Circle C Neighbors

I received the email below from a fellow resident
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Repeatedly, I have spoken with neighbors who have had a poor experience with the current board and the association. For the most part, this involves feeling left out of the loop when it comes to major decisions the board makes that impact us all. Their input is often dismissed - or just outright ignored.

The extension of Escarpment to 45 South is a good example of this. For many of us who live near Escarpment - this was a horrible decision that will only increase the cut-through traffic and noise problems we already experience. Yet - we were not consulted about this proposal and not aware of it until the deal was done. This was a proposal put forth by developers - for the benefit of developers - and the board backed it 100%...When you take into account that members of the board own land near the new intersection - and stand to benefit greatly from this - the conflict of interest is more than apparent - it's just downright blatant.

In my mind, this would not have happened in an organization that was more open and truly representative of the community. When a small group controls everything - sure things get done - but are they done in an ethical manner?

The truth is - we really don't know for sure. Some people can live with that, but when I write that check for hundreds of?  dollars to association each year - I'd like to KNOW the decisions the board makes are ALWAYS ethical and made with the consultation of a cross section of us - the true stakeholders. With more than 3,300 homes spread throughout the area and divided by major roadways and a freeway this may not be easy - but it's the least we, as dues paying homeowners - deserve.

Let's face it, representative democracy is not pretty. In fact, it's often ugly and not always as efficient as we'd like it to be...But I'll take it any day over the alternative.

SE

another email from a resident

Well said again...another email from another resident.
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Before the 2003 election, at a public meeting at the pool, a resident lawyer (Gammon) told the board how they were required by Texas Law to provide a voter list. Rigsbee said ''that's a judgment call''. Without the Voter List, there would be no way to find out if we had a quorum at the meeting.

After months of legal wrangling and $100,000.00, we all know it's not a judgment call. It's Texas Law. The CCHOA had never produced a voters list. A judge has forced the BOD to provide voter lists for future elections.

Rigsbee's poor judgment cost our HOA $100,000.00.

The board also chose to cap the residents votes days before the 2003 election. That would have reduced the total resident votes by about 40%. The builder votes would have been untouched. Bartlett would have had a better chance at staying in power. Two Travis County judges agreed that reducing the resident votes was an illegal act of the board.

Instead of being upfront with the residents, and being honest about their errors of judgement, the board has continued to blame everything but the Iraq war on Gammon. This board appears to be only full of excuses and themselves.

FF

CCHOA's failure to communicate

For the last year or so, CCHOA has failed to communicate honestly and openly. At first, the CCHOA staff (Denise Nordstom and other parttime staff members) told me and others, that we were asking for information or documentation that did not exist or that we were not allowed to have access to.

It's taken a year and several court rulings to convince Full Circle Management and the CCHOA board of directors, that the members have a right to FULL ACCESS to the CCHOA records (including the email list).

All of this could have easily been handled out of court, at no expense to the HOA. (Stratus Properties, in fact, did this with another HOA that was developer dominated, in 2002, avoiding the embarrassment and legal expenses, and they did in 2 weeks.) CCHOA could have learned a lesson.

Instead, the chose to resist. They stopped communicating and then used that tired old phrase, ''see our lawyers'' for most of last year.

2002 was expected to be an exciting year for CCHOA. It was planned to be the first time that the developers gave up a their monopoly control of the HOA.

Well, last year proved that the BOD are NOT capable of running the HOA or conducting proper meetings. They really do need help.

Volunteers flocked to the HOA in 2001, and most were ignored. They came back again in 2002, and many of them found the organization dominated with the closest and most trusted friends of the board, and oddly enough, that Circle C Republican Political Action Committee (Ken Rigsbee's PAC), we never hear much about.

No wonder that the new volunteers weren't well received. Worst, all of the standing committees and the ad hoc committees have been sworn to silence !?

How can a committee work in secret and in silence ?

This helps explain why CCHOA is not working with other HOAs around us - they stand aloof and alone. That very arrogance, projected by our CCHOA board members has actually ruined our community's reputation and stature with the City of Austin Council and staff members.

Gary Bradley had a good Master Plan and I like many parts of it. The Developers and our CCHOA organization, however, made many, many bad decisions over the years, proving that the 3 member board, largely assisted by Gary Bradley's Development corporations, were not only ineffective, but actually operating in an illegal manner.

The lawsuit last March only halted an election process for one boardmember, that was FIXED, so that no one else had a fair chance to run for that office.

There was absolutely no reason that our March 2003 CCHOA meeting should not have gone on to finish the other agenda items.

But, Jim O'Rielly chose that moment of high drama, to falsely claim that the meeting could not go on. He refused to use any form of civil meeting rules and he refused to hear motions from the floor. He had no idea what he was doing, except that he sized that moment to villify and slander the person who got the TRO to stop that rigged election.

This board has proved to be ignorant, inept, and hurtful to the good people in Circle C Ranch.

We need change, and immediately.

It won't be easy, because the BOD still managed to convince a lot of proxy holders that they have the best interests of Circle C Ranch at heart.

They are saying, ''Trust US !''

Please don't.
Revoke your proxies and give me your vote today!

On Tuesday, I am going in and using my Group of proxies to vote for 9 board members and ALL BOARDMEMBERS MUST BE CCHOA MEMBERS.

(That means, no more developers on our CCHOA Board)

A positive plea

Some people may not realize it - but the past year has ultimately drawn the neighborhood closer together in many ways. While out knocking on doors and talking to folks - I'm meeting hoards of neighbors that would have just otherwise been ''another generic face'' at the pool or some other event. People are actually TALKING to one another. Granted, we may not always agree, but with the exception of a few cases - it has been very rewarding. Many people just seem STARVED to voice their opinions. I talked with one young lady the other day who was 100% in the BOD's court. We jousted for quite some time - tossing various examples back and forth, and even though no minds were changed - we did manage to find at least some common ground...We both love our neighborhood.

Sure, there is some negativity going around out there - but people need to realize this is probably the first time the community has had this type of conversation. Whether or not tuesday's meeting results in meaningful change, the wall of silence has been torn down once and for all. Without the events of the past year, do you think the BOD would have backed expanding - even to 5? Do you think the Phoenix holdings lease would have been terminated? Do you think the BOD would at least put on paper that it is considering a code of ethics?

Granted - there is still a long way to go. We need to get out and vote tuesday (if not earlier by proxy). This is a long-overdue opportunity for homeowners to define their rights within the organization...But remember - everyone who turns out for that meeting will be doing us all a service by caring enough to be there.