Oakmont Grassroots Values

These are the values that define the Oakmont Grassroots Organization and guide our actions with respect to Oakmont governance:

1. Fiduciary Duty and the Best Interests of Oakmont: Under California law, the principal responsibility of each Oakmont Village Association (OVA) Director is their fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of Oakmont as they supervise OVA operations and maintenance. OGO members fully support adherence to this duty.
2. Affordability: In accordance with California law and in the absence of specific guidance in the OVA by-laws, the definition of the “best interests” of Oakmont is open to interpretation. OGO members interpret best interests to include prioritizing affordability in the individual OVA Director’s conduct of the Board’s business.
3. Fiscal Restraint: OGO members believe the best interest of OVA are served when the Board is guided by fiscal restraint. Committing to adhering to this value conserves OVA’s assets and supports the OGO value of affordability.
4. Consent of the Governed: OGO members believe that it is in the best interests of Oakmont that the most important decisions not directed by the Board’s legal requirement to faithfully operate OVA and maintain existing OVA facilities, should be subject to OVA membership approval, by plebiscites in which every OVA voting unit (i.e. Oakmont owner/household) has an equal right and opportunity to vote.
5. Amend OVA Policies and Governing Documents: OGO members believe that relevant sections of existing OVA governing documents and policies should be revised to include the prioritization of affordability, fiscal restraint, and membership approval for major OVA decisions. Relevant sections of new documents should emphasize these priorities as well.

Discussion

The discussion below explains why our values are important and why OGO was created. OGO members and endorsed OVA Board candidates may differ on specific details, but are expected to agree with and support the spirit of OGO values.

Affordability: The OVA Board should be guided by the principle that OVA members should be able to continue to afford OVA dues as they age. This is the essence of what affordability means to us – it does not mean conforming to some government standard for affordable housing. As a community, OGO believes we should support the dignity of our neighbors by supporting their financial ability to stay in their homes.

We recognize that factors external to OVA Board decisions, as well as changing financial demands on the OVA, mean there is no guarantee of achieving the affordability goal. But preventing large dues increases supports the dignity of OVA members regardless of their financial status. Dues increases that are consistently substantially larger than Social Security and pension cost-of-living adjustments should be avoided if possible.

Fiscal Restraint: OVA members have the right to expect that each Board Director will exercise fiscal restraint in their financial decision-making. Fiscal restraint is based on adherence to accepted principles of financial responsibility. These include prudent management of budgets, investments, debt, and financial planning. When the Board is guided by the value of fiscal restraint, OVA assets are conserved and the OGO value of affordability is strengthened.

Consent of the governed: Most decisions made by the OVA Board are dictated by their fiduciary duty. The remodels of East and West Recreational Centers and of the Berger Auditorium, over the past ten years, were required by the duty of the Board to maintain and upgrade OVA facilities, and so should not have been and were not subject to votes by the OVA membership.

But, as an example of the reason that Grassroots came together, during that same ten years, an OVA Board proposed building pickleball courts adjacent to the central pool, which would have substantially degraded the experience of both pool users and neighbors, as well as costing well over $400,000. This project was opposed by many, if not most, OVA members, but it was stopped only through concerted efforts by the membership and by replacement of the directors supporting this project. It is entirely possible that it might have become reality, had the proponent directors been able to accelerate the schedule for construction by a few weeks, because under the law and our current governing documents, there is no requirement to seek membership approval for capital improvement projects. The result was much dissension and hard feelings among OVA members, some of which remains to this day because there is still no legal requirement for member approval of such projects.

Amend OVA Governing Documents and Policies: Part of the solution for achieving the second and third OGO Values is simply to elect OVA directors who will support more enlightened governance for OVA. But in order to prevent future Boards from resuming the old anti-democratic ways, it is very desirable to make some changes to OVA policies and governing documents. In particular, something resembling the following changes might be part of a long-term solution:

1. In the OVA Board Mission Statement & Goals policy document, replace the clause “to have Oakmont perceived as a premier active adult retirement community, standing out among other similar retirement locations” with something like “to have Oakmont perceived as an inclusive, sustainable, democratic and innovative active adult retirement community in comparison with other similar retirement locations”. This would make it clear to future directors that affordability, fiscal restraint and consent of the governed are more important than having deluxe (i.e. expensive) facilities.
2. Add a requirement for membership referendums for large projects at the go/no-go steps at the end of phases 2 and 3 of the Oakmont BOD Project Oversight Process description.
3. Initiate needed amendments to the OVA Bylaws to make it easier but not too easy to amend the Bylaws, to ensure that there is a reasonable path for membership-initiated amendments of the Bylaws, and to mandate membership plebiscites in instances such as the following:
   ◦ capital improvement projects or acquisitions, whose cost exceeds some threshold;
   ◦ changes in OVA facilities, operations or responsibilities that substantially change the nature of Oakmont;
   ◦ incurrence of long-term debt on behalf of OVA.

OGO Activities in 2024

Since the super landslide victory of our endorsed Board candidates in April, OGO has relaxed a bit. But it is time to become active again. This year OGO will focus on promoting more fiscal restraint in OVA future planning, encouraging and supporting Bylaws revisions that support OGO Values, and developing candidates for the 2025 Board election who believe in OGO Values. If you believe in OGO Values, we encourage you to become involved, first by becoming a member of OGO, and then by educating your friends and neighbors to the importance of becoming active if OGO Values are to guide future OVA governance.

OGO Values in Action

We encourage OVA members and future candidates for the OVA Board to embrace the OGO Values. Candidates who align with the Values and receive OGO endorsement, are expected, if elected, to make decisions and take actions that reflect these values.

We need people who believe in the OGO Values to step forward and devote some time to the effort. If you would like to join OGO, or you would just like to be on our Email list to become aware of OGO activities, please drop an Email to OakmontGrassroots@gmail.com to receive a membership application.