FOBC hasn’t done a Petit Dam Update in quite a while. I just got back my most recent Open Records Request, and I just couldn’t ignore what I am sitting on. The Dam Issue has gotten a LOT bigger, and a lot more important than the Trademark/Name issue.
FOBC released it’s first Article on Lake Petit Dam on August 12, 2020 (1). On that same day the POA was asked in a Creek 9 Presentation by this author if we shouldn’t wait to spend on this expensive non-essential Creek 9 Golf Project, until we had engineering results back on the Dam. The Boards reply was “the amount of repairs that will be needed to the dam are going to be far less than two million dollars.”
The Board(s) and Scott Auer, have slowly increased that number over the years (without ever supplying any transparent data on where they were getting these figures) to $3.5 Million, then 4.5, then 6, then to over 7, possibly 8 Million. In the February 27 2025 POA Board Meeting we are suddenly hit with a $13 Million total expense for repairs.
Here are the amounts that we know:
- $2.8 Million for Engineering and Miscellaneous Small Projects (2020 – 2024)
*Actually $2.9M, but gave a $100K credit as some was for smaller lake inspections - $663K for the Seepage Drain System (the project they are currently completing)
Note: this is presented as a “completed project”, which was originally budgetted for $450K, so already way over budget, and the Board just voted on Feb 27 to increase that budget – after the fact – to $696K +5%. That’s not the “completed” $663K. More uneccessary untruths that erode confidence. - $1.76 Million for the Lower Level Outlet Repairs that will run from March 2025 – May 2025.
*supposedly a fixed rate contract. - $6 Million is still budgeted for the Spillway.
- Add those up and you get $8.423 Million
- But the Board and Scott Auer go on by end of meeting to say they are planning on $11.1 Million.
*The above excludes the $2.8 Million already spent. Scott Auer talked fast and nervous and didn’t offer any explanation for where that “random 11.1 Million number out of a hat” came from.
So if you take the Board and Scott Auer at their word (and calculations) we are now looking at a total of $13.9 Million to be spent between 2020 and 2027. Let’s revisit the POA Board’s statements to the Community when they were trying to pass the Creek 9 Vote, and starting to push Renew Big Canoe:
“the amount of repairs that will be needed to the dam are going to be far less than two million dollars.”
It now gets a lot worse. This would be a good time to pour that stiff drink. FOBC Sources including reviews of the recently submitted 234 Page Spillway Engineering Documents (25mb – so you might want to click this on a laptop, not phone) indicate that the Spillway alone is likely going to cost $15 – $20 Million Dollars (not $6 Million).
That gets us to a total range of $24 Million +/-. And so far we have actually spent only $3.463 Million ($2.8 Million + $663K). So only $20 Million to go. Want to know where that is going to come from? You’ll have to wait for my next article, where believe it or not, things get even worse – again!
In the meantime I suggest everyone review the Engineering Docs. Maybe an actual Engineer can speak up as to the validity of this design being $6 Million. It’s laughable.
Next, I suggest Property Owners start DIRECTLY, DOCUMENTED, AND ON THE RECORD, asking the POA if it is not true that Geosyntec has already presented “unofficial estimates” ranging on average of over $15 Million, and that with variables have discussed it potentially exceeding $20 Millon, just for the Spillway alone.
Ask them. Put them on the spot. Phrase it every way you can imagine. Make them publicly deny it on the record. If they do.. there is a thing called “Discovery” that will likely come back to haunt them the way things are going. The Community needs to get the POA ON THE RECORD as to “unofficial” estimates that have been presented. And FYI… just because something isn’t a formal, worked out Response to an RFP… does not mean that if your professional engineers give you “unofficial estimates” that you are magically recused from using those best guess professional guidance figures for your budgeting. i.e. if you are given a rough estimate of 15 – 20+ Million, I think it could be fiduciary fraud to then use budgeted estimates of $6 Million when presenting it to the property owners.
I don’t want to be overly dramatic here… but I have talked to a lot of people recently that are actively considering whether to sell and abandon Big Canoe. Couples and Families (many in Big Canoe being fixed income retirees) are making real world financial decisions for their futures. The POA and our GM Scott Auer have a fiduciary responsibility to let property owners know the financial facts regarding what could be coming.
I’ll get the next article out as soon as I can, but there is a lot going on already with the Trademark, and I want to give people time to absorb all of this in pieces.
Peace,
– david / publisher / property owner
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* publications of The Mountains Voice
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