CEO’s Message – September 2025

I Should Have Listened to My Old Man

Most of us probably—and maybe reluctantly—wish we had listened to our old man. At least sometimes.

My dad was fun. He could be a bit sappy and sentimental. Sometimes the advice he thought sage, I thought not useful. But there are a few nuggets I remember I wish I had heeded.

My dad, Bill, was a Korean War veteran and returned to California to be an educator. He started in the classroom and drifted over to the administrative side, becoming a vice principal, principal, and finally the superintendent of a small school district in rural northern California (Yes, the Golden State has rural areas. My high school had a prominent FFA chapter.) Somehow, he held that job for more than 20 years—a rare feat in the super-charged arena of local education politics. He happily retired, and he and my mom, Marjorie, settled into a quiet life in Del Webb, a 55-plus community in southern California.

After years of dealing with school boards, one would have thought Bill would have known better than to get talked into serving on the board of his homeowners’ association. But it happened, and soon he found himself neck deep in HOA politics. He moaned and groaned about how awful it was. He once said, “In all my years of being involved in education, I’ve never seen politics so vicious as in an HOA! David, never get on an HOA board!”

I thought he exaggerated. I chalked it up to a bunch of old people having nothing better to do than complain about the flowers not being trimmed properly, or the occasional visiting grandchild being in the pool for a minute past posted hours. What could be so hard?

You might see where this is going. I, too, have worked in and around politics for pretty much my whole career. I’ve served on many community and professional boards and commissions. I’ve heard about HOA board antics and politics and laughed hysterically at Morty and Helen Seinfeld’s adventures at the Pines of Mar Gables and Del Boca Vista.

And yet, for reasons too convoluted and probably not interesting, I allowed myself to be conscripted onto the Harbour Village HOA Board of Directors here in beautiful Tempe, Arizona. Our community is going on 50 years old and needs some major improvements. My fellow board crusaders and I convinced our neighbors to pony up a fairly substantial special assessment and embarked on a large capital improvement project. We’re in the middle of said project, and things are going pretty well. But imagine the challenges we’re having as we replace roofs, paint buildings, install new security gates, and repave parking lots.

When one thinks about it, HOAs pretty much embody the Seven Cooperative Principles. And certainly, co-ops and HOAs share their love of politics. Oh, the politics!

As Elton John sings in “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” I should have listened to my old man.

Dave Lock
CEO