Those dueling letters

By now, I am sure that most if not all of you have received dueling letters from Terrie Bulkin and our HOA President, Bill Fuchs. I have always felt that it was just a matter of time, not if, we would receive a communication like Terrie’s. While I do not agree with all in both these letters, I do think Terrie’s letter brings some matters to the fore that deserves public debate.

In terms of the management of our HOA, Bill is correct in his assertion that the Board is mandated to run the HOA as it sees fit as an elected Board. Having served on the Board with Bill I must also agree that with him that HOA governance by referendum has the potential to be troublesome unless it is clearly defined. That does not mean that I do not think Bill hasn’t made a rod for his own back in this regard. There are ways to solicit homeowner input on an annual basis to assist the Board in getting some feedback from homeowners. An annual survey, printed, or online would be easy to distribute and collate and could give the Board valuable feedback on the desires of its homeowners. This is exactly what the HOA at my Tahoe home does and it works very well – as the Board pays attention to the feedback, even if they don’t always agree or act on it. While Bill is correct in stating that homeowners may attend Board meetings it is also a little disingenuous, honestly, as unless homeowners have an axe to grind it has been my observation that attendance can be spotty at best. In fact, I believe the insistence that homeowners attend meetings held late on Thursday nights is in fact, a very effective way to deter input.

What has to be decided is whether input is deliberately stifled so Board member agendas may be pursued with relatively little opposition.

Really, if our Board were to be at least somewhat responsive to a level of resident concern about proposed expenditures, we would not now be discussing the need for homeowner approval of major expenditures. Or, truth be told, a motion to remove members from the Board. The Board, and I think particularly, our President, has brought this issue upon themselves by lending a deaf ear to reasonable complaints. So be it. Looks like it’s time for some changes to be made in the leadership of our HOA Board. When I joined the transitional Board, one of my main reasons was to ensure we never had an entrenched fiefdom running our HOA. It gives me no pleasure to say it, but I think we are facing that now and the fix is in our hands.

So much of the rest of the mail-in debate between Terrie and Bill directly speaks to one central question: What is the role of our HOA? Is it to attempt to inflate property values and make homes easier to sell? Or is to maintain a quality of life at a common sense cost that we signed on for when we decided to live in CH?

Before continuing my commentary I should say that I think Bill is a hands-on President who takes his position seriously. He pursues his agenda for CH vigorously and consistently. The nub of the dispute that Terrie’s letter has surfaced is whether Bill’s agenda is necessarily supported by the residents of CH. I should also add that for the most part, our HOA is well-managed and unobtrusive. This does not mean it is perfect.

I believe it is fair to say – and he doesn’t hide this, I think – that Bill is quite open about wanting to increase the “value” of our property in Cimarron Hills. This raises a number of questions, particularly in the current real estate and economic environment.

Primarily, when we are facing such a stringent economic climate, as I have told them directly, it beggars belief that our Board would even countenance spending roughly $150,000 of our money on an expansion of our fitness facility.

Even if you agree that it is the role of our HOA to increase property values, to attempt such a thing now is completely asinine. With Zillow reporting that we will see over $1,000,000,000,000 wiped off property values in 2011, and with a forecast of an increase in short sales and, maybe, foreclosures, doesn’t spending >$150,000 on our fitness center strike you as pissing into the wind? Never forget that’s your money that’s being spent. As I have observed elsewhere, spending other peoples’ money is easy.

This goes further. I believe Bill Fuchs has an impossible-to-resolveinherent conflict on the issue of the expansion of the fitness center and other similar “cosmetic” expenditure. If you follow the multiple listing service, you will know that our community center and pool is almost always a focal point of home collateral material in an attempted sale. The better our community center looks, the easier it is to sell houses, and I think we all know that our community is a focus of Bill Fuchs’s professional efforts. This does not mean Bill sets out deliberately to enhance our community with the parallel goal of enhancing his business – but as a human being he cannot fail to be so influenced. I do not know how to resolve that conflict in practical terms.

Other issues: I am perplexed by the issue of reissuing our pool passes with a photo ID. It seems like a lot of work, expense and a considerable inconvenience to the homeowners too, UNLESS the Board can tell us exactly how they are going to enforce the access policy. Who, exactly, is going to check that the card goes with the person? I ask this because, some years ago, Board member Barry Werbelow was a strong advocate for volunteer pool monitors, which at the time, I don’t recall Bill being in favor of. So, I wonder what has changed? I will say, that at another home I own in CA, the HOA employs volunteers to control access to and conduct at our community pool and it works extremely well. I am a big advocate of controlling access to our pool – indeed I spoke up strongly for the annunciator on the pool gate (can’t say I much like “muttering Man” who left the current message). I just don’t see what problem new access cards fix, without knowing what the enforcement program will be. Still waiting on an answer on that from the Board.

While we are on the issue, I might add that I wish the Board would pursue access control to our community with the same zeal that they pursue access to our pool. I believe it’s a fair assumption that most of us chose to live in guard-gated community for a reason, security being probably a primary one. Are you aware that three times a week, including weekends, anyone can gain access to our community by saying they wish to visit an open house? Other local upscale communities require a realtor to collect the guest at the gate (open houses are always staffed) and return them there. I asked our Board to do the same and they declined. No surprise with a realtor as our President. Circle back around to the possible expenditure on the fitness center.

Let’s talk finances for a while. It is essential that our HOA has a very strong reserve built up. Should we fall short in the future the only answer is a special assessment of unspecified size (it could be a lot) or a levy or “sales tax” on home sales in the community. I do not know, but will find out, when our latest reserve study was done, what the required reserves are and what our current reserves are as a percentage of that number. In case you think this is an unimportant issue, let you remind you that we – our HOA – is entirely responsible for the roads in our community. If you are as alarmed as me about some of the ever-widening cracks in our streets, always remember that we are going to be paying for a new road one day.

We will be faced with a vote very soon that will clearly delineate the future of our HOA. The choice is clear. Common Sense? Or an agenda of spending without regard to homeowners’ wishes? Please vote for a change. I get no pleasure from asking for your vote to thin out our current HOA Board, but it looks like the only viable option presented.