You CAN park your car on the street!!!

You can park your car on the street, and DO NOT let the board of directors tell you otherwise!!!

Now President Tony Roos and his 2001 "Nazi" letter to BOD

All of this speaks for itself!!!!

OKHOA WATCHDOG NOW ON FACEBOOK!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003731372036&viewas=100000686899395&returnto=profile&sk=wall#!/profile.php?id=100003731372036

Come visit my new Facebook Page for those who don't have an account or wants to sign up in order to post here.

I need to hear from more of you, and we all need to communicate more...and clearly Facebook is one of the most popular social media websites where people reach out and talk with one another.

Please stop by, send a friend request and/or post your thoughts freely!!!

Thank you!

OKHA WatchDog

Discrimination in the HOA!?!

It has been brought to my attention that the Oak Knoll Homeowners Association Board of Directors are exhibiting DISCRIMINATION against families (i.e. couples with children)!!!!!

Sorry...old farts on the BOD or those who do not like children; if you did not want to be around those with families...then maybe you should have moved into a community with retired folk then!!!!!!

Despite a so-called "professional management company" and the so-called best HOA law firm in the Portland Tri-Met area...our HOA is making one legal SNAFU after another.

I am only one person in this Community, and until more of you speak up and out against the HOA...not just at the meetings but here and to me...no change is going to take place!!!!!!!!!

This has to be a GROUP effort!!!! We need a MAJORITY vote to legally abolish the HOA!!!!

The HOA has served no good or purpose since its inception in this community. There is no doubt that that path will not change in the future...less you like arbitrarily contributing $14,000.00 or more to an ILLEGAL reserve account that benefits members of the BOD of the HOA at your expense!!!!!

Fellow homeowners...you really need to start talking more about what is more important to our livability in Oak Knoll.

Do you want a tyrannical BOD who believe they can disregard the law and enforce the CC&Rs in a selective and discriminatory manner...or do you want fairness, equality, and justice living within our own homes and the community we live in!?!

OKHAWATCHDOG

CC&Rs "CANNOT" overrule or supersede city ordinances" - Newberg City Planner

As I have described more than one in previous blogs, the HOA Board of Directors are under the false legal advice of Christopher Tingey, the HOA attorney, that the CC&Rs are the legal precedent that overrules all laws, to include local, state and federal laws. This bad legal advice couldn't be any further from the truth.

Law 101, Federal is THE law, then state, then local, then county, then and ONLY then...private party contracts like the CC&Rs.

I submitted the question to the City of Newberg Planner and this was his response:

"Here is a link to the City’s Code regarding maintenance:

http://www.codepublishing.com/OR/Newberg/html/Newberg12/Newberg1205.html#12.05.250

A CC&R is a type of private contract between parties.  CC&Rs can’t “overrule” or “supersede” city ordinances unless the city is a party to the agreement, which it usually isn’t.  But they could assign responsibilities for upkeep so that the code is not violated.  

In general we encourage homeowners associations to work cooperatively to maintain the street trees and planter strips, as this usually provides more consistent maintenance.

I hope this helps."

Barton Brierley, AICP

Planning and Building Director

City of Newberg

P.O. Box 970, Newberg, OR  97132

503-537-1212    Fax 503-537-1272

barton.brierley@newbergoregon.gov

------

The above underline was my emphasis...and the fact is that the City of Newberg IS NOT a party to OKHA CC&Rs.

What the City of Newberg is a party to is the original developer's contract with the city when developing the Oak Knoll Community. A contract that has been VIOLATED by the developer and NOT enforced by the City of Newberg (i.e. the planting of street trees before occupancy permits were to be issued).

I am curious...my fellow homeowners, why do so many of you remain so complacent and apathetic to the ignorance and violations that the Board of Directors - under the advice of a supposed professional management company & the top law firm in the Portland Tri-met area on Homeowners' Associations - continue to commit upon us individually and collectively!?!

January 2012 Dues

Did you notice that all of the $14,000 of the reserve account ILLEGALLY obtained for NON common property has "disappeared" from the budget, just as it once did before?

By ORS the Board of Directors are required to maintain a reserve account and not deplete it and leave it unfounded for the years to come. They are suppose to get voter approval to stop payments to the reserve account, and they are suppose to conduct a reserve study before increasing fees of a reserve account as well!!

I fought them all year about the required reserve and the HOA (unprofessional lawyers) blew me off for as long as they could, but realized in the end thy they were wrong and I was right all along.

They have admitted the Board has been misinterpreting and misapplying the CC&Rs, but by board member action they simply DO NOT CARE and will continue the status quo as they see fit (as they announced in the December 2011 letter).

It's this type of ignorant and indifferent behavior towards the fiduciary duty each board member has to the homeowners of this association that is going to land them in court this year. Once and for all they will be told (directed) by a judge that they have to abide by the ORS governing planned communities and if they intend to enforce the CC&Rs, they have to do so according to what they say and NOT how they misinterpret them and do as they please.

Final Written Correspondence to BOD...non-compliance will result in legal action!!

October 23, 2011

Oak Knoll Homeowners’ Association

ATTN: Board of Directors

C/O Superior Community Management

P.O. Box 1549

Sherwood, OR 97140

RE: September 20, 2011 HOA Meeting regarding August 22, 2011 HOA Letter

Dear Board of Directors,

By now you should have reviewed my summary of the September 20^th HOA meeting at my blog site (above), with direct quotes of certain board members and the attorney present, regarding the proposed amendments to the CC&Rs and the legal expense of which made within your August 22, 2011 letter to the homeowners of this association.

Board members and the attorney present are on record – in an open public forum – admitting to those homeowners present that the BOD, past and present, have incorrectly interpreted the CC&Rs; and in doing so have collected and spent annual dues towards non-common improvements of the HOA in violation of the CC&RS and the Oregon Planned Community Act.

Additionally a former board member disclosed the fact that a former trustee had stolen funds from the previous reserve account (thus its disappearance from the HOA budget and lack of funding since), thus the purpose of hiring a management company to manage the affairs of the HOA. This fact, now made known, was never brought to the attention of the homeowners of this association when it occurred; which is a breach of trust and loyalty of the members of the BOD in its fiduciary role towards the homeowners of this association.

While the Oregon Appellate case I cited during that meeting clearly states that the enforcement of the CC&Rs by the BOD is discretionary and not mandatory, the BOD still has to follow the CC&Rs as they are written when enforcing them.

Moreover, the BOD is bound by law to follow the Oregon Planned Community Act as well, to include the required provisions where the reserve study and maintenance plan for reserve accounts are concerned.

The BOD failed to comply with statutory law regarding this study and plan when it re-established the reserve account for fiscal year 2011 to pay for the repair, maintenance, and/or replacement of non-common improvements of the HOA.

I have already proven that the BOD back in 1999 (in a letter from a lawyer in the same law firm representing the BOD present day) voted in a reserve account per the CC&Rs and the cited ORS therein; thus binding future BODs to follow the cited ORS regarding the required reserve study and maintenance plan.

As such, the BOD has no legal defense in it failure to follow the CC&Rs and the law in conducting these required initial and annual reserve studies and maintenance plans in order to justify the existence and use of the reserve account assessed upon the homeowners of this association.

In short, when the BOD voted to continue the status quo despite both the members of the board present and the attorney’s admission of guilt on behalf of the BOD where the misinterpretation of the CC&Rs and its subsequent failures in the BODs fiduciary duties are concerned, is a clear affirmation that the BOD has every intent of continuing to violate the clear language of the CC&Rs; as well as the Oregon Planned Community Act where the required reserve study and maintenance plan are concerned.

The only recourse the BOD has at this juncture is the following:

In the next letter the BOD sends out with the annual dues for fiscal year 2012, the BOD shall declare its intent to discontinue taking responsibility for the street trees and sidewalks along Foothills Dr. (a street upon which a member of the BOD lives and stands to benefit from such; which is a clear conflict of interest and breach of that board member’s fiduciary responsibility), admitting it has been wrong in assuming this financial responsibility all these years and attest that it will follow the CC&Rs and City of Newberg Ordinances (the ordinances legally supersede the CC&RS, which is a private party contract); the BOD shall clearly state that the individual homeowner is responsible for the street trees on their own lot as well as any damage to the sidewalks adjacent to their lot caused by the street trees.

If the BOD fails to comply with its legal and fiduciary responsibilities that I have addressed over the past year – and those specifically outlined herein – I will move forward with legal action to force the BOD to follow the CC&Rs and the Oregon Planned Community Act.

Taking this matter to court will make the legal and fiduciary failures of the BOD and the admissions of its attorney during the September 20^th meeting public.

Additionally, by taking this matter to court, the fact that the BOD withheld from the homeowners the reason why the original reserve account disappeared (another trustee stealing funds) will be made public.

It will also be made known to all homeowners that the BOD actions in sending letters out in 2006 enforcing homeowners to plant street trees when it had no legal right to do so will also be made public.

A point of fact that one of the board members addressed during the September 20^th meeting whom expressed her concern of a collective of homeowners coming back at the BOD with a lawsuit in recouping their out of pocket expenses in planting those street trees when they were under no legal obligation to do so; because (1) the statute of limitations on correcting this deficiency of the CC&Rs had long expired, and (2) it was the developers responsibility to plant the street trees before obtaining occupancy permits from the City of Newberg according to their private legal development contract.

Given that which was disclosed and admitted to during the September 20^th meeting, it was made clear that everything I have been addressing to the BOD and its attorneys over the past year has been vindicated.

That vindication will, in all likelihood, continue should you force legal action upon the BOD in order to force that which you already know you are legally required to do, but simply refuse to do so under the bad advice from the management company and law firm retained by the BOD, that is in stark contradiction to the clear language of the CC&Rs and the letter of the law laid out in the City of Newberg Ordinances and Oregon Planned Community Act.

Sincerely,

Oak Knoll HOA Watch Dog