The CotoBuzz Journal, Community Journalism

The CotoBuzz Journal

Community Journalism, Newsletters and Blogs Covering South Orange County, CA

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May 2007 Issue

We do not make jokes, we simply watch the LA Times, the Orange County Register and the Coto de Caza Board of directors and report the facts!

When is a Homeowner Association Committee not a Committee?

April 12, 2007

More than 85 cents of every CZ dues dollar goes to either the gardener or the private security guard. Regularly either the OC Register, the CZ newsletter or the CZ president’s letter extol the virtues of the gardener, the private security guard or the member of the landscaping or public safety committees.

For example, a recent newsletter announces that the “CZ Master Association Champions Public Safety Committee”, then during general CZ board meetings, the board appoints a chairman and various public safety committee members.

When we asked the board to let us see landscape and public safety committee meeting minutes, the response was “Because the Public Safety Committee does not have any records of minutes prepared from January 1, 2006, it is not a committee of the board”!

In keeping with the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Open Meeting Act, neither the landscaping nor the public safety committees are exempt from providing notice to titleholders of meetings, and generating and distributing minutes from these meetings to the membership.

So the question remains, when is a homeowners association committee not a committee?

Apparently the answer is, as long as the committee is a CZ committee, it is not a committee!

Why else would a significant reduction in patrol hours by the CHP (from 150 to 50! In February 2007, with predictable consequences, does not even raise an eyebrow?