Recent reporting by BCMatters.org seems to have finally hit a nerve with the community. Going back to an August 10, 2023 article, Patricia Cross, concluded her article with the following comment,
It appears that questions such as these can only be answered by full disclosure of the books by leadership or a forensic audit. Keeping in mind that the board of directors has refused to provide copies of the Wells Fargo loan documents and refused to provide copies of the depreciation schedules, a forensic audit seems to be the path to transparency.
After years of reporting on financial irregularities in the Big Canoe books…. this public call by someone for a Forensic Audit was at some point to be expected. As with many ideas whose time has finally come, once the concept of a “Forensic Audit” was floated, it was quickly picked up by others in the community. A review of the Comment Sections in more recent BCMatters Articles shows growing evidence of support, and intelligent articulation, for such a path.
Reference Links for those wanting to read some very well thought out commentary by other Big Canoe Property Owners on the state of our financial books:
- Sept 10 “What just happened…” article comments <-read
- Oct 12 “A cautionary tale…” article comments <-read
- Oct 25 “An update to a cautionary tale…” article comments <-read
Then just the other day, BCMatters released an article on the Chimneys, and the tone of the property owner comments expanded, not just calling for Forensic Audit and Transparency of the Big Canoe books…. but now calling into serious question the behavior of the POA Board & Management. It is really worth a read, these property owner comments:
After reading all of this information, I then see a POLL go up yesterday on the Big Canoe GA Official Members Facebook Group, introducing yet another idea that continued with the general line of thought I have seen emerging. The POLL Question was…
Would you support the re-creation of the previous Big Canoe HOA Watchdog Organization?
As of this writing, the responses are as follows:
A. YES – – – – – – 43% / 31 Votes
B. NO – – – – – – 14% / 9 Votes
C. Open to the idea, would at least like to hear
more public discussion of this, and some
education on the details of the old HOA. – – – – – – 29% / 20 Votes
D. Forensic Audit! Those that have nothing to hide, hide nothing! – – – – – – 16% / 11 Votes
It should be noted that the last Question about Forensic Audit was a late write-in addition by a group member. I can only imagine what the numbers on a straight up YES / NO on a Forensic Audit might be.
Which brings me personally to thinking about some questions regarding re-standing up the old non-profit “Watchdog HOA Group”. These are just random thoughts / questions…
- Would such an Organization possibly act as a good Check/Balance for Property Owners against the POA Board & Management?
- Could such an Organization act as a legal entity to force compliance on the POA Board to actually DO a forensic audit?
- We would need a small exploratory group of dedicated property owners to put this together, and share updates with property owners. Non-Profit establishment, Legal Counsel, By-Laws, Incorporation Documents, Mission, Scope, Dues, Governance… all these things would need to be established.
So what is the POA Board saying about a Forensic Audit?
To start, lets go to last weeks POA Board Meeting. Here is a Timestamped Video Link to the part in question, and below is a transcripted excerpt:
David Hopkins / Lot 4002: “Would the Board consider an independent forensic audit of our books?”
Insert Comment: That is NOT the full question I asked, which was as follows: “Regarding BCMatters org financial reporting, and community concern as to such, would the Board consider an Independent Forensic Audit of our books? Any plans to publicly respond to issues raised?” They edited it down, and conveniently ignored the part about the financial reporting at BCMatters.org – so this is just another form of censorship, driven by fear, that the Board has in regards to the reporting by Ms. Cross.
BOARD RESPONSE:
Tim Moron / POA Board President: “In general we’ve relied upon professionals that manage our books, who haven’t recommended a forensic audit, so at this point NO, that’s not on the table.”
Amy Tropfenbaum / POA Board VP: “We don’t see any need for it. Hasn’t even been discussed.”
Not liking the fact that my question was censored, I followed up with AskThePOA #11685, basically re-asking the FULL Question.
POA Board President, Tim Moron, answered in part, “We would like to emphasize that allegations previously raised on <BCMatters.org> have undergone thorough investigations, including as recently as the first quarter of this year, and have been consistently determined to lack merit.”
So basically…. the Board is ignoring Ms Cross reporting on financial issues, censoring references to it, and is digging in their heels against a Forensic Audit. In general they are being arrogantly dismissive of the issues; refusing to even acknowledge that there is any problem; and feels that the growing number of clearly articulated property owner concerns are insufficient to even warrant a response. And that is how I am going to conclude this article, and let that sink in.
Peace,
– david / publisher / property owner
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* publications of The Mountains Voice
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