Rumors and Meetings but Mostly My Opinions

I was told yesterday that there is a rumor going around that Wallace Cain was offered a check for the club and turned it down.  I do not believe the person that I was told started it would have told it if he had known it to be true. There could be no truth to it.  Even though Wallace Cain was the person that made up any cash shortages over the last 2 years, he does not have the authority to turn down an offer without at least 19% of the other owners agreeing with him.  Wallace did not make the decision to close the club by himself.  There was a vote of the owners to close the club. Once Wallace announced to the group of owners he could not carry the financial burden by himself anymore, the only course of action that could be taken was to close it.  If any of the owners had the financial means or if a large enough group of people with true commitments came to the owners, reopening could be considered. 

The TCMOA annual meeting did not happen because a quorum was not reached.  I know that people have scheduling conflicts and can not necessarily come to the meeting but I wish more people would consider it important enough to at least turn in their proxy.  Since the annual meeting was not held, the board held their regular monthly meeting instead.  There was an item on the agenda that concerned TCGCC and when they got to that item, I asked the board to consider getting a legal opinion as to whether or not assessments could be spent to pay for home owners’ use of some of the facilities.  The boards of directors, past and present, have always stood behind the “documents” as a reason not to provide any financial support to the club.  Now many of BOD individually were members of the club, so I don’t want to make it sound like I think they were all “against” the club. My reason for asking them to get the legal opinion is so that if it’s not illegal to spend assessed fees for use of the club, they will stop using the documents as the reason.  Terry Morrow said that they had already done that (got a legal opinion) but didn’t want to announce the result because all of the board members had not had a chance to look at it.  I then asked if they would consider polling the neighborhood, and I volunteered to walk door to door again, to see if the majority of the residents were in favor of having assessments pay for their use of the amenities.  I am not a lawyer but I have read the covenants over and over again and do not find anywhere in them a prohibition of paying anyone for anything that is a community expense.  In my opinion it is no different than our assessments being spent on the guard (that doesn’t guard) at the front gate, the playground equipment that is not used by all residents, the bike rack at the park for kids riding the bus, or the extra money we pay for an onsite office which except for Tuesday is only open while most of us are at work.  Now I am not in favor of getting rid of any of these things, merely pointing out that everything we pay for does not benefit 100% of the community.  Complete highlights of the meeting will be posted on the TCMOA website.

Article 2.07 of our covenants reads:

COMMUNITY EXPENSES: The expenses of administration (including management and professional services), operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, beautification and landscaping of the Community Area; additions to the Community Area Capital Reserve; the cost of insurance, water, waste removal and scavenger services, electricity, telephone and other necessary utility expenses for the Community Area; the cost of general and special real estate taxes and assessments levied or assessed against the Community Area; the cost of, and the expenses incurred for, the maintenance, construction, repair and replacement of personal property acquired and used by the Master Association in connection with the operation of the Community Area; the cost of providing security service to the entire Development and the Turkey Creek Golf and Racquet Club; the cost of landscaping and maintaining the Restricted Lot Areas; any expenses designated as Community Expenses by this Declaration; and any other expenses lawfully incurred by the Master Association for the common benefit of all of the Owners Community Expenses shall not include any Neighborhood Area Expenses.

Neighborhood Area Expenses are not part of the covenants any longer; there was an amendment that nullified anything to do with neighborhoods many years ago.

Now I know there are some people that cannot afford to pay more in assessments, there are people who obviously cannot pay what they owe at the present time.  I also know that if they are going to pay anything they need to receive something in return for their money.  That is what I am suggesting that the board and the owners of the club (present or future) negotiate an agreement that is fair to everyone.  There are cases on the internet where neighborhoods have done just this.  There is one case that grandfathers in current home owners and they do not have to pay a mandatory assessment but that all future owners would be required to.   This is not the same thing as the join now or your home can never have the option to join.  There is a HOA in North Carolina that assesses all homeowners and in return the club gives homeowners reduced dues. 

I also know that some people have an attitude that since they don’t play golf, they shouldn’t have to pay for the expenses of those who do.  I have tried really to not use the decrease in our property values as a campaign slogan for the club because I didn’t want it to sound like a “scare tactic”.  I know that there are people that truly don’t care if their property value is decreased; they plan to live the rest of their life in the home so the value of it when it sells won’t matter to them.  I know there are people that because of the current economic state of our country have already lost so much equity in their home that a little bit more won’t matter.  Whether or not you bought your home in Turkey Creek because of the club really doesn’t matter, what matters is for those who do plan to sell their home, especially if it adjoins the golf course, is that it simply won’t sell as easily as it would if the course was opened and being maintained properly. When you look online for property for sale in Turkey Creek almost all if not all of them advertise that there is a community pool and clubhouse.  We don’t have either here and over the years are still surprised at the people who purchased their homes without knowing that they didn’t have automatic access to the pool.  I realize all they had to do was ask.  You know what they say about assuming but a lot of people just assume because the pool is in the neighborhood and not in someone’s yard that its part of the neighborhood.  People say they didn’t buy their home because of the club and I don’t have any reason to argue with them about it but I find it hard to believe that if it were not an added benefit the realtors wouldn’t take the time to check the boxes beside these amenities when they are preparing the listings for advertisement on the internet.  The listings do not mention that these amenities are offered for additional fees paid directly to the club and could be considered misleading since the community does not own them. 

One thing I do know is without a lot more support from this community, this club is never going to survive.  We had some really good members and I want to thank them for their patronage we just need more people like them to keep this club operating if it ever opens again.