I am Homeowner X and the purpose of this channel is to explore issues of incompetence, misconduct and corruption of the El Mirador Homeowners Association's Board of Directors and its Design Review Committee. I am a reluctant participant in this process and am learning an array of technologies to communicate in a fair, reasonable and transparent way. This is a better response than my opponents deserve, as they routinely engage in the worst type of rumor-mongering and open hostility towards me and my family.

I want to discuss David Chavez, Jr., who is the Association's Treasurer. Chavez has not paid Regular Assessments against his property to the Association for what appears to be a significant number of years, possibly longer than two decades. As a result, he apparently owes the Association as much as $8,460 in unpaid annual dues, not including late fees charged to delinquent accounts.

Feel free to pause the video here if you want to double-check my math. We can look into the timeline of Chavez' nonpayment in a moment, but as it sits, unless someone presents credible evidence to the contrary, I am going with these numbers that have been calculated using the available evidence.

This is a serious matter, and warrants Chavez' removal from the Board of Directors. He has not paid dues for years, yet he is in charge of recording liens against homeowners when they become delinquent in their dues. This demonstrates poor character and a capacity for dishonesty from Chavez and the entire Board of Directors.

So, where does this come from? How do I know Chavez does not pay his annual dues? For years, various Association members have brought up the matter of Chavez not being required to pay annual dues because he is Treasurer. At first I didn't consider the matter worth investigating as it sounded plausible. Over time, however, I discovered that the Association's Board and committee members promote false information with an alarming regularity. Almost nothing I have been told by them has proven true, and much of what they publish in the newsletters is falsified to the point of being useless as information.

In a recent Board of Directors meeting for the Association, I had an opportunity to ask Mr. Chavez about this issue. He could very easily explain the matter to everyone in attendance, ending the controversy altogether.

Dishonest people very often refuse to acknowledge their wrongdoing. I knew before asking that Chavez would not answer the question because I already know he is a dishonest person. Chavez is the Treasurer, so asking him for financial documents that prove he is improperly compensating himself will get us as far as asking him questions, which is nowhere. How can we move forward on this issue when the people who know the answers are dishonest and unwilling to answer?

So we must investigate. Let's take a look at the Association's historic documents and see if we can find any evidence that Chavez doesn't pay his dues.

I managed to find two references in the Association's meeting minutes for a Board of Directors meeting that occurred on August 4, 2015. Apparently people were upset that Chavez was being compensated in his role as Treasurer. He plainlky states, in writing, that "The dues of the Treasurer are abated as per changes to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for the El Mirador Subdivision enacted in August 2006. This change was voted on by a majority of the Owners."

There you have it. Chavez says he doesn't pay dues because he doesn't have to. Now I'm just quoting what he said according to the meeting minutes. Since Chavez was Secretary and Treasurer in 2015, he wrote the minutes himself. He clearly and very specifically claims that he does not have to pay dues as a result of an amendment to the Declaration that happened in 2006.

However, there is no evidence that this is true, and it is very easy for anyone to look into, which we'll do in just a minute. Also, guess who was the Association President in 2006? David Chavez, Jr.

I mentioned a second reference, which occurs on the last page of the same set of meeting minutes. Chavez felt the need to codify his claim by repeating it and providing additional explanation. The contradictory message of Chavez is that he is not compensated, but that he does not have to pay dues. That's the very definition of a specious claim. Not paying dues, whether it is $420, $480 or $720 per year is compensation.

While it may be true that the role of treasurer is arduous and deserving of compensation, it is not true that the Declaration was amended to allow it. The last line about assisting the President in his example also deserves a little scrutiny.

Before we do anything else, I want to add a wrinkle to this issue that needs to be addressed. Even if Chavez was telling the truth about the Treasurer's dues being abated by amendment, and to be clear, he is not, but even if he was, he would still be defrauding the Association of monies owed as he is only half-owner of his property. He would only be able to legitimately claim half the dues of their property for abatement, and his co-owner Francis Jankel would be responsible for paying his half of the annual dues.

This would have been true for every year that Chavez did not pay his dues. To make matters worse, Jankel, for a number of years, profited from the Association more than $20,000 per year, and still would not pay his $210 share of annual dues. These are not good people.

Now, back to our original point. To determine the veracity of Chavez' claim we need to examine the community documents. These are the collective documents that create and govern the Association. Buying a property in the El Mirador subdivision is the same thing as signing a contract with the Association; homeowners jointly agree to accept certain obligations and restrictions on how properties in the community can be used in exchange for protection by Association policies and the belief that everyone is bound by the same set of rules as set forth in the community documents.

Supposably, you get to experience the quiet, peaceful possession of your property. That does not happen when the people in charge are spiteful, vicious liars who have no concept of reasonableness or fairness and who refuse to follow their own rules.

The community documents are comprised of the Articles of Incorporation, often referred to as the "Articles", which are the documents filed with the state to create the Association; the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions, often called the "Declaration", is the legal framework listing all rules and guidelines for the Association; the Bylaws, which contain the rules for operating the Association, such as meetings and voting; Design Guidelines, which are regulations for applying design principals to property within the community; and finally, the Association Rules, which is where members are supposed to be able to discover information regarding enforcement and fines for example, among other things.

You might not be surprised to find out that the Association has never adopted a single Association Rule in over 30 years. They simply make things up on a whim and act as if they have a mandate to enforce their every thought and feelings. I am telling you right now, I've had enough of their bullying and wrongful behavior.

The people who continue electing these dishonest and disreputable persons to the Board of Directors deserve scrutiny as well. Just because you like them and they leave you alone does not make you innocent with respect to their behavior. In continuing to vote for these people you are wilfully enabling continued wrongdoing of the Board. After 30 years in charge, they are responsible for every problem that exists within the subdivision. They are not going to suddenly become fair, reasonable people with the Associatioon's bests interests in mind.

You will hear me say from time to time that if it isn't in the community documents it doesn't exist. This is because it has to be adopted, enacted and recorded in order to be binding upon members. This is really a topic for another video, but just consider that rules are written down for a reason. For example, so the Treasurer cannot just say they don't have to pay their share of annual dues.

Remember that Chavez claimed an amendment to the Declaration occurred in August 2006, abating the Treasurer's responsibility to pay dues. Let's see if that's true.

There is only one set of documents on file with the Doña Ana County Clerk's office that purports to be an amendment. As you can see here, it says "Amended August 2006", so it must be what Chavez was talking about. Hold your horses, because it doesn't say anything about Treasurer's dues at all.

I want to start off by stating clearly that this "amendment" was poorly done and probably would not hold up in court. The amendment process is pretty simple and straightforward, but somehow the Board managed to get things wrong anyway. The "amendment" was a single page and deals with Declaration § 11.18 Incorporation of Municipality or Master Association. It looks like they wanted to repeal that section, but it is so poorly done that it's hard to say.

What it doesn't say is that Treasurer dues are abated in any way. You'll notice that by August 2006, Billy Cannedy is President and I would bet even money that David Chavez, Jr. was the Treasurer after the March elections for that year.

So, Chavez' claim is not supported by any facts. It is untrue, a lie, a fabrication, misremebrance, etc. Chavez has no legitimate reason for not paying his half of the dues for the property located at 333 Avenida Mirador.

What do the community documents say about compensation for Directors? Let's look at Bylaws Article II § 9. It says "Directors shall receive no compensation for their services as a Director". That's pretty straightforward. Chavez is a Director of the corporation who is compensating himself in violation of the community documents.

Chavez is engaging in financial misconduct, and his fellow Board members are just as responsible as he is for his actions. Every person listed on this page is in breach of their fiduciary duties to the Association: the Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty and Duty of Obedience. They have an obligation to investigate Chavez' behavior and take appropriate action, yet they refuse to do so.

Let's put this issue in perspective. Chavez and Jankel are more than $8,000 delinquent in their annual dues payments going back as far as 2003, but at least to 2006, so between 16 and 19 years of missed payments. That's a lot by any standard.

In contrast, here are 32 liens that have been placed on homeowner properties in that same time period, many of which were signed by David Chavez, all of which were for members being delinquent less than $700 in their dues.

This represents the worst kind of hubris and hypocrisy. Good people do not do things like this, nor do they watch silently while others do.

Chavez needs to be permanently removed from the El Mirador Homeowner Association's Board of Directors, and a lien placed on his property until such time as he has paid all outstanding dues, including late fees. He and Jankel need to be treated the same way they have treated others for years, and every member of the Association should contact the entire group of Directors and officers of the Association and ask why they have allowed this behavior to exist and to continue.

People seem upset that I take exception to the Association's Board and committee members behavior. My position is, and always will be, that if you are a liar and thief who refuses to follow your own rules, don't come at me trying to make me do things that are not even written down anywhere. That's the very definition of tyranny; the cruel, unreasonable or arbitrary use of power and control. I will never submit to tyranny. If you are a liar, thief or hypocrite whining and crying about my behavior, you should probably just stay away from me with your bullsh*t.