The following is the Intro Summary of a 6 Page Legal DEMAND Letter that has been sent via email to the POA. It was also posted through “Ask the POA“, and a Followup Response Was Added by me for clarity. The previous links will take you to each document. It is rather boring, and at some points filled with legalese and reference. But for those of intelligent minds, it is perhaps one of the most important legal demands that has ever been made to this POA Board, and should set the stage for either some long awaited clarity, or a good old fashioned court fight.
I have tried to capture the essence of the DEMAND in the summary:
UPDATE 12-04-2020: POA General Manager Scott Auer has responded with the following:
We are in receipt of your request for a copy of the Membership List for Big Canoe Property Owners Association, Inc. (“Association”) to be used solely for purposes of communication with other Members concerning the upcoming Annual Meeting per the Association’s Bylaws and the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code. The Members List may be accessed electronically via the following secured link https://www.bigcanoepoa.org/files/REDACTED.pdf and is being provided to you in accordance with Georgia law. The password for this link is “REDACTED”. This list will be made available to all Members of the Association during the remote virtual Annual Meeting on December 5, 2020, via this secured website link which will be communicated to all Members as well.
Personal Note: I have received the file. As expected, they went to great lengths to make sure that the huge file is basically unusable for the purpose it is legally shared, which is communication with other members, but it has been very educational, and provides some good data. There was a complete absence of Class B, C, or D Votes. I believe I have already discovered one glaring error in Class E Votes, and will explore that. The “Excuse” given for their legal noncompliance to this Mandatory Release of information, was that “no Member of the corporation has ever requested to inspect the members list prior to your request of yesterday“, which is utter BS, for several reasons, one being that members are not required to ask according to the law. The POA is required to proactively provide it. Secondly, many people have tried to get this information over the years, and have been stonewalled. I am one of them.
SECTION 1. INTRO SUMMARY
Georgia Law, and Big Canoe POA By-Laws require that members be furnished with “a list of the name and address of all members, in alphabetical order by class, showing the number of votes each member is entitled to cast” within 2 days of the Notice of Meeting, in this case the upcoming Dec 5 Annual Meeting. Since this will be an electronic Meeting, the information must be provided in electronic format (i.e. PDF or similar). Further, the POA is mandated by law to provide list access instructions AT THE TIME of the Meeting Notice (November 6, 2020). This was not done, and historically the POA has ignored their legal obligations over the years to provide Members with this legally mandated member list information. I am DEMANDING THIS INFORMATION be prepared for dissemination to Members according to law at the upcoming Meeting; that instructions be issued to ALL Members on how to access the information; and I have requested an immediate copy myself for the legally stated purpose of communication with other members concerning the meeting. I have further more DEMANDED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE BY-LAWS that, If the requirements of this Section are not substantially complied with, the meeting be adjourned until the requirements are complied with.
Again, you can read the entirety of the DEMAND Letter by clicking the folowing link:
I also believe that a Followup Clarification Response sent by me via the “Ask the POA” portal will be of some interest to the community (and federal law enforcement). It was brief, but is perhaps a story unto itself, and I will copy it here:
03-Dec 07:48am – David Hopkins replied
CC – bcrouch@bigcanoepoa.org, crobertson@bigcanoepoa.org, jgoldman@bigcanoepoa.org, lstephenson@bigcanoepoa.org, pbaldwin@bigcanoepoa.org, rfalinski@bigcanoepoa.org, sauer@bigcanoepoa.org
David Hopkins
PS… the document link in my pdf, which shows the illegal release of Potts Mountain from the Covenants, does not correctly work in the PDF, so for your ease, here is a direct link: http://bigcanoe.themountainsvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/PottsMtn-2017-11-30_ReleaseFromCovenantsAndDeclarations.pdf
I do urge any Director that hasn’t already drunken from the Developer Koolaid (distributed by their career insiders, such as Pickett & Hagan), to have the Voter Rolls searched from the past, and I think you will find that the 1,337 acres that constitutes Potts Mountain was voted as CLASS E shares.
As you are aware, release of property from the Covenants must be done by property owner vote, and cannot be legally accomplished by the sole decision, and execution, of W.M. Self Jr., the managing member of Big Canoe Company.
This matter will be brought to the attention of the S.E.C., and other regulators, including the investigators of the big Conservation Land frauds (i.e. the Nancy Zak case etc).
Let’s get Potts Mountain back where it belongs – as part of Big Canoe.
Peace,
– david / publisher
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* a publication of The Mountains Voice
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