- The Padre Isles Property Owners Association (PIPOA) announced in a meeting on July 30th that all future meetings would be held on Zoom only and residents would not have the option to attend in person.
- This announcement angered residents which led to several people showing up to the PIPOA office during Monday night's special board of directors meeting and voicing their concerns.
- Many people who joined the Zoom call had technical difficulties.
- The PIPOA did not clarify if residents would be welcomed in person or not at the next meeting on Tues. Aug 27.
Padre Island residents have been actively speaking out since the Padre Isles Property Owners Association (PIPOA) meeting on July 30th when Executive Director Richard McGinley announced that all future PIPOA meetings will be held entirely on Zoom.
Concerned residents who disagree with this announcement showed up to the PIPOA office on Monday Aug. 5 at the time of the scheduled special board of directors meeting at 5 p.m., and demanded that they were allowed to attend it, in person.
The board allowed them to stand in the back of the room and stay during the duration of the meeting. However, no public comment from the residents was accepted by the board.
“At the meeting on the 30th, Mr. McGinley, the executive director, informed everybody that from now on, all meetings would be done by Zoom. In other words, property owners would not be welcome in the meetings," former PIPOA board member Tom Gottemoller said.
Gottemoller said that he dropped his position on the PIPOA board after the meeting on July 30 because he did not condone the way operations were being handled by the PIPOA, and that his role was getting so stressful that it started to negatively impact his cardiac health.
Other residents agree with Gottemoller, saying that the PIPOA board is not doing its job of representing the homeowners.
“The board has done a very, very poor, and probably intentional job, or communicating with the members," Padre Island resident and former PIPOA president Marvin Jones said.
Many residents want the PIPOA meetings to continue to be held in person, like they always have been. They do not feel as if Zoom is a practical way to hold meetings and voice their concerns to the PIPOA board.
“There was a whole bunch of us that decided we were gonna come up here because we should, because you’ve got a new board going on. Nobody knows them. And it’s just like I told the president, Jeff Rackley, we need to get to know you. And with the zoom meetings, the public needs to be there," Padre Island resident Linda Marshall said.
Several Padre Island residents shared on social media that they had technical difficulties joining Monday night's special board meeting on Zoom. Some said they could not even join the meeting in the first place. Some say that the Zoom meeting abruptly ended at 5:30 p.m., and that they could not see the remainder of it.
“There’s a lot of things that go on, on the side, that you don’t see on Zoom. And so therefore, we don’t want—Zoom is okay if you can’t make the meetings, or if you’re home-bound. But if you’re able to make the meetings, shoot, you should ought to be able to come," Gottemoller said.
The PIPOA did not clarify whether or not residents will be welcomed in person at the next scheduled meeting that will be on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 5:30 p.m.
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