The first open Board meeting with the new full Board was held Tuesday night.  This was easily the best open Board meeting we have attended in a very long time, a breath of fresh air.  Open communications was the main theme and they hit a home run.  A good turnout of 50 to 100 people was there and the comments we heard afterwards were all positive.

Following a brief introduction by Walt Tibbet, the Board President, the members announced their clearly defined roles.  Various committees are being established, including security, enforcement, welcoming.  Standing committees including Architectural review, landscape and golf course, will continue.  Mike McKenna, the treasurer committed to start providing regular budget and financial updates at subsequent meetings.

At the meeting our new Community Manager at Associa was introduced.  She is Angie Vinyard.  She can be reached at angie.vinyard@associa.us.  Her direct phone is 916-677-8312.

Most of the meeting was devoted to an update on the golf course given by Walt.  A letter to owners providing the information will be posted on Town Sq later this week.  We will post it here as well when it comes out.  Meanwhile, here are some highlights from Walt’s comments:

• The HOA has given the golf course owners two proposals for possible ways the community could help assure the golf course remains a viable centerpiece of our community. The objective was a win-win by both parties. Both proposals were rejected.  A counter proposal was made requesting a subsidy of $5,750,000 over 10 years with no guarantee that the agreement would last 10 years.  This was deemed unacceptable.  Walt provided assurance that no agreement would be made without a vote of the entire Community.
• Morgan Creek LLC has filed a preliminary planning request with Placer County to build 102 single family homes on the golf course property. The applicant has 12 months to provide required documentation as to the project’s viability.  This step is required before the formal planning process can start.  The documentation required is extensive.  One key requirement is Community input.  The Board has been in contact at all levels of the County, will closely monitor the process along with our attorneys, and is confident that, for many reasons, approval of such a development would be extremely expensive and has significant environmental and infrastructure obstacles to overcome.
• On the plus side, relationships with the current on-site golf course management appear to be improving. Examples are: A bar service was set up to serve wine to the meeting attendees (This seemed well received.). It was announced that the clubhouse will remain open every Thursday evening for residents as long as there is demand.  There was also a suggestion of exploring a possible Morgan Creek golf tournament.
• Nothing further has been done formally with the threat of legal action over easements and the location on the Pinehurst gate. As of this date no law suit has been filed.
• According to Walt, the goal of the Board  is to restore the golf course to the world class centerpiece of the community it once was and can be again. He emphasized that the Board and the Community need to work together with current or future golf course owners to achieve this.

The open forum had a few comments centered on community safety and security.  The issue of speeders was again raised.  Chris Quam stated that the issue was high on his committee’s priority list.  The subject of break-ins was discussed, especially along the Vineyard corridor. Apparently, the pedestrian gates which are supposed to be locked at night are still not secure and can  be easily opened.  Residents were asked to leave their lights on to better enable surveillance cameras to identify trespassers.  Again, Chris said his committee had these issues high on their radar.

In summary, the new Board appears to have hit the ground running.  There was also talk of holding Community social functions and publishing a newsletter.  They are Community focused and seem to be supportive of open communications.  In our opinion they deserve our support.