"If Fred Thomas and the rest of the Concerned Citizens were smart they would......... Never mind"
Here is a response to the Thomas email. Please see email at this site, titled "Former Board Member Thomas Wants To Take Back Our Community"
Here is a response from a "sound" mind:
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Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2012 4:32 PM
Cc: WPA Office
Subject: Fred's 1/10/12 E-mail re Paying Our "ASSETMENT" (sic)
Kathy: Please place a copy of this e-mail in the WPA Correspondence File, and forward it to all nine Board members for their information.
Fred:
You are so clueless on this subject it is really sad. Did you receive a copy of the Judge’s order from your lawyer? Did you read it and understand what it says? Just in case you don’t have it at hand, I have taken the liberty of attaching a copy of the complete order for your information. I suggest you print it out and read it carefully, because it addresses most of the issues you raise in your 1/10 e-mail. If you don’t understand the Order, I suggest you ask your lawyer to explain it to you.
In the meantime, I would like to address each of your comments, and hope to show you that what you are asking for is totally off base. Your comments are in italics, and my responses follow in blue.
THE WPA BOARD DOES NOT SEEM TO WANT TO ADDRESS OUR LEGAL PROBLEMS.
What legal problems do you mean? The lawsuit you and your two co-plaintiffs filed against the WPA was SETTLED by the October 2011 Order, and there are no other suits against the WPA pending at the moment. Furthermore, your suit was settled WITH PREJUDICE, which means that none of the allegations the three of you raised can be brought before a court of law again. In legal parlance, your “legal problems” are considered as “res judicata”, a Latin term meaning “a matter already judged” and not subject to appeal.
Specifically, that means that NO ONE can ever again sue either the individual 2009 Board members, or WPA itself, over any of their actions in respect to the dredging project . In particular, the decisions they made in pursuit of canal maintenance dredging such as hiring contractors, obtaining a loan from the bank to finance the project, AND requiring canal lot owners to pay a supplemental assessment were not found to be improper in any way. The dredging was proper, the loan was proper, and the method of assessment was proper. When you continue to roil the waters with e-mail such as this, you just give more ammunition to the attorney for the six former Board members who are still pursuing their counterclaims case against you!
You and your co-plaintiffs had an opportunity during the pre-trial process to reach an adjudicated solution to many of the underlying issues WPA faces about FUTURE canal maintenance once and for all, but you wimped out. Yes, we have to agree that SC owns the canal bottoms, but the real issue, i.e. who is responsible for maintenance of one of Wedgefield’s “greatest assets” remains unresolved. Now, thanks to the lack of commitment by you and your two co-plaintiffs, we will as a community have to face this divisive issue all over again five to ten years down the road.
SO SOME OF US ARE PLANING (sic) TO EITHER WITHOLE (sic) OUR PAYMENTS OR PUT OUR PAYMENTS IN AN ESCROW ACCOUNT. THE IDEA IS TO GET THEIR ATTENTION.
The three bobble-heads tried this idea a while back, and it backfired in their faces. You are of course free to withhold (spelled correctly) your assessment (spelled correctly) if you wish, but there will be consequences, no matter whether you put it in escrow or just fail to pay it. First, if your full payment is not received by the last day of February (or January, if you owe anything from earlier years), you will no longer be a member “in good standing”, cannot vote in any regular or special meetings of members, and penalties will begin to accrue. You could in theory be denied entrance to observe monthly WPA Board meetings, but that is not part of a clearly articulated WPA Policy at the moment. For certain, however, if you are in arrears for six months, a lien will be placed on your home. In addition, at the one year period of delinquency, WPA may foreclose on your home. (All of this as per the current finance/collection policy approved in October 2011, which YOU VOTED ON as a Board member). You will get some attention for sure, but it won’t be the kind of attention you’d like, and won’t do a darned thing about resolving any issues.
1. DOING NOTHING IS WRONG AND MAY CREATE SERIOUS LEGAL PROBLEMS.
Again, what kind of legal problems do you mean? There is nothing the current WPA Board can do about the past events; the matter is CLOSED. It could and probably SHOULD be thinking 5-10 years ahead and anticipating how it is going to deal with the issue when the next maintenance dredging is needed. In particular, WPA should establish a restricted reserve fund now, earmarked for that project, so when it becomes necessary, most or all of the funds will be “in the bank”. This will avoid the need for loans, and greatly reduce or eliminate the need for additional assessments. But it won’t become a “legal problem” until the Board takes an action (or FAILS to take an action) going forward that someone or group feels strongly enough about to file a lawsuit.
2. WE MAY HAVE AN ILEGAL (sic) BANK LOAN.
See the above. The actions of the 2009 Board in obtaining the loan were NOT found to be improper in any way by the Court. The Bank did due diligence, WPA did due diligence, and the loan was and still is perfectly legal.
3. WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK.
I would like mine back too! By the time the loan is paid off, I will have paid about EIGHT TIMES MORE than you, and I could really use the cash. But where exactly do you think the money is going to come from? Nationwide Insurance, having paid the $15,000 settlement figure, is done with Wedgefield and won’t be coming up with any more funds. The nine 2009 Board Members, including Karl and Jude, were found to have done no wrong and are now protected by the “with prejudice” settlement, so you cannot get money from any of them. The Bank loan and the process of obtaining it were also found to be proper and cannot be reopened thanks to the “with prejudice” settlement, so the money will not be coming from the Bank.
Any other bright ideas? I think the answer we all have to live with is that we now have only about three and one-half years left to pay off the dredging loan, and after that, the Board may consider reducing the Annual Assessment back to a figure lower that $625. But my crystal ball is a little fuzzy that far out, so it remains to be seen.
4. WE ARE IN A FINANCIAL MESS, IF WE DON'T ADDRESS THESE PROBLEMS THE WPA WILL NEED A BIG INCREASE IN ASSETMENTS. (sic)
This is just plain malarkey; we are NOT in any sort of “financial mess” and WPA is quite solvent. Are you trying to drum up support for your position with theatrical scare tactics? I hope you read and understood the 2012 WPA Budget, because you were on the Board when it was approved. At the current annual assessment of $625 per year, WPA can meet all of its normal 2012 financial obligations, including the dredging loan, with a small amount left over toward reserves. WPA also has adequate reserves to cover a major storm cleanup or other unplanned expense, should we have the misfortune to need it.
For the near future, then, WPA will NOT need any increases in assessments (spelled correctly). In fact by 2015, we will likely see a reduction, although that will be for the 2014 Board to decide as they determine the budget for the following year.
IT'S UP TO YOU, WE HAVE TO TAKE BACK OUR COMMUNITY. PLEASE PASS THIS ALONG.
Take it back from whom, and just who is “we” anyway?
I understand your frustration, but please think about the greater, long-term good for our little community.
We have a sitting Board of Directors that determines how our community is managed. They are put in place by a “due process” called an election. We voted for five Director positions in November, and you were not re-elected to the WPA Board. Like me, then, you are now just a concerned member of the Association hoping to influence their decisions. Unfortunately, the “agenda” of your 1/10 e-mail contributes nothing to moving WPA forward and interferes with the healing process.
Please think about what your “take back” wish implies. Do you really want crony contractors to get 60% of WPA’s income without benefit of proper bids and contract award again? Do you want to go back to having mean-spirited bullies who have no qualms about punching out a resident “run” WPA like their personal fiefdom?
I
f you really care about Wedgefield, you will try to find something GOOD and POSITIVE to do for our community instead of continuing to divide and inflame it with bad ideas. Get on a Committee, help with social events, work on road cleanup, start a new special interest club, help with editing and publishing the Wragg.. there are a lot of GOOD ways to influence policy, but I think you get the idea.
I hope you will take my comments above as positive feedback, and that you will turn you energy into something worthwhile and productive for Wedgefield.
PS: Please read up on how to use the “blind copy” function in your e-mail program. By sending your e-mail to a large “open” distribution list, everyone can see everyone else's e-mail address, and some may be concerned about the “privacy” issues that raises.
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The writer says it all to Fred Thomas. Do you have an answer for Thomas? Send it to: wedgefieldexaminer@yahoo.com
