The latest petition from David Harvey is nothing more than the continuation of what he and Keith Pritsker started months ago; to get rid of Lynette Findley. Yes, they are the two individuals that filed the first petition which set out to recall the entire HOA Board of Directors with the intent on getting rid of some of the previous members. The target of their affection, Lynette, was the only HOA Director not to get booted.

That was because Lynette was the delegate for multiple delegate districts in Stevenson Ranch and had enough votes to re-elect herself. This has prompted the second Harvey petition which essentially sets out to get the CC&R’s changed so that an HOA delegate must “own property in the district that they are voting for.”

Harvey seems to have been careful in saying “own” property as apposed to “lives” in delegate district. This is because his buddy Keith Pritsker doesn’t actually live in his delegate district but rather owns a property there instead.

What this all boils down to is that the HOA is irrelevant; a complete joke and nothing more. The monthly meetings are nothing more than an example of how not to conduct a real business or community gathering. Enforcement of the CC&R’s, including the architectural guidelines, are so sporadic that compliance seems pointless. 

Then you have Lynette Findley who is a smart, well meaning, community minded volunteer who is completely tactless and doesn’t know how to pick and/or chose her battles. Instead, Lynette has fought and argued with countless people. In the process she has alienated most and has made the HOA meetings completely unbearable with not much getting accomplished compared to the time being invested.

Ms. Findley has wrongfully blamed Lennar, the developer, for everything that she believes is wrong or faulty in the Stevenson Ranch area. Her belligerent and hostel domineer has been a road block to rectifying certain issues that otherwise may have been resolved long ago. Lynette’s combative attitude has only isolated her to the point that there is a concerted effort now to get rid of her from the board. She has become her own worst enemy! 

Next, add to the mix over the years lack luster leadership on the part of Keith Pritsker, Jim Hicken ,Judd Honadel and others. None of whom have been able to effectively run a meeting. All of whom are complicit in the appalling fence and fiscal mess that the HOA is currently in. The shenanigans going on now will further waste HOA funds on legal fees and continue to either anger or bore the crap out of those who attend these HOA meetings.

It is no wonder that very few residents attend the monthly HOA meetings. They are excruciating spectacles of bad human behavior to sit through. Month in and month out, the same scenarios are played out in which the HOA Board is split on an issue and the matter is flogged to death usually with no meaningful outcome other than dragging out the meeting.

Folks, we are talking about an HOA, a mutual benefit corporation charged with managing service contracts, common areas and compliance with the CC&R’s. These meetings should take maybe an hour a month and not be pitting neighbors against one another.

So what is the solution? Very simple, Lynette Findley should resign as a delegate for all of the districts except for the one she lives in; regardless of the fact that she was genuinely trying to represent those district that had no delegate.  Second, Lynette should resign from the Board of Directors of the HOA.  This will at least conclude quickly what will inevitably happen at next Novembers Board elections; she’ll be voted out.

Ms. Findley may be hurt by the assertion she resign but as in so many of life’s endeavors sometimes you just have to cut your loses and move on. It’s time for Lynette to move on because staying will only continue the HOA on its current path of turmoil, divisiveness and indecision.

Further if the delegates are going to vote to amend the CC&R’s than they should do it right and thoroughly. HOA Delegates must “live” in the delegate district that they own property in and must prove that they have at least 50% ownership in their property. It is important that delegates “live” in their homes so that they can communicate with the other members of the district more effectively.

It is also important that the delegate actually be an owner and proves it since that would be consistent with the governing documents. I bring up the ownership issue because it has come to the attention of the West Ranch Beacon that Mr. Harvey may or may not actually own his home in the Diamond Head condo complex.

Public records seem to indicate that ownership has flipped back and forth between Mr. Harvey and his parents with David Harvey not actually an owner for various time periods. It shouldn’t be too much to ask for proof of ownership when becoming a delegate, should it?

If these suggestions are taken to heart than maybe the Board can get down to the business of managing the Homeowners Association and not wasting time and resources bickering about irrelevant crap. Maybe, just maybe, the Board will be able to make the intelligent decision of systematically replacing the wrought iron fences with a maintenance free plastic/PVC fence. It would be much better than throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars on painting over rust and fighting about it monthly!

Dave Bossert

Commentary  

The Stevenson Ranch Community Association (HOA) has received another petition for David Harvey the apparent delegate from the Diamond Head condo complex. The petition is requesting a “special meeting” with “legal council to clarify the legal requirements for a delegate to represent a district in Stevenson Ranch.”

Mr. Harvey and the petition signers believe that the intent of the CC&R’s was that a delegate to the HOA should “own property in the district that they are voting for.” The petitioners are requesting that if it is necessary a vote should be taken at that special meeting to make the necessary changes to the governing documents.

The HOA property management company, Euclid Management Co., has notified all the delegates and alternate delegates via letter of the special meeting regarding the proposed change to the CC&R’s. Unfortunately, an amendment to the HOA legal documents requires a vote of the entire membership and can’t simply be voted on by the delegates. However, the newly elected board has indicated that it understands the intent of the petition and has made a motion to go ahead with a membership vote.

The HOA Board will be updating the delegates on the continuing saga of the fence painting fiasco. The Board will be asking delegates for input of the fencing issue with the hope of arriving at a solution that works best for the Stevenson Ranch community going forward.

The special meeting is scheduled for Thursday February 8^th, 2007 at 6:00 PM at the IHOP Restaurant located at 24737 Pico Canyon Road, Stevenson Ranch, CA 91381.  

At the recent Stevenson Ranch Community Association (HOA) meeting one of the delegates was Jim Hicken the former president of the HOA and now CEO of the Bank of Santa Clarita (http://www.bankofsantaclarita.com/). He exposed himself to criticism once again by voluntarily speaking before apparently actually thinking.

You see, several years ago Jim Hicken was up for re-election for a board seat on the HOA. He convinced a friend of his, Laurie Baldwin, to run with the idea of bumping Lynette Finley off the Board of Directors. Ms. Finley was the delegate for her own delegate district and had the votes to be re-elected to the board. As it turned out Jim lost in the election! His friend Laurie got a seat and so did Lynette but Mr. Hicken was left with egg on his face.

At the very next HOA meeting Laurie Baldwin offered to resign only if Mr. Hicken was appointed as her replacement. That is what ultimately happened and Hicken became a board member again. It was obvious to most residents in attendance that there had been a lot of closed door politics going on in order to get Laurie off the board and Jim back on.

Now realize that Mr. Hicken had presided over the ever present fence problems in Stevenson Ranch. During his tenure on the HOA Board the 10 miles of rusting fences continued to be a major problem and a financial drain with no manageable solution on the part of Mr. Hicken or the board. It was and is a glaring example of incompetence!

Fast forward to the HOA annual meeting last week; Jim Hicken stands up and speaks out against one delegate representing many delegate districts. He goes on to say that this was against the “spirit” of the delegate/election process. The question then must be asked; why didn’t Mr. Hicken move to change the delegate/election process at the time he was Board President or a Board member?

Aside from exposing himself as a hypocrite, Hicken also made an ass of himself in front of members of the community. Let’s face it, James D. Hicken is the CEO of a publicly traded company and truly should not be exposing himself to public ridicule by speaking at local community meetings; especially if he doesn’t want his dirty laundry hung out in public. Somebody may want to tell Jim how a CEO of a public company should act because he apparently could use some coaching.

Monday night’s Stevenson Ranch Community Association (HOA) meeting was anything but a regular homeowners meeting; it had a circus-like atmosphere. It was the highly anticipated showdown of what had turned into a contentious, dysfunctional board of directors and several apparently vindictive homeowners. Its entertainment value rivaled anything that you would see on an episode of a daytime soap opera or the ever popular Desperate Housewives.

The meeting was filled with more than 40 people, most of whom do not attend the HOA meetings on a regular basis. One could describe it almost as a Rouge’s Gallery of sorts!  The group was made up of the usual community suspects many of whom pop up occasionally at a neighborhood meeting to lob some verbal explosives and then skulk away into the night.

The evening started off with a bang when Reina Slutske, the Signal Staff Writer who bombed into the meeting with her official press credentials swinging from a lanyard around her neck, was asked to leave the meeting. She did not look happy and was dialing her phone, apparently for back up, while she was escorted from the meeting room at the IHOP by HOA Attorney Dan Shapiro.

There appeared to be some brief discussion outside the meeting room, underneath a pancake sign, with Ms. Slutske but she never did return to the meeting. We learned later that the HOA annual meeting was considered a private community meeting not open to the public. (Note to self; only wear press credentials for White House briefings!)

Glennon Gray, the property manager from Euclid Property Management, did a very ample job running the meeting. Although, he did look like he would have preferred being at the dentist getting a root canal instead at this meeting. All but 198 homeowners were represented at the meeting which translated into more than 90% voting capacity; the most for any annual meeting in recent memory. After all of the delegates had signed in, Mr. Gray introduced the Inspectors of the Elections; homeowners Glenn Kormann, Betty Griffin, and Michael Carney.

Without argument, a quorum had been established and the meeting was called to order. Mr. Gray went on to explain the evening’s agenda and verified that the required proof of notice had been mailed to all homeowners. Introductions were made of the existing board and the various management personnel present. A motion was made to approve the minutes from the previous annual meeting held in October of 2005. The motion passed unanimously.

Up until this point the meeting was running rather smoothly but, as happens regularly, all good things must come to an end. The next items on the agenda were the “Report of Officers” and “Report of Committees” which signaled that the timeliness of the meeting was over!

After a relatively straightforward financial report by Treasurer Lynette Finley, the meeting started to skid off the road and into the ever popular issue of fence painting. That topic has dominated Stevenson Ranch HOA meetings, month in and month out, for nearly eight years with no resolution only finger-pointing and tonight would be no exception. To date, more than $500,000 has been thrown down a rat hole trying to deal with the maintenance of 10 miles worth of rusting and rotting fences.

The conversation on fences whipsawed into mailboxes briefly as one resident complained about their dilapidated metal box on a post. Apparently this person never thought of the idea of actually maintaining or replacing their own mail box. As it turns out, the homeowners are responsible for their own mail boxes; not big brother!

The committee reports continued with Walter Hall and Lynette Finley mostly giving updates on the Fences, Fountain, and Security. Jeff Stevenson and Judd Honadel seemed content in not giving any reports on Landscaping or the Architectural Committees. Most of the attendees wanted to get down to the business at hand; the recall and the election of the Board.

Finally, it was time for the recall election. This needed to happen first as it would determine whether there would 3 or 5 board members chosen in the Board election. Mr. Gray indicated that the petition was submitted by only two delegates representing 5% of the homeowners; Keith Pritsker and David Harvey. Both were present during this part of the meeting.

Pritsker got up and addressed the audience on why he and Mr. Harvey filed the petition. He talked about how the HOA was additional layer of government and how State law needed to have some changes made on how HOA’s operate. Keith mentioned the fence problems in his sub-association, The Arts. He didn’t divulge that he was on the HOA Board when the whole fence painting debacle started or that apparently legal fees spiked during his board tenure.  

Pritsker mentioned the need for fresh blood which appears to be the reason behind his co-signing of the petition. The other signatory on the petition was David Harvey, the delegate from the Diamond Head Condo Complex. He appears to be the main driving force behind the petition and sat with a nervous smirk on his face in the back of the room most of the evening. He declined to speak or repeat some of the accusations he reportedly made about Lynette Finley to a number of the delegates privately; one audience member nearby muttered, “gutless” under their breath. You can read about Mr. Harvey’s motivations in this past article titled HOA Recall Part III: Harvey on the War Path.  

After all the questioning and jibber-jabbering the recall ballots were cast and the Inspectors of Elections went to work tabulating the votes. Although the room seemed divided; the recall passed 2154 in favor and 1321 against. It was clear that there would be voting for an entire new slate of directors. Before that would happen, several candidates dropped out of the running in what appeared to be well orchestrated political maneuvering.

Jeff Stevenson and Deborah Cabaza announced that they were withdrawing their names as candidates. Mr. Gray indicated that Keith Pritsker apparently did not wish to seek a board seat. Coincidently, Keith was nowhere in sight to verify this fact and may have quietly slipped out to get home before his wife found out where he was. Mr. Gray got verification from David Harvey and Michael Carney that in fact Keith had indicated to them he did not want the board seat that he was running for.

In a blink, the board candidates went from 10 down to 7; two candidates would go home empty handed by the time the evening ended. At this point, the meeting was heading into hour three and I was quietly pleading to myself to go home. Glenn Gray asked all the remaining candidates to come to the front of the room so that they could make a final last plea for votes.

Of all the candidates to speak none was more eloquent in his well articulated message than Eric Rosenberg. His was a verbal breath of fresh air in what had become a room full of dank hot air. His message was neither vindictive nor negative; it was an honest positive expression in which he was prepared to look out for the best interests of the homeowners. It was because of his optimistic tone that I got the feeling he might be doomed.

After the candidate statements, the delegates cast their votes for 5 new board members. The ballots were collected and tabulated with the following results:

• Don Whaley 3227
• Kristin Draper   3003
• David Siemienski 2990
• Zach Noory   2541
• Lynette Finley 2521
• Walter Hall 2171
• Eric Rosenberg 1002

Don Whaley, Kristin Draper and David Siemienski will serve two year terms since they garnered the most votes. Zach Noory and Lynette Finley will serve one year terms and will be up for re-election at the 2007 annual meeting in order to maintain a staggered Board of Directors. Walter Hall and Eric Rosenberg did not receive enough votes to gain a seat.  The meeting ended shortly after the announcement.

As I sat there last night, I could not help but think the evening was both hilarious and sad at the same time. The recall election was ridiculous and was initiated apparently out of revenge by David Harvey. Walter Hall had indicated that Harvey did not get the “special treatment” he wanted during an HOA hearing stemming from a well documented incident.

According to several delegates, Mr. Harvey appears to have contacted many of them leading up to the Annual meeting, apparently slandering Ms. Finley.
When Lynette defended herself, all Harvey could do was smirk and refuse to repeat those lies to Ms. Finley’s face. Such behavior showed to all his character or apparent lack there of. 

In the end, they tried to get rid of Lynette and failed. The same outcome could have been achieved by just voting in three new members. Instead, some felt there needed to be a complete lack of decorum and civility. That humiliating a community volunteer, someone who has given countless hours of their time over the years,  and bringing the person to tears was an appropriate way to handle the situation.  What it actually did was exposed the culprits for what they are; spineless hypocrites lacking any moral compass. 

Dave Bossert 

The Stevenson Ranch Community Association (HOA) will hold its annual meeting tonight, Monday November 13th, at 6:00 PM at the IHOP located at 24737 Pico Canyon Road in Stevenson Ranch. This will be a Joint meeting and Special meeting of the delegates to the HOA.

At the special meeting, a vote to recall the Board will be taken first. If at least a majority of a quorum of delegates vote to recall the Board, then the secret ballots for the election of five new directors will tabulated at the meeting (assuming a quorum of ballots has been received) and an entirely new Board will be elected.

If the recall is not successful, then the other ballots to fill the three open positions for this year will be tabulated (again, assuming a quorum of ballots has been received). In the event that there is no quorum of delegates present, so long as a quorum of ballots is received, than another annual meeting will be scheduled for the purpose of counting the ballots. If there is no quorum at the second meeting, then the ballots may be counted at a special meeting of the Board of Directors.

The following people have been nominated to run for the Board: Don Whaley, Jeff Stevenson, Eric Rosenberg, Zack Noory, Dave Siemienski, Deborah Cabaza and Keith Pritsker.

To get a more complete background on the recall and those running for Board positions click on HOA Recall in the categories box on the right side of this blog.

Earlier this week we reported that a resident of Diamond Head received a threatening phone call. The caller had apparently disguised their voice but made the dumb mistake of calling the residents cell phone and leaving a message. The resident in turn was able to take the phone to the Sheriff’s Department and not only play the threatening message but also was able to show the phone number that the call came from. The Sheriff’s Department was able to trace the phone number to a pay phone at the Ralph’s market in the Stevenson Ranch Plaza on Pico Canyon.

Another resident of Diamond Head has made a request to the property management firm, Ross Morgan & Company Inc., for various documents. The request is being made in accordance with Civil Code 1357.140 (b) which states in part; “A member request to copy or inspect the membership list solely for that purpose may not be denied on the grounds that the purpose is not reasonably related to the member’s interests as a member.”

The property manager, Kristie, at first flat out refused the request stating; “This is confidential information, I will not provide it.” Then in a second note she stated, “I am unable to provide all documents requested today 10/11/06. Upon request, I have 30 days to provide info within the current fiscal year.”

Many questions are starting to be raised by various residents regarding the financial records and transparency of the association. Why is Diamond Head paying for two Security companies? Why are requests for documents being denied? Why did the lawsuit surrounding Bartlien and Company, the previous management company, suddenly get dismissed? Wasn’t there an issue with embezzlement of funds that resulted in a property manager from Bartlien going to jail?

There are an awful lot of questions starting to be raised by residents at the Diamond Head association. It appears that David Harvey and Keith Pritsker’s recall petition has opened a Pandora’s Box!

Last evening’s Master Homeowner’s Association Board meeting wasn’t the fireworks display everyone had expected, mainly due to the fact that—once again—only a very few delegates showed up, recall petitioners David Harvey and Keith Pritsker were nowhere to be found, very few homeowners attended, and only five of the eight Board candidates showed up (Deborah Cabaza, Don Whaley, Jeff Stevenson, Dave Siemienski, and Eric Rosenberg). Also absent last night (for the fourth meeting out of the last five) was President Judd Honadel.

This meeting marked the final one where two Lennar appointees would be sitting on the Board of Directors, although appointee (and Vice-President) Jeff Stevenson has submitted his name as a candidate for the November 13th election. President Judd Honadel’s term also expires and he has chosen not to submit his name for reelection.

As reported here at the West Ranch Beacon, Keith Pritsker is one of the candidates running in the Stevenson Ranch Community Association (HOA) Board of Directors upcoming election. He is also one of two individuals who had signed the recall petition recalling the entire HOA board.

The Stevenson Ranch Community Association (HOA) recall election taking place on Monday November 13^th is starting to get heated. There has been much discussion amongst residents and delegates within the HOA regarding the true motivations surrounding the recall.

A resident at the Diamond Head sub-association reported receiving a phone call threatening to “smash” in their head. The caller believed that the resident has been responsible for distributing information regarding David Harvey and his involvement in the recall petition. 

Much more to come as this story continues to develop.

It appears that David Harvey, one of the co-signers of the HOA recall petition, is keeping very busy calling HOA delegates in Stevenson Ranch. According to several delegates; Mr. Harvey has been “pushing his own agenda” against one of the incumbent Stevenson Ranch Community Association Board members. All of the statements appear to be so baseless that several attorneys are being consulted as this is not the first time Mr. Harvey has engaged in such conduct.

David Harvey seems to have taken a similar tact three years ago and many delegates complained vigorously to the master association Board. As a result a policy was instituted to protect delegates from this type of harassment in the future. It appears Board candidate Keith Pritzker may have shared a delegate list with David in an attempt to possibly slander and negatively influence the election and recall.

In previous articles posted on this site, we noted that Mr. Harvey’s apparent problems have arisen from an incident with Sky Security, the private security company that patrols Stevenson Ranch, which occurred earlier this year. We have also recently found out that there were similar incidents with the two previous association contracted security companies involving David Harvey.

The West Ranch Beacon has confirmed that Harvey’s attempts to have the Security Officer fired failed and that an official warning letter was placed in his file with the master association. This action by the HOA board seems to have motivated Mr. Harvey recent actions.

Mr. Harvey (who is treasurer at Diamondhead a sub-association in Stevenson Ranch) apparently sent a memo out to all the Diamondhead residents stating Sky Security is being replaced with the Copper Eagle security company. In fact the owners were told not to call Sky Security. This action appears to be ill-conceived since Sky Security is under contract to the Stevenson Ranch Community Association, the master HOA and the Diamond Head residents pay for their services. It appears that the residents of Diamondhead, who seem to have been excluded from voting on a new security company, are now paying for two security companies and may not even know it.

Further aggravating the situation is that Mr. Harvey, as the Diamondhead treasurer, has apparently refused to turn over the sub-association financial records. This has prompted some residents to raise questions of possible financial improprieties. A case in point; owners have complained that the Diamond Head Board holds it meetings in the morning at IHOP when many owners are at work which prevents them from attending. In fact David Harvey seems to have had an attorney at a recent hearing to represent him and it is the same attorney that represents the Diamond Head Homeowners Association. This gives the owners concerns raising the question, who paid for the attorney?

That coupled with Keith Pritsker who has been accused of costing the master association thousands in legal fees and contributing to additional master association financial problems could prove to be “disastrous to the community” said one resident.

Eric Rosenberg brings ten years of fiscal management experience to his candidacy, promising to act as an assertive voice for all homeowners who demand accountability for higher assessments, slow action on important community issues, and over-the-top enforcement of the more arcane sections of our CC&Rs while obvious, gross negligence goes seemingly unpunished. While applauding all candidates who run on the standard platform of “improving the quality of life and our property values,” Mr. Rosenberg believes his unique skills, comprehensive experience, and ability to build consensus on tough issues will enable him to give homeowners what they demand: a safe, clean, debt-free community.

After attending the Master Homeowner’s Association Board and Town Council meetings regularly for the past four years, Eric decided that it was time for him to give back to the community by helping to curtail ballooning HOA costs; create plans to alleviate long-gestating problems (such as iron fence maintenance, fountain disrepair, overlooked landscaping issues, increases in vandalism, and general community safety issues); and offer measured, non-partisan solutions to the issues that currently divide our Board so severely.

Mr. Rosenberg would consider his primary job on the HOA Board to be representing the desires and needs of all homeowners and the community’s fiscal health. He does not believe candidates should run neither for personal gain nor to resolve power struggles. Rather, an elected Director should work hard for transparency, accountability, and responsibility to his constituents. Since the assessment money the HOA Board spends is yours and the families’ you represent, Eric believes that it is absolutely imperative that the Board’s Directors do their best to spend it wisely, responsibly, and fairly.

Among other contributions, the HOA Board nominated Eric in early 2005 to assist the Newsletter Committee chair in revamping The Ranch Newsletter’s look, layout, and grammar. In the coming months, Mr. Rosenberg plans to add a Letter to the Editor section; concise, regular reports on all HOA Board meetings and decisions; and more regular reports from Euclid Management on how they’re spending your assessments.

Mr. Rosenberg thanks Betty Griffin, Paul Ash, Dave Bossert, Lynette Findlay, and Walter Hall for their endorsements. Eric hopes that the credibility their support brings, plus his experience and enthusiasm, will earn him your endorsement, your trust, and your vote.

Dave Siemienski would like to represent all Homeowners views for the mutual benefit of the community. He would like to ensure complete representation of all points of view and thorough research before any decisions are made.

Mr. Siemienski has a keen understanding of community issues and a problem-solving background from city government and private business. Communication is his specialty, and he pledges to promote a better way of keeping all residents informed on key issues.

His experience includes being the City of El Segundo liaison for the Park Vista Senior Housing complex, President of Reach Out Against Drugs (R.O.A.D.) a non-profit corporation and a Youth Counsel Member of the Glendale Youth Authority 1998-2000.

Dave’s Civic activities include being a charter member of the National Advisory Board for Cold Stone Creamery, Inc., past President (1987) of the Teamsters Union, El Segundo, and he was awarded Citizen of the Year 1992 by the Lions Club, El Segundo.