An Open Response to the POA Board’s June 10th Statement
To Our Fellow Property Owners,
We are so fortunate to live in a place as safe, beautiful, and close-knit as Big Canoe. That’s exactly why we care so much about protecting it.
The POA Board’s recent statement confirmed what many of us already feel: a growing concern about leadership, transparency, and decision-making behind closed doors.
This is not about personal attacks. We join the Board in condemning any personal attacks or vitriol, and we believe that respectful, fact and issue-based dialogue is essential.
We appreciate the Board’s service and recognize the challenges of community leadership. Our goal is for collaborative work that ensures Big Canoe remains a healthy, vibrant, and transparent community.
Every property owner and resident has the right and responsibility to ask fair and reasonable questions—and to expect clear, honest answers.
What Every Property Owner Deserves to Know
1. Who’s Accountable for Community Leadership?
Transparency builds trust—so why is there so little? One of the General Manager’s key roles is to serve as the primary liaison between the board, staff, and property owners. Why does it seem that, during hard conversations, our General Manager is absent?
In an email sent yesterday, the POA Board stated that “Scott’s performance has been thoroughly evaluated on an annual basis utilizing numerous measurable metrics.” As property owners, shouldn’t we have the right to see those metrics? If the evaluations reflect strong performance, sharing them would help build confidence and clarify how our General Manager is being measured—and how well he’s doing.
2. What Happened to Our Name and Website?
Our identity—Big Canoe—was lost to private control. The POA quietly spent $500,000 of community money to try and get it back. There was no advance notice, no public vote, and BigCanoe.com is still not in POA hands. What exactly did we pay for?
According to Mike Rhodes of Big Canoe Realty, the rights to use the name “Big Canoe” in perpetuity were granted to Big Canoe. It appears that something else may have been purchased in the agreement that has not been discussed. The fact is, we simply don’t know. Why?
3. Why So Much Silence Until Now?
For a full year, our GM has mostly avoided open public dialogue. Now, as more property owners have begun to voice concerns—in part through the new uncensored Facebook group—we are given just 60 minutes of Q&A on June 11, to ask questions of him publicly.
Why wasn’t this important event recorded, streamed on the Big Canoe YouTube channel? Our guess is the Board and our GM didn’t want this Q&A recorded or aired for our community to see.
Sidebar: A Word About Journalism in Big Canoe
One of the reasons issues like these continue unchecked is the lack of independent journalism in our community. Smoke Signals, as a POA-affiliated publication, does not investigate, challenge, or report—it promotes. That matters.
Journalism exists to ask tough questions, verify facts, and hold those in power accountable. That’s the very role envisioned by the First Amendment. Without a real local press, Big Canoe lacks one of the essential checks and balances that keep communities healthy and honest. This may be one of the biggest blind spots our community faces.
The POA says criticism is harmful. But what’s actually harmful is silencing questions, spinning concerns, working to control the narrative, and asking residents to accept leadership without answers or proof.
To quote Ronald Reagan: “Trust, but verify.”
What Property Owners Want for Big Canoe
- Leadership that is qualified, visible, and accountable
- Real transparency in decisions, performance, and spending
- A community that welcomes questions—not one that shuts them down
- No personal attacks or mudslinging—let’s focus on performance, accountability, and results
This is our home.
Speaking up is not an attack—it’s how we protect what makes Big Canoe special.
Here are a few questions we posted that property owners and residents could ask if they attended this rare Q&A meeting.
With Respect, A Growing Group of Concerned Property Owners & Residents
