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Election Fraud (Part I) On Sunday, September 25, 2022, Pat Kistner and Pat Raklovits rang our bell to tell us about the upcoming paving job. While we were talking about how to improve things here, Kistner made a derogatory insinuation as he pointed his head at the nice Chinese family that lives next door. I ignored it and asked him about the open VP spot on the Board. He trotted out the tired old (and patently false) claims about how "nobody wants to run" and "nobody wants to be on committees." What a load. They then began to pace, fidget and obfuscate about some half-baked plan for two VP spots. I asked them directly, "If nobody wants to run, then why would you make two slots if you cannot fill one?" They adamantly refused to answer that question. I told them that I'd email them my intention to run despite their insistence that their person was the only one they wanted on the ballot. Let's look at how things transpired from there. Email Chain Between The Board and Myself during the Election Date: September 27, 2022 at 4:55pm Subject: Pavement Payment Document From James Wilson To board@brooksidevillage.org Date 2022-09-27 16:55 To the members of the Board, Here is our submission for the pavement payment schedule. Also, could you please send me the literature for becoming Vice President on the board that was mentioned while speaking with "Pat and Pat" on Sunday? I have a strong interest in our village and would be pleased to assist in shaping policies for the betterment of our residents. Thank you. James Wilson There was never a response to this email from the Board. Date: October 12, 2022 at 9:05pm Subject:Ideas and a Question From James Wilson To board@brooksidevillage.org Cc Jessica Wilsonbr> Date 2022-10-12 21:05 Hi Pat, Pat, and Becky, I am writing to formally volunteer my time and efforts as Vice President of the Board for Brookside Village. You said that "nobody here wants to do the job," so I am willing and able to take up this position asap. I also intend to run for VP in the 2023/24 election cycle. I wrote to the board over two weeks ago asking for information about the position, but no such literature has come to my address . It is possible that you did not receive my email with the signed document for the pavement resurfacing. So, would you kindly confirm that you have received my pavement document along with my intent to volunteer as VP of the Board? Thank you all, and I look forward to working with each of you. Kind regards, James G Wilson PS: The resurfacing job looks much better than I expected. Good work. They processed the document but did not respond to my request again. Date: October 13, 2022 at 6pm Not an email, but relevant to the timeline: The Board held its October bi-monthly meeting via Zoom. Mr. Kistner recorded this meeting. I asked Mr. Kistner if he received my declaration for being on the ballot in the election. He made some false and dissembling comment about 'not checking the mail lately.' So, I made the declaration at the end of the meeting. I was promised that materials would be finally sent to me. Date: October 14, 2022 at 5:38pm Subject Officer Descriptions From Patricia Raklovits To James Wilson Cc Patrick Kistner Date 2022-10-14 17:38 Jim, Attached please find the VP Job Descriptions as well as Board Member Information. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns. Thank you, Paricia Raklovits, Treasurer 217-821-7746 treasurer@brooksidevillage.org www.brooksidevillage.org Date: October 14, 2022 at 8:07pm Re: Officer Descriptions From James Wilson To Patricia Raklovits Cc Patrick Kistner Date 2022-10-14 20:07 Thank you, Pat, for sending this information along. I have read these documents, and I am refamiliarizing myself with CC&R, as well. Please let me know what I need to do next. Thank you and Pat K. for this opportunity to serve our community. Kind regards, James G Wilson Yet again, there was no response to this request. Date: October 30, 2022 at 10:27am On October 30, 2022, the Board released the September/October Newsletter. Nowhere in it was my name or my declaration that I intended to run for VP. Yet, if one reviews the July/August 2022 newsletter, they proudly proclaim that Mike Timko had declared for the position. It also laid out Kistner’s illegal plan to split the VP into two positions. They engaged in vague and obfuscating language with me about this person being their choice. Back at the Sept. 25 face-to-face meeting, they were also willfully dissembling about this plan by declaring that they wanted someone else for the VP seat. They were trying to intentionally fix the election for Timko. As you will see in the November 1 email, I busted them on their scam and called them out. If telling these grifters that their plan goes against the by-laws makes me a “rude, condescending bully,” it says so much more about them than it does me. Date: October 31, 2022 at approximately 2:45pm Against my better judgment, I took a phone call from Raklovits regarding the ballot and bio for the mailings. At even the slightest question about these matters, Raklovits became more and more “rude [and] condescending” with her bullying to keep the answers hidden. She was so abrasive and ugly that I decided I was done being nice with her. She behaves as someone who has quite a lot to hide. This explains my lack of courtesy toward either of them from this point forward. The only good that came from it was her direct admission that they wanted Timko and that I should wait. In the following email, you will read of where I tell them that their scheme violated the by-laws. Read after the following messages to understand how Pat Kistner behaves when confronted. Date: November 1, 2022 at 5:20am Re: Submission for candidacy for the BVA Board From James Wilson To Patricia Raklovits, Patrick Kistner Date 2022-11-01 05:20 Please find my picture and bio in an attached PDF. I hereby formally protest what I believe to be illegal and unethical actions of President Kistner and others to pervert the makeup of the Board by conjuring offices for which there is no power to create them. According to the bylaws, “ARTICLE V – OFFICERS - Section 1. Number of Officers. The number of officers of the Association shall be four (4): a President, a Vice-President, a Treasurer, and a Secretary.” To my knowledge, there has been no amendment to this rule. In the interest of clarity, I would like to have a ruling from the BVA lawyer on what is permissible by President Kistner in this regard. It is a shame that members of the Board would engage in a conspiracy to actively keep eligible members of the BV community off of the Board. My niece and I have listened intently as your conspiracy has tried to take shape. According to my records, Mr. Kistner’s first rationale (on September 25, 2022, in person) was that he wanted to create two VP positions to eliminate tie votes on the Board with a fifth member. We all know that it was garbage given Robert’s Rules. At that time, there was no mention of Michael Timko (or anyone else) wanting the position. On September 27th, I sent an email to board@brooksidevillage.org, letting the board know that I was ready to take the seat that had been vacant for nearly eighteen months, along with my pavement payment form. I never heard a response back from the Board despite the fact that the Board received and recorded my form into the record. I next sent an email to the same address on October 12th, reiterating my offer to take the vacant seat, as well as declaring my intent to run in the coming election. This too was ignored. At the bi-monthly meeting (on October 13th), Mr. Kistner claimed that splitting the VP into two positions was now to bring younger people into the process. I am a fair bit younger than the current Board members, so I certainly qualify there. Again, there was no mention of Mr. Timko wanting the position at that time of that recorded Zoom meeting. Pat Raklovitz sent me some basic information on how the split VP would work on October 14th. After reading the materials, I wrote to each Board member asking them what I needed to do next. Again, no responses were forthcoming. When I spoke with Ms. Raklovitz on the phone today (October 31st), she gave a whole new spin on how the split VP situation would work. Of course, it was nonsense. She also lied to me when she said that Mr. Timko wanted the position before I did. Since he is apparently the Board’s suddenly hand-picked person to the take the immediate VP spot, it is clear that Mr. Kistner and others would have cheerfully mentioned him at the outset had he actually declared his intentions before I did. Every time I tried to ask Ms. Raklovitz to give me a concrete reason on why anyone would want to create two new seats where one hadn’t been filled for over a significant amount of time, I could not get a definitive or coherent answer from her. Can the Board provide me with one immediately? What the Board is trying to perpetrate here is nothing short of shameful and disgusting. I am considering hiring a lawyer to help me decide if there is a civil case in this matter for discrimination. I wish the Board would just come clean with free and fair elections instead of this below-boards behavior in this matter. Here’s hoping we can come to an amicable solution that works in the best interests of every Association member. In the interest of good record-keeping, please provide all responses to this email in writing. That way, there can be no doubt of the facts. Thank you. Yet again, there was no response to this request. Date: November 2, 2022 at 3:33pm Re: Submitted bio From James Wilson To Patricia Raklovits Cc Jessica Wilson, president@brooksidevillage.org, board@brooksidevillage.org Date 2022-11-02 15:33 It's been over 24 hours, and I have still not received *my* bio for editing. I thought this had to be done ASAP yesterday. Was that not true? I am also still waiting for your response from the BVA lawyer as to whether s/he plans represent you during this latest election-fixing scheme. If you do decide to go through with this scam, I will report you to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR). It is time that Brookside Village had free, fair, and open elections again for the Board. So, again, where is my bio for this? Date: November 2, 2022 at 5:30pm After this email, Pat Kistner stormed over to my unit in a snit and began to be loud and abrasive with me over uncovering their attempt to fix the election for themselves. I told him to leave at least three times, and he refused. He just kept getting louder and more full of shit. Eventually, he calmed down and I explained how a free and fair election actually works. Then, he finally left in a huff. There’s that “rude, condescending bully” stuff that they accuse others of so shamelessly. Date: November 2, 2022 at 6:44pm Re: Submitted bio From James Wilson To Patricia Raklovits Date 2022-11-02 18:44 My apologies for misunderstanding what you wanted with the editing. After speaking with Pat Kistner (and getting some assurances on changes to the election format), I am willing to drop most of the last part of what I had previously written. Again, I prefer a more folksy style of presenting myself to the members of Brookside Village. Please use the attached PDF as my submission. Thank you. \ Date: November 3, 2022 at 6:02pm Suggestion to send out this wind advisory to all residents From James Wilson To board@brooksidevillage.org Date 2022-11-03 18:02 Good evening, It might be a good idea to let the residents here know that there is a wind event coming through for tomorrow and Saturday. Winds will be steady at 20-30mph with gusts up to 55mph. Residents should bring their umbrellas down and take in any items that may blow around in the wind. Thank you. JGW Active Weather Alerts: WIND ADVISORY Date: November 5, 2022 at 5:43pm Ballot, Proxies, Emails From Patrick Kistner To James Wilson Cc Becky Gleason Date 2022-11-05 17:43 Mr. Wilson, I assumed the office of President on October 3, 2022, after an emergency Executive Session of the remaining members of the Board, copy of minutes attached. Prior to that date I had no access to any communications in or out of the email address president@brooksidevillage.org as that email was assigned to Stephanie Feist and her own self-assigned password. In reviewing all communications of then President Feist, I found communications between then President Feist and Mr. Michael Timko, copies attached. Mr. Timko declined to run for office via email received yesterday November 4, copy attached. So here we are today, and we need to get a revised ballot and proxy out to the membership, copies attached, which can be accomplished via a blast email from the Board via the BVA website later today. Since there is only 1 candidate for each office available to vote for besides write-ins, I propose the following: Print 84 copies of the ballot, proxy form, and candidate bio's for distribution to the membership via USPS. Include in the distribution a self-addressed, stamped envelope with the forms to be mailed back by each member to the BVA P.O. Box 9193. At the Annual Meeting, all envelopes will be opened by the Secretary, Becky Gleason, confirmation of a quorum, which is a simple majority (43) of members or proxies, or any combination of members and proxies, shall be confirmed in accordance with Article III, Section 4 of the By-Laws, and if confirmed, the wishes of the membership will be recorded at the time of opening. The results of the forms returned will be calculated and announced to the members present and included in the minutes of the Annual meeting which will be both emailed and mailed via USPS to each member. Please review and provide your thoughts and comments to me via email ASAP later today. You may also contact me via phone at 217-801-5347 if you like. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns. Thank you, Patrick Kistner, Acting President 217-801-5347 president@brooksidevillage.org www.brooksidevillage.org Date: November 5, 2022 at 6:36pm Re: Ballot, Proxies, Emails From James Wilson To Patrick Kistner Cc essica Wilson Date 2022-11-05 18:36 Hi Pat, I agree with and accept your proposal for the ballots and the counting procedures. Thank you for getting this election event organized in a transparent fashion. May the coming years shine bright on our little village. JGW Date: November 7, 2022 at 3:54pm Re: Fwd: Form message: Maint. Requests Web Link From James Wilson To Patricia Raklovits Date 2022-11-07 15:54 Hi Pat, Sorry for the late reply. He did that inspection in September of 2020, and he knocked money off of the bill since he didn't have to clean it or anything else. Since we only burn Duraflame logs (as he suggested), mid-December should be fine for him to come fix it so that we can burn wood in the coldest part of winter this year. Thank you so much for taking care of this. JGW Date: November 30, 2022 at 9:43pm RSVP Limit for Annual Meeting on Dec. 5 From jwilson@weather62025.com To Board of Directors Date 2022-11-30 21:43 Hello, The RSVP limit is set to "1" on the BVA page. Shouldn't it be set to at least 84? Thank you for your attention to this matter. Regards, JGW. Date: December 2, 2022 at 1:05am Re: Quorum for Annual Meeting From James Wilson To Board of Directors Cc Becky Gleason Date 2022-12-02 01:05 Hi Pat, It might have helped if the Board had mentioned that residents can simply put their self-addressed stamped envelope with their vote/proxy in their own mailbox with a note for the mailman to take it as out-going mail. Very easy to do. Too bad I was not consulted on the wording of the email blast from November 15th, 2022. I suspect that the general apathy in our Association seems to stem from a palpable antipathy members feel toward the Board. The latest example, obviously, is that the resurfacing project came as a shock to most people; forcing each member to pay over $400.00 apiece with very little notice. Yes, you can blame the residents for not reading the newsletter and/or not attending the meetings, but that does not solve the participation problem. It only spreads more negativity. One of the reasons I am running for the VP seat on the Board is to foster better relations with residents so that they feel included in this Association. I appreciate that the current members of the Board have a wealth of talent and experience that they’re donating to the cause of governance here. Your general mission as Board members appears to have been to improve the value of the property at Brookside Village. I hope it bears fruit for our community. Now, perhaps this as-yet unmet quorum crisis is a wake-up call for the Board to mend its years-old rift with the membership here. Otherwise, this lack of a quorum could be construed as tantamount to a ‘vote of no confidence’ for the Board. How many votes/proxies have been returned? Do you have any ideas (beyond the next email) on how to ‘get out the vote’ here? What are the next steps if a quorum is not met? I will be reviewing the bylaws in the morning. I hope that we can all work together to solve this crisis in both the short- and long-terms for the betterment of our community. Regards, JGW. On 2022-12-01 08:24, Board of Directors wrote: Mr. Wilson, As of 4:30 PM last evening, November 30, 2022, we have not received enough ballots/proxies (43) to be able to convene the Annual Meeting. The P.O. Box will be checked daily between today and Monday, December 5, 2022, at ~ 4:30 PM for receipts. The request for document returns via self-addressed stamped envelopes were mailed from the USPS location on West Wabash Ave. on November 14, 2022, as referenced by the POS purchase of a roll of 100 stamps purchased on the Association bank debit card below. This comes as no surprise to anyone who has served as a member of the Board of Directors over the past years, including myself for the last four years, as the lack of interest displayed by the membership has been quite a hurdle to overcome. We will send out an email to all members later this morning imploring the members to return their ballots/proxies ASAP. My lack of faith in the USPS being able to deliver by meeting time is of great concern. POS Purchase 11/14 USPS PO 1674190608 SPRINGFIELD IL TERM# T701 Patrick Kistner, Acting President Board of Directors, Brookside Village Association P.O. Box 9193 Springfield, IL 62791-9193 board@brooksidevillage.org www.brooksidevillage.org [1] Date: December 3, 2022 at 3:03pm Subject:Re: Quorum for Annual Meeting From James Wilson To Patrick Kistner Date 2022-12-02 15:03 Excellent news, Pat. Glad to see that the new voting system works. See y'all Monday evening. Regards, JGW. Date: December 5, 2022 at 3pm Unable to attend tonight's meeting From James Wilson To Board of Directors Date 2022-12-05 15:00 Hello, Our central air's heat pump went out, and the repair people won't be here until at least 5:30pm today. So, I will be unable to attend tonight's BVA meeting in person. Will someone be recording the vote counting and such? Or, will Zoom be available for this meeting? Regards, JGW. Date: December 6, 2022 at 8:04pm Vote Results? From James Wilson To Board of Directors Cc Jessica Wilson Date 2022-12-06 20:04 Priority Highest RE: Non-responsiveness of this Board to me, as a candidate, regarding the vote results for Board races on Monday, Dec. 5, 2022. As someone whose name is on the ballot in the race for Board positions, it is shameful that you have all refused to keep me in the loop on both processes and results. It has now been more than twenty four (24) hours since the vote, and there is nothing but silence from the Board. I gave the Board full written notice more than three hours before the meeting that I had a home emergency and could not attend in person. If you want to use the tired excuse that you “didn’t check Board of Directors mail before the meeting” again, it is an admission of dereliction on your part since there may be Board business that comes in at the last moment (like my written notice of an emergency). I can only speculate that, 1.) I won, and you are all being utterly and shamefully ungracious, or 2.) I lost due to yet more collusive shenanigans by a Board that has already extensively proven that it will do just about anything to intentionally keep residents off of the Board. Why else would there be silence, Pat, Pat, and Becky? I expect that you have saved all materials relating to the vote and are keeping them safe. I plan to review all votes, proxies, and stamped envelopes for post-marks. If any of you received these ballots/proxies in person, they are invalid given the rules we established together that only ballots received in the Board’s PO box are valid. If you’ve decided to destroy any of these materials, I will call the election invalid and bring the state Board that oversees these matters in to investigate. So, will you kindly please let me know the status of the election results and a time when we can mutually agree to inspect all materials relating to this election. Regards, JGW. Date: December 7, 2022 Re: Vote Results? From Board of Directors To James Wilson, Becky Gleason Cc Jessica Wilson Date 2022-12-07 12:20 Mr. Wison, I was not aware of your email to the Board as my laptop network interface was inoperable as of Sunday, apparently due to voltage spikes caused by power outages experienced over the weekend. Secretary Gleason has a fulltime job as well as raising her family and Acting Treasurer Raklovits was busy making sure we had everything ready to go for Monday evening as well as attending to her own personal appointments and business. A simple phone call to anyone of us would have sufficed with a follow up email to the board confirming your call and the discussion therein. Of course, you were elected to the office of Vice-President effective January 1, 2023. Simple common-sense dictates that as you ran unopposed, as did both me and Patricia Raklovits. your own cast ballot would have elected you, barring any write-ins, of which there were none. The critical issue was the attainment of a quorum in order to be able to continue the meeting once it was opened at 6:00 PM sharp Monday evening. Acting Treasurer Raklovits is working on publishing the minutes of the Annual Meeting, including the election results, as once again Secretary Gleason is employed full time and is at work. Once completed later today, the minutes and results of the election will be sent out via blast email to the membership. Once you have received the minutes, kindly address how, where, and when you would like to "inspect" the documents for an election you have already won. Please feel free to reach to reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Patrick Kistner, Acting President 217-801-5347 Board of Directors, Brookside Village Association P.O. Box 9193 Springfield, IL 62791-9193 board@brooksidevillage.org www.brooksidevillage.org From here, we find out that Kistner and Raklovits concocted an attempted coup of my VP seat at the December 5, 2022 Annual Meeting. You will also find the defamatory and, what could be construed as, criminal behavior. Date: December 28, 2022 at 11:47pm Peaceful Transfer of Power? From James G Wilson To Board of Directors Bcc Jessica Wilson Reply-To jwilson@weather62025.com Date 2022-12-28 23:47 To the current members of the BVA Board of Directors, I hope that we can engage in a peaceful transfer of power on the Board before and when I take my position as VP. Can I expect that there will be no further attempts at obstruction, misuse of an official BVA Board meeting to conspiratorially slander a resident in good standing, incite a crowd to engage in misinformed efforts to overturn a free and fair election, unauthorized misuse of private BVA materials by a non-Board member, etc. etc.? I am asking that those involved please cease and desist in these behaviors so that life can go on in peace for everyone here. Since you, Becky Gleason, remain on the Board, may I count on your cooperation during this transition to keep BVA business running smoothly? Thank you for not involving yourself in the deeds of those mentioned above. I am looking forward to working on behalf of all the residents in our Village. Regards, JGW. Date: December 30, 2022 at 12:53pm Important Message to All Members of BVA From Brookside Village Association To ALL BVA Members Date 2022-12-30 12:53 All Members of Brookside Village Association: We would like to thank all of the many members of our Association for the personal cards, notes, emails, visits, and phone calls we have received over the last few weeks; they are very much appreciated. This outpouring of personal comments from each and every one of you has made us realize that we let our emotions get the best of us during all of the drama leading up to and after our annual election of officers. We realize now that the faith all of you have in us to do what is right for BVA has been earned over many years and should never have been taken lightly and for that we sincerely apologize. We will be taking our seats of office as elected President and Treasurer effective January 1, 2023, to further and build on what we all have accomplished over the last few years and continue to make Brookside Village a desirable experience for all members. Sincerely, Patrick Kistner Patricia Raklovits Date: December 30, 2022 at 11:02pm What's next? From James Wilson To Board of Directors Reply-To James Wilson Date 2022-12-30 23:02 What's next? JGW Yet again, there was no response to this request. After this point, Kistner and Raklovits completed their conspiracy to commit a coup by suddenly announcing that they'd take their seats after all. It was all because they couldn't get anyone to really side with them; beyond their little kiss-ups, anyway. I knew it was a scam simply by knowing that Becky Gleason didn't join them in resigning. Amateur stuff, guys. Kistner promised that he and Raklovits would behave in a 'business-like' manner, so that we could get on with BVA business. I accepted his offer. I soon learned just how disingenuous Kistner was with his offer. They kept me away from most day-to-day operations and kept most of the website hidden from me. They simply became more and more nasty with every interaction. Thus, I let them know that I could only communicate with them in writing. It's unfortunate that Kistner and Raklovits will not have the honesty or integrity to show all of my emails regarding this situation. My emails were usually met with silence or obfuscation. It's what they do best. I began to refuse to meet with them face-to-face because of their verbal nastiness. That is yet another reason why I resigned. It was hurting my reputation each time Raklovits would screach at a service worker "on behalf of the Board." I adamantly rebuke Raklovits for such nastiness. Please look around this website to find out more about these awful people and what they do here. Thank you. |