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.
October 2026:
The month of October has a special type of style – all of it’s own. Designed to be the transition between Summer and Winter – it is the King of Halloween. A time to spook, scare and torment people all across the land. Well… Pine Mountain isn’t any different when you have a board like ours.
Life became quiet… almost too quiet. People had settled in to watch the trees change colors, enjoy the cooler weather, plan a community picnic – by the Members for the Members. One Key person, whom everyone loves because he’s one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet – made an announcement it was time to have fun, meet our neighbors, enjoy everyone’s company, have fun. A date was set, Oct 25, a location that will host everyone, Pavilion, time, 4:00pm after church… people were all excited. Signs went up from the entrance to all points of interest – spreading the great word. Then, the Evil Spirit of Halloween tip toed in the dark and removed all the beautiful signs, with the thought — if the signs disappeared, the picnic would be canceled. Why? You ask!!!! Because our Evil Pompous Villains of a Board said – Thou Did Not Get Permission to Hold Such a Feast of Fun.
FYI: The Head of the Evil Pompous Villains’ house in in foreclosure; his black Cadillac has been repossessed. He’s in financial ruin. And where, do you ask is our paid dues??? Those that were loyal to the community and paid, are wondering the same thing.
September 2026:
If you review the Member’s Facebook page, you’ll see over and over again how the property owners here on Pine Mountain are completely frustrated… and they have been since the beginning of Pine Mountains’ creation, I’m sure. But what we’re facing now is a slow resolve after a large heated up discord towards the board. Last May, some residents went 41 days without water – why? Whether it’s true or not, it seemed like an excellent time to extort money from the members to repair the whole water system instead of repairing the immediate problem.
Members started jumping through hoops to calculate how to throw the board off and take control of our beautiful community and make it function again – but NO, how dare members get together and not listen to one or two that, without any experience, lead the charge. Continuing to belittle other members on FB with sayings they have it all under control, they know best, they have read everything and they have a lawyer. Now, months later people are still asking if we’re any closer to removing the board. Short answer… No. Lawyers make the process more difficult, more costly and force it to take more time.
What is most comical is those that complain the board lacks transparency, are more closed closet than the board. The group of members that will remove the board have less to tell than the board does on any subject. If you’re not involved, pop popcorn and watch the show, it’s getting more and more comical as time goes on.
Motorcross???
It seems there was a scheduled meeting between a vendor/contractor and our President to discuss turning Pine Mountain into a Motorcross Dirt Bike ATV Recreational area, but Chase failed to show up. When the vendor learned about water leaks that takes several weeks to repair – they said they were not going to deal with this and left. As one comedian says – Now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are.
Plot Thickens or is it just gossip?
Word on the street is a Members Meeting will be happening Sunday, Sept 13 at 2pm at the local fire department. Agenda: Update on the status of removing the board and a forecast of changes coming our way. Folks are excited, they’re in an uproar, they want answers now. Then we hear someone has purchased 800 lots. Who? From Whom? Unless these are lots from the estate of Ray Hollowell it’s not possible. Pine Mountain has 1,200 lots, Ray’s estate has 877, approximately 300 belong to individual owners and the remaining lots are owned by various entities and the POA.
If it’s true or possible someone has purchased R. Hollowell’s lots, PM POA really missed out on bringing in the money. Imagine owing around $2M+ in unpaid dues/assessments and never be foreclosed on or liens placed on your property, then dying – the family isn’t responsible for paying your debt. How lucky are they? How poor are we???
Imagine how our current board’s regime is looking at immediate disgust in the loss of all that money. While you’re dreaming, think about how all the roads, bridges, water/sewer systems, golf course, walkways, endless opportunities to hire individuals, purchase equipment (new) – plows, mowers, trucks, etc. What a dream that would have been… all popped away due to lazyness.
If you’re looking for answers at the announced meeting and can’t make it – tune in to the Member’s Facebook page for updates when they announce how to ‘tune-in’ through a virtual connection.
NOTE: Because the meeting Agenda does not include anything about voting out the current board, that cannot legally happen. Then again who these days actually read the rules and follow them.
New word about PM FEMA funding:
Word on the street is – our wonderful board has finally hired someone to head up all the repairs from Hurricane Helene. You may recall, Pine Mountain was awarded approximately $107,500. Time was running out to spend the money. Remember, FEMA dictates what the money can be spent on and if PM spends it on anything else, that money must be paid back. Oh, who you ask??? Our very own board member Tommy Blanton.
More on Pine Mountain FEMA Bidding:
Members of Pine Mountain are staying busy keeping tabs on the Board of Directors… because the board lacks the ability to tell the members anything in person, through their website or via their Facebook page, everyone has to rely on the PM Member’s Facebook page to know some of what’s happening. Now, we’re learning that some bids came in to complete the tasks assigned by FEMA and the use of their money. Please review the following Bids to see which one you would have chosen: Foothills Construction Bid, A&D-Painting-and-Contracting-Bid, Jack Eso Contract Bid, Simply Green Tree & Land Solutions Bid, Thomas Blaton- Jarred Thomas Company Bid, and Unifour Concrete Construction.
You already know that Board Member Tommy Blanton created his LLC after FEMA provided Pine Mountain funding to do all the repairs from the hurricane. It’s easy enough to look it up through the Secretary of State website. 😉 We can only hope FEMA sends folks out to investigate to ensure all contract work is up to code and if not they are fined accordingly. But who will have to pay that fine? Tommy or our Board President Chase Billow??? Does make you wonder.
August 2026:
We knew there couldn’t be a whole month without something happening. Let’s call it Chaos with a Special K.
We now have three different groups of people that want the board removed. Let’s review and give them names to distinguish between each of them:
- New Member: He’s loud, gets angry when people don’t do as he demands, but deep down inside is a great organizer in disastrous situations. Would be great as a committee leader called Disaster Preparedness. He’s leading one group that consist of past board members and folks that want to get lawyers involved – so a lot of money and time is spent at the expense of those involved. It may or may not pay out. Word is out they are a few steps ahead of everyone else but yet refuse to attend any meeting with other folks when his feelings may get hurt.
- Hotel: The owner of the hotel and restaurant has been trying to open a world of prospects using his hotel and restaurant as a venue for parties, gatherings, and more. He’s offered to purchase the golf course so it can become operational again and remove those unsightly opened gates at the front entrance (our last board spent approximately $40k putting in those gates). He’s ready to hire a lawyer, possibly go to a judge – whatever it takes to remove this board from their seats so this mountain can become profitable to not only him but will make everyone – or at least try to make everyone – happy.
- Sheep: This is the last group of folks. Those that just want to live here, be happy, pay reasonable rates with the board taking care of the community the way they’re supposed to. They want a board that is responsible and take responsibilities seriously – pay our bills, pay employees, take care of the water system, keep the roads operational and clear, remove fallen trees, make our community resemble what they believed it was when they purchased here. They are confused on who to follow. They want the board off but don’t want to financially fund the board’s removal – why? They can’t afford it after the current board has raised the costs by 400%.
Now that you know the three different groups – here’s the funny thing – it appears no one is organized enough to do anything, so apparently our current President is correct when he stated that he’s not concerned about being thrown out – it’s all a cluster f*^$.
In the meantime, we have homeowners who have taken charge on keeping our community as clean and operational as possible. Does the board recognize these actions? No. If they’re told what’s happening – they don’t care enough to provide reimbursement for cost. Shame really – they demand our money, won’t tell anyone where it’s being spent and on the surface, all received funds are not seen or noticeable.
In the end – secret meetings are being held by the board and our new member… the hotel is open about having meetings and welcomes everyone while members of the new member’s group blame’s everyone else for all our problems – their solution? Who knows.
Well Guess What???? Fresh off the press…
One of our board members is running for NC House… isn’t that wonderful??? Would that explain some of the board’s actions? The rise in assessments/dues. The lack of any form of compassion. The decrease in community upkeep. The refusal to follow any of the governing documents – especially North Carolina Governing Statutes – does that mean if he’s elected, he’ll continue to ignore all rules? Is he wearing a mask so you can’t tell if his mouth is moving? You know masks prevent oxygen from going to the brain – is that what’s happening?
FYI: If it’s on the internet, someone will find it.
Board Changes???
As the current board is being referenced “Chase’s Board” is a reflection that a new board will be entering into the scene soon… how soon? That all depends on the lawyers that are involved. But we all know something has been happening within the board’s structure because in outgoing emails a couple of the board members names have been left off and a new name has appeared. When questioned, the board silence is all that can be heard.
- This post must have been read… the Prez sent an email stating the new board member is a New Assistant Secretary, holding a position as Officer and not Director. Simply put, has no voting rights on what the board decides.
Shall we end this month with: “I used to be disgusted but now I’m just amused.” Sent by a PM member.
July 2026:
The fun never stops. We start this month out with a silence from the Board of Directors. No collaboration for a decent working budget, no response to requests for a complete list of Pine Mountain members, when asked about a meeting – all one member hears is “no meeting” – then crickets. Members are tired, tired of the consistency of no response, no assistance, no anything. When the board held a “Follow-up to the Members Meeting” several audience members clearly stated they were unhappy with the board, the attending board members just stood there with blank looks on their faces… not making a single comment. How long must this go on?
Chase Billow:
It seems like it wasn’t that long ago, Chase was welcomed to the PM community with open arms. He said all the right things, clearly stated his intention was to be part of the Board to make our community the best it could be. Soon after we held elections, he missed out by only one or two votes… everyone felt really bad for him. Then an opening occurred on the board and he was welcomed in to fill a vacancy until the next election. Our bank account had $140,000+ – that information is important. That’s when the trouble began – there wasn’t another election. Chase worked his magic and became President. He continued to lead the Board in believing the By-Laws from 1974 was still good and ignore the 2019 approved version. And it went downhill from there.
During the 2025-2026 fiscal year, our annual assessments per household was only $1,000 and $250 per lot. It costs approximately $250,000 to run this community. With 100 houses and 30 townhouses – that’s only $130,000 plus scraps. It didn’t take long before the remaining equipment was all sold, bills and financial obligations went unpaid. Our water system had a problem, instead of just fixing the problem, he decided to look at the whole system for an upgrade – with no money. Then the plea went out… requesting everyone to “donate” $1,000 each to reactivate the water system. Some homes went 41 days without water.
The Board decided to hold the annual members meeting… their way – simply express that they will require over $570,000 to pay for 2026-2027 fiscal year. Demanding families now pay approximately $5,000 a year and if you can’t afford it, they will file a lien then foreclose on your property, throwing you out. Members reached out requesting an opportunity to create a working budget that would pay all expenses, all unpaid bills, hire employees and keep seniors in their homes. They were denied.
Now word is being spread around that Chase not only can he not handle the community’s finances, he can’t handle his own personal finances. November 2025, Burke County Superior Court filed Foreclosure charges on Chase Billow for lack of payment. Records indicate he paid the court April 14, 2026. Now American Express letter indicates they are looking for him for lack of payment, through the Lincoln District Court system, for the sum of $23,820.
One thing is for sure in this community, don’t upset anyone that has skills to hunt you down online. They will gladly find all your skeletons in your closet and pass it around like laundry on the backyard clothes line.
July 2026: Simply Amazing
Things happen within a community that actually just blows people’s mind. First of all, we had a board that refused to abide by the two latest versions of By-Laws and convinced everyone the only By-Laws worth following are dated 1974, the original PM POA By-Laws. Why, you ask… because it states each board is allowed to stay in office for 6-years. The two By-Laws after (1994 & 2019) both state a board member is allowed to be on the board for 3 years with a maximum of 2 terms. Slowly they were replaced by individuals who were not voted in but refuse to leave the board. The new board members have collectively decided not to hold a vote – of any sort. They have no concern for the betterment of the community demonstrated by lack of road repair, ground maintenance, lack of employees, delays in repairs to the water/sewer systems and so much more.
Members are extremely upset!! Everyone wants them out. Attempts were made to gather names on a petition authorizing a Special Members Meeting… more than enough names were gathered. Unfortunately, a couple of members thought it was best to ask for permission from the board’s lawyer to hold a meeting to vote the board out. The lawyer’s response? Denied, of course. Lawyer’s Removal Petition Letter. So now there are all sorts of small independent groups meeting to discuss things. Why won’t they gather together, you ask? Because someone in one group doesn’t like someone in another group. Shame.
In retaliation of how the community members are being treated, one member sent the board an email explaining the feelings of everyone involved…Email to the Board from Michele Herington (some minor spacing was performed, no words were changed)
June 2026:
Throughout the month of May, resident board members have moved off the mountain due to lack of water. Providing updates weekly on the water situation, which looks absolutely bleak, (read all emails on News Update). Members have had enough. From multiple sources board members:
- Refuse to respond to emails
- Refuse to answer phone calls
- Mute and remove members from board meetings
- Threaten members for speaking with contractors about the water situation
- Threaten to call local enforcement for ‘breaking and entering’ water pump houses to verify the water situation as explained by the board
Meetings are now popping up, managed by the members, asking for assistance from members to remove the board and replace them with an interim board till one can be voted on by the members.
In an effort to hold a Special Member’s Meeting, a petition has been established to acquire the required 10% of all authorized votes. As of June 4th, 10% of members in good stating has been achieved. It’s apparent board members are aware of the members actions – an email was sent out stating they’re closer to turning on the water.
Note: A PM member who lives on the North Ridge contacted the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality informing them of the lack of water. Their response: Public Water Supply Section does not have regulatory authority over private water systems. Some members, while not enthused about the news was thankful a response came in.
Another Pine Mountain, NC website was recently discovered… PineMountainPOA.com. The website provides clear documentation indicating Pine Mountain had $140k+ in the bank when the current board took over. Leaving a lot of questions now to where did all that money go? What we do know is – all the equipment, mowers, plus are now gone, does that mean it was easier to take them to the dump than fix them? It surely will cost a few deep pockets to replace them. Because the mountain looks like someone who wants to feed the bees instead of taking care of appearances.
Commentary from the author of PineMountainPOA.com: Commentary from PineMountainPOA.com
Everyone was doing so well on the Member’s Facebook group until one or two people decided to pick on, downgrade, criticize fellow members. The biggest problem with the typed word is it is read in the emotion of the reader and not the writer. Please be careful how you respond to anyone, you may be surprised at who you upset and what comes back to you.
As predicted, now – as of mid-June, the water is flowing across the mountain again and member’s tempers have calmed down. It’s expected to stay that way until the invoices for the new proposed assessments arrive.
On the 19th, the Board sent out an email announcing to everyone a “Follow-up Meeting” will be held at the SMFD to provide updates on the water system and discuss the 2026-2027 Budget. A long briefing was presented about the water update, but members believed it was just the same stuff as before, just sounded different. After the President showed up, he couldn’t show the proposed budget on a computer screen because he didn’t have his adaptor for his laptop, so instead he sent everyone a copy, via email, and just read out numbers without any true explanation other than ‘these are worst case scenario’ numbers. There was an uproar within the audience because they want each resident to pay $5,000 a year. One board member stated, if you can do better, we’ll look at it… now a few days later, that was all hot air, they have no intention of looking at a new proposed budget, much less accepting it. The only want a new guinea pig to torment and blame for miscalculations on the budget. A member stepped up, they are under negotiations.
May 2026:
Ray Hollowell passed away earlier this month from health complications – cancer.
Pine Mountain Water Situation: Please go to: News Update to review emails sent to all members from the board with updates on the community’s water situation. The first email starts out requesting everyone to conserve water to each resident (est 80) is required to pay $1,000 to restore the community water. According to Pine Mountain Member’s Facebook page, the original water disruption occurred due to an electrical storm turning off the electrical power to the water pumps. Several residents – who have assisted in water and well repairs, have indicated all repairs/replacements to the community water system have been completed by volunteers and local businesses. As of May 21st, the President of Pine Mountain is refusing to allow the local electric company to return the electrical power on until he receives all the money he has requested from residents.
Controversy: Board emails state all funds gathered to repair the current water situation will be applied to the 2026-2027 assessments. Then a different email states all funds gathered were volunteered by members to help pay for the water system. Which one is accurate? Only time will tell.
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.