Arrowhead Woods Informed
 

RE: The AWAC, Inc. CCRs Renewal Ballot – A Perpetual Blank Check Power of Attorney.

 

Garin Vartanian and I are property owners in Arrowhead Woods and for the last two years have been sending emails expressing our concerns regarding both the Arrowhead Woods Architectural Committee, Inc. who enforces the covenants and restrictions governing the uses of your property and the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District which supplies your drinking water and sewer services. If you belong to the Arrowhead Lake Association you have received our emails from time to time.

 

If you have not received our emails then this letter is to address the fact that you may receive a ballot in the mail from AWAC, Inc. asking you to vote to renew its control over your property via the covenants and restrictions that are part of your deed and are known as CCRs.
 

These restrictions generally duplicate those of the San Bernardino Department of Building and Safety. AWAC, Inc. is not a government organization; it is a private corporation started in 1990 by two ALA members that has unilaterally undertaken the task to govern the use of Arrowhead Woods Properties. The concept of an architectural committee was founded early on in the 1920s when San Bernardino County was developing and theres was no building and safety or code enforcement. Even the founders were concerned about a private organization ruling the Woods and therefore an expiration date of the CCRs was set first in 2010 and then in 2025. It required the vote of 55% of each tract to extend the CCRs.

 

The CCRs were scheduled to expire in 2010 - AWAC, Inc. purported to have gathered enough signatures to renew them in 2010 - We mathematically proved that was false in two large tracts. AWAC, Inc. did not independently count the vote in 2010 and simply proclaimed that it had received the requisite vote and hence the CCRs were renewed in 2010. Since then, many have asked for an independent published open audit. AWAC, Inc. has refused for ten years giving a multitude of excuses ranging from “the ballots were lost” “misplaced” and most recently when it was revealed that for 9 years, they have been in boxes in a closet that now for “privacy reasons” the ballots will not be made public but only each individual voter may see his or her ballots.

 

We and many others have found their lack of transparency to be undesirable. The renewal of their authority is now pending for 2025. We have been waiting for the issuance of their ballot extending their authority. We are informing you by mail. This is being paid for by concerned citizens. Approximately 5,000 others have been informed with a similar letter, but by email. However, we believe that we have missed some of you so that this letter repeats our email.

 

AWAC, Inc. has finally published its proposed CCRs Renewal Ballot on Facebook of all places. Do nothing and it will expire automatically. Our advice is to IGNORE IT for the following reasons:

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I. This instrument is rigged: As drafted, it serves AWAC, Inc. and not the record property owners.
 

You are being given no option to renew the CCRs and let AWAC, Inc. expire. The original developers intended that the record property owners should have that option: the first opportunity was in 2010 and the next would be 2025. Several tracts have thrived without AWAC, Inc. Point Hamiltair removed AWAC, Inc. approximately 20 years ago with a vote of its homeowner’s association. More recently, Hamiltair Estates, the other Hamiltair, took a vote of its members and they are in the process of removing AWAC, Inc. In addition, tract 8053 with 403 lots has gathered enough signatures to both remove AWAC, Inc. and terminate the CCRs altogether. They’ve been AWAC, Inc. free for 7 months now.

 

II. Moreover, this instrument being offered by AWAC, Inc. is not a ballot. 

 

This instrument reaches far beyond the vision of the original developers. AWAC, Inc.’s version is not what the developers intended; it is not a simple extension of AWAC, Inc. and/or the CCRs. The instrument is a dangerous perpetual agency authorization granting the current President, Vice President and Secretary of AWAC, Inc. the ability to extend the CCRs in your tract as well as AWAC. Inc’s authority to interpret and enforce them FOREVER. 

 

This instrument which AWAC, Inc. wants you to sign has no time limit; it is FOREVER. And it is binding on your property FOREVER. This instrument takes effect the moment that 55% of the record property owners in each tract sign it and there is no guarantee the vote will be honestly counted. AWAC, Inc. has proven to be a defiant self-appointed organization that has repeatedly engaged in secrecy and deceit. Go to a meeting and ask for transparency - You will quickly learn that the property owners currently have absolutely no control whatsoever. There are no elections, board member removal or any participation by the homeowners.

 

John Wurm, Esq. is the attorney for AWAC, Inc. and also the President of the Board of Directors of the Lake Arrowhead Community Services District (LACSD). The last 2010 CCRs renewal vote count which allegedly extended the CCRs and AWAC, Inc.’s authority until December 31, 2025 has never been counted by an impartial third party.

 

In 2020, Stacey Lippert, AWAC, Inc.’s previous Executive Director stated in court that the ballots do exist and that anyone can come in and view them. Recently, AWAC, Inc. was asked to produce the ballots for an impartial recount. AWAC, Inc. thereafter contradicted Ms. Lippert and claimed that it had “misplaced” them.

 

Then in 2024, its former longtime Executive Director and board member Crystal Upton revealed to the public that the ballots had never been “misplaced” but, for years, had been boxed and stored in a closet in AWAC, Inc.’s office. Immediately the Board stepped in. Armed with legal advice, when the ballots were discovered, a new hurdle was placed in front of the public – privacy rights. John Wurm, Esq. instructed AWAC, Inc. to tell the Arrowhead Property Owners that they can only see the ballots if they would hire a third party to securely review the ballots and that the ballots could be turned over only if all identifying information was masked off.
 

Suddenly, found and not “misplaced” - the ballots could not be easily examined and compared without a court order.

 

For fifteen years the public has not been given any proof of an unbiased third-party recount of those ballots; all the while AWAC, Inc. has continued to collect money including the spending of construction deposits which were due back to the homeowners.

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III. Most important, under this document control over your property will not be limited to AWAC, Inc.

 

AWAC, Inc. can always sell its right to interpret, enforce and collect money regarding your property immediately, next year, in ten years, in fifty years; anytime it needs money – And it always needs money.

 

AWAC, Inc. obtained its rights from the ALA in the 1990 when ALA inexplicably quitclaimed those rights to two ALA members – Lois Mayo and Judy Ashton. More recently, AWAC, Inc. attempted to transfer those rights to LACSD (Senate Bill 1405). Once 55% of the record property owners in your tract sign, AWAC, Inc. could transfer those rights to LACSD again or to any other foreign corporation or to any individual located in any state. AWAC, Inc. now controls your CCRs. AWAC, Inc.’s bylaws do not limit its ability to sell/transfer control over your CCRs to foreign entities. That unlimited right to transfer its powers to anyone or anything continues under this “ballot”.

 

We must not be idealistic - AWAC, Inc. is not guaranteeing fair and economical enforcement of the CCR’s. AWAC, Inc. guarantees only that it will attempt to collect money for any changes on your property. Recently AWAC, Inc. increased its fee schedule, tripling in some cases and even began levying fees for home paint touch-ups.

 

AWAC, Inc. with its secrecy, revolving board members and personnel (16 resignations in the past two years.) has proven to be unstable. For many months in recent years, varying boards, some short of the requisite number of required board members, never even met while AWAC, Inc. continued to collect fees.
 

Whatever your persuasion, please remember that with today’s technology, a savvy scoundrel can easily copy your signature and re-use it.

 

We urge that AWAC, Inc.'s request that the CCRs be renewed along with their authority to administer them be IGNORED. Unless you vote to renew their authority and the CCRs, both will automatically expire on December 31, 2025.