April Recap
- friendsofkenlake
- May 3
- 3 min read
This was an eventful month. Here are the highlights.
We Have a Bus Route!
Route 33 stops in front of Ken Lake, and provides access to the mall transit hub and to the family court building. You can get real time updates with One Bus Away.
Members are Leading Bylaws & Covenant Updates
There's no easy way to say this - when the board did not seek to understand the work plan put forward by the governance committee, volunteers who had spent 2 months researching options for restatement decided that they could achieve more as an independent group.
Upcoming legal updates force the revision, giving us an opportunity to look at what's not working, and updates bylaws and covenants to be more in line with best practices for HOAs like ours.
Any member can weigh in, or participate in meetings where we discuss current language and revisions that may improve our operations.
While Friends of Ken Lake are involved, this is not a Friends of Ken Lake group.
We are pursuing bids for consultants who can make sure that our drafting process is complete, and that we end up with bylaws and covenants that are fair, protect homeowners, and reduce conflict.
We Lost a Common Asset
The board used executive session to discuss issues with a common asset many of us did not even know we had - the right to footpath access to the Kaiser Woods Trail.
We did a deep dive, using minutes and reports to reconstruct how we finally were granted private, legal access for all members of the LCC - and how this board rejected that grant in an unannounced vote, while members mics were muted.
This is a clear failure of process on the board's part. While the board claims concern for liability, many of the original reports with this information are missing from the record, and new numbers have not been published.
These Decisions Carry a Real Cost
The footpath was valued at $12,000, as it was assessed in 2024 when members voted to purchase this access. The Governance Committee estimates that the no-bid process chosen by the board will cost $10,000-$20,000 more in restatement fees.
When we increased the dues last year, it was to keep up with rising legal fees. In our research, we discovered a letter from Sound Legal advising against a lawsuit filed last October (the one that was withdrawn) - that means that the board acted against legal advice and then raised dues to pay for those legal fees.
Engagement is Not Division
Wanting to avoid divisiveness is understandable. Most of us feel some discomfort when there’s disagreement But avoiding disagreement is not the same as building unity.
There are real issues here, with impacts that extend beyond this moment—into future budgets, rising dues, and decisions like the loss of access to the Kaiser Woods Trail. We’re already seeing the effects in declining volunteer participation.
When we speak at board meetings, it is because we see these problems and choose to engage.
If we don’t speak up, we’re choosing to live with the result. And over time, that becomes how we treat people and how we operate.
Engaging with difficult issues is how communities stay fair and accountable. We will continue to engage when the stakes are real, because we believe that is how we build a stronger community.
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