Archive for August, 2006

In spite of a nearly 9 hour homeowner’s meeting, numerous questions remain outstanding. At the meeting, Kay Phillips admitted there were communication problems between the board and the membership. Accordingly, with the spirit of communication in mind, we call upon the board to respond to our questions:

1) First, it is our understanding that 3 board members have resigned from the board: Greg Ogawa, Mark Fleenor & Guy Pierce. In spite of this, no notice has been posted to the membership either through the board website or the more widely read Hidden Lake News website. The board is charged with appointing new board members; however, the gossip is that a single board member, Kay Phillips, unilaterally made new appointments to the board. Is this true? Please respond.

2) Sandra Stokes was re-elected to the board. Kay Phillips and David Phillips are the hold-over appointments made by developer, Joe Machock. The bylaws provide each property owner with one vote per parcel; that is, a husband & wife owning a 20 acre parcel has only one vote between them. Kay & David Phillips, as board members, have two votes. Although Kay stated that she has only voted once to break a tie, it was enough. Because of Kay’s “second” vote, the membership is stuck with the antiquated, $15,000 more than was allocated for, Osh-Kosh dump truck. Why did both Phillips get to vote on this issue?

3) Many homeowners have contributed money or materials for the caretaker’s cabin. Frank & Jeannie Collins donated a dishwasher and $2000 for tile. This question would not be necessary if more communication was forthcoming from the board; however, the property manager was able to get a deal from an Angel Fire company on tile for the caretaker’s cabin. For some reason, Kay Phillips stepped in, took the Collins’ money and provided tile from her tile company. It is our understanding that she did not donate the tile; rather, she made a profit from this transaction. Perhaps Kay was able to provide us with a better deal; however, we have received no accounting on this. We are asking Kay Phillips to provide an accounting for the tile, including receipts and costs, which was paid for by a member of the HLPOA and which was originally to have been purchased in Angel Fire.

4) Why are we paying $1250 for fish and stocking the lake when there is so much algae and seaweed that fish could surely not survive?

5) We know that Joe Machock sold us the caretaker’s cabin and that he objected to any kind of environmental study on the property prior to purchase (and he won it with his proxies); however, we also know that there are alleged problems with the wiring and septic system, in spite of Kay Phillips’ assurances to the contrary at the annual meeting. What is the status of the caretaker’s cabin? Is the wiring up to code? What is the status of the septic system? May we please review the receipts? We ask that Kay Phillps provide us with proof, per her assurance at the annual meeting, that the electrical system for the caretaker’s cabin is up to code, per the UBC specifications.

6) In keeping with the spirit of open communication, we should be able to access minutes and information each time the board meets and/or discusses anything. Has the board met? By such meetings, we mean actual quorum of the board, not individual phone calls to each other. Please provide minutes and information regarding each meeting by the board. Additionally, we would be interested in why individual conversations are necessary rather than full participation by all of our representatives.

We call upon the board to answer our questions. We are not a “few” property/homeowners; rather we are some of the majority who have ongoing concerns regarding our investment at Hidden Lake. Thank you.

Liane Kerr/Paul Donisthorpe, Lot #49

Marilyn Borich/Jack Vlk, Lot #3 &4

Trevor & Erica Hatchell, Lot#52

Mike & Bonnie Vorst, Lot #61

George & Sandra Stokes, Lot #78

Jeannie & Frank Collins, Lot #75

Don & Bonnie Fink, Lot #94

Tina & Bill Frazelle, Lot #64

Mike Smith, Lot#82

M/M Mike Hudson, Lot#46

Karla and Bill Dobbs, Lot #31

Brad and Steph Snyder, Lot #79

I had an interesting phone conversation with our caretaker, Kris, yesterday. It seems that he wanted to know how to take a posting off my web site, and was looking for help in doing that task. I told him that I would do it for him, but was curious as to why he wanted to remove a posting.

Archive for August, 2006

Craig & Pam Morris asked me to post this message they sent to  the HLPOA board president

TO:  Hidden Lake POA Board of Directors
 
FROM:  Craig and Pam Morris, Lot #92
 
DATE:  August 2, 2006
 
RE:  2006 Annual Meeting
 
My name is Craig Morris, my wife, Pam, and I attended the 2006 Hidden Lake POA annual meeting and feel compelled to write this letter.  We want to express our concern about how the meeting was conducted.  We feel the Board did not control the meeting at all and because of that, vital issues and discussions were put on hold while the membership present sat through a torrid of Board bashing.  We would like to address just a few of our concerns.
1.     The main purpose of our annual meeting is to discuss issues at hand, i.e.: the agenda.  Mr. Frank Collins was allowed to place his own issues on the agenda and the issues were out of order.  Dealing with the purchase of the snow removal equipment should have been delayed until New Business.  His behavior reminded us of a 6 year old boy being pulled out of the toy department, screaming because he did not get the toy he wanted.  It was very apparent that early into his rhetoric, the Board should have stopped and deferred his issues till later in the agenda. The longer we sat and listened to him the angrier we became.  Had we known how this meeting was going be conducted we would not have attended at all.
2.  On the subject of Mr. Collin’s discussion regarding the snow removal
     equipment—his perception of last years meeting is not ours and we do not
     agree with him at all.  No matter what anyone says, a backhoe is not
     considered snow removal equipment.  So Mr. Collins spent 364 days
     stewing on this issue, planning out his attack on the Board for not buying the
     backhoe and YOU made us sit through it.  Thank you!!
3.  We are requesting that Mr. Collins submit the names and lot numbers of the
     property owners that he quoted in the dissertation that he gave the
     membership.  We requested this information during the meeting however,
     Mr. Collins could not remember who these individuals were at the time.  This
     should be added to the minutes as an addendum.
4.  We are making an official request to amend the Bylaws to limit the number
     of proxy votes that can be held by one property owner at the annual
     meeting.  We are concerned that one property owner had 20 proxy votes.
     That is one fifth the membership vote.  This person, through his/her proxy
     votes is able to sway any vote his/her way.  What is the point of voting when
     it can be controlled by one lot owner?  If a property owner can not make the
     annual meeting, they should request an absentee ballot with the issues that
     are to be voted on at the annual meeting.  This would allow each property
     owner the ability to make their own decision(s).  It is going to be easier to
    disseminate information to the membership through the 2 websites.
                                                                    
Finally, on a personal note, we would like to congratulate the incoming board members on their election.  We would also like to thank the current board members who will be leaving, for a difficult job well done.  We would say to all the board members not to let one or two unhappy property owners discourage you.  They do not reflect the feelings of all the membership.  We feel that if Roberts Rule of Order had been followed our annual meeting would have been a productive meeting with many important issues being dealt with rather than the embarrassing display that occurred.   

 Posted by Joe Stehling at the request of Craig and Pam Morris.
 
 

HLPOA ANNUAL MEETING AFTER ACTION REPORT

Please Note: I originally tried to post this on 1 August prior to a trip.     Somehow it never made into the Posted area.
I was prepared for a difficult annual meeting of the HLPOA on 29 July 2006.   What I was not prepared for was the high level of animosity, hostility, vindictiveness, and outright rudeness of some of the members.  It got so bad that my wife, Carol, could take no more and went home in tears.  Others told me they had to leave the room because they felt the anger welling up within them.   I will admit I was rude at one time when I lost my cool after Jeanne Collins’ fourth or fifth interruption of a speaker to continue to chastise the board for their decision on the manufactured home issue, regardless of what issue was being discussed at the time of her interruption.   I apologize to the assemblage for my outburst and my use of a curse word.   What I should have said was that there is a difference between constructive criticism that focuses on success and destructive tirades that focus on nothing but failure.   That was the tenure of the Collins’ tirades- focusing only on perceived failures.    
The only constructive comment I heard (which is not new) was that the board needed to increase communication, which is true.    However, you should know that in January, Mark Fleenor put together a newsletter to be distributed in January with the annual dues invoices.   I personally had written three articles for the newsletter.   After the litigation threat letter on manufactured homes  was received by the board, the association’s lawyers put a stop to any communication.   Lawyers do more harm than good at times.
That is not to say that some positive things did not come out of the meeting.   Several committees were formed which could have a positive influence on the association, if they all do their job.    But that is about all I can think of at the moment.    
I moved to Hidden Lake to make friends, not enemies.  My wife believes that we now have more enemies than friends, not because of anything we have done personally to or against certain individuals, but by virtue only of  my being on the board.   One of our previous so-called friends egregiously betrayed a sacred trust by passing on information provided to them in confidence.   They also used Kris to further their agenda by including his candid comments in Mr. Collins’ board bashing speech.
The last minute maneuver by Jeanne Collins at the very end of the meeting when a good 60 percent of the assemblage had departed was especially devious and underhanded.   Without an understanding of what she was doing and the implications thereof, she called for the resignation of the entire board.   This caused a referral to Roberts Rules of Order, which evidently provides for a vote of no confidence, but not for removal of any board member.    I am wondering how many of the 20 members who provided proxy votes to Marilyn Borich were aware of this and would have voted for the wholesale removal of the board causing the association to lose all corporate memory and knowledge.  Members must realize the danger of providing so much power (20% of the property owners in this case)  to one individual with an ill-defined agenda, who can do nothing but criticize and complain.  As President Bush said in his State of the Union address:  “Hindsight alone is not wisdom, and second-guessing is not a strategy”.
 
That recall maneuver has caused me to rethink my decision to resign from the board.  Several members expressed regret that I was considering resigning and I will now fulfill the rest of my term as a board member.    If I choose to resign, I prefer to do it on my own volition and not because a small coalition of members with an ill-defined agenda wants me to resign.  
Joe Stehling

Lot 11

Good Evening Neighbors:

 We, like so many others, are tired of the in-fighting that has been going on at Hidden Lake; however, we cannot stand by and watch some of the issues which are of concern to everyone.

 For example, the lake has been over-run by algae for the last several years and nothing has been done.  Obviously, the lake is cold, but no-one would risk falling in due to the algae problem coupled with leeches.  In addition, the shrinking condition of the lake has made it difficult to access the lake due to the mud, which could “take a body down” if one isn’t careful.  Each year, we have put in a temporary floating dock and each fall we have taken it out.  We have encouraged folks to use it freely and in fact, many persons have used the dock to access the lake.  The dock prevents the user from sinking into the mud when accessing a boat.  We think the association should finance 3 more floating docks and we will contribute ours to the association as the 4th to allow everyone access to the lake, said docks to be placed at the (hopefully cleared) edges to each of the 4 easements.

 A second, and in our opinion, very serious matter, is the Board’s clandestine behavior regarding all aspects of management of our properties.  As indicated by Don Fink’s postings regarding the annual meeting, it was arduous and contentious—-and Mike Vorst, Sandra Stokes and William Frazelle soundly defeated all challengers for the Board.  We just heard (through the grapevine, but confirmed by several people) that Greg Ogawa and Mark Fleenor (beaten in re-election bid) resigned, effective immediately, from the Board.  Rather than replace them with those persons who ran and received majority votes, our Madam President (1/2 of the board duo of David and Kay Phillips, which is such an obvious conflict) appointed two persons who ran for the Board, but who were defeated by the electorate.  What kind of kingdom do we have here?

 In a second appointment surprise, we understand that Joe Stehling resigned from managing Chris Perault.  Rather than appoint Don Fink, Bonnie Fink, Marilyn Borich or Jack Vlk—long-time property and home owners who all get along well with Chris—to the position, our Madam president (again, that 1/2 of the duo team) apparently appointed a new property owner, who no-one knows but is endorsed by that duo!  Chris is even in the dark!

 Again, it would seem that the issues which arose at the Board meeting (including a motion to recall the Board due to their inability to communicate and their “royal” attitudes, which has contributed to the in-fighting at HL) fell on deaf ears.  We feel like the Scots in the border wars—-loyal to the last, but losing power to the king!

 Liane Kerr & Paul Donisthorpe, Lot 49

(all hail the common folk)