Perhaps the most important activity currently managed by the Oakmont Village Association (OVA) Board of Directors is the revision/restatement of our governing documents, in particular of the OVA Bylaws. Planning for this activity has been proceeding over the past several months. The intent of this report is to briefly inform the OVA membership of the progress so far, current status, and plans going forward, and to encourage everyone to pay attention to this crucial effort. This is not an official OVA report, nor has it been approved by the Committee or the Board, but I will endeavor to provide accurate information as far as I am able. Most information below is taken from links from the OVA Bylaws Committee web page – to access these pages, you will have to login to the OVA website.

First, facts about the process:

• The Bylaws Ad Hoc Committee (soon to be renamed the Governing Documents Ad Hoc Committee) has been meeting for several months. Its membership currently consists of Steve Spillman (chair, also OVA director), Jerry Gladstone (recording secretary, also OVA director), Heidi Klyn (OVA Board chairman), and Christel Antone (non-voting, OVA General Manager).

• Earlier, there was to be an OVA Task Force or Working Group as well as the Committee, but that is no longer the plan. The latest draft charter for the committee designates that it will have 5 to 7 voting members, so an additional 2 to 4 members are to be recruited to help with the work of the committee.

• As of the Oct 1 committee meeting, the plan is to present the draft committee charter for approval by the OVA Board at the Oct 15 BOD meeting. This will require inclusion of the charter in the BOD meeting packet, so keep an eye out for that packet if you are interested.

• Regular meetings of the Bylaws Ad Hoc Committee are held at 1 pm on the first Tuesday each month, in Suite B of the OVA office, so the next regular meeting will be on November 5. Any OVA member may attend committee meetings as a guest, and will be allowed to comment or ask questions during Open Forum segments, as shown on the meeting agenda.

Progress and discussions to date, as recorded in committee minutes:

• The committee has received legal advice from OVA counsel, Nathan McGuire, and advice on communicating with the OVA membership from Communications Committee chair, Jackie Ryan.

• The reason for the name change, to Governing Documents Ad Hoc Committee, is the committee’s realization that changes are needed in the OVA CC&Rs and Articles of Incorporation, as well as the Bylaws, so the scope of the committee’s charter has been expanded accordingly.

• In August, after a discussion about legal requirements for Board meetings and the fiduciary duties of HOA directors, “Each Committee member committed to neither discussing nor sharing any information with OVA members or Board Directors prior to such information being simultaneously received by all Committee, Board and/or OVA members.” [from the minutes of the Aug 8 committee meeting]

• “Jerry and Christel will collaborate on developing Communications and Community Outreach strategies to present at the next board meeting. This will include but not limited to Townhalls, Board Workshops, Community Comment and Feedback, Etc.” [from the minutes of the Sep 3 committee meeting]

• “The committee is still in the learning phase, gathering more information through ongoing research.” “It’s important to keep the community informed as we learn more and move forward with any processes.” [from the minutes of the Sep 12 committee meeting]

• The first priority of the committee will be to bring OVA governing documents into compliance with state law, which has changed substantially since our documents were written. To facilitate this, legal counsel has recommended that they start over, with a “template” that has been designed to meet all such requirements, but which has no customizations for OVA needs. From there, modifications will be made to customize it for OVA needs and traditions, while maintaining compliance with state law.

Commentary:

I am optimistic that this process will result, eventually, in governing documents that meet all legal requirements and that are modernized to include, for example, membership votes to approve large projects. But the Committee is determined to do the job right, and that will take a considerable amount of time.

I urge all OVA members to monitor the progress and to speak up on issues of importance to you. Have patience, but don’t forget that the results of this process will affect every one of us, in our rights to collectively control the future of our community, and in our pocketbooks.

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