This recall election is extremely important for Nepenthe homeowners. The new directors won the last election against the two incumbents with a large margin* signaling Nepenthe homeowners want change from what I refer to as “The Establishment.” The truth is that homeowners see the HIDE AND SPEND. Unfortunately, the status quo remains as the two wonderful board newcomers are outnumbered. We need your vote to recall the incumbent to deliver a MAJORITY to the new directors seeking to bring fiscal responsibility and transparency to the Nepenthe Board. Below are some reasons why to vote yes on the recall as well as some questions and answers addressing homeowners’ concerns. We can only stop the HIDE AND SPEND with our YES votes. Whether you agree or disagree with the recall, it is important for our community to understand the perspective of homeowners that are extremely concerned about the direction Nepenthe’s board is taking. Please read at least the bold print, but the provided details are important and factual.
Top Reasons to VOTE YES on the Recall with the FACTS:
Historic dues increase of 8.4% in 2024. Reduce our chances of a special assessment with a Yes vote. This increase is beyond inflation and negatively impacted by overspending on landscaping. Since this director’s leadership of landscaping, we have overspent our landscaping reserve allocation between 15% and 31%. The 2024 Reserve Study (p.37) forecasts a perpetual 5.3% increase in our reserve contribution which will be minimally another $18 per month bringing 2025’s dues to at least $638 a month (without increases in operating expenses). Historically, the Reserve Study uses a 2.5% increase for both inflation and the reserve contribution. I believe that contributions are accelerated to 5.3% to make up for this pressure on our reserves likely caused by the overspending on landscaping. In short, there is a math problem that’s spiraling out of control and will continue until the Board stops its HIDE AND SPEND.
Stop the HIDE AND SPEND. No more special favors for directors. On October 23, 2023, the Board approved a $200,560 proposal which was mostly to prepare for the Phase 1 paint and siding project as well as several necessary homeowner requests. However, the President’s home in Phase 2 was cosmetically renovated as one of the 20 addresses in this proposal. I contend that this is one of the many reasons they don’t want to vote in open session. This property also did not have shrubs preventing access to siding repairs and only one or two sheets of dry rot on the three-unit building are on the second floor. Unfortunately, homeowners cannot verify if Nepenthe’s Conflict of Interest Policy was followed which requires the “interested person”, our President, to not be present during discussions, this relationship disclosed, recuse themselves from voting, and a written record of this be included in the minutes. Because this was in Executive Session, homeowners cannot access the meeting minutes. Since the Board likes to HIDE AND SPEND, they intentionally make these decisions in Executive Session. The Board does not want to hear homeowners’ negative feedback because they know that most homeowners likely disagree due the cost of these renovations.
Cash flow problems. Remember the flood insurance cancellation notices? The Board only tells you what you want to hear, curating communications. They didn’t pay our flood insurance as we didn’t have enough money in the bank to do so. The Board is not watching the operating account and continues to go overbudget. Although inflation has made an impact, the Board never told us about the cash flow problems because the information we receive is curated. Had I not sent out an email blast, homeowners might never have known. To pay our flood insurance, the Board skipped its $197,564 payment which means $334.85 of your $620 monthly dues didn’t go to reserves. We were told that First Service would come up with a plan for us to pay this back, but still have not seen this plan. In June, we had another shortfall to pay taxes and now have a $296,346 unfunded reserve balance leaving us with a $502.28 shortfall per homeowner.
She got her yard redone back in 2021 and now she got a “no cost” rock job which is a GIFT, not a “test site.” Even after being called out in the recall petition for breach of fiduciary duty for the $116,000 “pilot project” benefiting her personal home, homeowners received an email on February 23rd about a “ground cover test site” due to the “increased turkey population” touting it was “at no cost” to homeowners and intended to solicit homeowner feedback. However, a project at the end of Commons Dr. pre-dating the pilot cost $1,800,not to mention 505 Elmhurst back in November. Although the address was included, the notice violated the Conflict of Interest Policy because it did not disclose this as belonging to a director. As such, many homeowners see this rock job as a GIFT and not a test site! Going back to the “pilot project”, might also add that the Grounds committee did not approve this project and somehow our manager got tasked with a write-up justifying the project. Was it then President George that delegated this or did she herself write it? I wonder. On page 53 of the May 2021 board packet, the write-up says, “It is true that Board President Christina George agreed to this area in part, to show that if she is WILLING to have her heavy shrubbery removed, it will serve as an encouragement to others who are worried about the look of the homes after the hedges are removed.“. According to the meeting minutes, Director George did not recuse herself from voting on this project which is another violation of Nepenthe’s Conflict of Interest Policy.
Determined to renovate Nepenthe landscaping at all costs. In looking at this May 2021 Board packet pages 62 to 67, Christina George’s determination to completely renovate Nepenthe is very clear. It was clear that this did not have the political support, so she sidestepped this by leveraging small legitimate homeowner requests into large projects for drainage issues or even water savings. Now, she is using the paint and siding project as a mandate to renovate this “outdated shrubbery” although many paint and siding cycles have occurred without removing the shrubs. The “pilot project” and the plan to extensively renovate Nepenthe claimed to save money on landscaping, although no such cost savings have been tracked nor achieved despite nearly a third of our 55 acres of landscaping being renovated. When called out on this, you can hear for yourself what she has to say about this by clicking HERE. She says she needs to spend more to save. No joke, your shrubs are next!
Excessive landscape renovations are pressuring reserves. Since onboarding our landscaping vendor, the special projects paid from reserves dropped Nepenthe’s percent funded from a “STRONG” 92.7% funded to “FAIR” at 63.6% in just one year. In 2024, reserves were 48.5% funded which is in part due to the paint and siding project but projected to 36.4% in 2027. We understand that our infrastructure and roofs need to be budgeted for, but we cannot afford to keep adding discretionary landscape renovations year after year without impacting our overall financial health. First Service recommends a 70% funding level. It’s a mathematical ticking time bomb as we, year by year, add more landscape projects, unlike a roof replacement that happens once every 25 years and there’s time to replenish reserves. We are more less remodeling our kitchen every year and putting it on a credit card. Like an outdated kitchen, our landscaping still works and is more of a discretionary spend versus a necessary expense like siding repairs. This is why Browning had to accelerate our reserve contribution from 2.5% to 5.3% to stop this mathematical nightmare. Hear what Bob Browning says about our landscaping spending by clicking HERE.
False promises in campaign materials. She thinks she knows better than us. Campaign materials promoted herself as collaborative, clear and transparent financial reports, integrity, work collaboratively and respectfully and financial responsibility. The facts herein contradict this and point instead to a lack of integrity with self-serving projects she has benefited from. In talking with homeowners, they describe their various “run-ins” saying they “don’t feel like she listens” and anything but collaborative, one even saying the tone was “privileged and dismissive.” In fact, she bypasses the Grounds Committee volunteers in many of the decisions and instead works mostly unilaterally with Carson deciding what needs to be done and then proposals are pitched to the Board members in Executive Session. More importantly, the recent Carson proposals voted for in Executive Session lack the detail needed to ensure that Nepenthe received a competitive price and work was completed according to the contract. Compare the attached $200,560 proposal which includes only 20 addresses and a basic job description versus the detail we received for the 2021 pilot project. Are we ensuring that they spent the man hours? Do we have receipts for materials? Is this “financial responsibility” or “clear and transparent financial reports”? I also ask you to reflect on a statement made in her 2021 Candidate Statement after the very unpopular pool closures as follows:
Making decisions that may be unpopular is part of what is required in Board service and, looking back, I would vote the same way.”
My neighbor told me not to vote yes on the recall as it’s divisive and Christina is such a hard worker. Consider the facts. Can you afford a big special assessment just because you like your neighbor and value their opinion? Hard worker is one thing, but big spender is another. Homeowners have gone to board meetings, written letters, sent emails out to the community, nothing will stop this HIDE AND SPEND without this recall. The truth is that this neighborhood became very divided under her presidency with the extreme closures of our amenities, especially the pools and tennis courts not to mention the pilot project. Now, it’s been the landscape projects she’s pushed during her tenure as president, Grounds Chair and Committee Member and now Board Liaison. Trust and confidence in our Board decisions will be restored once there is a majority of board members that are fiscally responsible and transparent with open session voting.
I heard this recall is costing Nepenthe homeowners a lot of money. It should not have cost money other than a few hours of the attorney’s time. As the sponsor of the petition, I offered to hold the recall election concurrent to the annual election which would have only cost additional postage for more pages. The fact is that the Board incurred unnecessary legal expenses by using counsel to avoid the recall. With the facts in the recall petition presented, many asked why she didn’t resign. The expenses incurred is on them and likely a strategic decision to buy themselves more time for their HIDE AND SPEND.
The Board says that they vote in Executive Session “on the advice of counsel.” Do our elected officials spend behind closed doors? No, they do not except maybe when the city council got caught for giving the city manager a raise and was brought to light by local media. The Board hires attorneys to say what they want and don’t work for us homeowners as we don’t write the checks. Nepenthe Bylaws Section 5.7 state that the Board can convene in executive session “TO DISCUSS” (ii) matters relating to the formation or performance of contracts with third parties.” Please note that it doesn’t say it’s for voting. Furthermore, the California Open Meeting Act Civil Code 4910(a) states that “items of business” must be heard at the board meeting, not executive session. The public policy behind the Open Meeting Act is to ensure transparency and keep board members accountable. To learn more about how hiding is wrong, read my article Stop Hiding in Executive Session. In the July board packet (p. 146), you will see my letter where I ask for a formal response from counsel defending this position. Of course, no such response has been given and the Board responded with one of their classic “non answers” using the “advice of counsel” excuse but not providing the formally requested counsel’s written statement defending such practice.
The recall points out a “gotcha” infraction of the Bylaws. I hear the recall doesn’t have merit. Nepenthe Bylaws 6.7 and 6.8 clearly state that non-officers cannot sign contracts. Although Section 6.7 states that duties may be delegated to assistant officers, the association manager or other agents of employees, it excludes “non-officers.” Section 6.6(e) defines the Member at Large as “a member of the Board who is not an officer shall be designated Owner at Large.” Although seemingly petty, many homeowners have received threatening letters from counsel for minor infractions. The old saying is “you reap what you sow.” If the Board is going to hold us accountable with an iron fist, the same must hold true for directors. Despite being called out on this technicality, Christina George continues to sign proposals as seen in the attached July 30th proposal for Phase 2 landscape renovations. In a pitiful attempt to address this transgression of the Bylaws, the Board recently adopted a new “Board Opening Statement” at the August board meeting (p.6) where they add, “This Board will continue its long-standing practice of authorizing all Directors to sign documents. While master contracts will usually be signed by the Board President, exceptions may be made.” To revise this policy, the Board must amend its Bylaws. I personally don’t understand why someone else can’t sign it. In short, this statement is more or less giving us the middle finger while the Board continually ignores the law and Nepenthe Bylaws as evidenced by the HIDE AND SPEND for landscape proposals as well as the recall fiasco.
Is it true the Board got sued for not doing the recall? Thinking a letter from an attorney might motivate the Board to follow the law, I hired counsel to represent me in this matter. Unfortunately, they doubled own and refused to cooperate. Prior to filing the complaint (lawsuit) with the court, I was legally required to offer “alternative dispute resolution” where the Board had 30 days to agree to mediation. After running out the clock, the Board REFUSED MEDIATION and forced my hand in pursuing litigation. A formal complaint was delivered to the Association’s new attorney holding certain directors personally liable for breach of fiduciary duty for not following counsel’s advice to hold the recall election as required by law. My complaint requested the recovery of my legal expenses as well as providing redacted legal invoices for their accusation in the May 22nd email which assigned legal expenses from February, March and April of 2023 to the recall. However, the recall petition was served December 2023. Instead of the named defendants paying what I feel to be their personal liability, the Association attorney submitted an insurance claim on their directors and officers (“D&O) insurance policy prior to formally filing the lawsuit. These directors should have personally owned up to their bad decision making, but they put themselves before homeowners and now our insurance premiums could increase due to this claim that I believe was personally absorbable. Had it been me, I would have called my elderly parents or friends for a loan before submitting the claim. Unfortunately, the Board still refuses to provide the redacted invoices for legal expenses claiming “attorney client privilege.” Homeowners and the new board members should hold them accountable by asking that they personally reimburse our Association for their part in the costs of this recall election. In my opinion, I see a history of a reckless disregard for the law and Nepenthe Bylaws which puts our Association at risk to further claims and litigation. We need directors that follow the law and Bylaws instead of prioritizing the SPEND AND HIDE as well as their egos.
The recall is “personal” because people don’t like Christina George. Not true. This recall is about the facts. Please don’t discredit the messenger because you may not agree. I have spent many, many hours reviewing details, documents, and listening to homeowners. My supporters and I have done this for the homeowners and to protect and preserve our property values. We have encouraged change by writing letters and speaking up at meetings. Nothing worked and the Board moved deeper into Executive Session with their hiding. The recall was the only option as we cannot afford more HIDE AND SPEND.
Why didn’t they recall the entire board? Although this was considered, a more surgical approach of removing one director was chosen as the goal is to gain a majority of directors. Many believe that Christina George’s leadership of the Grounds Committee and her shameless tenacity in renovating all of Nepenthe’s landscaping is the root cause of Nepenthe’s problems which is creating a toxic environment for homeowners. We are confident that open session voting will return once she is removed and a board member with integrity joins the Board.
Conclusion: We are a community and deserve to have a board which operates in the open and does not curate communications with homeowners by intentionally and strategically omitting important details to control the narrative creating a false reality so they can pursue their personal agendas. We are a community and deserve to know both the good and the bad. The expensive cosmetic landscape renovations are both disruptive, expensive and don’t always look that good. Once the paint and siding project is finished, we should revisit this with the help of a professional landscape architect and involve our homeowners in the deciding the future look and feel of our Nepenthe grounds. I urge you to vote “YES” on the recall to maintain our property values with lower dues.
Your friend and neighbor,
Ashley Tangeraas, Recall Petition Sponsor
*Brian Coates 219, Courtenay Delfin, 183, Cheryl Nelson 115 and Jackie Grebitus 115
