In the past couple years you were told we are having financial trouble due to unfortunate circumstances. In truth, most of our problems are due to poor management and a certain group of trustees who allowed it to continue. In my rough estimation, errors made by Whitewater have cost us well between $50k-$100k. We didnt need a new water tank and they burned out our pumps. They also installed an expensive high tech control panel that only they know how to use and is completely unnecessary. They most likely did this so no one else could have the contract. Our property manager never held them accountable for any of this. Right now theyre our biggest debtor. Our property manager has charged us with legal bills that were a result of their own negligence. Now we are being threatened with more legal bills due to more of their negligence. Our contract states that they cant do this but they do it anyway. Our contract states our property manager has to confer with trustees and obtain 3 bids before contracting work done on the property. Friends of our property manager are brought in to do jobs while the trustees are unaware of the scope of the work or the price or even that its being done. The end result of the work is usually poor quality. The snow contract from 2 years ago was about $7k, last year without notifying trustees the contract was changed to a by the inch and we were billed almost $20k. Our service contract also states there must be a trustee signature on our bank account. This is written to protect the association. But there isnt. Right now we have no right to even view whats happening with our funds and what bills are being paid on a real time basis. Vera rarely responds to questions. We only find out 2 months later when its posted on line to find out Vera is taking care of her own people first. Weve recently been pursued by Vera and Corey Lincoln to put $16k of our borrowed money in an escrow account to pay off the contractor who did work on Claire McCarthys unit from the fire claim. This has been in court. A judge just ruled that someone other than the association is responsible. Yet we are still being hounded by Corey and Vera to pay it. Luckily 3 trustees are currently in agreement that the association is not responsible and will not be forced to sign anything stating so. Its not safe to be tied with a property manager who is named separately in a lawsuit. The trustees are named but only as a formality. Hodan can tap into our funds for council and file a claim on the master policy. Her attorney will state that we, not her are responsible for non-payment. For this reason alone its not safe to have them as our management company. What you will be presented is two options as a bail out plan for $28k in debt (some of which has been paid down recently with condo fees yet theyre still asking for the same amount). They are: Either special assess or sign a secured loan with Hodan that will tie us to them financially under any legal circumstances. Talking about an assessment while Hodan is still in power and up to their old tricks makes no sense. We need to demand she is replaced before the conversation even hits the table. Taking out a line of credit backed with 3 trustee signatures will basically shift our unsecured debt which we now have negotiable leverage on, to secured debt with Hodan that we will have absolutely no leverage on. If it came to the point where we were forced to file chapter 11 bankruptcy, Hodan could legally go into our new bank account and attach our condo fees. So basically it would make no sense to file for bankruptcy even if we had to. Vera wants to use this loan to first pay off her attorney and a contractor who she has ties with. Vera is trying to use the threat that Whitewater is going to shut us down if we dont sign this. If Whitewater is immediately replaced, they nor Vera will be able to force pressure on us. Whitewater should be fired and a new contractor brought in to service the water. Then we can negotiate what we truly owe them. I also believe with better money management we can pay down these bills with condo fees. Right now we have 3 outstanding bills that should be called into question. With Hodan having complete control over our account I dont feel safe. My hope is for November fees to be diverted into a separate bank account now for safety reasons and ultimately for good management. In general we can save $7200 just by getting rid of a property manager with their fees. If we do insist upon property management it should be with a new company who will be reserved to a limited role that we can negotiate a cheaper contract with. The trustees should be taking on more responsibility and accountability. But anyone who manages this property needs to be someone who can be trusted and abides by the service agreement. The roofs are another issue. Should we do 2 buildings, should we do them all for a discounted rate or should we attempt to patch? If we do whole buildings we will probably need to borrow money or assess. An assessment is personal hard earned extra money that you would otherwise spend on your own personal things. Again, the only solace in paying this assessment would be eliminating the cause. The property is being neglected. The property does need to be maintained. Vera makes lots of false promises that sound like something is finally about to be done whenever she feels her job is on the line. Seen it all too often. The reason shes here is to play games with me and plunder whatever she can. We need management who will look out for us and do it according to the service contract. The R&Rs arent being enforced. Considering the financial mess were in I think its a secondary issue at this point in time. But the subject is a primary sore topic for certain unit owners who dont care about throwing good money after bad. So the topic will be discussed. I think some of these rules are unreasonable and allow for bias and favoritism. They were created by a group of trustees who dont like families and children and supported certain unit owners who felt the same way. These past trustees had also interpreted other rules with bias. An unreasonable rule should not hinder the lives of people and should be subject to removal change. All rules need to be looked at and the ones that stick should be interpreted fairly and enforced. Following rules is just a part of condo living. Everyone should have copies of the rules if not its your obligation to let us know. If you have an issue with any rule that affects you personally, bring it to the trustees for reconsideration. Remember a fine could turn into a lein on your property if its not paid. The ultimate power of the association lies with the unit owner. With your signature you have the power to elect certain trustees. You have the signature power to remove any and all trustees. The trustees need to know and respect this. You can also make changes and create new sections to the deed and the trust. If things arent right then we can all come together and force it to be right with a percentage of signatures. Youve all invested a lot of hard earned money in Leland Farms and you deserve to have it managed correctly and if its not you have a right to be angry and demand a change. Otherwise youre just sitting back and playing the role of the victim. Maybe some people can afford to throw good money at bad. Anyone who wants to pay off poor management instead of demanding change should consider those who can not. Maybe this is their way of running the affordable unit owner out of Leland. Most of the community depends on honest management to survive. Its time to get out of the victim role and come together as a unit and tell your trustees what needs to be done.
Posted on: Tue, 28 Oct 2014 14:31:10 +0000
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