Oak Knoll Homeowners...how goes the battle since my departure?

Bet that street tree resolution is still pending...eh?

Bet you're all continuing to get stiffed with bills for landscaping strictly on Foothills Drive while the rest of you have to pay for your own landscaping for your trees despite the CC&Rs clearly stating that every lot with street trees is to be maintained by the HOA.

Bet many are being harassed by the HOA and getting ensnared in legal letters and collection traps owing thousands of dollars, as many have fallen victim to in the past.

And I bet there is NO ONE advocating for the homeowners, and individual owners are just not defending themselves.

I feel for all of you. Wish I could say it will get better, but you and I both know that will never happen with the HOA and a corrupt management company holding their hands. Same for Vial Fotheringham, if they are even still on retainer after what I put them through before leaving the association.

This will be my final post to this blog. However I will leave the blog up as it contains a lot of history of the corruption of the HOA, management company Management Trust and the law firm of Vial Fotheringham.

I have far more important things to work on now that I am no longer a part of the association. So I wish you all well and good luck.

Yours Truly!
Oak Knoll HOA Watchdog

Oregon HB 2617 - Recording Board of Director Meetings

Dear Chair Williamson, Vice-Chair Gorsek, Vice-Chair Springer and Members of the Committee

I am writing in opposition to House Bill 2617 as an experienced homeowner in an HOA of a little more than 20 years living in the great State of Oregon.

I do not want you to get the wrong impression here. I was not a disgruntled homeowner tossing out reckless or pithy arguments at the Board of Directors. As such, it was the actions of the Board of Directors over that twenty-year timespan that precipitated my intervention on behalf of not only myself, but also all the homeowners in my community (the majority of whom were apathetic so long as they were not affected by the Board’s notices and/or violation fees). 

My experience as a homeowner attending meetings, reviewing the governing documents juxtaposed to the Board of Directors decisions and actions, is that the directors rarely know what they are doing and do not like being corrected by a homeowner, especially during board meetings. Such meetings are the ONLY place where homeowners can have direct contact with the directors, whom they only get to see and hear once a month; and most of the time the directors are never properly prepared to answer homeowner questions and/or assertions of their incorrect job performance and decisions contrary to the governing documents and/or statutory law (Oregon Planned Community Act, Chapter 94).

The fact of the matter is meeting minutes do not cover the details of certain discussions that would be important if not illuminating to other homeowners not present. And a homeowner taking notes is no more reliable than the agent taking notes to publish the ultra brief and incomplete meeting minutes.

It is without question there is a lot that is said at meetings that cannot be articulated accurately let alone remembered by both directors or homeowners present; but for those homeowners that do remember and bring it up again at the next meeting, the directors have plausible deniability without any means of audio or audio/video recordings. That’s the key with these quasi-government bodies, and that is EXACTLY what HOAs depend on when conducting business OR when they pass resolutions forbidding the recording of board meetings; which are public meetings amongst the homeowners and the board of directors (ORS 164.540(6)(a)), they are NOT private meetings as they are when in executive session.

In June 2016, my fellow homeowners and I experienced our Board of Directors passing such a resolution to forbid recordings with exorbitant fees if violated. During that meeting every homeowner present voiced opposition to this resolution asking what was wrong with a meeting being recording, it is evidence to defend them with (or a homeowner), and it provides clarity and transparency. The board’s reasoning, rather excuse, echoes the same as detailed in Jason Grosz letter to the committee. My highly detailed response to that meeting and the questionable legality of such resolutions can be found here: 

http://okhawatchdog.blogspot.com/2017/03/june-2016-no-recording-resolution-by.html

A recording of this meeting, forward to the 1-hour mark, can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaTYAxCrMCo

Granted there may be a few elderly or timid homeowners who do not care to be recorded out of fear of sounding inarticulate or ignorant of the ins and outs of HOA operations, as well as the duties and responsibilities of both the Board of Directors and homeowners alike; but that is a personal matter and not one for the board of directors to take up as it is not their function to make homeowners feel secure in their level of knowledge or lack thereof where the operations of an HOA is concerned.

Homeowners who are passionate about living in the community, their home, their neighbors, and any perceived disagreement with the Board of Directors simply will NOT be stifled by a mere recording of a meeting amongst the Board of Directors with homeowners present. 

When a board meeting is recorded the homeowner know that they are being heard, and without it there is simply no transparency let alone accountability of the Board of Directors of any HOA in Oregon, despite what Jason Grosz or any other attorney from the monopoly on HOA representation in the Pacific Northwest at Vial Fotheringham will claim in correspondence to the committee. Opinions from attorneys on this should carry little weight since the true impact that these recordings will have is directly beneficial to the homeowner, and it is to this committee that should keep them in mind when considering HB 2617.

Regarding the last statement in Mr. Grosz letter, what he speaks of could not be anymore further from the truth. If and when a homeowner is directly affected by the decision of the Board of Directors, they will feel compelled to first address their concerns at a board meeting. It is precisely at these meetings where homeowners are basically ignored, discredited, scoffed at and in short…given no credence. 

Banning recordings of open HOA board of director meetings will give an unjust upper hand and unconscionable amount of power and control to the Board of Directors that neither the governing documents and/or state statutes provide for. 

No governmental body, public or quasi, should ever be above (i.e. unable to be held accountable) the people they represent. 

For the foregoing reasons, I support House Bill 2617.

Respectfully,

Troy Spurlock

Former proprietary member of the Oak Knoll Homeowners Association as a homeowner 

Legal case over, I won!

In filing the lawsuit I set out to teach the Board of Directors a very important lesson: they don’t know what they are doing, and when a homeowner who does speaks up and tells them that what they are doing goes against the governing documents and state statute, they should listen. More than that, they shouldn’t hire a management company and law firm that encourages and supports their illegal behaviors, attitudes and decisions resulting in illegal actions against the homeowners.

The case was never about money, despite spending my own money to defend the rights of all homeowners of 198 homes in our association, which wasn’t all that cheap but remained an acceptable loss given the outcome.

This case was about proving a point, and the point was made rather well. So well that the HOA moved from Vial and Fotheringham counsel’s legal assistance and filed the matter with the HOAs insurance carrier, American Family, who in turn hired another lawfirm to represent the HOA in the legal case I filed. Knowing full well there was absolutely no legal defense they could counter with regarding the breach of contract with the Street Tree Resolution, they merely focused on the only weakness in my case, damages.

I offered to settle and walk away from the case before filing it to save the HOA on legal fees, but they refused. Which means they spent nearly double that offer in defending the HOA in a case they knew they were never going to win.

Again, this was never about the money and I only made that settlement offer to test their resolve, as I knew they would refuse. This was all about proving a point and I proved it. Going forward I highly doubt they will make the same mistake again in trying to screw the homeowners out of their right to vote on matters that they are entitled to if the Board of Directors wants to alter the language and effect of the CC&Rs. That being said, I can tell you right now that the garbage can resolution done at the same time as the street tree resolution does the same thing as the illicit street tree resolution. It alters/changes the language of the CC&Rs, i.e. it is an amendment that does what the Board wants it to say but doesn’t really say. I would suggest that a homeowner bring this up to the Board and have it rescinded immediately.

Since I don’t live in the HOA anymore, it’s up to you homeowners to pay attention to what the Board of Directors, Management Company, and retained lawfirm is doing. If you remain complacent and apathetic as you have for the past 21 years, and seeing as that I am gone, in time the Board of Directors just May repeat their bad / illegal behaviors, choices and resulting actions that go against your interests and violate your right to vote on making amendments to the governing documents that could have a huge financial impact along with the anger and frustration of such a resolution acting as an amendment targets you.

Lawsuit accounced & a couple homeowners demonstrate why the HOA is a problem!

Yes, the Board of Directors are the main problem with our HOA, their illicit and illegal activities that violate both the CC&Rs and ORS covering Planned Communities are countless, and I've recounted many of them within this blog and my HOA Facebook page.

However, the underlining true problem with our HOA is the apathetic & complacent approach many homeowners have whereas this HOA is concerned.

Sitting back quietly and paying your annual dues without review or question of the financials, let alone the actions of the HOA (e.g. resolutions, etc.), is not how it works. You have a responsibility towards not only yourself, but for your fellow homeowners to be informed and take action when and where necessary when the HOA Board of Directors does something implicitly contrary to the CC&Rs and state law (Oregon Planned Community Act).

Another inherent problem is when a homeowner does take action to protect themselves, and by extension every other homeowner against the overreaching and illicit/illegal acts of the HOA Board of Directors, fellow homeowners should be grateful and respectful towards that homeowner for taking their time, money and effort to do so. Even a simple "thank you" would suffice.

However the following reaction to such a homeowner, me, taking action that no other homeowner has, clearly demonstrates how a fellow homeowners is NOT supposed to treat another homeowner who is doing what they fail to do in protecting their own rights as a homeowner in this association:

I posted this morning that a civil lawsuit was coming soon to the courthouse (obviously the one in McMinnville), and this is the thanks I get...

Chuck Watson - "I really hate these types of comments that are so popular on Facebook. How about instead of putting out this stupid comment with no information, you provide us with the facts?? What is the lawsuit? Who is suing? Why? All you are doing is pissing people off with your attention grabbing antics" (sic)

Leslie Meyer - "This is pretty rude to those of us who just move (sic) to Oak Knoll this past November who really have no idea what the hell you are talking about !" (sic)

Lesli Meyer - "...just joined this site. Guess I will take myself off . (sic) Really don't have to deal with jerks like you."

Leslie Meyer - "I have only on (sic) word left to say to You (sic) "ASSHOLE" (sic)

Link for full context


I have been posting on FB and this blog for years providing nothing but information and facts, and yet because someone is too apathetic and complacent to do a little further reading of previous comments or click the link to this blog here, which is listed in the "About Me" section of the HOA Facebook page, I am berated for not catering to their laziness.

And since when is continuing to provide information to the homeowners "rude"? Is it my fault that a new homeowner didn't do their due diligence in researching this community and HOA before buying their home? I mean really, a simple Google search for "Oak Knoll Homeowners Association Newberg" would show this blog as the #1 result, and my facebook page #2 and my YouTube #3.

When I pointed out the simplicity of doing a little reading of the information that is already there, and asking how proving information is considered "rude," I am then called a jerk for pointing out that that was rich coming from the person who just accused me of being rude; she then proceeded to call me an "ASSHOLE."

Real classy adult mature behavior there folks. Way to thank the one person who has made positive changes to how the HOA Board of Directors have illicitly, illegally and ignorantly ran the HOA since day one.

IF and WHEN I move from this neighborhood, not because of the pain in the ass that the HOA has been or the disrespect and ungratefulness that I've been shown by fellow homeowners as illustrated above (among others who have left disrespectful comments on my FB page), but specifically for the financial gain, you all will miss me and my efforts to keep the HOA on the straight and narrow.

Mark my words! You apathetic and complacent homeowners just simply do not understand what they HOA is capable of and how the can get away with it all, making your lives miserable and eventually forcing you to leave/move out like so many other homeowners have in the past to present.

OKHA Watch Dog

Long Standing Garbage/Recycle Bin Issue in our HOA - DISMANTLED!

Here we are, 17 years after the formation of the Oak Knoll HOA and the damn garbage/recycle bin controversy rears its ugly head once again, and again, and again, and again...so on and so forth.

I've never really delved into this issue too much over the years because it has never really affected my Lot, that is to say it did once long ago when NW Community Management was our first HOA. I received one letter from them and quickly put them in their place, never to hear from them or any other subsequent management company, until most recently. So, on that note, I set out to break down the CC&R covering same in literal detail.

CC&R Section 3.11

No Lot, or area in or part of Oak Knoll shall be used or maintained as a dumping site or depository for rubbish, refuse, trash, garbage or any other form or type of waste. Any such waste may be temporarily stored in a location visible from any Street within Oak Knoll for not more than twenty-four (24) hours provided it is stored in a suitable and sanitary container until such waste is picked up or removed…such waste shall be maintained and operated in a safe and sanitary manner and shall not cause or be a form of nuisance to any resident in Oak Knoll.

When it comes to understanding how to read contractual terms from the eyes of the law, one must recognize the comma "," among other punctuation, that establishes a break between elements or criterion of the section that have to be met in order to either comply or violate the term(s) of the contract.

Here we go...

1st Criteria: 

"No Lot, or area in or part of Oak Knoll shall be used or maintained as a dumping site or depository for rubbish, refuse, trash, garbage or any other form or type of waste."

2nd Criteria:

"Any such waste may be temporarily stored in a location visible from any Street within Oak Knoll for not more than twenty-four (24) hours provided it is stored in a suitable and sanitary container until such waste is picked up or removed..."

3rd Criteria:

"...such waste shall be maintained and operated in a safe and sanitary manner and shall not cause or be a form of nuisance to any resident in Oak Knoll."

Three criteria, that is it!

Now to establish each, the following must be met:

1st Criteria:

Common sense dictates what is a "dumping site or depository," and really needs no explanation. 

2nd Criteria:

No specific instructions, designation, or specific identification as to what is the one and only, or other, "suitable and sanitary container" that which such "rubbish, refuse, trash, garbage or any other form or type of waste" shall be contained in.

Furthermore, the twenty-four (24) hour period is not designated either; while we have our scheduled recycle pickup date from Waste Management Company, they are not always on time. It is not beyond reason for someone to put their recycling out at 11am the day that it is technically scheduled to be "picked up or removed," or any time thereafter if a Lot Owner calls Waste Management for a pickup or removal. So technically, as the CC&R is written, the moment the Lot Owner places the recycle bins or whatever "suitable and sanitary container" is made plain and visible "from any Street within Oak Knoll" is when the so-called 24 hour clock starts; it is not dependent upon the actual day of service or what Waste Management's schedule is.

On that note, the HOA management company agent or whomever is walking around and submitting a complaint alleging that said "...such waste..." is a "...cause or be a form of nuisance to any resident in Oak Knoll" must prove beyond a preponderance of the evidence that they have established as a matter of fact when a Lot Owner has in effect physically placed said refuse is "...stored in a suitable and sanitary container until such waste is picked up or removed that is ..."temporarily stored in a location visible from any Street within Oak Knoll" such removal.

Bottom line, the recycle bins provided by Waste Management Company are not clearly identified by the CC&Rs. 

A black plastic trash bag is as much of "a suitable and sanitary container" as a plastic storage bin, homemade wooden container, so on and so forth.

As such, just because a container that is technically "suitable and sanitary" for the storage of "rubbish, refuse, trash, garbage or any other form or type of waste" is visible from any Street within Oak Knoll, does not mean that actual "rubbish, refuse, trash, garbage or any other form or type of waste" is contained within it. Therefore, the management agent or board representative would need to provide proof that there is such "rubbish, refuse, trash, garbage or any other form or type of waste" within said contained before sending any violation notice of same.

In short, the HOA has been falsely accusing and pissing homeowners off since the year 2000 over the recycle bin issue. And since "garbage bin" is not even mention in the CC&Rs, the January 2016 "Garbage Bin Resolution" is inherently invalid since it fundamentally changes the terms and conditions the CC&Rs without the required vote of the homeowners where 75% approval is necessary in order to make said resolution legitimate as an actual "amendment" to the CC&Rs.

Once again our HOA Board of Directors just continues one effort after another of screwing over the homeowners of this HOA just to get their way.

First Proposed Amendment - What the HOA & Attorney conveniently left out of their cover letters...

FIRST PROPOSED AMENDMENT 

Received the cover letter from the management company and the explanation letter from Ryan Harris yesterday. After reading both I could not help but wonder how convenient it was that both left out the real reason behind "...the need for the amendment." If you attend tonight's board meeting, or the August 15th meeting, be sure to ask.

The management company naturally cannot get facts straight when it comes to the history of the HOA. In their cover letter they state that the so-called "maintenance...practice" of the HOA has been "since 1996." The development requirements of the area were not even complete for the front end homes (nearest College) until after 1998; as such, the Declarant did not turn over the HOA it initially started (and did absolutely nothing with) until 1999. This "maintenance...practice" did not begin until the 2000s, and homeowners have been questioning, debating and arguing with the HOA Boards of Directors, past to present, ever since.

Regarding Mr. Harris' letter, he conveniently omits certain facts that would otherwise clearly explain the matter. One example is the following statement:

"The governing documents list "street trees" as "common improvements" maintained by the Association."

That's only a half-truth; the full unadulterated truth is what I have argued over and over again since the 2000s, so this is nothing new...the 'governing documents' (CC&Rs Section 7.1) clearly states "; and street trees on each Lot."

Mr. Harris then states, "The current and past boards have interpreted street trees as those along Foothills Drive in the oversized planter strips..."

How does a reasonable person interpret the clear and concise terms "on each" to mean "those along"; and "Lot" to mean "Foothills Drive"? smh

The HOA are beggars of their own demise; if they would only follow the governing documents and statutory laws governing HOAs exactly as they are written, there would be no need to question the HOA, no need for debate, no need to argue with attorneys, and certainly no need for a lawsuit.

So question them, hard, at both meetings. Hold them accountable for their collective and consistent failures resulting in their current predicament. 

YELP.COM & BBB Reviews of all THREE Management Companies the HOA has contracted with...

• Northwest Community Management:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/northwest-community-management-portland

Here is the best worst rating:

WARNING@@!! STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY.

My HOA had this management company setup for us by the builder of our community, we had to fire them as soon as we could. They kept making numerous errors that caused hardship on us.

1) Lack of returned phone calls to President of the Board during in-contract time. Lack of response to emails, failure to notify us they were going on vacation.  They were very slow to get back to anybody even on the board.

2) Shotty accounting - they made so many errors in accounting that our auditor had a lot of journal entry updates and control issues with them. To be brief they would improperly move money or fail to move money, they would cause banking fees to be charged, then charge us to figure out how they would mess things up. We'd find problems with the financials and they they'd end up charging us to figure out how they messed up.

3) Reserve Studies - While they outsourced the Reserve study to another company, they botched the study so badly we had to have it redone for additional expense. They allowed the reserve analyst to improperly calculate things and made a mess of our reserve process,

4) Fees - They make their money in fees, excessive, hidden ones, they charge for absolutely everything, calls, letters, minor stuff you would think would be included. They were pulling down extra fees more then the contract every month, weather there was lots of activity or not! (this was the same case for other former clients i've talked to).

5) Bad Faith - We fired the company because of their poor quality service, they did not even help us while we were paying for them to move to another company. They kept sending invoice for tiny things such as re-forwarding letters and phone calls for months.

6) Worthless services - Their community services were worthless, they did postcards and small newsletter stuff for us, and charged a ton for it.

7) Bills years later - Its been years since we fired this company, we still occasionally see invoice for this company. They know no amount of pettiness. Always read the contract to the letter, in the case of a builder signed contract never let is renew! Their contract includes an indemnity clause in it that is stiff, we got exclusions to the indemnity from our new vendor for certain common things. if you are a current client, consider carefully if you want to take the risk that they bill excessive charges for things years later.

8) The company is an out of state company with some local employees, i feel sorry for them working in such a pit. Most communities fire them if the board is watching close enough this company is worthless. Our manager barely handled problems himself, he always had to get to other parts of the company, sometimes we'd get forwarded emails from weeks later indicating the issue wasn't resolved and they didn't even understand the problem.

9) Lack of responsiveness on Architectural Requests, lack of retention of documentation, failure to get board approval. This community manager caused so many unauthorized modifications to occur by telling people to modify and send an application later. Dishes on roofs penetrating shingles? Really people? My community is still cleaning up their mess. And the owners still think they did nothing wrong because NWCM told them it was okay? Failure to follow documents was a serious issue. Community manager barely followed the rules written in documents

10) Lack of follow upon delinquent accounts, poor tracking, which resulted in financial losses years later. They caused errors in our accounts receivable severe enough we had to write off losses for dues income as a result of failures to act. One of the most common ways they'd screw us over would be to quote just the transfer fee at real estate closing time and forget the owner's pro-rated dues or giant delinquent balance.

11) Missing Audit trail information and lack of documentation of financial matters caused serious problems.

12) boiler plate board packets that barely had enough information pertinent to the board of directors'

This is perhaps the worst company to deal with ever, do not under any circumstances hire them to manage your community, they are a total disaster.

Public filing with the Oregon Secretary of State:

http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=1218443&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSE

Negative reviews and Yellowpages.com:

https://www.yellowpages.com/portland-or/mip/the-management-trust-northwest-729392

"

10/08/2011

Provided by Citysearch - 

Overall

Bunch of idiots

The only contact we've had with them over the last 6 years is letters telling us we left our garbage cans on the driveway. The latest letter was a notice of a fine of $25 for posting garage sale signs in the community.
In fact only 1 of the 7 signs we posted around the surrounding area was in the community itself. The signs were up for a total of 6 hours. Apparently we had ""opportunity to be heard"" prior to the board decision but they neglected to notify us of that opportunity.

This company sucks. They only exist to generate revenue from minor infractions rather than doing anything constructive to improve the community."

Northwest Community Management is now The Management Trust, so there are no BBB profiles/records under their former name as it is linked to their new name.

--- // ---

• Superior Community Management:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/superior-community-mgt-portland

They were not without their problems for our Association, but they clearly did better than the previous and subsequent (which are one and the same company).

BBB profile with negative reviews:

https://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-reviews/management-consultants/superior-community-management-inc-in-portland-or-22034082/reviews-and-complaints



--- // ---

• The Management Trust:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-management-trust-portland

One of the several 1 star reviews:

i would like to direct everyone over to the reviews relating to northwest community management, as that was the former name of the management trust.

you can change your name, but you cannot change your reputation.

The Management Trust and Northwest Community Management - the connection filed via public record with the Oregon Secretary of State:

http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.show_detl?p_be_rsn=1525504&p_srce=BR_INQ&p_print=FALSE

BBB profile with negative reviews for The Management Trust, formerly Northwest Community Management:

Tigard Location: https://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-reviews/association-management/the-management-trust-northwest-in-tigard-or-86000547/reviews-and-complaints

Portland Location: https://www.bbb.org/oregon/business-reviews/association-management/the-management-trust-northwest-in-portland-or-22649113/reviews-and-complaints

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/managementtrust/ 
Voice your options about how you have been treated by this management company via our Board of Directors.

Even people do not like working for this company:

"Mar 10, 2017

"Horrible Senior Office Management"

StarStarStarStarStar

Former Employee - Anonymous Employee

Doesn't Recommend

Disapproves of CEO

I worked at The Management Trust full-time

Pros

ESOP...Great idea and wonderful motivation for long term employment.

Cons

On the surface, this looks like a great company to work for...a very team and goal oriented approach; however, the management team really does this company a great injustice. Very stiff and uncomfortable environment to work in, and the training? What training?

Advice to Management

Note to management: Invest in people that are willing to spend the time to train individuals. The female I worked under was horribly inpatient, sarcastic, rude and absurdly inconsistent in terms of job expectations. This company takes it's sweet time hiring people, and then lets them go quickly for issues that have nothing to do with job performance. If the Management team doesn't care for you on a personal level, you will be fired under some false pretense. Unhelpful and very ineffective senior management. Extremely negative experience with this company. Looks great on the surface, but they really aren't too interested in giving the employee(s) the training they need to succeed; you will be looked at as an annoyance if you have to ask a question, and if you don't 'fit' in with their 'clique,' forget about keeping your job."

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/The-Management-Trust-Reviews-E341457.htm