There isn’t anything worse than being accused of something false. It seems that rumors can float around about folks without their knowledge then opinions are formed on false information – and the whole time, the individual who happens to be the topic, is never the wiser of what’s happening around them. Why are they suddenly shunned? Well, there’s a lot of information that floats around, some true, some false. Let’s post what is true and drop the rest.
The following information is/has been obtained through various sources. Those sources will not be revealed. To the best of my knowledge, the following information does not contain opinions.
March 2026:
Community Meeting: The Pine Mountain Board of Directors made an announcement on their website and Facebook page 3 days prior, they wanted to have a Community Meeting at the South Mountains Fire Rescue starting at 3pm. Approximately 30 people showed.
The board started the meeting with a brief financial report from Roy Brown stating PM is $32K+ in the hole. Delinquent members equal approximately $80-90k and they’re having difficulty in getting them to pay. This is in addition to the single property owner of several hundred lots not paying.
Members Concerns: An agenda was read out indicating that each person that wanted to speak would be granted a maximum of 3 minutes – some went over, some never spoke. Main concerns were: Water, Board not listening, Need a 24 hour hot line for problem areas (mainly water), Gates, Pot Holes, Crime with open gates, Dues, Golf Course, Create a Venue to bring in money, FEMA funds, no maintenance employee, Alert System is not working, Request for Quarterly Members Meetings, Fundraising Events, Boiling Water, Still???, Neighbor problem, Train the Board on how to run the Water System, Non-POA members are on the board – to name the key points.
Board’s Responses: The lack of money is preventing the repairs to the roads, gate repairs (moving the gates from the front entrance back to where they were before), Chase stated it was the responsibility of the finance company to submit community problems to the board – they’re not doing that, the finance company was supposed to collect all delinquent funds (we pay them 8% to collect), the board will look at reactivating the Phonevite System (Alert System), Members that showed support to the Board were thanked, the gates were open due to a legal dispute with the owner of the hotel/restaurant, and it was mentioned a few times the Board has been in contact with Burke County local governmental agencies looking for help and financial assistance.
After action report: One or more board members were very pleased and believed the meeting was a success and several problems were solved. When in actuality, the meeting allowed members to voice their concerns to the Board without any concrete responses to solving any of the items identified by the members.
January 2026:
Not really sure how many people noticed, but the board deleted the POA Official Facebook page and created a new Facebook site that only allows preapproved information from the Board of Directors. To access their new site: Pine Mountain Property Owners Association
Financial Review: Pine Mountain POA has one maintenance employee under contract, unfortunately their payment checks have bounced due to lack of funds yet when reviewing the January 3, 2026 – January 9, 2026 financial statement (found in Archive Documents) it shows a “Teller Cashed Check/Withdrawal” was made on January 9th for $307,032.61 from FEMA that was set up in a CD Savings. Word on the street – we almost lost this funding due to the board dragging their feet. Hope they don’t drag their feet in repairing two bridges and reforming the septic system.
Ice/Snow Storm: End of January came in strong with first a review of what could have been a regular time during the Ice Age. While most of the US was hit with several inches, Pine Mountain only received 1 to 4.5 inches…but that was enough for cars to slide off the road into trees, force people to stay in their homes unable to make it out for work or hospital appointments. Cars were abandoned in the middle of the road by another couple hoping to make it home on foot. One person reported he hiked through the woods from the North Ridge down towards the dirt road just to get out. People were barely able to recover when the sun came out – but the sun doesn’t shine everywhere, several sections of several roads were still covered in ice when the snow came. Expectation of over 24 hours of constant snow fall… no word from the Board. The Board, as it has been reported, are no longer on the mountain and have no idea about the struggles members are going through. Enough anger and frustration has caused a few to become very active to assist residents that are in danger, lack of fuel (propane for heat), lack of food, people are looking for assistance to ensure personal oxygen and medical supplies don’t run out. Folks are flocking to Pine Mountain Member’s Facebook page looking for help and assistance and information. End result: Neighbors coming together to help neighbors.
October 2025: Off to a running start
- On the Member’s Facebook page – a post was made announcing a Special Members Meeting, which the President doesn’t like and is attempting to stop people from attending based on an opinion vs the rules/laws of the land.
- It seems another one has left the board. What’s going on with the board that causes such a large turnover – and no vote by members?
- Complete resistance from the Board of Directors about the Special Members meeting – how dare they want a voice. We keep hearing how the meeting has not been sanctioned by the board so, all advertising has been removed and will continue to be removed.
- All owners received an email stating the front gate will remain in the “open” position (coming in and going out) until further notice – all pending on a legal matter. (It’s not rocket science to figure this one out.)
September 2025: Some key points we’re discovering this month:
- The POA Office is open one day a week when Roy Brown is available. No announcements when he can’t make it.
- The POA BoD decided there was no need for the current Pine Mountain “Official” Facebook page because it’s inconvenient to monitor it. Due to the history of that site, the Board has removed the Facebook page and created a new one called Pine Mountain Property Owners Association – Facebook page. You can follow it, but you cannot create a new post on it. Only comments are allowed. Glad we have the Member’s Facebook page enabling members to communicate with one another: Pine Mountain, NC Members Facebook page.
- No action is happening on repairing Sanderling Rd because the President says there’s only 5 people using it anyway – he’s math must be like our Treasurer’s – there are approximately 15 houses that have anywhere from 1-4 drivers per home, not sure how he only came up with 5. Seems like he had mentioned the North Ridge water only had 6 using it, so it wasn’t a priority.
- Attempts have been made to gather information from disgruntle members when they would like to have a “Special Member’s Meeting” but there’s no help from the BoD. Ron E. – who has been the water guy, is leaving to care for his partner up North.
- Vince was fired as the maintenance guy and now we have a full-time contractor doing maintenance, Roy P.
- Under a more sinister plan – it’s said that our current President is working on purchasing large quantities of lots with the hopes of controlling the votes in the future, so he can do what he wants without interference from anyone else.
August 2025: Finally board meeting minutes are posted along with financial reports. We were told the IPM management company was the key to all financials (balances, members accounts, tracking delinquencies, etc.) but there appears to be no accountability between the POA and IPM. Members getting upset their financial accounts with the POA were all erroneous. Was someone bankrolling the member’s money? Are dues not being applied to member’s accounts, on purpose? How loud does a member have to yell before they’re heard? Who responds to account balance requests? It’s not the POA Treasurer (he’s a volunteer) nor is IPM responding. It seems it doesn’t matter how much proof you have that you’ve paid (showing bank statements and canceled checks) no one will respond to your request to balance out your account. The board’s response: Don’t worry, we’ve moved to another financial company – they’ll take care of everything. But IPM is still sending out messages requesting all due payments be made to them. At what level of governmental agency do we need to call to find out what’s happening with the member’s money? Because if it’s being spent, it’s not on the roads, the North Ridge still doesn’t have water, employees are being fired – so it’s not salaries… where’s it going?
July 2025: Have no fear, our board of directors are continuing with their own agenda and not telling anyone anything about it at all. Well, that is unless you’re one of the few that contacts the President daily to put in your two cents and their side-kick. Not sure if their daily talks have any benefit for anyone other than themselves, because it’s not obvious to the rest of the members.
June 2025: Wonders will never cease. This board, who is mostly filled up with appointed members decided NOT to have a vote for new board members or have a vote for anything. Instead, they are insistent to continue with the 1973 By-Laws to have the membership meeting on the second Monday at 10am. A phone meeting. Not giving a care in the world to those that work. No requests for questions. There was an annual Community Picnic instead…where no information was provided about the members meeting. So disappointing. To read about the contents of that meeting, you can find the AI version: 2025 Annual Membership Meeting.
April 2025: Word has it, through an email from the Board President, that the board has decided not to hold elections this year. They are continuing to use the 1974 By-Laws as guidelines and may create their own changes later. At this rate, each board will waste their time making changes that won’t matter with the next board. The question becomes: Will this Board ever decide to send out notifications to the members of their plans? On anything? And if they do decide on something, will the members be told?
It’s barely mid-month and the word on the street is our board president cut our main maintenance guy’s hours down from 35 to 15, stating his position was a “luxury” – huh? So, he quit. Plus our water tester, whom we paid to receive his qualifications is now putting his house up for sale so he can go care for his sick husband up north. Nothing is more important than family. His position will be easier to fill with a qualified, cheaper company.
The Pine Mountain Board of Directors website stays updated. Currently it’s showing our Annual FireWise Brunch for 3 May and the Annual Members Meeting and Picnic for June 14th – both starting at 10:00 am.
March 2025: Nothing official is coming from the board except resignations from two of the board members. For the first time, our board provided us with water updates for the North Ridge with copies of receipts – this was a very pleasant change of pace. From Facebook notifications we know FEMA contractors are still actively collecting Hurricane Helene debris – not household or construction items placed by the road. On March 30th the Board had a public meeting where they introduced all the local Fire Department representatives, plus elected Roy Knopp as a new board member.
February 2025: Hurricane Helene (Sep 24, 2024) did mass destruction in it’s path. In the mist of all the destruction – there was loss of lives, misplacement of animals & pet, tumbling of trees and the elimination of roadways. With the help of our county, FEMA and funding, Burke County announced they will gladly pick up debris from the hurricane, just let them know where to pick up, this included public and private roads, and private communities, etc. Roy Brown made all the initial contacts to have FEMA contractors collect all gathered materials across Pine Mountain. Under the help and assistance of our Firewise Committee, several individuals, trucks and equipment are scurrying all over Pine Mountain picking up identified piles of natural debris from the hurricane. These wonderful individuals will not gather materials that are spread out, will not go past tree lines, will not cut fallen trees, etc. Please ensure all your natural debris is piled up next to the road. Removing these dead branches will help remove any wild fire fuel from our community. Expect this removal process to continue into March.
January 2025: Welcome to the New Year – a ton of possibilities! Unless you’re talking about old attitudes. Have the new board and new homeowners help go up and beyond to assist other homeowners and compliment them online – what do you get? Snarl remarks that on the surface could be taken as good, but there seems to be an undertone in there somewhere. Our new folks are doing what they think is best and they are getting complimented for it. Great job y’all. Keep up the good work. Ignore those that don’t appreciate you.
Here on Pine Mountain, it’s never a dull moment. It seems someone has purchased, under the disguise as Pine Mountain POA the domain name of PineMountainPOA.com. The website is currently only one page, but it clearly is wanting you to believe they are the actual Board or POA itself. Completely false. Pine Mountain’s website is: PineMountainPOA.org which is maintained and controlled by the Board of Directors.
December 2024: Have you heard? The new board has decided to only meet quarterly.
Mailbox Update: Anyone who has elected to have their packages placed in the building by the front gate, can notify the Connelly Springs Post Office and let them know. Our mailman will place a blue card in your box if you have a package to pick up in the building. Please place the blue card on the table/desk in the building so our mailman can reuse them. This only deals with over flow packages that cannot fit into individual mailboxes or the package mailboxes.
Too many times visitors and part-time delivery persons are arriving at the locked back gate… a sign will be placed providing an address to redirect them to the front gate area.
Big changes to our Board of Directors… we now have what looks like a “working” board – putting individuals in positions that will be a benefit to our community. Plus a remake of the Committees are gonna happen.
Spectrum: Some residents may already have the cable company in their residence. Once Spectrum is installed in the original POA Office Building – the office will move out of their temp office back to where they belong.
November 2024: Pine Mountain is now part of the IPM HOA family. You can sign up and make all your payments and contact information to their website IPMHOA.com. If you need to reach them, call 828-650-6875 or email info@ipmhoa.com.
October 1, 2024: Things have been changing… The Big News: Red Bird has pulled out at the last minute… no news on why, but it is believed they were the last company that wanted to purchase Pine Mountain’s water system. Since they are no longer interested, then it would seem our only water employee now has a big job on their hands to bring things up to speed, no more goofing off.
Other Big News is the loss (or gain) of two board members leaving – Lito and Timothy. Not sure what benefits we’ve seen from them since they joined the board – wonder if we’ll see any benefits with them gone. Could easily be no change at all.
More talk about finding a property management company to take over all general duties and finances. That would be a big relief. This would allow the board to be a board of directors and manage the committees as it was designed to do and keep nosey meddling members out of the office and out of other people’s business.
September 10, 2024: Spectrum is on the mountain!!! 
Wonder how long it will be before they will be going door to door solicitating for their services. Or if they’ll provide the board with information so everyone that wants their services can call and set up connections. The mountain will be streaming right along with public…computers running faster than folks can type. Do you think the office will sign up for it? Spectrum’s website states the cheapest gets you “Fast, reliable Internet up to 400 Mbps” – is that uploading or downloading or both? Neighbors are getting upset because the guys digging and stringing up the new lines are throwing their trash all around the mountain and parking lots. Absolutely no consideration of where they are.
August 25, 2024: At this evening’s board meeting, everyone was told that Red Bird will be taking over the water & sewage starting September 25th. That raises a few questions:
- How will they be billing everyone? Will the townhouses still have to pay that ridiculous additional charges per toilet that was never confirmed?
- How soon can folks have a meter so their water bills are accurate?
- Will Ron and Vince be Red Bird’s new employees? Or just Ron? Because Vince was hired as a maintenance personnel and never trained to do what Ron does. If Ron is a Red Bird employee, does that mean he will no longer be using the Pine Mountain email address to send out notices?
Another Employee Handbook is being created. In the last 10 years, this will be #4 – but they can’t find any of the previous handbooks. Who knew?
Office Buildings: It was announced the original Office Bldg had mildew and the Golf Pro Shop had mold. On both occasions everything was cleaned up and is certified as clean. It could be sometime in October the PM POA Office will be completely moved back into its original building and the old Golf Pro Shop will become a Community Center building allowing members to have gatherings, meetings, social events, etc. The plan is to fix the back decking so parties could be inside or outside with ease.
The POA website had stated that the office was closed until further notice. The board meeting stated the office was not closed – in fact it is open 2-days a week (Tues/Thurs) from 9am – 1pm.
Interesting news: The current gate code will stay in effect until further notice.
August 6, 2024: Kevin was taking his morning walk around the neighborhood and attempting to record the barking volume of the neighborhood dogs owned by Tim. Tim’s dogs were not on leashes. Kevin was in the street, Tim’s dogs attacked Kevin so quickly and severely, Kevin could not hold his own. Tim could not control his dogs and Lynne was heard stating that Kevin should be going to jail. No one called for an ambulance. No one tried to stop the dogs.
- Update: From the incident above, it is understood that Lynne has notified the Board that she now has a broken arm and has filed a police report against Kevin. Another police report has been filed against Kevin by Tim. I wonder if there’s any eye witnesses that could/would have an accurate point of view vs. what’s floating around the mountain.
Word on the street is: All three individuals have received notification from the Executive Board they are all banned from PM POA activities for a period of 2-months.
It’s also heard that Lynne cannot work in the office for 3-months – is that why the office is closed for an undisclosed period of time? Will they be looking for a replacement or a temp worker? [Update: Patti is back at the office on a temporary basis – Tues & Thurs only.] It was thought the office was closed so it could move back to the original office building the last board called the Maintenance Building.