One way or the other, we're going to
have to pay it.
$1,300,000! That's what it is expected
to cost to replace our roofs, repave our loop drives, and install new
fences. That's about $10,000 for each of us homeowners. A Special
Assessment is the only way to guarantee that our money will be spent
on those projects. If it is raised through the Annual Assessment,
there is absolutely no guarantee whatsoever that tens of thousands of
dollars of our money will not be wasted and misspent on other things.
Gutter cleaning is a perfect example. According to long time Director
Judy Kyrala, in the past the cost for gutter cleaning, “...was
something like $70 for the fall cleaning as part of the general fall
cleanup” Melanie Lashlee and the Board are now budgeting $4,600 for
gutter cleaning!
We need a Special Assessment, not
arbitrary increases of the Annual Assessment!
As you read the letter, please keep in mind that there are only a handful of homeowners who bought their townhouse since February, 2014, but there are 122 homeowners who are not on the Board. It is on behalf of all of us homeowners that I have been trying to hold the Directors and HOAMCO accountable. And it is all of us who will benefit if we take action, so it is all of us who need to get involved. After all, this is all about your home, your investment, your money.
**********************************
On October 31, 2016, I sent the following complaint to the AZ Dept. of Real Estate Investigations Division, which has replaced the Dept. of Fire, Building, and Life Safety in having jurisdiction over HOAs. I sent it hoping that the ADRE would want to use it to prosecute for the various violations, so as to set an example for other HOA Boards and management companies. Unfortunately, that was not to be. I have used every means I can think of to hold the Directors and managers accountable, to very little effect. So, now I'm asking for your help.
The total cost of the projects described below will cost each of us about $10,000. After you've read the complaint, please take a long, hard look at the rest of the postings. I believe we have excellent grounds to sue the Directors (who are insured at our expense) and HOAMCO for substantial damages related to the misuse of HOA funds, fraud, failure to disclose information, willful negligence, etc. But first we need a lawyer, and then we need to remove the Directors from the Board so that they can't use our money against us, but, most of all, you need to get involved. I can't do this by myself; believe me, I've tried.
Article 33-1813 of the Arizona Revised Statutes gives us a clear way to remove the Directors from the Board. Because so much money is involved, we may be able to get an attorney to sue on a contingency basis, so we will risk nothing. However, even if we have to pay the cost of suing, once the Directors are removed, we can form an interim Board which will give us access to the HOA's bank accounts and we will have the means to bring legal action on behalf of the HOA. No matter what though, we need to consult with an attorney, and, as a group, you homeowners who bought your townhouse after February, 2014 have the clearest grounds to sue; especially for non-disclosure.
I'm posting this before the holidays so that you can discuss it at family get-togethers, if so inclined.
October 31, 2016
Dear Investigator:
I am a former Director and Officer of
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA. On October 15, 2016, I saw the new
owner of [****] Eva Loop moving-in and asked her if she had been
provided any information about the need for a substantial increase in
the annual assessment, or the need for a special assessment. She told
me she had only been told that the annual assessment is $115 per
month.
A few years ago, at the 2013 Annual
Meeting, reconvened on February 18, 2014, at which time the annual
assessment was $110 per month, Community Association Manager/HOAMCO's
Flagstaff Regional Manager Melanie Lashlee said the HOA is
responsible for replacing the roofs and that it would cost $800,000
to do so. She also said that the HOA is underfunded, and yet there is
no mention of this discussion in the Minutes of that meeting. (I have
included the Minutes [Exhibit A] and a recording [Exhibit B] of that
meeting; the “underfunded” discussion starts at about the 19
minute, 30 second mark on the recording.)
That February 18, 2014 annual meeting
was held at a location that seats about twelve people. This year's
annual meeting can seat “six comfortably”. On October 19, I
called HOAMCO and spoke to Debbie. I asked her how many people their
conference room seats. Her answer: Six comfortably. We could
probably squeeze in a couple more chairs; the table's big enough. Our
CC&Rs [Exhibit H] state that we have 126 lots; we actually have
127. (Exhibits C and D are the notices for the 2016 Annual and Board
meetings held at HOAMCO's Flagstaff office.)
Earlier this year on May 26, 2016, I
emailed the following letter to the Directors, and copied it to
Melanie Lashlee. My memory is not perfect, thus $1,000,000 instead of
$800,000.
Dear Officers and Directors of
Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA:
$1,000,000! That's how much
Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee said it would cost to
re-shingle our roofs. At the February 2014 Annual Meeting, at which
everyone who is now on the Board was present, I suggested doing a
special assessment to begin raising the money to re-shingle our roofs
and repave our loop drives. Melanie Lashlee opposed doing the special
assessment even after saying it would cost $1,000,000 to re-shingle.
Over a three year period, 2003-2005,
the original wood shingles were replaced with 25-year asphalt
shingles at a cost of $363,000, not including any unforeseen
expenses; the money was raised with a 5 year $50 per month special
assessment. At that time the roofs were less than twenty years old.
It's fair to assume that twelve or so years from now, when the
shingles will again need to be replaced, a lot of repair work will
also be necessary so an estimate of $1,000,000 may be too low.
In addition, our loop drives are
about thirty years old so we can expect that before long they will
need a lot of work. If memory serves, it has been estimated that a
comprehensive repaving could cost $250,000 or more.
Based on the information Melanie
Lashlee provided at my request, replacing the fences will probably
cost at least $200,000 and take at least 10 years. Item 9 of the
HOA's Rules and Regulations, and
Section V(a) of the CC&Rs
authorize the expenditure of HOA funds for the maintenance and repair
of fences, not the replacement of fences. No matter what Melanie
Lashlee may claim, the approval of the Membership is required for any
capital improvement project such as installing new fences, and the
only mechanism the HOA's controlling documents provide to pay for
capital improvements is the special assessment, as President Susan
Jennings and Secretary/Treasure Judy Kyrala well know because they
were both Directors when the roofs were re-shingled during 2003-2005.
The above raises a question every
Member of the HOA needs answered: How does the Board intend to pay
for the afore mentioned projects? If the above estimates are correct,
the only way to make certain that, when the time comes, the necessary
funds are available is to do a 10 year $95 per month special
assessment. Director Cindi Sorrentino is a licensed real estate
broker so she must understand the importance of full disclosure in
real estate transactions. It is long past time for the Board and
Community Association Manager Melanie Lashlee to provide full
disclosure to the Membership, and especially to anyone who has bought
a townhouse since February 2014. Please provide a letter, not just to
me but to every HOA Member, detailing how you intend to pay for the
afore mentioned projects.
Respectfully,
Bill Lee
(Exhibit E is a Repaving Estimate by
then Director and retired contractor, Pat Mount.
Exhibit F is the bids for fence
replacement.
Exhibit I is the HOA's Rules and
Regulations)
To date, the Board has not responded to
my letter.
Prior
to the above letter, I wrote to Melanie Lashlee and the Directors on
May 10, 2016 asking that they “please cite any passages in the
HOA's controlling documents that authorize the expenditure of HOA
funds for the replacement of the fencing.” Melanie Lashlee
responded, writing: There is nothing in the CC&R’s
that calls out fencing for the HOA. The HOA has been doing repairs on
the fencing for years within the community . This replacement project
is being done to replace the fencing that is literally falling apart
due to rotten wood post . This will be a long term rotation
replacement project which will increase the property value of the HOA
. It will ultimately stop the need to repair the fencing in the
community .
The
claim that “There is nothing in the CC&R’s that calls out
fencing for the HOA” shows just how arbitrary and capricious the
management of our HOA is. It ignores the HOA's Rules and Regulations,
which were adopted by previous Boards of Directors on which both
Susan Jennings and Judy Kyrala were Directors. The Rules and
Regulations serve as the HOA's official and binding interpretation of
the CC&Rs, Amendments, Bylaws, etc., and are the basis for the
Fine Schedule to which all Members are subject. Item 19 of the HOA's
Rules and Regulations, states: The Association repairs and
maintains the following elements of the Project as prescribed in the
CC&Rs Section #V (a): the private streets, all Common Areas of
the Project, all front yard areas of all lots (including sprinkler
systems) roofs, repairs to fences due to normal wear and
tear, fascia and trim, gutters and down spouts (lot owners are
responsible for gutter and down spout cleaning) exterior
painting siding material and any and all other required items
specified in the CC&Rs.
As to the claim
that the fencing “ is literally falling apart due to rotten wood
post”, Exhibit G is a picture of the first fence replaced on
Jeffery Loop; that fence is clearly not “literally falling apart”.
Also, this year and
last year, only $1,500 per year was budgeted for the Maintenance and
Repair of Fences. To put that in perspective, during the past few
years since Melanie Lashlee became the Community Association Manger,
three different contractors were paid a total of more than $9,000 for
gutter and down spout cleaning even though Items 19 and 20 of the
Rules and Regulations state that “lot owners are responsible for
gutter and down spout cleaning”.
Furthermore,
the claim that the “long term rotation replacement project”
will increase property values is
patently absurd: for many homeowners the fence replacement project
hurts property values. Only the 11 fences on the southernmost block
of Jeffery Loop were replaced, which means the other 116 townhouses
suffer by comparison, with no guarantee if or when they will get new
fences. Also, if the project is completed many years from now, the
townhouses with fences that were replaced this year will then have
fences that are many years old, so they will suffer by comparison.
This could have been brought to the attention of Ms. Lashlee and the
Directors if there had been an opportunity for the Membership to
comment; unfortunately the Membership was not given the opportunity.
In the past, I have tried various means
to hold Directors and managers accountable, with varying degrees of
success. For example, I emailed on Sept. 21, and again on Sept. 25,
2015, the following request to Melanie Lashlee:
Dear
Ms. Lashlee,
Please
include the following statement with the Notice for this year's
Annual Meeting/Election of Directors.
In
response to last year's Amendment to the Bylaws, and the Special
Election to remove Vice President Bill Lee from the Board of
Directors, Mr. Lee filed a complaint with the Dept. of Fire, Building
and Life Safety. In the Judge's Decision—which can be found at
greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com—the
Judge ordered that Mr. Lee be deemed the Prevailing Party, and the
HOA was fined $200 and ordered to pay half of the$2,000 filing fee.
Ms. Lashlee responded, writing:
Mr. Lee,
There is no legal requirement for me
to include this information on the Annual Meeting Notice . Unless the
Board request for this information to be added it will not be
included on the notice .
The requested
statement was not included on the notice. So, what did I get for my
$1,000? Crystal-clear, unequivocal proof that HOA Secretary Judy
Kyrala and Community Association Manager/HOAMCO's Flagstaff Regional
Manager Melanie Lashlee committed perjury. If you are interested, you
can find additional information at my blog,
greenlawtownhouses.blogspot.com, which is why I bring this up: I very
much want you to take a long, hard look at what's posted there. (For
your convenience I have included the 2015 and 2016 postings: Exhibits
J and K, respectively) Also, I recorded meetings, saved emails, and
kept a contemporaneous record of HOA matters, much of which is posted
at my blog.
But this is not about me or my blog.
This is about the failure to disclose vital information: $800,000 to
replace the roofs; $250,000 to repave our loop drives; more than
$200,000 to replace the fences. Knowledge of the costs of these
projects, and how the Board plans to pay for them, is of vital
importance to the homeowners of Greenlaw Townhouses Unit Two HOA and
yet the Board of Directors and the Community Association Manger have
withheld this information from the HOA's Membership.
Sincerely,
William P. Lee
2521 Eva Loop
Flagstaff, AZ 86004
928-714-0145
billlee520@yahoo.com
or greenlawtownhouses@gmail.com (I only
check the Greenlaw email on Sundays)
PS. Included with this letter are the
following Exhibits: All Exhibits are on the included CD.
Paper copies are provided for Exhibits
A, C, D, and E.
Exhibit A. The Minutes of the 2014
Annual Meeting (Paper copy included)
Exhibit B. The recording of the 2014
Annual Meeting
Exhibit C. The Notice for the 2016
Annual Meeting (Paper copy included)
Exhibit D. The Notice for the 2016
Board meetings (Paper copy included)
Exhibit E. Repaving Estimate by Pat
Mount (Paper copy included)
Exhibit F. Bids for fence
replacement
Exhibit G. A picture of the first
fence replaced on Jeffery Loop
Exhibit H. The HOA's CC&Rs
Exhibit
I. The HOA's Rules
and Regulations
Exhibit
J. 2015 Blog (Judge
Douglas's decision is at the bottom)
Exhibit K. 2016 Blog
Board of Directors
HOA President Susan Jennings
<sjennings@flagstaff.littleamerica.com>
HOA Vice President Jon Zimmermann
<jonzimmermann2@gmail.com>
HOA Treasurer Cindi Sorrentino
<cindi@flagstaffinnovativerealty.com>
HOA Secretary Judy Kyrala
<j.kyrala@gmail.com>
HOA Director
Barbara Tauritz <btauritz@hotmail.com>
Community Association Manager/HOAMCO's Flagstaff Regional Manager
Melanie Lashlee
<mlashlee@hoamco.com> <melanie@hoamco.com
********************************************
The following are some of the Exhibits.
Exhibit A. The Minutes of the 2014 Annual Meeting
Greenlaw
Townhouse Unit Two
PO
Box 30520
Flagstaff,
AZ. 86003
Ph
928-214-0901/FX 928-714-0645
ANNUAL
MEETING OF THE MEMBERSHIP
Date: Tuesday,
February 18th,
2014
Time: Registration
Starts 5:30PM – Meeting Starts at 5:45 pm
Location:
Continental Country Club, Main Club House
Upstairs
in the Conference Room
2380
N. Oakmont, Flagstaff, AZ.
Minutes
- Susan called the meeting to order at 5:52 pm
- Quorum was established and the minutes for the Annual Meeting on November 13th, 2012 were approved. There were several members in attendance.
III.
HOAMCO Report – Melanie Lashlee, Community Assoc. Manager
Melanie
reviewed the current financials for the community as of January
2014.
The current operating balance showed $ 46,702 and the Reserve account
had a current balance of $ 84,099. Total assets of $130,801.
HOAMCO was actively seeking any aged owner balances to ensure the
community staying in good standing with collections efforts.
This
past year the Board completed various projects on behalf of the
community. The full scope rotation painting project continued to
ensure the exterior of the units are well maintained. The gutters
were repaired and cleaned throughout the community. Various landscape
projects were completed; irrigation repairs, tree trimming and
spraying for aphids and various other projects which will help keep
the community looking well-tended. Mailboxes were replaced and posts
secured. The entrance signs to each loop were redone and look new.
The red curbs were repainted and the streets crack sealed and seal
coated.
Members
in attendance over all commented they were happy with how the
community was looking and being maintained.
IV.
There were 67 ballots received, meeting the 64 needed to hold the
election. Those elected
to the Board were Susan Jennings, Judy Kyrala, Bill Lee and Barbra
Tauritz.
The IRS Ruling 70-604 passed with 54 “Yes” votes and only 6 “No”
votes.
V.
Meeting was adjourned at 7: 25 pm.
Exhibit E. Repaving Estimate by Pat Mount
Exhibit F. Bids for fence replacement
Exhibit G. A picture of the first fence replaced on Jeffery Loop
AZ Dept. of Real Estate Response
**************************************
Today, November 23, 2016, Doug Clark cleaned some of the gutters on Eva Loop. I took a bunch of pictures as evidence to show that we did not get what we paid for. I also sent myself an email with a full description of what I witnessed, to be presented as a contemporaneous record, and to serve as a sworn statement, if we do sue HOAMCO and the Directors. However, to put what I saw in a nutshell, Mr. Clark spent no more than 15 seconds on my roof, and never set foot on the roofs, or cleaned any gutters, at the townhouses west of the alleyway across the street from me.
I hereby swear that the descriptions of events here and in that mail are true and accurate. That email, was sent to my billlee520@yahoo.com account, and is dated today at 5:27 PM.
Today, November 23, 2016, Doug Clark cleaned some of the gutters on Eva Loop. I took a bunch of pictures as evidence to show that we did not get what we paid for. I also sent myself an email with a full description of what I witnessed, to be presented as a contemporaneous record, and to serve as a sworn statement, if we do sue HOAMCO and the Directors. However, to put what I saw in a nutshell, Mr. Clark spent no more than 15 seconds on my roof, and never set foot on the roofs, or cleaned any gutters, at the townhouses west of the alleyway across the street from me.
I hereby swear that the descriptions of events here and in that mail are true and accurate. That email, was sent to my billlee520@yahoo.com account, and is dated today at 5:27 PM.
