There’s a lengthy post on LHCC’s website alleging that there is “confusion…generated by a builder” about how to get utility service to a membership lot. We agree that there is a lot of confusion, but the real source of this confusion is Chris Allison. He’s written that the current governing documents prevent the Association from getting utilities to membership lots. We’ve consistently said this is not true. In this post on LHCC’s website, the Chris Allison lie is repeated:
The Association cannot legally use Association Membership funds to extend the utilities.
So let’s see who is telling the truth on this important point.
The Articles of Incorporation of LHCC set forth the purpose of the organization and the limits on its ability to act. Article IV is directly addresses what LHCC is authorized to do, and it states that LHCC is authorized:
…to do any other thing, not prohibited by law or required to be stated in these Articles, deemed necessary, convenient, or desirable to maintain the properties of The Summit in good condition, operation or repair or to improve the same….
Simply stated, LHCC can do any thing not prohibited by law to improve the properties of the community, even if that act is not specifically spelled out in the Articles. “Any other thing” certainly includes extending utility lines. As is often the case with the pronouncements of the Chris Allison administration, the authoritative tone doesn’t stand up under scrutiny.
As part of the legal settlement with the finance company of the original developer, the Association obtained title to hundreds of lots. According to a former Association president, these lots were transferred to the Association to enable it to extend utilities to lots without them. Among the lots transferred to the Association were 16 lots in Section 4B. At one time, the lots in Section 4A did not have utilities. The 16 lots in Section 4B were sold to obtain the funds necessary to extend utilities to the then-membership lots in Section 4A. Today, following the effort of the Association to improve members’ properties, all of Section 4A has utility service, and many Lake Holiday members reside there. This same process of extending utilities to membership lots is clearly authorized by the Articles of Incorporation of LHCC.
Chris Allison’s false claim that the existing governing documents do not authorize the Association to install utilities is a part of a trick to get membership lot owners to support adoption of new governing documents that include authorization for individual assessments. Such assessments are not authorized under the current governing documents. Chris Allison’s false claim is also used to drive a wedge between homeowners and membership lot owners because it encourages the unsupported view that membership lot owners are after something to which they are not entitled.
Dissension built on a lie subsides in the face of hard facts.
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