Director Wilson owns one of the larger end units. He has been on the Board on and off throughout the years. He has upgraded the windows on his property. While these windows are the proper retrofit type windows, two of the windows in the patio area are bay windows. None of these units were built with bay windows.
Are owners not told that any upgrades must conform to the architectural standards of the community?
Yes, these windows are inside the patio area, but they are visible from the common area. If any improvement is visible from the common area it must conform to the community standards. Is this not what owners here have been told for 45 years?
No other property was built with or has bay windows.
How did this get approved? Was he on the Board when it was approved? There is no way to know because according to the city, there are no permits for windows on record. So here is another case of where the rules of the city are as meaningless to this owner/Director as are those of our community.
This Director also has his AC Condenser in the Common Area outside his patio fence. According to the City, it was last replaced in 2014. What can be seen in the image with this post is that the pad for current condenser was placed on top of an existing pad. So this Director has enjoyed the additional free space, removal of noise and unsightly appearance from inside his patio by having his AC Condenser placed in the Common Area for quite some time.
How long exactly is unclear as the City said there were no other permits for AC prior to 2014.
Again the questions must be asked… How did this Exclusive Use of Common Area get approved? Was he on the Board when it happened? Is it not fair to question if he abused his authority as a Director in order to gain these favorable advantages for himself?
Our Rules and Regulations state that if your garage is used for storage or extended living space, that your vehicles should be parked on the street rather than in the common area parking spaces in the alleys.
Once again we have a case where clearly the rules don’t apply to Directors. Every vehicle in the image with this post belongs to the Lemmings household. And as you can see, her garage is a storage unit.
The spots pictured are frequently capitalized by this household in this way, generally consuming 3 of these 5 spots. When “only” 2 or 3 on this side are consumed there is generally at least one or more of the alley spots over near 5500 Cajon being consumed by this household as well.
I guess if you’re responsible for enforcing the rules, you can do whatever you want.
Our Site Manager Scott Craven and his wife Leean, the President of the Board, have a motor-home in the RV Lot immediately adjacent to their property.
On numerous occasions, Scott has covered the light sensor at the electrical box just outside the patio gate of 5618 Cajon, at the end of their alley. This causes the RV Lot Lights along with (4) of the large high power lights along the perimeter fence (from just outside 5606 down to the southwest Corner of the development) as well as (9) of the pathway lights to ALL come on during daylight hours.
What it also does is energize the outlet in the planter area just outside the RV Lot.
This is done in order to provide power to their motor-home in the RV Lot from the outlet in the planter area!
So… WE MEMBERS get to pay for the cost of NOT ONLY the electricity THEY are using on THEIR motor-home, but for the 15 lights that come on with the covering of the sensor in order for them to do this.
Where is it stated in any of our Rules or Governing Documents that occupants of the RV Lot are entitled to free electricity paid for by the Membership?
Here’s the answer… It is NOT. This has **never** been the case. Ever. Not before Directors Craven / Cairns anyway.
This is use of resources which are paid for by our community funds. Community funds which are under the direct control of Director / President Craven. This use is for their personal benefit. It is her fiduciary duty to the Membership to protect these funds. Could this be considered Embezzlement?
Update: In the 2020-02-19 Board Meeting, Director Cairns tried to defend this behavior when it was brought up. It was first attempted to be explained away as being done to charge the Maintenance Cart. This was immediately disputed and the pictures below show this is more often NOT than if so. Even if the cart is charged from this outlet, why is it too much to expect that it be done at night when these lights and this outlet will be energized naturally?
Director Cairns then tried to claim that this is the only way for those in the RV Lot to have power to work on their RV’s. Many questions must be asked…
Why is vehicle maintenance being done in the common area that *is* the RV Lot?
Where is it in our rules or governing documents that using this electricity is permissible?
When did either of these become an acceptable practice?
— A member that previously had a space in the lot for 20+ years states that it has never been acceptable to work on vehicles in the RV Lot (Rules & Regs, section XV) much less cover up a light sensor to access electricity from the Association.
Who on the Board authorized this use of a community paid resource for private use?
If this *is in fact* a policy of the Board, should it not be written in our rules?
How would any other owners in the RV Lot know that this is available to them if it’s not in our Rules?
Should the Membership not have had the opportunity to comment on and challenge this change to our Rules?
Or is it more reasonable that as Site Manager, Scott simply figured out this light sensor and as Director and President of the Board his wife simply gave the green light to do this?
To benefit themselves.
Without making a rule change.
Or telling the membership.
Or notifying everyone in the lot.
Or hoping anyone would notice.
Clearly this Board can’t be trusted to have our backs and protect our fiduciary interests.
Clearly Director Cairns is more interested in having the back of her little buddy… Director Craven!
Have a look at all the times they have done this…
Here is Scott in the act of taping up the sensor…
Here are all the lights that come on when he does this…
Below are all the times they have been documented doing this. There are many! Be sure to view all the way to the oldest images at the bottom to get a sense of how long this really has been going on.
2020-02-10 and 2020-02-11
2020-02-07
2020-01-22 and 2016-01-23
2020-01-21
2020-01-20
2020-01-14 and 2020-01-15
2020-01-13
2019-12-13
2019-12-12
2019-12-01 and 2019-12-02
2019-10-25 and 2019-10-26
2019-09-27
2019-09-24
2019-08-26
2019-08-22
2019-08-15
2019-08-13 and 2019-08-14
2019-08-12
2019-08-11
2019-08-09
2019-07-30
2019-07-29
2019-07-22
2019-07-08
2019-07-06
2019-07-05
2019-07-04
2019-07-01
2019-06-25
2019-06-24
2019-06-17 and 2019-06-18
2019-06-15
2019-06-12
2019-06-10
2019-06-07
What about no maintenance in Common Area?
Are you kidding me?!
2019-06-05 and 2019-06-06
2019-05-31
2019-05-21
2019-04-08
2019-04-01
2019-03-31
2019-01-22 and 2019-03-22
2018-12-28
2018-12-26
2018-12-11
2018-06-12 This image comes from a member encounter with Site Manager Scott Craven in the RV Lot. While that encounter is discussed elsewhere, this image is important to point out that this improper use of electricity that we are all paying for goes back much further than even the images above demonstrate.
In 2016, a portion of the RV Lot wall fell. Specifically it was the portion of the wall that the only motor-homes in the lot at the time backed up to.
It fell *AWAY* from the vehicles. (Hmm, wonder what happened, right?)
It was the position of the Board that it had fallen due to improper construction, as it had no rebar in the blocks. However, there was no investigation done at the time. A member with a motor-home in the lot at the time states that they were not contacted by the Board for any purpose of determining the cause of the wall having fallen.
Here is the problem though… This wall had stood for over 40 years, regardless of any construction deficiencies. It withstood numerous earthquakes including…
The 2014 quake is most significant in that numerous block walls in the surrounding area fell. Nearly all of these were similarly situated running north-south as is this section of our wall that fell in 2016. Several along Santa Gertrudes. Perhaps some of you remember the section of wall along the east side of Beach Blvd. just north of Argyle Dr. in the Highland Greens community. Debris from that wall was in the small drainage ditch there for weeks after that quake.
Fortunately none of our walls fell in that earthquake. But on a clear, sunny day in 2016 one portion of our RV Lot wall just up and… WHOOP… falls over… All by itself. Due to poor construction. After having stood for over 40 years!!!
Anybody believe this?
Because no proper investigation was done at the time, WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE WHO, HOW OR WHY. Were the vehicles along that wall inspected? A Member that had a motor-home in the lot at the time states that he was not contacted for any investigative effort. One of those vehicles belonged to the President of the Board and her husband and is still in the lot to this day.
The WHAT that we do know is that the rebuilding of the entire RV Lot wall was a $100,000 hit to our budget!
This can be seen in the Independent Auditors Report for the Year Ending December 31, 2016.
Finally, our CC&R’s require the board to maintain insurance on all improvements in the common area for 100% replacement. Why then was no insurance claim made? Even if it did just fall over on its own, it should have been a covered casualty.
Perhaps an insurance claim would have brought with it a legitimate investigation and too many questions.
Questions to which some may not have wanted the answers to come to light.
— Here is what should be of concern to the membership —
Section 1. If all or any portion of the Common Area is damaged or destroyed by fire or other casualty, then neither the Board, the Association or any agent or employee thereof, shall be required or permitted to take any action to repair or rebuild the damaged portions, or to cause the damaged portions to be rebuild without the written consent of at lease fifty-one percent (51%) of the members of each class as to the manner of the repair or reconstruction and the payment therefor.
Section 2 states that if insurance proceeds meet or exceed the cost of reconstruction, then no such consent is required.
An image from an original scan of our CC&R’s is at the bottom of this post.
In summary… If damage to the Common Area happens and insurance is not covering the incident, then 51% of the owners MUST APPROVE not only the repair itself, but the expense of the repair and how to pay for it.
THIS REQUIRED MEMBERSHIP APPROVAL DID NOT HAPPEN FOR THIS INCIDENT INSURANCE DID NOT COVER THIS. THE COST FOR THIS REBUILD CAME FROM OUR BUDGET.
WE PAID FOR THIS REBUILD. WE DID NOT GIVE CONSENT FOR THE COST THIS REBUILD. WE WERE NOT EVEN GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE CONSENT OR NOT.
The bottom line here is that the Board spent $100,000 of our money without our approval as required by our CC&R’s.
It was OUR RIGHT by CONTRACT per our CC&R’s to vote on what to do in this matter.
The Board deprived us of that right, and took $100,000 from us in the process.
Don’t forget about that Dues increase!
NOW, after rebuilding this wall, replacing all of the roofs and painting the entire complex, WE have to pony up an additional $5.00 per month in a Dues increase. FOREVER!
IF THE BOARD HAD NOT SPENT THIS MONEY WITHOUT OUR CONSENT, THIS $100,000 WOULD COVER 11 YEARS OF THIS DUES INCREASE!
Could this have had anything to do with why that wall fell in the first place?
Pictured below is Scott and Leean Cravens’ motor-home. President of the Board, Leean Craven. The first question to ask about this image is why is this vehicle being serviced in the RV Lot in the first place? The RV Lot is common area and the rules prohibit vehicle maintenance in the common areas. The next thing to notice is that the ramps this vehicle is up on are CLEARLY too small for the wheels on this vehicle. Finally, notice that there are no chocks behind the front wheels and it is completely unattended.
There is nothing to prevent this vehicle from rolling down those ramps and impacting… you guessed it… That same wall that fell and cost us $100,000.
This picture was taken after the wall was rebuilt. But… If Scott was foolish enough to do something this stupid and irresponsible AFTER that incident, who really believes he wasn’t so foolish as to do it before?
And then no investigation was done. Anyone else agree that this smells like a cover-up?!
We all are aware that the Board had our main roofs replaced in 2017. This project ran nearly $900,000. This discussion is not to debate the need for the replacements themselves. What is being called into question is this…
Is it not reasonable to expect those that authorized the spending of nearly $900,000 of our money to put at least some effort into overseeing the work that is being done with it?
The contractor himself was rarely on site supervising his crew. If he is not going to supervise them, shouldn’t the Board have at least made an effort to?
Have a look around the community and you will see numerous turbine vents that were reinstalled crooked. They were not crooked before the roof replacements. It just looks sloppy.
One owner paid this contractor to install two new vents on his roof. When done, the one on the garage was visibly crooked. He went up himself to rotate the shafts to straighten the vent. On the flange of the vent, there is the word “BOTTOM” imprinted with an alignment mark. These morons installed the vent with that alignment mark some 45 degrees off to the right of bottom!
Then there were the rain deflectors. These are the pieces of aluminum above the doors to deflect the rain away from the doorways and entry paths so one does not have to walk through a curtain of water to go in and out of their property when it rains. These were not installed on the new roofs originally.
It was not until a member sent the board a picture with these circled on the old roofs that this contractor went back and installed them. And the inside units still didn’t get them over the garage doors to their patio.
Nearly $900,00 of OUR MONEY, and they can’t be troubled to oversee the quality of the work they are buying with it.
Unbelievable.
Crooked Vent
Love how they covered the company name on the truck!
Buena Park Summertree Village HOA Watchdog 