Chaos in our community as a result of the continued missteps by leadership has culminated in what may become a complete redefinition of the character of Big Canoe as our board has chosen to outsource the entire POA operations to Bobby Jones Links (BJL). Our employees will become employees of BJL. (1) This decision was made by a board with some members seated well beyond their elected term and coupled simultaneously with a separate personnel decision as though one depended on the other. They did not.
The decision of our current board to secretly negotiate an agreement with BJL without any apparent committee or property owner knowledge or involvement is unconscionable. And to openly mislead property owners over recent months (2) about the BJL role in our community is nothing less than calculated deception. Further, the fact that this decision was reached while in the middle of the board election revote is completely suspect. Nothing can be perceived as so urgent that these decisions could not have waited until a duly elected functioning board was seated.
It is acknowledged that without the finer details of the BJL contract, one can not make a conclusive judgment regarding the facts of the agreement. However, regardless of any merits that might be found in this decision, this should never have happened without property owner input. In what universe could this possibly be acceptable?
Of additional concern is the fact that this agreement was negotiated by a board responsible for several major blunders in just the last ninety days. Based on this recent track record, it is difficult to develop any real level of comfort about these secretive negotiations.
And now the questions abound . . .
- Was the contract reviewed by the newly retained legal counsel and was a written opinion obtained on that review?
- For that matter, who is our new legal counsel? That information remains withheld.
- What are the terms of the agreement? Is the agreement (even if partially redacted) available for property owner review?
- Eblast indicates that BJL will be interviewing and hiring a new general manager that will apparently be an employee of BJL rather than the POA. (3)
- Big Canoe bylaws, Article V, Section 5.1 specify that a general manager shall be selected by the Board of Directors and that they will report directly to the Board. (4) (5) Additional references to the duties, authority and responsibilities of the general manager can be found throughout policies and procedures. Does this action require a change to those bylaws? If so, will this require a property owner vote? How can a general manager employed by BJL report directly to the POA board? One general manager can not have two masters.
- Did this decision require approval of the developer? Was the developer in the loop?
- What financial information or detail regarding our operations will be available to the community going forward?
While waiting for more information, peruse the Bobby Jones Links website (bobbyjoneslinks.com) . . .
Although previous board presentations given by the now designated interim general manager have been impressive as is the BJL website, pages and pages of the website are all things golf. Obviously, discussions about bears and deer and root balls and native plants are not to be found.
Of special interest, a news release in November announced that BJL had been selected to “manage” the food and beverage and clubhouse amenities at Big Canoe. This is somewhat distinct from explanations given by the board that BJL would only be providing training and suggestions on improving profitability and efficiencies for F&B. (6)
And now for the realities . . .
Despite these events, nothing was ever done by the board to dispel any of the concerns or questions surrounding last year’s food and beverage losses. If anything, the sudden decision to engage the services of Bobby Jones Links could be construed as an attempt to sweep all the F&B problems under a new rug. After all, it was this board that oversaw and allowed, without any intervention, the F&B losses.
With this change in direction, it is unlikely that we could ever know the real reason for those losses. The answer is in the requested F&B detail, and more than ever, it is to be found in an extensive independent audit.
Unfortunately as indefensible as this action by the board might appear, a quick review of the governing documents does not find anything that would have specifically prohibited the board from making this decision without property owner approval. Other examples of the board’s unlimited authority can be found in previous posts on this site. (7) In fact, in reality, until the community begins demanding appropriate change to the governing documents, it is remarkable just how much this board, or any future board, can be allowed to do without the approval of the property owners.
A line in the sand . . .
All that being said, BCPOA governing documents provide only one tool in the arsenal to prevent an arrogant, condescending board of directors from taking whatever action they might choose fit . . . and that tool is the petition for removal of one or more directors. From what can be determined, that tool has never been used by this community. As painful as it might be, perhaps now is that time.
Without a line in the sand, we are all just wasting our breath and wasting our time asking for change. Please draw that line.
*****
Please feel free to share your comments on this site regarding this proposal or contact me at thepcrosses@gmail.com for questions or further discussion.
If you would like to see additional articles posted in the future, please subscribe for an email notification. In addition, if you believe the issues examined on this site merit property owner awareness and discussion, please share and/or forward to your friends and neighbors in Big Canoe.
Patricia Cross (10438 Big Canoe)
References:
1 Eblast, “From the Board of Directors of the Big Canoe Property Owners Association to the Community, February 21, 2020
2 Smoke Signals, digital edition, December 11, 2019, pg. 1 (“The POA has a one year, $5,000-a-month agreement with Bobby Jones Links for consulting, including staffing, training and marketing deliverables to reduce costs and improve quality/consistency at the clubhouse.” – POA President Jay Goldman) (https://www.bigcanoenews.com/news/news-col1/big-canoe/9061-results-of-new-poa-directors-election-temporarily-on-hold)
3 Eblast, “Bobby Jones Links engaged to manage the POA and amenities at Big Canoe”, February 21, 2020
4 2006 Third amended and Restated bylaws, Article V, Section 5.1 (POAwebsite>login>POA>documentarchive>boardofdirectors>BigCanoebylaws>112006ThirdAmendment)
5 2004 Second amended and Restated bylaws, Article V, Section 5.1 (POAwebsite>login>POA>documentarchive>boardofdirectors>BigCanoebylaws>102004BCPOAByLaws)
6 POA Board of Directors Meeting, Minutes, September 2019 (POAwebsite>login>POA>Meetings>Minutes>September2019)
7 bcmatters.org, “Save the Postage”, December 3, 2019
Thank you, Again , for this research. I truly appreciate the effort you have demonstrated in helping owners understand the mechanics of our governance.
Now, please enlighten me- if BJL has reciprocal agreements with the other clubs it manages and with Big Canoe, will that mean as a property owner I will be obligated to subsidize our golf amenity for the pleasure of golfers who have no connection to Big Canoe other than they have some form of relationship to a golf club managed by BJL? And that conversely I will be providing a benefit to the golfers of Big Canoe by enabling them to play at clubs managed by BJL?
Are we a country club community with some residences or are we a residential community with a golf course among other amenities.?
Please comment if possible.
Excellent point, Nora.
Thank you as well to Pat for the reality of facts .
As new residents, we have serious remorse in learning all operations of this community including the wonderful staff employed here , is no longer under BC management: duly noted without any public dialogue of the findings ( icymi: two weeks ago I directly questioned Jay Goldman regarding this being told BJL had not come forward since it had only been 3 weeks. Two weeks later the outgoing Board had a private strategy to act upon those findings without public disclosure which leaves the impression illegal or dishonest activity has occurred. Why else the lack of disclosure? We cannot imagine the impact of this decision upon the employees. Perhaps an independent community forensic accounting needs to be considered going forward. Seems long overdue.