There’s much ado within the Twin Lakes community about how one member of the Twin Lakes Homeowners Association Board unilaterally met with the Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club Board and set up a joint meeting of both, and within a few months presented a decision to the community in a couple of town meetings as fait accompli.

This joint meeting, which thus far appears to have no official record, is now seen as a clandestine meeting between them to strategically position themselves to prosecute a rescue mission and financial juggernaut to force an increased assessment, or tax as some have called it, for the next 15 years or more on the 1,000 or so homeowners who are not members. This sector of the community has thus become the low-hanging fruit of this newly-formed august body, which had always stood firm on their separate and impenetrable autonomy.

It also is unfortunate for the entire community in that unlike Northshore in its cohesive community battle against, and recent overwhelming victory over the developers; this ill-conceived and impetuous action on the part of the Twin Lakes Homeowners Association has created a division within this community that has now evolved into a battle of neighbor against neighbor.

We have lived along the golf course for nearly 30 years. Our opposition is not about the $25 assessment. It’s about how this process was mishandled. If it made sense we would gladly pay an additional $25 over and above the $60-plus that we currently pay. Instead, we were offered a “$25 rebate,” which would be applied to the “amenities agreement.” To me that’s a kickback that amounts to a phantom transaction, which strategically positions it to become an immediate lien on a homeowner’s property, not to mention the appearance of disparate treatment to those who do not live on the golf course. While I’m not questioning the integrity of any particular member of the board in this or any other instance, what I am questioning is the judgment, if not the motive of the entire board.

In the January 2010 Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club newsletter, the president, Jimme Schneider affirmed the country club’s commitment to the homeowners’ board as they “work toward a successful vote.” He also revealed the current ability of the club to solve its own financial problems when he categorically stated that “the TLGCC has many other options that can be implemented to insure the survival of Twin lakes…the Amenities Program is the one that will provide the most financial stability.” He continues: “Actually, the passage of the amenities package may well allow for an expansion of services, such as a fitness room, pool improvements and club house enhancements…” And finally, he says, “I want to reiterate that while the trustees strongly support the amenities program, we are at the same time continuing to pursue every other viable alternative.”

This is an incredible revelation. Here the president of the country club informs us that the club has “many other options” to pursue while the president of the homeowners association informs us that the homeowners have no other options but to buy into this ill-conceived rescue package. The president of the golf course letter in the Sandblaster supports the personal letter he sent to all members in August 2009 informing us of the financial state of the club and that he would effectively “revert back to a management structure formerly used successfully for many years.”

The problem: Before we had an opportunity to hear about any of the other options, or plans, the homeowners association had offered the homeowners as living sacrifice on the altar of financial stability of the country club. Meanwhile, the 187 proprietary members, about 50 of whom live in Twin Lakes, are sitting on their collective “many other options” and vigorously assisting the homeowners association in their efforts to deliver them a 15-year-to-life care package.

We can do better than this. Twin Lakes homeowners do not exist in a pool of ignorance. There is an abundance of talent in this community. Therefore, we should deliver a resounding defeat to this measure and then set about the business of doing the right thing, whatever it may be, in a cohesive and organized forum. Where is the common sense in asking the homeowners to bail out a private, non-profit business? There is a better way.

Bob McKenzie, Twin Lakes Country Club associate member