UPDATE: A resolution to remove the right of the homeowners of Pine Mountain Club POA (PMCPOA) to vote before their board takes the association into over $1 million in debt, or spends over $1 million in a new purchase, was not voted on at the October 19 board meeting. Chair Bill Lewis II said he decided to table his resolution for “one month only.” He agreed to explain the reasoning behind his resolution next week.
In the meantime, please read this week’s discussion of this issue.

By Patric Hedlund, TME

This Saturday at 10 a.m. Pine Mountain Club homeowners may lose the right to vote on whether their PMCPOA board should be allowed to take them into over $1 million of debt or spend over $1 million for new purchases.

The chairman of the PMCPOA board of directors has placed resolutions on the agenda for the Saturday, Oct. 19 board meeting to abolish these protections.

In 2017, PMC homeowners voted to protect their homes by placing a limit on how much the board of directors can spend without seeking consent of the members at the ballot box.

Voters were concerned that assessments could skyrocket and a California law known as “nonjudicial foreclosure” could be used against them.

Nonjudicial foreclosure allows a POA to seize someone’s property without going to court if a homeowner is unable to pay their POA assessments. Assessments must rise to make loan payments.

PMC’s assessments leapt $100 last year, to $1604, despite the fact that the POA already had over $1 million in excess charges from prior years floating in its operating account.

If passed Saturday, the resolution by Bill Lewis II would: (1) eliminate the need to consult with members before spending over $1 million; and (2) allow the board to take out loans—without consulting members first—that could take this debt-free association into over $1 million in debt.

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Because this unannounced proposal is coming up so quickly, we’ve asked a former board member, who spent 8 years on the PMC Governing Documents Committee, to explain some of the issues for our readers. —Editor

By Katherine King, PMC

Thank you for inviting me to comment on Resolution 11-10–19-2019 on the upcoming agenda of the PMCPOA board meeting.

I know from my past experience on the board of directors that our PMCPOA association lawyer will attempt to find a legal way for the board of directors—his employer—to do what the board wants to do.

In this case, legal counsel is: (1) interpreting the CC&Rs and civil code in the most narrow way possible and (2) allowing the board of directors (BOD) to take a most extreme action in order to avoid the clear will of the members—the homeowners of PMC.

Please be clear: It is we members who as a group constitute the “Association,” (per CC&R article 1.1), who voted to limit the …(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Ten years ago, in 2009, over 160 worried Pine Mountain Club homeowners turned out to protest the PMCPOA board’s failure to answer questions on finances and a rumored plan to abolish the PMC Security Patrol. In 2017, voters passed two bylaws: to require a vote of homeowners before spending over $1 million; and to prohibit taking the POA into over $1 million in debt without a vote of the members.

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This is part of the October 18, 2019 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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