July 24, 2010 by admin.

AnthemToday blog has sponsored investigative articles about board failures and deceptions concerning the major loss of the $1.4 million Co-Generation funds and the wasteful “greening” of Liberty Center.

To review the historical articles published by AnthemVOICE Blog, use the “search” tool at the bottom left column of this site.

To review past AnthemVOICE web site articles, go to this link for more details about Co-Gen and related matters.
http://www.anthemvoice.org/c-gen_issue.html

To review all of the recent AnthemToday articles use the following link and its search tool:
http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1897#p3097

In addition, here are specific responses to some of the recent bogus statements on these matters found on the Berman Blog.  The board’s slide presentation on Rec. Ctr. 3 by Bd. Pres. Roz Berman, and Director Frank’s strong objections are found at this link:
http://www.anthemvoice.org/rec-ctr-3_issue.html

1.  DAB said: “Note, too, that NONE of the threats issued by Bob Frank at the 2008 meeting came to pass.”

Our reaction: Those were not empty statements, and it is common knowledge that some investigations take many years before anything is released to the public.  A good example is that the expected IRS audit of 2007-2008  is just now coming to pass.  There is an old Yogi Bear saying of “it ain’t over til its over.” Many high-dollar disputes members have had with the boards are not “settled” matters.

2. DB also said: “Essentially, the SCA whiners who don’t want the issue to die are doing nothing more than object to a legitimate business decision by the duly elected Board of Directors. You can quarrel about the decision all you want, but these are the types of things we elect our directors to handle.”

Our reaction: It depends on one’s definition of “legitimate business decision” and on “handle“.  If laws were violated, and major amounts of funds owed to the members of this association were lost or wasted, then the opinions of those above, and many others seriously concerned about SCA financial management will not be dismissed as “whiners”.  Mr. Berman and associates should not forget that the losing board candidates in the two previous elections all received hundreds of member votes.  Those member votes represents significant knowledge, continuing concerns and opportunities to become change agents in the future.

3. DB said: “I would also add that whatever credentials Mr. Miller claims to have as a “follow the money” expert apparently did not impress the Finance Committee when he applied to join it.”

Our reaction: One only needs to have a private conversation with Bob Miller and listen to his first-person accounts of financial fraud investigations in New York to recognize that he is much better qualified to be on the Finance Committee than many of those who were previously selected. Bob Miller is convincingly an honest, ethical person who would truly represent the best interests of our community members.

4. DB said: “Board Treasurer Shirley Cheri asked Attorney Song to comment on the question of individual Board members’ liability if they voted to execute the Settlement Agreement. Song said there could always be the question of individual liability, but he said that even if Bob Frank were correct in theory, the Board would be protected because, in Song’s opinion, it practiced due diligence and sought expert opinions. He added that he thought Bob Frank was in order to raise his questions, which he believed were in furtherance of Frank’s duty.”

Our reaction: Attorney Song acknowledged in public that Director Frank could be right for believing the deal was wrong in all of the ways he submitted.

5. DB said: “Song described the Settlement Agreement as a “carrot-and-stick” document.”

Our reaction: We saw it differently. In our opinion, it was outrageous for Pulte to claim it would take a year to re-submit and gain approval for the original building designs–without the LEED requirements. It was also outrageous for Pulte to refuse to proceed with building Rec.Ctr. 3 unless the board accepted the developer’s proposed agreement. And, it was also ridiculous for some board members to reject accepting the $1.375 million and demanding the original design be built because SCA “might” have to pay income taxes on the money.  Our national tax experts advised the IRS would not demand tax on the co-gen money payment put into our reserves; and, even if taxes were paid on some cash withheld from the reserves, how many decades of energy consumption by that building would equal to a million dollars in the bank to compensate?

6. DB said: “Song went on to say that in order to validate his own conclusions, he had obtained other legal opinions which confirmed that SCA has no legal ability to contest the Pulte plans.”

Our reaction: When it was insisted that we get an “independent” legal opinion on our association’s position with regards to requiring Pulte to comply with all previous agreements, the board refused to even consider it.

7. DB said: “Al Tenner said he was not interested in the past.” Tenner also was quoted to have said: “Sun City Anthem does not have an absolute right to get the money,” he said, “and we don’t have the right to assert that the money is ours. It is a gift,” he said. “We don’t have a right to the money, and it is not a bad deal.”

Our reaction: This fellow is the former CA attorney who is reported on the CA Bar Assoc. web site as being disbarred a record of three times.  Why would anyone could consider his opinions useful or quotable?

8. DB said: “Sonny Sonnenfeld said he disagreed with Attorney Song’s opinion that the building is a gift and not a bribe. He asked if there had been an energy audit to calculate the expected savings from greening the building. Roz Berman replied that his assumption was wrong that the greening is based on a specific payback period.”

Our reaction: Time has proven Sonny was correct; and, Roz Berman made a false claim. Nothing like an “energy audit” had been conducted, and no professional ever stated that the “greening” would have a specific payback period.

9. DB said, speaking about Bob Frank: “Sometimes his “facts” are so blatantly off the mark that it can be easily understood why he is held in wide disrepute over his inability to professionally document his accusations. What could be more laughable than his failure to come to grips with the following FACT? Mr. Frank writes that Roz Berman served on the Finance Committee from 2005 to 2009. Wrong!!! Roz Berman left the Finance Committee in early 2006.”

Our reaction: Mr. Berman is wrong.  He likes to pretend that when his spouse was serving as Board Treasurer and then as Board President in 2007 to 2010, that she was not serving “on” the Finance Committee. But, that is his style of deception and spinning. Anyone who attended the finance committee meetings before 2007 and since could see that Treasurer Roz Berman never stopped “serving” on/with the Finance Committee–as the Board Representative.   Technically she did not have a vote; but, as Treasurer/VP in 2007-2008, and later as 2009 President, and now again as VP, the finance committee she always got her way.  So, she has been far more powerful (and FAR MORE ACCOUNTABLE) than just serving “ON’ the committee.  In 2007, as the VP/Treasurer, she occasionally had major disputes with President Mike Dixon on what the finance committee would do. But, in the end, the finance committee never passed anything she opposed.

We work hard for the whole truth to be known to those who seek it.  But, it is hard to achieve when so much time must be spent on unraveling the massive spinning on the Berman Blog.  We are grateful that AnthemToday and AnthemView continues to work with AnthemVOICE to keep the brakes on the uncontrolled spinning of the Berman Blog.

And, this is a reminder that to stay on top of all of the facts must review all of the Anthem web sites (including the SCA-HOA).  Each one is unique and elects to focus on different matters.  And, with all that has happened in recent weeks and others that appear to be breaking in the near future, we recommend that members stay in touch with all of the news sources in SCA.

——–Enclosed Files——–

Board Report on Co-Gen & Rec. Ctr. 3

objections-to-co-gen_recctr3agrmt.pdf

Posted in Truth Squad, SCA Board, Community Affairs, Operations | Print | No Comments »

July 24, 2010 by admin.

Here is the July 2010 Board President’s Report published by Jack Troia: 
July 2010 SCA President’s Board Report

The arrival of the Internal Revenue Service for an audit is August 2010, and public confirmation of a State of Nevada audit of sales and/or use taxes on items purchased by SCA/RMI is also likely to start in August.  

Also, note the sudden resignation of the SCA Community Manager–effective the next month.  We do not know if such actions are related.

This suggests there may be some significant shortfalls in practical tax expertise and/or integrity within the RMI, auditor, finance committee and board resources.

Here are just a few of the links to past web articles about apparent SCA tax irregularities.  They are not listed in any particular order:

http://www.anthemvoice.org/taxes_issue.html
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2009/08/29/unjustified-47-mil-surpluses-forces-09-dues-cut-to-720/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/?s=tax&paged=2
http://www.scaview.org/FalseReport.html
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2008/03/10/errors-in-past-sca-tax-returns/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2008/03/26/truth-about-scas-taxes/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2008/04/01/dixon-fails-to-answer-key-question/http://www.anthemvoice.org/resources/SCA-HOA_tax_posting_revised.pdf
http://www.anthemvoice.org/resources/70-604.pdf
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/?s=tax&paged=2
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/?s=audit&paged=2
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2009/04/13/729/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2009/08/20/tax-planning-workshop-friday-aug-21-2-pm/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2009/02/19/special-audit-items-for-2009/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2009/12/20/how-much-should-sca-dues-be/

Posted in Truth Squad, SCA Board, Laws & Rules, Operations, News! | Print | No Comments »