I am a resident of Twin Lakes and have been for nine years. For the most part, it is a good community but in recent years I have become concerned by the management, actually my perceived mismanagement, of the homeowner’s association.

Though this is essentially a private matter within the Twin Lakes ownership, I would like to make the City Council aware of the homeowner’s association board’s behavior given that they reached out to the city for assistance in managing our privately-owned lakes.

I attended the Feb. 17 public meeting held at the Twin Lakes Country Club. During a question and answer session, I asked the vendor that the Twin Lakes board hired to manage the lakes what his services were going to cost. A board member abruptly interrupted, asked who I was and told the vendor not to answer my question. This person told me that he would give me “all of that information next month.” To date he has not.

Subsequently, I emailed the board member and asked why he withheld this information from me and his response was that he didn’t want to disclose private financial information in a public forum. I found this interesting given the article that ran in the Mirror, which featured the board talking about the problems of our private lakes and that he “persuaded the board to pony up $40,000.” Apparently, it is appropriate only for him to talk about our private business in a public forum.

What’s more, I firmly believe this board member is using his position for his own benefit. He lives on one of the lakes. During his tenure, one of the association’s rules was changed to allow lakeside residents to store their boats, kayaks and canoes in sight near the shore. As a sop to other homeowners, those who live on the golf course may now leave their golf carts in their backyards, as long as they are clean.

Lastly, every attempt I have made to review the financial records of the association have been met with stonewalling tactics as well as demands for excessive fees to do so. In this age of the Internet, where documents can be posted essentially for free on a website, this leaves me to believe that the board member and the Twin Lakes homeowner’s association cannot be trusted and have much to hide.

Mr. Mayor and City Council members, I caution you in any dealings with the Twin Lakes homeowner’s association and to fully vet any proposal that they may prefer.

Jim Triller, Federal Way