Opinion: Why You Should Attend AGW Meetings

Opinion: Why You Should Attend AGW Meetings

My name is John Grant and I’m a founding member of Amberglen Good Works and a member of the AGW Steering Committee (AGWSC). I also publish the AGW website and serve as secretary to the organization. I’ve lived in Amberglen since July 1, 2019, and am grateful to live in this neighborhood.

I’m writing this article in response to criticisms directed at AGW for involvement with issues that some feel are exclusively in the purview of our HOA (see the TownSq Forum: “Good Works and our HOA”, submitted on August 24, 2023). Any opinions expressed in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AGW, which hasn’t met yet to discuss the matter.

Criticisms of AGW include the following, which were posted by several members of our community on the TownSq thread:

• AGW is blurring “the lines between the HOA board and the separate entity that is the good works committee.”
• “I don’t believe input is being asked of the homeowners.”
• “…it looks like an ‘end run’ around the homeowner’s rights.”
• “Ad hock committees should not overlap or infringe on the community’s HOA.”
• I “…do not believe good works has the right to set policy.”
• “…AWG crossed a line that the HOA and the board have jurisdiction over.”
• “…the good works committee should not overlap with HOA policies period.”

I believe that these comments misrepresent what AGW does for our community (and what the relationship of AGW is to the HOA), but I also believe that no malice was intended. Instead, there seems to be a misunderstanding about what AGW does and how it does it.

Amberglen Good Works meets informally once a month as an open forum of Amberglen community members who come together to talk about the neighborhood. The spirit of the meeting is congenial, and everybody’s opinion is always welcome. Those who attend the meetings discuss topics that encompass our immediate neighborhood, as well as our wider Clark County community. All topics are focused on improving the quality of life for Amberglen residents.

Through discussion, a topic may generate sufficient interest among our group that we spin off a committee to pursue it and call the topic a “project.” We do this because it allows each person to individually become involved with specific projects that are of personal interest, and to ignore projects that are of limited interest. A committee usually works during the following month to research the topic, come up with a specific plan of action, and then to present the plan to the entire group for approval — although sometimes, a project is dropped if it seems like a poor fit.

The topics we discuss come from various sources: Sometimes from members of the steering committee, sometimes from other meeting attendees, and sometimes from others in our community who have expressed a concern. I’m going to give some real life examples of how our process works:

• Tiffany submitted posts to TownSq several times last year about “that big ugly dirt patch” across from the pond, and her desire to do something about it. The post didn’t get much traction with the HOA, but it was noticed by several steering committee members who brought it up at the next AGW meeting. Tiffany was invited to share her concerns and plans with us at a subsequent meeting, and the “Native Plantings Project” was born. AGW provided manpower to support the project and facilitated interactions with the HOA to gain the necessary approvals.
• This year, Mikhail submitted a TownSq post that warned the neighborhood of a proposed concrete batch plant near our neighborhood. The HOA and TownSq response was very limited. But because of the post, several steering committee members attended meetings of the fledgling Friends of Central Vancouver and the Clark County Council, then brought the information back to a monthly meeting. As a result of the research, AGW spearheaded neighborhood efforts to help FOCV in their successful fight against the concrete batch plant — and a couple of members were even invited to participate in FOCV executive committee meetings.
• Karen and Karl had a great idea about providing a community resource in the spirit of the Little Free Library movement. Karen brought the idea to an AGW meeting, and the “Amberglen Free Library Project” was enthusiastically created. Plans were submitted to the HOA and our own free library and community resource center came into existence without costing our residents anything.
• Ingrid moved to Amberglen recently and wanted to make some reasonable changes to her backyard. The ARC process was puzzling, but she submitted her application and started on some parts of her construction project while waiting for a response. When no response was received, she brought her problem to an AGW meeting and asked if anybody could explain what was going on. We explained that we are not associated with the HOA in any way, but could help her get some answers. Her backyard project was approved and is now completed.

What do these examples have in common?

• Each of these projects brought substantial benefit to our neighbors — and at little or no cost to the community (after all, AGW members are cost-conscious residents, too!). We are a low budget operation, but what little we bring in is spent entirely on the community.
• Each of these projects could be deemed to have been within the purview of the HOA; in most of them, the HOA board ultimately made the final decisions that allowed the project to move forward — a role that only the HOA could fill. We understand that we don’t have the “jurisdiction” to make these final decisions and cannot “set policy” for the HOA. But what we can do is try to influence those decisions with determination, strong advocacy, and solid arguments. That is our right — and for an organization such as ours, I think we would be civically remiss if we didn’t exercise that right.
• It’s unlikely that any of these projects would have been undertaken had someone not brought them to the attention of the AGW at one of our monthly meetings. Our meetings are welcoming, open, and civil; we work well together trying to solve problems and help others in our community.

I’d like to focus on the third point, which explains the importance of participation in our meetings, and I would suggest that the concerns recently expressed on TownSq is a topic worthy of discussion at our regular monthly meeting, this coming Monday. We owe it to our community to fully hear and discuss all of the concerns that were expressed. But this cannot be done without the participation of the people who have expressed those concerns: Please — I strongly encourage all of you to air them openly at our meeting, which is much more conducive to communicating than TownSq. We are not intractable — maybe you can help us understand your position? But I think that can happen only if we come together and discuss your issues in good faith as good neighbors.