A special meeting of the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] to vote on reopening the road across Lake Auman Dam has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 15 in the Great Room of the Westside Park Community Center.
Image After hearing from Secretary Karen Milligan that 218 members in good standing had signed petitions calling for a special meeting, the six members of the SLWLA Board of Directors present for their Tuesday, November 9 Work Session approved the December date and appointed the Association's outside attorney, Stephen Later, to chair the meeting and serve as parliamentarian.
Though it is clear the meeting will be held on December 15, that Later will chair it, and that it will concern the reopening of the dam road, few other details are available. Speaking with The Times after the Work Session, Legal Director Ed Silberhorn said he had placed the details of how the meeting will be announced and conducted in the hands of the Association Attorney. Thus, it is not clear whether a ballot will be mailed with the meeting announcement, what that ballot will say, or how proxies will be handled was also not clear.
The last time a group of Westsiders successfully called a special meeting by petition was during the debate regarding the building of West Side Park. That resulted in two dueling special meetings, one held by the Board and another by the petitioners.
Silberhorn assured those who raised questions during the Work Session that Later was researching the Association bylaws, the NC Planned Community Act, and the NC Non-Profit Corporations Act -- all of which might have some bearing on how the meeting is conducted. The meeting would be conducted "in complete accordance with the bylaws," Silberhorn said.
That suggests Later's research will need to quickly lead to a plan for the meeting, because the bylaws call for at least 30 days notice to the membership.
Silberhorn encouraged Association members to make a special effort to attend, because a quorum of only ten percent is needed to make the meeting official. He said it is possible that those holding what is in actuality a minority position could pack the meeting and "have action taken."
President Ron Shepard said members should be sure to arrive early -- at 6:30 pm -- because CAS, Inc. staffers will be screening attendees to make sure they are members in good standing, entitled to vote. Community Manager Joan Frost said it is important that those attending know their lot number.
Question as yet unclear
Exactly what attendees will be voting on remains unclear, pending Attorney Later's review, even though the petition submitted laid out in considerable detail the question on which the the petitioners wanted to vote.
The question, as drafted by Westside resident and Seven Lakes Attorney Mike Gorenflo, is this:
Shall the dam road be reopened for member and resident traffic subject to a (posted and reasonably enforced) speed limit of twenty (20) miles per hour and valid transponder/bar code sticker gated access and for all emergency vehicles (specifically including, but not limited to, fire trucks, ambulances, and police vehicles) only?
Secretary MIlligan reported that Gorenflo, who coordinated the petition drive, submitted 249 signatures. Of those, two were withdrawn by the signatories, two did not match the owner of any lot, twelve were duplicates, and fifteen were not members in good standing.
That left 218 "appropriate responses," 24 more than the 173 needed to exceed the ten percent hurdle set out in the bylaws.
Board may disregard special meeting vote
Legal Director Silberhorn has made clear in previous Work Sessions that the SLWLA Board does not believe that its decision regarding the dam road can be bound or changed by any Special Meeting action, based on a legal opinion drafted by the Association's outside counsel.
An article by Silberhorn printed in the November edition of the Association newsletter reiterates this point, stating: "Our outside counsel has thoroughly researched this matter and has opined that neither our Articles of Incorporation, our By-Laws, the NC Planned Community act, nor the NC Non-Profit Corporation Act give Members the right at a Special Meeting to force the Board to take actions which would effectively rescind its position in this case."
Although Gorenflo has asked that the outside counsel's opinion on this matter be made available to the membership, the Board has thus far refused to release it.
If the majority at the Special Meeting vote to reopen the dam road and the Board sticks to its guns, Silberhorn wrote in the newsletter, the only recourse for the members who want the road reopened would be to sue the Board -- a lawsuit that Silberhorn believes the Board will win.
Public comment
Speaking on the dam road issue during the public comment segment of Tuesday's Work Session, Westsider Jim Brannon called the Board's survey of the membership on the issue "extremely prejudicial in your favor." He also suggested that Board members have, in email correspondence, evidenced bias against individual members that is in direct conflict with the Board's just-approved code of ethics. Brannon suggested the Board make better use of the website and social media applications to gather opinion from the large number of residents who have difficulty making time to attend Board meetings.
Answering Brannon, Infrastructure John Goodman said the Board had good reasons backing up its decision on the dam road and would have been remiss in its duty to the membership not to share that information in the material accompanying the dam road survey.
Dale Erickson, who was permitted to speak outside the public comment portion of the meeting, after the Board had voted on the date and time for the special meeting, Called it a "sad, sad day for Seven Lakes West when we are acquiescing to the minority who want to drive across the dam." He said members who are "misinformed, misled, and mistaken" are costing the Association money to hold the Special Meeting.
He added that the conflict in the community over the dam road would soon be reported in the Southern Pines Pilot and the Raleigh News and Observer, damaging the reputation of Seven Lakes West and property values in the community.
Mike Gorenflo, who had spoken during the Public Comment period, was ruled out of order by President Shepard when he attempted to address the Board after Erickson. The Board instead moved quickly to adjourn the open portion of the meeting and move into an Executive Session to discuss legal matters.
