I arrived early to set up my tripod and video camera for what I figured would be a fairly spirited Arrowcreek Homeowners Association meeting.  Per NRS statutes, you are allowed to bring a recording device so I figured it was worth a try.  After talking to a few Arrowcreek HOA board members, it was determined it was a grey area (filming) so I wouldn’t be posting on U-Tube tonight.  In hindsight, I wish I would have poached it.  I will give you a few highlights:

It was a beyond standing room only crowd and the Board did a great job accommodating the super sized crowd by adding an additional room with speakers and another PowerPoint presentation.

Gary Smith (Vice President), gave everyone a well presented/documented time-line of the events leading up to Club Corp’s decision to bail from the Arrowcreek Residence Club lease and subsequent Arrowcreek Golf Course purchase.  There were a few sighs and “yeah rights” from the peanut gallery, many of them Rookies and unfamiliar faces to the Arrowcreek Homeowner meetings.

There were a number of comments directed at the board and how they allegedly dropped the ball (on the Club Corp Residence Club lease).  After a few comments had passed, John Demgen, the Board President gave a speech from the heart and ultimately as his voice crackled while maintaining his composure; his resignation. 

I have lost track but I believe this is the third Board President resigning in the last year or so.  This is one of the most thrown to the lions and thankless jobs that one could undertake in this current environment.  He as well as all of the Board Members whether you think they did right or wrong have made tremendous sacrifices to serve Arrowcreek.  Like many of the Arrowcreek Homeowners Board members, he was working 50 hours + a week on the issues, namely the Club Corp lease of the Residence Club and in the end, couldn’t take the constant abuse and allegations.

To say it was awkward after Demgen’s resignation would be an understatement. 

There were some additional comments from a sub group that call themselves “The GOV” that were fairly unkind to the board which some may argue were uncalled for and vice versa.  Michelle Plevel a Homeowner and a Reno Realtor with Chase International, Chase Nation, Reno Real Estate Logic and Arrowcreek Living also spoke on behalf of the GOV and gave a great analysis of how this is affecting Arrowcreek home and lot values, moral etc.  It was refreshing to see a voice of reason and experience as Michelle has.  Bill Mccreary (Past President I believe) gave a very good analogy (in my opinion) saying that the HOA/Board were made a pawn and Club Corp used them as a negotiating chip to get a lower price on the Golf Course knowing that the strict time frames were unrealistic. 

I don’t blame people for being upset, this is the third strike in Arrowcreek for property values; 1: Reserve fund lawsuit (Arrowcreek HOA vs. Terrabrook) 2: Jumbo loan credit crunch. 3: Possible golf course drying up.  Any single one of these on top of the general economic and real estate climate is a huge pill for buyers to swallow.  I know from negotiations and transactions that I have done over the years that when it goes south, everyone wants to blame someone. 

So anyhow, somewhere in all of this, the Treasurer John Perduk who along with Randy Bynum (Secretary) were staying cool and calm almost like Secret Service Agents flanking Demgen and Smith as they fielded Board and personal attacks asks the question; “How many of you still have faith in the Board”?  Well, no sooner than I could get my hand off of my pen the Dude goes storming off.  Honestly, I would have liked to have seen him at least knock over a chair or punch the wall or something.  At this point, I have to go to the bathroom really bad but I dared not leave as I didn’t want to come back and get elected as a Board Member.

Shortly thereafter, it just breaks into a free for all with people going up to the mike at random and hollering etc.  Just about that time, all of the years of going to heavy metal concerts instincts kick in and I start eyeing who the tough guys are and where the exits are just in case.

I stuck it out to hear the reserve study update from Gary Smith.  Gary ran on the promise that he was going to take a good look at the numbers in the reserve study and is genuinely concerned.  I was hoping to hear it was heavily padded as some allege and we could drop the lawsuit and our 111.24 special assessment fee.  I never understood what was up with the .24 cents.  He promised to post the reserve study findings on the website, if I notice it, I will post or link it.

The reserve study litigation by the way has over 5,000 documents from the HOA, 11,000 documents from Terrabrook, 5 depositions so far and two expert witness’s for the Nov. 8, 2008 trial date.  The irony is; the approximate $6,500. per parcel that we are trying to get from Terrabrook is costing each Homeowner anywhere from $100,000. to a 1,000,000 in lost equity and that was before the golf course mess and real estate slowdown. 

On another note, if I understood Paul Burkett from the finance committee correct, 15% of Arrowcreek’s budget goes to litigation.  This is just incredible and is a shame to not only Arrowcreek but America’s corrupt legal system as a whole.

If you are reading this and you are a buyer; the buying opportunity doesn’t get any better than this, I still love it here and we will recover.  If you are an Attorney, unfortunately for most of us, there still is plenty of work up here for you from the sue for a stubbed toe, cracked stucco/mold types.

If anyone came out a winner from tonight’s Arrowcreek Homeowners Board meeting it is the sign maker who engraves the new Board Members names.  Arrowcreek is probably his best customer and I am sure he can’t wait until the next HOA meeting.

Arrowcreek HOAs most recent correspondence; scan0001.pdf

Ron

Filed under: ARROWCREEK