GLA Board Error Releases Private Landowner Information
May 19, 2016 8:27:13 GMT -7
chris, dorothykeeler, and 1 more like this
Post by Admin on May 19, 2016 8:27:13 GMT -7
GLA Board Error Releases Private Landowner Information
Private email addresses released by the GLA Board - Landowners asked to erase the evidence
Private email addresses released by the GLA Board - Landowners asked to erase the evidence
At 6:31 on the morning of May 18th, 2016 someone on the GLA Board sent an email regarding the "technical difficulties" experienced during the monthly GLA Board phone meeting held the night before. According to the email, the meeting started late because of "computer issues". A little after 10 PM all landowners were cut off and unable to reconnect to the phone meeting. The GLA Board attributed this to human error; "someone inadvertently hit the mute button on the smart phone as we handed it around trying to insure best pick up of the board member speaking".
The email was sent to over 60 landowners that were on a supposedly confidential email list the GLA Board maintains. Every landowner's name and private email address was contained in the header for everyone to see. It took almost 12 hours for the GLA Board to determine their error and respond. At 6:24 in the evening they sent the following email requesting that landowners erase the evidence.
Dear GLA Landowners,
An email error occurred this morning. You received an email with landowner email addresses visible. This was an oversight. We ask that you delete the email titled Technical Difficulties. Please respect the confidential nature of the landowner email addresses.
Thank you,
The Glastonbury Board of Directors
For the record: The Forum has copies of both emails and will preserve them. It is our policy not to publish private email addresses.
The email was sent to over 60 landowners that were on a supposedly confidential email list the GLA Board maintains. Every landowner's name and private email address was contained in the header for everyone to see. It took almost 12 hours for the GLA Board to determine their error and respond. At 6:24 in the evening they sent the following email requesting that landowners erase the evidence.
Dear GLA Landowners,
An email error occurred this morning. You received an email with landowner email addresses visible. This was an oversight. We ask that you delete the email titled Technical Difficulties. Please respect the confidential nature of the landowner email addresses.
Thank you,
The Glastonbury Board of Directors
For the record: The Forum has copies of both emails and will preserve them. It is our policy not to publish private email addresses.
Background Information: In late summer 2015 the GLA Board sent a letter to all landowners explaining new email options. Landowners were presented with three choices:
1) Continue receiving Board Communications via paper and US Mail.
2) Receive "Official" GLA Board communications via email. Official communications included assessment invoices, newsletters, ballots, etc that normally were mailed to landowners.
3) The email option also allowed any landowner to have their email address included with their name, address and parcel number in the public GLA landowner records if they wished.
It was made clear that if any landowner opted to include their email address in the Membership Records then it would be available to all landowners. Implied was that if you gave the GLA Board the right to use your email address to send you "Official" communications then the Board would preserve the confidentiality of your email address. We do not know which list the GLA used for their mass email that exposed landowner names and email addresses.
1) Continue receiving Board Communications via paper and US Mail.
2) Receive "Official" GLA Board communications via email. Official communications included assessment invoices, newsletters, ballots, etc that normally were mailed to landowners.
3) The email option also allowed any landowner to have their email address included with their name, address and parcel number in the public GLA landowner records if they wished.
It was made clear that if any landowner opted to include their email address in the Membership Records then it would be available to all landowners. Implied was that if you gave the GLA Board the right to use your email address to send you "Official" communications then the Board would preserve the confidentiality of your email address. We do not know which list the GLA used for their mass email that exposed landowner names and email addresses.
Commentary and Analysis
Everyone makes mistakes and the GLA Board made a big mistake by accidentally releasing landowner email addresses. If it was just a mistake, we could forgive them. The release of landowner email addresses is another stark example of gross incompetence by some GLA Board members. It is easy to make mistakes with conventional email programs that allow multiple names and addresses to be included in the header. Secure email software prevents those kinds of mistakes by insuring that email addresses remain confidential. If the GLA Board used secure software, the accidental release of landowner information would have been prevented. An almost anonymous apology does not address nor solve the problem. Asking landowners to erase the evidence may be illegal.
GLA Board incompetence is not limited to emails. For months, Regina Wunsch and other landowners, have complained that the GLA Financial Statements are inaccurate. The Forum has studied the GLA Financial Statements and come to the same conclusion. The Treasurer, Rudy Parker, has apologized profusely but the figures are still not accurate. When confronted by the Forum at a Finance Committee meeting, Rudy stated that our calculations were our "opinion" and that he did not believe us.
At recent Road Committee meetings, the Forum had to correct several GLA Directors, who kept stating that the Glastonbury Road network was 22 miles long. Our road network is only 18.4 miles long. The Forum knows that, because we measured the distance of every platted road by driving over it, two and sometimes three times. When the chair of the Road Committee was asked why he thought the roads were 22 miles long he stated that a former chair, William Smith, told him that. He, nor any other director, offered any evidence to back up the 22 mile claim.
Director Dan Kehoe repeatedly and emphatically makes the claim that the interest rate on past due assessments must be reduced from 18% to 12% because "the courts will not honor 18%". However, no past due assessment case has ever gone to court. The GLA Board has even rejected the economical idea of bringing some debtors to small claims court. Logically it would follow, that if the GLA Board does not intend to bring a debtor to court, then it really does not matter if the courts will not support an 18% interest rate.
Some members of the GLA Board, the "old guard" as they are sometimes called, have lost or never possessed the ability to critically analyze a problem. As a result they are gullible and will believe whatever a "trusted" person tells them. The old guard board members understand this behavior and often use it to deceive some of the long term landowners who have mistakenly placed their trust in them. The Bylaw changes of 2014 were sold under the guise of bringing our governing documents closer to Montana state law. In reality the changes gave the GLA Board new powers to make it easier to cover up financial misdeeds. Many landowners believe that the proposed 2016 Governing Document changes will further consolidate Board power and control.
The old guard members trace their roots back to the time when Church Universal and Triumphant was firmly in control of Glastonbury. Covenants routinely trampled Constitutional freedoms and many outsiders viewed the Church organization as a brain washing cult. Glastonbury has changed, The Teachings remain, the covenants have evolved but some people still long for the "good old days". Those days are gone forever and the sooner the old guard understands that, the better off our entire community will be. The path for Glastonbury is clear and the future is filled with bright light. The old guard must step aside and let the people create a harmonious future.
GLA Board incompetence is not limited to emails. For months, Regina Wunsch and other landowners, have complained that the GLA Financial Statements are inaccurate. The Forum has studied the GLA Financial Statements and come to the same conclusion. The Treasurer, Rudy Parker, has apologized profusely but the figures are still not accurate. When confronted by the Forum at a Finance Committee meeting, Rudy stated that our calculations were our "opinion" and that he did not believe us.
At recent Road Committee meetings, the Forum had to correct several GLA Directors, who kept stating that the Glastonbury Road network was 22 miles long. Our road network is only 18.4 miles long. The Forum knows that, because we measured the distance of every platted road by driving over it, two and sometimes three times. When the chair of the Road Committee was asked why he thought the roads were 22 miles long he stated that a former chair, William Smith, told him that. He, nor any other director, offered any evidence to back up the 22 mile claim.
Director Dan Kehoe repeatedly and emphatically makes the claim that the interest rate on past due assessments must be reduced from 18% to 12% because "the courts will not honor 18%". However, no past due assessment case has ever gone to court. The GLA Board has even rejected the economical idea of bringing some debtors to small claims court. Logically it would follow, that if the GLA Board does not intend to bring a debtor to court, then it really does not matter if the courts will not support an 18% interest rate.
Some members of the GLA Board, the "old guard" as they are sometimes called, have lost or never possessed the ability to critically analyze a problem. As a result they are gullible and will believe whatever a "trusted" person tells them. The old guard board members understand this behavior and often use it to deceive some of the long term landowners who have mistakenly placed their trust in them. The Bylaw changes of 2014 were sold under the guise of bringing our governing documents closer to Montana state law. In reality the changes gave the GLA Board new powers to make it easier to cover up financial misdeeds. Many landowners believe that the proposed 2016 Governing Document changes will further consolidate Board power and control.
The old guard members trace their roots back to the time when Church Universal and Triumphant was firmly in control of Glastonbury. Covenants routinely trampled Constitutional freedoms and many outsiders viewed the Church organization as a brain washing cult. Glastonbury has changed, The Teachings remain, the covenants have evolved but some people still long for the "good old days". Those days are gone forever and the sooner the old guard understands that, the better off our entire community will be. The path for Glastonbury is clear and the future is filled with bright light. The old guard must step aside and let the people create a harmonious future.
