Obviously, the shabby condition of the
bushes at 2525 Eva Loop not only undermines any efforts by North
Country Health Care to make a favorable impression on its interns, it
hurts the value of that townhouse, and the value of every townhouse
in our community. Anyone who is interested in buying one of our
townhouse will probably take a look around before making an offer and, seeing the shabby appearance of that front yard and knowing that
HOAs are responsible for maintaining landscaping standards, they will
probably be disappointed and offer less for any townhouse they are
interested in buying. And our Treasurer, Cindi Sorrentino, is a
licensed real estate broker, so she undoubtedly knows that the
misshapen, overgrown bushes at 2525 Eva Loop detract from the value
of all of our townhouses. And Director Barbara Tauritz lives right
across the street at 2530 Eva Loop. So, instead of asking “What do
Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala have against North Country Health
Care?”, maybe I should ask, what does our Board of Directors have
against North Country Health Care?
Correction: I wrote above that there have been about a dozen different Directors since 2002; actually, it's more like twenty Directors.
On November 23/24/25&30 the landscaper did the fall clean-up; nothing was done about the bushes at 2525 Eva Loop. On December 7, the bushes at 2525 Eva Loop were trimmed.
******************************************************* **************
I have moved this portion up from below, to give a better understanding of this matter. See below the blue *** for the details, documents, and the Judge's Decision.
Note: From time to time I make minor changes when I deem it necessary, usually to correct a mistake or to make some point more clear.
From here on I'm going to continue with my Lobbying efforts, and probably won't be posting anything new. Instead, I will be contacting every elected official, Chamber of Commerce, editor, and anyone else in Arizona who may be able to help make necessary changes. If they have email, they can expect to hear from me.
Note: From time to time I make minor changes when I deem it necessary, usually to correct a mistake or to make some point more clear.
From here on I'm going to continue with my Lobbying efforts, and probably won't be posting anything new. Instead, I will be contacting every elected official, Chamber of Commerce, editor, and anyone else in Arizona who may be able to help make necessary changes. If they have email, they can expect to hear from me.
May 2
On Monday I will begin sending the following email telling about the conduct and methods of
President Susan Jennings sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com
Treasurer Cindi Sorrentino cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com
Secretary Judy Kyrala j.kyrala@gmail.com
HOAMCO employee Melanie Lashlee melanie@hoamco.com
327 emails sent as of August 11
Who's Minding the HOA?
Dear...
...the Members of the HOA where I live were sent a ballot asking them to vote for my removal from the Board. That ballot was accompanied by a letter from HOA President Susan Jennings that trashed my reputation so thoroughly that seventy of my neighbors voted to remove me from the Board (see the attached PDF). To clear my name, I filed a petition with the Dept. of Fire, Building and Life Safety that resulted in a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge. I have posted the Judge’s decision, along with other related documents, and additional information at my blog: www.greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com
The Petition claimed:
1. An amendment to our Bylaws giving the Board the power to limit the number of Directors was done in an improper and deceitful manner.
2. A Special Meeting/Election to remove me from the Board was done in an improper and deceitful manner.
3. Misuse of a Special Meeting/Election to harass and libel me.
In his Decision, the Judge allowed the amendment to stand, and yet he ordered that I be deemed the prevailing party, that the HOA pay half the $2,000 filing fee, and that the HOA pay a $200 civil penalty.
But I had to pay the other half of the filing fee. So, what did I get for my $1,000? Crystal-clear, unequivocal proof that the Community Association Manager (aka Property Manger) Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO and the HOA Secretary Judy Kyrala committed perjury.
At the hearing, Judy Kyrala testified that I wrote a letter, without the knowledge or approval of the Board, to a homeowner suing our HOA. She claimed it was the “straw that broke the camel's back” even though it predated the ballot for my removal by a full year. Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee gave similar testimony. However, I provided emails that proved that three of our four Directors, including Judy Kyrala, participated in writing that letter, and that Melanie Lashlee knew about it. So, why were they so determined to make it appear that I had done something wrong? At the hearing, Melanie Lashlee testified that the letter was probably the cause for an increase in our insurance rates, which just about tripled. That letter, was a response to a certified letter the “litigant” sent Ms. Lashlee long before he sued.
On 9/6/2013, the “litigant” emailed me the following:
“Hi Bill,
...I found your blog in my search for a way to contact the board directly. I wanted to make the board aware of a letter that I have just sent to Ms. Lashlee....” The first sentence of that letter read: “This is a letter to clearly state my grievances with HOAMCO, and Melanie Lashlee as the HOAMCO representative and community association manager for Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two.”
Apparently, just to shift the blame for an increase in our insurance rates, Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO and HOA Secretary Judy Kyrala lied under oath. And it was pretty obvious to me they had planned it in advance, which I'm pretty sure is conspiracy to commit perjury; though I'm sure the HOA's attorney, Keith Hammond, would know for certain. Our HOA, a non-profit corporation, has a criminal defense/personal injury attorney for a lawyer, instead of an attorney expert in corporate or real estate law.
At the hearing, Melanie Lashlee also testified that I was out of control, screaming at a landscaper at a Board meeting, which caused him to withdraw his bid and leave. It’s a complete fabrication. What follows is from the Minutes of that March 20, 2014 meeting:
III. Election of Officers
A. Motions were made, seconded and passed to elect Susan Jennings as President, Bill Lee as Vice President and Judy Kyrala as Secretary/Treasurer.
IV. Landscape bids
A. Presentations made by representatives from Northern Lights and Agassiz Landscaping. B. Motion was made, seconded and passed to accept the bid from Agassiz…
C. Judy made note of the improvement in the look of the trees in the neighborhood as a result of last year’s tree-health contract with Mick’s Tree Service, LLC.
V. Sign Corporate Commission Report and Year-end Tax forms for HOA.
And that's just some of the lies told at the hearing.
The Amendment to the Bylaws came about because Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO didn't like the results of the February 2014 Election of Directors which resulted in a Board of four Directors: Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, me, and a new Director, Barbara Tauritz. Melanie Lashlee didn't want an even number, so she waited until after the Annual Meeting was adjourned, and all but one of the HOA Members had left, to declare that she wanted to add a fifth Director: Cindi Sorrentino. Because we had just had the election and Ms. Sorrentino was not on the ballot, I objected; however, later in the meeting, after we ran into an impasse in choosing officers—with Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala refusing to accept a compromise offered by Barbara Tauritz, and Melanie Lashlee complaining that we couldn't get anything done—I offered a motion that Cindi Sorrentino be appointed to the Board if Keith Hammond approved it. Melanie Lashlee declared it a “great motion”. The result: eventually Cindi Sorrentino was appointed to the Board.
And not long after that, things got really nasty. The following is a Sept. 10, 2014 email from HOA President Susan Jennings:
Special Board Meeting
1 message
Susan Jennings< sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com> Wed, Sep 10, 2014 at 3:52 PM
To: Cindi Sorrentino <cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com>, Judy Kyrala< j.kyrala@gmail.com>, Barbara Tauritz <btauritz@hotmail.com>, William Lee <greenlawtownhouses@gmail.com>
All,
I am calling a special meeting for the purpose of requesting approval from the membership to remove Bill Lee from the Board. For notice requirements to the membership I would like to have this meeting on September 30th at noon. Please confirm your availability so Melanie can send notice to the membership.
Thank you,
Susan
Susan Jennings
Director of Rooms DivisionLittle America Hotel, Flagstaff
(928) 779-2741
www.flagstaff.littleamerica.com
I have attached a recording of that meeting which took less than four minutes. On it, you can hear Susan Jennings state her charges—at one point I protested that a charge was “flat out libel” but was silenced. You then get to hear, Cindi Sorrentino put forth the motion to send the ballot, and Judy Kyrala second the motion. It is only after Melanie Lashlee declared the motion passed that I got to vote, no.
At the hearing Melanie Lashlee testified that HOA members had requested that the ballot be a “secret ballot” because they were afraid I would retaliate. Also, in response to my Petition, the HOA's attorney wrote: “The Board does concede that it did fail to obtain a signed petition by the members that called for Petitioners removal from the Board of Directors as required by A.R.S. §33-1813(A)(1) before holding a special meeting to remove him.” However, the recording makes obvious that there was no mention of any member asking for a secret ballot or petitioning for my removal.
Furthermore, Cindi Sorrentino, a real estate broker, and Melanie Lashlee, the Community Association Manager, are professionals who should have known their actions were in violation of A.R.S. §33-1813(A)(1).
Just about every charge and allegation that Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala and Melanie Lashlee made against me was a deliberate and malicious lie. As I understand it, just sending the Membership the Ballot to remove me from the Board and the Notice/Letter that accompanied it, was in and of itself harassment and libel.
It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, but for some people it just takes a little smidgen of power. And all it takes to abuse that power is the cooperation of a few Directors, a Community Association Manager, and a lawyer. And, of course, the HOA's money. Our annual assessments total about $175,000 a year.
There need to be changes. I believe the conduct of Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO is the best argument I can offer for why there needs to be more robust oversight of HOA management companies. It is my understanding that one out of every six Arizona homeowners is a member of an HOA. That's an awful lot of Arizonan's whose everyday lives are directly affected by an HOA management company, and HOAMCO is a company that manages forty or more HOAs and is expanding in Arizona. Presently, the Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety and the Department of Real Estate have no jurisdiction over HOA management companies.
Obviously, I don't want to get sued for libel, so I have done my best to make certain that everything I have posted at my blog, and written in my lobbying letters, is true and accurate, and I have the recordings of meetings, the Minutes of meetings, and the emails exchanged between meetings to prove it. Also I have made a sincere effort to make certain that Justin Scott, the CEO of HOAMCO, is aware of everything I have written at my blog and in my lobbying letters, and that he is aware of the conduct and methods of his employee Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee. Mr. Scott has given no indication that he has any objections to anything I have written or posted, or that he has any objections to anything Melanie Lashlee has done. I keep hoping that Mr. Scott will be just as applaud as I am by the conduct of his employee Melanie Lashlee, and will put a stop to it, but so far my hopes have been in vain.
One final word: I know I did a poor job of presenting my Petition, especially at the hearing, as the Judge made abundantly clear. In his Decision the Judge included the HOA's response to my Petition, but he did not include or make any reference to the letter I wrote in response to the HOA's response to my Petition, or a similar letter I wrote in response to the HOA's Motion for a Summary Judgment. I think he made his judgment solely on the HOA's response to the Petition and what took place at the hearing, so just to set the record straight, and to fill in some of the blanks, I have attached a copy my response to the HOA's response.
Bill Lee
2521 Eva Loop
Flagstaff, AZ 86004
928-714-0145
www.greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************
I submitted a Petition to the Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety, dated 11/9/2014, with the following charges against the HOA.
a. The amendment [to our Bylaws to
change the authorized number of Directors] was done in an improper
and deceitful manner...
b. This Special Meeting/Election [to
remove me from the Board] was done in an improper and deceitful
manner...
c. Misuse of an Emergency Board
Meeting, and the resulting Cover Letter/Notice and Special
Meeting/Election, to harass and libel me.
(Note: See page 2 of the Judge's
decision posted at the bottom of this page.)
In his Decision, the Judge ordered that
I be deemed the prevailing party, that the HOA pay $1,000 of the
$2,000 filing fee, and that the HOA pay a $200 civil penalty to the
Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety; however, the Judge did
allow the amendment to stand.
(Note: Please know that the Dept. of F,
B and LS does not allow petitioners to file against individual
Directors, so I had to file against the HOA; so, even though it is
Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, Cindi Sorrentino, and property manager
Melanie Lashlee that I hold responsible in these matters, it is the
HOA that is going to have to pay $1,200 to satisfy the judgment.)
But I had to pay the other $1,000. So,
what did I get for my $1,000? Crystal-clear, unequivocal proof that
HOA Secretary Judy Kyrala and HOA property manager Melanie Lashlee of
HOAMCO committed perjury.
But, before we get to the actual
testimony, let's take a look at the HOA's response to (b) and (c) of
my Petition.
“The Board does concede that it did
fail to obtain a signed petition by the members that called for
Petitioners removal from the Board of Directors as required by A.R.S.
§33-1813(A)(1) before
holding a special meeting to remove him.” (Page 3, Line 17-21 of
the Judge's Decision)
This statement was made in the HOA's
response to my Petition and in its unsuccessful Motion for a Summary
Judgment, and yet no evidence of any kind was provided to support the
claim. Please take a close look at the following three documents and
see if you can find any mention of any member of the HOA who
complained about me, or called for my removal from the Board.
***********************************
Special Board Meeting
1 message
Susan Jennings <sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com> Wed, Sep 10, 2014 at 3:52 PM
To: Cindi Sorrentino <cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com>, Judy Kyrala <j.kyrala@gmail.com>, Barbara Tauritz <btauritz@hotmail.com>, William Lee <greenlawtownhouses@gmail.com>
Cc: Melanie Lashlee <melanie@hoamco.com>
All,
I am calling a special meeting for the purpose of requesting approval from the membership to remove Bill Lee from the Board. For notice requirements to the membership I would like to have this meeting on September 30th at noon. Please confirm your availability so Melanie can send notice to the membership.
Thank you,
Susan
Susan Jennings
Director of Rooms Division
Little America Hotel, Flagstaff
(928) 779-2741
www.flagstaff.littleamerica.com
Did you find anything? Of course not.
The claim that there was a petition by the members that called for my removal from the Board only came after I informed the HOA in my Petition to the Dept. of F,B and LS, that such a petition was required. The above documents, the recording of the September 20, 2014 special
meeting, and the charges against me, make it obvious that it was
Susan Jennings who called for a special meeting, Susan Jennings who
made the charges against me at the special meeting, and Susan
Jennings who wrote the letter/notice included with the Ballot that
stated the charges against me. And it was Cindi Sorrentino who put
forth the motion to send that ballot, Judy Kyrala who seconded the
motion, and property manager Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO who mailed the
letter and ballot.
They sent to every member of this community where I live a letter that trashed my reputation so
thoroughly that 70 of my neighbors voted to remove me from
the Board. And they did it in clear violation of the Statues that
govern this HOA, and without providing any evidence of any kind to
support the charges.
Which raises the question: Why would
they do it? Well, for one thing, they don't like this blog, and I
suggest you take a long, hard look at last years Journal to
understand why. For another thing, I have been actively lobbying for
more robust oversight of HOAs, and for the testing and licensing of
HOA property managers. Obviously, I don't want to get sued for libel,
so I have done my best to make certain that everything here and in my
lobbying letters is true and accurate, and I have done my best to be
sure I have the recordings, Minutes, and emails to back it up; and I
have made a sincere effort to make certain that Justin Scott, the CEO
of HOAMCO, has no objections to anything I have written here or in my
lobbying letters.
Now, about the perjury.
At the hearing, Judy. Kyrala testified
that “the straw that broke the camel's back” was when I sent a
letter to a litigant who was involved in a law suit with Greenlaw
without the knowledge or approval of the Board (see Page 4 Lines
18-21 of the Judge’s decision).
At the hearing I
provided emails that proved that Judy Kyrala not only knew about the
letter, she participated in writing it. I'm not going to post here
any of the various drafts of the letter; however, before I sent the
letter I emailed the following:
*****************************
Sep 15, 2013
ToKurt
Judy Kyrala
Susan Jennings
Hi Everyone,
If [HOA Member] really believes that
he has grounds for legal action, and if he can find an attorney to
take the case, we will hear from his lawyer soon enough. In the
meantime, I think we all agree that the best chance we have to put an
end to this matter now is to let [HOA Member] know that we do not
support his claim.
I have made a few minor changes to the
letter (in red). If no one has anything else to add, I'll email the
letter to [HOA Member] Monday evening. If you would like me to remove
your name from this letter, so that you can write [HOA Member]
yourself, please let me know.
[letter removed]
Bill Lee
Here is Judy Kyrala's initial response:
Judy Kyrala
Sep 16, 2013
ToWilliam Lee
CC:
Kurt,
Susan Jennings
Do NOT include my name on such a
letter.
--
Judy
And then Judy Kyrala repeated her request in a second email that she also sent to Melanie Lashlee. The second email included many of the emails (removed here) that were exchanged in the writing of the letter to the HOA Member, so there is no question that Melanie Lashlee knew about the exchange. I submitted a copy of this email as evidence at the hearing.
Re: A letter from the Board
Judy Kyrala
Sep 16, 2013
Tome
Jessica Westling
CC:
Kurt Jon Fenske
Melanie Lashlee
Susan Jennings
I repeat - do NOT include my name on
this sort of letter.
--
Judy
*****************************
So, why do I consider this to be
crystal-clear, unequivocal proof of perjury?
1. Not only did Judy Kyrala participate
in writing the letter, and then instructed me to remove her name from the
letter, she also made no objections to my sending the letter.
2. The letter was a response to a
certified letter the HOA Member sent to Melanie Lashlee long before he
sued. Yet according to Page 4 Line 20 of the Judge's Decision, Judy
Kyrala testified the letter was sent to a “litigant who was
involved in a law suit with Greenlaw”.3. The only time the Judge included a direct quote in his decision was to quote Judy Kyrala's testimony that this letter was “the straw that broke the camel's back”; however, the letter was dated and emailed September 16, 2013, a year before Susan Jennings called for the special meeting in an email dated September 10, 2014.
A. I think it is important to point out that Judy Kyrala's claim that the letter was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” puts the final lie to the claim that HOA members had called for my removal from the Board.
Property manager Melanie Lashlee of
HOAMCO gave testimony similar to Judy Kyrala's testimony, telling
similar lies (Page 5, Line 24-28), so the same emails as mentioned
above also discredit Ms. Lashlee's testimony and prove perjury.
Melanie Lashlee also testified that I
was contentious at meetings, and that ultimately a decision was made
to remove me from the Board. (Page 5, Line 29-30, Page 6, Line 1).
Once again we have testimony as to why
I was removed from the Board that makes no mention of any member of
the HOA complaining about me or calling for my removal from the
Board.
You can read the Judge's Decision from
beginning to end, examine every document that the HOA provided, and every word of the testimony included in
the Decision, and what you will find is a lot of allegations with
absolutely no evidence to support a single one.
Furthermore, though the specific
testimony is not recounted in the Decision, Melanie Lashlee testified
that I was out of control, screaming at a landscaper at the March 20,
2014 meeting, which caused him to withdraw his bid and leave. It’s
a complete fabrication. What follows is the Minutes of that meeting.
Just so there is no misunderstanding,
these constant allegations of bad behavior by me are lies. It has
been Melanie Lashlee's practice to record the meetings so that the
recordings could be used to transcribe the Minutes of the meetings.
You don't have to take my word for this; you can ask former Directors
Debbie Carpenter, Kurt Fenske and Pat Mount. Yet Ms. Lashlee never
once offered to provide a recording as evidence. Melanie Lashlee and
Judy Kyrala never submitted any evidence at any time to support the
allegations of bad behavior. Why? Because the allegations are lies and the evidence doesn't exist.
At the hearing I questioned Judy Kyrala about an email she sent to the
Directors, and Melanie Lashlee, following the February 2014 Reconvened
Annual Meeting in which she wrote, “Also, considering the events
during and after the last meeting perhaps we need to consider a
security guard to discourage abusive behavior.”
After I raised the issue of her
“security guard email”, Judy Kyrala testified under questioning
by me that I had been abusive and intimidating to Barbara Tauritz
during the meeting that followed the Annual Meeting, stating at one
point: he got up and stood behind her chair, intimidating her.
At this time the Judge allowed me
to play a recording contradicting Ms. Kyrala's testimony.
Under questioning by me, Ms. Kyrala
then testified that the abuse happened after the portion of the
meeting we had just listened to.
I then played a second recording that
lasted until the end of the meeting. It had no instances of abuse.
Instead, it included four things that I believe were very beneficial
to my case, and damaging to the HOA's case:
1. After we ran into a stalemate in
choosing a President for the HOA, Barbara Tauritz offered, and I
seconded, a motion that I be elected Vice President which could have led to a compromise, but was not
accepted by Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala;
2. Melanie Lashlee complained that we couldn't get anything done;
3. To break this stalemate I moved that Cindi Sorrentino be appointed to the Board if Keith Hammond approved it—Ms. Lashlee described this motion as “a great motion”.
4. At the end of the meeting I can be heard saying: Are we adjourning? I thought we were going to meet with the landscapers.
*********************************
It's now time to address the charges made against me in the Letter/Notice that accompanied the Ballot to remove me from the Board.
There are quite a few charges, aren't there? Yet no evidence of any kind to support them. The same is true of the HOA's response to my Petition (Page 3 Lines 7-11of the Judge's Decision): they provided absolutely nothing to support any of the charges against me.
As you can see, just before Susan Jennings began listing her charges against me, she threw in a bit of innuendo about a "pending litigation". You're probably wondering why everyone is making such a big deal about this lawsuit and the letter to the "litigant". Well, the fact is, after the lawsuit was filed, our insurance rates just about tripled; Melanie Lashlee testified that she though the letter was the reason for the increase to our insurance rates. So, who better to blame than me. But who is really at fault?
The letter that Judy Kyrala testified was “the straw that broke the camel's back”, was dated and emailed September 16, 2013. It was a response to a Certified letter, dated September 4, 2013, that the "litigant" sent to Melanie Lashlee.
On 9/6/2013, the “litigant”
emailed me the following:
“Hi Bill,
...I found your blog in my search for a
way to contact the board directly. I wanted to make the board aware
of a letter that I have just sent to Ms. Lashlee....”
The first sentence of that letter reads: “This is a letter to clearly state my grievances with HOAMCO, and Melanie Lashlee as the HOAMCO representative and community association manager for Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two.”
As I think I've already made clear, I have crystal-clear, unequivocal proof that HOA Secretary Judy Kyrala and HOA property manager Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO committed perjury in their testimony about this matter.
But what about the actual charges Susan Jennings listed?
> Taking action on behalf of the
HOA...
> Sending correspondence using board
member names...Because Susan Jennings gave no evidence or explanation to backup her charges there is no way to be certain what she means by these two charges; however, if she's referring to the afore mentioned letter, I think I have already proven that these charges are false.
> Makes untrue allegations...
Again, Ms. Jennings doesn't explain what she's referring to; however, I have made known that Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala corrupted the Minutes process in order to falsify the record of what occurred at some of the Board meetings. It's easy to prove it. Just compare the Minutes of the meetings to the recordings of the meetings.
Please know that there should be two
recordings for most of the meetings.
Melanie Lashlee recorded the meetings
so that the Minutes could be transcribed from the recordings.
I recorded the meetings for the same reason and, because of past experiences, if necessary I wanted to have the proof to counter any lies.
> Prevents business of the HOA being handled in a timely manner.
In response to this charge, I refer you to last year's posting.
> Continues to be verbally abusive and intimidating to Board members causing many to resign from the Board.
This charge is a complete fabrication. Not one Director resigned because of me. Of the Directors elected at the 2011 annual meeting, two resigned. Their resignations were accepted by the Board at the May 2, 2012 Board meeting. At that meeting, the property manager informed those present that Jamie Layton had resigned because she was getting married and had moved away. Jim Furst, who attended the meeting, gave no reason for his resignation; however, when I volunteered to be Secretary, he spoke in favor of it, saying that I would make a good Secretary. Director James French then nominated me to be Secretary and Judy Kyrala seconded the nomination, and I became the HOA's Secretary. Of the Directors elected at the 2012 annual meeting, four resigned. James French, Debbie Carpenter, and Kurt Fenske all wrote letters of resignation , and not one of those letters mentioned me (I gave copies to the Judge). According to property manager Melanie Lashlee, Pat Mount, the other Director to resign, resigned because he expected to be away from Flagstaff a lot, and would be unavailable for Board meetings. Of the Directors elected at the next annual meeting, the only one to resign was Barbara Tauritz because we were told that we are only allowed to have three Directors.
> Creates issues that are not
issues...
Again, she doesn't tell us what she's
referring to.
> Threatened to release confidential attorney client information...
And here is the alleged threat:
February 19, 2014 Posting
(I later removed this posting when I redid my blog to what is there now)
On February 18 we reconvened the Annual Meeting and elected four Directors: Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, Barbara Tauritz, and myself. After the meeting, the Directors and property manager stayed behind, along with one other member of the HOA. I won't mention her name, but she asked to be appointed to the Board. Though I have no doubt that we could probably benefit from her joining the Board, our Bylaws forbid it: the Directors are elected by the “Shareholders” at the Annual Meeting and, though the Board can fill a vacancy if a Director resigns, the Board can not elect new Directors.
Just to be clear, you, the members of this HOA, elected the four candidates who were on the ballot and we now have a Board of four Directors. It should be obvious to everyone that, once the election is completed, the Board does not have the right to appoint additional Directors. After all, if that were the case, there would be no point in holding the elections: The Board could just elect itself.
Unfortunately, our property manager Melanie Lashlee and Directors Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala think we can't have a functioning Board with an even number of Directors; though, interestingly enough, last year we started with six Directors [James French resigned soon after the election] and no one complained about that.*
But that was then, and this is now. And now they want to have our HOA attorney Keith Hammond give his opinion on the matter; an opinion that will probably cost us $250 an hour.
Watch for the posting of Mr. Hammond's opinion and how much it cost.
In the mean time, please take a look at the Bylaws and see for yourselves who gets to elect the Directors: you, the members, or the Board?
If you would like me to email you a PDF of the Bylaws and/or the CC&Rs, just let me know.
Does this sound like a threat to you?
Mr. Hammond didn't seem to think so. Because I mentioned him in this update, I sent Mr. Hammond a copy of it. Here is his response:
Mr. Lee,
Thank you for forwarding your posting to me. Please understand that any opinion I may or may not provide the board upon any matter at their request, is privileged and cannot be posted without Board consent. You certainly may post the amount of any fees charged as that is public. Please see A.R.S. §33-1805(A)(1). I trust you will follow the rest of the Board’s lead on the disclosure of an attorney opinion to the Members.
Kind Regards;
/s/ Keith A. Hammond
According to Susan Jennings, Watch for the posting of Mr. Hammond's opinion and how much it cost, is grounds for my removal from the Board; however, for Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala to send Mr. Hammond's Privileged letter to every HOA member is perfectly all right.Thank you for forwarding your posting to me. Please understand that any opinion I may or may not provide the board upon any matter at their request, is privileged and cannot be posted without Board consent. You certainly may post the amount of any fees charged as that is public. Please see A.R.S. §33-1805(A)(1). I trust you will follow the rest of the Board’s lead on the disclosure of an attorney opinion to the Members.
Kind Regards;
/s/ Keith A. Hammond
* I realize that this may appear to contradict what was on the portion of the recording played at the hearing, however, the entire recording makes clear that it was Melanie Lashlee who first objected to having an even number of Directors, and argued, with the support of Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala, that Cindi Sorrentino should be appointed to the Board.
> These actions are a serious liability for your HOA and cost you money unnecessarily.
Again, please look at last years Journal for how much money was wasted.
Just about everything Melanie Lashlee or a contractor recommended, Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala approved.
*****************************
One final thing:
As I understand it, because the Judge deemed me the prevailing party, and the Conclusions of Law §4 (Page 10, Line 10-14), means that Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala and Cindi Sorrentino have been deemed guilty of the "Misuse of an Emergency Board Meeting, and the resulting Cover Letter/Notice and Special Meeting/Election, to harass and libel me". Furthermore, though I hold Directors Barbara Tauritz and Jon Zimmerman blameless in all of the above, as of May 1st, if I have not been paid the $1,000 the Judge ordered, the Board with all its Directors will be in violation of the court order.
"These actions are a serious liability for your HOA and cost you money unnecessarily." It's kind of ironic, isn't it? But it is definitely not funny. This year, our HOA should collect $175,000 in annual assessments, and thousands of dollars have already been wasted because of Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, and Cindi Sorrentino, and most of all "Community Association Manager" Melanie Lashlee of HOAMCO didn't like the outcome of the February 2014 election. And these are the people that you're trusting to wisely spend your money, and to protect your home, your interests, and your investment; and maybe even your family's inheritance and main source of wealth.
My Response to the HOA (See the Judge's Decision below)
December 6, 2014
RE: Case # HO 14-15/007
Arizona Department of Fire, Building and Life Safety
Attn: Holly Mesnard
1110 West Washington, Suite 100
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Dear Ms. Mesnard:
Below is my response to Keith Hammond's response on behalf of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA.
Section B. Complaint
a.
There is nothing in the HOA's response to change my opinion that the amendment to the Bylaws was done in an improper and deceitful manner. Not only does Mr. Hammond admit that the correct procedures were not followed, but once again he and the Board have ignored Article XI Section 2 of the Bylaws which states: “Subject to the right of the shareholders to adopt, amend or repeal bylaws, the Board of Directors may adopt, amend or repeal any of these bylaws other than a bylaw or amendment thereof changing the authorized number of Directors.” Clearly, this article forbids the Board to proffer an amendment to change the number of Directors, and by ignoring it I believe Mr. Hammond has proven that he and the Board have been acting in bad faith right from the start.
To put this in context, and to show additional instances of deceit, at the February 18, 2014 Reconvened Annual Meeting, four Directors were elected to the Board: Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, Barbara Tauritz and I. Immediately following that Annual Meeting, there was a meeting that was not called to order—of which I have a recording, as should HOA property manager Melanie Lashlee—at which Ms. Lashlee objected to having an even number of Directors and wanted the Board to appoint Cindi Sorrentino to the Board. I objected because we had just completed the election so there was no vacancy on the Board. Despite what it says in Ms. Lashlee's April 30 letter/notice, which was included with the ballot to amend the Bylaws, it was Ms. Lashlee who wanted a legal opinion “to determine the size of the Board”, and it was I who wanted confirmation of my opinion that the Board did not have “the ability to appoint a [fifth] member”. Though there is no mention of it in the letter/notice, when Ms. Kyrala nominated Susan Jennings to be President, Ms. Jennings seconded the nomination; following the vote, Ms. Tauritz questioned if Ms. Jennings was allowed to second the nomination.
Mr. Hammond's March 4 opinion letter (also included with the ballot) claimed that we could only have three Directors and that the Director with the least number of votes should resign.
At the March 18 Special Board Meeting, as a result of Mr. Hammond's opinion, Barbara Tauritz resigned. After Ms. Tauritz resigned, the Board chose the officers: Susan Jennings, President; Judy Kyrala, Secretary/Treasurer; and I, Vice President.
At the April 29 Board meeting, which I boycotted, Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala approved having a Special Meeting/Election to amend the Bylaws, even though it was not on the agenda for the meeting.
The resulting Ballot stated:
The Board would like to amend the
language in the Bylaws to increase the size of the Board of
Directors. Your vote to approve will allow them to do so.
Current Bylaw Reads:
Article 4; Section
2 States:
The initial
number of Directors shall be three (3). The number of Directors may
be changed at any time by a vote of the shareholders.
New Version would read:
The Board may
decide by majority vote to increase the size of the Board of
Directors from three (3) to five (5) or seven (7).
There are two major problems with this amendment. First, it was unnecessary. Only the “initial” Board of Directors was limited to three (3) Directors. Article 4 Section 2 does not require an amendment to change the number of Directors: it only requires a vote, and the HOA Membership has voted to change the number of Directors to more than three at every Annual Meeting since I bought my townhouse in 2001.
Second, as I indicated above, Article XI Section 2 of our Bylaws forbids the Board to proffer an amendment to change the number of Directors.
At the June 25 Special Board Meeting to “ Appoint New Board Members”, Melanie Lashlee declared that a quorum had been achieved and the amendment had passed, with 58 “yes” votes, and 7 “no” votes. At that time I pointed out that there is no quorum requirement: instead, the Bylaws require that a majority of the HOA members (a minimum of 64) approve the amendment. The others disagreed and Barbara Tauritz and Cindi Sorrentino were appointed to the Board.
On July 21, in response to an email I sent her, the Board got an email from Melanie Lashlee claiming that she “came across a file with several more ballots”:
In Jessica’s file ( I have
contacted all owners to confirm information is accurate )
7 “Yes” Votes :1- Email
1- Fax
5- Verbal Approval to increase the Board.
So the true count which needs to be amended into the minutes is
7 “ No” Votes
As a result, at the November 18, Annual Meeting, a new Board was elected for which there were eight candidates, yet only five candidates were allowed a place on the Board. Why five? Why not seven?
assertion that “[t]his is truly a frivolous non-issue” could not be further from the truth. This is all about the abuse of power and the misuse of HOA resources and authority by the Board's majority. And, in the microcosm of the Board itself, it has a great deal to do with the tyranny of the majority. For proof, one need only read the May 19 Update at my blog, www.greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com, where I have posted my May 16 letter to Mr. Hammond and his response, to see the treatment I received as the minority voice on the Board when Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala were the majority on the Board. And one need only take into account the process to remove me from the Board to see the treatment I received when Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, and Cindi Sorrentino were the majority on the Board.
b and c.
On
September 30, there was a special Board meeting to approve the
ballot to remove me from the Board. At that meeting, which lasted
three minutes, HOA President Susan Jennings made a statement
listing the charges against me. I have
a recording of that meeting. On the recording you can hear Susan
Jennings make her statement, Cindi
Sorrentino put forth the motion to send out the ballot, Judy
Kyrala second the motion, and property manager Melanie Lashlee
declare that the motion had passed. You then get to hear me vote
“no”.The Board has already conceded that it failed to comply with ARS 33-1813 (A) (1), and had no right to remove me from the Board; however, “the Board denies that any actions taken by it were done in a 'deceitful manner' or done 'to harass and libel [me]'”, and yet the “Secret Ballot”, which stated, “You are not required to sign your name on this secret ballot”, was mailed to each of the 127 members of the townhouse community where I live, along with the letter/notice that listed charges similar to those stated at the meeting, and a few new charges not mentioned at the meeting. As Mr. Hammond, himself, pointed out, at the time of my removal there were only 21 days left before my term on the Board expired. Obviously, the entire process to remove me from the Board served no purpose other than to harass and libel me; and it worked so well that 70 of my neighbors believed the libelous charges made against me and voted for my removal from the Board.
So that there can be no misunderstanding as to just how deceitful the charges are—charges for which the HOA's response fails to provided any proof whatsoever—I think the best example is the charge I consider to be the most serious: “Continues to be verbally abusive and intimidating to Board members causing many to resign from the Board”. This charge is a complete fabrication. Not one Director resigned because of me, and I have the recordings and letters of resignation to prove it. Of the Directors elected at the 2011 annual meeting, two resigned. Their resignations were accepted by the Board at the May 2, 2012 Board meeting. At that meeting, the property manager informed those present that Jamie Layton had resigned because she was getting married and had moved away. Jim Furst, who attended the meeting, gave no reason for his resignation; however, when I volunteered to be Secretary, he spoke in favor of it, saying that I would make a good Secretary. Director James French then nominated me to be Secretary and Judy Kyrala seconded the nomination, and I became the HOA's Secretary. Of the Directors elected at the 2012 annual meeting, four resigned. James French, Debbie Carpenter, and Kurt Fenske all wrote letters of resignation, and not one of those letters mentioned me. According to property manager Melanie Lashlee, Pat Mount, the other Director to resign, resigned because he expected to be away from Flagstaff a lot, and would be unavailable for Board meetings. Of the Directors elected at the next annual meeting, the only one to resign was Barbara Tauritz, for the reason stated above. Also, I think it is worth noting that it was following this resignation of the last of the “many to resign from the Board”, that Ms. Jennings nominated me to be Vice President, and the nomination passed unanimously.
Section C. Relief Requested
> That the amendment to the Bylaws
be declared null and void.
> A ruling that the original,
unamended Article 4 Section 2 of
the Bylaws requires that any candidate for the Board of Directors who
is on the ballot, and who gets at least one vote, be elected to the
Board; and that this requirement be applied retroactively to the
November 18, 2014 election.> That my removal from the Board be declared null and void.
> That the Directors responsible for the violations detailed in 2.a, 2.b, and 2.c of Section B be enjoined from serving on the HOA's Board of Directors.
> That the HOA be ordered to pay the $2,000 multi-issue petition fee.
Thank you,
________________________ Date:________________
William P. Lee
Note: On December 1, 2014 I mailed a response with the same text as above but a different date to Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA.
Administrative Law Judge Decision
