If you're a Hokulani owner like me, you should have received a large packet in the mail from Associa. While you may have thought this was the annual meeting packet, it's not - it's for a special election for directors being held prior to the meeting. Although I am running, I am urging Hokulani owners to BOYCOTT this election and instead give your proxy to me so I can vote for critically needed change at Honua Kai. Please allow me to explain below.
Since 2009, board elections have been held during the annual meeting as required under HKCA bylaws. Yet, the board this year without any consultation or approval from owners made a radical change which strongly favors the reelection of the incumbent directors. I strong object to this sham election because it is:
1) entirely unnecessary - elections must still be held during annual meeting
2) a waste of money - likely >$10,000 when all expenses are added up
3) a violation of HKCA Bylaws requiring elections during annual meetings
4) an inconvenient nuisance when we have far more important electoral matters
5) an exercise in futility when no one receives the required common share majority
So why is the board going through all the trouble to go behind the backs of owners and radically alter our long established election rules without any consultation or approval?
The answer is the board abhors change and after a successful proxy campaign led to the election of 3 new Konea directors in 2023, they decided to find a way to ban proxies altogether in this year's Hokulani election to prevent a similar outcome. This gives the 3 incumbent directors a decided advantage since owners have no opportunity to get to know new candidates.
Here's proof: while the board had promised to host a candidate town hall, this was recently vetoed by the President, Roshy Hafezi, claiming it was enough for owners to read their candidacy letter. She did not care that the board was reneging on a promise made to owners. However, the annual meeting has always been an opportunity for candidates to publicly introduce themselves before the voting. Yet, the current board wants to eliminate this so owners only know the incumbents. While most owners know who I am from my prior 8 year board tenure, they don't know who Marla Gerber and Laurinda MacKenzie are. While I don't know them personally, I do believe they are both highly qualified and have my support as new directors for Hokulani.
Some of you may wonder how the board is able to do this in direct violation of HKCA bylaws which require elections to be held only during annual meetings. The answer is that the board president formed a Governance Committee composed of 3 directors (no owners) and appointed as chair Mike Wilde despite the fact that he has a direct conflict of interest as a Hokulani director seeking reelection. What better way to secure your reelection than to be the one who gets to write the new election rules.
Then they turned to attorney Anne Anderson to conjure a legal loophole which would allow an election without proxy voting. She obliged by exploiting HI statutes passed during COVID authorizing electronic meeting and voting due to travel prohibitions. While West Maui travel restrictions have been lifted for over a year, the board nonetheless is using this as the legal basis this separate election. Take it from someone who knows better than anyone, Anne Anderson is the board's attorney - not HKCA's since she is about as anti-owner and pro-board as they come.
Bottom line - this election is a blatant example of the board looking after its own self interests rather than yours. It demonstrates an appalling lack of common sense and disrespect for the rights of Honua Kai owners. I believe such conduct must not be tolerated, let alone encouraged by owners. If you vote in this bogus election entirely unauthorized under HKCA bylaws, then you are supporting owners being denied any say and approval on how they elect their directors. If Hokulani owners want to elect their directors through a method different than in the bylaws, then that is a matter for those 300+ owners to decide during the annual meeting, not 12 directors who have a keen interest in keeping the board exactly the way it is.
So that's why I'm urging Hokulani owners to boycott this election by not voting and instead designating me as your proxy representative for the 2024 annual meeting. The failure to garner enough votes will invalidate this unauthorized election and send a strong message to the board about the importance of consulting owners and getting their approval instead of abusing their powers by making self-serving changes. You have more important things to do and worry about - I know I do.
Here's my proxy solicitation letter for the 2024 HKCA Annual Meeting:
Aloha. I’m Carl Hu, a Hokulani owner since 2010 and an 8-year HKCA director emeritus, and I’m asking for your support by designating me as your 2024 annual meeting proxy if you are unable to attend. Now is the time to look back as well as forward in deciding the leadership we want and need at Honua Kai.
Last year’s tragic wildfire not only destroyed much of our beloved Lahaina, it tested HKCA and us. Sadly, rather than support relief efforts, the board‘s first response to the fires was to issue an ultimatum for the termination of all Red Cross leases less than 90 days after the fires. I stood as the sole director to voice strong disapproval against this action which I strongly believed was not in the best interest of HKCA, its owners, nor the West Maui community we are a part of. For this, I was harshly criticized by those who proclaimed sheltering fire survivors would turn Honua Kai into a permanent homeless shelter, hurt business and property values – none of which turned out to be remotely true.
When the board refused my calls to drop its stance which was publicly condemned as unconscionably heartless, I directly lobbied government officials which led to the Governor’s emergency proclamation suspending HOA stay limits for fire survivors. While it should not require an emergency act of the Governor for an HOA board to do the right thing, in this case it did. As a result of my efforts, fire survivors were allowed to stay for the duration of the emergency shelter program including at its peak over 1500 staying in over half of the units. Many lives were saved and survivors remain eternally grateful to Honua Kai and the compassion shown by its owners. A year later, there are no survivors left and the resort has never looked better and many owners benefitted from FEMA funds spent to house survivors.
I hope the lesson you’ll take from this is that doing the right thing matters greatly and we deserve to have leaders on our board who will put the interest of Honua Kai and its owners ahead of their own in guiding us forward. I believed in the face of an unprecedented disaster, human compassion takes precedence over governing documents and firmly stuck to my beliefs throughout regardless of the personal attacks and criticisms I endured. Similarly, during my 8-year tenure as a director, I always stuck to my firm belief that the interest of owners unquestionably takes priority over that of the board. I made sure owners had in me at least one director who they could rely upon to be open and to tell the truth.
After I left the board last year to help fire survivors, I had hoped for positive change but regrettably the board remains as closed and secretive as ever while guarding their own private interests. An example is the separate electronic election for Hokulani which is entirely unnecessary, costly, and in violation of bylaws. The board never asked owners for suggestions or sought our approval for this huge change which blatantly favors their reelection by banning proxy voting. Another is the recent announcement that HKCA will take legal action against the Luana developer for AC related defects. Since this is strictly a private legal dispute not involving HKCA, only Luana owners (including 5 board directors), why should all owners have to foot the costly legal bill and suffer the consequences of yet another developer lawsuit which can hurt property values and mortgage approvals?
If you want a fellow owner who has demonstrated time and time again the personal conviction to do what he says and exercise common sense, then don’t vote in the bogus Hokukani E-election and instead give your meeting proxy to me and I’ll vote for the change that owners actually want and need. See www.carlhu.usfor more info or contact me at carltchu@gmail.com or (425) 442-2297.
Mahalo! Carl Hu, Hokulani 229