Dear Member
A number of criticisms from members opposed to the committee have been received following the sending out of 2021/22 Club maintenance invoices. For the benefit of all owners I am taking the opportunity to correct the misconceptions that are fuelling these criticisms. Albert Fletcher Chairman, Club Los Claveles ********************************************************************************************************************** 1. Most owners are praying for the day that you and your rogue committee are removed. Club members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the committee in record numbers since 2016. When the Club Committee met with Dimitris Manikis, a vice president of RCI, he was surprised at the high number of members physically attending Club AGMs as typically resorts have 10 to 20 attending. This is the typical number of owners physically attending the Los Claveles Development Owners Association AGM. During that time, a resolution by Club members opposed to the committee proposing a vote of no confidence in the committee was heavily defeated by 1524 votes to 118, demonstrating quite clearly that most owners in fact support the committee and hold them in high regard. 2. You have always and continue to exceed your remit as chairman and hopefully you will be gone soon. Several hundred owners feel this way and are sick to the back teeth with you. The committee has upheld the Club constitution at all times. It reports to members annually and has received overwhelming backing from them. 3. There has never been a contract approved with owners for a new administration, only an agreement in principle from a selective group in 2016. By your own admission you concede not all owners were informed due to your apparent lack of a database.. Club members voted to appoint the present Club Administrator, Hiro Bulchand, at the 2016 AGM. The Administrator’s contract is not something that requires member approval. It is the committee’s management responsibility within the terms of the Club constitution. Ona WimPen has repeatedly failed to return the members register to the committee since 2016. The Club constitution makes provision for circumstances of this kind that are beyond the control of the committee, in recognition of the fact that, by withholding the members register from the committee, Ona WimPen is preventing the committee from communicating with all members. Nevertheless, the Club Committee strives to invite all the legitimate Club Members it is aware of. 4. You have frequently suspended club members who disagree with your stance and continually try to find reasons to reject votes and proposals that are opposed to you. A small number of members were suspended for a short period of time for breaching the Club constitution by inciting other members to pay their annual maintenance fees to Ona WimPen who ceased to be the Club’s Administrator on 3 May 2017, following the expiry of its contract. Ona WimPen has acknowledged many times that it does not have a contract with the Club. The only reason that votes or proposals have been rejected is that they have not met the requirements of the Club constitution. 5. You mention that Club Los Claveles Ltd. was incorporated in August 2015, over 12 months prior to your apparent appointment of a new administrator. Where were owners invited to be asked about or vote on the creation of such a company? Many owners believe that the creation of such a company was to limit your liabilities in terms of redress of your actions. Club Los Claveles Ltd. was registered in August 2016 following legal advice given to the committee for the purpose of complying with UK company regulations governing commercial practice. In our case, invoicing and collecting annual maintenance fees from members. The current Club Administrator is Hiro Bulchand whose appointment was approved by members at the September 2016 AGM, and at whose request Club invoices are issued. The registration of Club Los Claveles Ltd. is not something that requires member approval. It is the committees’ management responsibility within the terms of the Club constitution. Changing the status of the Club from an unincorporated association to an incorporated company limited by guarantee is a completely separate matter designed to protect all members, including the committee. 6. As a chairman you are not representing owners best interests or wishes. Club Los Claveles is a democratic organisation that gives members an equal opportunity to have their views heard, to propose resolutions at annual general meetings, and to set the direction of the Club and its committee. Look no further for a clear demonstration of equity and fairness by the committee than the vote of no confidence that was placed on the agenda for a Club general meeting. This was fully aired and resoundingly defeated when it was proposed by members opposing the committee and that is democracy in action. The Club Committee welcomes all valid members to Club General Meetings. 13th March 2021: 7. Mr Fletcher is part of a rogue committee. They refuse to disclose full information to owners particularly related to the expenditure on legal costs. They have always done as they pleased and have run rough shod over any forms of objections. Far from doing as they pleased and riding rough shod over any forms of objections, the Committee has always respected owners’ democratic rights. And in relation to expenditure on legal costs, owners voted democratically to keep the Club’s financial position confidential during the dispute with Ona WimPen as a precautionary measure. When members who were opposed to this protective stance put forward a resolution to change it, the resolution was heavily defeated by 1472 votes to 170. The criticisms levelled at the committee are groundless. They merely serve to demonstrate the anti-democratic nature of members who are opposed to the Committee. 8. He has exceeded his remit as chairman as the constitution allows for only reasonable expenditure. How can that be determined when he refuses to publish such. He has also forced constitutional changes to block any challenge should he see fit. As above, it is the owners who determine the direction of the Club, and the associated costs, through the democratic process of general meetings. They have made the decision that the Club’s finances will not be published whilst the Club is in dispute with Ona WimPen. It is completely untrue that the chairman forces change. Any member who has attended a Club general meeting will attest to how democratically they are run. 9. The 2016 AGM determined an agreement in principle for Hiro Bulchand to take over when appropriate and a contract would be produced at the time. When did that that contract happened and how much was the administration charge? This is what the minutes of the meeting actually say: “The Chairman called for the vote for the “Approval for the Appointment of Snr Hiro Bulchand as the Administrator”. The Chairman stated that if approved then a contract would be drawn up and executed at the appropriate time.” The contract with Hiro Bulchand was agreed and signed on his standard business terms prior to Ona WimPen’s contract ending on 3 May 2017. This is simply a legal contract. 10. Suspended owners – these owners challenged the chairman’s actions that were felt to be bad for owners. Many were suspended for speaking out. Incidentally, he’s not allowed to be challenged as his constitutions don’t permit such. Members opposed to the committee were not suspended for speaking out. They were suspended for breaching the constitution by inciting other members to pay their maintenance fees to Ona WimPen after its contract with the Club had ended. The Club is a democratic organisation. It is a complete misrepresentation to claim that members are not allowed to challenge the Committee’s actions. The proof of this can be seen in the way that resolutions put forward by members who are opposed to the committee were democratically included on the agenda of a general meeting of Club members who overwhelmingly rejected them. 11. Club Los Claveles Limited was registered in August 2016 according to Mr Fletcher. Wow what a massive lie that is! Take a look at Companies House. Club Los Claveles Limited, company number 09719940, incorporated on 5th August 2015! The Chairman was quoting from the Companies House confirmation statement CS01 for Club Los Claveles Ltd. dated 4 August 2016, which was issued on the first anniversary of the company formation. To all intents and purposes, four and a half years later, it looks like a statement of confirmation that the company had been set up on this date. Bearing in mind that after the June 2015 AGM the Club’s solicitor advised the Committee to set up the Company early in readiness for a handover from Ona WimPen; that all of this was reported to members at the 2016 SGM in January 2016; that the members’ decision taken at this SGM to go to arbitration took precedence, and that there was no activity as a result of this decision in the first year; there is no issue of any consequence here for the Club and its members. The Company was needed to facilitate the collection of fees via a UK bank account and to ensure that there were no problems in connection with Ona WimPen returning the Members Register to the Club Committee. The Company is controlled by the Committee on behalf of the Club. The Members continue to support this process, as can be seen by Members General Meetings. 12. As a chairman he isn’t representing the owners’ interests – most owners are happy with the resort and how it is being run. This chairman has dragged owners into a conflict they didn’t want and certainly didn’t need. The sooner Los Claveles is rid of him the better. It’s not the running of the resort that’s in dispute. There are very clear and specific reasons for terminating Ona WimPen contract which members can view in the key documents section of the owners website https://www.losclavelesowners.eu These were put to members at the 2015 AGM when a record 400 owners turned up and they voted to terminate the contract. Yet again, this unfounded criticism by members opposed to the committee demonstrates that they have a fundamental misconception regarding what the dispute with Ona WimPen is about, and an equally fundamental problem with democracy. In terms of representing owners’ interests, members should bear in mind that Ona WimPen, and Mr Barrow have come in for widespread criticism from Club members for the way that general meetings of the Development Owners Association (DOA) have been conducted. The irregularities that have given rise to these criticisms are so serious that legal action has been taken on their behalf to impugn DOA general meetings in the Spanish Courts. |