email later today with the full breakdown of the meeting.

I suppose it depends on what your definition of success is but in my mind & I am pretty sure it is the opinion of many of those who attended, this meeting did not represent success at all.

Noreen

This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 3/9/2008.

I never expected this meeting to produce immediate solutions and the organisation of the meeting  was down to Luis. Which is now history .Whilst it is interesting to hear an opinion about the conduct and procedures ,it serves no purpose. I feel that it was a success because from your own admission the President Monica appears to be able to converse in two languages and aided communication during her presentation .We should not be negative ,we are now a community and be pleased with the fortunate out-come and allow the individuals to analyse the situation and form a team effort.

We now have fluent Spanish speaker who can liase with Lorraine (who understands the problems from within)and communicate with those who can make changes We have a format for a structure. Success in my book .Thalassa was not built in a day.

We are still able to communicate our views via this web-site and the Rampton 100 list and now we have the Owners club ,and we now have official elected representatives to carry our feelings forward. I  feel extremely optimistic about the future.



This message was last edited by kenshaz on 3/9/2008.

Ken

I am not being negative, but I am just clarifying for those who were not there, that the MEETING was not a success as it did not address any of the issues that many have concerns about.

We all knew that we were not going to resolve everything on Saturday but many thought that, as some of the issues were on the agenda, that some progress would be made. This was NOT the case.

I agree that the appointment of the President & VPs is a positive step but that one step does not equate to a successful meeting.

I think the only people who can say whether it was a successful meeting are those who were there to witness the appalling debacle that it was. I have spoken to numerous attendees at the meeting & the consensus of opinion was that the whole thing was badly run (the organisation was not necessarily down to Luis & in fact he played a minimal role in the proceedings which were led by David) & the fact that we have to go through the further pain of another meeting to resolve issues that have been out in the open for so long, is very disappointing.

Noreen

 

I certainly do not intend to continue a discussion about the meeting.We need to move on and allow the elected individuals room to represent us.

To clarify the situation regarding the outcome of the meeting:

The meeting was called to "hand-over" the newly formed community, discuss and agree on the budget "proposals", discuss awnings/satellite t.v  and installation systems/elect a president and vice-president/security and the spa.

Despite difficulties, these issues WERE discussed (some at great length), and whilst their conclusions may not have met with the approval of some present, and certain individuals may be aggrieved at the outcome, we can reflect on possible outcomes, but the fact of the matter remains, the meeting is over and we have to move on.

The list compiled by Noreen and distributed at the "informal" Wok gathering, raised many interesting points. If these issues are to be discussed and debated on, maybe it was a Godsend that the meeting petered out?

 Now that our President has been given a copy of this list, we should show patience, understanding and respect, and give her time to "settle in" to her new role. This is a large development, and as such, a great deal of time will be spent attending to somewhat, mundane tasks. However, I think that she will be aware that the honeymoon period will be short-lived, and there are issues that will need addressing sooner, rather than later.

In an attempt to build, rather than demolish relationships, we should forget our differences and short-comings, wipe the slate clean and move forward as ONE COMMUNITY.

Regards,

Lorraine Braid.

As a resident of Thalassa and an attendee of the chaotic meeting  we have not been informed of The Rampton 100 or the informal wok gathering that took place on the evening of the 8th or was this just for the selected few ?. We thought it was everybodies ambition to create a freindly community ?

Hi Jane & Clive

There was certainly never any intention to exclude anybody from Friday's gathering, which I organised. I communicated the event on EOS & through the email list that Andrew set up.

There have been numerous references to the email list on EOS since it started many months ago so I can only assume that you have missed those details.

If you would like your details added to the list then please PM me your email address & apartment number & I will get your details added.

Noreen

This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 3/10/2008.

This message was last edited by janeandclive on 3/10/2008.

Jane & Clive

Details noted but please edit your post to remove your email address or you will end up with loads of spam mail.

Regards

Noreen