Vecinos is an organization that relies upon the financial support and volunteer activities of its membership.  The bylaws, supposedly, were crafted  to maximize membership to support its stated goals and with a board and officers elected to represent the membership in its activities.

As is standard, the bylaws create an office of President that oversees its activities with associated fiduciary and legal authority and responsibility to act on behalf of the membership of Vecinos. The Vice President works with the President to ensure that meetings and other activities proceed smoothly and when the President is unavailable, the Vice President assumes the President's duties and responsibilities.

Thus, the bylaws had the intention to guarantee the President and Vice President  be present and readily available to fulfill their responsibilities, e.g. signing legal documents and to address issues that require a physical presence in Akumal. The authors of the bylaws used the phrase “full-time resident of Akumal” to fulfill the above requirement. Unfortunately most words in this phrase are ill-defined. For example, what is meant by "full-time resident”? If we assume the tax-related definition of "full-time resident" that implies residing in Akumal for 6 months plus one day, there results  the possibility that the remainder of the year will not have any individual that can perform on-site duties of either the President or Vice President. Even worse, for those unstated 6 months plus one day the President and/or Vice President could sleep in Akumal, but work during the day in Merida. The point here is that the tax-related interpretation of "full-time resident” will not guarantee ANY physical presence in Akumal, other than sleeping. These outcomes were certainly  not the intention of the membership or, I hope, the authors of the bylaws. 

This brings us to the 2024 Vecinos Elections.  Scott Brown has sent in his bio to be a candidate for Vice-President. Scott  spends daytime hours in North Akumal but sleeps 20 minutes away in Puerto Adventuras. This should fulfill  a reasonable definition of a residency requirement for President or Vice President of Vecinos. He is available during business hours to conduct on-site Vecinos business with the added plus that he is often seen on the streets interacting with owners, non-owner residents, and short term renters.

So  given that there is no precise definition of “full-time resident”, it is the membership that should determine if Scott Brown fulfills the intention of the Vecinos bylaws.  The obvious solution, then,  is to have Scott Brown appear on the ballot as a candidate for Vice President and let the membership determine if he is a qualified and preferred candidate for Vice-President. 

In summary, using the tax related definition of full-time resident" can lead to situations that are counter to the intention of the bylaws. More concerning is that this definition has the potential to diminish, not maximize, membership.

Ron Stern

Vecinos member and owner of condos in Section G (2004-2022) and, since 2022, a full time resident, by most definitions, in Section H.

P.S. Add to the list of ill-defined terms in the bylaws the word "Akumal”. To determine the exact boundaries of what many of us consider Akumal, in particular North Akumal, is a stated goal of Vecinos.