ATTENTION DIXIE SPRINGS LOT OWNERS!
As lot owners, the authority belongs to all of us to appoint members to the Architectural Control Committee. The election for committee members will be held September 23rd and your voice needs to be heard.
- Date: Saturday September 23, 2023
- Place: Dixie Springs Park
- Time: 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM
- 5:00 to 6:00 Meet the Candidates
- 6:00 to 7:00 Voting
- 7:00 to 8:00 Vote Counting and Results
- Who: All lot owners
Nominations
Please submit your choice for nominations to sit on the committee; this can be you, a family member, a friend, or neighbor. According to the CC&Rs, committee members are not required to be lot owners and there is no age requirements or other disqualifying factors. Please send nominations to election@dixiespringsowners.com or click the button below.
Candidate Info
Once candidates are received, they are encouraged to send a one-paragraph message describing why they would like to sit on the committee. All messages received will be posted as soon as possible. At the park, before the election, candidates will be given 3 minutes each to introduce themselves and their ideas.
Proxy Voting
If you are not able to make the meeting in the park you can still vote by proxy. By completing the proxy form, having it notarized, and giving it to a trusted representative, you will be allowed to have your vote counted.
Election Questions
Who is leading this effort?
No official body or methods are established in the CC&Rs for selecting committee members. Therefore this effort is being run by as many Dixie Springs lot owners as possible that will get involved and help get it done. If you have ideas or want to help send an email to election@dixiespringsowners.com.
How will this be done to keep it honest?
Lot owners will pick up a stamped ballot after showing proof of ID. All stamped ballots will be counted, and the ballots will be preserved for at least 2 years. Additionally, the entire event will be live streamed on Facebook, so everyone can see the candidates, the voting, the ballot box and counting by both teams of counters.
Will the vote be done by secret ballot?
Yes. Once the owner confirms their identity, a ballot will be stamped, making it official but will not have anything identifying the owner, ensuring their choices will be confidential.
How will the counting be done?
Counting will be done in the open, in front of everyone that wants to be present, by two teams of two people to ensure accurate counting. If the totals of the two teams are found to be in conflict, a third team will be formed to recount and the count that is supported by two teams will prevail. In the event a ballot is found to be unreadable, blank, missing the official stamp, or containing any other abnormality, it will be flagged and held in a pile for inspection by anyone that wants to look at it. If a fair determination of the vote can be made it will be included, if not, it will be held as an uncountable vote, but will be retained with the other ballots for the two year period.
Will write in candidates be accepted?
No, after a community discussion on the open Facebook group, it was decided that there was enough time for candidates to decide to run and get placed on the ballot so write-in candidates would not be required. The letter sent out to all owners will also explain this change.
We fought for 2 years to get rid of the ACC, why recreate it?
The CC&Rs that are attached to your home, until Amendment 5 was approved, established a committee known as the Architectural Control Committee (ACC). This committee’s main purpose is to review the plans for new homes before they are constructed to make sure that they will be harmonious with the rest of the neighborhood.
Due to the current legal battle being fought between owners and the corporation known as Dixie Springs Architectural Control Committee, Inc., Amendment 5 is currently suspended and its future awaits a judge’s decision.
Because of the hold on A5, the committee (ACC) is once again a valid entity, and if we as owners leave it untouched, those same people and their corporation will try to fill the void.
The CC&Rs state that once the Declarant (the company that built the infrastructure and divided Dixie Springs into building lots, Dixie Springs, Inc.) no longer has the legal right to appoint committee members, that authority passes to you as an owner. So it is time to stand up, take charge of the situation as the legal authority in Dixie Springs, and choose committee members to fill that void. When A5 is upheld in court, the committee would be abolished, but until then we can either take control, or submit to a third-party corporation that wants you to believe they have legal authority.
What is the difference between the ACC and Dixie Springs Architectural Control Committee, Inc.?
Are they not the same things?
What is the proof that they are not the same?
The corporation would like to have you believe it, but in reality no, the two are different legal entities. The CC&Rs, in Article II Section 1, establish the ACC as a COMMITTEE to be appointed by the Declarant, until their right to appoint expire, at which time the right to appoint transfers to the body of owners at large. Nowhere in the CC&Rs does it mention Dixie Springs Architectural Control Committee, Inc. (DSACC, Inc.) or any other third-party. At no point in the CC&Rs does it mention a board of directors, other than the board of directors for Dixie Springs, Inc., the Declarant’s company. Also, DSACC, Inc. and Dixie Springs, Inc. are separate corporations, with different tax IDs, different corporate IDs, and Dixie Springs, Inc. is a for-profit corporation. There is nothing tying to two corporations together.
No argument can be made for the Declarant appointing DSACC, Inc. to fill the role of ACC today for the following reasons:
- Once the Declarant’s rights expire, any past appointments can only last until the owners come together to vote for new committee members
- No changes were ever made to the CC&Rs to modify the rules concerning appointment/election from their first submission in 1998 through the four amendments made by the Declarant.
- No documents specifically appointing DSACC, Inc. as a corporation to act as the ACC exist.
Therefore, the proof is in the CC&Rs. The ACC will be appointed by a majority of lot owners, no other way is allowed. The reality of our situation is that there has not be a valid ACC in place since 2014, that is when the Declarant’s lot holdings fell below 10% of the lots in Dixie Springs.
Who currently has the authority to elect or appoint Architectural Control Committee members?
The short answer is Dixie Springs lot owners, period. The CC&Rs do not grant or authorize rights to any party other than the body of Dixie Springs lot owners.
The Dixie Springs CC&Rs Amendment 1 states:
SECTION 1 – ARCHITECTURAL CONTROL COMMITTEE
Subject to the right of Declarant to perform the duties of the Architectural Control Committee (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “ACC”), as provided hereunder, the Declarant shall have the right to appoint members to the architectural control committee, the function of which shall be to insure [sic] that all exteriors of homes and landscaping within the property harmonize with existing surroundings and structures. The committee need not be composed of owners. If such a committee is not appointed, Declarant, shall perform the duties required of the committee. The Declarant shall have the right to appoint members of the Architectural Control Committee until the happening of either of the following events, whichever occurs earlier:
(1) when ninety percent(90%) of the lots owned in the project by the Declarant are sold,
or
(2) on December 31, 2025;
a majority of the owners of lots, parts or portions of the property subject to this Declaration shall elect and appoint members of the Architectural Control Committee, which committee shall there after have jurisdiction over all of the properties subject to this Declaration and shall be vested with the powers described as follows.
Condition #1, the 90%, occurred in September of 2014. At that time, lot owners should have held an election to appoint a new committee under the direction of owners and not the declarant that had declining interest in the community.