By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
In Green Valley Lake, some of the less than 300 fulltime residents are having a conflict with the members of the Green Valley Lake Mutual Water Company board of directors. The residents, along with many second-home property owners, have formed the Green Valley Lake Reform Coalition at www.SaveGVL.com. They request that shareholders not mail in their proxies that will be sent to them in their water bills this April. They wish that GVL property owners read their website and then send their proxies to Sandi Huckaby to carry to the annual shareholder’s meeting this year for the election.
The SaveGVL.com coalition states the bylaws and rules of the almost 80-year-old water company were written decades ago and some of the rules are outdated for today’s realities. Most of the property owned in Green Valley Lake is owned by part-timers, mostly used as a family vacation cabin or as an Airbnb rental. Since the 2007 fire that burned over 100 cabins and businesses, Green Valley Lake has struggled getting new businesses to move into town to help it thrive. The committee states the actions of the current nine-member water board are not helping the town recover.
There will be an election for three seats on the Green Valley Lake Water board on May 14 but, before then, since it is a mutual water company, they are sending out stamped proxies with the April water bills for the election. There are 1,100 water shares in the water company. The Save GVL coalition would like shareholders to not mail back in the stamped proxies, as a blank proxy gives the current water board the ability to re-elect themselves.
There are three seats up for election. There will be a meet-and-greet of the candidates at the Black Dog Shoppe on April 6, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. All candidates will attend so the residents and weekenders will be able to meet them and learn about their qualifications and their GVL philosophies.
Juan Armeta is running for one of the open off-the-hill positions on the board. This bilingual veteran is a lawyer who previously served on the GVL water board from 2009 to 2013; he would like to return to help guide it back onto course. He is currently serving on the Coronado homeowners association. See his long resume at SaveGVL.com.
Salley Frost is also running for an off-the-hill position. As a school office manager and administrative assistant for an Orange County school district for 23 years, he has been involved as a volunteer for events in GVL and wants to make a difference.
For the up-the-hill position, local fulltime resident Bruce Bridenbecker is running. His bio is also on the SaveGVL.com website.
The GVL water board meets off-the-mountain in La Verne, so to vote in the election, since voting can only happen in person, would take a 112-mile-long round trip from Green Valley for the local water board election. Also, the meeting room the board uses only has room for four visitors, so it is not conducive to community input. Something that annoys the SaveGVL.com committee is that the board spends $7,500 a year for meals during the meetings out of their budget received from their share fees.
Something else that annoys some GVL residents is that the water company has a lovely community building in the community of Green Valley Lake and yet the board does not use it for the board meetings. Partially, that is because the bylaws say it must be a central meeting spot for all shareholders. So, the down-the-hill folks are interpreting that to mean the meetings must be held down there. But to be a shareholder, they must all be GVL property owners, so the local residents think GVL should be a central meeting location, since they all have property there.
Recently he board meetings have been Zoomed to the Black Dog Shoppe so local residents have been able to hear what the board members were deciding for the town, although the Zoom link has reportedly been very poor.
The Save GVL committee is concerned about several issues: K-rails the board wants to have installed between the town and the lake; the annual $18 additional assessment the shareholders would have to pay on top of their share fee to repair the stove and to make the restrooms ADA complaint in the clubhouse; and the collection of fees for several years with no repairs having been started.
The Green Valley Lake Reform Coalition asks that shareholders send their proxies to Sandi Huckaby, who can be contacted at huckaby49@gmail.com.
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