Dear Fellow Oak Knoll Homeowners,
By now you should have received the HOA Newsletter, Proxy Voting Sheet, 2013 Budget, an old copy of meeting minutes, but more importantly...a new resolution adopted by the Board of Directors (BOD) to cover costs of mailing notices of violation (of CC&Rs) and hearing notices to the accused homeowner.
If you thoroughly reviewed the documentation you might have noticed a discrepancy and perhaps asked yourself, what does Superior Community Management (SCM) do for our HOA to earn its near $13,000 a year as a HOA Management Company?
On its own website, they advertise their services to prospective HOAs that as a part of their management (i.e. this is what they get paid to do, a part of that payment goes towards this function), they do the following:
"Follow up on complaints of violations and/or maintenance issues as required in the governing documents."
"Issue violation notices and take other appropriate action necessary to resolve a violation in accordance with the association governing documents."
Seems pretty clear to me, does it not you? SCM, as a part of their fee for managing the HOA, will follow up and issue violation notices and any other appropriate action(s) necessary to resolve said violation. Correct?
Yes, correct! So why is the cost/fee being shifted from the contract between our HOA and SCM onto the homeowner!?! After all, according to SCM's website, under "Association Governance," they do the following:
"Facilitate communication between the homeowners and the Board of Directors."
The entity responsible for bearing the cost of any mailings of notices of violation, hearings, etc. is the responsibility of the management company, SCM, hired to facilitate the "Management," "Assessments," "Accounting," and "Association Governance" of our HOA...NOT THE HOMEOWER accused of being in violation of some obscure CC&R (a document that even the Board of Directors, SCM, or Vial Fothingham (HOA attorneys) DO NOT even follow to the letter...no, they selectively enforce the CC&Rs as it suites them, as history has shown and I have thoroughly documented herein this blog and other writings - oh, and have an attorney from Vial Fothingham admitting the BOD are not following the CC&Rs, thus simply not caring at all that our BOD are even following the law).
Now this so-called fee for mailing, in the Newsletter it states clearly the cost could be in "...upwards of $30..."
$30, really? It doesn't take that long to type a brief letter stating "Hey, you're currently in violation of CC&R X.X, please address it by X date or X will result." Less than 5 cents to make a copy, and no more than $6.50 to mail it certified. Even if the person typing the letter is paid minimum wage or even up to $14 an hour, it only takes about 15-30 minutes AT MOST to prepare such a letter. Total cost at the $14 an hour pay rate, $13.55, $13.60 if you add the cost of the envelope.
I write and send letters constantly for other people and mail them certified and I can attest as a matter of fact that it does not cost $30 or even the $35 noted in the actual resolution.
So which is it BOD? In your newsletter you made it perfectly clear in "upwards of $30" and yet under your own resolution you put $35! Care to clarify?
Also, while under ORS 94.630(a) and (n)(B) - NEXT TIME CITE THE CORRECT STATUTE and SUBSECTION(S) FOR DIRECT REFERENCE - you may have the authority to create and adopt a "resolution," you DO NOT have that authority under the ByLaws, Article III, Section 3 Board of Directors (next image is text taken from the HOA website under documents - ByLaws):
Nowhere in this section of the ByLaws does it specifically authorize the BOD to create, pass and adopt a resolution as specific as the one created here to shift the burden of the cost from SCM under its contract of "Management" - which includes following up on complaints and issuing violation notices to allegedly accused homeowners of a violation of the CC&Rs.
And since the BOD has created this new resolution, logic dictates that the fees paid to SCM be reduced to compensate for the difference in fees that will now be paid for/by the homeowner in preparing these violation notices since it is no longer a part of SCM's management contract with the Oak Knoll HOA.
If not, then one cannot help but question the financial and accounting methods being implemented by both the BOD and SCM in the management of our HOA in executing this function in which SCM clearly advertises as one of its responsibilities as a part of cost of doing business with the HOA in the fees they receive in performing their function!!!!
My files are just getting thicker and thicker and the complaint being prepared to the Oregon Department of Justice regarding this HOA, SCM and Vial and Fotheringham further substantiated.
Sincerely,
OKHA Watch Dog
P.S. If you have not read this, I highly recommend that you do: https://www.facebook.com/notes/oak-knoll-hoa-watchdog/september-2011-bod-meeting-with-direct-quotes-a-must-read/101030436698002
