Any news from the Las Conchas HOA meeting??

[Dezracer]

Anybody attend??

[playaperro]

January 17, 2009 Board of Directors Meeting

Synopsis of Motion For Resignation of Vice President Chuck Salem

The meeting opened to standing room only attendance.

A Director of District 1 made a motion at the request of several homeowners, for Vice President Chuck Salem to step down; citing relevant issues of his actions taken without the President’s knowledge or approval; rude behavior; and, primarily a Conflict of Interest while serving as Vice President and simultaneously owning/operating a rental management and bill paying service for the Las Conchas community.

Conversation with a homeowner who requested he step down citing his conflict of interests as primary cause was defused by Mr. Salem’s interruption with a heated speech about him being the hardest working Board Member. He continued by telling the homeowners that in spite of what ever successes and accomplishments they may have in the US, they couldn’t even run a taco stand in Mexico. Anger and shouting from various homeowners followed. There was no substantial discussion by the Board concerning Mr. Salem’s conflict of interest and other relevant issues thereby ignoring the concerns of the vecinos.

Discussion did follow recommending that Mr. Salem resign; a suggestion was made that he agree not to run for re-election in May, he did not agree to either. Discussion followed that according to By-Laws removing Vice President Salem would require a Special Meeting of Homeowners and require their vote. There was no Second to the Motion offered by fellow Board Members. A homeowner offered her “Second to the Motion” but since she is not a Board Member it wasn’t allowed. The Motion died.

Definition of CONFLICT OF INTERESTS by WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA (Excerpt from a lengthy description)

A conflict of interest is a situation in which someone in a position of trust, such as a lawyer, insurance adjuster, a politician, an engineer, executive or director of a corporation or a medical research scientist or physician, has competing professional or personal interests. Such competing interests can make it difficult to fulfill his or her duties impartially. A conflict of interest exists even if no unethical or improper act results from it.

More generally, conflict of interests can be defined as any situation in which an individual or corporation (either private or governmental) is in a position to exploit a professional or official capacity in some way for their personal or corporate benefit. A conflict of interests can become a legal matter when an individual tries (and/or succeeds in) influencing the outcome of a decision, for personal benefit. A director or executive of a corporation will be subject to legal liability if a conflict of interests breaches his Duty of Loyalty.

Someone accused of conflict of interests may deny that a conflict exists because he/she did not act improperly. In fact, a conflict of interests can exist even if there are no improper acts as a result of it.

The best way to handle conflicts of interests is to avoid them entirely.
(End of Wikipedia excerpt)

As Cadden Ramirez nears the end of its extended contract with us, you should know about the following.

Three months after Cadden-Ramirez began working for our HOA, they realized a high number of homeowners who benefited from HOA services were not paying their annual HOA dues; they began the policy of shutting off water service to delinquent homeowners. The HOA manager began receiving calls from affected homeowners stating that they were not delinquent, that they had paid their HOA dues to Oceano and had receipts from Oceano showing that their HOA dues had been paid. Cadden had documentation showing that those HOA dues had not been paid to the Association. The subsequent examination by Cadden showed that Oceano’s clients owed approximately $80,000 to the HOA. Chuck Salem is an owner of Oceano.

At this time, Mr. Salem became Chairman of the Cadden Oversight Committee and began demanding that we get rid of Cadden saying they were too expensive and the association was running out of money.

Oceano issued a letter to their clients blaming Cadden Ramierez for mistakes and stated in a letter to clients “Since we have not been able to obtain up-to-date and accurate account information from the Las Conchas accounting company, Cadden Ramierez, we have been unable to pay your Las Conchas HOA dues. As such, any monies that we had retained in earlier months to prepare for this payment was released back to your working balance and/or sent to you in your last check.”

Subsequently, approximately $40,000 in homeowners’ dues were paid by Oceano’s clients to the Association and deposited into the rightful bank account belonging to the Asociacion de Vecinos de Las Conchas.

This is a clear example of the conflict of interests. While not taking sides with either Cadden or Salem on this issue, it’s apparent that whatever difficulties or differences existed between the two parties, they should have been worked out on a professional level.

Las Conchas will suffer the loss of Cadden Ramirez, a high caliber professional management company located in both the US and Mexico with a satellite office located in Puerto Penasco in order to better serve us. Cadden has made it clear they would continue to work with us but in order to do their job properly, the conflict of interests must be removed. One Board member stated he didn’t want to be held hostage by a management company; actually, the association is being held hostage by a Board member’s refusal to work within normally accepted business standards.

The Homeowners voted to hire Cadden Ramirez; it stands to reason the Homeowners should vote on whether we terminate Cadden Ramirez. During the meeting, several Homeowners asked why they weren’t allowed this vote regarding Cadden Ramierz; they didn’t receive an answer.

The Coalition of Concerned Members thanks you for your decisive support to remove Chuck Salem from his Vice Presidency. It is our goal to assist the Board to achieve Transparency, Truth and Communication.

[fatboyharley]

Dear Vecinos,
Please allow me to put our current search for a new management company into perspective. When we fired our general manager two years ago, we (the Board) realized that our financials were a mess. Since Cadden-Ramirez Management had a local presence and had approached us before, we asked them for a new proposal to take over our accounting and finances. We held a general election to approve the change in management styles, because it was a major shift in direction. We know now that outside oversight is a real benefit.
There is no question that Cadden-Ramirez improved our accounting and office procedures, but it came at a high cost. Our basic services cost $60,000 per year, plus we pay extra for mailings, etc. The biggest benefit seems to be the comfort derived from having an outside, professional party handle our money.
Last February the Board formed a task force to evaluate both the services provided by Cadden-Ramirez and the costs associated with the services. Their conclusion was that we could do better if we looked at other options, which we had not done before. A committee was formed to design a Request for Proposal (RFP) so that we could compare Cadden-Ramirez’s service to those of similar companies. What they learned was that we can receive virtually the same services from another U.S. firm at a substantially reduced cost. The task force thinks it’s important to know that Cadden-Ramirez Management did not respond to the RFP, even though Mike Cadden had stated that getting some comparable proposals was a good idea.
The elimination of our union and its associated problems has put us in a very good position right now. We have the opportunity to reduce the cost of running our community with little or no loss in services. Our biggest expense, next to payroll, has been the cost of Cadden-Ramirez’s services. By allowing the Board to contract with a less expensive management firm, outsourcing employees, contracting for garbage collection, and returning to individual water contracts with OOMAPAS, your association has the opportunity to begin operating within its budget and maybe even developing a surplus, which is a luxury we have not had for a long time.
The rumor around the neighborhood has been that we are dumping Cadden-Ramirez. What we are trying to do is get the same service for less money, which is an admirable goal. The Board is working diligently and with a degree of haste so we don’t have a gap in services.
Most of you have seen the “Just the Facts, Ma’am” and “Concerned Vecinos” e-mails which I feel certain are produced all or in part by Richard O’Brien. He recently lamented that there had been problems with the Board since 2001. For the record, Mr. O’Brien is a former association president who was voted out of office in 2001. I am sure Mr. O’Brien means well, but newcomers are probably not aware that he is the president who hired our first general manager and did so without the knowledge or authority of the association. I have never heard him be critical of his own acts. Point of view depends on whether you are pitching or catching, it seems.
There has been the threat of a lawsuit made by Wayne Speed and Jackie O’Brien if the Board contracts with a new management company. It is entirely within the Board’s capacity to make such a move on the community’s behalf. The Board was duly elected to serve the community’s needs and is concerned that further delay will result in an unnecessary loss of services. We will elect officers in May. If you want a change, do it the right way, by electing new representatives.
Be assured that the Board has the well-being of the entire community in mind. This has been an unusual year, but Las Conchas is in a position to emerge from our current situation in better fiscal shape than ever if the Board is allowed to pursue its goals.
Sincerely,
Norm Nelson
Director, District 3

[fatboyharley]

To All Las Conchas Vecinos:



For more than six months I have been the direct recipient of personal and professional attacks at public Board meetings. I felt I needed to reply to the most recent personal and professional attacks from the anonymous Las Conchas "concerned homeowners". Here is my personal and truthful reply that should clear up these false allegations made by these anonymous cowards. Keep in mind that most of this happened before I decided to run for Vice President and is one of the reasons I ran for the position. What this group has also failed to mention are all of the great things this current Board of Directors and Executive Board have accomplished. A follow up regarding all of the board’s accomplishments is coming out soon.



Overview:

As far as some Océano homeowners thinking that their dues were paid and that they weren’t, that is not true but could have been perceived by some and twisted by others. When Cadden first started, I tried to obtain balances for my Las Conchas clients who wanted their HOA dues paid from their Océano managed accounts. I was having a hard time getting the balance reports from Cadden Ramirez staff, but I finally received a list of outstanding balances and proceeded to process these payments. Some of my clients allow me to make the HOA payment without consent and others prefer prior approval. As such, we obtained approval from many of the owners and I personally approved others. I wrote check #6003 in the amount of $20,008.26 and gave it to Leo Romo, the Las Conchas General Manager at the time. Some time later, a month or so, a couple of my owners (Preston Miller and Frank Liguori) contacted me stating that their HOA dues had already been paid, so I investigated and found this to be true.



The payments I made on my clients' behalf were based on the outstanding HOA dues records that I was provided by Cadden.



There were problems with at least 6 accounts, mostly in that their dues had been paid twice. In other words, they had credits at the HOA and wanted their money back. This is very understandable. This is where it all started. I approached Leo and asked him how he wanted to handle this and due to the numerous mistakes on the Cadden ledger, we agreed that it would be best that the transaction be voided and we would settle this when Cadden had the accounts reconciled. Leo, volunteered the check, I took the check, went to my office, and performed the voidance routine in our accounting system, which automatically credited the amounts back to each homeowner’s account. For every debit, there was a corresponding credit but on different monthly statements. So for a period of time, according to Océano statements, it appeared that the HOA dues had been paid, until we unpaid them during the voidance routine per Leo’s suggestion to me. Since the voidance of this check, I have written checks to the HOA for HOA dues totaling $86,870.95. This is a far cry from what my accusers are trying to imply.



This issue was further compounded in that it took Cadden almost a year and a half to reconcile the above accounts. After repeated requests for outstanding balance reports, I finally received one that was over two months old. I received a couple of other outstanding balance reports but they were typically out-of-date and worthless from an accounting perspective. It is difficult to make assumptions about balances on out-of-date information, especially when we are considering $1,200 payments per property.



Catalina, a Cadden Ramirez employee, told me twice that it was not their (Cadden’s) responsibility to provide statements to the management companies. It is the homeowner’s responsibility. She refused to give balance reports to me for some time. Finally, I got them directly from Steve Keys, Finance Director at Cadden in Tucson. This was, however, for only a very short time, as he quit providing them to me when the RFP (Request for Proposal) process was announced.



I have made every effort and have always done so, to pay my clients' HOA fees if they requested me to do so. My problem in providing this service was made extremely difficult when I could receive neither accurate nor timely balance reports from Cadden. The other difficulty was that Cadden told me for quite some time, that it is the homeowner’s responsibility to insure the payment and that Cadden does not need to cooperate with the management companies. This is contrary to how we have done business with Las Conchas clients and the Las Conchas HOA for over 12 years.



Question per Anonymous Vecinos: The subsequent examination by Cadden showed that Oceano's clients owed approximately $80,000 to the HOA. Chuck Salem is an owner of Oceano.



Océano clients probably did owe $80,000 at one time. That is pretty normal, considering that the beginning balance for HOA dues was around $140,000 for all Océano clients, not including any outstanding water, which is usually around $10,000 a quarter. Their water services balance due list was also not accurate.



A point to make here is that Océano’s rate of payment was the best out of all management companies. I am not trying to put down the others as I know that they were having similar difficulties and it is ultimately the individual homeowner’s decision.



Question per Anonymous Vecinos: At this time, Mr. Salem became Chairman of the Cadden Oversight Committee and began demanding that we get rid of Cadden saying they were too expensive and the association was running out of money.



The above is partially true but the main reason for the Management Structure Task Force, created by the Board of Directors in the early spring of 2008 during the previous administration, was to look at the performance of all management for Las Conchas, that included the LC staff as well as that of Cadden. The analysis done by our committee suggested that we were paying more than we should have for the services provided according to our contract with Cadden. Also several services were not being done or not being done effectively. It was also true that the HOA was running out of money, and over budget by nearly $85,000 and climbing. At the same time, our expenses were increasing and revenue was not keeping pace.



Question per Anonymous Vecinos: Oceano issued a letter to their clients blaming Cadden Ramierez for mistakes and stated in a letter to clients, "Since we have not been able to obtain up-to-date and accurate account information from the Las Conchas accounting company, Cadden Ramierez, we have been unable to pay your Las Conchas HOA dues. As such, any monies that we had retained in earlier months to prepare for this payment was released back to your working balance and/or sent to you in your last check."

True as can be. This was an explanation to my homeowners that I voided the check (#6003 mentioned earlier) and the money was credited back to their account (per Leo Romo’s recommendation). Very simple. This was also during the time that Cadden refused to provide balance reports and were very uncooperative.

Question per Anonymous Vecinos: Subsequently, approximately $40,000 in homeowners' dues were paid by Oceano's clients to the Association and deposited into the rightful bank account belonging to the Asociacion de Vecinos de Las Conchas.



I very much doubt that $40,000 was sent to the HOA directly by my homeowners. I will say, however, that after I wrote the above letter to my owners, Cadden started being cooperative and started giving me the outstanding balances. This was during the short time period, a few months ago, that Steve Keys was handling my clients' accounts personally. I wrote many checks to the HOA after that in good faith. Cadden quit providing me with the balance due lists of my clients when the Board gave them a 60-day notice of termination and I have only written two checks since. If my homeowners owe money, I don’t know it because Cadden quit providing me with the information. Since then, Arturo Cano, our Manager (and former Cadden employee), has not had access to the Cadden database or email system either, so he has also been unable to provide the lists to me.



These are facts with records to substantiate them. Please feel free to call me if you have questions at (888) 328-8491.



Sincerely,



Chuck Salem

[playaperro]

February 6, 2009


Dear Fellow Vecinos,

On January 31st, 2009 Mr. Norm Nelson, District 3 Director sent out a letter to all Vecinos via the Cadden website explaining the board’s rationale for the current quest they have been on since October, 2008 to hire a new property management company. Extrapolated remarks from Mr. Nelson’s letter on January 31st, 2009 are in red ink. My rebuttal statements are in blue ink. Also to keep you up to date, as of today, our rogue Executive Board hired a new property management company.

There is no question that Cadden-Ramirez improved our accounting and office procedures, but it came at a high cost. Our basic services cost $60,000 per year. The membership (Vecinos) of Las Conchas approved the cost, $60,000, when we initially contracted with Cadden-Ramirez. The cost was never an issue. However, several months ago our President did renegotiate with Cadden for a reduced fee of #3000.00 per month after determining several of the services we had originally contracted for were not necessary expenditures. Interestingly enough the current fee we are paying Cadden is the fee we will be paying Bob Brown Management Company.

The biggest benefit seems to be the comfort derived from having an outside, professional party handle our money. Actually, the substantiated facts are the following; we hired a professional management company to keep track of our money due to the years of hundreds of thousands of dollars growing legs and ending up in who knows whose pockets. I personally have seen an audit done by a forensic accounting firm a couple of years ago contracted, by the way, by the then current board for a cost of $16,000. The forensic accounting firm found over $626,000.00 in cash was gone with no receipts/paper trail. The explanation made to the forensic accounting firm was, “Our workers liked to be paid in cash.” How could the Las Conchas Executive Board, on their watch, fail to notice all this money missing??? And better yet when the accounting firm hired questioned the board they pointed the finger at our former manager, who was given the authority, by our then executive board, to have access to this cash??? My question to you is why would the oversight of hundreds of thousands of dollars be delegated by the board to the manager, who was on the payroll of the Las Conchas HOA? Does not the responsibility lie with-in the Executive Board, whom the Vecinos duly elected, to be diligent and aware of just where the money is being allocated to, and with a proper paper trail? The past history in recent years of the lack of action/accountability was exactly why all of the Vecinos in good standing voted for a professional management company. Fast forward to Cadden-Ramirez last year doing the due diligence they were hired to do….keeping an accurate accounting of monies collected discovering that Oceano was collecting HOA fees from their clients and not passing the fees on to the association. Last October six months after the annual dues were mailed in May over $80,000.00 was still not paid to the Las Conchas HOA. And add on top of this approximately $16,000.00 worth of water bills by Oceano clients has still not been paid to our association. (But having Chuck Salem remain on the board is beyond a conflict…)

According to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia conflicts of interests can be defined as any situation in which an individual or corporation is in a position to exploit a professional or official capacity in some way for their personal or corporate benefit. Wikipedia further states a conflict of interest as self dealing, in which public and private interests collide, for example issues involving privately held business interests.

Interestingly enough when Cadden discovered this blunder with thousands of dollars not being paid to the association they began the task of turning water off to Vecinos who had not paid their annual fees to the association. Of course, this resulted with Chuck Salem (as chair) of the task force aggressively moving forward to evaluate the services Cadden provides and the costs associated therein. Ultimately the task force committee made the determination in October 2008 to give Cadden their 60 day termination notice.

Norm further stated, “The task force thinks it’s important to know Cadden-Ramirez Management did not respond to the RFP.” The question each Vecino should be asking themselves is why????didn’t Cadden respond to our RFP? Well, at most board meetings, since May 2008 Cadden-Ramirez has been “attacked” by the “Cadden Oversight Committee “with nothing to support the committee’s claims against Cadden-Ramirez. In my humble opinion it’s a maneuver tactic to create “smoking guns” at Cadden and take away from the close scrutiny of Oceano and the thousands of dollars the HOA still has not received for water payments/annual assessments. Secondly, Cadden did not respond with an RFP because they do not want to renew their contract with the HOA due to the fact Cadden is not able to do the job they were hired to do because, “CADDEN STATES THERE OUR CONFLICTS OF INTEREST ON THE CURRENT EXECUTIVE BOARD.” CADDEN FURTHER STATED SEVERAL MONTHS AGO THEY WOULD BE HAPPY TO CONTINUE SERVING AS OUR PROPERTY MANAGER IF THE CONFLICTS OF INTERESTS ARE REMOVED. At the January 17th meeting, which was standing room only, at least six Vecinos asked Chuck Salem to step down from the board due to his “conflict of interest.”

Norm remarked, “We have the opportunity to reduce the cost of running our community with little or no loss in services. by allowing the Board to contract with a less expensive management firm.” The RFP from Bob Brown and Associates is not supplying the same services Cadden was supplying. That’s why the quote came in less. Not “apples to apples.”

In Norms concluding paragraph he said, “There has been the threat of a lawsuit made by Wayne Speed and Jackie O’Brien if the board contracts with a new management company.” The law suit is not about choosing another management company, but rather making sure the membership had a vote on removing Cadden-Ramirez or keeping them. The membership voted for Cadden and has the right to make the decision to replace Cadden or keep Cadden. Mr. Villagran, who is a lawyer and owns properties in Las Conchas approached “Concerned Vecinos” after following the dysfunction of this board since last May, 2008 and the on-going defamation of our communities CC&R’s, and By-Laws by several of our elected board members.

In conclusion the author of this rebuttal is simply a homeowner in Las Conchas in “good standing” who is quite honestly fed up with the “abuse of power” by several of our board members and previous board members. For several years, I too, have ignored this chaos rationalizing our home in Las Conchas is simply a vacation home therefore don’t get involved. But recently my family and I decided to “do something” keeping in mind often time during difficulties people often look at their circumstances, and feel that they have “no power” to change things resulting with an individual either complaining, or simply “doing nothing.”

You too may feel that you actions don’t matter. You too may feel that you can’t possibly make a difference. You may feel that it is pointless to try to improve things. But you are “one”. All that is needed to change the world is “one” person taking action.

Please come forward and become an “Element of Change,” to take back our association, and help to rid our beautiful community of this deceit and corruption by doing the following;

*Attend the next HOA meeting on February 21st. FYI: At the January 17th HOA meeting the Executive Board stated as of the month of December, 2008 we have 180 delinquent Vecinos in Las Conchas. Maybe if we had a board that actually represented the Vecinos who entrusted them to adhere to our CC&R”S and By-Laws we would have a membership who paid their annual dues faithfully.

*Sign the petition forcing Chuck Salem to step down from office.

*Demand that our By-Laws be changed for future elections requiring only Vecinos who do not have a conflict of interest eligible to run for the board.

*Demand the By-Laws require every Homeowner in Las Conchas be directly responsible for paying the Las Conchas HOA for water bills, special assessment, and annual HOA dues. This act alone would eliminate money due to our association being in a property management company’s account. Prohibit property management companies (the middle man) from collecting the money rightfully due directly to our HOA. This one action would result in “immediate and future transparency” allowing the Home Owners Association in Las Conchas to have an accurate accounting of each Vecinos monthly statement.



Sincerely,

Greg & Debra Ott

[cholla]

Glad I have a house and not a condo.

John

[JimMcG]

Las Conchas consists mainly of nice homes.

[fatboyharley]

FYI The condo units on the other side of the road are not part of the Las Conchas HOA The community consist of over 550 homes.

[fatboyharley]

Rich Says:

February 4th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Report

On Friday, October 31, I called Muriel Clouse to ask her to please submit a $500.00 clean-up deposit for the perimeter wall that she was building in Section 3 – Lot 380. In our phone discussion, she said she didn’t feel it was necessary to pay the deposit. I explained to her it is the policy of the HOA and is required. She told me she hired her management company, Oceano, to build the wall and as far as she was concerned, it was their responsibility.

I went to the job site and spoke with the person in charge and explained the requirement of paying the clean-up deposit, he also said he would not pay it. At this point, I contacted the HOA’s District Director, Jane Bowen, and asked her to come to the job site to help resolve this issue. At the job site, Jane Bowen explained the policy. The workers refused to cooperate, and she shut the job site down and sent the workers off. She said she would contact Chuck Salem, who is our HOA Vice President and owner of Oceano, and ask him to resolve this issue.

Later that afternoon, I drove by the job site and the workers were back working. They said they were instructed by Oceano to go back to work. I went to the HOA office and told Arturo, the HOA Manager, the situation and we drove back to the job site. When we arrived, the Oceano supervisors were there. Arturo explained to them that our policy must be followed or we would be forced to call the police. They said that Chuck Salem told them that our CC&RS are invalid and unenforceable and they were to continue working unless the police told them to stop. Arturo called Chuck Salem on his cell phone and asked him to resolve this situation, he refused. Arturo told Chuck Salem that Wayne Speed was here, would you like to talk with him? He refused. Jane Bowen drove up and said she talked to Chuck Salem and he told her that our CC&RS are unenforceable. So, we called Jean Steward and asked what she would like us to do. She said to call the police.

The police arrived and Arturo explained the HOA policy. The Oceano supervisors told the police that our CC&RS are not legal and that they’re not required to follow the rules. The police asked them if they had a permit from the city to build the wall. They didn’t, so the police said they had to stop construction until they had one. This was 4:00 PM. Oceano’s supervisors said they would drive to the city right now and get one. The city stops doing business at 3:00 PM.

Saturday morning, I received a phone call from Jane Bowen, she told me that the job site was working again. I went to the job site and I asked to see the city permit. They said they didn’t have it with them, that it was at Oceano’s office. I drove to Oceano’s office and asked the office manager to show me the city permit. They said they didn’t have a physical copy but were given verbal permission to continue working and the permit would be issued on Monday morning. I knew this was not true because the city will not issue a permit unless Las Conchas approves it first. I tried to contact Arturo but he had gone home sick. I contacted Jane Bowen and Jean Steward for further instruction; they both told me to call the police.

While waiting for the police, Oceano’s managers arrived, I told them that this whole issue could be resolved very easily, all they had to do was follow the HOA policy and put up a $500.00 deposit. They said they couldn’t do it without Chuck Salem’s approval. When the police arrived, he told us all to come to the police station to resolve this issue.

When we arrived, we were ushered into the judge’s chambers. Representing the HOA was my wife and I, and Catalina, our architectural assistant. Catalina did an excellent job interpreting for us. Also present was the city inspector, 2 Oceano managers and the construction supervisor. I spoke first, explaining our HOA’s position and our policies, and that our CC&RS are approved both by the Governor of Sonora and the City of Puerto Penasco. Next the city inspector said that Friday when Oceano’s manager asked for a permit to build the wall they were told that the city will not issue a permit until Las Conchas approves it first, and they were told by the city to go back on Monday and get approval first from Las Conchas.

The Judge then reprimanded both Oceano and the contractor for trying to build the wall without proper approval. The Judge said that Las Conchas has very strict CC&RS and they are legally binding. They were told to stop construction until they had the proper approvals.

Chuck Salem serves as a Vice President of the Las Conchas Homeowners Association yet openly defies our CC&RS and encourages others to follow his lead. His behavior is inappropriate for an officer of our association. If the officers of our Board of Directors behave like this, what message does it send to the homeowners who are held accountable.

[fatboyharley]

Rich Says:

February 4th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Report

On Friday, October 31, I called Muriel Clouse to ask her to please submit a $500.00 clean-up deposit for the perimeter wall that she was building in Section 3 – Lot 380. In our phone discussion, she said she didn’t feel it was necessary to pay the deposit. I explained to her it is the policy of the HOA and is required. She told me she hired her management company, Oceano, to build the wall and as far as she was concerned, it was their responsibility.

I went to the job site and spoke with the person in charge and explained the requirement of paying the clean-up deposit, he also said he would not pay it. At this point, I contacted the HOA’s District Director, Jane Bowen, and asked her to come to the job site to help resolve this issue. At the job site, Jane Bowen explained the policy. The workers refused to cooperate, and she shut the job site down and sent the workers off. She said she would contact Chuck Salem, who is our HOA Vice President and owner of Oceano, and ask him to resolve this issue.

Later that afternoon, I drove by the job site and the workers were back working. They said they were instructed by Oceano to go back to work. I went to the HOA office and told Arturo, the HOA Manager, the situation and we drove back to the job site. When we arrived, the Oceano supervisors were there. Arturo explained to them that our policy must be followed or we would be forced to call the police. They said that Chuck Salem told them that our CC&RS are invalid and unenforceable and they were to continue working unless the police told them to stop. Arturo called Chuck Salem on his cell phone and asked him to resolve this situation, he refused. Arturo told Chuck Salem that Wayne Speed was here, would you like to talk with him? He refused. Jane Bowen drove up and said she talked to Chuck Salem and he told her that our CC&RS are unenforceable. So, we called Jean Steward and asked what she would like us to do. She said to call the police.

The police arrived and Arturo explained the HOA policy. The Oceano supervisors told the police that our CC&RS are not legal and that they’re not required to follow the rules. The police asked them if they had a permit from the city to build the wall. They didn’t, so the police said they had to stop construction until they had one. This was 4:00 PM. Oceano’s supervisors said they would drive to the city right now and get one. The city stops doing business at 3:00 PM.

Saturday morning, I received a phone call from Jane Bowen, she told me that the job site was working again. I went to the job site and I asked to see the city permit. They said they didn’t have it with them, that it was at Oceano’s office. I drove to Oceano’s office and asked the office manager to show me the city permit. They said they didn’t have a physical copy but were given verbal permission to continue working and the permit would be issued on Monday morning. I knew this was not true because the city will not issue a permit unless Las Conchas approves it first. I tried to contact Arturo but he had gone home sick. I contacted Jane Bowen and Jean Steward for further instruction; they both told me to call the police.

While waiting for the police, Oceano’s managers arrived, I told them that this whole issue could be resolved very easily, all they had to do was follow the HOA policy and put up a $500.00 deposit. They said they couldn’t do it without Chuck Salem’s approval. When the police arrived, he told us all to come to the police station to resolve this issue.

When we arrived, we were ushered into the judge’s chambers. Representing the HOA was my wife and I, and Catalina, our architectural assistant. Catalina did an excellent job interpreting for us. Also present was the city inspector, 2 Oceano managers and the construction supervisor. I spoke first, explaining our HOA’s position and our policies, and that our CC&RS are approved both by the Governor of Sonora and the City of Puerto Penasco. Next the city inspector said that Friday when Oceano’s manager asked for a permit to build the wall they were told that the city will not issue a permit until Las Conchas approves it first, and they were told by the city to go back on Monday and get approval first from Las Conchas.

The Judge then reprimanded both Oceano and the contractor for trying to build the wall without proper approval. The Judge said that Las Conchas has very strict CC&RS and they are legally binding. They were told to stop construction until they had the proper approvals.

Chuck Salem serves as a Vice President of the Las Conchas Homeowners Association yet openly defies our CC&RS and encourages others to follow his lead. His behavior is inappropriate for an officer of our association. If the officers of our Board of Directors behave like this, what message does it send to the homeowners who are held accountable.

[playaperro]

How much was the permit? :lol:

[rikyt]

I am sure the citizens of Mexico would be very interested to know that Americans can come in to their country and make laws (CC R'S).
I am sure the people in Hermosillo would like to know what is going on in Puerto Penasco, or if this is even true. :mexico:

[reportjones]

You guys are all fools for believing anything Cadden Ramirez Management tell you. CRM manages Princesa condos. When I lived there this bully named Steve Scwab lived there. For all of you who are not unfortunate to know Mr. Scwab ownes Seaside Reserveations which is the only onsite rental company at Princesa condos. Mr. Scwab is also on the HOA board. He also owns the lease to the restarant on Princesa grounds and a small bar in the fitness faciltiy (yes, oxymoron as it is, a bar serving alcohol in the fitness facility surrounded by gym equipment, puhlease). Mr. Scwab controls the board since all of the other board members rent through his company. His philosophy is cross me and I wont rent you. Lousy isnt it? Scwab has also run poor Bryan who owns the restratnt at Princesa almost out of business with the ridiculous sub-lease charge he makes Bryan pay. CRM doesnt seem to have any conflict of interset with Mr. Scwab on the Princesa board so why are they taking the moral high ground with Oceano owner being on Las Conchas board? I say you are much better off with out Cadden Ramirez Management. Be happy; atlease you dont have a jerk off like Steve Scwab on your board. I am amazed the guy hasnt turnedup in a shallow grave outside of town.

[Kenny]

Oh my!! :lol: Glad to see ya reportjones. You have no idea how well some of my friends here on the forum are aware of what you say, and trust me, a lot more as well.
Hold on to your hat, this could get interesting :mrgreen:

Kenny

[InkaRoads]

isn't him one , or the main reason why this board/forum started? now you can go to the old forum and you will find NOTHING it is dead!!! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[reportjones]

Kenny. i am confused as to what your response meant. Can you tell me?


Oh my!! Glad to see ya reportjones. You have no idea how well some of my friends here on the forum are aware of what you say, and trust me, a lot more as well.
Hold on to your hat, this could get interesting

Kenny

[jerry]

R.Jones here is the sad timeline of the rockypoint forum:
Under the guidance of Stewart (top level fisherman type guy) the forum gives tips on all things mexico.It is purchased from Mike by Steve the condo rental king and his web "expert" deletes all the old information (some really funny,some very helpful and some warning that Steve was a crook)
Team Steve claimed it was an accident and who needed that 5 years of helpful info anyways.

[reportjones]

It is good to see others feel like I do about Steve Scwab. I beleive he has personally reponsible for running Princesa into the ground by intimidating board members who have no spine. Why do people allow him to continue? I keep hearing seaside is ready to go under with rentals down so much. Is this true?

[Kenny]

Kenny. i am confused as to what your response meant. Can you tell me?


Oh my!! Glad to see ya reportjones. You have no idea how well some of my friends here on the forum are aware of what you say, and trust me, a lot more as well.
Hold on to your hat, this could get interesting

Kenny

Thanks Jerry,
You will be hard pressed to find a good word word about that man :twisted: on this forum. In fact, I'm a little surprised that nothing was said besides Jerry's post.

[reportjones]

You can say whatever you want about Steve Scwab and Seaside Reservations on a Yahoo Group I was told about by a member from this website.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seasidereservations/

[playaperro]

What does this have to do with the LC hoa

[ernesto]

Los ladrones duermen mejor con estomago lleno.

[fatboyharley]

Don't know what you are talking about. I was not one of those that started the project of DeSal. That started 10 years or longer. When you want to discuss this matter and get all my facts then please feel free to contact me via PM.

[playaperro]

We have 9 new wells feeding pensco, why do we need the de sal?

[playaperro]

Dear Vecinos,
Please allow me to put our current search for a new management company into perspective. When we fired our general manager two years ago, we (the Board) realized that our financials were a mess. Since Cadden-Ramirez Management had a local presence and had approached us before, we asked them for a new proposal to take over our accounting and finances. We held a general election to approve the change in management styles, because it was a major shift in direction. We know now that outside oversight is a real benefit.
There is no question that Cadden-Ramirez improved our accounting and office procedures, but it came at a high cost. Our basic services cost $60,000 per year, plus we pay extra for mailings, etc. The biggest benefit seems to be the comfort derived from having an outside, professional party handle our money.
Last February the Board formed a task force to evaluate both the services provided by Cadden-Ramirez and the costs associated with the services. Their conclusion was that we could do better if we looked at other options, which we had not done before. A committee was formed to design a Request for Proposal (RFP) so that we could compare Cadden-Ramirez’s service to those of similar companies. What they learned was that we can receive virtually the same services from another U.S. firm at a substantially reduced cost. The task force thinks it’s important to know that Cadden-Ramirez Management did not respond to the RFP, even though Mike Cadden had stated that getting some comparable proposals was a good idea.
The elimination of our union and its associated problems has put us in a very good position right now. We have the opportunity to reduce the cost of running our community with little or no loss in services. Our biggest expense, next to payroll, has been the cost of Cadden-Ramirez’s services. By allowing the Board to contract with a less expensive management firm, outsourcing employees, contracting for garbage collection, and returning to individual water contracts with OOMAPAS, your association has the opportunity to begin operating within its budget and maybe even developing a surplus, which is a luxury we have not had for a long time.
The rumor around the neighborhood has been that we are dumping Cadden-Ramirez. What we are trying to do is get the same service for less money, which is an admirable goal. The Board is working diligently and with a degree of haste so we don’t have a gap in services.
Most of you have seen the “Just the Facts, Ma’am” and “Concerned Vecinos” e-mails which I feel certain are produced all or in part by Richard O’Brien. He recently lamented that there had been problems with the Board since 2001. For the record, Mr. O’Brien is a former association president who was voted out of office in 2001. I am sure Mr. O’Brien means well, but newcomers are probably not aware that he is the president who hired our first general manager and did so without the knowledge or authority of the association. I have never heard him be critical of his own acts. Point of view depends on whether you are pitching or catching, it seems.
There has been the threat of a lawsuit made by Wayne Speed and Jackie O’Brien if the Board contracts with a new management company. It is entirely within the Board’s capacity to make such a move on the community’s behalf. The Board was duly elected to serve the community’s needs and is concerned that further delay will result in an unnecessary loss of services. We will elect officers in May. If you want a change, do it the right way, by electing new representatives.
Be assured that the Board has the well-being of the entire community in mind. This has been an unusual year, but Las Conchas is in a position to emerge from our current situation in better fiscal shape than ever if the Board is allowed to pursue its goals.
Sincerely,
Norm Nelson
Director, District 3
Hey fatboy harley now your a Woman who wants respect...I wish this would move over to the rants so The rating on this forum will go up..