CAI doesn't want the homeowner to make their own SOLAR decisions

CAI is at it again. This time in Utah.

Photo via Good Free Photos

Summary: URGE your House Representative to vote YES on  S.B. 154 without amendments so you can make your own decisions about Solar and your home.

We know that the Community Association Institute (CAI) should be named "Community Association of Vendor's Endeavors (CAVE)" because they decidedly do not represent homeowners but their vendors which are lawyers, accountants, contractors and management companies.

So I was not surprised to see this headline in my mail box from the CAI Legislative Committee (I was a committee member once for about 15 minutes): Protect Existing Individual Property Rights

Problem is with the CAI--you must always read further because they seldom support measures that actually protect the homeowner--they protect their vendors, because that is their job. How? By writing and influencing legislation that invests all the power to the BOD and limits as much as possible what a homeowner can do. After all, the board is the one who hires the CAI affiliated vendors. Writes the checks; keeps the vendors in business. If members actually got to make the decisions by voting on what the board can do, then many vendors would not be able to influence the board--and members might decide how they want their own community to be run, without the so-called CAI experts who spend your money. Owners might be the ones who influence their trustees, neighbor to neighbor instead of CAI "expert" to director, you know, like it was done in the old days before CAI got a stranglehold on the association industry.

CAI claims they want to protect Utahans from the solar industry! That's right, you know, the green industry so dangerous to associations because members might decide (horrors) how to install their own solar arrays. Wouldn't it be better if the board rewrites your covenants and decides what you can and cannot have in the solar department? After all, what does the lowly homeowner know? /sarc

The CAI claims that legislators in Utah will trample the individual property rights of owners. They screamed at us via an email blast that said, "Oppose UNLESS AMENDED, S.B. 154 - Tramples Existing Individual Property Rights."

But again, homeowners must always read the fine print. What the CAI wants is for the documents of your association to regulate what rules apply to the solar industry--not you, the homeowner! They say you won't be protected if your covenants don't dictate what you can do. Maybe you can have solar or maybe not--what do your documents say? They claim that "If this bill passes, Utahns will no longer be able to buy into communities believing they are protected by the pre-existing covenants that are recorded."

In other words--your board and CAI attorney will write the documents and record them and the homeowner may or may not be able to have solar--they may or may not be able to have them on their roof, or on a tracker, or where it will give them the best location on their own property to generate their own electricity--in other words, your board will decide what you can do about solar.

And then they can write rules, regulations, and resolutions that will force the homeowner to do it their way, if at all. Maybe they will even require that you use their "approved" solar vendor who no doubt will be CAI affiliated.

So watch what the CAI wants for Associations at your state level. Utahans, I urge you to contact your House representative today urging them to VOTE YES on  S.B. 154 so that you can make your own decisions about solar for your home. http://www.le.utah.gov/GIS/findDistrict.jsp

Link to this blog to exlain.

___In full disclosure, here is what the CAI sent to people on their mailing list:_______

Oppose UNLESS AMENDED, S.B. 154 - Tramples Existing Individual Property Rights

We need your help! Please contact your representative TODAY and urge them to: Oppose UNLESS AMENDED, S.B. 154 - to protect the right of homeowner associations to govern their neighborhoods in the best interest of their community.

Current law allows residents living in community associations to work with their community to install solar technology. CAI supports solar technology and the benefits of solar technology's environmental impact. 

A bill passed just passed the Senate and is headed to the House that will trample property rights and community association governance under the guise of supporting solar technology.

While supporting sustainable, green policies, we must OPPOSE SB154 (2ndSubstitute) unless amended. Click here to view full alert with suggested amendments.

CAI members have actively worked with S.B. 154's (2nd Substitute) sponsor, Senator Fillmore, and other stakeholders and we support requiring all future community documents to declare the community's solar rules. We also support all existing associations having a reasonable amount of time to declare their community's solar rules and to create reasonable restrictions when working with homeowners who want to install solar.

If this bill passes, Utahns will no longer be able to buy into communities believing they are protected by the pre-existing covenants that are recorded.  

ACT NOW - contact your representative and ask them to Oppose UNLESS AMENDED, S.B. 154 - to protect the right of homeowner associations to govern their neighborhoods in the best interest of their community.

Thank you for your support.

The CAI Utah Legislative Action Committee (Twitter: @utahshoavoice)

P.S. Please send this to others who may be impacted by this bad legislation and encourage them to contact their legislator.

Weed Control Alert from County

OK--we have a situation in Sanpete county about our weed control. It is the state law that property owners must control their noxious weeds (even though the county control theirs! but that's another blog). There are numerous ways to control--from the county website:

cutting, tillage, cropping, pasturing or treating with chemicals or other effective methods or combination thereof, approved by the County Weed Control Supervisor,

The county suggests several chemicals to use of which they use Milestone most often (or at least in Hideaway). Milestone is much more dangerous than the county road crew would have you believe!

Read this:

MSU Extension - Urban IPM: " An herbicide that tainted Green Mountain Compost (GMC) last summer can no longer legally be used on Vermont pastures. But compost companies still worry the chemical will find its way into their products. The GMC compost, made at the Chittenden Solid Waste District facility in Williston, damaged or killed some broadleaf garden plants, such as tomatoes, costing the district at least $800,000. The cause of the contamination was found to be aminopyralid. That agent is found in Dow weed-control products Milestone and Forefront and it apparently entered Green Mountain Compost in manure from horses that consumed feed treated with aminopyralid products. Milestone is used to kill up to 85 plant varieties. The discovery was the result of many months of forensic work by CSWD, the state Agency of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency and pesticide giant Dow Agrosciences. The identification of aminopyralid as the cause of the compost contamination led to Dow voluntarily changing its labeling of the chemical, ruling out its use on pastures in New England or for any purpose in New York. Any violation, or off-label use, is a federal offense. The new restrictions are aimed at keeping aminopyralid out of horse feed, specifically hay. Horse manure is often a key ingredient in local compost."

Off label use is a federal crime and Milestone cannot be used in a residential and urban setting. IT IS AGAINST FEDERAL LAW. So if anyone has received a certified letter saying that you must use aminopyralid, that is incorrect for Hideaway as we are a residential subdivision. Read about it on the Hideaway website.

I am using the 2-4D spray on my properties as are my neighbors and they say it works great if you tackle it about now--or graze your land or cut--but don't use the poison herbicide from Milestone. Here is what you can do if you want to take action (any of these will help, especially telling the EPA that the county isn't following the labels when forcing people to use this toxic chemical. The more EPA reports the faster we can stop this abuse.

WHAT CAN YOU DO to stop the
spraying?

If these are unacceptable risks, there are things you can do.

1.Read all the links and facts following this and watch the film made by a resident.
2.Request another meeting of the county commissioners and when booked, send us a notice and we can post it so that other members get the word and show up
3.Write a letter (email) of concern to Randy Hill, presadent@hideawayvalley.org
4.File a complaint with the EPA since the use of this herbicide is against federal law in an urban setting (only rated for NON inhabited lands)if they get enough complaints, they will take action

Facts on  aminopyralid (milestone)

Becky's Presentation
John Fisher's Youtube in Hideaway
Milestone Facts
Milestone Label (with EPA Regulations)

Read these articles

Herbicide Contamination
Challenge of Milestone Continues
Another article on killing home gardens
Milestone banned in Northeast and other states
Chemical Watch Sheet


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Recap of 2016 HVPOA Annual Meeting

April 30th, 2016. The annual meeting was held at the Wilkerson Student Center @ BYU. Our president Randy Hill opened the meeting with Trustees Angie Russel and Kurtis Zobell in attendance and Fred Smith attending by proxy via Randy. There were approximately 10 members present. 

Randy Hill gave an exemplary address as he summarized last year's difficulties and the future steps we can take to protect member interests in our community. President Hill placed a particular emphasis on how much money was spent without member approval. He passed out last year's financial statement that had been withheld from members at the last annual meeting. The president then shared a 24 page document of rewritten covenants that the last administration ordered without asking for member approval as required in both our bylaws and current covenants.

This unauthorized attempt to take away member rights and vesting most power in a board cost Hideaway $8700 in attorney fees. The real tragedy is what this document would have done to Hideaway. It gave virtually all power to a board with little to no member input. The board would have been ale to make any rules they wanted, create and levy fines at will, take away voting rights, take away proxies, take away the ability to allow a person with a POA to vote. If this had been allowed to go through, you, dear member would have been rendered a slave to to the whims of a board. The only way you would have input would be to elect a new board (but with an all-powerful board controlling elections and no proxies or agents allowed that is almost meaningless) is for 67% of members to vote against a board--that would be 320 votes to stop a board from doing anything they pleased with your property as collateral.

Read the $8700 document

Here is the document President Hill passed out. Download it here.

It was pointed out that in order to amend our current covenants, it requires 50% approval of all owners. That is 225 yes votes, which we know will never happen in Hideaway. So Randy asked,"How did they propose to do this? By doing something illegal?" We don't know.

In addition, It seems the attorney doesn't know his corporate law because in order to change the number of members required to vote on something you cannot do it with less than the new requirement--in other words--they were going to change the required number of votes from 225 to 320, but by law you need 320 votes to change it--which we all know would never ever happen in Hideaway. Was the past administration stupid? Do they think owners are? Or are they crooks? Harsh words?

No. Events were considerably harsher than outlined here. Many of your neighbors were maligned, forced to pay high legal fees for dishonest books, liens wrongfully placed on properties, favors given to friends and lies told on those who asked questions. No books were forthcoming and a single man took $5000 of Hideaway money and paid it to an attorney to keep himself in power--he had no authority from any board to do so. The attorney who took the money is no longer with that law firm and the law firm paid it back, acknowledging that the expenditure "may not have been properly authorized." 

Oath of Office

This was completely against the Oath of Office that the past administration signed. Roy Walker insisted on producing this "Oath of Office" and then dishonored it thoroughly.

Our New President Randy Hill has promised that no more major decisions will be made without member approval and when members ask for records, they will get to see them--no more secrets or secret documents done behind member's backs.

We have a solid board of member servant/volunteers now. We are blessed.

Shelly M Lots C331, C332, C333

Attorney general uses power to uphold transparency of homeowners’ associations |

It's about time that an Attorney General did his or her job! (read about Indiana below) The Law in Utah also states that the Attorney General should make sure that corporations are run correctly BUT our Attorney Genral thinks that board members who misuse their power in an HOA consititues a civil matter!

"Don't bother me with your petty problems--I have a golden ring to find!"

Specifically: 16-6a-1609.  Interrogatories by division. 

(1)	(a) The division may give interrogatories reasonably necessary to ascertain whether a nonprofit corporation has complied with the provisions of this chapter applicable to the nonprofit corporation

Does this say "civil matter" to you or does teh Attorney General only have time for the big wigs and not the Citizens of Utah?

Attorney general uses power to uphold transparency of homeowners’ associations | Dearborn County Register: "The Indiana Attorney General’s Office has reached a settlement agreement with three former board members of The Harbours Condominiums Association in Jeffersonville, resolving a longstanding dispute that will effect homeowners’ associations throughout Indiana.
The AG filed a lawsuit in 2012 alleging the defendants were using their positions of trust and authority as Harbours board members to make financial deals with association money that promoted their own best interests to the detriment of other association members, without other members’ knowledge or approval.
The Indiana Legislature in 2011 granted the attorney general authority to investigate and take action on allegations of fraud and misappropriation by homeowner’s associations or similar entities.
The legislation was expanded last year to make it easier for homeowners to obtain financial records from associations.
The law also allows for additional penalties in cases of wrongdoing."



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Valley attorney pushes new way to settle HOA disputes -

This is an interview with David Russel--the man who helped Hideaway in this last battle. David consulted with some of the people trying to help find a solution to the old board members who decided to they didn't want to give up power. David had lots of good advice and some of it paid off.



We owe a big thanks to Kurtis, president, Becky, treasurer, and Vicki our secratary--they were so calm and cool headed dealing with an intractable rogue board. And they had help from many members as well as help from national advocates in HOA issues. David Russel was one of the national advocates who helped. Here is the news spot done on him recently--he truly is a remarkable person and one who wants solutions--not just to bitch about what isn't right. Look at the nightly news spot!



Valley attorney pushes new way to settle HOA disputes - CBS 5 - KPHO: "new way to settle HOA disputes"



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Is this Hideaway's JUDD Witsom? or his clone?

Fraud Upon The Courts THE MISSING TRILLIONS on Vimeo:



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Murray American flag fiasco dies down as HOA president resigns |

I am so glad to see other HOAs in Utah raising up against the Bully Boards. Its time to unite across the country and say, "Hey new board member--YOU are my neighbor. We are business partners--we can talke to each other without lawyers. We can repsect each other and have common sense--if I ask you to serve on the board, I want you to remember that you are serving this business not turning to Gated Gestapo" We can get along, but it starts with each one of us! Read this great story of HOA victory below.

Murray American flag fiasco dies down as HOA president resigns | News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KUTV: "Murray, Utah — (KUTV) A fight over the American flag in a Murray neighborhood has ended with a white flag.

Six days after a heated confrontation, this battle in the Chestnut Place neighborhood appears to be over.

The Homeowners Association president has resigned, and the resistance against the American flag flying outside of holidays seems to be lessened.

"I wanted to fly my flag and not be harassed for it," said Erin Worthen, a resident of the neighborhood. "That's all I've wanted from the beginning.""

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FINGER POINTING in HOAs--where is your finger pointing?

On the Commons Internet Radio: Where America Gathers for News and Views about Homeowner Associations

Millions of dollars unaccounted for, a neighborhood divided, law suites, shoddy repairs on some units, shunned members, bully boards, depreciating property values,lies, finger pointing and a thoroughly unpleasant place to live.  It must be a) a Bentley Little novel, b) a horror movie, c) an isolated incident or d) one of many dysfunctional homeowner associations across the country? If you guessed d, give yourself a pat on the back.  The stories, the details, the incidents just keep repeating themselves over and over again from the Atlantic to the Pacific and all points in between. Is it something in the water or do they clone incompetent people and put them in charge of YOUR home and your most valuable asset?

Nila Ridings joins us On The Commons this week.  Nila has been right in the middle of a fight to save her home, her sanity and her health.  She is a frequent guest  blogger and writes extensively on these issues.  She often hears from other homeowners who are having problems and looking for help.  Not surprisingly, finding someone  to explain the problems and offer help is a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack.  Today Nila tells us, from her personal experience, what it is like being trapped in the crosshairs of an HOA that simply won't let go.  She also tells us how some of our best intentions can cause those we love some serious headaches.  And she shares  some valuable advice.

Written by Shu, the host of On the Commons

HOA, homeowner at odds over dinosaur display |

Here's an article about a woman who thinks diversity in an associaiton is a good thing--she's using dinosaurs to prove her point--now she'll get fined and punished! Want to make a bet?



I think we have some dinosaurs in our POA.. read the story below.

HOA, homeowner at odds over dinosaur display | Fort Bend Southwest Star Newspaper: "Not everyone is happy about the dinosaurs, though. There has been some push back from the community – namely, the New Territory Residential Community Association. The area HOA wants the dinosaurs gone.
Hentschel said she brought them in knowing that they would not be uniform – a quality she believes the HOA wants homeowners to abide.
Her view is that uniformity and conformity do not add value to a community; people add value to a community. She thinks people together, can do great things for the community. And the people who have spoken to her understand the concept of community and want it."



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Fight for your rights lost in HOA-Land | HOA Constitutional Government

Fight for your rights lost in HOA-Land | HOA Constitutional Government: "Author and advocate Shelly Marshall joins a number of other homeowner rights advocates challenging the misinformation about the real lives of HOA members: Jill Schweitzer (Buying into an HOA with your eyes wide open!), Ward Lucas (Neighbors at War!), Sara Benson (Escaping Condo Jail), and yours truly, George K Staropoli (HOA Common Sense: rejecting private government). There is also extensive material from Deborah Goonan on internet blogs." Read the full review of Shelly's book here..





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Judge rejects HOA's attempt to impose fines and jail time over backyard swingset

Great article on anHOA board gone amuck--they wasted sooo much money on fighting a family about a swing set! The insanity of little people with lots of power only grows worse. I am glad the judge saw it this way--the neighbors, suppsedly the ones the board was protecting, threw a BBQ for the family when they won the right to keep the swing set!

Judge rejects HOA's attempt to impose fines and jail time over backyard swingset: "A Missouri family, whose homeowners' association board threatened them with fines and even jailtime over their daughters' backyard swingset, won a legal victory last Friday after a judge ruled that the playset can stay.

Or, if you prefer: on Friday, a judge dealt a devastating legal blow to an embattled Missouri homeowners' association board that was only trying to protect itself from the dire threat posed by a children's backyard swingset.

Legal battle
Jack and Marla Stout live in the Raintree Lake subdivision, located in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit, Missouri. Two years ago they installed a backyard playset for their two young daughters. The girls wanted to paint the playset pink, but they settled for purple. Marla Stout told KMBC-TV on Aug. 10 that she bought and applied a purple-tinted wood stain at Home Depot."



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Understanding Your HOA-Humor

Great sarcastic artical from Sarah--I love her take on this--her article is worth reading and gives rise to a chuckle or two.

Understanding Your HOA: "But, what exactly is an HOA? Originally a pseudo-government designed to prevent undesirables from ruining property values, these organizations are filled with locals passionate about the fences and lawns of others."



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What Causes a Trustee to Abuse their Position?

In the HOA Primer, this member speaks to a common propblem--the rogue board member. We often wonder why a board member will abuse their power, but what makes them do that?

We know that Roy Walker won't attend board meetings. He won't give over the records or check book to the new secretary and treasuer--he wants to disqualify ballots on tehcnicalities (he lost his presidency) and if that doesn't work, he lies about the candidates, he is making decisions for Hideaway that are not in a noticed board meeting, STRICTLY unlawful and spending our money on an attorney to keep himself in power, again without authority--what makes a man do that and then lie about the new board members in our ocmmunity that want to serve? It is senseless--everyone deserves a chance to serve our community, but Roy doesn't seem to think so.

Below is an insightful article from a property owner in another state who has dealt with our very same issues here in Hideaway--the article is well worth reading. Enlightening and gives insight into what may be going on with Roy.

This is as good an explanaiton as any:

The Board: "neighborhoods designed for neros
The Board is usually made up of eight to ten volunteers. These volunteers decide among themselves who will be the president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, etc., etc. In most cases, the Board will also include a representative from a Management Company. The management company is what you might call a “conflict for prophet” organization. But we’ll have to wait until the next chapter to expose those reprobates.

The purpose of the Board is to oversee the maintenance of the common area and uphold the CC&Rs.

However, I think you’ll find in most CIDs, maintenance comes in a distant second to covenant enforcement, which can become an absolute obsession.

The board has a fiduciary obligation (meaning they are being trusted by the rest of the homeowners) to act in the best interests of the association, but they rarely do.

If there were high levels of participation among the homeowners then, theoretically, you should have fewer problems. But in almost all cases, the homeowners have no time for, or interest in, neighborhood politics. These are the homeowners who have jobs and children and numerous other familial obligations. This situation creates a void, which will attract those most likely to abuse these positions of trust. This group would include those homeowners who, for whatever reason, have a great deal of time on their hands and a distinct inclination towards adversarial engagement. In a CID, the inmates really do run the asylum.

What I’m describing here, and what you’re most likely to get, is what is referred to as a “rogue board.”

And what’s so appealing about these volunteer, board positions to people of this sort? The answer is simple - complete power over one’s neighbors.

the keys to the kingdom
The CC&Rs provide board members with powers and perks that would make any third world totalitarian dictator emerald green with envy.

No experience is required. There are no minimum levels of education or competency required. Any idiot can be an HOA board member.

Freedom from prosecution. HOA board members cannot be held legally responsible for their actions while serving on an HOA board. There is no punitive incentive to hold those maniacal, totalitarian tendencies in check.

Personal vendettas are financed by the HOA. Board members can bring suit against a homeowner for any reason. The association pays all their legal expenses.

Democracy is no obstacle to tyranny. The HOA private, corporate government provides no system of checks and balances. HOA board members simultaneously occupy the legislative, judicial, and executive branches with absolutely no local, state, or federal oversight. The homeowners are sitting ducks. In disputes with homeowners, the board acts as accuser, prosecutor, judge, and jury.

barbarians at the gates
Now who do you think will be just dying to occupy these positions of boundless authority completely free of personal accountability and requiring no more qualification than a measurable pulse? Of course, it will be the neighbors from hell!

You know who they are. Every neighborhood has its crackpots, its loose cannons. Your parents warned you about them when you were kids. “Don’t go near their house on your way home from school, and don’t hit your baseballs into their yards.” Well now those crackpots are going to have complete control over your neighborhood, and to an alarming extent, your own personal property.

Any of your neighbors who shows a pronounced inclination towards aggressive, anti-social, adversarial, and authoritarian behavior is going to be fighting tooth and nail for a position on your board of directors because, for these personality types, that's where the action is. They’re drawn like a moth to a flame; It’s simple human nature at its worst.

Once on the board, these people tend to develop an adversarial posture towards the other homeowners, imposing on the association their own personal standards of neighborhood appearance and homeowner deportment. They will micro-manage your property through means of creative interpretation, and outright embellishment of the CC&Rs.

Our neighborhood, because it had almost no common area and no standardized appearance had few restrictions, but within a few years, our board had re-interpreted the CC&Rs to include every conceivable enhancement or alteration to be subject to board approval.

Emergency Meeting Called by the Board -

Emergency Meeting Called by the Board - hideawayvalley@gmail.com - Gmail: "If people are spending our money without authorization-isn't that theft or embezzlement?  They should be arrested.  They should be made to pay the association back, and pay for the spending themselves.  If we have to take them to court, they should be made to pay for all lawyer fees and court costs.
 
If the Board is acting inappropriately, we should be able to have a recall election or be able to impeach them.   And, they should not be able to run for office or hold office again.  I can't believe that Roy Walker was able to run again and hold office after the last time he was elected and cost the association a lot of money in lawyer fees.  If we don't have the rules to keep the trouble makers out of office, we should correct this problem.  (If they don't like it, they can sell their lots and move out.  We would be better off without them, then to keep putting up with what they are doing.)
 
Dennis S. Naylor
 
Lot D410"



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Day of Fasting and Prayer.

We would like to invite all those who would like to participate to join us in a Day of Fasting and Prayer. 

 

Since the last election there has been much conflict and disunity on the HVPOA Board of Trustees.  It appears the only solution to the conflict is a court battle.  This is not needed or wanted.  Before such measures are taken, let us petition the Great God of Heaven and Earth, the holy one who can bring peace and reason where mortals can not. 

 

We will be starting our fast after the evening meal on Saturday, June 6, 2015.  Please take the time to kneel with your families and open your fast by asking God to bring peace and reason back to our Association Business (which affects the personal peace of our families and neighborhood).  During your fast, let your thoughts be drawn to God in faith and just before your evening meal on Sunday, June 7th stop and thank the Lord and close your fast.

 

The courts of Heaven have a higher authority than the courts of the land, let us petition God first.  Nothing is too hard for our God.

 

Sincerely,  Vivian Kunz

Report from Vivian on the Ballot Verification

TO:Hideaway Valley Property Owner’s Association Board of Trustees,
        (Kurtis Zobell, President; Becky Peterson; Vicki Hill; Roy Walker; Brian Cook)
FROM:  Vivian Kunz
DATE: Monday, May  4, 2015

SUBJECT:    BALLOT COMPLAINT SIGNED THURSDAY, APRIL, 23, 2015, AND     PRESENTED TO THE MEMBERSHIP AT BOARD MEETING, MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2015. 

I was first made aware of the issues presented in the Complaint by Tom & Graciela Meyers during the Board Meeting held Monday, April 27, 2015. 

Tom and Graciela Meyers said they had reviewed the ballots at the home of one of the Trustees and had taken 30 hours to compile the data they presented to me on a spreadsheet.  He gave me a copy of it.  The spreadsheet appeared to be the master copy of what was used to compile the complaint table handed out in the meeting.
The purported allegations at first glance seemed serious.  I acquired permission to form a committee to research the allegations.  In the spirit of cooperation I asked for volunteers from both sides of the issue.  However, at this time I did not know who signed the complaint.  NOTE:  The committee was to be:  Vivian Kunz, Chair; Brian Cook, trustee; Randy Hill, Mr. & Mrs. Meyers; Fred Smith; and Tom LaFever. 

I compared the spreadsheet provided in the complaint against spreadsheet Tom Meyers had given me.  I did not have the ballots (they have never been made available to me for comparison).  I started to list the issues in order of importance and outlined objectives and possible division of responsibilities for the committee.  I then made several calls to research some of the most serious allegations.  I found in all cases the owners were open and honest in their response.  All issues on the complaint were addressed in a matter of less than 10 hours work.  It is my opinion, that if the Members were called initially there would have been no grounds for accusations of fraud, only procedural infractions.

Roy Walker and Brian Cook are signers to the complaint and the rest of the Board were candidates in the election.  There is not an impartial Trustee to serve on our committee.  The Meyers are also signers of the complaint.  I did not know who signed the Complaint when I asked for the committee to review the complaint.  So, I am now withdrawing my request for the committee and I am providing my findings for your review on a personal basis.  I have presented you with a copy of my findings; a review of our governing documents on the subject of title and voting rules; the facts as I saw them; and a copy of the spreadsheet provided by Tom Meyers.

There was no evidence of foul play.  The only infractions were honest mistakes by the Members themselves on their own ballots or proxies.  The infractions were procedural in nature, i.e., putting the wrong lot number, forgetting to sign the ballot, not understanding how to fill out a proxy form, owner in superior title position exercising their legal right of to vote.   I personally verified each issue and have provided my discoveries for your review.  

Many expressed feelings of urgency to submit their ballots in reaction to the inflammatory actions of some of the Trustees, i.e., refusing to let long standing members sign on meeting rosters, openly calling members illegal and unable to vote, and stating they were no longer considered Members.  It was the actions of individual Trustees as well as the use of Peter Harrison’s opinion as law to restrict Member’s rights.  This may have contributed to the large number of ballots filled out in haste and a greater number of mistakes made by the Membership.

Call after call, I found all the mistakes were made by the members themselves on their own ballots and where due to human error.  Each Member presented their ballots in good faith and they should be counted.  If you take the count provided by the spreadsheet Tom Meyers tallied, the outcome is the same. 

There is some question about the appropriateness of Members being allowed to review the ballots without a legal Board action, but more importantly to me is the privacy of individual Member’s financial institutions and account numbers.  It is a breach of privacy for the Trustees to let any Member look at another Member’s personal check. 
Tom & Graciela Meyers admitted they previewed the ballots at a Trustee’s home with his approval (they did not disclose who that was) and compared at least Dallas Peterson’s ballot to his personal check.  I do not know if more were compared.  I contacted Marty Deitz and Linda Wright and asked them if they saw the ballots or personal checks, both denied ever seeing or handling them.  They signed the Complaint based on being told there was evidence of fraudulent behavior and felt it a good idea to have the issues reviewed.  They did not disclose who presented the concerns to them.  I left a message with Dale & Diane Crotts for the same purpose and have not received a reply yet.  I suspect they signed the complaint under the same suspicions Marty and Linda did.  Marty Deitz mentioned that if there was a concern of fraud the ballots should be reviewed.  I applaud his caution.

It does not appear that there was any attempt to clarify the ballot issues, except in the case of Boyd Williams and Dallas Peterson.  In both cases, the attempt to clarify did not include calling the Member themselves. 

Many of the irregularities deserved review, and now that the allegations are cleared up, but it is my personal opinion, the complaint was generated by the outgoing Trustees to shed suspicion on the ballot and circumvent the voice of the Membership, or they would have made the same calls I did and found out the same information.  Roy Walker, Brian Cook, and Don Biery were in a position of trust and knew better than to let Members preview the private financial data of other Members.   Tom and Graciela Meyers had access to at least one Member’s private financial data.  The Trustees involved are extremely liable and their actions constitute a breach of trust in their duties. 

Note:  (Benny Lee was not involved in the complaint or in preventing the incoming Trustees from being seated.)

  FACTS ABOUT COMPLAINT

An Annual Meeting of the Members was held on Saturday, April 18, 2015.  It was duly noticed and ballots sent out and ballots were received by the Board of Trustees.  Roy Walker, President announced they had received a warning letter from Mr. Lungren, an attorney, stating the election needed to be done according to law or he was prepared to file an action against the Board.  Roy Walker explained they needed to nullify the election and call another one.  The Board had an attorney present to explain their position.  Members called for a vote to allow the count of the ballots.  A count was allowed.  The board was not prepared to count the vote so forms were made by scratch and the count was completed by Dan & Vivian Kunz, Tom LaFever, Troy Russell, Fred Smith, and Scott Williams.

Winners were Kurtis Zobel (73 Votes) for the one year term;  and Becky Peterson (82 votes) & Vicky Hill (71 votes) for the two year terms. 

Vivian Kunz announced the vote totals and asked for a vote of the members if there was any objection to seating the winners.   Vivian also asked a second time for any objections.  No objections were made and Vivian asked for the vote to be recorded in the minutes.  All the signers of the complaint were present at the meeting except Dale & Diane Crotts and Marty Duitz.

After the Members Meeting the out-going board canceled the duly noticed Board Meeting

Out-going Trustees  (Roy Walker, Brian Cook, & Don Biery) refused to seat the new Trustees.  Stating the new trustees did not take office till May 1.   Note:  Throughout the history of the association the precedence has been to seat the new trustees in the Board meeting immediately after the Member’s Meeting.   

Board Meeting was announced, Monday, April 27, 2015, with the intent to seat the new trustees.  Board Meeting was held as scheduled, where a complaint was brought forward and Roy Walker, Brian Cook, Don Biery refused again to seat the new Trustees (Bennie Lee was not in attendance).  Roy Walker left the room without closing the meeting and the new Trustees took their seats and conducted business.

Ballot complaint was dated Thursday, April 23, 2015.
Complaint was signed by:  Roy Walker, President of the HVPOA; Brian Cook, Vice President; Don Biery, Secretary; Dale & Diane Crotts; Marty Duitz; Tom & Graciela Meyers; and Linda Wright.Here is the complete and detailed analysis of the ballots.

HOA Election Humor

If you don't laugh, you'll cry.

We will help Roy if Roy will help the Association

Another board meeting has been called to deal with some issues:

Hideaway Valley Property Owners Association
Board of Trustees MeetingAll Members WelcomeSaturday, May 30th, 1:30p.m.Hideaway Valley Pavilion / Common Area
Agenda

• 1. Status of Association Documents/Checkbook/Mail

• 2. Discussion of future course of action

• 3. Update on road work

Important to go to this meeting

t's pretty important to go to this meeting. The prior board president is trying to claim that he is still the president and everything the new trustees have done is not valid. Roy has tried many tricks to stay in power:

• After sending the ballots at your expense, he hired a lawyer with your money to try and stop the counting of the ballots and annual election.
• Would not seat the new trustees at the annual meeting claiming they could not be seated until May 1.
• A board meeting was called and noticed for April 27 and the officers positions were established. Roy was not happy with the results and chose to abandon the meeting taking all the corporate documents, checkbook, and records with him. Brian Cook chose to stay but was less than cooperative or congenial. Although he was voted in as the VP,  he refused the office and abstained from further voting.
•  Without board authority or approval and unbeknownst to the newly elected trustees, got some other members to go over all the ballots and try to invalidate them with any tiny mistake they could find. 
•  First he claimed that Kurtis and Vicki had not won the election and only Becky could be seated.
• Later he claimed that Kurtis and Viki were valid but Becky was not.
• Because he is trying to stifle the association as has been his pattern in the past, he has made efforts to stop any information or progress that the board should make, including personally interfering with the association mail at the post office without any legal documentation.
  

Our board needs our support to help rectify this problem. Roy is basically doing what he wants when he wants without board authority, contrary to the governing doucments.  Although there have been several board meetings, some he has partially attened and some he has blatently ignored, nothing he is doing has been decided in a proper board meeting with board authority-he appears to have gone rouge-- in total wanton disreagard to the membership at large. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO DO BUSINESS AND SPEND OUR MONEY WIHTOUT PROPER BOARD ACTION. 
He is acting like a dictator, not a trustee. He fails to achknowlege that a trustee is a position of trust and service not power.

There has been no proper board meeting or action to allow this man to do as he pleases with our business, our money, and our community. This is totally improper and unnecessary--there are proper channels to go through if you disagree with things--but turning into a modern day bully who chooses to hoard records and checkbooks and won't let newly voted members take their turn at service...this is a blatant breach of trust.

As to to Peter Harrison/Vial Fotheringam, please be advised: There have been legally and properly called and held meetings that Roy Walker has not attended. At the April 27th board  meeting which Roy chose to walk out of, the newly elected and seated board voted and recorded in the corporate minutes that any expenses incurred by Roy without full board approval would be at his own expense. He currently is acting on his own and does not have authority to hide records, retain the check book, tell the book keeper not to talk to the board members, open ballets and show them to the neighbors, freeze the mail, and including talking to you and/or this firm. This is a state governed corporation with compulsory membership and close to 450 people are being victimized and mistreated at his whim. If he wants to contest anything, he must do it through the proper procedure, something he chooses not to understand. He is opening the association up to yet another lawsuit when it is so unnecessary to waste our money. Please do not encourage him.

One concernd member's opinion, Tom L

PS. Please try to attend and support this board for progress.

Who hired the attorney in the Notice?

This notice was posted at Hideaway and 4 people emailed it to the Hideaway Neighbors site. We post it here so all members can see what is going on. As such, I want to comment on it. The people who emailed it in all believe they know the person who wrote this--but it is not signed so we will go with "Anonymous." We can say for sure that this is NOT a board action because there has been no board  meeting and Trustees cannot take action on their own. The Trustees know that, right?

Anonymous proposes that we ensure unity by ignoring our Bylaws. I just don't see how that will help us in Hideaway. He or she wants us to use 7 trustees, instead of 5, and allow the candidates who lost to be on the board anyway. That's so sweet--even if you lose you win! Then next election we will have 7 winners but to make it "fair" we should let the other candidates serve too--so there will be 9. Then the next election it will be the same and we'll have 11! Pretty soon we'll all be on the board! Not a bad idea actually.

Trouble is, the Bylaws require that members VOTE on how many board members to have. So no, Anonymous. It is not a good idea. The better idea is to follow our Bylaws. That's the win for everyone.

Anonymous calls the first count of vote "unofficial." What planet does Anonymous live on? It was the annual meeting and the count was more than official.

Next our Anonymous poster says that there are concerns about the proxy votes. Really? Who was concerned with the 2 proxy votes? That's right. There were only TWO proxy votes--not enough to change anything in the election.

Finally, Anonymous writes that the Association Attorney is right now determining "according to the Documents and Bylaws" who will be allowed to vote in Hideaway. I have news for Anonymous. The Attorney is not authorized to determine who can vote. Not only that, the board has to have a board meeting and there has to be a motion and a vote if the attorney is to be hired to do anything. Since there has been no board meeting there can be no board action. Hiring the attorney with member money has to be a board action. So the board could not have hired the attorney to determine who can vote in Hideaway.

I expect the board to follow our documents. If Anonymous has hired the attorney, then Anonymous can pay the attorney. But the board better not use my money to pay an attorney that was not hired by a board action.

When we follow the documents we all win. When rouge Trustees do things on their own--we all lose. If a board member has hired an attorney to do something that is not in the minutes of a noticed board meeting, then that board member has to be billed by Harrison, not the association. Anonymous, tell us who hired the attorney. Thanks, Shelly

Someone sent us the Notice for the Member Meeting