NEW BCMATTERS ARTICLE, READ IT HERE FIRST, THEN SCROLL DOWN TO OUR OPINION PIECE BELOW! https://bcmatters.org/keeping-the-record-straight/
Disclaimer: FOBC and BCMATTERS are completely separate entities. My (FOBC) commentary is MY OWN, and is not reflective of Ms Cross’ views, nor is her article reflective of mine necessarily. This has simply gotten to a point that I feel My Newspaper must comment publicly on what has been years of reporting by Patricia Cross, author of the BCMatters.org blog that primarily covers issues surrounding the Big Canoe Property Owners Association Financials.
FOBC EDITORIAL & OPINION COMMENTARY ON THE ARTICLE:
I hate to say it, but this is getting old. BCMatters.org keeps breaking news about a financial situation that increasingly appears CRIMINAL, and nobody is doing anything. You know what? ~ America is screwed up, but we can’t blame Washington Politicians for all our problems. Our Big Canoe “Politicians” take the form of our General Manager, and Elected Board Members, and various Inner Circle Committee heads. Our “Deep State Bureacratic Swamp” consists of our overpaid, cushy-salaried top management employees.
I think it is time for some PROPERTY OWNER LAWSUITS to get into the documents and financial records of the community. We are hemorraghing $MILLION$ of dollars. The whole “We’d be suing ourselves” argument seems sort of dumb. What if we did cost “Ourselves” an extra couple $100K in the POA Attorneys (paid for by us) to get into a lawsuit that got into the records, that forced “our house” to get itself in order, and stopped a couple $MILLION$ Dollars in wasted monies (that we don’t even know where this stuff is going, if there are controls or oversight in contractors etc). Listen, we are spending money on projects, that we have no accountability over, and no transparency into the bidding processes, etc. Even if we all agree that a project is necessary or good… does that mean we want to pay $5 MILLION, for something that could have been done (possibly even better) for $4 MILLION?
WOULDN’T THAT BE WORTH IT? This is not about attacking projects we have voted to approve. It is about demanding to see where the money is going, how it is being spent, are we following best financial practices, are we following internal bidding procedures, are we correctly accounting for our monies, etc.
Here is another one…. how the heck do we keep losing $500K to $750K every year on food & Beverage (aka the clubhouse)? We aren’t even paying rent as part of the calculations, and every single restaurant owner I have ever spoken to has scoffed at the losses described at this scale. HOW CAN WE BE LOSING THIS MONEY? Is the Clubhouse F&B a slush fund for activities and expenses we aren’t knowledgeable of? We have NO ACCOUNTABILITY! AND IT IS OUR FAULT AS PROPERTY OWNERS FOR NOT DEMANDING IT!
THE LIST OF POTENTIAL LEGAL TARGETS IS VOLUMINOUS.
The SIMPLEST target would be to demand of the courts ACCESS TO THE FULL FINANCIAL RECORDS (as is allowed by Georgia Non-Profit Legal Code of Members to have access to), and Partner with a professional FORENSIC AUDITING FIRM to take the lead as Court Appointed Reviewer of POA Financial Records (this keeps all the records secure, internal, and gives cover to a judge to want to allow this review to happen in a very professional and controlled manner), to issue a FORENSIC AUDIT REPORT to the PROPERTY OWNERS.
My guess is that if we just got a group together and got organized… just the threat of this …. not a Fluffy-Bluffy B.S. threat, but a REAL THREAT OF LEGAL ACTION…. we’d get some folks on the POA Board of Directors to actually start caring. And let me make it clear… this is not a complex legal action. We aren’t demanding people go to jail, no personal attacks, just a formal audited review of our complete financial by an outside FORENSIC auditor, which we are as Property Owners are LEGALLY ENTITLED TO BY GEORGIA LAW!
SPOILER ALERT… the first thing I predict you would see is them attempt to put Insider Meg Rooney in charge of a “Blue Ribbon Committee” to do an “Internal Audit”. Don’t let them do that!!! Go through the courts unbendingly if necessary. Don’t accept an inside whitewash job. This is my two cents as a 25 year resident of Big Canoe and property owner. PS… Ms Rooney basically did a good “resume speech” for the job in the 2023 November Board Meeting (Q&A. Timestamp: 1hr 5min 45secs).
* DISCLAIMER: This is NOT legal advice…. it is a property owner’s opinion (publisher of FOBC, who started this newspaper specifically because 25 years taught him how full of corruption and graft this place is, and wanted to shine a light on some things), suggesting that we need to start considering legal action, and stop accepting the status quo as even being remotely acceptable!
Haven’t we tried everything else for Years!?!? They ignore “Ask the POA” (a joke); they shout us down and limit our discussion in POA Meetings to about a minute (and on top of that they dictate that certain topics are off limits); and they simply babble nonsense when they ever even attempt to look like they are attempting an answer, or they just flat out LIE. And Patricia Lowe Cross just keeps busting their chops with FINANCIAL FACTS using their own financial reports over and over and over. I’m just saying…. at what point do we as property owners realize this is just insane, and embarrassing to all of us that we are letting this so blatantly happen?
* DISCLAIMER 2: references to our “overpaid, cushy-salaried top management employees” is not intended in any way to include the average rank-and-file employess that do such a WONDERFUL, and OFTEN THANKLESS JOB of taking care of property owners and our community. Also, NOT ALL of our Management is to be lumped in to this negative connotation. But we definitely have some bad eggs, and the buck definitely stops at the top.
Peace,
– david / publisher / property owner
Focus on Big Canoe, GA
* publications of The Mountains Voice
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