Dear Homeowners & Residents:
A message from your BHOA President, Vice President and Treasurer.
Greetings BHOA members:
Recently you may have received emails from some Bajamar residents demanding that three of us, Lisa Rath, Maria Pe, and William Barclay, resign from the Board. This group of residents has also moved forward with a petition to recall us from the Board.
We are sending you this message (1) to let you know that we do NOT intend to resign from the Board, and (2) to provide you with specific information that may explain the motivations for the recall effort.
Since June of this year, we have been reviewing and evaluating the Lot Recovery Program (“LRP”) because Board members and BHOA staff had been contacted by various residents about the LRP. These inquiries raised questions and concerns about title and dues payments, who was invited to participate in the LRP, and who was benefiting from the program.
The LRP was created by previous board members to address BHOA properties that had become delinquent on their dues. Many of these properties had significant outstanding debts, including dues, fees and interest ranging from several thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The purpose of the LRP was to sell the legal rights to collect the debts on these properties to individuals who would then take those properties through the court system, obtain legal title to the properties, and then become dues paying members of the BHOA. Under the LRP contracts, the BHOA agreed to conditionally forgive the outstanding debts on the properties and release its rights to the debts after transfer of title was verified.
In late July, the entire Board met with Attorney Careaga to ask questions and obtain information about the LRP. After the meeting, the Board unanimously agreed that a conflict of interest existed between the BHOA and Attorney Careaga due to his representation of both sides on several of the LRP cases (BHOA as seller and individual member as buyer). At a subsequent board meeting, the Board unanimously voted to release Attorney Careaga from any further work representing the BHOA on the LRP due to his conflict of interest, and to hire new legal counsel to review the LRP.
In October, the Board received important information from the new LRP legal counsel based on their review of the LRP. The following transactions were raised and identified as serious concerns about the administration and operation of the LRP:
— On June 2017, Jess and Lisa Chinchillas (“the Chinchillas”) purchased Lot 1 Block 15 in Mission San Diego (“Lot MSD-15-01”) from owners Roberto Curiel Montez De Oca and Arnold Ayala Cota for $1,400 USD.
— On November 2, 2018, an LRP contract was signed with the Chinchillas for MSD-15-01 for $1000 and was approved by the Board as follows:
Motion 6: made by Les Bussell: “I make a motion that under the guidelines of the existing program to accept the lot recovery program for Lot 01, Block 15 in MSD to write off the balance and to change the name on the system when we get the legal paperwork.” Motion seconded and passed.
— As of November 30, 2018, Lot MSD-15-01 had a total debt of $155,984.21 in back dues, recreation fees and finance charges.
— On December 3, 2018, the total amount of debt on Lot MSD-15-01 ($156,670.00) was credited to the Chinchillas.
(All documents which support the above facts are available for review in the BHOA offices.)
Why are these transactions a concern? Because Lot MSD-15-01 was placed into the Lot Recovery Program sixteen (16) months AFTER the Chinchillas had already bought the property, including the outstanding debt, for $1400. Their LRP contract then allowed them, just one month later, to receive a waiver of the $156,670 outstanding debt on the lot.
Despite these concerns, as well as some other minor issues like inaccurate appraisals and incorrect registrations identified in several other LRP contracts, the Board agreed on October 29, 2024 that it would be in the best interests of the BHOA and its members to honor the existing LRP contracts, which is now being done. To repeat, the existing LRP contracts will be honored. Moving forward, we hope to make the changes and improvements needed to ensure that the Lot Recovery Program (or any similar type of program) is fairly and properly administered and operated.
We hope that this information clarifies the efforts we have made and continue to make on the Lot Recovery Program for the benefit of all members and residents. Unfortunately, the recall petition is based on serious misinformation, disinformation and a complete lack of any supporting facts. For these reasons, we respectfully decline to resign from the Board and we hope that you will support us in defeating the recall effort.
Sincerely,
Lisa Rath, BHOA President
Maria Pe, BHOA Vice-President
William Barclay, BHOA Treasurer
In support,
Ruth Rockwell, BHOA Director at Large