David Chavez, Jr., Does Not Pay Annual Dues
TL;DR
- El Mirador Homeowners Association Treasurer David Chavez, Jr. has not paid annual dues for 16 years, despite being legally obligated to do so. Chavez's co-owner of a lot located at 333 Avenida Mirador, Francis Jankel, has also not paid dues for the same period. Chavez and Jankel owe the Association a combined total of at least $8,460 in unpaid dues and late fees.
- For over a decade, Chavez lied to other homeowners, claiming that he was not required to pay dues because of a vote of the members and subsequent amendment occurring in 2006. However, no records exist to support this claim, and no amendment to the Association's governing documents was made.
- In January 2023, a homeowner confronted Chavez about the issue. In response, a month later Chavez and his allies on the Board of Directors improperly amended the Association's bylaws in an apparent attempt to forgive Chavez and Jankel's debt and to thereafter abate Chavez's responsibility to pay dues.
- It is unclear why the Board of Directors would consider compensating a typically volunteer position that has been held by the same person for almost two decades. It is likely that Chavez engineered the concept of the Treasurer not paying dues while he was Association President in 2006, and subsequently manipulated the electoral process to seize the role of Treasurer.
- An amendment to an HOA's community documents cannot be applied retroactively, even if the HOA claims that it was adopted many years earlier. In other words, an amendment cannot be used to justify actions that occurred before it was recorded.
I want to discuss David Chavez, Jr., who is the Association's Treasurer. Chavez has not paid Regular Assessments against his property to the Association for what appears to be a significant number of years, possibly longer than two decades. As a result, he apparently owes the Association as much as $8,460 in unpaid annual dues, not including late fees charged to delinquent accounts.
Feel free to double-check my math. We can look into the timeline of Chavez' nonpayment further down the page, but as it sits, unless someone presents credible evidence to the contrary, I am going with these numbers that have been calculated using the available evidence.
| Year | Unpaid Dues | Days Past Due | Late Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | $ 420 | 6240 | $ 42 |
| 2007 | $ 420 | 5875 | $ 42 |
| 2008 | $ 420 | 5510 | $ 42 |
| 2009 | $ 420 | 5144 | $ 42 |
| 2010 | $ 420 | 4779 | $ 42 |
| 2011 | $ 420 | 4414 | $ 42 |
| 2012 | $ 420 | 4049 | $ 42 |
| 2013 | $ 420 | 3683 | $ 42 |
| 2014 | $ 420 | 3318 | $ 42 |
| 2015 | $ 420 | 2953 | $ 42 |
| 2016 | $ 420 | 2588 | $ 42 |
| 2017 | $ 480 | 2222 | $ 48 |
| 2018 | $ 480 | 1857 | $ 48 |
| 2019 | $ 720 | 1492 | $ 72 |
| 2020 | $ 720 | 1127 | $ 72 |
| 2021 | $ 720 | 761 | $ 72 |
| 2022 | $ 720 | 396 | $ 72 |
| $ 8,460.00 | $ 846.00 |
This is a serious matter, and warrants Chavez' removal from the Board of Directors. He has not paid dues for years, yet he is in charge of recording liens against homeowners when they become delinquent in their dues. This demonstrates poor character and a capacity for dishonesty from Chavez and the entire Board of Directors.
So, where does this come from? How do I know Chavez does not pay his annual dues? For years, various Association members have brought up the matter of Chavez not being required to pay annual dues because he is Treasurer. At first I didn't consider the matter worth investigating as it sounded plausible. Over time, however, I discovered that the Association's Board and committee members promote false information with an alarming regularity. Almost nothing I have been told by them has proven true, and much of what they publish in the newsletters is falsified to the point of being useless as information.
In a recent Board of Directors meeting for the Association, I had an opportunity to ask Mr. Chavez about this issue. He could very easily explain the matter to everyone in attendance, ending the controversy altogether.
Dishonest people very often refuse to acknowledge their wrongdoing. I knew before asking that Chavez would not answer the question because I already know he is a dishonest person. Chavez is the Treasurer, so asking him for financial documents that prove he is improperly compensating himself will get us as far as asking him questions, which is nowhere. How can we move forward on this issue when the people who know the answers are dishonest and unwilling to answer?
So we must investigate. Let's take a look at the Association's historic documents and see if we can find any evidence that Chavez doesn't pay his dues.
I managed to find two references in the Association's meeting minutes for a Board of Directors meeting that occurred on August 4, 2015. Apparently people were upset that Chavez was being compensated in his role as Treasurer. He plainlky states, in writing, that "The dues of the Treasurer are abated as per changes to the Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions for the El Mirador Subdivision enacted in August 2006. This change was voted on by a majority of the Owners."
There you have it. Chavez says he doesn't pay dues because he doesn't have to. Now I'm just quoting what he said according to the meeting minutes. Since Chavez was Secretary and Treasurer in 2015, he wrote the minutes himself. He clearly and very specifically claims that he does not have to pay dues as a result of an amendment to the Declaration that happened in 2006.
However, there is no evidence that this is true, and it is very easy for anyone to look into, which we'll do in just a minute. Also, guess who was the Association President in 2006? David Chavez, Jr.
I mentioned a second reference, which occurs on the last page of the same set of meeting minutes. Chavez felt the need to codify his claim by repeating it and providing additional explanation. The contradictory message of Chavez is that he is not compensated, but that he does not have to pay dues. That's the very definition of a specious claim. Not paying dues, whether it is $420, $480 or $720 per year is compensation.
While it may be true that the role of treasurer is arduous and deserving of compensation, it is not true that the Declaration was amended to allow it. The last line about assisting the President in his example also deserves a little scrutiny.
Before we do anything else, I want to add a wrinkle to this issue that needs to be addressed. Even if Chavez was telling the truth about the Treasurer's dues being abated by amendment, and to be clear, he is not, but even if he was, he would still be defrauding the Association of monies owed as he is only half-owner of his property. He would only be able to legitimately claim half the dues of their property for abatement, and his co-owner Francis Jankel would be responsible for paying his half of the annual dues.
This would have been true for every year that Chavez did not pay his dues. To make matters worse, Jankel, for a number of years, profited from the Association more than $20,000 per year, and still would not pay his $210 share of annual dues. These are not good people.
