November 2008 Election for POA Board Elected Director - Questions

In my opinion, if elected, all of the candidates running in this election will represent the property owners’ interests very well. I wish that all three of these candidates could be elected to the Board. Choosing only two of the three of them will be difficult.

To help you decide, ask each of the candidates the four questions listed below?

Questions for the candidates:

Many of the property owners believe that some of current Board members actively push all of the Developer’s agendas; in other words, what is best for the Developer is best for the Big Canoe property owners?

(1) What is your belief on supporting the Developer’s agendas rather than what are in the best interests of the property owners?



Due to Developer’s stranglehold on our governance and the decision making process due to our By-laws (see the most important example below), it is difficult for the Elected Directors to act in the best interests of the property owners.

Big Canoe By-laws: Article III. Directors3.1. Joint Venture Concept: “It is recognized that the Developer has a substantial investment and must be free to undertake to develop and market profitably its property without undue hindrance or interference from the POA.”

(2) How will you overcome the Developer’s stranglehold on our governing and decision making process so that the property owners’ best interests are accomplished?

(3) How will you go about getting our By-laws changed so that they are “entirely” the property owners’ By-laws?



A current POA Board Elected Director has told me that the POA Board lies to the property owners because they don’t want to be second-guessed.

(4) What will you do to keep the POA Board from spinning the truth or knowingly or intentionally distorting the truth in their verbal and written communications with the property owners?



For all candidates – No reply on the following is necessary:

If elected to the POA Board, I would hope that you would promote the following actions:

If elected, I promise that the POA Board:

1. Will tell the property owners “the whole truth” and nothing but the truth in all of the Board’s verbal and written communications; spinning the truth or knowingly or intentionally distorting the truth will not happen.

2. Will stop having “closed” work sessions. All work sessions will be open to all property owners, and minutes will be taken and published.

3. Will not make “confidential/secret” agreements with any party; there will be no secrets. All past and current confidential/secret agreements, or other similar documents, will be made public (employee related “personal employment” documents will be the only exception).

4. Will “uninstall” the current POA Board’s “corporate” governing structure” and return a “democratic” community governing structure to the POA Board and to our community.

5. Will follow its very own Rules and Regulations. Will use the bidding process for all projects over $50,000, as required by the Rules and Regulations; all projects greater than $50,000 will require three bids. Will never again let projects, such as the Sconti Clubhouse Rebuild, be built without first getting three bids.

6. Will address the special interests block/s of votes, and property owners’ elections apathy by looking for ways to “fairly” limit block voting and to address property owner voting apathy. Most of Big Canoe elections are very close: large block-of-votes will decide most of our elections.

(In the recent election on the Capital Initiation Fee, parties outside the POA Board organization stepped in to over come property owners’ apathy. When outside parties are required to get involved, and to get-out-the-vote, it becomes unpleasant for the community as a whole; but when more property owners vote, a truly democratic election takes place and the true feelings of the property owners become known.)

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To all of the candidates,

Bill Wilson <wwilliswilson@aol.com>,
Sue Hauseman <suehauseman@hotmail.com>,
Richard Andersen <rvandersenbc@aol.com>

Thanks for running for the POA Board. I don’t think the property owners can go wrong with any of you being elected to this POA Board.

2008 - The Six Promises

The POA Board’s governing process won’t change unless you make it happen.

If the governing process is important to you, email this website address to each of the POA Board Directors every month.

By doing so, you will make them aware that the promises listed below on this website are important to you.


This website address is: http://thesixpromises.blogspot.com/

Copy and email the above link to each POA Board Directors. Their email addresses can be found at the bottom of this page.

Tell the Board Directors that “all” of the Six Promises are important to you.

Go one step further and email the above link to your friends and neighbors.

The Six Promises

Promise Number One - Truthfulness

Promise Number Two – Open Work Sessions

Promise Number Three – No Secret Agreements

Promise Number Four – New Governance Structure

Promise Number Five – Sconti Restaurant Rebuild Costs Audit

Promise Number Six – Block Voting in Elections

The Six Promises - Closing Statement

Promise Number One – Truthfulness

The POA Board Directors must promise the following:

“We promise to tell the property owners “the whole truth. There will be no duplicity.”

To be truthful, they must tell “the whole truth.” Spinning the truth is unacceptable; knowingly or intentionally distorting the truth is just plain wrong.

The Directors must not dishonor their position on the Board by spinning the truth.

The property owners understand:

That Section 3.1 of the By-laws (see Note 1 below) greatly hampers truthful communications with the property owners.

That Section 3.1 is overly used to keep information from the property owners.

That Section 3.1 is used in other situations where it could keep the Directors from acting in the best interest of the property owners: the Directors must not let that happen.


The Directors must:

Take the necessary actions to revise Section 3.1 of the By-laws as follows:

They must negotiate with the Developer for a change to this By-law. Section 3.1 is the Developer’s ultimate trump card; only through some negotiated settlement will Section 3.1 be changed.

They must negotiate to have Section 3.1 deleted, or changed to include the following: “We the POA Board Elected Directors will always tell the truth, “the whole truth”, and nothing but the truth in all POA Board verbal and written communications; there will be no secrets. Telling “the whole truth” will not be considered as undermining the Developer’s rights as listed in Section 3.1 of the By-laws.”



Note 1:

Big Canoe By-laws: Article III. Directors3.1. Joint Venture Concept
“It is recognized that the Developer has a substantial investment and must be free to undertake to develop and market profitably its property without undue hindrance or interference from the POA.”

(A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.)

Promise Number Two – Open Work Sessions:

The POA Board Directors must promise the following:


“We promise that the POA Board will stop having “closed” work sessions (formerly part of the “Closed” Executive Board meetings).

“Closed” work sessions (and “intentionally” not taking the minutes of these meetings) will not continue.”


The property owners understand:

That Section 3.1 of the By-laws greatly hampers the ability of the POA Board to have “open” work sessions.

That having “open” work sessions may result in Developer lawsuits (caused by Section 3.1 of the By-laws); but the threat of lawsuits is not an acceptable reason for having “closed work sessions with no minutes.”


The POA Board Directors must stop having “closed” work sessions; all work sessions must be open to all property owners and minutes must be taken and published.

(A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.)

Promise Number Three – No Secret Agreements:

The POA Board Directors must promise the following:

“We promise that the POA Board will not make “secret” agreements with the Developer.”

The Directors must understand that only through truly open communications and open documents will the property owners trust the POA Board Directors and understand the need for any negotiated agreements.

The Directors must understand that the property owners must be able to see and to question negotiated agreements.

The Directors must show that every negotiated agreement is also in the best interests of the property owner.


The property owners understand:

That the reason for secret agreements is to avoid being second-guessed by the property owners and is due to Section 3.1 of the By-laws.

The Directors must stop making “secret” agreements with the Developer.

The Directors must not enter into a pledge of secrecy with anyone, or others, to keep information from Big Canoe property owners.

The Directors must provide copies of any POA documents to any property owner upon their request (employee related documents will be the only exception).

The Board must go one step further, they must publish a listing of all of the current and the past secret, or otherwise, agreements/understandings/deals documents in the Smoke Signals. A listing of these documents must be made available to the property owners.

(A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.)

Promise Number Four – New Governance Structure:

The POA Board Directors must promise the following:

“We promise to “uninstall” the current POA Board “corporate” governing structure.”

This newly installed type of governing structure hasn’t been/isn’t answerable to the property owners. It has no place in our gated community.

Under this type of governing structure, the POA Board can, and has, refused to give copies of their secret agreement documents to property owners. The property owners are the rightful owners of these documents; they have every right to see and to review them.

Under this type of governing structure, a POA Board President has too much control over the Board. He can use coercive measures to meet a personal agenda that may not be in the best interest of the property owners.

Under this type of governing structure, a POA Board President can marginalize the other Elected Directors; this is highly unethical. This type of governing structure makes it increasingly difficult for the other Elected Directors to discuss POA business with the POA Staff, and most importantly, the property owners.


The property owners understand:

That most likely Section 3.1 of the By-laws is the reason for installing this new business model.

The Directors must return a “democratic” community governing structure to the POA Board and to our community.

(A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.)

Promise Number Five – Sconti Restaurant Rebuild Costs Audit:

Why is this promise related to democratic governance? Because, most likely, it is related to Promise No. Three.

The POA Board Directors must promise the following:

“We promise to oversee the final stages of Sconti Restaurant rebuild, and upon completion, we will provide the property owners with an "independent" “full disclosure” audit report on all of the costs of the new Sconti restaurant and include a full disclosure accounting of the reasons for the over-runs (and also include the POA Board’s “Executive” Summary)?

Property Owners have a vested financial interest in Big Canoe; it is our money being spent.

The Board Directors must understand: That when the community “approves” $4,100,000 for a new restaurant and the Board builds a $9,500,000 (now approaching $12,000,000) no-bid-contract restaurant, the community is concerned.

The Board must ask the Homeowners Association (HOA) to hire an “independent” auditor to fully audit the money spent on the Sconti Restaurant rebuild. As stated above, they must provide the property owners a complete “full-disclosure” audit report. If found, any and all improprieties will be disclose in this audit report.

The Board must change the POA Board’s Standards of Conduct document to add the following disclosure statement:

“It will be each and every Elected Director’s responsibility and duty, to document and to report to the POA attorney, as well as to the Big Canoe Homeowners Association’s President, any POA Board behavior that is legally unethical. If necessary, that Elected Director will go public to the property owners.”

The Board Directors must continue to sign the POA Board’s Standards of Conduct/Code of Conduct document, which includes a Conflict-of-Interest Statement, annually.

The POA Board must have background checks done annually on any and all POA Directors and employees who sign POA Checks.

(A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.)

Promise Number Six – Block Voting in Elections:

The POA Board Directors must promise the following:

“We promise to address the Developer’s block/s of votes, and property owners’ election apathy. This combination, gives gated community developers control in all community elections. When it comes to true self-governance, this is Big Canoe’s most important issue.”

As one property owner has said: “Big Canoe’s POA Elected Directors are not elected, they are appointed by the Developer’s block of votes.”

When you have the votes to “appoint” Elected Directors, those who share your point-of-view of Big Canoe’s future, you control the POA Board of Directors. Under this same premise, you can control the selection of the Board President, resulting in absolute control of the Board, and therefore set your own agenda.

Big Canoe’s other elections are also greatly influenced by block voting. For example, the Sconti Restaurant/Amenities election was won by only 46 votes.

The Developer has a personal block-of-votes numbering approximately 100 votes. There is another block-of-votes that numbers well over 200 votes.

Most of Big Canoe elections are very close; a large block-of-votes will decide most of these elections.

The Directors must promise to look for ways to “fairly” (let me say again: fairly) limit block voting and to address property owner voting apathy.

(A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.)

The Six Promises – Closing Statement:

The POA Board Directors and the property owners must fully understand:

Without changes to both Section 3.1 of the By-laws (Promise 1) and block voting (and property owner apathy) (Promise 6), Big Canoe property owners will never have democratic governance.

That it will be hard serving as an Elected Director and having to contend with Section 3.1 of the By-laws with its possible lawsuits.

That it will not be easy to be open and to be second-guessed by a few caring property owners; it never is, but isn’t this what democracy is all about?

That it is a fact, that there will be no meaningful changes in POA Board governance, until newly Elected Directors step forward and are willing to make the necessary changes.

That the POA Board Elected Directors must address/change Section 3.1 of the By-laws, and fairly address block-voting, if they are to make things better for themselves and all of Big Canoe’s property owners.

That in trying to make these changes, the POA Elected Directors and the property owners of Big Canoe may be threatened with lawsuits. If so, then that will be the price for democratic governance at Big Canoe, and for higher property values in the future.

That governing Big Canoe is more than just trying to increase real estate values; if Big Canoe is not a happy place to live in, property values will fall.

What better time than now, during a depressed housing market, to clean up Big Canoe’s governance process.


AND AGAIN:

A “democratic” POA Board will never exist in Big Canoe until the POA Board Directors publicly make and fulfill the Six Promises.

WAKE UP BIG CANOE!!!

The following ad was published in the April 2008 Big Canoe Smoke Signals:

WAKE UP BIG CANOE!!!


Changes are happening rapidly within our community. Are you
aware of them? Here are just a few that should concern you.


Capital Initiation Fee (or “Exit Fee”)
You will be asked to vote on this in the near future. It would require a 1% fee for anyone building a new home, purchasing a lot, or reselling a lot and/or home.

Isn’t it already difficult enough to sell a home in Big Canoe?
Will the value of your property increase because of these changes?
What will the POA do with the extra funds raised?


Sconti complex
The current price tag is $10.4M (of which $6M will be borrowed) and this is more than double the cost when this project was first conceived in 2004.

Also the $25 per month Special Assessment is on target to raise $4.5M by the end of 2010 and initially this was planned to cover virtually the entire cost.

Did this get out of hand or what?
Did we not receive $3,300, 000 from our Insurance Company for the Sconti fire?


Amenity Reserve Fund
The 1999 Amendment to the Amenity Agreement put this Fund solely under the control of the full POA Board.

The intent was for the annual cash flow into this Fund ($1M per year and increasing) to become the Capital Reserve Fund that Big Canoe never had in order to care for aging infrastructure and reduce the pressure on annual assessment increases.

Has this become the Board’s “slush fund”?
What do you think is pledged against the $6M Sconti loan?
Wouldn’t you like to see an accounting of this Fund?


Governance Philosophy
The Board has hired a consultant (cost??) to help implement the “Policy Governance Model” form of governance.

One of the major tenets of this form is that the Board focuses only on “high level” goals and very few details, while the administration has great freedom in how to achieve those goals.

Isn’t this exactly the problem that produced the “Governance Crisis of 2003” when the General Manager resigned. the CFO and Accounting Manager were fired, and it took a full year to clean up the administrative mess?

There has to be a better solution between the extremes of current “micro-management” and “no control”.

The board has also chosen to represent the Corporation (the POA), and not the Property Owners, who actually are the POA. This is a very important distinction.


Please get interested, ask questions of your Board Members and attend the Town Hall meetings.

Your opinion counts.

Concerned Property Owners

Responsible Big Canoe POA? A Call For Responsible Governance

The Committee for Responsible Government consists of over 100 Big Canoe property owners who have come together to attempt to bring about positive change in the way our current POA Board manages Big Canoe.

Some, including our interim general manager, have been heard to say that those people who don’t like way the Big Canoe is managed should just leave.

The members of this group love Big Canoe and most have no desire to leave but are willing to work to bring about positive change.

To learn more, visit the link below:

Responsible Big Canoe POA? A Call For Responsible Governance

Initiation Fee for the Big Canoe Community. What are your thoughts on the proposed fee?

4kfee.com is designed to be an Open Forum for discussing the proposed Capital Initiation Fee in the Coummunity of Big Canoe.

Some residents are for the proposal, some against, some are still undecided.

Regardless or your position, you are encouraged to voice your opinion.

To learn more, visit the link below:

Initiation Fee for the Big Canoe Community.