Twin Rivers residents elect two incumbents
By: Kip Berman
EAST WINDSOR Experience proved pivotal as Twin Rivers residents elected two incumbents and a former board member to their homeowners association’s board of trustees.
Current board members Herb Felzer and Scott Pohl placed first and second, respectively, in the Dec. 8 election, while Aaron Sears, who previously served on the board, placed third. The three men will each serve three-year terms. Scott Carroll placed fourth, while longtime board critic Al Wally placed fifth.
Upon his victory, Mr. Felzer, who has served on the board 11 years, said, "I’m very happy and would like to thank all the residents of Twin Rivers for having confidence in me and in my past experience. We’ll continue to keep trying our best."
The current board president, Scott Pohl, who runs his own office supply company, expressed similar gratitude upon his re-election. He said he was slightly surprised that turnout was lower than it had been in past years, but offered no speculation as to why there was a decline in community participation.
Mr. Pohl, who has served on the board since 1996, said he expects to be re-elected board president by his fellow board members.
Mr. Sears, who had served briefly on the board in 2002, said he looked forward to bringing his business expertise as an accountant to the board.
"One of my goals is to establish a subcommittee to resolve potential lawsuits out of court," Mr. Sears added immediately after his election.
Al Wally, whose public and written interactions with the board are often confrontational, did not seem particularly upset by his loss.
"I’m not surprised by the results," he said. "But I question the accuracy of the votes."
Though Mr. Wally’s campaign focused on what he deemed to be the board’s frivolous spending such as heated pools, water slides and a $500 contribution to a political action committee that lobbies for homeowners associations he also took issue with various grammatical and factual errors in the board’s official documents.
One example was the instruction portion on the ballot, which stated in one section, "choose 3 candidates." Mr. Wally asserted that it should have read, "choose up to 3 candidates."
The voting took place by proxy and secret ballot, the latter being held at the board’s annual meeting in the community room. All voting was done by paper ballot, and an accountant hired by the board oversaw the process.
Mr. Carroll, a mental health counselor, was not present at the meeting and could not be reached for comment. In voting tallies based on property assessments, Mr. Felzer received $17,841,427, Mr. Pohl got $16,739,881, Mr. Sears garnered $14,624,042, Mr. Carroll received $9,446,296 and Mr. Wally got $6,066,764. The results are still unofficial and the number of residents who voted were not yet known.
The board of trustees oversees budget, maintenance, service, architecture and recreation needs for the community of about 10,000.

