THIS IS GOING TO BE AN ONGOING UPDATE
Susan Jennings has been a director since 1987, and has claimed to be the HOA’s president since 2012. Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO has been the HOA’s manager since 2013.
Prior to 2013, the HOA was spending $70 a year to have the gutters cleaned. But then Melanie Lashlee became the HOA’s manager, and when board member Judy Kyrala needed her gutters cleaned, Melanie Lashlee, without consulting the board, hired some guy named Doug Clark to clean the gutters in the fall and again in the spring at a cost of $2,300 per cleaning. Look around: almost half of our townhouses have gutters that rarely, if ever need cleaning. And once the leaves are off the trees and the gutters are cleaned in the fall, what could possibly fall out of the sky that would require them to be cleaned again in the spring? So, even if Doug Clark spent a full day cleaning gutters that he had already cleaned, that would come out to $287.50 an hour for unskilled manual labor. Susan Jennings approved the contract.
Because of Melanie Lashlee, we now have two types of pressure regulating valves on our sprinkler systems. In 2014 I found out that Melanie Lashlee was having a plumbing contractor install pressure regulating valves to protect the underground stop/waste valves on our sprinkler systems. Stop/waste valves of the type we use are warrantied for up to 40 years; pressure regulating valves are warrantied for 1 year. We also have above-ground plastic pressure regulating valves, located where the sprinkler controls are, that frequently fail. There is not a shred of evidence that either one of these pressure regulating valves do any good at all, so, I put forth a motion to do as test to find out if the above-ground valves were a waste of money. Susan Jennings responded by calling for a special meeting to remove me from the board, and Melanie Lashlee thanked her.
I would have to be a complete idiot to ever trust Melanie Lashlee and Susan Jennings to negotiate any contract for the HOA, and yet it was Melanie Lashlee and Susan Jennings who presented us with the Special Assessment of $1,087,020.00, now increased to $1,185,073.83. If you recall, there were no candidates for the 2023 Annual Meeting/Election, so there was no Board of Directors to negotiate the contract to replace the roofs, and yet Melanie Lashlee and Susan Jennings did went right ahead and did it all on their own.
1999: Amendment to Article VIII, Assessments By The Homeowner's Association, paragraph (I):
...adding the following language: At the first such meeting called, the presence of members or proxies representing twenty five percent of all lots shall constitute a quorum. If the required quorum is not present, another meeting may be called subject to the same notice requirement, and the required quorum at the subsequent meeting shall be the holders of the shares entitled to vote who shall be present or represented by proxy. Susan Jennings was a board member.
1999 the HOA membership approved a 5 year $50 per month Special Assessment to pay for replacing the shaker shingle roofs, that were becoming an insurance problem, with asphalt shingles. Susan Jennings was a board member.
2002, the Board had enough money collected to start the roof replacement if it was done one loop drive at a time. The Board interviewed several roofers and chose Short Shingle to replace the roofs with the assurance the roofs would last at least 25 years. The roofs were replaced over three years: Jeffery Loop, 2002; Heidi Loop, 2003; and Eva Loop, 2004. Susan Jennings and I were board members.
2012 On 12/7/2012 Susan Jennings signed the HOA’s Management Agreement with HOAMCO that became effective on January 1, 2013.
2014 Re: Amendment to the Bylaws and the Special Assessment to replace the roofs: In February 2014, at the Reconvened 2013 Annual Meeting 4 Directors were elected: Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, Barbara Tauritz, and myself. Following that Annual Meeting, there was a meeting to choose the HOA’s officers. Homeowner Cindi Sorrentino attended that meeting in order to be appointed to the Board. I objected; we had just had the election and Ms. Sorrentino, who was at the Annual Meeting, gave no indication that she wanted to be a Director. However, Melanie Lashlee insisted that we needed to appoint her because we couldn’t have a Board of only 4 Directors; we needed 5. So, following that meeting, Melanie Lashlee contacted attorney Keith Hammond, who, based on his reading of the HOA’s Bylaws, claimed that the HOA was only allowed to have 3 Directors. As a result, the Bylaws were amended to limit the Board to 5 or 7 Directors.. Again, I objected, there was a hearing before Judge Douglas, and the amendment was allowed to stand, thereby increasing “the size of the Board from 3 to 5 or 7 directors.” A recording of these meetings was submitted as evidence at the hearing. Judge Douglas’s decision is posted at: greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com Attorneys Jason Miller and Mark Sahl were made aware of this in an open letter to Melanie Lashlee, emailed January 30, 2025.
2017: When a section of Eva Loop didn’t get the scheduled rotational painting, a homeowner wrote to Melanie Lashlee, “Am I understanding the board determined that, though other units were completely painted, ours was only deemed necessary to have only touch ups? Again, I ask, Where is the fairness? We pay the same Home Owners fee, don 't we get the same for our dollar?” Melanie Lashlee's response was, “there is only so much money the HOA has to spent every year. They are doing a fence replacement project which you and every other member know about which is very expensive ! They are doing the best they can to get everything done for everyone without having to SPECAIL ASSESS the membership ! If there is something you need done on your unit it will be done . The HOA cannot do everything that needs to be done all at once as it would bankrupt the association !”
2018: In November of 2018 then Treasurer Dave Christensen wrote in a letter to all HOA members, “Our roofs were replaced 10-15 years ago, however they are starting to fail again. The vendor who performed the project went bankrupt and your HOA has had to absorb the cost of what should have been warranty repairs. Replacement is an $800k project in 2018 dollars and there is no way to budget adequate reserves for this with our current dues." And once again, Melanie Lashlee and Susan Jennings did nothing.
2018: The November 2018 Annual Meeting/Election was the last time a quorum was achieved and an election took place. Since then every Annual Meeting/Election has failed to achieve a quorum. For the past six years the HOA’s membership has not been notified that these elections failed to take place
2023: For the November 2023 Annual Meeting/Election there were no candidates on the ballot.
Following the failed 2023 election, all decisions concerning the Special Assessment were made without a Board of Directors and without any meetings.
2025: February 20, 2025: The Special Membership Meeting to count the ballots was held. A quorum was achieved; the Special Assessment did not pass: 40 Yes, 39 No. Passage required 2/3 “yes” votes.
February 24: Melanie Lashlee emailed the membership stating among other things:
“During the meeting it was clear many members don’t understand how an HOA works. Please see the attached governing documents for your review. These are the same documents you were given when you bought your unit and signed a document stating you read, understood, and agreed to these guidelines. It is important for all owners to read these documents as they are the guidelines in how the community is to be managed.”
The only documents attached to that email were the HOA’s Bylaws, minus the 2014 Amendment, and image 1_1 showing the election results.
February 24: I responded to Melanie Lashlee’s email from earlier that day with the following request.
Dear Ms. Lashlee:
I could not help but notice that the copy of the Bylaws that you attached to your 2/24/2025 email "To All Members" (see below) did not include the 2014 Amendment to the Bylaws to increase the size of the Board from 3 to 5 or 7 Directors. Please correct the error. Also, I assume I don't have to remind you that "The Association has a five (5) Member Board to serve for a one (1) year term."
For your convenience I have attached the Amendment to the Bylaws, the Ballot to Amend Bylaws, and the Ballot Mailer for the 2023 Annual Meeting.
My request was ignored.
March 3: Less than 2 weeks after the Special Membership Meeting, Melanie Lashlee wrote in an email “Since the last vote, material costs have increased by 10%, raising the per-lot cost to $9,331.29.”
March 5: The Notice of Special Membership Meeting-Meeting #2 scheduled for 3/27/2025 and the ballot arrived in the mail less than the required 30 days before the scheduled meeting.
March 6, I emailed Melanie Lashlee: CC: Attorneys Jason Miller and Mark Sahl.
Dear Ms. Lashlee:
Please confirm that you have received my attached ballot. The ballot and the Notice of Special Membership Meeting-Meeting #2 scheduled for 3/27/2025 arrived on 3/5/2025 in yesterday's mail.
If the required quorum is not present, another meeting may be called subject to the same notice requirement.
March 27, 2025: The Second Special Membership Meeting is scheduled for a vote “to levy a Special Assessment against each lot equally in the amount of $9,331.29 in accordance with Article VIII, Section (h) of the Declaration.”
