Letter to Board of Directors

The Board of Directors has the authority to maintain Panoramic View Estates roads and individual property owners, or the Deschutes County, do not. The authority is stated in the Policies and Procedures approved by Board Members on 2/18/22. Appropriate paragraph as follows:

OPERATIONS MAINTENANCE RESPONSIBILITY PASRD was created by the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners (County) to maintain the roads that lie within the Panoramic View Estates Subdivision (PVES), including Panoramic Drive, Buck Horn Drive, Lake Drive, Green Ridge Loop, Hinkle Butte Drive, Sisters View Drive, Pine Ridge Drive, Buck Lane, and Pine Drive

Any request for improvement of a special area of road in front of individual property owners property should be brought to the Board. The Board should seek legal advice for any special request, to guarantee to all property owners of PASRD that the action is legal and in compliance with the State law and of the legal documents of the Road District. Upon written legal proof that the request is legal, the board should vote on acceptance or denial of the request. If the Board agrees to the special improvements as listed in the application, they should follow the Policies & Procedures and get multiple bids for the work. See following excerpt .

CONTRACTING Projects over $10,000 must use competitive bidding. Copies of contractor/vendor insurance certificates of coverage should be attached to bids.

Upon acceptance of the appropriate bid, the Board (not the applicant) should enter into a contract with the road construction company. No individual owner is authorized by the Bylaws or Policies and Procedures to enter into a contract for work on our roads.

Here’s another section in our Policies and Procedures, might apply to this first application for special road maintenance. Good for the Board’s attorney to respond on this one.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST – ORS 244 State law prohibits board members from gaining financial benefit from their position as public officials. A good rule of thumb is to refuse all gifts from anyone that give the appearance of a conflict of interest and to declare publicly any potential or actual conflict of interest. An advisory opinion of the Oregon Governmental Ethics Commission provides guidance: board members who have potential or actual conflicts of interest regarding any matter before the board must: (1) declare the nature of the conflict; (2) refrain from taking part in the discussion/deliberation of the matter; and (3) not vote, unless their vote is required to maintain a quorum.

Setting of a Precedent

Approval of the current application will lead to other applications for special road maintenance, thereby setting a precedent. Our roads are going to be an inconsistent surface (asphalt, asphalt chips and gravel) which may cause problems (and maybe extra expense) with future contracts for maintenance and snow removal). Future requests for special work, will require legal fee expenses from our extremely inadequate road income. This income comes from all property owners and is intended to maintain our roads, not to be spent on unending legal fees. If the Board decides to approve these special road improvement requests, they should require a fee from the applicant (at the time of application) to represent at least 50% of legal fees.

It is the responsibility of the Board members to protect all homeowners and not be pressured by special interests. The Board members take an oath to follow the Bylaws etc. They do not have the authority to bend the rules to their advantage, or those of special interests. Your decisions could possibly leave a mess for future Boards and the property owners to bear. We understand the frustration of certain property owners, who are not willing to accept anything but asphalt paving on our roads, but currently (regardless of the carefully- worded “survey”) there is not overwhelming support for the proposals you have put forward so far to improve our roads.

I expect some of my statements to be challenged, but that is what the Board’s attorney is for!

Respectfully,

Ronni Duff