I've been trying to communicate with Niles via email but he is simply not answering my questions adequately. If a current or former Board member would like to take a shot at it I would greatly appreciate it.
I asked him to explain why the expensive, tax payer funded engineering report was tossed. He said because it only gave cost of paving and gravel not OTTA seal. However, here is an excerpt "H.A. McCoy Attachment 6 Alternative 1 OTTA Seal $1,155,046.00" How did Niles get from this figure clear back in 2020, to somehow $800,000.00 today? The first figure used a company out of La Pine this new figure is for a Seattle Company? That seems unlikely. And where are the bids? And why does the Board have a photo of a Deschutes County OTTA seal example still up on the website when they will not be doing the project to County standards?
I asked him why the Board spent so much money to get the project validated and then drop it before a judge ruled? We have been told at PASRD Road meetings that the bank required the validation in order to lend the money. We have been told that a judge will rule in their favor. Why did they waste sooooooo much tax payer money to quit without a ruling???
I asked him if the lawyers advised them to drop it. The lawyers don't make money if the board drops it. So, they didn't drop it because their lawyers told them to. And we will never get to know the truth because Executive sessions are closed to us.
I asked him why Mark was allowed to lead the PASRD meeting on Tuesday. Mark does not own property in Panoramic and this is a highly irregular way to run a meeting. I also questioned Lee's involvement in leading the meeting. The good thing about Lee is he at least seems to care about the neighborhood which cannot be said about Mark. One new question that I did not pose to Niles is why Glenn's proposal was ignored? I know Glenn no longer attends meetings but the proposal is laid out in the Forum.
A statement I made to Niles is that as president the past 3 now 4 years he has addressed the small road issues and ignored the larger ones. I made a suggestion that R&O would be a great local company to fix the worst parts of road over time as money allows. I also mentioned that I noticed that the best part of the road leads to his own driveway to which he simply called me "ignorant".
In a final statement to Niles I told him I thought he should take responsibility for ill will among the neighbors and the wasting of taxpayer money instead of throwing me, Tonya, Risa, Glenn and others under the bus. Which he chose not to do. Niles final response to me was "Thanks for your input. Your concerns have been noted and I apologize for any discontent" I don't want my concerns noted, I want answers. The Board spent TAX PAYER money and a lot of it.
That is all for now. Thank you.
Shiela
Kerry
Thank you very much and Deb and I appreciate the thoughts.
I tried to forget the board stuff but it is very very hard when so much misinformation is mixed in with the truth
We are back last night and will try to get caught up.
Thanks
Jim Deb
My wife and I are on the way to Kansas for my sister in law's funeral. I JUST have not time the past few weeks to answerer all the forum requests I normally would.
I will as time permits.
I am so frustrated by the outright misstatements, and other stuff
Please try to be civil
Kerry, thank you for your comments and as with everyone else, I certainly hear everyone's frustration with this process. I think all of us are tired of the divisiveness and bickering that it has produced. We will not be going forward with the validation because it is way too costly and would potentially drain the entire funds that the road district has. It also could get dragged out for over two years. That is just not fiscally responsible so we cannot move forward even if it is likely that the board's position would prevail.
There is still a possibility of a ballot measure in the fall. However, there are numerous things that have not been determined in terms of how that ballot measure would actually be crafted (mainly how the assessment would be done). There are others that are not in favor of a ballot measure because it excludes many of the people who would be financially assessed with the cost of the project, but would not get an opportunity to vote on it. Clearly there are pros and cons on both sides and no easy solutions. I do honestly appreciate you taking the time to share your perspectives so we can know people's perspectives in the neighborhood.
Panoramic District Road Board Members: You are going to end up with many neighbors working with Glenn Brown if you do not find a way to make this a more civil process. We did look at Dial Deschutes County. We do not know Mark's last name, but the home is indeed listed under Sonja's name and no other. Does this make a difference in his "lending" the money or not, we do not know. At the meeting, it was said that the attorneys would look at this funding process, although when the GoFundMe was mentioned Nyle said they were okay with it and a few other things that he mentioned that neither of you backed him on, nor denied. One is if this went on a ballot it would be assessed the same way and divided equally. WHERE did Nyle get that information? He said per the attorneys and when we asked neither of you agreed (nor disagreed) with him. Furthermore, isn't Nyle supposed to be recusing himself from these discussions due to the assessed value on his home, as he certainly has not been doing that? We are getting a bit combative as we want this on a ballot as much as some do not want it on one. We have told you we back the otta seal 100%, tax increase or not, as did Glenn Brown, correct? Do not use that as to why you did not choose this option. We would have tax benefits with our taxes being raised and would appreciate the payment going up accordingly. Then it would not be the board's problem to collect. You would still need funding, perhaps a bank and they would accept biannual payments or as frequently as you receive tax payments on those that will not be paying this upfront. Not sure how that works, but since we have been told that no other SDRA had ever funded this way (shared assessment), it must be possible to get funding for ballot measure improvement/bonds.
We are "lucky" in Panoramic as the winter has been light. Good thing as our road maintenance dollars are low and the roads are getting worse and worse. Nyle said the BuckHorn (East) would be a $40k repair. WHY is that? Mark or Brian said at the meeting on the 8th that adding gravel would be sufficient. That was not said when Nyle quoted that figure again on the 15th of March. Which is it and why?
We do believe much of this goes back to when Mr. Brown asked you for a legal opinion and the board said he did not like it and asked for a second opinion, and rather than saying NO and telling him to get it himself, you paid for another attorney firm to give him a second opinion. Glenn's question can be noted in minutes back to early 2020, maybe earlier. WHY did the board wait until the very end to decide on a validation process knowing Glenn was fighting the Road District Board on this issue for a couple of years?
Seriously we think just go ahead with the validation process. The board felt they were 100% in the right and would prevail in the legal system. This seems like the smarter choice than borrowing funds from residents and pushing this through and figuring out how to collect from those that would need assistance with funding and paying attorneys to see if it is even a legal option. This seems to be turning into a bigger mess daily. The Road District Board (or Nyle) does not want to back down, they want this funded and now so that the work can be done by the deadline given by the contractor, which we believe is late June, but are not certain without listening again to the meetings.
There is really no need to reply to this, as we are NOT in agreement whatsoever. We are going round and round on the forum. Whitney, we do appreciate your time and realize the position you are being put in addressing all of these. You were the only one of our three Board Members that wanted to remind the others what the attorneys had told you all.
Our preference is to proceed with the Validation or get this on the November ballot now. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Henry & Kerry Zenich
Hello Whitney and all on the board, again, sorry Whitney that you are stuck answering all of the questions and addressing concerns on the website.
If more than one of us feels that the meeting was "run" or in the direction of Mark and Lee directing the meeting, at least a good portion of it, please do not invalidate our feelings. We certainly believe that was the case. Jim mentioned having talked to Glenn, as he said that Glenn even stated that his own attorney did not agree with him that the board was doing things wrong, (I would have to go and listen for the exact wording). Knowing that Glenn stated he had filed to get the ballot issue going, Jim or one of you certainly could have called and asked him where he was in the process, whether legal or not, so that it could have been included in your survey. Bruce Bowen mentioned a few times that Glenn will have no problem in gathering signatures to make this happen. WHY not work with him rather than against him? No one that I am aware of has worked with him at this point, but it will happen if the board keeps pursuing different directions on this process.
Please present that ballot measure as an option.
Maybe you three should reconsider the VALIDATION process proceeding. That was a long (& costly) process to stop.
Shiela, I saw that you had sent a group of questions to Nyle by email and that he had responded to your questions. I also saw your post that you were not satisfied with his answers. I responded to this message as there were some things in the message thread that had been repeated by multiple people that were incorrect and needed clarification. You should be able to find the information you are looking for on home ownership in Panoramic at: https://dial.deschutes.org/Real/InteractiveMap
Shiela, #1) If the President of our Road Board, truly called you "ignorant" that is unacceptable. #2) If Mark does not own property in Panoramic, that is a valid point you make.. #3). You are correct that Glenn's proposal could and should have been presented to all. #4). We also agree and found the last meeting on 15 March with Mark and Lee seemingly leading the meeting. This has been the most odd "fiasco" in all of our years of living in Panoramic. There is ill will and that is a good way to word it. We are sorry you did not get a seat on the board. Again, not something the residents vote on. Your time & energy is appreciated. Your Neighbors, Henry & Kerry Z.
Whitney and I had exchanged emails the other day and I had brought up a few questions about dropping the validation as well. From my understanding, the validation was dropped because there were four objections filed, which they didn't think would happen. I find that very irresponsible to assume no one would file an objection. Anyway, he said it would be very costly because they have to address every detail in the objections. I still am having trouble understanding why the attorneys didn't explain how long and expensive the validation process could be. This is quite the mess.
I am also getting tired of some homeowners acting as though we had no basis to object to the petition. There was quite a bit of basis, that is why the validation was dropped. Every homeowner should want this done correctly and legally, whether you are for or against the project.