Attorney David Darrin of the law firm of Schlecht, Shevlin & Shoenberger has formally requested that the Board of Directors of the Mesquite Country Club "allow this office to review the votes on the Amended CCRS to determine if the requisite number of affirmative votes were obtained."
The request was made to Mesquite HOA Board Attorney Wayne Guralnick in his letter dated November 14, 2003 . In that letter Darrin also enclosed the signed letters from approximately 140 unit owners who asked that the vote taken on the controversial CC&R revision be limited to the insurance issue only.
Several owners have also asked the HOA office to allow for a review of the ballots cast in that election. In the Fall of 2002, the Mesquite Board of Directors sent out ballots to owners asking them to help avert what they called an "insurance crisis" at the condo complex by voting to change the CC&R's. However, the full implications of this vote were not know to many Mesquite owners until the Summer of 2003.
In the September 2002 issue of the "Mosquito," under the front-page headline "Notice," owners were asked to vote on a special revision of the CC&R's-- the official documents governing the Homeowners Association. Said the article: "Without these amendments, the Association will face an insurance nightmare next year, which it may not be able to survive financially. Please return your ballot card with a vote in FAVOR of the document amendments. We need 306 favorable responses in order to pass the amendments."
Owners were told in the same article that "the purpose of amending the documents is to clarify maintenance responsibilities, permit the use of a unit as an HOA office, establish architectural guidelines, and permit the Association to provide 'bare walls' insurance coverage, if it so chooses."
Nowhere in that summary or in the letter dated September 12, 2002 that accompanied the ballots did the Board include any mention that by voting for this insurance change owners would also be revoking their right to rent out their units on weekends. Since that vote, owners have been restricted from renting out their units for a 3 night minimum, as have been the rules since Mesquite was established, to a new minimum of 7 nights. Many of the approximately 140 unit owners who recently demanded that the CC&R's vote be limited only to the insurance issue say they feel that the lack of clarity on this issue was intentional.
According to HOA manager Bobbie Gaffney, the CC&R revision passed by a margin of 4 votes. There were 310 "yes" votes and 40 "no" votes.
In summing up his letter to the Mesquite Board, Attorney Darrin concluded:
"The Board has suggested in the 'Mosquito' newsletter that it wishes to know the sentiments of the membership and to be responsive to their concerns. Assuming that statement was accurate, we look forward to the Board's response to the concerns of these residents."
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