Boards Operating Correctly-Road Issues

Letter requesting a road issue to go before board
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On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 4:34 PM, Elmer Qi wrote:

Hello there, this is Zong Han Qi and Cathy Qi, the owner of Lot 490; the reason I am writing this letter is get a request for HOA to do road matinee on Mountain Hollow Drive in front of Lot E-490. From what it looks like the road in front of E-lot 490 has been damaged for a long time and filled with big Rocks. And right now the only safe way to get into my property is by 4-wheeler or Dirt Bike. And I have driven through the entire valley; this portion of the road is one of the worst. Please let me know if HOA will consider my request, thank you so much for all you help.
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Letter sent to board becasue we could not present this to them:
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Sent: Fri, October 23, 2009 10:35:37 AM
Subject: Fwd: Road In front of E Lot -490

Dear Tom (Secretary) and board members,

Thank you for a particularly well-run board meeting.

Below is an email from a member. Diana was going to present it to the board at open forum for members, but becasue of the fast shut down after Cliff spoke up with no open forum offered, she was not able to present it. Please put it on the agenda for the next board meeting.

Thank you.
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Response to request to put Qi's letter on next agenda.
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Hi Diana,
Sorry you did not get to present the e-mail you had at the meeting. It would have been nice if you would have given us a heads up. We could have looked at the problem and addressed it.
I drove my pickup in 2 wheel drive up to lot E 490, yesterday. The lot right next to it (E 491), had two big camp trailers set up on it. If lot E491 owners could get to their lot with camp trailers I have a hard time believing the owners of lot E490 could only get to their lot with 4 wheelers and dirt bikes.
While I realize the road "Mountain Hollow Drive" needs work, there are a lot of roads that need work. We have limited funds. As soon as we can, I will try to get it taken care of. I myself, would like to make sure everyone in Hideaway Valley has a descent road, and can get to their property. That's what "road maintenance" should mean and everyone pays the same. The road maintenance has been little to none in the last few years and most everyone knows why, but we will not go into that. Our roads are in terrible shape and will take years at the rate we are financially able to repair them.

Roy
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My response to Roy
Hi Roy,
Thank you for your quick response to this road issue and for writng such an informative letter.

Just a few issues in your letter that I want to comment on. I honestly believe that I am not responsible to give the board a "heads up" on issues that need to to be presented during the "members forum" at the end of a normal board meeting. This is not a members responsibility but the chairperson who is conducting the meeting. I waiting after the meeting to give this to you but all the board members were busy talking to someone and didn't want to interrupt, after 10 minutes I left.

Your response to Qi sounds like a slap in the face, definitely all our roads need to be worked on but if he is not comfortable going on his road with only a four wheel drive he shouldn't be criticized. We don't know how the other lot owner got his trailers on his lot and shouldn't compare him to Mr. Qi.

Wasn't his road one of the ones that board said they were going to work on this year and instead worked on that road up by your place?

However, it is great that your have been allowing us to have open conversations with you on these issues.

Thank you for your interest in Mr. Qi's email.

Diana

Board Member Mania - What's Up?

Seems like many other boards face what we do. Read about this board in California--sound like us?

It seems lately that Board members are tripping over themselves all over the place these days - I get so many calls from board members that need help because the Directors are fighting with each other or the hired help or the members. Sometimes a Board member is harassing employees, staff or owners. Sometimes they are threatening each other. Sometimes one or more is taking information from executive session meetings and attorney-client privileged information to the owners because they can't get the board to agree to what they want. Sometimes a Director comes to a board meeting drunk and obnoxious. Wow, seems Board mania is a contagious disease. What's up?

and he discusses solutions:

From my view (of course taking into consideration that most of what I see are the problems Associations face) the position of serving as a Board Member in an HOA is getting ever increasingly complicated for many reasons including complicated laws, threats of lawsuits, shortage of money for the budget, discovery of serious problems, trying to conduct business in the face of insulting or difficult board members or insulting or difficult owners, and sometimes because of excessive meetings and time requirements when something big is happening. It seems to me that every year, the fights get more serious, the job of each Director gets harder and the pool of volunteers willing to serve is shrinking. The stress encountered in the thankless "job" wears good board members down and the burn out rate is high.

From our last meeting, we can see that some improvements have come our way--Show up and participate--the more reasonable members who show up, the better. Join us--and share what you see

Rita Walker talks to Members

I am writing this letter because of the lies that have written about Roy Walker and myself. No one knows the countless hours that Roy has spent working to make Hideaway Valley a better place for every lot owner.

Here are some of the lies and the truth:

1. Lie: Roy had the asphalt road torn up between Tee Pee Ranch and the Pavilion on his own.
1. Truth: Roy has hand written notes of the Board Meeting dated 8/18/08, written by Kristin Hatch, stating that Tom Crisp will tear up that section of the road. Roy took the blame because the minutes had not been written yet. The minutes that were wrote and posted on the web are not correct and are not signed.

2. Lie: Roy took over the books from Carpenter and would not let the treasurer do her job.
2. Truth: Kristin took Carpenter's books to the bookkeeper and left them with her. The vice-president and treasurer were out of town on business trips and were unable to do their jobs. Connie, the bookkeeper called Roy for help on the mess Carpenter had on his statements. She could not get in touch with Kristin so Roy stepped in and worked with the bookkeeper to get the assessments statements correct.

3. Lie: Some peoples 18% interest and late fees from Carpenter's charge were dropped and others were not.
3. Truth: All 18% interest and late fees that Carpenter charged were dropped off all accounts. Roy has the proof of this in black and white.

4. Lie: In the first few months of 2009 there was mention of fraud about the money collected.
4. Truth: Every bit of cash and checks that has been paid, is documented in three different places, the bank, bookkeeper and the books Roy has recorded them in.

5. Lie: Roy only needs a company answering phone line, instead of a full service line.
5. Truth: Roy gets calls from members any time from 7:00am to 10:30pm any day of the week from members wanting some information. He has tried to answer any questions they ask him. If he doesn't have an answer at the time of the call, he will get the information and call them back. He has never refused any call or refused to help anyone who needs help.

6. Lie: Collection Resolution for past due accounts not voted on.
6. Truth: In the July 15 2009 Board Meeting, the agenda idem was to review and approve the collection resolution. A motion was made and seconded to approve and adopt the collection resolution as revised and to send a copy of the resolution to the members of the association. Mr. Walker, Mr. Taufer, Me LaFavre and Mr. Johnson voted in the affirmative. Mr Widdop was not called for a vote. The motion carried. Ever member was sent a copy of the Collection Resolution and a sample of a demand letter for payment of unpaid dues.

7. Lie: People will be put out of their homes because of foreclosure.
7. Truth; There are less than ten people that live in Hideaway Valley that are behind on their dues. Foreclosure is the very last thing that could happen.

Why is it alright for some people to not follow the By-laws and Protective Convent, yet some board members have to follow them to a tee? The board of trustees are not lawyers, so they rely on a law firm to give them legal advice. The law firm wrote the Collection Resolution, so we feel the law firm knows the laws. They have read our governing documents.

There has also been comments about me that I would like to clear up. There was a letter faxed to me, on my personal fax machine and my personal phone wanting every HVPOA member to have a copy of the letter they wrote about how unhappy they were with a trustee who trespassed and cut a road through their lot. This letter was not sent to the Board of Trustees.

Shelly Marshall said I wasn't a voting member and I shouldn't be involved. I own my property right long with Roy. My name is registered at the county as part owner of Plate D Lot 409 since 1986. I know we only have one vote between us, but if for any reason Roy doesn't choose to vote by a mail-in ballot or at a members meeting, then I still have a right to vote. Just because I'm married to a trustee doesn't mean I can't have a voice along with ever other member. It is hard for spouses of board members not to be involved because of all the calls coming to their homes along with the e-mails and propaganda on their computers and telephones.

There has been some miss conceptions about the association records being at our home. The only so called records we have are the two statement books from Carpenter & Associates, copies for house plans and copies of all incoming cash and checks and the check book. The financial records are kept with the bookkeeper. Roy does get a monthly and quarterly statement from her. Roy has taken these statements to the board meetings, but no one has asked about them, not even the trustees. Each board trustee should take it upon themselves to have a copy of the governing documents, board meeting minutes and financial report.

All the old records of the association are stored at a storage unit in Mt. Pleasent. I would not want to find a storage place in my home for years and years of old association records.

We have members that complain about the assessments being to high. If the association had an office off site and a person to oversee it, what do you think the cost would be?

Remember that your trustees are not getting paid any wages for their services. They volunteer their time and money to try and make this a better place for every lot owner. There is so much to be done and so little time to do it in, they sometimes make mistakes.

Why don't we all look a little harder at the good being done by the board instead of being so quick to find fault with the board members.

PLEASE REMEMBER THAT ONCE A LIE IS TOLD, IT IS ALREADY OUT AND PUBLISHED AND YOU CAN'T TAKE IT BACK. THE DAMAGE HAS BEEN DONE.

Thank you for reading this. Rita Walker

Associationsand living with the rules

There are always two sides to every story. The story below is a great example (click through to the story and read the comments from members--great stuff!) The board feels they are being unjustly accused and unfairly treated, the members feel they are not being heard and kept in the decision-making loop. We have a lot of these same issues here at Hideaway. For members on this site--we believe in free expression of all members, that is why we do not "censor" opinions. We censor disrespect, facts that are found to be not true, and general hate stuff--but to bring up questions, observe and report on meetings--this is freedom of expression and it is not our desire to shut voices down--not the board and not the members.

Lets make a few things clear about this site:
We believe the trustees (all of them) want to make a difference here, a positive difference.
None of us believe any trustee is stealing or has ever stole money from us.
No one believes funds are being misappropriated

On the other hand, proper procedure is not being followed like it should be.
Board members don't respect each other. And if they don't respect the person, they should respect the office.
Personal feelings should not affect doing corporate business according to state statute.

about the Canceled Meeting.

OK--this post originally spoke about the canceled meeting at the senior center. The regularly scheduled meeting of the board was canceled and then the next meeting of the board was moved from Tuesday to Wednesday 'becasue of scheduling conflicts with the Senior center.' A member called up Elaine at the Senior center and swore there was no conflicting schedule. Another member called Fairview City to see if they had something scheduled. Another member called Elaine again and she assured the member there was no conflict and never had been. Shelly Marshall went to the senior center just in case anyone accidentally showed up--it happened. A member from Sandy drove all the way here to attend.

The member who called Elaine, posted their frustration on this blog. The facts had been checked with the senior center and allowed to be blogged about. This site allows members to post their frustration as long as the facts check out. However, the users of this site made one huge mistake. They checked their facts with the senior center but not with the president. WE HAVE GOT TO START TRUSTING EACH OTHER. Jim Taufer said if we have a question bring it to him. Let's start doing that--then if a blogger has a different opinion, discuss it here or if they like the board's response, bring it here. But be open with the board first and then exchange ideas here--that's the way it should work.

Elaine (vice president of the senior center board) apologized to the board and to the members, via this site. We apologize to the board for not calling them!!! Let's hope we (board and bloggers) don't make these types of mistakes in the future (but with our history, we probably will--we hope it will be shorter and shorter-)