The current Board, including incumbent candidates Ellen Schnoor and Susan Vejar have accomplished an incredible amount in just the first 9 months of 2008. Click here to see a presentation highlighting these accomplishments.
What makes this even more impressive, is the Board got all of this done despite having to deal with the distruptive antics of Board Member Don Harris, whose self-serving behavior has cost the HOA thousands of dollars and continues to create potential liability by breaching restraining orders and acosting homeowners.
We thank Board President Jerry Stamper, VP - Jim Roach, CFO - Rick Savard and Board members Ellen and Susan for the outstanding job!!!
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Although we hope you will vote for our recommended candidates, what's more important is that you:
DO NOT VOTE FOR DON HARRIS.
He has cost the HOA, thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees and other costs. He has a personal agenda dedicated to obtaining a new contract to operate the Lake and the Beach & Swim Club. He has restraining orders against him and has a conflict of interest (not our interest!). WE DON'T WANT HIM BACK and we want him off the Board.
We've got a pretty good start on itemizing ALL the reasons. See the Disgruntled! page.
Drum roll please............
Our recommendations are:
Patrick Cameron
Patrick has demonstrated a real interest in our community and is currently serving on the Lake Committee. He and the entire committee are doing an outstanding job. Patrick is retired, so he will have the time to dedicate to our community. He has lived here long enough (since 1996) to know pretty much everything there is to know. He also lives on the Lake. Most importantly, he does not want to hire back Harris!
George Moffitt
George has previously and effectively served on the Board of Directors. He was the CFO of our Association for several years. He cares about our community and most importantly, does NOT want to hire Harris back!
Ellen Schnoor
Ellen has done a great job on the Board and continues to Chair the Lake Committee. She spends a great deal of time around the Lake and she is well informed about everything that goes on there. She understands the responsibility of being a Director and takes her role seriously. Most importantly, she can't stand Harris! We love her and encourage your vote for her.
Susan Vejar
Susan has worked tirelessly for this HOA and has previously served on the Board. She is also on the Lake Committee that is doing such an outstanding job. Susan has attended Board meetings for many years, rarely missing a one whether she is on the Board or not. She is well informed of what is important to our community, wants to keep dues down, and most importantly, you guessed it -- wants Harris out of the picture! We love her spunk and encourage one of your votes for her.
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Most of us TRUTHSAYERS at MenifeeTruth recently received a mailing from the "Menifee Lakes Concerned Citizens".
We don't know who these folks are, but we wish we did. The mailer was obviously sent out to discourage voting for Don Harris. We like that part. We kinda' wished they would have talked to us though, because even though this mailer is fairly accurate, there are some things that we would have done differently.
Here is the mailer we received:
We'd like to take the information presented by the Menifee Lakes Concerned Citizens and provide our input.
"NO MORE HARRIS"
We're totally on-board with that!
"A homeowner's election is important in electing officers to protect your home values."
Actually the election is for choosing Directors. Once the Directors are elected, then the newly formed Board elects officers. This sentence brings up something very important though -- one of the key roles of an HOA Board is to enforce the CC&R's and to properly manage the dues received in order to keep home values as high as possible. We believe the majority of the current Board has done an outstanding job in each of these areas given the circumstances and compared to other HOAs in the region. After analyzing the latest financial statement, the current Board has managed the expenses so well, MLMA is over $100,000 under budget.
"Don Harris is running for the Board with his own agenda which is to run up the association costs in hopes that they will pay him to go away. He doesn't care about this community or its well being."
We hadn't really th0ught of this angle, since being on the Board (in the minority) wouldn't allow him to execute on his own agenda or run up costs. However, he definitely has his own agenda -- to somehow get control of the Board and get his lake management contract back. Would the current majority of the Board "pay him to go away"? They better not! And we don't think they will based on conversations we've had with a majority of the Board. Frankly, why would they? There is no reason to "pay him to go away", Harris has no lawsuit against the HOA -- it was dismissed many months ago by a judge (it wasn't dropped by Harris, it was dismissed by the court). The only lawsuit that exists now between our HOA and Harris is the one brought by the HOA for Breach of Contract that initially revolved around him taking HOA property with him when he was terminated and not giving it back. We've heard a rumor that we are about to add a whole bunch of stuff to the lawsuit now that the new Board has done additional investigation. (More on that later)
"He doesn't care about this community or its well being."
We agree with this completely. People who care about their community don't sue the association that includes every community member! As it turns out, there was NO MERIT for his lawsuit against the HOA and it was dismissed by the court (it was NOT dropped by Harris). However, it did cost the HOA attorneys fees, insurance deductible and it raised our insurance rates. Don't forget, this is the second time we've had to place a claim with our insurance carrier for lawsuit coverage (both times because of Harris) -- we were sued over an incident at the pool in 2004 (the pool Harris operated for us at the time). If he cared about our community, why would he have taken lake blueprints, pool blueprints, lake operations manuals, pool operations manuals AND door knobs for goshsakes?!
"Frivolously sued our association (all members including you)"
This is true.
"Frivolously sued five other individual association members including three board members (these suits alone cost our association over $60,000)"
This is not entirely accurate, our insurance covered the Board members and we're not obligated to cover the 2 other individual members. However, we have spent tens of thousands in legal costs trying to get Harris to give our stuff back and to protect our new contractors from him. Although its true Harris sued five other members of the HOA, there are only three remaining. Moffitt and Vejar have been dismissed by the court and the other cases are very weak.
"Used dangerous chemicals without proper license or permit on our lake"
True. We have copies of letters from the Agriculture Commissioner's Office which state specifically that Harris did not have permits and did not have permission to spray our lake with dangerous chemicals.
"Intimidated and harassed members at the Lake and Swim Club"
We've heard LOTS of first-hand stories that confirm this.
"Has several restraining orders against him due to his anger issues"
True, its a matter of public record. We don't know what the reason is, but if you need two different judges to keep you from hurting innocent people, uhhhhh.....you probably DO have an anger issue -- probably a serious issue.
"The Sheriff's Dept has stated he has anger issues"
According to Harris' own lawsuit against the Sheriff, this IS what they said. We respect the Sheriff's expert opinion and we've seen and heard enough to believe its true. The two permanent restraining orders in place against him must be the result of this little problem he has.
"Don Harris does not permanently reside in Menifee Lakes"
According to a police report from 2007, Don Harris' wife was interviewed by the Sheriff regarding another incident involving him (and phone books and knives) and she told the Deputy that Harris no longer lived in the house. The Sheriff had to visit him at his apartment in the Enclave on Antelope Road. It was during this time that Harris' poor wife had to file a restraining against her own husband. We're not sure where Harris is living right now, but according to copies of depositions we've seen, he claims to spend some of his time here (somewhere) and some of his time in Orange County.
"His only participation at board meetings have been nothing but disruptive without exception"
True and he smells bad too.
"Sold MLMA property for his personal gain (yes, put your money in his pocket)"
This is true and Harris admits its true according to sworn depositions we have a copy of. Yes, he did rip us off and this really pisses us off. The depositions will be posted soon so you can his admission for yourself. In fact, in one case, he sold property to the HOA that the HOA already owned!
"Entered into unauthorized contract that cost the Association $2,875"
We think this must be referring to the "duck kill" contract. Although we the contract was for $2,850. Close enough. The story behind Harris entering into and having this contract carried out is truly amazing. On September 6, 2006, Harris was officially informed that a new Lake Manager had been hired. Later that day, he called the duck kill company and requested they send him a contract for him to sign so they could come out and kill 60 ducks at Menifee Lake. (Rather odd behavior for someone who had just been informed he had been replaced.) A few days later, without Board approval and without the authority to sign such a contract, Harris misrepresents himself as MLMA and fraudulently signs and returns the contract. He makes a note on the bottom of the contract -- "ASAP please!" Needless to say to anyone who remembers what happened a few weeks later (the night of 9/26), Harris' dastardly plan unfolds -- the duck kill company comes out and kills 33 ducks.
"Vandalized the Swim and Beach Club at a cost exceeding $5,000 for repairs"
We're still trying to confirm the amount of damage, however, there is no doubt (as Harris admits it), he disconnected numerous pipes and wires in the pump room at the Menifee Lakes Beach & Swim Club. He claims that "his attorney" told him to do it. Turns out this is a lie. We come to find out later that it wasn't "his attorney", it was supposedly something Harris did because he attended a pool operator's seminar once where an attorney made a speech and made some statement about pool operator's liability in operating pump rooms. He admits in a sworn deposition that he was responsible for maintaining the equipment and it was fully functional on his last day managing the pool, but disconnected it anyway. There is no doubt in our minds that this was done out of spite and in an attempt to sabotage the new Manager.
"Took association blue prints, files, and diagrams of the Beach and Swim Club and Lake"
True. Harris took them when he left. Amazingly he originally said they were his! Later he has said that he took them because he thought he would be back on the job in short order and didn't want them misplaced! The HOA had to sue him to get the blueprints, Lake Operating Manuals and Pool Operating Manuals back. Tens of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees later, he finally returns them in early 2008 (18 months after his termination). No doubt, he will be held liable for the thousands in attorney's fees and extra work that was required as a result of this theft.
"Don Harris is not only currently suing the association but he is also using his board position to gain information to further his suit against the association as well as disrupt normal operations of the association, Beach and Swim Club, and Lake"
There are a few inaccuracies here. Harris is not suing the HOA, a Superior Court judge dismissed his case against the HOA shortly after he filed it (he did not dismiss it, in fact, he offered to dismiss IF the Board resigned -- which, of course, would have meant that his pals would control the board and hire him back! Doink, wrong, not gonna happen). The HOA IS suing Harris for Breach of Contract and for other things he did to damage the HOA. However, he HAS definitely tried to use his Board position to gain information to discredit the new Manager even though he has a clear conflict of interest. For the most part it seems, the Board and the HOA attorney have prevented him from gaining much information to further his self-serving cause (to discredit the new Manager and have a shot at getting his job back). He HAS definitely disrupted the "normal operations" of the HOA, pool and Lake. For example, the HOA has had to sue him for Contempt of Court for violating the restraining orders in place to protect the new Lake Manager and an employee from him. In fact, one incident involves him assaulting the new Lake Manager a day before the Board was to vote on the renewal of the new Lake Manager's contract. This incident was, in our minds, staged by Harris in an attempt to delay or somehow affect the contract renewal. It didn't work, the new Lake Manager's contract was renewed by the Board since the new Lake Manager was doing such an outstanding job.
While the mailer is mostly accurate, we hope our comments here provide additional clarity.
More to come....keep checking back.
In the meantime, feel free to keep sending us emails on your thoughts.
themenifeetruth@hotmail.com