Joe,

Boards often need diversity of backgrounds among its members to be effective.  I think we have an opportunity to improve our board's diversity with the election of two candidates this year.  After watching the video I am supporting Pete Gomsak and Bob Thompson.

Pete Gomsak is an experienced, strong leader with an extensive and varied resume having served and led a number of boards. Working with him on the 10 year plan task force I have seen him in action on a number of occasions.  He is insightful, quick, willing to challenge the status quo and has the ability to build consensus among diverse opinions and personalities.  His accounting background and experience on the Budget and Finance Committee will only inure to the benefit of OPA in the future. If only one position were open Pete would be my choice.

Until I watched the video, I had never seen Bob Thompson.  He impressed me with his humor, his history and roots in OP and, just as important, his willingness to say he did not have enough information to express an absolute opinion on several matters.  Coupled with his commitment to process, the ability to maintain an open mind on issues where it would be easier to pander to a portion of the owners was a positive.  He would also bring an investment background to OPA an area where the board currently lacks expertise.

As to the other two candidates, I like Ray Unger a lot.  His heart is in the right place and he willingly has devoted extensive time and effort to OPA. However, as he stated in the candidates forum, he is a background player not on the forefront of board policy and action. Perhaps most troubling to me is that Ray seems willing to accept whatever comes from the GM and at times -- based on postings on this forum -- he appears to be naive or not well informed or reasoned. For these reasons when compared to Gomsak and Thompson he would be my third choice.

I believe Roelof "Dutch" Oostveen also loves OP. In my opinion he is a two idea candidate; fire the GM and stop wasting money. He is against planning ahead expressing multiple times that he is only worried year to year not the long term future of OP. To me part of a boards duty and responsibility is to plan for the future and to ensure continuity leaving the association in better shape then how they found it. I don't sense we would get this big picture view from Dutch.

We have four candidates who want to serve and are willing and able to do their best to advance the community.  In the end, my opinion is that Pete Gomsak and Bob Thompson are the best choices this year.

Ted