Crisis in Leisure World

The crisis in Leisure World Seal Beach deepens. Shareholders were dancing in the street after the recent board meeting where it was announced that the executive director contract as written would not be renewed. It didn’t take long for shareholders to learn that they had not won their fight and, in fact, the ED might get a new contract. It is hard to understand why the shareholders and leaders in LWSB do not understand their problem. It is not the ED. It is their governance. 

The California Association of Homeowners Association reports that there are approximately 50,000 HOA’s in California and the average HOA has 296 residents. LWSB has over 9,000 residents. 

Why is the GRF Board of Directors ruling the community as if it is a small community, when in fact it is larger than many cities in the state and the country? The California Association of Homeowners Associations provides consulting services. Why has no one contacted them for help?

Laguna Woods used consultants when they wanted to make governance changes. They are only a phone call away as is Leisure World Maryland, a community similar to LWSB that has existed for almost 60 years.  Why has no GRF Board member talked to the Maryland community to find out how their governance model works? They have 18 Mutuals, each with a professional property manager. This governance model is potentially a way that LWSB could keep their 16 housing Mutuals and move forward, but no one has investigated it. 

The successful future of LWSB requires change. The current model is not sustainable. Just getting a different ED is not the answer. 

It’s much more complicated than that. Seal Beach is not an island miles away from the rest of the world. Yet, the leaders in LWSB act as if they have nothing to learn from other communities or consultants and the shareholders are largely unaware of the bigger picture. It is very frustrating.

Anne Walshe

Seal Beach