On Friday I called the MCA to find out when the annual meeting was.  I had tried to get the info from the Monitor posted at the MCA website, but the link wasn’t working.  Apparently whoever initially added the links to the Monitor added a backwards slash instead of a forward slash (http://mca-az.org/monitor_issues\2012MayJun.pdf) and I got a “not found”.

Notably, there was NO information about the annual meeting on the main MCA page.

So I called the office and Maggie informed me that the annual meeting was at 10 am and the election was at 11 am on Saturday.   She also said that ID was required to vote.

A few minutes before 10 am I arrived to attend the annual meeting, but the door was LOCKED.

President Ray Beaton informed me that I was not allowed to attend the meeting and that I was not allowed to vote because I did not have my MCA card.

The MCA card opens the doors and it costs $10 to get a card.  I don’t need a card because I don’t use the facilities.  As a member in good standing, I am entitled to attend the meetings and I have the right to vote.  Of course Ray Beaton knows how absurd the card requirement is and he denied my request to allow me to record his bizarre refusal to allow me to attend the annual meeting and to vote.

From the 2010 Bylaws:

SECTION 3. VOTING. At the annual meeting or by absentee ballot each member will be entitled to cast one vote per each lot in good standing for each Board Member to be elected and to cast one vote per each lot in good standing for each other matter presented for a vote of the membership.

There is no requirement for an MCA card.  In fact, you could not possibly require an MCA card because absentee ballots don’t require the MCA cards.

Why is it MCA policy to LOCK the doors for meetings and to only allow members with cards to attend the meetings and to vote?

  • This is how the MCA keeps dissenting opinions OUT of the board meetings.  [UPDATED 3/11/19:  THOUSANDS of land owners don’t have cards because they don’t live here and they’re kept from voting if they decide to visit their property for Memorial Day weekend and the annual elections.]
  • I KNOW for a fact that they FALSIFY the minutes of the board meetings and they MISREPRESENT what happens at the meetings.

The MCA is a corrupt organization and ALL board members ought to be removed.

What are my specific problems with the MCA?

As a member in good standing, I wanted to use the MCA facilities for the High Desert Gardening Club as we watch gardening videos and the MCA has a huge TV and plenty of room.  The board DENIED my request as several of our gardening club members are not MCA members.

So why is Bingo open to the public?

Why are the Quail meetings open to the public?

Here’s my MCA FAQ and to sum it up, the MCA needs to STOP enforcing the idiotic deed restrictions (I can’t have chickens on my over 1 acre lot in the middle of the desert and I can’t have a home based business) and it needs to allow ALL residents to become members without putting their property into the MCA (lowering their property values).

The MCA needs to become a COMMUNITY organization.

Since the board is refusing to address the issues, the only other option is to DISSOLVE the MCA.

Here is my email to the MCA board members:

5/27/12

To: MCA Board of Governors

Maggie advised me on Friday that ID was required to vote.    However, Saturday morning President Ray Beaton did not allow me to attend the annual meeting and he stated that I was not allowed to vote because I do not have an MCA card.

According to the 2010 bylaws, every member in good standing is entitled to one vote per lot.

I am a member in good standing.

It’s time to find out how the many MCA members who get NOTHING but lower property values feel about dissolving the MCA pursuant to Article VIII.

From the Bylaws:

SECTION 4. SPECIAL MEETINGS. Special Meetings of the voting members shall be held whenever called by the Board of Governors or by one-tenth (1/10) of the total voting members. Notice of each special meetings, starting the time, place, and in general terms, the purpose or purposes for such meeting, shall be sent by mail to the last known address of all members at least thirty (30) days prior to the meeting. Voting, absentee ballots and eligibility for voting shall be determined in the same manner as provided in Article IV, Section 3 as if the special meeting were an annual meeting.

How many member signatures do we need to reach the “one-tenth (1/10) of the total voting members” required to schedule a special meeting and vote on the dissolution of the MCA?

c: posted at [this URL]

I will update with the response, if any.  [3/11/19:  no response was received.]

I have submitted several letters to the board and I have NEVER received a response.  They CLAIM to have mailed a letter to me, but when I informed them at a board meeting that I didn’t receive it, they could not tell me where they mailed it to and they have yet to provide me with a copy.  JoAnn claims that she and Maggie have not seen the letter.  How can that be?

That they have NOT used email or fax to communicate with me just goes to show how much disrespect they have for OUR money.  They talk about raising dues while wasting the MCA funds on completely unnecessary mailings.

They refuse to make any changes to their EXCLUSIONARY policies and they refuse to become a COMMUNITY organization.

It’s time to DISSOLVE the MCA!

To all who think they OWN a share of the MCA assets, this is NOT true.  You will NOT get a check because the MCA assets have to be given to a CIVIC or NON PROFIT organization.  Unfortunately, whoever takes over will no longer receive the MCA dues anymore and the budget will be MUCH smaller.

There will be no funds to maintain the pool and the office will not be regularly open.  No big loss, who needs the office anyway?   I actually think that the pool should be open year round with solar water heating, but it’s a LUXURY paid for by THOUSANDS of MCA member who NEVER use the pool.

So unless the MCA board decides to get a grip on reality, stops wasting our money on futile attempts to enforce idiotic rules and allows ALL residents and visitors to join the MCA for $50/year without requiring their property to be placed in the MCA, it’s time to dissolve this organization.

I’d rather have a community center OPEN TO ALL with no pool than an exclusionary and divisive organization like the MCA.

FYI, while the MCA does NOT allow us to use its facilities for the High Desert Gardening Club meetings, we have been invited to hold meetings at the Dolan Springs community center — entirely free of charge.  How does Dolan Springs raise the funds for a community center without FORCING residents to pay as the MCA does?

Meadview could be a wonderful place to live and offer many more  COMMUNITY activities once the MCA has been changed to a COMMUNTY center.

I can just see it, a little park out front with picnic tables and a band stand, a native plants exhibit with a community garden, a farmers market and a place for crafters and artists to sells their goods.

You’d think the auditorium walls would be covered with paintings and all sorts of art, but looking at the pictures of the potluck, I thought I was looking at a hospital.

Sterile.

Cold.

We have so many talented residents and visitors, but the MCA drives most of them away.

It’s time for change in Meadview!