A call to action at Pocono Mountain Lake Forest Community
To the Editor:
A call to action! Fellow Pocono Mountain Lake Forest Community Association members fight for your rights to be heard and take back your community from corruption, fraudulent practices, misconduct and gross negligence of your Board of Directors. Just so you know the truth, Your Board of Directors has squandered your hard-earned dues, assessment charges and central water system sale proceeds to fund their private legal defense cartel in the tune of $940,000 and climbing! Charged hard-working families a Special Assessment without membership approval of $500 per lot owner for the proposed purpose of funding PMLFCA Legal Defense Account and then never established that account. Your board of directors misappropriated that assessment money and established a Miscellaneous Account where you have no way of knowing if the money collected (about $350,000) went to the proposed purpose it was intended for and fraudulently billed you for it! Your Board of Directors did not fund a Restricted Road Maintenance Reserve Account they were mandated by membership vote to do so and misappropriated the existing funds for purposes unknown and that is one of the reasons why our roads are crumbling along with your property values.
They use your hard-earned money to hire Pennsylvania State Constables for their private security force without membership approval and no budget line to pay for it approved by the membership. Your Board of Directors use your official Newsletter and Email Bulletin Board to advocate the physical harm of members they are supposed to represent and call it free speech! Is this the kind of misconduct you agree with that will subject us all to more lawsuits and bankrupt this community? Your Board of Directors bill compactor service as dues and call it an amenity, this is not true! It is a fee for service and you do not have to pay for it if you don't use it! You can set up your own garbage pick up and take it off your mis-billed dues payment, this also takes away their leverage to ban you from using the compactor because you dispute misconduct and abusive policies.
They pad the disposal budget and use the surplus for unknown purposes membership can't verify, read your covenant documents and deed there is no compactor service listed as an amenity just another lie the Board of Directors perpetuates to control your right to be heard. Please read the legislation The Honorable Rosemary Brown is proposing and contact her office to include your concerns you have about the abuse of process in your community. You don't give up your civil rights at the entrance gate just because you decided to live in a Home Owners Association I know this because I lived in this community for over 40 years and watched it being taken down by mismanagement and personal agendas that are not in the best interest of all community members. Please like, comment and share so this gets out to all communities that are having the same issues and send a message to State and Local authorities to allow fair and open hearings without the huge costs of private legal litigation.
Support PA. State Rep. Rosemary Brown's bill.
David DeVilliers
Dingmans Ferry
Read the bill: http://bit.ly/1W33hx9
Related story: "Legislation will address private community disputes": http://bit.ly/1rOMyl9