No Resolution in BridgeMill

Although BridgeMill residents have taken to social media to raise support for continued maintenance along the Sixes Road corridor, a meeting this week between the presidents of the BridgeMill and Sixes Road Community Associations yielded no compromise.

BridgeMill board president Russ Caso and SRCA president Geoff Jones agreed to sit down Tuesday night to see if they could reach a resolution after effective Jan. 1.

The and trash pickup along Sixes Road, including the Interstate 575 interchange and the BridgeMill entrance along Bells Ferry Road.

Monday, Caso told Canton-Sixes Patch that he expected to "walk out of my meeting with Geoff with a clear series of acts where we can move forward.

"We haven't turned our back on maintaining Sixes Road. We want to work with them on a viable plan for maintaining the area. It's a matter of what the timing is and how we're going to handle it."

Thursday night, Jones said no progress was made toward a solution.

"It didn't appear to me that anything is going to change," he said. "I was hopeful to walk away with the potential to mediate this, but I didn't walk away with that. We compared thoughts, but bottom line, there's been no change in their position."

Jones said Caso told him the BridgeMill board had budgeted only $25,000, or $10 per home, for SRCA membership. That is half the $20 per home currently paid by the other SRCA members: Copper Creek, Lake Sovereign, Falls of Cherokee, Cherokee Falls/Estates at the Lake and Highland Point. Jones said Caso also told him that BridgeMill would only commit to a two-year SRCA membership.

When Canton-Sixes Patch reached Caso for comment on Thursday, he said the board decided not to make any further statements until after an April 1 meeting scheduled between the BridgeMill board members, Jones and Cherokee County Commissioner Karen Bosch. The commissioner lives in and represents the Sixes Road area.

Jones said he isn’t sure what the April 1 meeting will hold.

"I have no idea what Karen's role is in that meeting," he said. "I guess we'll find out April 1. I have no clue if there's anything set for that meeting that we can't discuss now. It just seems odd to me."

Meanwhile, in an effort to get the BridgeMill board to reconsider its position, longtime BridgeMill resident Christine Rea set up the BridgeMill Residents Support Sixes Road Maintenance Facebook group.

Initially, she emailed Caso saying she was embarrassed about the articles on the BridgeMill pullout. She said he spent 15 minutes giving her an explanation. Rea still had a lot of questions. She spoke with fellow BridgeMill resident Glenn Bender, a founder of the SRCA, before deciding to set up the Facebook group.

"For some reason, this really lit a fire in my belly and threw me over the edge," she said. "I don’t think of myself as an activist but I’m rallying the troops for this one. We’ve got to show that we’re all in this together to get it done."

As of noon today, the Facebook group had 161 members.

Rea wants more. In her posts, she urges BridgeMill residents to join the group and spread the word to their neighbors.

Monday, she posted a notice for the BridgeMill monthly board meeting, which was scheduled for that night.

"The monthly meeting is not something they broadcast," Rea said. Although she said she did find it on the HOA website, it was not and never has been in the monthly newsletter she receives by mail.

Rea, who didn't find out about the meeting until a few days before and couldn't attend because of another commitment, asked the Facebook group if anyone went. Those who responded said no.

Resident Kristin Morris said in a comment that her husband attempted to go. She wrote: "He walked in at 6:32 to see 3 men walking into a room and closing the door. There were no signs whatsoever nor was there anyone else there that he saw. Having not gone to the board meetings before, he did not know if these men even represented BridgeMill and didn't feel comfortable walking into a closed-door meeting." 

Caso said all residents are welcome at meetings.

"They are open–with time for resident comments," he said Monday. Typically, though, there is not a large resident turnout, he said.

Take the controversy surrounding BridgeMill's withdrawal from the SRCA. Caso said he has only received calls from Rea and two other residents about the matter.

Rea plans to continue her efforts to get the board to reconsider its position.

"I'm not choosing sides," she said. "My goal would be to make sure the maintenance gets done regardless of who does it. Make it a win-win for everyone. It impacts everybody. I'm behind whoever has plans to do that."