In June, Village of Oakcreek Association members voted 539 to 352 to reject a proposed membership fee that would have increased from $180 per year to $360.

The annual meeting of the 2,300 member homeowners was delayed from April by COVID-19 concerns, and instead hosted via the online video conferencing program Zoom.

At the time, the board vowed to continue the effort to increase the HOA’s reserves through a fee increase, arguing that without it, the HOA would have inadequate funds to replace aging assets in the future, putting the HOA in a precarious financial position.

On Feb. 28, 2021, VOCA, which owns Oakcreek Country Club, its largest asset, reported $1,407,355 in reserves and $766,648 in cash.

“We’re coming right back at you,” VOCA Treasurer Jim Kautz promised in June.

Kautz and the other directors proved as good as their word, and VOCA members are currently voting on another proposed increase before the organization’s Saturday, April 17, membership meeting at 2 p.m., held again via Zoom.

The board is trying again to raise annual dues to $360 per year, but they are offering to dull the pain this time by raising the fee $30 a year for six years, getting to the full $360 level only in 2026.

As they did in 2020, VOCA members have to vote on two separate amendments to increase fees — one to amend the master declaration and one to amend the bylaws — as VOCA’s attorneys advised was necessary.

VOCA is also asking members to increase the amount the HOA can spend on capital expenditures each year. Currently, VOCA bylaws limit the board to spending no more than 150% of annual asset depreciation without member approval. In information provided to members, the HOA said in recent years it has been leasing large equipment rather buying outright, meaning the organization has lower assets and lower depreciation, causing the spending cap to drop.

As as result, it said, it “has been unable to properly fund the capital expenditure needs of VOCA.”

VOCA members are also choosing from three candidates to replace two openings on the board, held by former President Gwen Hanna, who resigned for medical reasons earlier this year, and Sean Baguley, whose term is expiring.

The vote on new board members comes just a short time after a passionate debate among members over approval of architectural plans for a Hilton Garden Inn hotel on the corner of State Route 179 and Jacks Canyon Road.

VOCA’s board of directors ultimately approved the plans for a three-story hotel after the owners appealed the architecture committee’s denial to the board of directors, angering some members of VOCA, as well as residents of the VOC outside the HOA.

VOCA’s approval does not authorize construction of the hotel yet; the owners’ must go to Yavapi County to receive approval to build.

In a letter to members following the board’s decision, VOCA President John Rogers said that if the board went against the recommendations of its attorneys on the issue, the HOA’s insurance company would not cover the organization if it lost in court and owed damages to the parcel owners.

In the aftermath of that decision, a group of members under the banner of Save Our Neighborhoods initiated a petition drive to force a recall vote on board members.

Save Our Neighborhoods is run by “Just Facts EDU,” a nonprofit owned by Donna Joy Varney, Linda “Lina” Rueda and Leigh Budlong, and registered at Varney’s home on Hohokam Circle in West Sedona. It has collected $7,585 in donations to hire a lawyer, according to its website. The petition drive fell short of the required 250 signatures needed to force a recall vote.

In the candidate biographies submitted to VOCA, none of the three board candidates on the VOCA ballot, Melissa Fernandez, Von Nelson and Frank Mulder, mention the Hilton Garden Inn fight, but in a candidate forum, Fernandez and Nelson cited it as an issue facing the community.

Asked directly to weigh in on the board’s approval of the hotel plans by a member, Fernandez declined to comment on the board’s action without more information, Nelson said he didn’t feel the board listened to the community and Mulder said he opposed the decision.

In the same forum, all three candidates opposed allowing rentals for less than 30 days in the HOA.