We have Three (3) Community Leaders whose recent actions demand review. They are as follows:
(1) Candace Robertson (POA Board President)
(2) Vincent Walsh (Chairman of the Risk & Audit Committee)
(3) Scott Auer (General Manager)
Candace Robertson
An Open Records Request to Ga Safe Dams recently uncovered a May 26, 2021 letter from Ms Robertson in which she complains to Ga Safe Dams about their release to this Newspaper of the May 20, 2021 Compliance and Maintenance Letter. I will let everyone read the May 26 letter from Ms Robertson for themselves, and see if they see what I and others that have reviewed it see, which appears to be an attempt to influence our State Regulator to suppress information regarding Lake Petit Dam. I would suggest to tone-deaf Ms Robertson, that not only was Ga Safe Dams acting within legal compliance in supplying this Newspaper with an immediate copy of the Compliance letter…. they may indeed be making a point to the Big Canoe POA…. that their patience is growing thin with your failures to legally comply with your Permit Obligations. You and other leaders of this community are so arrogant, and self-entitled, you fail to realize that when viewed from the outside world you are just acting like spoiled brats who think that the laws that apply to others (i.e. the Grandview Lake Community, which had to spend $Millions to fix their Dam) don’t apply to the high and mighty “Leadership Team” of Big Canoe, GA. But the laws DO APPLY to Big Canoe, Ms Robertson!
One last note about the letter… it appears Ms Robertson and the Board are a bit caught off guard by the position Ga Safe Dams took with their “unexpected” Compliance Letter. The question is WHY? How could this possibly have been a shock to anyone following our ongoing 9 Month Series on Lake Petit Dam? WHY is she writing this letter instead of GM Scott Auer? And why does she state that the 5 Year Master Plan was ‘furnished GSD earlier this year”, when GSD has denied receiving this in every single Open Records Request asked of them this year, the last time being a week ago. My question is…. Does Ms Robertson, or the Board, have any idea what is going on, and if not, who is in charge of the community?
Vincent Walsh
Vincent Walsh is most likely unknown to most members of the community, so a little introduction first. Mr. Walsh is the Chairman of the Audit & Risk Management (“A&R”) Committee, which is tasked with among other things, the following:
• the integrity of the Association’s financial statements;
• the Association’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements;
Mr. Walsh recently took to Facebook to respond to this Newspaper’s recent article about the Reserve Fund Missing $1 Million Dollars from the books. He stated as follows (view screenshot here):
“No million missing.”
and then a couple of hours later, “I stand by my statement $1,000,000 is not missing.”
There are so many problems with this response. (1st) The full statement in the article was that it was missing “from the books”. And it is a 100% undeniable fact that it is! In the first line on the 6th Page of the 91 Page 2021 Capital Reserve Fund Study Update, it lists the beginning 2021 Balance as $ 1,864,575. The ending December 31 2020 Financials lists the Reserve Fund’s 2020 ending Balance as 2,826,606. That is an accounting discrepancy of approximately $1,000,000. PERIOD! BC Blogger Patricia Cross gets credit for the find in her original article. (2nd) Is this how the Chairman of the A&R Committee handles communications when a $1 Million Dollar discrepancy is found? To post cheeky comments on Facebook? With no other detailed response or explanation offered formally to the community? And with total absence of response or comment towards the other substantial discrepancies in the books? This level of utter disrespect and unprofessionalism towards the community should disqualify Mr Walsh from his position, effective IMMEDIATELY!
Last note on Mr. Walsh and the A&R Committee. This newspaper publisher got pretty steamed at his flippant response, and decided to take a look closer at the A&R Committee. Found in the February 4, 2021 Minutes was information that could be construed as collusion between our Insurance Broker (John Hamilton / Marsh McLennan) and the A&R Committee Members on how to hide “changes in exposure” risks from our Insurance Policy Providers. The timing of this was coincidentally just after I had put Community Leadership on private notice that they could be liable, and be risking our Insurance Coverage, by failing to comply with their legal permit obligations to operate Lake Petit Dam. This newspaper recently copied both our Ins. Broker, and our “Excess Flood & Earthquake” policy provider, RSUI, with the May 20, 2021 Compliance and Maintenance Letter, along with requests for clarification and comment on how this could affect our policy. Here is a copy of my June 4, 2021 Inquiry letter to the insurers, and I am looking forward to their response. Hopefully we will find that the A&R Committee has been following protocol, and that our insurance coverage is not in jeopardy.
Scott Auer
I’ve saved our General Manager, Scott Auer, for last. I will state right now that in this newspaper publisher’s opinion, Scott Auer checks all the boxes for what a bad General Manager looks and acts like.
I could point out a multitude of examples, but the one that has recently triggered me, and a multitude of families in the community, is his incompetence in leadership which led to the shutting down of Lake Disharoon, his failures to supply property owners with straight answers, and most recently his utter disrespect towards Big Canoe families when he flat out LIED in the May 20, 2021 Board Meeting, when he stated the following in regards to the Lake Disharoon situation:
“I will keep providing updates every week. Every time we do a Thursday email on Inside the Gates, uh inside your inbox, we’ll have an update in it.”
That was Thursday May 20. Today is Tuesday June 8. 19 days have passed. Two (2) “Inside the Gates” weekly emails have come and gone. Not a single peep from Mr. Scott Auer.
Mr. Auer, you fail to understand how important summer activities with our children are to many families in Big Canoe. Not only have you lied to the community, you have done so in a very arrogant and disrespectful manner. Regardless of what the update is, good or bad, you owe it to professionally follow through with your responsibilities to those you serve, and not make false promises just to get out of a tight corner in a public Board meeting!
Once again it is worth stating, that perhaps it is time to start the public discussion of legal action against the Big Canoe POA. (a) We have multiple financial discrepancies that leadership ignores, can’t or won’t explain, and which are increasing in frequency. (b) We have unexplained procedure that may have led to the unnecessary failure of the swimclub lake dam. (c) We have the possibility of Lake Petit being drained and the Marina shut down, and State Regulators issuing Compliance Letters. (d) We have outrageously expensive projects popping up all over the community, with no clear mechanism of how to pay for them. And perhaps most importantly, (e) we have increasing evidence of an overall Leadership Team that is floundering, incompetent, and digging deeper into secrecy to cover up problems, instead of transparently and openly discussing them.
This community is at a crossroads, and it has some choices to make. The censorship of information in the Smoke Signals, and censorship of discussion on the various Facebook Groups is not part of the solution. Failure of leadership to openly, honestly, comprehensively, and directly address the issues has resulted in a complete breakdown in trust for many in the community.
A tragic comedy of errors. Not so funny offscreen, with real lives and real dollars affected.
Peace,
– david / publisher
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* a publication of The Mountains Voice
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