April 27, 2012 by admin.

Recently, one of Sun City Anthem’s pioneer residents in the late 1990s decided to speak out against the political smear campaign launched against candidate Bob Frank during this and previous board campaigns.  

Many SCA residents have been asking, what is the truth about board candidate Frank?

In response, USAF Retired Brigadier General Richard Browning, SCA Mountain View Village, recently sent the following to his personal friends.  And, when we asked, he agreed to allow us to post it for the benefit of the whole community.

—————————–

From: Dick Browning

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 8:13 AM

Subject: SUN CITY BOARD ELECTIONS…

Dear Friends and Fellow Sun City Anthem Homeowners,

NOTE: You have until 4 PM Monday, April 30^th to cast your votes in the 2012 SCA Board Election.  Be sure to deliver you ballots to the voting boxes in all SCA centers.  It is too late to mail them and be certain they will get accepted on time.

If you have not yet voted, I am also urging you to mark #1 on the SCA ballot for the Board of Directors — Bob Frank.

I have known Bob for more than 30 years… the appended brief summarizes that relationship.

I firmly believe Bob is the best qualified among the 7 candidates. His prior service on the SCA Board in 2007 through 2009, and his continued support of community interests since then clearly prove he is a passionate and trustworthy defender of your homeowner interests.

If you have misplaced or need a replacement ballot, please go to the community center with your community membership card as soon as possible (but before noon on April 30), request a replacement ballot, and you can vote while you are there.

If you want more information about Bob and his service to the Sun City Anthem community, please see this web link: http://www.anthemvoice.org/19.html

Dick Browning

PS:  I also encourage you to forward this to your email friends and encourage them to vote this year.  Many residents have waited until this time to submit their ballots.

——-Appended Brief——

 WHY I ENDORSE COLONEL BOB FRANK, USAF (RET.)

FOR SCA DIRECTOR IN 2012

By Brig. General Richard A. (Dick) Browning, USAF (Ret.)

12-year Resident of Sun City Anthem

I volunteered to write this personal recommendation to help overcome the false political smear campaigns waged against Bob during the past few years.

I have known Colonel Robert Frank for more than 30 years.  Prior to discovering that he and his wife Kay were fellow residents of Sun City anthem, I had the great privilege to have served with Bob in Washington DC in the early 1980s.  We were both key staff officers for the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics and Engineering, Headquarters USAF in the Pentagon.  

I can testify for Colonel Frank, as I am sure he can for me, that we both had incredibly challenging duties far beyond those normally assigned to officers of our rank and service experience. We were both hand selected for duties where the previous officers had failed to perform satisfactorily.  Bob, then a Lt Colonel, replaced a Brig General who had also served as a major staff director. 

While I had other staff duties, we both presented briefings to the Air Staff Board, the highest level decision making body in the USAF.  Both of us were also required to routinely brief elected officials and their staffs on Capitol Hill as well as meet with various legislative committees and sub-committees of the Congress of the United States. 

In a word, out of the 220+ officers in that Pentagon unit it was my duty as the Executive Officer to supervise, Bob Frank was the “best” among a core of speedy contemporaries!

In my opinion, Bob Frank is one of a very few members of this community who continues beyond all reasonable measures of merit to remain passionate in support of doing the “right and honorable things” for all of SCA.  

In my very humble and considered opinion, ‘No One’ deserves public support by the members of Sun City Anthem more than Bob Frank.

I urge you select Bob Frank, #1 on your 2012 Board Election Ballot.

Posted in Veterans Affairs, Truth Squad, SCA Board, News! | Print | No Comments »

April 19, 2012 by admin.

THANK CARL WEINSTEIN FOR TELLING THE TRUTH today on Berman’s Blog by confirming everything I (and Nelson, Tim, Rana, Dick and so many others) have said since 2007 against this matter of no backup on RMI employee expense reimbursements.

Carl said: “Going back 2-3 years when I was on the Board, we NEVER signed checks for purchases without seeing the backup paperwork, and occasionally checks were sent back to RMI for addition backup before they were signed.   However, even back then payroll backup was not requested. Posted by: carl weinstein “

Imagine that! A former board Vice President has openly confirmed what this entire forum was about…did the Board really NOT require backup evidence for the hundred thousand dollars paid to RMI for its employee reimbursements each month?   How could that ever be justified?

And, imagine the logic behind demanding backup info on say a $90 check, but no backup on a $90,000 confirmation of cash withdrawal? The Treasurer says that was the “agreed protocol” but who in their right mind would agree to such an apparently bogus procedure?

How could such a major financial deficiency be ignored every year in the annual audit reports?

So, when even former director Carl Weinstein openly admits that the board knowingly and willfully failed to accomplish its fiduciary duties in past years when it comes to payments to RMI, what more evidence of the truth is needed?

Why would anyone vote to return any former SCA Treasurer or Secretary who has tolerated such apparent financial misconduct and/or fraud?

Posted in Removal Election, Laws & Rules | Print | No Comments »

April 9, 2012 by admin.

Anthem Today has reported on a construction defects settlement meeting announced by post card to all members and has questioned the method and manner of such secret, disrespectful behavior by the board.  See this link for details:

http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3766

Bob Frank has filled in the background on SCA’s Community Property Construction Defects as follows:

The details on this very important community milestone need to be checked out. I suspect there is no justification for having a secret board meeting.

As usual, SCA’s business affairs are complex and involve lots of our hard-earned money. The following will try to be as brief as possible, but the situation is not simple. The potential for creating adverse impacts to members linked to construction defects in community property walls (and other areas) is huge.

This meeting comes after about 4 years of association activity involving about $13 million dollars of construction defects agreement negotiations. Our members deserve far more information than has been provided. The way the card notice was handled makes one suspect the board’s planned actions.

If so, it is no wonder the board wants to hide behind closed doors during this voting period. It would be embarrassing to reveal such negative results during the board balloting period.

But, if the deal is fair to SCA, we can be certain the board will be bragging loud and long over its success!

Posted in Truth Squad, SCA Board, News! | Print | No Comments »

April 6, 2012 by admin.

Tim Stebbins is a founder of Anthem VOICE, and our group is endorsing his recommendations for election to the 2012 SCA Board.  

The following is what Tim and Claudia sent to their friends:

————————-

“We will receive our ballot for the 2012 election of 3 new board members within the next couple of days.  This is our opportunity to elect qualified people to represent us on the board, those who are dedicated to make Sun City Anthem everything it should be.

In the past we have suffered the embarrassment of huge tax liabilities because past boards refused to return excessive dues, we have witnessed the series of humiliating and expensive restaurant failures, we all have been harmed by wasteful spending.

Enough is too much.

It is the right time to have qualified neighbors on the board that will protect and assure our homeowner rights.

Claudia and I will vote for Forrest Fetherolf, Don Schramski and Bob Frank. 

Although these three gentlemen have no connection to each other, we are convinced they individually bring the qualities we need now – the right people at the right time to do the right job.  We hope you will also support these men of true character.

Mr. Fetherolf brings a wealth of business skills and experience.  He has eagerly pursued fiscal responsibility on various committees and work groups.

Mr. Schramski brings outstanding leadership skills together with the experience and enthusiasm to make positive things happen.

Mr. Frank has continuously demonstrated a commitment to help and support the residents of our community.  We need that more now than ever.  He stood tall in the face of cruel attacks by jealous nay sayers.  The falsities of the deliberate lies thrust at him have now been exposed in the press and he has been completely exonerated of all false charges.

These are our recommendations –vote your conscience but please vote.  Our community prospers only when we all work together.

Tim & Claudia Stebbins”

Posted in SCA Board, Operations, News! | Print | No Comments »

April 5, 2012 by admin.

It has been reported on the Anthem Today Forum that Sun City Anthem Treasurer, Dan Forgeron routinely allows RMI to transfer hundreds of thousands of dollars from SCA accounts without FIRST having to submit detailed backup records for its reimbursement claims, and without receiving written board approval PRIOR to the cash transfers!

Some of the facts reported by Nelson Orth on AnthemToday concerning a recent 6-month period included:

“What these memos clearly state is that RMI determines the amount of money per month that RMI is owed, deducts that amount from a SCA bank account, and then asks two board members to rubber stamp that amount.”

“It should be noted that for all of these 13 memos there is not one piece of paperwork justification (e.g. timecards) for the amount determined by RMI.”

 ”The total amount approved by the board for this six month period totals $1,698,295.90.”

“In the December 2, 2011 memo, SCA was charged $164,610.00 for bonuses.”

“I cannot find any contract or paperwork which permits the payment for bonuses to RMI by SCA.”

This sounds like the board has an open invitation to RMI to commit fraud  An emergency forensic audit is required.

And, imagine that Treasurer Forgeron and Secretary (attorney) Gardberg are running to be re-elected to the board!  

This procedure involving millions of dollars should disqualify both of them for continued board service.

Here is the link to the details:
http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3741&p=7948#p7884

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

April 2, 2012 by admin.

After the latest Election Committee Forum and various other campaign events, we continue to get questions about the “truth” about SCA Taxes?

Of course, the confusion is due to disinformation and outright false statements made by current and past board members.  Don’t those board members sound like whining children who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar?

Why would they take such serious risks and be so deceptive? 

What do we expect from certain individuals who might be seen as desperately trying to avoid being cited for criminal violations of state and federal laws?

For those who are truly seeking the truth, please review the evidence at these links.

1. http://www.anthemvoice.org/arrest.html
2. http://www.anthemvoice.org/taxes_issue.html
3. http://www.garyportercpa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=1&Itemid=20
4. http://www.scaview.org/MoreLegal.html
5. http://www.scaview.org/AppealingTaxAuditResults.html
6. http://www.scaview.org/TaxMessOrigins.html
7. http://www.scaview.org/TaxAuditResults-Forgery-FalseReport.html
8. http://www.scaview.org/TaxAuditEatingCrow.html
9. http://www.scaview.org/IRS%20Tax%20Audit%20Results.html
10. http://www.scaview.org/PossibleElectionFraud.html

If all of that is just too much for you to assimilate,  perhaps it would be easier to just accept the IRS Audit results and the IRS denial of appeal.  The debate is over.

And, let us not forget, this tax appeal issue is NOT about “saving money for the corporation.”  NO, it is about millions of surplus dues dollars THE BOARDS FAILED TO  RETURN TO YOU, the homeowners!  

Why would anyone give the board the benefit of any doubt when the boards have been caught secretly withholding refunds from members without authority since 2002? 

This is just plain DISHONEST!  It is a disgusting display of hubris and a flagrant example of disrespect of our community! 

Clearly, the directors have proven THEY CANNOT BE TRUSTED!  It would be a critical mistake to return any of the incumbents to the board.

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

April 1, 2012 by admin.

SUN Reporter Patrick Coolican has published a new article titled: 

“Don’t Question Your HOA or You Might Get Arrested!”   
coolicans-march-30-2012-article-on-arrest.pdf

 http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/mar/30/dont-question-your-hoa-or-you-might-get-arrested/

Readers can find copies of:

1. The SUN article,
   
2. Public comments placed on the article web site, and 
3. Our responses to some negative public comments

at this AnthemVOICE site:  http://www.anthemvoice.org/arrest.html

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

March 14, 2012 by admin.

About 2 years ago, Ron Johnson reported on his Anthem View site that SCA’s construction defects law firm had failed after spending about 2 years to collect about $13 Million from SCA’s developer, Del Webb/Pulte.

This is what Ron Johnson accurately reported in Jan 2010 from a recent Board Meeting:

“Construction defect attorney Roger Grant of Feinberg Grant Mayfield Kaneda & Litt announced today that mediation efforts with Pulte have failed, causing them to file legal action against Pulte for about 13 million dollars.

The firm will be notifying homeowners as well as advising them that potential sellers must make appropriate disclosures that are required by law.”  28 Jan 2010

The  situation is even worse than stated above since the construction defects identified had been known since the early 2000’s when most of the infrastructure was constructed by Del Webb.  Even Sun City McDonald Ranch had collected on similar construction defects by Del Webb.  

It was also known in 2008 that the same sort of construction defects allegedly existed in the perimeter block walls in the community property controlled by the Anthem Council along the Anthem Parkway. But, since Anthem Council was a wholly-owned and controlled corporation of Del Webb/Pulte, the SCA Boards never required DW/Pulte to pay for those millions as well.

Well, it is now March 2012 and the Board and its two law firms apparently have failed to collect even one dollar from Pulte.  

Can you imagine the huge cash value to Pulte for not having pay SCA for so many MILLIONS for so many years?

Follow the money and tell us why the boards since 2007 have failed to collect for so long on such major developer obligations? 

And, if collections and accrued interest for all those millions for all those years is actually being worked and accounted for, why is such vital  information not reported in board reports, in accounting reports, and in the annual budgets? 

IF/WHEN such money is finally collected, how will it be received, accounted for, spent, and what benefits or penalties will it have on the annual assessment levels and income taxes?

By the way, any business person is likely to suspect it is probably a serious violation of generally accepted accounting rules by the Finance Committee, RMI and the Board Officers to hold such receivables off the books and away from member view.

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

February 1, 2012 by admin.

(revised)

After 4 years of spinning and being proven wrong by the IRS concerning failing to return end-of-year surplus assessments to SCA owners, one would think certain past and current board members would be trying to do the “right thing” and avoid personal litigation risks.  

But, such does not seem to be the case.  Past and present directors seem determined to ignore the case that SCA homeowners have the right to demand payment of the lost/un-returned surpluses since 2002.  Members simply do not have to accept the board’s negligent losses and succumb to unjustified special assessments. 

Members have remedies for dealing with certain director’s and finance committee member’s apparent knowing violations of various laws, statutes and federal regulations.  For example, this week a Sun City Anthem Director incorrectly reported the following concerning the next steps on the SCA 2007 income tax bill for $1.3 Million back taxes and penalties as follows:

“We have 90 days after we receive a note of deficiency — if we receive one.   Since we will not be initiating litigation but rather entering into an administrative appeal, we would not need a vote of the owners. I may have the description wrong but the spirit is correct in our understanding. 

I’m sure if it comes to that point this Board will be sure we have sound advice and impeccable legal standing for whatever action we vote to take.” 

But, the truth (as stated by a national expert on IRS procedures) is as follows:

“All of the process from the examination by an agent to the conclusion of the trial in the US Tax Court is done before tax is assessed.  It must be assessed before collection efforts happen.  I’ll try to break this down into steps:

1.  When the examination of a tax return concludes the agent issues a Revenue Agent’s Report (RAR).  The taxpayer can agree and pay the tax.

2.  The cover letter to the agent’s report says, “If you are not in agreement you have thirty days to file a protest”  you file that protest and it, along with the RAR, go to the Appeals Division.

3.  You make your presentation to Appeals and at the conclusion the Appeals Officer informs you of his/her decision at which time if it supports the agent you have the option of paying the tax!

4.  If you do not indicate your agreement with the Appeals Officer a report is issued with a cover letter.

5.  The cover letter says you have 90 days to agree and pay the tax or….. file a petition with the US Tax Court.  If you don’t voluntarily pay and don’t file a petition within the 90 day period you will be considered to have waived your right to take the matter to the Tax Court, the tax is assessed and collection procedures ensue.

It is interesting that the first thing that is checked on a petition is “was this timely filed”.  People tend to put this off… if filed on the 91st day it is too late and the tax is legally assessed and collected.

These are the steps in the process.  The time limits are only on the taxpayer not the government.

As you have seen when this examination was concluded the board was required to enter their disagreement (request for an Appeals hearing) within 30 days.  It was about six months before the government got around to scheduling the Appeals hearing.  

Now the confusion.  The Appeals Officer has informed the board that their appeal was denied, the Revenue Agent’s position is being sustained.  Apparently the AO stated it would be about three months before the “90 day letter” would be issued.  It could take five or six months…. there is no clock ticking on the government.  I know this seems like a long time but the step is a statutory… but clerical step.  It’s just waiting to be typed up.

When the 90 day letter (statutory notice of deficiency) is issued, the taxpayer will have ninety days from the date of that letter to either file their petition with the Tax Court or they will be considered to have waived their right and the tax will be assessed.  If not received timely it is not given notice by the Tax Court and waiver is presumed.

The same process has been in place since around 1929.  If you think it’s a little out of date….. it is! “

So, why would board members still be trying to pretend there is still hope to beat the IRS in tax court and claim they do not have to get membership approval via a ballot before being legally allowed to sue the IRS?

In case you missed it, check out Ron Johnson’s comments in this regard.
http://www.scaview.org/MoreLegal.html

Why are at least some of the new directors not rushing to pay what is owed and trying to minimize further taxes and penalties by making all of the required amendments to previous tax returns?  Could they have been threatened to keep their mouths shut or risk legal action from the old board members?

Can all of the past and present directors truly believe they all can avoid possible federal tax fraud charges in the future?  Historically, trying to bluff the IRS when you have a bad hand is not smart.

Are some directors just so hung up with their egos they are incapable of knowing the truth, or do they truly not care how much of our hard-earned money they waste?   Perhaps it is both?

We will continue to receive such grossly disrespectful treatment as long as we tolerate it.   And, as competent real estate professionals can advise, failure to disclose to potential buyers the details about the many unresolved SCA financial problems can create significant liabilities to sellers.  It can also impact the declining property values resulting from sustained SCA board misconduct.

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

January 29, 2012 by admin.

Most members on the community email list have received Board President James Long’s notification last week that the Board’s appeal to the IRS had failed.  This means the community association must pay the full $1.3 Million for year 2007 as determined by the IRS Auditor. 

It also means that tens of thousands of dollars for interest and penalties accumulating since the audit as well as the estimated $100,000+ paid to the “expert legal team” to process the appeal have all been wasted.

Here are the words from SCA Board President/Attorney Long’s announcement:

“IRS appeal denied. We received notice late last week that the IRS Appeals Officer assigned to our Association’s administrative appeal of the 2007 tax audit has denied our appeal and upheld the findings of the IRS examiner. We expect the IRS to issue a statutory notice of deficiency within the next several weeks. After this occurs, we will have 90 days to file a petition for judicial review of the IRS decision. We have asked the Ad Hoc IRS Audit Task Force appointed at the May board meeting to recommend a course of action for consideration at the February board meeting.“

For our reader’s convenience, we would like to recommend for review a series of comments on that matter posted recently on Rana Goodman’s forum at this link:

http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3552

An Anthem VOICE founder, Kay Frank (and former IRS Auditor) added the following comments to the above link:

“I can find no evidence that the IRS has ever been reversed on this statute after forty years.  Jack Troia called that “old” law, but competent attorneys call it “settled law”.

The IRS has pulled the records for the ensuing years.  Although they have not addressed them yet, they will–especially since we lost the appeal.  The best chance is to pay up and try to cut a deal on the ensuing years.

An expression of good faith is to show a reduction in 2012 dues by immediately crediting accumulated surpluses instead of forcing a net increase in assessments for 2012.   The boards have never accounted for the millions of unreturned surpluses and we must demand a clear accounting for the whole amount by the new auditor.

Homeowners are not forced to make up for the financial failures of the boards.  The board and/or a SCA homeowner coalition should seek recovery of all reported to the IRS accumulated surpluses from the insurance of our accounting firm, law firm, RMI and SCA liability insurance.   We do not have to accept punishments for the board’s willful failures.

Norm (McCullough) quoted Carl (Weinstein) as citing (Auditor/Tax Preparer) Gary Lein’s reservations about the return–however, they both are individuals who signed  and/ voted approval of the return.  In my opinion they have even more responsibility since they have self-admitted their lack of assurance that they were correct, but signed anyway.

When the current president of the association made a nasty personal remark about the IRS auditor at a board meeting, he was just asking for the IRS to show no leniency.  The least a SMART lawyer could do is keep nasty opinions private.

…just a few of my thoughts.

Kay ”

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

December 19, 2011 by admin.

If you thought that some of our NV residents were over-the-top with their aggressive opposition to the NV smart meter program, wait till you see some of what is being said and done in California!  Californians have had to deal with the outrageous behavior of its Public Utilities Commission and various power companies for a few more years than Nevada.

Here is the leading graphic for this web article.   See quote below concerning why this writer accuses the power companies and PUC of “extortion”.   Since this article has been up since October 2011, the very serious allegations made must ring true or he would have had to remove it.  Here is a link to the entire (copyrighted) article from which some excerpts and the graphic are quoted below.
http://ppjg.wordpress.com/2011/10/03/cpuc-and-pge-misinformation-misrepresentation-and-attempted-extortion/

So, if you have been ignoring what is happening in the world concerning smart meters, then you might want to think again. Massive backlashes against smart meters is a global phenomenon.   Nevada is just late to the “party” and most of our citizens are just too trusting of those in power.  Searches about “smart meters” reveal thousands of very useful articles.  Here is one that summarized the whole situation.
http://morphcity.com/home/104-smart-meter-slavery

For example, see this Canada Free Press article reporting on Nevada public testimony in opposition to smart meters.  See the included quote from Anthem VOICE’s Bob Frank that was ignored by the Nevada media.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43248

Here is a report on members of the Maine Legislature who are championing the removal of the “mandatory” claims by Maine’s power companies.  The word “extortion” also is mentioned in Maine.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111113/NEWS/111130338/-1/NEWSMAP

And, in case you  missed it, recently there was a near-riot in CA when a group of elderly women paid to have their “mandatory” smart meters replaced with the old analog meters and PG&E cut off the power to the participants.
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/12/13/pge-shuts-off-power-to-sickened-families-2-weeks-before-christmas/

And, finally for today, here is what conservative talk radio host Dr. Mark Levin had to say about “smart meters”…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_XG25YKRGc

Posted in Truth Squad, Community Affairs, Laws & Rules, News! | Print | No Comments »

December 19, 2011 by admin.

The following post was contributed by Mike Hazard–a NV leader in fighting the PUCN/Nevada Energy “Smart Meter” program disaster.

———————-

Mike Hazard

Posted in Outside Politics, Truth Squad, Community Affairs | Print | No Comments »

December 10, 2011 by admin.

In case you have not been able to fully appreciate the whole story of why the FBI is ripping into so many of the Southern Nevada HOAs and their corrupt boards, attorneys, management companies, industry trade association and government agency employees, the following link and attached PDF article will tell the whole story and bring you up to date.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/the-king-of-all-vegas-real-estate-scams-12082011.html

In the meantime, it remains a mystery why so many Sun City Anthem unit owners continue to ignore the signals of our board and sub-contractor misconduct.  How many times have you heard a resident say “Oh, I can’t believe any of our board members or community managers could be involved in crimes!  They seem like SUCH nice people….”

Of course they do–seeming like a “nice person” is a key characteristic of a confidence artist.  See this link:  http://money.howstuffworks.com/con-artist.htm

“You might think you can spot a con artist because he’s someone you instinctively “don’t trust.” But the term con artist is short for confidence artist — they gain your confidence just long enough to get their hands on your money. They can be very charming and persuasive. A good con artist can even make you believe he is really an old friend you haven’t seen in years.”

Has Sun City Anthem been bilked by fellow homeowners and the commercial partners?  What do you think of the following list of apparent losses of millions of dollars by SCA boards since 2005?

1.  Developer non-payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars due to rejected reserve studies in 2006, and developer refusals to pay for reserve study shortages identified by the board’s “look back” reserve study in 2008.  Why has the association attorney failed to protect the financial interests of the association while the developer profits from not having to pay its obligations?

2.  Board failure to collect over $250,000 due from the Trumpets Lease in 2006 and 2007?  Why did certain former SCA board members assist the failed lessee escape having to pay for unpaid lease funds and repair of the heavily damaged  SCA restaurant facilities after being evicted in 2008?

3.  Why did the 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 boards fail to collect the $1.3 Million owed by the developer for the 2002 Co-Gen Contract Deal?

4.  Why did the boards accept the association attorney’s advice (originally appointed by the developer) to wait until the statute of limitations had almost expired before filing a claim for about $13 Million?  How much has the developer saved in interest and cash flows since 2005 by being allowed to endlessly delay the very large payments for missing reserve funds and construction defects obligations?

5.  Why did the boards and the association attorney allow the developer to deliver an incomplete facility for Recreation Center #3?   How many hundreds of thousands of dollars have SCA members been bilked out of while the board spent member assessments to finish the building?

6.  How much was added to the developer’s profits as result of not having to pay for the unneeded “Green” features and not having to deliver a completed facility?   How much was added to the sale prices of thousands of SCA homes built after the 2002 change in the Anthem Master Plan to pay for the 3rd Recreation Center that the developer failed to spend on its construction?  Why did the boards, association attorney and community management company allow SCA members to seem to get bilked in this way?

7.  Why have the SCA boards, Finance Committees, and Tax Preparer/Auditor played high risk games with the Internal Revenue Service by failing to return millions of dollars of member surplus assessments each year as they claimed to have been doing?

While there are many more signals that something is very wrong with how our association has been managed since 2005, the biggest mystery is why so many members ignore the obvious?  Tolerating such apparent gross negligence and mismanagement has only emboldened the leaders to become more open in their apparent misconduct.

However, it must be remembered that:
(1) the IRS delivered an audit in 2010 claiming SCA Directors had violated federal income tax regulations in 2007 (and possibly since that time) and about $1.3 Million was owed in back taxes and penalties; and
(2) a former SCA Community Manager employed for over 20 years by Del Webb/Pulte/RMI was recently convicted of willfully and knowingly violating State Laws. 

Both cases indicate that State and Federal criminal charges might eventually be filed against certain individuals for what appears to be serious law violations. 

Although new SCA Directors have been consistently advised by the attorney and community management company to never look back at past board failures, it is becoming increasingly clear that waiting for the FBI to look into some of these matters is the worst possible strategy for the individual directors as well as our homeowners. 

Where the FBI has gone into HOAs, the property values have tended to sink below average.  It is our member’s fault if we sit by and allow that to happen in this “paradise”.

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

December 4, 2011 by admin.

See:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug75diEyiA0

Our AnthemVOICE article dated March 7, 2011 reminded Sun City Anthem members that the SCA Board’s 2009 Federal Tax Returns had reported $4.8 Million of untaxed and un-refunded surplus member dues held in a working capital (slush fund) account.  

Here is the page from Sun City Anthem’s 2009 budget planning presentation reporting the $4.8 Mil. surplus.
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/__oneclick_uploads/2010/07/surplus-build-up-2002-2009.pdf

But, when Finance Committee Chair Candance Karrow was asked during the November 2011 Annual Membership Meeting why assessments were being increased by $714,400 in 2012 when there was such a large accumulated surplus account balance, she stated that all of the surplus had been spent. 

When asked “what for” she just shrugged her shoulders, and claimed she did not have the details!  Even worse, not a single board member was willing to answer the obvious questions about the missing millions of surplus funds.

Imagine a corporate board and its finance committee responsible for the assessments, collections, accounting and spending of a 2-year total of $16 Million of member assessments plus an additional $4.8 Million for expenditures of unidentified “stuff” and they have refused to explain such outrageous over-expenditures!

Imagine that all seven board members, all community managers, and the association attorney  just sat there and said nothing to help Ms. Karrow explain where the missing $4.8 Million had gone! 

And, imagine that the former board member and disgraced attorney tried to misdirect the audience from the hard questions during member comment period by reminding people of the 4th quarter 2008 “$100 dues holiday”. 

Anyone who can use simple math can readily see that such a $100 reduction in the 2008-mandated $160 increase in annual assessments had absolutely nothing to do with the reported $4.8 Million surpluses carried over and declared during the 2009 budget year.  In fact, one has to wonder how in spite of the $714,400 “dues holiday”cut in 2008 assessments it was possible to report an increased total of $4.8 Million accumulated assessments a year later in August 2009!

Come to think of it, one has to wonder what kind of serious conflicts of interest that man might have for so often seeming to work to cover up the mismanagement of past and present board members?  Year after year, on advice of counsel and RMI, the boards have refused to clean up the past financial disasters while the former VP creates smoke screens and misdirections to keep members confused about the essential facts.  As many say, follow the money through independent forensic audits, and we will find the truth.

So, where’s the “beef” (missing surplus funds)?   Since embezzlement has been found so often in national HOAs and during the current Nevada FBI investigations of HOAs, prudent/ethical people will not allow such major questions involving apparently missing millions of dollars to go unanswered.  Honorable directors cannot continue to tolerate such obvious signals of past and current financial mismanagement.

Even if the boards can eventually prove they legally and properly spent all those millions in such a short time in such secret ways, how will they explain away the apparent waste and abuse of funds that were required by federal and state laws to be refunded to our members?  It is absolutely required that the boards return those millions of surpluses or ask the members to vote via formal ballots to authorize the boards to pay the income taxes and spend the resulting funds on clearly identified capital improvement projects.

Considering the FBI’s ongoing investigations, this matter would seem to be an extremely high priority for the board to resolve.  Each serving director in recent years could face criminal allegations if nothing is done.  It will be truly painful for all directors and SCA members if we wait to act until the FBI announces an interest in SCA’s financial and board election affairs.  Out of self-interest, our members must stop ignoring the obvious signals of serious problems.

———————-

FYI:   For those who have not been following the “over-charged dues/slush-funds–working capital funds/False Income Tax Reports” fiasco since it was first identified in 2007, the following links contain some details.   

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/02/irs-report-released-boardauditor-has-no-more-excuses/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/02/19/reject-the-boards-shell-game-on-income-taxes/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/02/11/irs-audit-finds-sca-owes-1345-million-in-back-taxes-for-07/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2010/09/18/dues-holiday-is-bogus-tell-the-board-you-know-the-truth/

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

December 2, 2011 by admin.

After over 3 and 1/2 years of unexplained delays, the first of dozens of allegations of illegal acts submitted against (former and current)  Sun City Anthem Community Managers employed by RMI has finally reached the point of a public disciplinary hearing.

The accused person is long-time Del Webb, Pulte and RMI employee, Terri Da Silva.

The Nevada Commission for Common Interest Communities and Condominium Hotels (CICCH) will hear the formal prosecution by the Deputy Attorney General during a session scheduled at 9 AM for December  6-8, 2011. 

The PDF case report is attached at this link:   Da Silva Prosecution by Attorney General

This hearing/trial for alleged law violations in 2008 follows by only a few weeks the previously scheduled prosecution against certain 2008 SCA Directors (led by 2007 and 2008 Board Presidents Mike Dixon and Roz Berman) where the individuals were excused from trial due to a surprise technical error in the State’s paperwork. 

But, because the facts of the previous case were never heard by the Commission, AnthemVOICE hears that the State is considering resubmitting revised charges in 2012. 

That case was reported on in the previous AnthemVOICE and LV Review Journal articles at these links:

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/06/18/attorney-general-office-removed-bob-frank-from-sca-board-indictment/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/09/01/did-defrocked-attorney-berman-mean-to-disclose-the-truth/

http://www.lvrj.com/business/2008-case-tossed-in-sun-city-anthem-hoa-dispute-128659613.html

Coming so soon after the IRS issued its 2011 audit findings against the 2007-2008 SCA Boards claiming SCA owed $1.3 Million in back taxes and penalties, 2012 looks like it could be a hard year for some former SCA board members, auditor, attorneys and collaborating community managers.  Link to one of the reports on IRS Audit:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/02/irs-report-released-boardauditor-has-no-more-excuses/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/12/what-are-the-odds-of-success/

Finally, since there have been dozens of extremely well-documented State Law violation complaints filed by SCA members against SCA Boards and RMI Community Managers since 2008, perhaps there could be some distant hope for homeowner justice, after all?  

At this point, we have only seen the tip of the iceberg of potential State prosecutions against the SCA Boards and contractors.  Meanwhile, the FBI criminal cases of HOA fraud, abuse and racketeering are reaching an ever-wider group of involved board members, community management company employees, and public officials.  

Posted in Truth Squad, SCA Board, Operations, Lifestyle, News! | Print | No Comments »

December 1, 2011 by admin.

As most Sun City Anthem members know, we have 4 different members running 4 completely different web sites with blogging capabilities and a wide variety of community services available for free to our residents.

Besides this AnthemVOICE (blog and archival sites) operated by a group of residents, there are 3 other forums/blogs operated at no cost to residents by Ron Johnson (the original SCA community web site), Rana Goodman, and David Berman.

All 4 services have been running successfully for many years without any help by the SCA Board and without commercial support.

But, in spite of having an $8,000,000.00 annual budget with dozens of contracted staff, dozens of volunteers on various committees, a highly competent SCA Computer Club with hundreds of members, and numerous full time RMI staff assigned to this function, none of the SCA Boards of Directors since 2005 have launched a community web site with all of the needed services required by our 7,144 households.

Why not?   Some people describe this abysmal record as “tragic incompetence”.  Others call it “GROSS negligence”.  Still others call it “fraud and abuse of authority”.   Finally, some members consider the board’s annual demand for dues increases without delivering the web services promised to be a case of “theft”.

What ever you call it, after 6 years of total failure, members have to be considered stupid and lazy for putting up with this ridiculous game!  No wonder we seniors are considered senile when they see this sort of scam being tolerated–for years!

Evan a unity-apologist for the board has to admit that no organization has ever spent more time and more money to accomplish less in terms of SCA web services than our Boards and the RMI Community Management staff.  Maybe this fiasco qualifies for the Guinness Book of Records–or at least a mention in the Channel 13 Hall of Shame?

Why have the boards failed so consistently?  Board excuses for failing, year after year, has not yet included “the dog ate their plans”, but the crappy excuses we have heard from the boards and RMI are no less juvenile and insulting.  Nothing they have said makes any sense when you look at what the rest of the world is doing with web services.  A start-up business can launch a really professional web site within a few weeks and only spend a few thousand dollars.  Clearly we have the wrong people with the wrong plans billing time against SCA!

Contrary to their lame excuses, it is clear the SCA boards, RMI and professional consultants have no interest and no intent in using web services to keep all SCA members informed on policies, procedures, activities or  lifestyle matters.   It is clear the board is practicing the “mushroom” strategy of keeping members in the dark and covered with dung.  The boards want members to be uninformed and afraid of being personally attacked to make it easy to get away with their mismanagement and deceptions.

So, our community will have to continue to depend on private, free web services to serve the community unless or until we finally get mad as hell and demand the community management company be replaced, force there be a large reduction in dues, and/or fire the board members for such failures of their fiduciary duties.

But, maybe you have had enough of the board insults with having to tolerate the lousy web services they are providing?  Ready for a petition drive and public demonstrations to force the boards to deliver?

If not now, when?  Just as in the case of the constantly failing restaurant operations,  we know that nothing will get better until the failed board members and their failed contractors are fired, and we get competent people elected and appointed to our leadership positions.  At least, that is how we see it.

Posted in SCA Board, Truth Squad, Community Affairs, Laws & Rules, Operations, Lifestyle | Print | No Comments »

December 1, 2011 by admin.

Nevada Energy’s massive program to install digital “Smart Meters” in every home and every business is an outrageous waste of our money, an unacceptable attack on our constitutionsal rights to privacy and freedom of unreasonable search, and a potentially serious health risk to many citizens. 

See these links if you are not familar with the background on that situation.
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/09/26/should-you-refuse-smartmeter-installation/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/10/20/ca-counties-cities-prohibit-installations-of-smart-meters-why-is-henderson-refusing-to-act/

And, here is are parts of our citizen member filings with the PUCN representing 2 of over 50 official objections to Nevada Energy’s/PUCN smart meter programs:

mike-hazzard-complaint-to-pucn.doc

ltr-for-docket-11-10007.pdf   
exhibit-a-overall-comments-on-docket-11-10007.pdf
exhibit-b-safety-concerns.pdf
exhibit-c-health-concerns.pdf
exhibit-d-privacy-legal-concerns.pdf
exhibit-e-smart-meter-silent-killer.pdf
exhibit-f-smart-meter-prog-conflicts-with-arra-eo.pdf
exhibit-g-privacy-issues-convert-to-opt-in-policy.pdf

But, “smart meters” and the “smart grid” are only the latest attack on our privacy and health.  The so-called “progressive” agenda to eliminate our privacy and bankrup our nation by massively increasing utility costs, government fees and taxes is just the latest outrage.

The following article fills in some facts on many other similar actions to give the govenment total control over ever aspect of our lives.In case we have not noticed it, this is a civil war to 

“Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make –

14 New Ways That the Government Is Watching You

End of the American Dream

If you live in the United States today, you need to understand that your privacy is being constantly eroded. Our world is going crazy, government paranoia is off the charts and law enforcement authorities have become absolutely obsessed with watching us, listening to us, tracking us, recording us, compiling information on all of us and getting us all to spy on one another. If you doubt that we are rapidly getting to the point where the government will monitor every breath you take and every move you make, just read the rest of this article. The truth is that the government is watching you more closely than ever, and they are spending billions upon billions of dollars to enhance their surveillance capabilities even further. If our society stays on this current path, we will eventually have zero privacy left. At this point, it is not too hard to imagine a society where we will not be able to say anything, buy anything, sell anything, assemble with others or even leave our homes without government permission. We truly are descending into a dystopian nightmare and the American people had better wake up.

Sadly, most people living in the United States and in Europe do not realize what is happening. Most of them think that everything is just fine. The “Big Brother control grid” that is being constructed all over the western world squeezes all of us just a little bit tighter every single day, and most people don’t even feel it.

But when you step back and take a look at the big picture, it truly is horrifying.

The following are 14 new ways that the government is watching you….

#1 In many areas of the United States today, you will be arrested if you do not produce proper identification for the police. In the old days, “your papers please” was a phrase that we used to use to mock the tyranny of Nazi Germany. But now all of us are being required to be able to produce “our papers” for law enforcement authorities at any time. For example, a 21-year-old college student named Samantha Zucker was recently arrested and put in a New York City jail for 36 hours just because she could not produce any identification for police.

#2 The federal government has decided that what you and I share with one another on Facebook and on Twitter could be a threat to national security. According to a recent Associated Press article, the Department of Homeland Security will soon be “gleaning information from sites such as Twitter and Facebook for law enforcement purposes”.

Other law enforcement agencies are getting into the act as well. For example, the NYPD recently created a special “social media” unit dedicated to looking for criminals on social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

#3 New high-tech street lights that are being funded by the federal government and that are being installed all over the nation can also be used as surveillance cameras, can be used by the DHS to make “security announcements” and can even be used to record personal conversations. The following is from a recent article by Paul Joseph Watson for Infowars.com….

Federally-funded high-tech street lights now being installed in American cities are not only set to aid the DHS in making “security announcements” and acting as talking surveillance cameras, they are also capable of “recording conversations,” bringing the potential privacy threat posed by ‘Intellistreets’ to a whole new level.

#4 More than a million hotel television sets all over America are now broadcasting propaganda messages from the Department of Homeland Security promoting the “See Something, Say Something” campaign. In essence, the federal government wants all of us to become “informants” and to start spying on one another constantly. The following comes from an article posted by USA Today….

Starting today, the welcome screens on 1.2 million hotel television sets in Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn and other hotels in the USA will show a short public service announcement from DHS. The 15-second spot encourages viewers to be vigilant and call law enforcement if they witness something suspicious during their travels.

#5 The FBI is now admittedly recording Internet talk radio programs all over the United States. The following comes from a recent article by Mark Weaver of WMAL.com….

If you call a radio talk show and get on the air, you might be recorded by the FBI.

The FBI has awarded a $524,927 contract to a Virginia company to record as much radio news and talk programming as it can find on the Internet.

The FBI says it is not playing big brother by policing the airwaves, but rather seeking access to what airs as potential evidence.

Potential evidence of what?

This is very creepy. Why is the FBI so interested in what is being said during Internet talk radio programs?

#6 TSA VIPR teams are now conducting random inspections at bus stations and on interstate highways all over the United States. For example, the following comes from a local news report down in Tennessee….

You’re probably used to seeing TSA’s signature blue uniforms at the airport, but now agents are hitting the interstates to fight terrorism with Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR).

“Where is a terrorist more apt to be found? Not these days on an airplane more likely on the interstate,” said Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security Commissioner Bill Gibbons.

Tuesday Tennessee was first to deploy VIPR simultaneously at five weigh stations and two bus stations across the state.

#7 Thermal imaging face scanners are becoming much more sophisticated. Law enforcement authorities in the western world are getting very excited about “pre-crime” tools such as this that will enable them to “prevent crimes” before they happen. The following is from a recent BBC News article….

A sophisticated new camera system can detect lies just by watching our faces as we talk, experts say.

The computerised system uses a simple video camera, a high-resolution thermal imaging sensor and a suite of algorithms.

Researchers say the system could be a powerful aid to security services.

But face scanners are not just a tool that will be used in the future. The truth is that face scanners are being used all over the United States right now. The following comes from an article posted on Singularity Hub….

Law enforcement continues to adopt new technologies in an effort to make their jobs easier and keep us safer. The latest gizmo attaches to officers’ iPhones and turns them into biometric face scanners. The scanners have already been street tested in Massachusetts. Pretty soon cops all across the US will be using them to ID suspects.

Before long, technology like this will be all over America. In fact, the FBI has announced that it will be activating a “nationwide facial recognition service” in January.

#8 Another “pre-crime” technology currently being tested by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is The Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) program. The following description of this new program comes from an article in the London Telegraph….

Using cameras and sensors the “pre-crime” system measures and tracks changes in a person’s body movements, the pitch of their voice and the rhythm of their speech.

It also monitors breathing patterns, eye movements, blink rate and alterations in body heat, which are used to assess an individual’s likelihood to commit a crime.

The Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) programme is already being tested on a group of government employees who volunteered to act as guinea pigs.

Do you want government officials to pull you aside and interrogate you just because you are feeling a little bit nervous one particular day?

#9 Sadly, “pre-crime” technology is even being used on our children. The Florida State Department of Juvenile Justice has announced that it will begin using analysis software to predict crime by young delinquents and will place “potential offenders” in specific prevention and education programs.

How soon will it be before this type of things is applied to adults?

#10 Our children are being programmed to accept the fact that they will be watched and monitored constantly. For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending large amounts of money to install surveillance cameras in the cafeterias of public schools all across the nation so that government control freaks can closely monitor what our children are eating.

#11 The U.S. government is also increasingly using “polls” and “surveys” as tools to gather information about all of us. In previous articles, I have noted how government authorities seems particularly interested in our children. According to Mike Adams of Natural News, the CDC is starting to call parents all over the U.S. to question them about the vaccination status of their children….

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control, which has been comprehensively exposed as a vaccine propaganda organization promoting the interests of drug companies, is now engaged in a household surveillance program that involves calling U.S. households and intimidating parents into producing child immunization records. As part of what it deems a National Immunization Survey(NIS), the CDC is sending letters to U.S. households, alerting them that they will be called by “NORC at the University of Chicago” and that households should “have your child’s immunization records handy when answering our questions.”

You can see a copy of the letter that the CDC has been sending out to selected parents right here.

#12 As I have written about previously, a very disturbing document that Oath Keepers has obtained shows that the FBI is now instructing store owners to report many new forms of “suspicious activity” to them. According to the document, “suspicious activity” now includes the following….

• paying with cash
• missing a hand or fingers
  
• “strange odors”
• making “extreme religious statements”
• “radical theology”
• purchasing weatherproofed ammunition or match containers
• purchasing meals ready to eat
• purchasing night vision devices, night flashlights or gas masks

Do any of those “signs of suspicious activity” apply to you?

According to a report on WorldNetDaily, this document is part of a “series of brochures” that will be distributed “to farm supply stores, gun shops, military surplus stores and even hotels and motels.”

#13 In some areas of the country, law enforcement authorities are pulling data out of cell phones for no reason whatsoever. According to the ACLU, state police in Michigan are now using “extraction devices” to download data from the cell phones of motorists that they pull over. This is taking happening even if the motorists that are pulled over are not accused of doing anything wrong.

The following is how a recent article on CNET News described the capabilities of these “extraction devices”….

The devices, sold by a company called Cellebrite, can download text messages, photos, video, and even GPS data from most brands of cell phones. The handheld machines have various interfaces to work with different models and can even bypass security passwords and access some information.

#14 The government can spy on us and record our conversations seemingly without any limitation, but in many areas of the country it has become illegal to watch them or record them in public. For example, one 21-year-old man down in Florida was recently arrested for trying to document a confrontation that he was having with police on his iPhone. But if we can’t record them, how can we prove our side of the story in court?

America is becoming a much different place.

Our privacy is being eroded in thousands of different ways.

National governments and big corporations know far more about you than you probably ever would imagine.

Yes, there will always be “security threats”, but we should not have to throw away any of our rights in order to be “safe”.

America is supposed to be about liberty and freedom.

America is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave.

If given the choice between living in “1984″ and living in “1776″, I know what my choice would be.

I would choose 1776.

I would choose liberty and freedom even if it meant that the world around me was a little bit less “safe”.

What about you?

What would you choose?

Reprinted with permission from End of the American Dream.

November 7, 2011

Copyright © 2011 End of the American Dream” 

Posted in Outside Politics, SCA Board, Operations, Lifestyle, News! | Print | No Comments »

November 13, 2011 by admin.

In case you have not been monitoring the public comments about the recent Review-Journal reports on the FBI HOA Criminal Cases, here are links for your convenience.  

Scroll down to the public comments.  Some of them provide revealing details about the failed HOA system in Nevada, and SCA even gets an occasional mention.

Here are just a few of the growing list of HOA fraud reports by the FBI:

 http://www.lvrj.com/news/hoa-fraud-investigation-may-last-months-133736343.html#blogcomments?submitted=y

http://www.lvrj.com/news/property-management-employee-becomes-10th-to-plead-guilty-in-hoa-case-133629953.html#blogcomments?submitted=y

http://www.lvrj.com/news/federal-probe-into-valley-hoas-broadens-117482798.html

Note the most commonly reported problem found by the FBI is fraudulent ballots and bogus ballot handling procedures prior to the vote counting processes.

SCA directors would be well-advised to review the previous election complaints in 2009, 2010 and 2011 to be sure they have corrected all of the alleged violations.  Since the IRS is part of the FBI’s team, it could be that SCA past board election problems that seemed to be similar to the examples found by the FBI will attract official interest.  It might be a problem for the current board if the 2012 elections had repeat violations.

See links for some details:

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/04/23/can-we-trust-the-sca-election-results/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/27/emergency-election-statutes-violation-filed/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/02/11/2010-sca-board-election-was-corrupted-will-2011-be-better/

Posted in SCA Board, Operations, News! | Print | No Comments »

October 20, 2011 by admin.

 AV Blog previously reported on the “smart meter” fiasco at this link:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/09/26/should-you-refuse-smartmeter-installation/

Some SCA members (led by Retired USN Commander Nelson Orth) have asked the Henderson City Council to intervene on behalf of our citizens, but the City claimed to have no authority to act.

But, how is it that California Counties and Cities appear to have the authority to protect their citizens?  Are Nevada cities and counties truly powerless to protect our citizens or is this yet another example of government misconduct?

See these web sites for more information:

1.  FAQ:  http://stopsmartmeters.org/2011/10/18/announcing-stop-smart-meters-faq/

2.  Blocked:  http://stopsmartmeters.org/how-you-can-stop-smart-meters/sample-letter-to-local-government/ca-local-governments-on-board/

“The following is a list of local governments within California who are opposed to the mandatory wireless  ‘smart’ meter program.

Names of cities and counties are linked t0 news coverage or official council minutes that substantiate each city or county’s inclusion.

Those local governments in red have passed ordinances that have made ‘smart’ meter installations illegal within their jurisdictions:

Counties (10)

Humboldt County (pdf)

Lake County

Marin County

Mendocino County

City and County of San Francisco

San Luis Obispo County

Santa Barbara County

Santa Cruz County

Sonoma County — AB 37 Support Letter (pdf)

Tehama County

Cities and Towns (36)

Arcata

Belvedere

Berkeley (pdf)

Blue Lake

Bolinas

Buellton

Camp Meeker (pdf)

Capitola

Clearlake

Cotati (pdf)

Fairfax (pdf)

Fort Bragg

Grover Beach

Lakeport

Marina

Mill Valley

Monterey (pdf)

Monte Sereno (pdf)

Morro Bay (pdf)

Novato

Pacific Grove

Piedmont (pdf)

Richmond (pdf)

Rio Dell

Ross

San Anselmo

San Rafael (pdf)

San Luis Obispo (pdf)

Santa Cruz

Sausalito

Scotts Valley

Seaside

Sebastopol (pdf)

Solvang

Watsonville (pdf)

Willits

Other Jurisdictions (1)

Big Valley Rancheria/Tribal Community of Pomo Indians

Total CA population represented:  2,695,947

Missing anyone?  Please e-mail us at info@stopsmartmeters.org”

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

September 26, 2011 by admin.

Nevada Power has received taxpayer “stimulus” money to acquire and install electric smart meters on all NV homes.  This comes after years of installations in other states and growing outrage against such devices.  California home and business owners are particularly outraged and fighting back.   That comes as a surprise  since CA has a reputation for being quite accommodating to new “green” technologies.

There are critical questions about the claimed values, health risks, and purposes of the smartmeter  technologies.  It is questionable on whether the power companies and federal government should be allowed to force homeowners to accept these devices. 

There are unresolved privacy and constitutional issues that could eventually terminate the entire program.  In the meantime, who wants to be the lab rats involved in the early installations?

Here are just a few of the Internet links to videos about the smartmeter technologies. They seem to effectively debunk all of the power company’s claimed “benefits”.

What Is A Smartmeter Doing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpndoSq19BA&feature=related

Darkside of Smartmeters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLeCTaSG2-U&NR=1

Smartmeter Technologies: Armed Spy Devices
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fndf2EciSg&feature=related

Smartmeters Are Not Really Smart:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-nmaYU6kek&feature=related

Pres..Obama’s Spin on ”Personal Benefits” of Smartmeters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uyt55mieYw&feature=related

Mark Levin Against Obama’s Speech on Smartmeters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_XG25YKRGc&feature=related

Defeating A Smartmeter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CL2JQ0FbgvU&feature=related

Smartmeter Ripoff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEZ0Ba0gZQY&feature=related

Refuse Smartmeter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0XnOoLR-u0&feature=related

Opt Out of Smartmeters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTnGMN-kQ64&feature=relmfu

Siemans Marketing Pitch on Smartmeters For Business:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZoWlnEc32Q&feature=related

Itron Smartmeter Marketing Pitch for Businesses:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtO6q3FPg8s&feature=related

Comments on WSJ Article– Smartmeter—Dumb Idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUdx79ffjjo&feature=related

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

September 22, 2011 by admin.

The below email reports on the Sun City Summerlin Board Meeting on September 19, 2011 where it was confirmed that an IRS audit was underway.  

“From: dom addonizio

To:
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 1:12 PM
Subject: IRS audit of the association

It was revealed by one of the directors at today’s Board of Directors meeting that resident Bernard Silver complained to the IRS about the association, and that this precipitated an audit of the association by the IRS.  The audit is still on-going.  Dom Addonizio”

Sun City Summerlin has always used the same, Del Webb/Pulte-recommended auditor/tax preparer as Sun City Anthem (Mr. Gary Lein, CPA).    As a reminder, Mr. Gary Lein is also a long-time member of the Governor-appointed Commission for Common Interest Communities and Condominiums. 

More details will be provided when available.

Posted in SCA Board, Community Affairs, Operations, News! | Print | No Comments »

September 16, 2011 by admin.

The Sun City Anthem (SCA) Board of Directors and certain Sun City Anthem Corporate Treasurers since 2002 and their auditor/tax preparer have been notified by the IRS they have failed to comply with Federal Tax Regulations.

The IRS has initially notified SCA it owes $1.345 Million in back taxes and penalties for the 2002-2007 tax returns.  Subsequent returns prepared in the same manner have not yet been audited.  Meanwhile, instead of following a smart strategy to minimize the back taxes and penalties, the board is following an ego-driven appeal strategy that is apparently wasting tens of thousands more of our dues.

Treasurers for 2002-2007  years were Favil West, Kay Dwyer and Roz Berman.   The Board’s auditor/tax preparer for that period was CPA Gary Lein and the association attorney was John Leach.   CPA Jack Troia was also personally involved as a (self-proclaimed) tax “expert” on the Finance Committee during most of the audit period.

While the involved directors, professional advisers, finance committee members and  community management company leaders are presumed innocent until proven guilty, one has to wonder what they were thinking after the board had been advised in 2008 they were filing false tax returns, and they refused to resolve the disputed issues?

Were any of them monitoring the Department of Justice public information being released about criminal convictions for filing false tax returns?  The following is just one quote from the DOJ tax site.  It describes a case that appears to be far less damaging than the SCA case and the results should be very worrisome to many of the involved SCA individuals.

“Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Baton Rouge, La., Tax Preparer Sentenced to Prison for Aiding in Preparation of False Tax Returns

WASHINGTON - Melissa Edwards was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Brian A. Jackson to 30 months in prison based on her plea of guilty to one count of willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false income tax return, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The court also ordered Edwards to serve a one-year term of supervised release following her prison term and to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $56,040. The case arises out of a March 31, 2010, indictment filed in the Middle District of Louisiana.

According to her plea agreement, Edwards, who worked at Jasmine and Melissa’s Tax Service in Baton Rouge, La., prepared fraudulent tax returns for 20 clients that reported falsely inflated telephone excise tax refund (TETR) credits in the total amount of $126,856. The TETR credit was a one-time credit available to taxpayers for the 2006 year. The sentencing court found that the tax loss, including all relevant conduct, was between $400,000, but less than $1 million.

John A. DiCicco, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice Tax Division, commended the IRS Special Agents who investigated this case and Tax Division Trial Attorneys Kevin C. Lombardi and Matthew J. Mueller and Assistant U.S. Attorney Rene Salomon of the Middle District of Louisiana, who prosecuted the case.

More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at www.usdoj.gov/tax/”

 

For more information:

Sun City Anthem CAI IRS Audit Report–$1.345 Million Back Taxes Owed for 2007:

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/02/irs-report-released-boardauditor-has-no-more-excuses/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/02/19/reject-the-boards-shell-game-on-income-taxes/

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September 5, 2011 by admin.

The August 30, 2011 Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that federal prosecutors investigating fraud by Nevada HOAs, HOA professional advisers, and government authorities for the past few years have identified 75 to 100 co-conspirators including board members, management companies, judges, attorneys and former police officers (see links below). 

Sun City Anthem is not yet been mentioned on the released FBI list of involved HOAs, but after the 2011 IRS demand for $1,345 Million in back income taxes and penalties from SCA, and after the more than 100 major affidavits alleging law violations with the Nevada authorities in the past few years, we should anticipate that  the SCA directors, attorneys, auditor, and management company are  known to the FBI’s investigative team.

The massive, multi-year FBI investigations have exposed elaborate HOA schemes involving such criminal violations as:
(1) board elections fraud,
(2) construction defects claims fraud,
(3) non-competitive contracts fraud,
(4) fraudulent legal services,
(5) real estate fraud,
(6) self-dealing among boards, management companies and HOA law firms, and
(7) theft. 

So far, about two dozen targets of the investigation are said to be taking plea deals that would ensure their cooperation in the prosecution of higher-level players in the scheme.

Here are a small number of the links reporting on alleged SCA Board Financial misconduct/possible fraud in recent articles:

1.  http://www.lvrj.com/news/las-vegas-businessman-enters-guilty-plea-in-federal-hoa-fraud-case-128691408.html

2.  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/August/11-crm-1114.html

3.  http://www.lvrj.com/news/las-vegas-businessman-enters-guilty-plea-in-federal-hoa-fraud-case-128691408.html

4.  http://www.stopfraud.gov/

5.  Here are just a few of the previously reported/alleged SCA Board Violations of laws and statutes:

- Suspected Board Election Fraud:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/04/23/can-we-trust-the-sca-election-results/

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/27/emergency-election-statutes-violation-filed/

http://www.scaview.org/ElectionCoverup.html 

-  Suspected Financial Misconduct:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/04/22/should-you-call-911-if-you-are-being-robbed/

http://www.scaview.org/TheCoverUp.html

http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2010/03/17/current-list-of-open-board-issues/

-  Suspected Legal Services Law Violations:  
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/04/03/sca-board-says-attorney-general-charges-are-mistaken-really/

-  Apparent Improper Accounting Practices:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/07/why-was-4779709-off-the-books-in-2009/

-  Reported Misconduct in SCA Reserves:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/03/gross-overfunding-of-sca-reserves/

-  IRS Audit Report–$1.345 Million Back Taxes Owed:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/03/02/irs-report-released-boardauditor-has-no-more-excuses/
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/02/19/reject-the-boards-shell-game-on-income-taxes/

-  Villas Neighborhood Reserves Mismanagement/apparent fraud:
http://www.scaview.org/TheConPart4.html

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July 27, 2011 by admin.

Are homeowners in HOAs being “farmed” like captive animals by the Community Association Institute and government agencies?   This thought-provoking perspective about homeowner rights has been claimed by Fort Bend, Indiana resident Nancy Hentschel.  She has said:

“Home Owner Association (HOA) and Property Owner Association (POA) living is advertised to promote sales and to manage the homeowner population, but these “corporations” are specifically designed to disenfranchise most if not all the homeowners in the subdivision.

The HOA corporation is frequently controlled by the developers, builders, or even the vendors of the HOA corporation, such as the HOA management company and HOA attorneys.  These entities seek legislation to give the HOA board (and therefore its agents) ever more control over the property belonging to the homeowners.

This latter group has formed their own trade organization (Community Associations Institute), which not only lobbies for anti-homeowner laws but also uses funds from HOA corporation coffers (their “client”) in order to pay for the lobbying expenses. One should note that these HOA funds were taken from the homeowners under threat of foreclosure (from assessments).  The foreclosure power is used primarily to benefit these vendors, not the homeowners of the HOA…

(For brevity, most of this editorial has been supressed.  See the below link for the full article.)

…HOA attorneys are a specialized group of attorneys who are trained by the CAI to know how to turn a $50.00 contested fine into a foreclosure process that can yield the attorney upwards of 20 thousand dollars in attorney fees. The reapportionment of assessments and many other tricks, are never made known to homeowners. In this way, homeowners can be led, one at a time, into “executive sessions,” and the foreclosure process, without alerting other homeowners. Isolated in this way, most homeowners are astonished that this process is legal. If the victim of this abuse speaks out, which is quite rare, due to carefully constructed marginalization techniques, others with an air of protective denial will simply say, “There must be more to their story than that!” Unfortunately, the real story about HOAs is much worse. So how is this possible?  How did the HOA industry turn “servitude” into “membership” and “controlled by” into “belong to” and “corporate interests” into “community associations?” Think back to when you bought your home from the builder and developer.  HOAs prey on people’s natural suspicions of their neighbors as having hidden agendas to paint their home purple or jack up cars in the front yard.

Homeowners are sold these fears in exchange for their freedom. This is not a new idea, is it? Depending on the income and social status of the community, these fears are manipulated to fit the buyer. CC&Rs are sold as tools to keep “others” in line, so that they don’t bring down “your” property values (implied personal status), However, CC&Rs are more often selectively used to target and “farm” people for income to the HOA corporation and its vendors, as well as for racial, religious, and political discrimination and manipulation. In addition, let’s face it, there is always the real probability that at least one board member is simply a bully.

Homeowners inadvertently allow this, because neighbors are kept in a constant state of isolated suspicion about each other. When one neighbor feels targeted, he often innocently points to five other homeowners who have the same violation. The HOA’s vendors, or employees, are paid to go after everyone, and are indeed happy to do so. In this way, targeted and confused neighbors, inadvertently support the HOA’s abusive structure by pointing out their neighbors instead of objecting to the structure of the problem. It is also true that one racist bully in your neighborhood will become a powerful favorite of any HOA management company and attorney. He will often even find his way onto the board.

HOAs also commonly target widows who tend to pay off their homes when a spouse dies. Tax records reveal equity and a skilled HOA attorney can tap into this information.  Some of these cases make it to the news, like Wenonah Blevins, Houston, and Captain Mike Clauer, Frisco, but most do not. When people are targeted by an HOA (remember that they are led to think that their HOA is their neighbors), they usually are either shamed into silence or they desire to move away from such disgusting neighbors. Either way, the HOA‘s secrecy remains intact!”

See this link for the full article…
http://www.fortbendnow.com/2010/08/04/47120

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June 2, 2011 by admin.

(3rd Revision)

Due to some audience confusion during the board’s voting on the gaming issue, James Long’s vote was incorrectly stated in our previous report as favoring gaming.  But, he has recently advised us that his vote was actually in opposition to gaming and the comments below reflect that correction.

The new Board claimed in its May Meeting that a recent proposal by the only surviving lease partner
to take over the restaurant agreement was NOT contingent upon installing gambling/gaming machines.

But, that was a flagrant lie by the Directors and condoned by the attending association attorney and the RMI managers.  

The (previously secret) letter from Mr. Fred Slark dated April 7, 2011 (attached) makes it clear that installing
gambling/gaming is a deal-breaking condition for him to assume full responsibility for the current lease.
Anthem View Takeover & Demand For Gaming Permission  

Every Board Member since 2007 has known the majority of members of this community do NOT favor installing gambling
in the restaurant space.  In addition, the Tubin-controlled poll on gaming last year failed to satisfy the mandatory lease
terms and could not be considered binding on the association.

So, why was Mr. Slark’s high risk/low-member-value lease modification plan seriously considered?  Why did the Board
not summarily reject the offer after reminding Mr. Slark that gaming was not approved by his company’s survey/pool?
Is this not “business as usual” by the “new” board?

The Board’s vote in favor of gambling was 3 yes, 2 no, 1 abstain and 1 not present.

New Board President Jim Long voted against gaming–as he had promised during the campaign.

Celeste Bove weaseled-out by “abstaining” on the votes after claiming she “needed more information”.   But, she did not
make it clear  what “new information” would cause her to vote NO.  

Director Mike Carey had nothing new or significant to add before be voted in favor of the gaming.  He pontificated a bit
before caving in to the majority rule.

Director Jerry Gardberg woke up long enough to declare something incomprehensible about possible “litigation” before
he voted in favor of gaming.  As usual, nothing was provided to members to support the Gardberg rant.

Since Treasurer Dan Forgeron has personally managed the 3-year history of this totally failed restaurant lease, it is clear
his ego and unjustified pride in this handiwork will not let it die.  It is unfortunate that the association’s discredited
attorneys are able to get away with protecting such abject management failures.  If Mr. Forgeron had some personal
financial risk in this game, he would have abandoned this lease project in 2009.

Bella Meese was absent for her first board meeting due to going to CA with George for some medical work.

Wade Terry was the only director with the courage to vote NO for the lease modification+gaming proposal–as he
had promised during the recent campaign.

Even David Berman rose to speak in agreement with Bob Frank that the lease should NOT be approved IF it was
contingent upon approving gaming!   Imagine that unprecedented occasion!  It has not been seen since the 2007 ACE
board campaign days when the common objective was to dump Favil West, Attorney John Leach,  and their cronies!

Meanwhile, NO one has EVER produced any facts to support the opinions that gambling machines in our restaurant
MIGHT make the restaurant “profitable” from the members’ perspective.  The bogus idea that gambling would improve
the quality and/or pricing of food, service, catering capabilities, dining ambiance, or anything else of value to the vast
majority of SCA members has never been established.

Mr. Slark claims to be an honorable investor/manager in many businesses throughout the Las Vegas/Henderson area.
What else would you expect him to say?   But, exactly what has he accomplished while serving as a major investor in the
Tirzo-Tubin fiasco?  And, why should the Sun City Anthem homeowners trust him or the SCA Board in the future?  Have
we not had enough of this Tirzo-Tubin-Slark fiasco? 

And, what about the SUN’s September 4, 1998 report on the Gaming Commission’s rejection of Fred Slark’s application
for a gaming license for North Star Bar & Grill?   Was the license ever granted?  Why was this public matter about alleged
illegal gambling not disclosed before? 

Here is a quote of the relevant paragraph:

“–Rejected a request by Brian Cleland and David Saffren that their  application to be
licensed as shareholders of BFD Las Vegas Inc., which does  business as North Star Bar
& Grill, 5150 Camino El Norte, be withdrawn. The  board also rejected Frederick Slark’s
application to be licensed as shareholder of the North Star. The applications were
referred back to staff to give  the board more ime to review allegations that Saffren
and Slark had engaged  in illegal gambling. “I still can’t figure out what’s true and
what’s not true in this application,” said member Harris.  The board had indicated they
were going to deny both applications; Jeff Silver,attorney for the North  Star, equested
the staff referral to avoid a denial.”

Even if the board arbitrarily (and likely illegally) moves ahead with implementing Mr. Slark’s proposed agreement,
how will the board make Mr. Slark pay all of the hundreds of thousands of dollars required to modify the entire range
of facilities in Anthem Center?  Or, said a different way, what more facilities costs will the board secretly agree to pay
for to strike yet another bad restaurant deal?

Finally, when and what kind of escrow account will be established by the Slark lease-holder containing sufficient funds
to RESTORE the Anthem Center facilities to ORIGINAL condition–if the lessee should fail?  Not establishing such an
escrow account could be considered as evidence of a board conspiracy to commit fraud against the SCA homeowners.

Obviously, we need a FRESH start led by COMPETENT business people.  Mr. Stark does not appear to be someone worthy
of the high risks he has proposed.  

How can we get to the point of starting over without wasting another million dollars or more on the restaurant lease?

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