As mentioned before, the original developer of PMC was Tenneco. Once a particular number of properties were sold, Tenneco exited and turned the project over to the Pine Mountain Club Property Owners Association (PMCPOA). This process was all guided by the original Codes, Covenants and Restrictions (CC&R's) that Tenneco recorded when the project was begun.
Unfortunately, the new Association didn't come with an Owner's Manual. (The Davis-Stirling Act, which laid down the rules and regulations for Common Interest Developments like Pine Mountain Club, didn't exist until 1985.). So, the foundations for the fledgling community were put in place by generally well-intentioned (not always!) but woefully uninformed and unprepared amateurs. The original CC&R's and Bylaws were lifted from State of California statutes and had no editing to make them fit the current or future needs of a year-round community. (Documents produced like this are often referred to as "boilerplate".) Governing documents prepared this way are always ambiguous because the regulations are designed to cover many different situations throughout the State. This ambiguity would prove to be very troublesome (and expensive) for Pine Mountain Club in the comimg years.
The first few years of the Association (PMCPOA) weren't too difficult-- the Board of Directors and General Managers hired by them basically winged it. Problems were small because there weren't a lot of people to deal with. Very few homes, hardly any permanent residents, (when we moved here permanently in 1976, there were 79 permanent residents!) the streets and signs, the stables, golf course and clubhouse were all brand new. The position of General Manager was a fairly low-responsibility, low-paying job--one of the main qualifications was a willingness to move yourself (and accompanying family usually) to 60 miles from nowhere. Realistically, it takes a while to really learn the ropes of a million-dollar-plus organization, certainly a year or more. During the first 3 decades of PMC's existence, the average tenure of a General Manager was about 18 months! So much for long-range planning.
One early GM went around to all the PMC facilities and put padlocks on all the cabinets and storage areas. Everything had locks, and he had the only keys. Turned out he was stealing the Association blind---he just wanted to make sure nobody stole anything but him! Another managed to build a new house and let the Association foot a large portion of the bill for the materials, AND used Association employees to do some of the construction work. Another GM took it upon himself to enforce the Environmental rules himself: a property owner painted his house an "unapproved" color, and balked at changing it. The GM suspended his "Member" privileges (and those of his family) as a "penalty" for violating the CC&R's. When the member's little daughter wanted to go to the Brownie meeting at the Clubhouse, the GM refused to let her go in, because they (her family) were members "not-in-good-standing".
The settlement of THAT lawsuit cost us over 100,000 dollars. (to be continued)
Unfortunately, the new Association didn't come with an Owner's Manual. (The Davis-Stirling Act, which laid down the rules and regulations for Common Interest Developments like Pine Mountain Club, didn't exist until 1985.). So, the foundations for the fledgling community were put in place by generally well-intentioned (not always!) but woefully uninformed and unprepared amateurs. The original CC&R's and Bylaws were lifted from State of California statutes and had no editing to make them fit the current or future needs of a year-round community. (Documents produced like this are often referred to as "boilerplate".) Governing documents prepared this way are always ambiguous because the regulations are designed to cover many different situations throughout the State. This ambiguity would prove to be very troublesome (and expensive) for Pine Mountain Club in the comimg years.
The first few years of the Association (PMCPOA) weren't too difficult-- the Board of Directors and General Managers hired by them basically winged it. Problems were small because there weren't a lot of people to deal with. Very few homes, hardly any permanent residents, (when we moved here permanently in 1976, there were 79 permanent residents!) the streets and signs, the stables, golf course and clubhouse were all brand new. The position of General Manager was a fairly low-responsibility, low-paying job--one of the main qualifications was a willingness to move yourself (and accompanying family usually) to 60 miles from nowhere. Realistically, it takes a while to really learn the ropes of a million-dollar-plus organization, certainly a year or more. During the first 3 decades of PMC's existence, the average tenure of a General Manager was about 18 months! So much for long-range planning.
One early GM went around to all the PMC facilities and put padlocks on all the cabinets and storage areas. Everything had locks, and he had the only keys. Turned out he was stealing the Association blind---he just wanted to make sure nobody stole anything but him! Another managed to build a new house and let the Association foot a large portion of the bill for the materials, AND used Association employees to do some of the construction work. Another GM took it upon himself to enforce the Environmental rules himself: a property owner painted his house an "unapproved" color, and balked at changing it. The GM suspended his "Member" privileges (and those of his family) as a "penalty" for violating the CC&R's. When the member's little daughter wanted to go to the Brownie meeting at the Clubhouse, the GM refused to let her go in, because they (her family) were members "not-in-good-standing".
The settlement of THAT lawsuit cost us over 100,000 dollars. (to be continued)
