It appears we have been told a lie.
According to the FAQs found on the Renew Big Canoe website soliciting property owner approval for the clubhouse renovation, (1) no additional work was needed for the clubhouse kitchen as it had been recently renovated and was functioning in an efficient manner.
And yet, the POA President along with the General Manager and Director of Finance have joined together in a concerted and energetic effort to assure the community that $250k in additional kitchen equipment was both desperately needed and also planned all along with or without the overall renovation of the clubhouse.
Clearly, if these assertions made in the April 27th board meeting are true (2a) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXrqVukH-Ko at 27:10, the information provided by leadership in support of that August 2023 vote was false.
Note: With the President sitting on the board in 2023, plausible deniability can not be claimed.
It seems this current narrative is being pushed by leadership in order to rationalize their decision to isolate those expenditures from the overall cost of the clubhouse project as noted in previous posts on this site. (3)
Unfortunately, it is now looking as though the entire Renew Big Canoe endeavor was a farce and a sham.
Additional note: It can not be forgotten that after the initial property owner approval of $6.35 million, leadership later increased the renovation project to $7.7 million. This amount does not include the kitchen equipment, A&E ($325k) and retaining wall ($350k).
Perhaps the community should have pushed back and demanded a revote of the project as so passionately requested by another property owner. (4) https://bcmatters.org/guest-spot-wayne-huey-on-the-renew-big-canoe-clubhouse-renovation/
And now, one must seriously question whether the clubhouse renovation placed on the ballot in August 2023 would have ever been approved by the property owners if our elected leadership had been honest about all of the above.
Perhaps we can all bemoan that question together around our big, new horseshoe bar.
Maybe it’s time for some truth serum . . .
It seems that our leadership just doesn’t know when to put a lid on it as the President jumped in it again along with the Director of Finance to falsely and proudly hail the covenant mandated and defined Capital Reserve Fund as a “rainy day fund”. (2b)
Perhaps our leadership could take a few minutes to reread Article VI, Section 13 of our covenants approved by the property owners in 2010 before they so rashly define that fund as nothing more than a “rainy day fund”.
For that matter, after reading, perhaps leadership or even our corporate counsel could explain why they have failed to manage that fund as dictated by covenant.
Note: For those interested, enough articles (referenced below) have been posted on the subject of our reserve fund without revisiting that topic in additional detail at this time. (5)
And now for a trademark update . . .
As expected, the POA President has deemed all documents pertaining to the $400k trademark purchase as privileged and confidential. But despite that claim, the trademark assignment agreement that was filed with the U. S. Patent and Trademark office is actually available as a public record. (6)
Note: The purchase and license agreements are not currently available.
According to USPTO records, it appears that the discrepancy with the mark “Big Canoe, ‘Absolute proof that where you live can make a difference in how you live’” has been cleared up. And as noted in a previous post, “Big Canoe Brokerage” is not currently trademarked, and the POA did not opt to file a new registration in that name. (7)
And finally, one more update . . .
Remember those A&E fees attributed to the now defunct postal facility? (7)
Subsequent to that post, an Ask the POA request was submitted asking “where and when were the architectural and engineering fees totaling $41,808 for the canceled postal facility project expensed (written off)? Quite surprisingly, the response from the Director of Finance indicated that those fees were still sitting in WIP (work in progress) for future consideration. (8) AskThePOA Response #16949
As those fees had been removed from the 2025 capital reports, it was presumed that those fees had been appropriately written off. However that is not the case. Instead the line item for those fees has apparently been hidden from view on the capital reports as the dollar amount ($41,808) is still included in the totals found on the report. (9)
Note: It is unknown if other capital expenditures have also been hidden from view on the capital reports.
Given that leadership has indicated that “the Postal Facility project is on hold indefinitely” (10) these expenditures should be written off rather than carried as an asset on the Association’s balance sheet in the “Work in Progress” account.
In closing for now . . .
It’s truly a shame that this beautiful community must exist under such a cloud of secrecy and deception.
Truthfulness and transparency could be so simple.
. . . . .
If you believe the information contained on these pages is important, please continue to share and pass it on. And as always, feel free to contact me directly at thepcrosses@gmail.com for questions or further discussion. Meanwhile, take care and stay safe.
Patricia Cross
10438 Big Canoe
References:
1) Click here: FAQs found on the Renew Big Canoe website
https://renewbigcanoe.org/faqs-voteable-projects
2) Big Canoe POA board meeting, April 27th, 2025, video on youtube at: a) 27:10 – 29:02; b) 30:55, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXrqVukH-Ko
3) “And for now”, March 14th, 2025, bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/and-for-now/
4) “Guest Spot: Wayne Huey on the Renew Big Canoe – Clubhouse Renovation”, February 10th, 2024, bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/guest-spot-wayne-huey-on-the-renew-big-canoe-clubhouse-renovation/
5) “Time to talk about our capital reserve fund”, November 18th 2020 bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/time-to-talk-about-our-capital-reserve-fund/
“Ask the board”, June 3rd, 2021, bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/ask-the-board/
“Where does our money go?”, November 8th, 2020, bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/where-does-our-money-go/
“In discussion of recent communications”, June 26th, 2021, bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/in-discussion-of-recent-communications/
6) Click here: trademark assignment agreement
7) “The untouchables”, April 15th, 2025, bcmatters.org, https://bcmatters.org/the-untouchables/
9) March 2025 Capital Report, pg. 7
(POAwebsite>login>POA>budgets>2025>2025MarchCapital
10) Click Here: June 27, 2024 FAQs Postal Facility
https://renewbigcanoe.org/june-27%2C-2024-faqs