By Ron Duncan
Here’s an independent view of the ACHOA BOD meeting held 18 August 2015 from a pair of eyes and ears not confused by the straight jacket of ACHOA group think.
The meeting began at the usual 5:30 PM start time but without the usual Club crowd…Must have been all on vacation. Following the call to order and the Pledge of Allegiance, we got down to business.
Homeowner comments: I spoke briefly identifying that there was concern about the allocation of $25K for a new web site and $300 for an addition to the Reserve Study to “break out inside vs. outside ArrowCreek Parkway.” I also mentioned the Complaint registered against the ACHOA BOD and our committees for holding Non-public meetings. After those comments, President of the ACHOA Sam Fox, addressed the complaint and basically said they had not violated the law and I should expect a letter from our ACHOA lawyer regarding the Boards position. (The letter was indeed received on 18 August at 2:58 PM after I’d shut down to pick up my wife for the meeting. We could go on for pages about the lawyer’s response to a non-issue but that wasn’t the purpose of the Board meeting, so we’ll save that for a later discussion.)
That opening was followed by the ArrowCreek Club Committee (ACCC) and Communications Committee updates. Mr. Rich Kenney presented for the ACCC a fascinating discourse, which he also presented as hard copy to the recording secretary “so his words would not be confused.”
He went on to state that there are three principles guiding discussion with the FOA. First, dues will not be increased beyond $82 per month. [COMMENT: This would amount to $1,068,624 per year. For what purpose? Subsidize the golf course? If not a subsidy, why is this particular amount even being considered? Just to keep raised dues under $300?]
Second, No Mandatory membership [COMMENT: Then what do we get for our $82 per month ‘contribution?’ Property value ‘stability?’ Prove it.]
Third, No open ended financial commitment. [COMMENT: So, what does this mean in plain English if we aren’t buying anything?] He also mentioned, several times, that he believes this will protect our property values with a vague reference to the Realtor forum. [COMMENT: PROVE IT! There’s been NO factual evidence presented in any forum that supports this belief. So, the challenge is to those who continue to espouse this ‘belief’ to provide factual, repeatable evidence from Northern Nevada to support this belief.] The audience listened politely and asked a few questions before moving onto the Communications Committee presentation by Mr. Norm Reeder.
The Communications Committee is looking into what and when to hold the next informational meeting. There are apparently several topics under consideration not the least of which is a discussion of CC&R and By-Law changes to remove the developer perspective from the documents. That then transitioned to the financial report.
The financial report was reported by Mr. Alan Liebman. Alan presented the numbers and the ACHOA is in ‘Good’ shape financially. He attempted to present the budget management approach as being ‘like’ accrual accounting. Unfortunately, when talking to former CFOs, this is a definite non-starter. In fact, initial program/project engineers use the technique of equally spreading funding across twelve months and then accounting for variances due to the erroneous spread of spending. After a year or two as a program/project manager one learns to spread the expenditures across the twelve months based on the anticipated time of spending the money. It makes absolutely no sense to have snow removal monies allocated for June through October. Then we moved on to the reserve discussion.
The Reserve Committee update, presented by Mr. Gary Smith, was most fascinating. He again presented the need for an electronic sign at the entrance for announcements of community interest, the upgrade of one of the tennis courts with 10 ft fencing, $25k for a new website and lastly $300 for reserve study work to allow the ‘golf portion’ of the reserve study to be broken out (inside vs. outside AC parkways?). Several people questioned the need for the electronic sign and the projected cost. In addition there was discussion of the $300 for the reserve study when there isn’t any golf related deal on the table. Also, questions related to upgrading the residents center kitchen were asked. The response was, with the supposed purchase of the golf course, there wasn’t a need or ‘clamor’ to make that change. [COMMENT: For those who do not belong to The Club and wish to have neighbors and friends enjoy a party at the Residents Center, a fully functional kitchen would definitely be an upgrade for our amenities. Clamor? No need to clamor if it was already approved for 2015!?] Reports proceeded from there with the next one of consequence being Governing Documents.
The Governing Documents Committee has updated the CC&Rs and By-Laws to conform with current NRS wording and deleted the developer language. Ms. Rakusin presented some of what the committee considered major minor changes and asked for a community review of their draft documents. [COMMENT: There are at least two changes that deserve careful scrutiny. First, the elimination of reference to some amenity language will further disconnect the CC&Rs and By-Laws from our Articles of Incorporation rather than bring them into synch. The second, is a proposed change to the voting requirements to defeat a proposed budget. A possible third issue, is that the changes do not restrict the dues increase capability of the ACHOA BOD. See the initial discussion of the ACCC.]
The final presentation worthy of note was by the Fuels Management Committee, Mr. Moll. This was a disturbing presentation that requested a five year funding profile and efforts to support committee work that will police and impact all property owners. The claim, no proof was offered, that a wildfire prevention act will require individual property owners to comply with guidelines, such as a 100 foot perimeter around residences, established by this committee.[COMMENT: Mr. Moll, please provide your facts. We googled and found the HEALTHY FORESTS RESTORATION ACT of 2003. Is that it? We are not in a FOREST! Or maybe you are referring to the H.R. 1009 unapproved bill languishing in sub-committee, Wildfire Prevention Act of 2015, to provide hazard mitigation assistance through FEMA? It is NOT Nevada specific.) It is not clear where Mr. Moll’s ‘act’ was legislated but it certainly doesn’t sound like Nevada. If it indeed is the above Federal PENDING Act, then implementation in Nevada would require several changes to Nevadan’s property rights. This point was raised by the audience and dismissed by Mr. Moll and the ACHOA BOD.]
The meeting concluded on that note after no additional homeowner comments were offered.
Ron Duncan
ArrowCreek411 