September 26, 2011 by kayfrank.

A Review Journal article dated September 25, 2011 reports that famous Southwest Defense Attorney Cal Potter recently won yet another large financial judgement for police abuse by Clark County law enforcement officials.

You probably are thinking, so what?

Well,  Defense Attorney Cal Potter is a legend in this Southwestern area for his many decades of winning large settlements and law suits from government agencies (and particularly from police departments) for abuse of authority and other law violations. 

Mr. Potter is the attorney of choice for attorneys, business owners and citizens who are wrongfully exploited by local, state and federal government officials.

You might still be thinking, so what?

Well, it happens that Mr. Cal Potter is the attorney representing my husband, Bob Frank, against Henderson’s unjustified criminal arrest for allegedly filing a willfully false police report against certain Sun City Anthem board members for failing to comply with NV forgery law and federal income tax laws. 

And, no one can recall the last time, if ever, that Henderson had filed such a criminal arrest warrant against ANYONE–much less against an honorable, retired Air Force Colonel with a perfect lifetime record of honor and service to this Nation.

Even after Henderson received hard evidence last year of my husband’s innocence when the Internal Revenue Service Audit of the Sun City Anthem Board’s 2007 tax return proved his allegations were true, the City has steadfastly refused to dismiss the false charges and delayed going to trial.

But, after almost a year and a half of delays, that bogus misdemeanor case is finally going before a special judge on October 27, 2011. 

Meanwhile, the legal expenses have piled up for such a high profile attorney.  And, Henderson City officials have recused themselves and contracted with a special prosecutor and special judge.   It was discovered that most of the Henderson City leadership had irreconcilable conflicts of interest with a Sun City Anthem Board Officer (a potential person of interest to the District Attorney) who had been a Henderson Assistant City Attorney and Judge Pro Tem for many years.  The whole matter smells to me like it could wind up being related to the FBI’s broader investigation into other NV HOA corruption.

If you are not familiar with this outrageous case of police abuse and political attacks against my husband, see these links for some details:

1.  http://www.scaview.org/my_first_website/welcome/2010/03/youre-under-arrest-board-politics-and-political-influence.html

2.  http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/05/01/false-arrest-case/

3.   http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2597#p4820

Kay Frank

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

May 24, 2011 by kayfrank.

By Kay Frank

Henderson City Attorney Elizabeth Quillin was arrested and jailed on Monday, May 23 for DUI, Hit and Run and driving with an open container of alcohol.  She had reportedly freely admitted to these criminal violations.  

Details are included within the following links.  To get the full story of how really onerous her law violations are, one needs to read all of the reports. The arrest report is also attached below. 

Normally, I would not be posting this type of information on this blog, but City Attorney Quillin is a very special case.   She was one of the leading Henderson City Officials who had Tim Stebbins and my husband, Bob Frank, arrested, perp-walked, handcuffed, jailed for 4 hours, and required to post bail in early 2010.  

The arrest was allegedly for knowingly filing a false police report concerning  Sun City Anthem Board actions to approve willfully false financial documents used to justify apparently false Federal Income Tax Returns and SCA budget policies and practices. 

Since that time, the IRS has completed a formal audit of the SCA 2007 tax return.  IRS found the SCA Boards had violated Tax laws and demanded $1.345 Million in back taxes and penalties. 

This fully validated the suspicions reported to the Henderson Police in 2009 by Tim Stebbins and Bob Frank.  It should have led to immediate dismissal of the case; but, the City Attorney ignored all of the new evidence and continued to prepare to prosecute.

Recently, after new information was submitted to the court, City Attorney Quillin was required by an independent judge to recuse herself as well as the City Attorney staff and Henderson Municipal Judge Hampton.  None of them denied having serious bias and irreconcilable, personal conflicts of interest with 2009-20011 SCA Director and former Assistant City Attorney and Pro Tem Judge Ann Small.

Instead of terminating the flagrant injustice for well over a year against these two honorable and obviously innocent men, the financially-strapped City of Henderson hired an independent prosecutor and independent judge to continue to pursue the criminal misdemeanor indictment.  This forced Tim Stebbins and Bob Frank to continue paying tens of thousands of dollars for defense attorneys to prepare for a misdemeanor trial for false allegations.

So, we can see that the gross criminal violations admitted by Ms. Quillin are particularly significant to the SCA community.  The report and media reports say she was driving drunk on duty, caused serious automobile accidents, and witnesses reported she was attempting to escape the scene while creating serious threats to the lives and properties of others.  This was no simple, “first-time DUI” and I believe it clearly reflects seriously flawed judgment and ethical deficiencies.

We need to monitor this case to see if she receives appropriate punishments for her flagrant crimes.  Note that she continues to draw her $190,000 salary while she is on “administrative leave” for such outrageous criminal misconduct.  I wonder if lower-ranking City employees have received  such generous benefits for similar or even lessor crimes?

In my opinion, Ms. Quillin deserves no sympathy or lenience for such truly outrageous criminal violations–especially when considering how she has abused others under her authority. 

———————————–

Police Report:    quillin_arrest_report.pdf

List of Relevant Media Stories:

Review-Journal:

LV Sun:

CH3 News:

CH5 News:

CH8 News:

CH 13 News:

Henderson Press:

24HRLegal Adviser:

The Republic:

See AnthemToday for additional information at this link:
http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2597

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

May 19, 2011 by Norman McCullough.

Why Sun City Anthem was awarded Entry into “The Hall of Shame”
By Resident - Norman McCullough

It’s time to have compassion, and to listen to our seniors who have earned the right to live in peace without being threatened by fines (and worse).  Sun City Anthem is a community of people who deserve better than the abuse that has been the hallmark of the past.  If the newly elected Board members really meant what they said before they were elected, we may see some changes, if not we will all be witness to the next generation of “Hall of Shame” candidates.

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Operations, Community Affairs, Lifestyle | Print | No Comments »

May 1, 2011 by kayfrank.

David Berman has posted the following false claim:

“Commenting on the arrests of Bob Frank and Tim Stebbins on charges of filing a false police report, the newsletter says, “Imagine! Bob and Tim were arrested and jailed because the HOA board claimed they filed a false police report.” THAT, my friends, is a defamatory lie! Before, during and after the investigation that exonerated directors Roz Berman and Roger Cooper, no Board member took any steps to suggest to the police that they should arrest and charge Frank and Stebbins.”

“It was entirely the decision of the police to arrest and charge the two SCA residents. All the Board members told me they were surprised to learn of the arrests, as they all assumed the matter was over and done with upon receipt of the Police Chief’s exoneration letter.   I defy any member of the Friedrich/Frank/Stebbins/Goodman crowd to prove otherwise.    Posted by: David Berman | May 01, 2011 at 07:10 PM”

RESPONSE:  The following shows that Berman is once again guilty of self-serving lying:

1.  Berman is NOT a board member, and the newsletter is not close to being “defamatory”.   He could not have witnessed many, if any, conversations by directors with Henderson City officials–except for his spouse who was suspected of committing forgery.

      And, as a suspended attorney and self-acknowledged forger of a judge’s signature on official tax documents, he has been judged guilty of what in most areas of the Nation would be considered a felony criminal act of forgery.   His opinion is truly worthless.

2.  This “false arrest” case involved well-researched and well-documented support for allegations of suspected criminal violations by certain SCA Directors.  Of course, the board’s position was that the allegations were not true. 

      To the contrary, the allegations were recently confirmed to be accurate by the IRS Tax Audit of the 2007 Return that showed SCA owed $1.345 million in back taxes and penalties for just that one year.

3.  During the January 21, 2010 Board Meeting, a Henderson Police Chief letter was read that claimed the allegations were “unfounded”.  Contrary to Berman’s false claim, the individuals were NOT “exonerated” or found “free of all blame”.  The evidence seems clear  that the Henderson Investigation Division rushed to judgment under heavy political pressure from the SCA Board and its friends and failed to complete its duty.

      At the Board Meeting, Director/Attorney/Former Henderson City Attorney (and potential defendant) Ann Small announced there are consequences for filing a false police report.  Small also said (in a very threatening manner) that as a judge, she knew “the court was not lenient”.   Here is a transcript of her board statement: Ann Small’s Threatening Statement

Just a few days later the City of Henderson suddenly arrested Stebbins and Frank and charged them with “filing a false police report”–a criminal misdemeanor.  And, the Henderson Judge’s arrest warrant included politically-charged statements and subjective allegations that could only have come from the SCA Board Members and its attorneys.

      The City’s disgraceful treatment of these two, retired, elderly men may become yet another Henderson City nightmare when the public and courts finds out what The City did on this case.  Tim Stebbins and Bob Frank were only trying find a way to require the board to comply with the law to refund over $4 million of illegally-held/unneeded dues surpluses owed to 7,144 homeowners.

      These 70-something men were jailed, stripped, perp-walked and forced to be handcuffed behind their backs to a pole for over 4 hours while forced to wait to be the last prisoner of the day to be finger-printed.  They were also forced to post over $600 cash bail before being released from jail and before being arraigned the following week. 

      Imagine such outrageous treatment for these seniors!  In my opinion, this was City Hall’s political retaliation against Stebbins and Frank for daring to challenge the City’s friends on the SCA Board!

      Meanwhile, no one can remember a prior case where Henderson has charged and arrested anyone for filing a false police report.  And, it is not yet clear what happens when the case against Stebbins and Frank is dismissed.  After it is clear the SCA Board lied to the Henderson Police (not Stebbins and Frank), will Henderson arrest the involved board members using the same procedures as above? 

      No one (not even Berman) could miss seeing the direct connections between the board’s claims of being falsely accused, Director Ann Small’s self-serving threats of possible consequences, and the subsequent (false) arrests.

4.  A single Henderson Police Sergeant admitted he had failed to consult any tax experts when he decided to accept only the board’s excuses and then unilaterally decreed the Stebbins/Frank report to be “unfounded”. 

      The Sergeant claimed he had no business degrees, no accounting or CPA training, and that he had to spend hundreds of hours trying to understand the basic business issues.  He admitted to being unqualified to investigate this income tax evasion/forgery case. But, he failed to seek qualified professional help from disinterested parties.

5.  After well over a year of unreasonable court delays and wasted attorney fees being spent by Stebbins and Frank, the Henderson City Attorney and Municipal Judge recently had to admit they had irreconcilable, personal conflicts of interest with SCA Director/Attorney Ann Small.  

      After revealing such compelling evidence of conflicts of interests, the Henderson City participants recused themselves and hired a special prosecutor and special judge for this minor misdemeanor case. 

      In the future, it is possible evidence of inappropriate personal communications between Director/Attorney Small and certain Henderson officials will be revealed.

So, when Berman states “it was entirely the decision of the police to arrest and charge the two SCA residents” he is willfully lying. 

The facts show Berman has no direct knowledge, and his claims contradict the facts in evidence. 

The arrest of Stebbins and Frank appears to have been a “political” act requested by self-serving and DESPERATE SCA board members. 

When the court hearing is finally held, the full truth will come out.   Then we are likely to see the perpetrators of the real crimes having to face the justice system.

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, kay_frank, Truth Squad, Laws & Rules, Community Affairs, SCA Board, News! | Print | 1 Comment »

April 26, 2011 by admin.

Check out the LV Review-Journal’s revealing articles about HOA Board abuse and how once again, Sun City Anthem’s board is used as one of the worst examples of Nevada board misconduct. 

Here is today’s Review-Journal (R_J) View articles:
http://www.viewnews.com/2011/VIEW-Apr-26-Tue-2011/anthem/index.html

Here is the week-end R-J Business Section article about HOA Mismanagement:
http://www.lvrj.com/business/agency-governing-homeowners-groups-scrutinized-120534784.html

Here is the AnthemToday analysis of the situation:
http://www.anthemtoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2815

And, here you can see David’s Anthem Journal’s pathetic excuses to try to blame “unfair media” for the SCA Board misconduct:
http://anthemjournal.typepad.com/davids_anthem_journal/2011/04/the-latest-media-hatchet-job-on-sca.html

Notice that not one single director, David Berman or his associates have been willing to grant Doris “Penny” Vescio, 86, Shadow Canyon Village unit owner, a permanent variance for her wall extension to protect her small dogs from another coyote attack.    Why is that?  

And, why do they continue to offer the bogus excuse that they “can not comment” on the matter?    Of course they will not comment–no one could come up with a valid excuse for their outrageous misconduct!  Based on Penny’s extensive public statements, it is impossible for the directors to get away with claiming “privacy” considerations as the reason to refuse to comment.

If the board can grant a variance for 2 years, why does the majority of those directors not vote to grant Penny a PERMANENT variance?  It is squarely in the board’s power to stop the madness.  Penny is being forced to escalate the matter until justice is finally achieved.

Forget about Jack Troia and his proven lack of human compassion on so many matters.   His time is way past.  

But, what are those other 6 directors (and particularly those NOT up for re-election) thinking?   Are they just robots or potted plants sitting around the board meetings with no mind, no compassion and no sense of responsibility of their own?  How could they do such a thing?

And, how dare any of those directors claim they CANNOT comment on the case while at the same time complain about Penny’s dissatisfaction with their treating her so dishonestly and shamelessly? 

In the independently published, March 28, 2011 HOA Gazette Newsletter, Johnathan Freidrich reported on false testimony by Celeste Bove, Roz Berman and Kay Dwyer to the Senate Judicary Committee on March 25, 2011.

He said:  “Because in their vain arrogance they insist they are the only ones who are qualified to determine what is a “false or frivolous complaint”.  They have determined all complaints by a petty, insignificant, worthless homeowner against the omnipotent board, by definition, must be false or frivolous because they, as board members, can do no wrong.  One of those women is so conceited, she essentially said to a homeowner: I am a director, and if you don’t like it when I poke a stick in your eye, then you should move.”     (HOA Gazette Source File)            

It appears these people do not realize their names (along with Jack Troia) are candidates for being permanently enshrined in the Nevada HOA Hall of Shame?  Their names might even make it into some future textbooks and business college case studies about “HOA Syndrome” and the kind of HOA board misconduct that can create litigation risks for the association.

Finally, how dare any of those 7 directors and RMI community managers expect to be respected or honored after so conclusively proving on this case (and the income taxes and other issues) that they are unworthy of community support or of future service?

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Operations, Community Affairs, News! | Print | No Comments »

April 25, 2011 by admin.

Two (2) Sun City Anthem unit owners, former Board President Favil West and Del Webb VP Randy Watkins, were among the 7 members of the Nevada Common Interest Communities (CIC) Commission accused of misconduct and serious conflicts of interest in the April 23, 2011 issue of the Review-Journal.

Two (2) Other CIC Commissioners with alleged irreconcilable conflicts of interest with Nevada homeowners (and in particular with SCA homeowners) were SCA Auditor/Tax Preparer Gary Lein and Attorney Michael Buckley (a member of the Jones-Vargus law firm involved in SCA HOA construction defects.  Michael Buckley has been a decades-long friend and associate of SCA’s discredited attorney, John Leach.

See this link for details:
http://www.lvrj.com/business/agency-governing-homeowners-groups-scrutinized-120534784.html#blogcomments?submitted=y

Many SCA members will recall that Auditor/CPA Gary Lein is the man who was hired by Del Webb and Pulte a decade ago to provide SCA’s “expert” tax and audit advice.  After recently receiving the IRS audit report that we owed $1.345 Million in back taxes and penalties for just 2007 alone, it appears that SCA is going to be needing a MUCH better auditor–really soon!

So, with 4 of the 7 CIC Commission members having irreconcilable conflicts of business interests in our association, we can see why no board complaint filed during the past 4 years has been reviewed at an open hearing of the CIC Commission and Deputy Attorney General.  That fact alone is compelling evidence of some kind of misconduct or corruption in the system.

Here is are PDF files of the above link:  
Basic Article
25apr11_comments_r-j_blog_cicc-conflicts.pdf

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, Community Affairs, SCA Board, Operations | Print | No Comments »

April 24, 2011 by bobfrank.

Since this is likely to be a controversial topic, private/confidential emails to me at bobfrank@cox.net would be helpful.

Board election irregularities, and even election fraud, are common in homeowner associations. After the FBI’s reports on HOA election fraud in other area HOAs, no one should be surprised that SCA needs to protect our community from such problems.

Note that nothing has (yet) been said on the berman journal blog.  Since he used to be on the election committee, he is well aware of the weakness of the SCA system, and likely knows why they have been ignored.  No doubt he will get highly defensive about the information being posted;  but, do not expect him to favor spending any money to fix anything.

Also, if something is said on that blog, watch how it launches yet another of his dozens of bogus, personal attacks and works to try to change the subject.

He is likely to claim I have “smeared the reputations” of many directors and election committee members. But, that would be false.

All I have done is point out the obvious ways for fraud to occur in the SCA election system, and openly asked the questions on why such flagrant errors are allowed to exist–year-after-year?

In the past few years, I have privately asked these kinds of questions of directors and election committees, and my questions have been ignored and/or summarily dismissed.

Most candidates are afraid to challenge the election committee on such issues for fear of being sanctioned in some way.  But, the election committee has no authority to sanction any member for anything.

Why would my trying to ensure we have a totally honest, fair and open election be considered unacceptable behavior by those in power?

But, maybe I will be wrong.  Perhaps the Berman Blog will fully support my recommendations?   ;-)

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, Community Affairs, SCA Board, Operations | Print | No Comments »

April 23, 2011 by bobfrank.

(Revised Version)

We all hope so, but at our ages and experience, we know there can be a few individuals involved in election management or facilities management who can be bribed or otherwise motivated to try to tamper with election outcomes.

Only well-implemented, trustworthy election systems  and procedures can effectively block those who might want to tamper with the ballots.

For example, a list of the 27 alleged statute violations by the 2010 Board and Election Committee and currently under investigation by the State of Nevada (Case IS-10-2182) is found in this PDF file:  List of Alleged 2010 SCA Election Violations

To answer the question for SCA in 2011, we need to list some basic features and characteristics of a “trusted” secret ballot process, and compare SCA’s current components to the desired criteria.

1. BALLOT:  The ballot should contain the candidate names printed lightly on card stock so the printing and marked votes are not detectable when reversed and held up to strong light in a dark room.

The ballot should include unique, sequential serial numbers created for that particular election to deter the preparation and casting of counterfeit ballots.

2. INNER ENVELOPE:  The inner envelope should be of the windowless type often used for mailing checks or other confidential material.

The inner envelope would contain internal tinting so the printing and writing on the ballots could not be detected without opening the envelope. The flaps should clearly indicate if there had been attempts to improperly open or tamper with the seals.

It should be impossible to detect anything printed or marked on the enclosed ballot.

3. OUTER ENVELOPE:  The outer envelope should have inner tinting and tamper-resistant flap seals. It should be impossible to detect anything printed or marked on the enclosed inner envelope.

4. BALLOT “LOCK” BOX:  The containers used to store the voted ballots in the Community Centers during the voting period should be “tamper-proof”.

The ballot “lock” box construction should use tamper-proof screws, tamper-proof door locks, and tamper-evident seals around the access door.

The ballots should not be able to be viewed,  removed or accessed at any time of the day or night until counting time.

5. BALLOT HANDLING PROCEDURES:  Ballots are either inserted directly by members into a Ballot Lock Box or sent via US Mail addressed to a reserved USPS mail box. Only the authorized voting member should be able to touch a ballot between the time it is completed and inserted into a Ballot Box.

6. BALLOT HANDLING PROCEDURES RECEIVED VIA US MAIL:  A special USPS Mailbox should be rented for the sole purpose of receiving ballots during the voting period.

Only a limited number of background-cleared individuals should have key access to the USPS box during the voting period.

Ballots should not be removed from the USPS box before they can be taken directly to, and immediately inserted into one of the Ballot Lock Boxes in a Community Center.

7. BALLOT COUNTING PROCESS:  The process of opening the ballot lock boxes and counting the votes should be in plain sight.

All members should be able to pass by and observe the activities from a distance–not to exceed 10 feet.

Once the outer envelopes had been validated as representing members entitled to vote and the ballot had been removed, the outer envelopes should be sorted in street address sequence and made available for inspection by members.

The outer envelopes should be permanently stored in case there was a question about the member validation process.

Board members and candidates should have priority access to reviewing the outer envelopes.

So, how does the SCA 2011 Ballot Handling Process measure up to the “trusted” criteria described above?

——————

IT FAILS!   None of the SCA Election system components uses any of the trusted criteria.

For example:

1. SCA BALLOT PACKAGE IS VULNERABLE TO TAMPERING.   The SCA ballot and envelopes use the cheapest materials available.

It appears possible to hold up completed/sealed ballots in front of a strong light in a dark room and detect the votes in most, if not all of the ballots.

It appears possible for someone having access to the ballots to destroy some of the ballots cast for certain candidates or groups of individuals. 

The preferred candidates would be certain to win, and the opposed candidates would lose by “reasonable” margins.

The current SCA ballots and election procedures could not detect such tampering and fraud.

2. SCA BALLOT BOX IS VULNERABLE TO TAMPERING.  The SCA ballot boxes are not tamper-resistant.  The construction is of wood with normal screws.

The access door is locked by the cheap type of lock often seen in file cabinets and office desks.

Such locks can be easily picked by a non-expert using techniques readily found on the Internet.

No tamper-resistant/tamper-evident seals are used on the doors, other potential access points, and voting slots to detect unauthorized accesses during late nights and weekends.

No information is provided by the Board on who has restricted access to the ballot box keys or about what kind of 24/7 security/access-prevention is being provided for the ballot boxes.

There are no procedures for detecting and reporting on attempted accesses to the ballots.

After normal hours to avoid being detected, it would be easy for someone to move/wheel the ballot boxes to a more shielded area from the outside and/or remove and inspect ballots via the open slot on top.

3. SCA BALLOT HANDLING PROCESS IS VULNERABLE TO TAMPERING.  Ballots cast via the US Mail appear to be mixed in with regular mail and processed without special handling.

It appears it would not be difficult for employees or volunteer members to gain unsupervised access to the ballots received by mail and to the “extra ballots” made available for members who might need them.

In addition, copies of extra or reproduced ballots can be voted by unauthorized individuals–with little chance of being detected.

An individual may also be able to (a) remove and destroy ballots from the ballot boxes, (b) to cast counterfeit ballots for likely non-voting units (such as rentals or units for sale or for rent), and/or to (c) tamper in other ways with the contents prior to placing seemingly valid ballots into a ballot lock box.

None of that kind of illegal activity is likely to be detected by the current SCA election procedures.

With so few effective security elements and procedures, how COULD the SCA election process be considered “trustworthy”?

The current SCA system is so loose it can not provide any hard evidence of ballot tampering, destruction, or counterfeit submissions, and the “certified” results can not be audited by a 3rd party individual.

So, we must argue it is important to recognize the serious weaknesses in the system and for members to demand they be corrected in the future.

We believe the SCA Board of Directors and Election Committee should care deeply about being vulnerable to suspicions and mistrust by candidates and community members.

Even if no one is discovered taking improper or unfair advantage of the election system, it must always be implemented so that it at least appears to be open, fair, secure and above reproach.  Such capabilities are the foundations of our American Constitution and culture.

SCA Boards and EC members have done little in the past to try to protect the association from allegations of unfair elections.

And, the fact that the board’s preferred candidates have won every open seat for over 3 years is sufficient cause to worry about the integrity of our election system.

We believe a board majority that truly cared about election trustworthiness could repair all of the election  system vulnerabilities in just a few short weeks, at low cost, and permanently ensure that everyone can have pride and high confidence in our election process.

Regardless of the 2011 election outcome, please help us to demand that board action be taken to provide SCA with “trustworthy” elections in the future. 

Our future in hanging on providing open, honest and fair board elections in the future.

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Operations | Print | No Comments »

April 22, 2011 by admin.

Is the SCA Board “robbing” the membership? 

What do you think about just the following few items?

1. Board retains almost $5 Million of “surplus member assessments” in a slush fund after claiming to the IRS such funds will be “returned” to avoid income taxes.   But, it failed to do so, and is still failing to give that money back to the members.  Instead, the board is spending hundreds of thousand of your dollars to buy time and to try to defend its indefensible acts.   Meanwhile, the members get nothing returned.   How is that different from being “robbed”?

2. The Board has been raising annual assessments at the same time it has been accumulating gross quantities of surplus assessments while it was refusing to refund the previous surpluses.   Meanwhile, the annual budgets have not reflected that the millions of surplus slush funds are on hand, but they are not being credited to the next year’s assessments.  The 2009 tax return even admits that millions of surpluses are being “carried off line”.   How is that different from being “robbed”?

3. The directors have been accused of dozens of major law violations and instead of attempting to resolve such disputes internally, they have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorneys to confuse and distract the authorities from the core issues.   Meanwhile the boards get away with doing what ever they wish and with wasting hundreds of thousands of our dollars on useless lawyer fees.  How is that different from being “robbed”?

There are major statute violations buried in the misconduct described above.  The SCA boards have exploited our money to pay their attorneys to get away with abusing the trust and access we have given them to manage our resources. 

Could your annual dues be cut by at least $200 each year!  Absolutely!  By the directors refusing to do that, could you consider that as being “robbed”?

The massive, $5 Million surplus accumulation of slush funds on top of the so-called major “dues holidays” prove that annual dues are grossly over-collected.  Could you call that as being similar to being “robbed”?

Of course, there is no hope as long as the community keeps voting in people who favor the developer’s, and the developer-appointed professional’s interests over our unit owner interests. 

We know the enemy–it is US.   It is our voters who are too “busy” to vote, those who vote for the board-favored candidates each year, and those who will not favor a removal election for directors who have proven they can not be trusted.  

Will change come this election cycle?   It seems too close to call.  But, it is not too late to vote and make a difference.

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Laws & Rules, News! | Print | No Comments »

April 10, 2011 by THE VOICE.

 Last week, the board’s blog (normally called “David’s Anthem Journal”)  announced that the golf course owners were in DEFAULT on their loans. 

     — But, we heard NOTHING from the unity directors.

Then, the board’s blog (and 8th board member) reported that things were much worse than originally reported–but not to worry.

     — But, still NO WORD from the unity directors.

Few things could cut our property values and destroy our hoped-for lifestyles more than if the golf courses fail!  Every SCA homeowner (and even all homes in the Anthem community) could be directly affected by the health and future of the SCA-adjoining golf courses. 

All of our properties (not just those adjoining the courses) are significantly valued based on the open space and beauty of our resort-styled community designed around the two golf courses in the valleys.

Unity directors (particularly Ann Small and Jack Troia) have previously said that since the golf courses are not part of our common property, they have no board responsibilities, and have no direct interest or responsibilities for what happens to the golf courses that go through SCA. 

Many members remember that 2 years ago, Dr. Ron Morse, PhD, alerted us to the impending financial problems with the golf courses when he was a board candidate.  But, the “Great Oracle of All Things” (David Berman) and others in his unity group attacked Ron for daring to tell the truth, and most people ignored the obvious.

Worse than that, when a couple of board members tried to find ways to work with the course owners in 2008-2009 to help promote use of the golf courses, former director and Dell Webb/Pulte associate, Favil West, interfered with the action, and successfully blocked the initiatives.  

So, why must our board and members insist on being involved in the future of the courses running amongst us?  Some real estate professionals have said that if/when the golf courses go bankrupt, the most likely benefactor could be a developer.  The developer would most likely pick up the property for peanuts and fill up the land with a few hundred low-cost/highly profitable homes.   What could be worse for SCA?

The Board attitude is what we call GROSS NEGLIGENCE.  It is legal EVIDENCE of DIRECTOR FAILURE to honor their fiduciary duties on behalf of our community association.  

Failure of the golf courses would make previous board failures look small in comparison.  The current Board’s actions to ignore this obvious disastrous problem for our community and lifestyle is reason alone to reject all carry-over directors and all candidates who show disdain and disregard for this major problem.  

While solutions to this complex problem are not easy to formulate, FAILURE TO DO ANYTHING must be considered GROSS NEGLIGENCE by the unity crowd!

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Operations, Community Affairs, News! | Print | No Comments »

April 7, 2011 by admin.

Raid at Homeowners Association:

“LAS VEGAS — The Nevada Attorney General’s Office, with the assistance of
the FBI, served a warrant at the Paradise Spa Homeowners Association on
Las Vegas Boulevard South near Serene Avenue.

AG investigators were looking for records of the HOA. Residents allege HOA
board members have embezzled more than $1 million of their money. Many
of the people who live at Paradise Spa are elderly. They say they pay $160 a
month in HOA fees but there is nothing to show for it.

Several units were destroyed by two fires in 2009 and 2010 and the insurance
company paid $842,000 but nothing has been repaired.

Eighty-five-year-old Iris Hokanson wants to know what happened to that
money. “I heard it went to California, but it was not used on our building.
They have not rebuilt it, they have not done anything. Then they came and
stole all the guts out of the building,” she said.”

More details are found at this link for Channel 8:

http://www.8newsnow.com/story/14404196/breaking-news-raid-at-homeowners-association

Since so many HOA Boards have been accused of fraud andother kinds of
misconduct, it makes you wonder who is next?

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, Community Affairs, SCA Board, News! | Print | No Comments »

March 31, 2011 by admin.

Tenured psychology professor at the College of Southern Nevada, Dr. Gary Solomon, believes recent medical research proves that dictatorial HOA Board abuse against homeowners can create serious mental and stress illnesses–particularly among seniors.

And, the following snapshots of his signs, web sites, and local TV coverage shows he and a group of others with similar interests have set upon a path to do something about it.

Click here for a short article:  HOA Syndrome

See the following websites for more information:

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/27376288/detail.html

http://www.ktnv.com/story/13966867/hoa-hall-of-shame-sun-city-anthem#

http://www.hoa-busters.com/

No doubt many will consider this to be really bad news concerning the potential adverse affects on HOA homeowner property values where homeowners are making public complaints.

Developers, real estate brokers and some homeowners believe that all such bad news stories must be suppressed to protect community home values, but such self-centered, cover up attempts fail to solve any problems.  They just put off the inevitable and create much worse problems.

The obvious solution is to remove abusive and incompetent board members and work to ensure that only trustworthy directors are elected in the future.

Resolving conflicts to mutual satisfaction WITHIN the community is the only way to achieve exceptional lifestyle opportunities, maintain outstanding community morale, and grow property values ahead of market averages.

Our Sun City Anthem homeowners need to wake up and recognize we have a very serious problem with board misconduct.  Trying to keep a lid on the SCA board’s misconduct has proven to be unworkable.  

A perfect example of what NOT to do is the current income tax fiasco.  Consider the long-term impacts of a case like our Board’s attempting to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of hard-earned dues money to try to bully the IRS into giving us a tax credit for their obvious mistakes.  What an outrageous act of disrespect and dishonor to our homeowners!

At the rate the “unity boards” are going, Sun City Anthem in Henderson, NV will be long remembered for allowing its boards to do such really dumb things as to pay millions of dollars in taxes out of the many millions required to be refunded to members. 

Excuse me?  Give away taxes to the Government on money required to be REFUNDED each year to unit owners?   Even the best of con men can not make any sense out of that garbage!

We have to wonder, will our community become so notorious that it is studied in future management schools and forever ridiculed for electing such dictatorial, insensitive people to the board, year-after-year-after-year?

The question will be:  “Why did we tolerate such mismanagement?”  Were we intimidated and bullied into submission as the HOA Syndrome seems to  suggest? 

It is common for abused people to continue to tolerate abuse until it gets so bad that some type of major blowup occurs.  Let’s hope we can do better in this year’s election and avoid a blowup.  Having to consider calling for a recall election to get the board focused on working for us homeowners is much more work than getting trustworthy people elected in the first place.

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, Community Affairs, SCA Board, Operations | Print | No Comments »

March 28, 2011 by admin.

Diane Gerber’s “HOA Advocate Gazette” has picked up on and featured the Henderson “false arrest” story about Tim Stebbins and Bob Frank.

It also highlights Johnathan Freiderick’s report on the “3 amigas”

Kay Dwyer, Celeste Bove and Roz Berman Testifying–photo by D. A. Berman

who showed up to reveal to the Senate Judiciary Committee and to the thousands watching via Internet streaming media as the hateful and self-centered people they are.

Their shockingly anti-homeowner and incompassionate attitudes were exposed in this highly public environment and has been recorded via the Internet.  Such egotistic behavior is usually reserved for the home crowd attending board meetings, and when socializing among the community members who enjoy kowtowing to them.

Web Version: http://www.universitycresthoa.com/HOAadvocateGazette/Issue4.html

PDF File Version of the Gazette:   HOA Advocate Gazette Volume 1, Issue 4

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, SCA Board, Special Events, Community Affairs, Clubs & SIGs | Print | No Comments »

March 27, 2011 by bobfrank.

On March 24, 2011 the Nevada Real Estate Division notified the Sun City Anthem Community Association that the Attorney General would serve as the Prosecuting Attorney at a hearing of the Nevada Commission for Common Interest Communities and Condominiums on April 26, 2011.

The alleged violation by the two boards in 2008 was to twice vote to illegally modify the SCA CC&Rs.  Board President was Roz Berman, and the basic work accused of violating statutes was performed by association attorney John Leach.

This is a historic event as this will be the first of close to 100 alleged SCA Board statute violations brought to trial/hearing before the CIC Commission.  It has taken about 3 years to reach this point.  

For members who are interested, I served on that board and vigorously objected to what I believed to be highly improper (if not illegal) changes to the CC&Rs being promoted by attorney Leach.   I was the only director voting NO on both board votes.  However, I had nothing to do with the filing of the case leading to this prosecution.  

Since I will have to explain to the Commission my objections and NO vote against the board majority votes to approve the alleged violations, I must save those explanations until after the hearing.

Meanwhile, the hearing before the CIC Commission should be a very interesting situation.  At least 4 of the Commissioners have potentially serious conflicts of interests with the other directors, and are likely to have to recuse themselves on this case.

At this time, only the basic affidavits have been scanned in and attached to this posting.  The exhibits will be added as time permits.

Download: Attorney General Charges

Posted in Truth Squad, Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, SCA Board, Community Affairs, Operations, Clubs & SIGs, Laws & Rules, News! | Print | No Comments »

March 27, 2011 by bobfrank.

The Board of Directors and Election Committee has been accused of knowingly and willfully violating NRS 116 laws governing board elections.

They have refused to send out candidate information sheets 30 days before the ballot packages are mailed.  This failure not only violates the law, it is unfair to first-time candidates and candidates who are promoting platforms that oppose the board’s policies and practices.

Here are copies of the basic documents filed with the NV Real Estate Division:

Affidavit
a-26mar11_certified-letter-to-sca-board.pdf
b-nred_election_rules.pdf
c-sca-2011-community-election-calendar.pdf
d-sca-2011candidates-election-calendar.pdf
e-page-7-of-2011-sca-election-manual.pdf
f-page-16-of-2011-sca-election-manual.pdf

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, Laws & Rules, SCA Board, Operations | Print | No Comments »

March 17, 2011 by THE VOICE.

An Anthem VOICE founder, Tim Stebbins, has grave concerns over the tone and substance of many of the proposed law changes concerning homeowner associations, and has written about his concerns to all Senate Judiciary Committee Members as quoted below, and in the attached file.

Tim Stebbins To Senate Judiciary Committee

“TO: Senate Committee on Judiciary                                                                            March 17, 2011

NRS 116 contains uncodified language stating the basic principles of democracy found in the US Constitution are to be followed.  I believe this is very important when considering legislation concerning HOAs.

Fundamental principles of the US Constitution include the three branches of government - legislative, executive and judicial - AND, very important, the separation of powers as a check and balance to protect the people.

HOAs do not have three branches of governance; they only have one - the executive board.  Some might see that as similar to an oligarchy.

Without the protections created by the three government branches, the state is obligated to assure proper safeguard of the people, the units’ owners in the case of a HOA.

I believe protections are critical when matters concerning the power of the executive board to impose punishments on units’ owners are considered and written into NRS 116.  Such powers must be carefully evaluated and appropriately limited to assure the rights of units’ owners are adequately protected.

There are no qualifications for board members concerning education, training, experience, skills, or anything else.  Their ability to fairly and properly determine the guilt or innocence of anyone is dubious at best.  Such determinations should be limited to matters of fact such as did or did not the units’ owner pay their assessments, did or did not the units’ owner landscape their property, etc.

When issues go beyond simple matters of fact I hope you will be very careful to protect the rights of units’ owners.  Please keep in mind penalties can be very severe involving thousands of dollars and even the loss of the units’ owner’s property.

When matters of law, determinations of the meaning of the law, and judgments concerning violation of the law are involved such as “Misconduct”, “Willful misconduct”, “Negligence”, Gross negligence”, etc. the average board is not qualified.  The State should provide, through NRS, for reasonable venues beyond the executive board to consider such matters in order to assure both the rights of individual units’ owners and the rights of the association are honored. 

I urge you to review and consider Amendments V, VI, VII, VIII, IX and XVI to the US Constitution.  I urge you to work with the sponsors of proposed legislation and the LCB to assure language in any bill relating to HOAs considers the rights and protections guaranteed by the US Constitution.  For example, wording such as when a fine may imposed vs. when an assessment may be imposed can be critical concerning the jeopardy of the unit’s owner.

If a matter is serious enough for the board to pursue, it should be done in a manner that respects the rights and protections guaranteed to every US citizen and resident.

Thank you for your consideration of my comments,

Tim Stebbins
2106 Alyssa Jade Drive
Henderson, NV 89052
(702) 492-1024
tstebbins1@cox.net”

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Ann_Small, SCA Board, Community Affairs, News! | Print | No Comments »

March 14, 2011 by admin.

Reminder:

The 3rd Monday Morning Forum will be held this Monday morning at 8:30.  Come early if you want your question to be asked early.

“Coffee or Breakfast with the Board Candidates–Monday March 7th and Following ondays” ome one,
come all. Meet six of the SCA Board Candidates and ask them your ard questions. Q & A will begin
at 8:30am at Anthem iew Restaurant.  Breakfast will be available from 7:45 am.

We will provide a sign up sheet for questioners starting at 8am — Questions will be taken in
order of signup. Guidelines for the discussion will be read at 8:25am. We are going to rotate the
questions to each candidate to balance the opportunities. 

Each candidate will have two minutes when it is their turn to reply first.  Other candidates
will have 30 seconds to comment–if they wish. We did this last week and it worked well for both
residents and candidates. Please think of questions that any candidate may answer–not just a
specific one for one or two candidates.

Rich Hogan of Anthem View has said he will  provide a breakfast buffet for $7 including meal,
resident discount and tax. The buffet will include your coffee.  Tip will be extra and optional.
Or, residents may order off the menu and lighter fare will be available. While we are encouraging
you to have breakfast, Rich says “it is not a requirement.” (The buffet will also be vailable to
customers not attending the meeting.)

We have a diverse group of candidates so this will give you a chance to get to know them and
find out what they think on issues important to you.  We all hope to see you there. 

Please, please call 260-1135 and make your reservation if you intend to place an order.
Reservations are needed to assure space,food and staff to make this a great event. “

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Ann_Small, SCA Board, Clubs & SIGs, Operations | Print | No Comments »

March 12, 2011 by bobfrank.

If the board is sincere about trying to avoid paying the $1.345 Million in income taxes, what would the odds of success be for the two following strategies?

Since no public evidence or court settlement exists showing that any corporation has defeated the IRS on Revenue Ruling 70-604 income exemption issue during its 40 years of existence, would you agree that option 2 has at least a thousand times better chance of success?

What should the penalties be for directors who agree to follow such apparent gross negligence?

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Operations, Community Affairs, News! | Print | 1 Comment »

March 9, 2011 by admin.

(Updated)

The March 9th Las Vegas Review-Journal Editorial is about “HOA Abuse”. Here is a file with the article and some reader comments:   HOA abuse & comments

This editorial seems to strike a serious blow against the credibility of the SCA “Unity Party” advocates who seem to believe that the SCA Board does no wrong.  It helps to educate SCA voters why they should mistrust unity’s self-serving political machine con that appears to favor the business interests of the developers, attorneys, property manager and auditor over our shareholders–homeowners. 

SCA members who have taken so much personal abuse, vicious condemnations, and unfair public ridicule by SCA boards, Finance Committees, Election Committees and unity party leaders for the past few years can now be seen as the honest, ethical, selfless patriots they are.

Imagine that out of the “hundreds” of persons of interest to the FBI,  SCA may already have some names on the list.  Remember how the current board president and treasurer participated in the 2008 Finance Committee attack against a sitting board member for daring to question the finance committee’s “200 years of expertise”?  Since hundreds of years of “financial expertise” within Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Enron, and Madorf scams did not protect those stock holders, it is clear that claiming such training and work expertise is no guarantee of ethics or integrity in this HOA.

While the SCA issues may not seem identical to the ones making the R-J headlines, under the surface there seems to be direct links.   It is no wonder that certain (current and past) board members are so incessantly nasty to SCA members who tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth! 

Certain board members are likely to have much to keep them awake at night when the FBI looks into the Sun City Anthem case. 

See this link to the R-J web site:
http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/hoa-abuse-117635883.html

Here are the words of the article:

HOA abuse

“One corruption scandal always seems to segue into another in Southern Nevada, where abuses of trust and public office are as common as foreclosed homes.The latest embarrassment to the community: the federal government’s 2½-year fraud investigation into valley homeowner associations. The Review-Journal’s Jeff German reported Sunday that the Justice Department has identified 75 to 100 co-conspirators including lawyers, judges and former police officers, and that plea deals are being finalized this week for some of them to shore up the prosecution of two-dozen high-level targets.

The inquiry surrounds a scheme to place conspirators on the boards of local homeowner associations through rigged elections, then have those conspirators vote to initiate construction defect lawsuits against builders. The legal work and resulting repairs then would be farmed out to lawyers and companies in on the plot.

The conspiracy was wide-ranging enough before Washington-based prosecutors took over the case from Nevada’s U.S. attorney’s office in response to suspected leaks to suspects. Local prosecutors and other officials are now the subject of a separate Justice Department criminal investigation, sources told Mr. German.

It’s not surprising that such a cabal was concocted around construction defect claims, a legal specialty that’s long been ripe for abuse. Using a handful of legitimate cases as a selling point, aggressive attorneys persuade homeowners with routine, easily fixable repairs that their problems result from developer greed and corner-cutting. Such litigation tied up entire District Court departments for years during the valley’s construction boom.

The entire Justice Department case strikes at the heart of the judicial system’s inability to police frivolous litigation and the lawyers who shake down businesses for quick riches. Every claim has merit; every attorney is righting a wrong. No cases are dismissed. It’s incredibly expensive insanity.

And it’s a prime example of why tort reform advocates seek a loser-pays civil litigation process, so attorneys with flimsy arguments will think long and hard before dedicating their resources to a bogus action, and businesses won’t be compelled to get out their checkbooks to settle every claim.

We’ve all paid handsomely for this alleged abuse and others like it through increased burdens on investigators, prosecutors, courts and businesses. At some point it has to stop.”

 ———————-

Posted in Removal Election, 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, Truth Squad, Operations, Laws & Rules, SCA Board, News! | Print | No Comments »

March 8, 2011 by admin.

We have received requests for some of the referenced documents and records pertaining to the SCA Income Tax Matter and related IRS 70-604 information.

These files are mounted in PDF format on our www.AnthemVOICE.org history site under:

Prior Issues

Income Taxes

Misc. Documents & Records Accumulated Since 2008

See this link:  http://www.anthemvoice.org/taxes_issue.html

Posted in Bob Frank-2011, 2011 Campaign, Ann_Small, SCA Board, Operations | Print | No Comments »

March 7, 2011 by bobfrank.

Why would $4,779,709 of “Taxable Income not Recorded on Books” be reported on page 29 of the 2009 SCA Tax Return signed  by Auditor/Tax Preparer Gary Lein, CPA?

That page of the 2009  tax return also reports the $4,779,709 amount was a “Carryforward per Revenue Ruling 70-604 from 2008.”  So, this would seem to confirm that none of the multi-year retained assessment surpluses were ever “returned” as claimed by SCA Directors under penalty of perjury on the income tax returns filed each year since before 2005.  That would appear to be a case of possible tax fraud.

But, why would that off-the-books procedure not be caught/mentioned in the annual audit?   Would that be evidence of the Board, Finance Committee, RMI and auditor failing to comply with standard accounting rules?  If so, why would they do that?

Some may recall that the SCA Finance Committee under the leadership of Don Manning  in  2008 went crazy when the board and/or FC committee were questioned by members on anything.   The FC even went so far to claim they could not be mistaken because they said:

“The current FC is comprised of members who have combined business, financial and accounting experience in excess of two hundred (200) years. Four of the current FC members are retired CPA’s and have worked in both industry and public accounting. All FC members have degrees in accounting or finance, or have MBA degrees and extensive financial budgeting and management experience. One of the CPA members worked in public accounting for over twenty five (25) years and was a partner for over fourteen (14) years in one of the four (4) largest accounting firms in the world. Past FC’s have generally had similar levels of experience.”

But, for all the FC’s claimed education and experience, the IRS has shown the Committee and Board filed its taxes incorrectly, and now it seems the auditor/tax preparer was willing (for the first time) to disclose there was $4.8 Million in taxable income carried off the books.

How could a CPA who prepares the association taxes, and is personally aware of huge surpluses in off-book accounts (locations unknown) and reported it in the annual tax return, fail to mention the $4.8 Million in the annual audit of SCA?

Posted in 2011 Campaign, Bob Frank-2011, Ann_Small, SCA Board, Laws & Rules, Operations | Print | No Comments »

March 4, 2011 by bobfrank.

(Updated)  We are not joking!  According to Realty Executive Agent Laura Harbison in early March mail,  the Law
now requires a seller to obtain and pay for the HOA Resale document package that includes CC&Rs, Bylaws, Rules &
Regulations, statement of monthly assessments for common expenses and unpaid assessments, the current
Operating Budget, the current association financial statement, a statement showing any unsatisfied judgments or
lawsuits against the association or relating to the common interest community.

In addition, the law does not allow a seller to provide the buyer with the seller’s personal copies.  The law now
requires the seller to obtain and pay for the package of copies from the HOA management company.  The HOA
management company can not bill the expense to escrow.  The seller is required to pay for it when it is ordered.

“The current cost of this package in Sun City Anthem is $527!”  There is also a $95 “Demand Fee” that must
be paid to RMI–for a total of $622!  Not joking folks–according to Ms. Harbison.

This is bloody OUTRAGEOUS!   And, some members may still be wondering why some of us “malcontents” are so
adamant that something has to be done to replace our association attorney, management company and board?

The actual cost of routinely producing a CD containing all of the latest versions of those documents could not
exceed $5.   So, why would the SCA Board ever agree to allow RMI to receive windfall profits of at least $522 for
every home hold in SCA?  Can you agree that is a classic rip-off?

Do you suppose any SCA director will have the guts to defend such an outrage?   Is this not more slam-dunk
evidence that all of those XXXXXX directors must be fired/removed and replaced by truly ethical SCA members?

Posted in Truth Squad, Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, SCA Board, Community Affairs, Operations, Clubs & SIGs, News! | Print | No Comments »

March 3, 2011 by admin.

Long-time Finance Committee member, Rich Pendleton, has recently resigned and reported on some of the SCA Board’s financial misconduct and gross arrogance.   Quoted below is Rich Pendleton’s email to board members, finance committee members, and 2011 board candidates.  His words are devastating indictments on the boards and finance committees.

“It is with my greatest regret that I must announce my resignation from the Finance Committee at this time.  As most of you know, I have been operating with cancer and a breathing problem.  As long as my wife was able to pick up some of the load, I was able to fulfill my commitment to the committee.  Unfortunately, in January, my wife was hospitalized and my priorities were affected in a major way, such as how are meals going to be handled?  My wife is now at home, her condition has greatly improved and she will be able to continue in her membership in the Lifestyle Committee.

It is also unfortunate that dealing with the issues that most mattered to me did not happen.  I had thought that my participation on the Finance Committee would have enhanced their chances of acceptance.

The first issue was to get control of the budget process.  Over the four years of my participation, much improvement has been seen, and I developed an Excel model for calculating  assessments.  Each year, I wanted to have a review meeting after the budget was approved to identify the problems and develop solutions.  The previous chairmen did not see fit to hold such meetings.  This year, a Budget Task Force has been established (I have not been asked to participate) and I hope it will accomplish my long standing goal.

The second issue has to do with our reserve funding.  Bottom line, I believe our Reserve Fund is seriously over funded and, as a result, our annual assessment is greater than it needs to be.  I pointed this out to the previous chairmen and they agreed that it looked over funded but they were unwilling to take any action.  I have prepared two reports and have presented them only to selected Board members and one Finance Committee member.  For reasons discussed in the attached report, the Board will not consider reduction of the rate of Reserve funding.

I think it is an example of Board arrogance that their reserve funding approach is the only acceptable approach and that no consideration will be given to an approach that will save homeowners millions of dollars over the years.  Since the Board will not deal with this issue, I have written my final report and have attached it to this email.  This email has been sent to all Board members and candidates for the 2011 election.  It has been sent to all members of the Finance Committee and the (former) Reserve Study Advisory Group.  Please read it and feel free to discuss it with any homeowner, but please do not allow it to go to the press or any person outside of Sun City Anthem.

The data in the report comes from the ARC Reserve Study for 2010 and has been incorporated in an Excel workbook for analysis purposes.  I will be happy to discuss the workbook with any interested person.

Richard Pendleton”

Attached is Rich’s report to SCA Homeowners on Reserve Policy Overfunding

Overfunding of Reserves & Overcharging of Dues

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Laws & Rules, Community Affairs, Operations | Print | No Comments »

March 2, 2011 by admin.

Finally, the income tax issue is plain.  Copies of the IRS report have been released by RMI.  It is clear that our auditor/tax preparer and certain board members have been dead wrong about what they can do with end-of-year membership surpluses.

The fact is that “income” is taxable.   But, for about 40 years, homeowner associations and condos have been avoiding paying  income taxes on SURPLUS membership income if the HOA immediately RETURNS or CREDITS the surpluses back to the members.

The IRS Report states it has assessed Sun City Anthem $1.345 Million in back taxes and penalties because:

“Based upon conversation with Jack Troia, President of Sun City Anthem Community Association, on September 9, 2010, during the field audit, the 2007 reserve surplus was never refunded or applied to the subsequent year.”

Also stated in the IRS Report was this statement: 

“The Taxpayer did not refund or credit the homeowners the surplus funds for tax years 2001-2007.”

The truth is clear.   The board can not spend such surpluses, save them, or do anything else with surplus membership assessments without having to pay income taxes on the full amount of the surplus.  This IRS position has been tested in court before, and it is clear that Sun City Anthem and Nevada HOAs are not exempt.

We believe no one can read the IRS Report and honestly come away thinking there is any “wiggle room” in the findings.  There is no evidence we can find showing that a single HOA has defeated the IRS on how it applies 70-604. The chance of beating this rap appears to be zero. 

And, that is a good thing for homeowners.  The rule prevents boards from consciously overcharging on dues and hiding the surpluses in “slush fund” accounts to spent as they wish.

Our members will be to blame if we allow the SCA board and its apparently discredited tax preparer/auditor and attorneys to waste more of our hard-earn money on a doomed quest to just try to save a bit of their highly inflated egos.  Following that path would be a clear violation of the director’s fiduciary duties, and might become a matter of personal liability in the future.

Meanwhile, there is reason to believe that a good negotiator (someone not involved in the past errors) could save our members a great deal of money.   In return for not having to pay most or all of the taxes on the surpluses, it could be proposed that IRS allow SCA to admit its mistakes, return all of the accumulated surpluses to members, correct all subsequent tax returns, and pay a modest penalty of something less than $100,000.

Even if the IRS unreasonably demanded all of the income tax be paid, it is obvious that immediate, full compliance with 70-604 is the least cost solution for SCA.   Our members should immediately demand to receive nothing less.

However, time is of the essence.  The approach of saying we are sorry for the mistakes and we promise to always be compliant, will quickly go up in smoke if the board follows its battle plan.

Nothing could be worse than hiring so-called experts to be the warriors that waste hundreds of thousands more of our dollars–with no chance of winning a reduction in taxes or penalties. 

By the way, if you run into a current or past board member, finance committee member or board candidate who supports the board’s announced plan to fight with the IRS, insist they explain to you exactly how they can be confident it will not fail.  Ask for examples of where the past and current directors, auditor and attorneys or anyone else has ever beat IRS on its interpretation of Ruling 70-604.

See this link for more details on our library website:
http://www.anthemvoice.org/taxes_issue.html

Posted in Removal Election, 2011 Campaign, Ann_Small, SCA Board, Community Affairs, Laws & Rules | Print | No Comments »

February 21, 2011 by admin.

The SCA members attending the open Republican Special Interest Group meeting Monday tonight heard Henderson City Council Candidate Thomas Wagner (currently serving as a  supervisory METRO Police Detective) respond to questions about the recent $1.3 Million settlement for improper termination of the former Henderson City Manager.

He also revealed critical evidence about the innocence of Bob Frank and Tim Stebbins who have been charged by the Henderson Police Department with filing a false police report in November 2009.

Candidate Wagner explained how, if elected, he would stay involved in the details of important issues and avoid the kind of Henderson City Management mistakes that have been so prevalent, and have cost the City millions in law suit settlements in recent years.

During the statement Officer Wagner gave an example of the kind of action he felt he could prevent if serving on the Henderson City Council.  He confirmed (the written statements given to HPD) that he was one of the two METRO law enforcement detectives that former SCA Director Bob Frank and Tim Stebbins consulted prior to submitting a police report to Henderson in November 2009.

Detective Wagner said the document he had been asked to review was for the Henderson Police Department to investigate suspected criminal statute violations by two Sun City Anthem Directors (President Roz Berman and Secretary Roger Cooper).   Officer Wagner said  the evidence shown to him by Bob Frank (and Tim Stebbins) was good and he advised them they were obligated to ask for an investigation by Henderson Police. 

Detective Wagner said the charging and arrest of Frank (and Stebbins) for allegedly “filing a false police report” by the City of Henderson was wrong, and that such a mistake is an example of why the Henderson City Council and staff had been wasting so much of the taxpayers money when paying out large settlements for their mismanagement. 

Overall, Officer Wagner’s extensive comments made it clear that if the Henderson Police had bothered to ask him, he would have readily confirmed his meeting with Frank and Stebbins and thereby saved the City and the two individuals much time, money and inconvenience.

Posted in Ann_Small, 2011 Campaign, Truth Squad, SCA Board, Community Affairs, News! | Print | No Comments »