(Posted with permission from Mike Pancione and Ira Maupin)
Westridge Home Owners,
On November 22nd there will be an election for an Improved Property Owner (IPO) seat for the South Precinct of the Snowshoe Resort Community District (SRCD) Board. Westridge is in this precinct.
This seat is one of 3 board seats reserved for Snowshoe’s IPO. The Board has 7seats: 2 belong to the Resort Operator and are appointed by SS: 1 represents Unimproved Property Owners (SS is the largest) and is currently held by a SS employee; 1 represents the Commercial Properties and is currently held by a local business owner; the IPO seats are elected by the owners. There are about 670 improved properties in the South Precinct and Westridge Road has 80 of those owners.
The SRCD was authorized by state law (the Resort Area District Law) and approved by the Pocahontas County Commissioners in the fall of 2017. The initial election of all Board members was held in November, 2017. In compliance with this law, the elected Board members drew lots at the SRCD’s initial meeting in January, 2018 for staggered terms of 2, 3, or 4 years . The IPO seat that drew the 2- year term lot is now up for election.
By now you should have received the information about the election process and the two candidates – Chris Monger (the incumbent) and Alisha Maddox - who are running for the seat. Since Westridge Road is in the South Precinct and this election will affect you, your Westridge Board thought we should let you know which candidate we support and why.
We strongly support Chris Monger for reelection. There are several factors we considered when making this choice but the most important are: Continuity and Track Record of the Board.
CONTINUITY: Since the SRCD is only RAD in West Virginia, there was no template for creating it and getting it operational. The time spent by the board members since the SRCD’s inception has been significant: they have been, and are building, the SRCD foundation, block by block. The experience they gained in understanding the law, creating the Bylaws and implementing Precincts cannot be emphasized enough. To continue this progress, we feel it is in the best interest of the homeowners, and SRCD, that the current Board members remain in their positions.
Furthermore, the other two IPO seats will be up for election next year. If those seats go to newcomers and our representative from this election is also new, all IPO seat holders would be behind the rest of the Board members in understanding the District and would be facing a steep learning curve. Faced with this, it is likely that the SRCD will flounder and lose momentum due to lack of background and experience with the law.
A critical aspect of Continuity is that Board members must know, and understand, the RAD law. Having spent time on the Board, Mr. Monger is well versed in it. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Ms. Maddox. In her statement of priorities, she advocates activities which are not permissible under the RAD law or the SRCD Bylaws. Her ideas are in the nature of resort operations which are explicitly forbidden to the SRCD.
TRACK RECORD: The accomplishments of the SRCD to date are impressive. Some are subtle because they deal with behind the scenes work; some are obvious. Let us point out one that we care a lot about: the repaving of WR road. There is no denying what an improvement that is for us. Our Association tried for 10 years to get the road fixed properly and met with little success. Significantly, once the SRCD accumulated sufficient funds, the paving of “public” Resort roads -Westridge and Silver Creek Parkway – was dealt with as a high priority. This is exactly what we expected with the advent of the SRCD.
Chris’ service on the Board is well outlined in his bio. We are confident that he will continue to work with the current Board members as a team which knows the key issues that can, and cannot, be addressed under the RAD law and SRCD Bylaws. That is why it is so important that the current Board remain in place for at least the next several years.
We encourage you to send in your ballot and to vote for Chris. Please make sure your voice is heard. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. For the WRPOA Board, Mike Pancione
Very well stated.