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 1, 2011 by THE VOICE.

Suspended attorney (since 1991), former Sun City Anthem (SCA) Board Vice President, and self-appointed “spokesman/public relations director” for the SCA directors, David Berman said on his blog concerning law violations prosecuted by the Deputy Attorney General against his spouse:

“There is no excuse for allowing complaints of any nature to gather dust for more than three years as this one did, or for matters that can be resolved through discussion, letters of instruction, etc., to be treated as quasi-criminal matters. ”

Right! 

So, why DID the board-president-spouse of a convicted forger/defrocked attorney FAIL for over 3 YEARS to follow the laws and protect the rights of every one of our SCA homeowners?   Did she ignore her spouse’s advice?

After being clearly told and officially opposed by a fellow board member in March 2008, as well as by homeowner Tim Stebbins in May 2008 of her  violations BEFORE she voted (on both occasions), why did Roz Berman willfully act wrongfully?   During the recent hearing, the Senior Deputy Attorney General (DAG) told the Common Interest Communities Commission (CICC) and those in the hearing room that board members can not blame their failures to comply with statutes on bad advice from their “professional advisers”.  The DAG said each director is personally responsible for their bad actions.

So, why did Roz Berman and Mike Dixon FAIL to act to correct their known law violations in 2008 and 2009 after being notified by the State of Nevada in late 2008 that they were being formally charged with violating the laws?

After such a State notification the proper, moral, and legal action would have been to revoke the changed by-laws and CC&Rs and to ask the association attorney for a refund and/or future cash credits.   Instead, the boards played “chicken” with the State and we must presume this was upon advice of the (conflicted) association attorney who had profited handsomely from the whole affair.

Unfortunately, the “victory” celebrations by the accused may have been premature.   The matter may NOT be “over”.   The CIC Commission “decision” may be subject to review and reversal. 

But, as of today, it is clear the NV government Executive Branch Agencies responsible for ensuring HOA justice have universally failed the citizens of this State.  

The indicted board members, the equally complicit/uncharged SCA board members from 2007, the association attorney who advocated and profited by at least $30,000 from the law violation, and the community management company that failed to provide competent “professional” advice may be subject to future indictments/charges from the Real Estate Division and Attorney General. 

The State agencies are not “done” until THEY say they are, and growing public pressure for justice may force this matter to be continued until it is properly resolved.

The facts are that NONE of the involved individuals have ever been properly charged/indicted, and that is why the CICC could not complete its hearing.  A proper hearing still needs to be conducted to determine the guilt or innocence of the alleged violators–as required by NV Statutes. 

The Deputy Attorney General and Real Estate Division are confident they can prove certain SCA directors willfully violated the NRS116 statutes.  And, where there is government will, there are likely ways for those State Agencies to complete their duties.

Furthermore, the four CIC Commissioners who voted in favor of dismissing the case “with prejudice” (without  hearing any of the evidence) could find themselves charged with negligence.  If so, they could be asked to resign by the appointing authority. 

The apparent negligence and toleration of corruption by the CICC on this case taints the credibility of the CIC Commission, the Real Estate Division and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General.  The future on this matter is murky, and the involved board members  and their “professional advisers” since 2007 should not be resting easy.

For additional details, see this prior Anthem Voice Posting:
http://blog.anthemvoice.org/2011/06/18/attorney-general-office-removed-bob-frank-from-sca-board-indictment/

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

June 23, 2011 by kayfrank.

(Revised)  Mr. David Berman appears to have made a really big mistake this time.

He commented about SCA’s apparent plan to go to tax court to appeal the IRS audit report:

“… I had significant exposure to this process during my years in the Exam
Division of the IRS, and if it comes to that, you and Mr. Johnson will be proven
wrong.  An appeal of an IRS decision through the Tax Court is simply not the
commencement of litigation or a “civil action.” It is a RESPONSE mechanism, not
that of a plaintiff commencing an action.”

Did David Berman not previously confirm he was convicted of forging a judge’s signature
on tax documents and lost his law license?  And, did he not previously claim to have gone
to work for the IRS as a low-level, UNIX minicomputer system administrator and trainer-
-but, not as an attorney?

If so, how could he now be claiming to have been working in the “Exam Division of the IRS”
as if he had been employed as a tax attorney?  It makes one wonder if he ever disclosed to
the IRS that he was suspended from practicing law after admitting to being a forger?

As a former IRS Auditor, I had to go through extensive personal checks prior to employment.
I  doubt the IRS would have hired him or allowed him to continue being employed if it had
known about his forgery conviction.

It is also unlikely the IRS would have allowed him to participate in legal discussions or have
access to taxpayer records if he had disclosed his forgery record.  And, why would the IRS have
allowed a self-acknowledged/convicted forger and disgraced/suspended attorney to have
access to private tax records for a decade before being allowed to retire?

When I worked for the IRS, any personal history data that was discovered to be missing or
deceptively  submitted could have resulted in termination and prosecution.

So, we need to ask, why should anyone believe anything this disgraced individual says?  Do
we believe he participated in tax law discussions while deceiving the IRS about his being a
forger and having lost his law license?  Or, did he fabricate a false and/or carefully deceptive
story?

———comments added on June 25, 2011———-

By the way, I believe Mr. Berman is dead wrong by saying “An appeal of an IRS decision
through the Tax Court is simply not the commencement of litigation or a “civil action.” 
The final ruling by the IRS appeal process is truly “final” from the IRS perspective.  

The United States Tax Court process is run by a totally different agency.  Going to US
Tax Court is a civil litigation action that NRS116 and our governing documents appear
to require unit owners to approve–in advance.   Ask any of our SCA retired IRS agent/
auditor members or a licensed tax authority for their opinions before accepting anything
that Mr. Berman is spinning.

In the meantime, many members believe that the board is obligated by law to fully inform
every unit owner via the “Spirit Magazine”, “Relay Newsletter” or by a special letter of the
full facts, costs of appeal, projected costs of ligation and projected “savings”.  

The board must also follow Generally Accepted Accounting Rules by establishing a special
reserve account in the 2012 budget in the event the Association has to pay the full costs of
losing the appeals and litigation actions and related court costs and lawyer fees. 

It seems obvious that the total costs of appealing the IRS audit report finding could far
exceed the initial amounts.  History shows that corporations who dare to challenge the IRS
through Tax Court have a disastrous track record (while the involved attorneys get wealthy).
For example, there is a notorious Canadian company that went to Tax Court with a $50
million liability, and emerged 10 years later with a Tax Court ruling of owing $500 Million!

Our members would be truly foolish to allow the board and its self-serving auditor and
attorneys to continue to follow the current path.   It is impossible for me to imagine a
favorable financial outcome for our unit owners.

Kay Frank

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

June 18, 2011 by bobfrank.

(Revised)

This is to report that the Nevada Deputy Attorney General has removed my name from the list of Sun City Directors indicted for violating Nevada laws governing homeowner associations.

See my correspondence requesting to be released from being a respondent, and the State of Nevada Letter in response:

Frank Response to NV Real Estate Division

Frank Response to Deputy Attorney General

Frank Declaration of Innocence

SCA Board Meeting Minutes–27 March 2008

SCA Board Meeting Minutes–12 May 2008

Nevada Release of Frank From Indictment

The revised list of 2007 and 2008 directors under indictment by the State of Nevada are:  Rosalyn Berman, Shirley Cheri, Roger Cooper, Michael Dixon and Carl Weinstein. 

Personally involved in the statute violations, and listed as directors in the March 27, 2008 SCA Board Meeting Minutes cited as evidence in the case, but not included as respondents, are 2007 directors Bob Berman, Elaine Berg and Kay Dwyer,  attorney John Leach, and Community Managers Terry DaSilva and Caren Carrero. 

No reasons have been given for those individuals to be exempted from the charges.   But, we know they are personal friends and/or business associates of at least 3 of the 7 Common Interest Communities Commission members who will judge the  case.

The Deputy Attorney General prosecution of the accused SCA Directors will be on July 6-8, 2011 starting at 9 AM each day in the Grant-Sawyer Building. 

See the following file for more details on the allegations and potential penalties.

Law Violations Included in Indictment Against SCA Directors

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

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?

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

June 1, 2011 by admin.

The Sun City Anthem Community Manager has distributed the following announcement:

“Looking for a way to give back to the community?

Have a background in Accounting or Finance?

We have a job for you!

The Sun City Anthem Homeowners Association Finance Committee (FC) is looking for residents with accounting and/or financial management expertise.

The FC is just beginning the 2012 budget development process. By joining now, a new member will have an opportunity to participate in the budgeting process, which provides a solid foundation for understanding and positively impacting the financial soundness of our community.

The ideal candidate should have solid experience in one or more of the following areas:

·Practicing or recently retired CPA or accounting professional

·Financial, accounting or MIS consultant for major corporation or government client

·Accounting or finance professor at a college or university

·Manager of P&L center, major department or internal audit with capital budgeting responsibilities

·Undergraduate and/or graduate degree in accounting, finance or business

If you are interested and want to make a difference in your community, please send a resume by no later than June 30th to:

“skyler.jewell” <skyler.jewell@scacai.com>   or 

“rckarrow” <rckarrow@cox.net>

AnthemVOICE would also like to encourage honest, ethical members with the strength of character to stand your ground on the truth to volunteer to serve on the SCA Finance Committee.   

If you are a CPA and you fairly follow what you know to be Generally Accepted Accounting Practices and can stand your ground in technical debates with the association auditor/tax preparer, you can make a huge difference in the future of this association.   Please help your fellow members!

Posted in SCA Board, Community Affairs, Operations, News! | 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 10, 2011 by admin.

Is “neighborly love” a “possible dream” within homeowner associations?

Are those members on the David Berman Blog who play “whack a mole” against so-called “malcontent” members believing they are ADDING to the chances of harmony in Sun City Anthem?  Why would an “adult” homeowner posting on that site believe that hateful attacks and ordering fellow homeowners to “shut up or move” could produce any positive effects?

Unfortunately, “neighborly love” is rapidly being lost in Sun City Anthem due to increasingly dictatorial board behavior and mismanagement.   The trend shows the problem is getting worse and the “malcontent” members are striking back through public media channels because SCA boards are doing nothing to resolve disputes.

How bad does it have to get before the directors finally learn that following the bad advice from the Del Webb/Pulte-appointed association law firm is the primary source of the ongoing disputes?   It it obvious that keeping that firm is only making the attorneys wealthy while our lifestyle gets destroyed by the never-ending disputes?

While considering possible solutions for SCA, the paper posted on May 9th (10-hoa-myths.pdf) by George K. Staropolis provides important insights.  In addition, Mr. Staropolis’ article posted today, and quoted below, provides valuable insights into common HOA problems. 

http://pvtgov.wordpress.com/2011/05/10/want-more-neighborly-love-in-an-hoa/

    “I submitted the following comment to the shreveporttimes.com article, “A sign that we need more neighborly love.”

    HOAs were never really about neighborly love.  They were promoted as such a fellowship of people with a common goal, “building better communities” and “fostering vibrant, harmonious communities” by the national lobbying organization.

    But, in reality, they are highly divisive and adversarial because strict enforcement of often arbitrary and capricious rules abound, enforced by the “protection agency”, the HOA, whose directors are reminded that they can be sued for not enforcing the CC&RS or declaration.

    Couple that with aggressive HOA lawyers whose income is not based on contentment and neighborly love, but on adversity that leads to the courtroom. It’s in their best interests to preserve the HOA in its current form.

    This authoritarian form of government, backed by pro-HOA laws to inflict severe penalties on homeowner offenders but give a slap on the wrist to HOA offenders, make an excellent environment for the power seekers and misguided true believers who believe that they  are part of a grand and glorious new America. And for the profit-seeking developers, HOA vendors and lawyers.

    IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT, HOW ELSE CAN IT BE?  No country, no community has ever obtained strict compliance to rules that are aimed to preserve the state, like Nazi Germany  Communist Russia, without imposing restrictions on the rights and freedoms of its inhabitants  “in the name of the state.”

    Its corporate form of government is no different from any other business where there are the managers who control and the people who are to obey.  HOA directors are in the “management” class and homeowners are in the “employee” class, even though the “employees” may also be owners of the corporation.  And we all know that management does not have the 100% whole–hearted agreement and support of its people.

     Yet, the courts and state legislatures truly believe that the board speaks for the members on all matters, great and small. That the HOA is imbued with public government attributes and, ignoring the reality of a contract, by merely living and remaining subject to the HOA the “employee” surrenders all his rights and freedoms contrary to constitutional law.

    But, as we all know, how many people, employees, work and remain at a business for valid reasons other then that they fully consent to be governed by the corporation? The public officials have adopted this “remaining within the HOA” argument not because it is valid, but because it offers a plausible defense for their actions.

     Want more neighborly love?  Hold HOA boards accountable for their actions, and provide protections for the rights and freedoms on the owners.

    Forget the “we don’t want government” and get to “we want the same government protections as all others.”

So, what do we do about the SCA situation with rapidly increasing dissatisfaction and opposition to poor board behavior?   Well, one thing we don’t do.   We don’t lay back and “give the new directors a break” and see if they do any better than the last failed board.

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

May 9, 2011 by admin.

Many SCA Members get confused when AnthemVOICE agrees with those who claim that Sun City Anthem is DESIGNED by the developer to be a retiree “Paradise”, but the SCA GOVERNANCE SYSTEM is an incompatible  dictatorship system that ignores and/or nullifies citizen rights granted by the US and NV Constitutions. (See attached “10 HOA Myths” for more details:   10-hoa-myths.pdf)

This deception (some consider it fraud) has been invented during the past few decades by the nation-wide CAI (Community Association Institute) which is the trade association of companies dominating the selling of goods and services to HOA Boards. 

CAI is controlled by the companies providing the lobbying funds that have corrupted local, state and federal legislation to provide HOA Board powers to nullify unit owner US Constitutional rights.

The following quote from national HOA expert, George K. Staropoli sums it up clearly.

“If we are to make progress, we must distinguish the concept of a
planned community, which is a real estate “package” of homes,
landscaping, amenities, and rules, from that of the HOA, which is the
undemocratic governing body of the planned community.”

. …. George K. Staropoli 

Members of SCA (and all other homeowner associations) are hostage to the personal ethics, compassion and good will of the directors we elect.  

The only recourse to stopping bad behavior by directors is to remove them at the annual election or through a special “removal election” called via a petition by at least 10% of the membership.

For more of Mr. George Staropoli’s unique reporting on the “truth” about HOAs see:
http://pvtgov.org/pvtgov/

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

May 9, 2011 by admin.

SCA Member and AnthemVOICE Founder Tim Stebbins advised the new, 2011 SCA Board Members at their special meeting on May 9, 2011 that the 2010 SCA Board was considered by the Nevada Real Estate Division to be the worst of Nevada’s 3,000 HOA Boards.

Tim Stebbins included other comments for the record/attached to the Minutes as quoted below:

“My name is Tim Stebbins, Arroyo Vista Village.  I will supply a copy of these remarks for inclusion in the minutes of this meeting.  I wish to address Agenda item V, election of officers.

I congratulate the 4 new members of our board and I wish all board members success over the coming year.

As you elect new officers for the next year, those officers and all other directors have a real opportunity to set a new direction for our community.

Nevada state officials have observed the just past board was the worst in the entire state – out of about 3,000 boards.  That is something we should all be ashamed of.

Even though we retain 3 members from that board I hope a new spirit of leadership will change both the operations and the image of our board into one of professionalism, competence and cooperation.

We seem to be off to a good start.  Mr. Terry has already taken it upon himself to attend some of the excellent training classes offered by the Ombudsman.  I believe this shows a sincere desire to learn what must be done to be a good director under the laws of Nevada and how to do it in a professional way. 

I congratulate Mr. Terry for his attitude and dedication.  Of course from now on Mr. Terry will be required to disclose his attendance in all future courses under NAC116.484.  I am sure he will be proud to do that.

I hope all board members will follow the lead of Mr. Terry and gain the benefits of professional training and guidance.

It is worthy to note there seems to be no record of the mandatory disclosure of attending any approved classes by any member of the just past board.  With apparently no interest in gaining professional guidance on how to be a good director that might be one of the reasons that board was so bad.

I offer this suggestion:  At every board meeting we have a presidents report, a managers report and member comment periods.  The agenda for every meeting could also include a directors comment period.

Any director could comment on anything they wish including attendance at approved classes (as required by NAC116.484), attendance at meetings of the Commission, attendance at meetings of the Henderson City Council, or any other meetings or activities of interest to our community along with any comments they desire about what they gained from that participation.

This is done at every meeting of the CICCH Commission with a Commissioners Comments agenda item.  I see no reason why this board should not follow their lead.  Everyone would benefit.”

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

May 6, 2011 by admin.

AZ Passes 7 New Homeowner Rights Laws To Counter CAI-sponsored Bully Boards!  Effective July 20, 2011!

Quoted from George K. Staropoli : http://pvtgov.org/pvtgo

New Arizona HOA laws for 2011 session — Thanks to the Legislators!

HOA laws for the 2011 session:

The 7 new  laws, out of 22 bills introduced, affect due process protections for homeowners that levels the “litigation playing field”;   homeowner meeting rights, including the right to record board meetings, as a check on abusive boards and attorneys; new restrictions on transfer fees;  free speech rights to fly flags and political signs; and restrictions on fees for leasing signs.

Thanks to the tenacity of several outspoken Arizona advocates, the laws become effective on July 20th.

Posted in SCA Board, Community Affairs, News! | 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 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 11, 2011 by bobfrank.

Long-time AnthemVOICE blogger and frequent contributor to SCA Board Meetings, Sonny Sonnenfeld, will be the featured speaker at the SCA Veterans Club in Anthem Center at 7 PM on Tuesday, April 12th.

Sonny and his wife Rose are residents of Pinnacle Village.  Their son is the famous Hollywood Producer, Barry Sonnenfeld.    “Men In Black” was one of Barry’s many film successes.  Sonny grew up in New York and is considered a legend in the theatrical lighting industry.

Sonny will talk about his WW II Army experiences.  He served early in the War in New Guinea and other parts of the South Pacific as General Douglas McArthur was island hopping towards Japan.

Sonny was assigned to the 163rd Infantry where he survived many encounters of jungle combat with the Japanese while installing and servicing urgent military communications lines, equipment and facilities.  He was awarded the Silver Star for Valor.

Posted in Veterans Affairs, 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 »

April 3, 2011 by admin.

It seems like everywhere one goes these days, members are asking about the “charges”, “indictment” or “allegations” of law violations formally filed by the Attorney General against the 2007 and 2008 Sun City Anthem (SCA) Directors.

What you hear from board members and their friends is that:
…it is just a big mistake by the Attorney General.   No illegal changes were made to the SCA CC&Rs in 2008.  It was just an “update”….

After 3 years of investigations by Real Estate Division professionals, and after extensive verifications by the Nevada Deputy Attorney General, the FORMAL CHARGES are considered by the SCA directors and their association attorney to be just a “mistake”?  Really?

This is coming just a few weeks after the income tax fiasco where the board claimed that IRS made “mistakes” and SCA might be able to convince IRS to back off its demand for $1.345 Million in back taxes and penalties for 2007.  Really?

If you were a betting person, would you make a bet that the SCA Directors, and its notorious attorneys are likely to be correct?  Could both the IRS and Nevada Attorney General be wrong?   We don’t think the chances are much above zero.

The question is, what’s next?   It took about 3 years for the allegations to be investigated, validated, and charged by the State of Nevada against the 2007 and 2008 Boards. 

So, what else is in that huge backlog of dozens of other law violations filed against the boards that could be coming out this Spring and Summer? 

We wouldn’t want to be in former board Presidents Mike Dixon’s, Roz Berman’s or Jack Troia’s shoes!

– Relevant comments from Anthem Today Forum:   ccrs_anthem-today.pdf

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

April 2, 2011 by admin.

Your April issue of the Vegas Voice in the mail and at shopping centers contains an ad on page 21 sponsored by the “Sun City Anthem Homeowners Committee to Elect Bob Frank”. 

This public exposure was necessary because the SCA Board refuses to allow board candidates to pay for ads in the Spirit magazine or Relay Newsletter–as the commercial vendors do.  Does that make any sense to you?

The Homeowners Committee Ad says:

 ”April 8th to April 29th is when you cast ballots for the Sun City Anthem (SCA) Board of Directors.  Our homeowner group asks you to vote for Retired Air Force Colonel Bob Frank because he has proven to be the kind of trustworthy director we need to defend our homeowner interests.

Bob’s strong, no nonsense leadership style has attracted some political attacks from directors and community members who favor business and personal interests over homeowners.  But, we ask you to disregard those negative forces and concentrate on the positive truths about Bob Frank’s selfless and consistent record of honest service to homeowners.

In recent years, there have been dozens of community issues illustrating Bob Frank’s leadership skills, reliability, integrity and character.  But we only have space to outline his top role—refunding surplus dues to avoid income taxes.

History shows Bob Frank was the only SCA director who opposed the gross over-charging of annual dues and who worked to avoid the $1.345 Million taxes revealed in January.  Bob’s actions included:

1.  Organized a SCA group of retired IRS specialists in 2008 to help the board avoid errors and omissions.  But, the board threatened Bob with a law suit if he asked IRS for guidance without board approval.

2.  Objected to the questionable tax policies at 2008 board meetings and voted NO on the 2008 budget that wrongly raised dues by $160.

3.  Proved that instead of raising the dues for 2008, the rate should have been cut over 50% by refunding the over $3.7 Million of accumulated surpluses as directed by IRS rules.

4.  After completing his board term, Bob helped to obtain a policy letter from the National IRS Expert that proved SCA had submitted false income tax returns—but the board ignored it.

5.  Recently, Bob reported on a possible way to:

(a) avoid paying the $1.345 Million in taxes and penalties, and

(b) avoid wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars appealing a hopeless tax case.

Finally, to give your candidate(s) the best chance for election recommend only voting for truly trustworthy people.  Eliminate errors by lining through names you do not wish to elect.

More information on Bob can be found at blog.anthemVOICE.org or from: bobfrank@cox.net”

Please remember to vote to return Bob Frank to the SCA Board.

Sponsored by Sun City Anthem Homeowners Committee to Elect Bob Frank

Posted in Bob Frank-2011, 2011 Campaign, SCA Board, Operations, News! | 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 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 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 6, 2011 by admin.

Here are the contents of Bob Frank’s board campaign flyer.

Bob Frank Pg1 Flyer

Bob Frank pg2 Flyer

Please consider downloading it and attaching it to your emails to other SCa members with your recommendations and comments.

Posted in Bob Frank-2011, 2011 Campaign, SCA Board, Community Affairs, News! | 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 »