Five candidates are running for CLPOA Board

The following individuals turned in their “Notice of Intent to Run” for the Canyon Lake Property Owners Association Board of Directors. Names are listed in the order drawn by official lottery as they will appear on the ballot:

1. George Christopher Williams
2. Dale Welty
3. Matt Poland
4. Paul Queen
5. Paul Chenette

Here is a brief summary of each candidate’s background and goals. To view each candidate’s complete resume, visit www.canyonlakepoa.com, and click “Board Election” under the “Governance” tab.

George ‘Chris’ Williams

GEORGE CHRIS WILLIAMS

George Christopher Williams, or “Chris,” as he is better known to Canyon Lakers, does not list his residency in his resume; however, he has indicated in other correspondence that he and his wife, Debbie, have lived in Canyon Lake since 1988.

Chris achieved his Juris Doctor degree from Western State University College of Law in May 1986, passing the bar exam the following July. He was admitted to practice in California in December 1986. He was admitted to practice in the U.S. Federal District Court, Central District of California, and in the U.S. Ninth District Court of Appeals.

He has been involved in private practice civil and also has been a trial attorney public defender in Kern County and San Bernardino County. His current California State Bar status is inactive but eligible to become active.

Chris lists his objectives as follows:

Immediate resolution of all pending lake lease issues and litigation.

Review of all legal relationships and billing practices.

Develop an ability to handle routine and appropriate legal matters in house.

Implement policies that deliver the best possible ownership and customer service experience to properly owners and their guests while enhancing and maintaining fiscal discipline.

Encourage and require that CLPOA staff and all vendors implement a service to the members first ethic.

Dale Welty

Dale Welty

Dale Welty has been a resident of Canyon Lake since 1988 and has been active in several CLPOA committees. These include serving as chair of the Tennis Facility Committee, chair of the Recreation Committee and chair of the Youth Action Committee. He also has been a member of the Facilities Review Committee, Finance Committee, Activities Committee and Lake Lease Litigation Committee.

His wife, Kellie, has served on the Community Patrol Committee as well as Parks and Beaches Committee, and currently is a member of the Recreation Committee and Lioness Club. With Dale, Kellie has written Youth Focus columns for The Friday Flyer.

Dale’s career background include working as a construction manager for KB Homes and serving as an appraiser for the Veterans Affairs (VA) office for more than 25 years.

One of his goals is to forward policies that balance the desires of the individual members and, at the same time, protect and enhance Canyon Lake property values. He wants to make sure amenities are well maintained in order to ensure Canyon Lake remains a place to live for people who desire to live in an upscale and modern community.

A community that provides amenities and activities for all ages will be more desirable and ultimately increase property values.

Another of Dale’s goals is to try to bring about a more unified community by improving communication between the POA and members. This can be done by encouraging POA staff to develop better documentation and presentations to the members as to how and why decisions are made, and by providing members with better ways of giving constructive feedback to the Board.

He believes one of the most critical elements of a community’s success is its members’ ability to find common goals and work together to achieve them.

Matt Poland

Matt Poland

Matt Poland and his wife moved to Canyon Lake in 2000 because they loved boating with their children, Ryan and Emily. They lived here full time from 2000 to 2006, and have been weekenders from Huntington Beach since 2013. Last year they spent more than 100 days in Canyon Lake. As a hobby, they build homes and have built four homes in Canyon Lake.

Matt has a Computer Science and Economics degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He currently works as a sales engineer for Splunk, focused on internet security and data analytics.

Maintaining property values is his primary goal. He wants to continue the capital investments the current Board is making, but stop the unnecessary lawsuits by restoring communication to find reasonable solutions.

He says, “Since the fall of 2014, when the bold effort started to reduce the $26 monthly that each property owner pays for the lake lease, Canyon Lake home values have lagged the surrounding area. Based on the average of four surrounding cities, Canyon Lake values are 16 percent lower. This translates into over $250 million in lost equity since 2014. It just isn’t worth it.”

His website is MattPoland4CanyonLake.com.

Paul Queen

Paul Queen

Paul Queen has been a Canyon Lake resident and homeowner for more than 16 years. He has served as chair of both the Community Patrol Committee and the Appeals Committee. He enjoys Canyon Lake water sports and recently started taking tennis lessons.

He has worked in the field of computer systems at the corporate offices of large companies and currently is a senior systems administrator running computer servers, storage and backup systems for a multi-billion dollar company.

He lists his goals and objectives as follows:

First and foremost I will represent the people of Canyon Lake; they are my top priority.

I will not be a Board members who says “aye” to whatever pet project other Board members want . . . I have the courage to stand up and oppose bad policies and wasteful spending that are not supported by our members.

I will support projects that are fiscally feasible, needed and requested by the members of our community.

New rules and policies must make life better for our members, not worse. I’ve seen too many good people move away because of ridiculous rules and policies passed by recent Boards . . .

I want transparency between the Board and our community. All discussion on public matters should be discussed in public at the Board meetings; not decided behind closed doors at executive sessions.

I have no agenda. There is no “secret project” that I want to do . . . I will also work to eliminate wasteful spending and fight to reduce our dues every year with the savings.

Most importantly, I am a reasonable person willing to hear all sides of an issue . . . I will consider members’ opinions before I vote.

Paul Chenette

Paul Chenette

Paul Chenette has been a Canyon Lake resident since 1985 and was the previous business owner of Autocare USA. He was awarded Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2008 and 2012, and was Business of the Year in 2004, 2009 and 2011. He has been on the Chamber Board of Directors since 2004, serving as president and vice-president two of those years.

He was on the CLPOA Board of Directors from 2010 to 2012, serving as president from 2011 to 2012. While on the Board, he created the “Amnesty Program” that provided members with an avenue to resolve their financial difficulties with the POA. While serving as president, he also filled in as POA general manager while the Association was seeking a new general manager.

During his past 31 years in Canyon Lake, he has been a member of the Ski Club, Choraleers, Men’s Softball, Lighthouse Players, Canyon Lake Community Theatre and the World Record Helicopter Team.

Paul says, when he sought election to the POA Board in 2010, he was “just an unhappy and concerned” resident. He didn’t know how the Association worked, and it took nearly a year to learn. He says, “The most important thing I learned was that, as a Board member, if you always took the approach that you would listen to the members collaborate with your fellow Board members to come up with ideas and solutions that would best benefit the entire community, you would have done your best. I believe I did and I’ll do it again!”

Paul says his immediate goal is to get projects completed that were approved when he was on the Board that remain unstarted or unfinished: the Community Building, Happy Camp improvements and the Dog Park. His objective is to work closely with fellow Board members and the general manager to build a strong leadership team that will do what they say they going tol do.

Election Calendar

Wednesday, February 24 – Candidate Orientation Meeting

Saturday, March 12 – Election signs can be posted; CLPOA election signs can only be placed in the community setback in the 60-day period prior to the election in accordance with the Election Sign Policy.

Friday, March 25 – Member of Record Date. Determines members entitled to meeting notice and eligibility to vote.

Thursday, April 7 – Mail Notice of Annual Meeting, Candidate Statements and Secret Ballot Thursday, May 5 – Last day it’s recommended a homeowner mail a ballot.

Thursday, May 12, at 8 a.m. – Annual Meeting of the Members and Election of Directors at the Lodge.

Saturday, May 14 – Alternate Adjourned Annual Meeting Date if quorum is not met on May 12, 2016.