These are my personal images and photos that show the beauty of the view from Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Cobbly Nob and the Gatlinburg, Tennessee area.
Just click the Play button to watch - or click Big Picture to see a much larger slide show on a dedicated page here at DeerRidgeOwners.com.
Deer Ridge Litigation Fund
Do you, as an owner at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, believe we are ALL entitled to have access and be able to copy the books and records of our Homeowner's Association?
So, do I.
But, apparently, Employee Joe Thomas and President Luther Parker and the Board disagree - and are doing all they can to block access, publication and candid discussion of the Asinine Assessment, special deals and favored treatment - at the expense of all Owners.
What ARE they so afraid of us finding out?
Maybe it has to do with the HUGE $10,000 overcharge for my HOA Fees, special assessments, water and cable TV bill - which, in my personal opinion, is due to fraudulent intent or at least gross negligence by the Deer Ridge Board of Directors and / or General Manager Joe Thomas. Please see the posts for details.
We have no choice but to file a lawsuit against GGRC and RML in order to finally, once and for all, make it clear that OWNERS do have a right to all the information about our property and our investment at Deer Ridge.
If you have thoughts and ideas and suggestions, please post them here on this blog.
If you have any clout with the Board, convince them to stop the charade - and let the owners have the information that all owners own!
If you want to help cover the legal costs to get us the right to see the bids for $50,000 for nuts and bolts - and the other background documents for the $353,500 Asinine Assessment, please click on the Donate Button below.
With enough in donations, we can hire BOTH an attorney AND a forensic accountant for the whole process through the Court in Sevier County to make absolutely certain we win EVERY point - and never have to fight Employee Joe and the Board on this stuff again.
Even a $100 contribution will help show that you are in favor of an open and FULLY transparent homeowners' association at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort!
Thanks so much to those of you who have already contributed!
GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:
Note: The following, and the information on any and all other posts and pages by me about General Manager Joe Thomas, GGRC, RML and /or the Board of Directors and its members, or any related topics, are my personal opinions based on my ongoing investigation into the actions and inactions of the GGRC and RML Board of Directors and / or Joe Thomas, General Manager.
While I believe these allegations to be true based on my objective analysis, these opinions remain as only allegations until I, or others, prove things in court.
My goal is to offer all owners all the information and evidence that I have available so that everyone can reach their own conclusions.
Please note the obvious:
Everything I ever say or write in person, via emails, or on my blog, about Deer Ridge or any and all related entities and organizations or any and all affiliated personnel or owners, is strictly my own personal opinion of course - based, in part, from my owning a unit at Deer Ridge for over five years - and on my own personal history.
That history includes earning a Presidential MBA degree, being awarded a Bachelor of Science, With Honors, in Engineering Physics from UT, working for NASA as a rocket scientist at Marshall Space Flight Center, 30 years of CEO experience directly employing and managing many hundreds of people at multiple companies I personally started and operated (including one that I took public), 15 years experience buying and selling over $100 million of property and managing more than 45,000 rental units - AND being able to read and do four-function arithmetic.
Legalese - And Powered Wig - Off
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Welcome to All Deer Ridge Owners
Welcome to all owners of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort condos in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
My goal is to help all Deer Ridge owners to have a voice in the management and operation of your property.
Click on the TITLES of any of the following subjects to read the whole posting - and see the comments made by your co-owners. You can also type any term into the below search box, or any word or term in the search cloud.
Click the big image at the top of the page to return to the front page at any time.
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Investment Analysis For A Rental Condo At Deer Ridge
Will you really lose $40,000 cash if you buy a rental condo at Deer Ridge and use Ridge Management Ltd?
As an owner-occupied home, Deer Ridge is an incredible value with THE best view in the Smokies and great amenities.
However, several owners and would-be owners of Deer Ridge condos have asked me if these units are a good rental property investment or not. To help answer that question
objectively, I had to analyze the real moving parts of buying and owning here.
Get my complete, detailed investment analysis based on buying a rental condo unit at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
It shows what you MUST do to make money when you buy a rental unit at Deer Ridge.
Every Dollar You Pay For Deer Ridge Is The WRONG Amount!
Please read the various posts here on this Deer Ridge Owners Blog - and see my evidence and analysis which I believe shows conclusively that EVERY dollar of HOA Fees, EVERY dollar EVERY special assessment, EVERY water bill and cable TV sent out for YEARS to ALL Deer Ridge Owners has been wrong!
In many cases at least ONE THIRD of ALL owners have been GROSSLY overcharged. My calculations show that I have been overcharged more than TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS in the past 50 months I've owned at Deer Ridge.
The Board has been WRONGLY and arbitrarily ignoring the requirements of the Master Deed and the Bylaws for YEARS.
If my analysis is correct, the Board has zero choice. They MUST abide by the Master Deed Percentages.
But they haven’t.
However, if the Board knowingly ignored the clear directives of the Master Deed and the Bylaws when allocating costs to various unit types, and overcharging certain unit types on a regular basis, my opinion is that the Board and Joe Thomas may have acted fraudulently.
If they have not been fraudulent, then they have been, at the very least, grossly negligent.
Read the various blog postings - and judge for yourself.
Comments Welcome From All Visitors
You are welcome to leave your comments on the various posts on the blog. You no longer have to be registered to comment. (Even regular contributors had trouble remembering their log on passwords!)
Note that SPAM blockers are in place - and all comments require approval to be visible.
So, let's hear from you on these topics!
To view the comments, you need to click on the post topic to see the entire post and the comments.
"We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert." — J. Robert Oppenheimer. This includes the Board of Directors of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
Recording HOA Board Meetings At Deer Ridge Mountain Resort In Gatlinburg
Twenty Percent Of US Population Live Under HOA Rules
Here is an interesting stat:
“Today, according to the Community Associations Institute, nearly 60 million Americans live in a planned development, condominium complex or some other form of housing governed by an association.
The number continues to grow. Firm statistics are hard to come by, but anecdotal evidence suggests that 80 percent of new housing being built in urban and suburban areas is in common-interest developments governed by covenants, conditions and restrictions, said Frank Rathbun, a spokesman for the institute.”
With this kind of growth, it is easy to see that HOA communities will quickly go from the current 20% – to a majority of households in the next decade or so. With that many more folks subject to the kind of HOA Board abuse that we see at Deer Ridge, there are an increasing number of new laws being passed by states to protect the people who live under HOA regimes. Tennessee just updated their condominium laws in 2008.
Part of our current legal investigations includes whether GGRC, Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club, is in compliance with these new condo laws.
As more folks tap the power of the blog and the Internet, these petty tyrants who attempt to usurp the power of HOAs will be publicly exposed for their violations of controlling property documents – and violations of state and federal laws.
Recording Board Meetings
As readers already know, several of us want to have the all board meetings for Deer Ridge Mountain Resort recorded so that all owners have a right to hear everything that ACTUALLY happens at those meetings – instead of the sanitized and biased “minutes” that are sent to owners.
As other owners who have reported here on this blog, when they read the minutes that are sent to all owners – they have commented that those minutes in no way reflect what actually happens at board meetings they attended – completely leaving out topics that are discussed for hours – and touting what might have been a minor discussion as a major part of the minutes as long as it might advance the bias of the board and Joe Thomas’ agenda.
I am receiving email from folks all over the country supporting our efforts to finally return the power of decision making to ALL owners at Deer Ridge. One reader just sent me a link to a Chicago newspaper article about a HOA there that wanted to stifle First Amendment Rights by trying to fine owners $10,000 for recording their board meetings.
While the following reflects Illinois law, I think it is probably indicative of our own legal rights in the upcoming lawsuits against GGRC and the individual board members and Joe Thomas.
Resolution “unlawful on several grounds,” says attorney
“Gross dereliction of fiduciary duty,” says former MTCA president
Unit owners not allowed to comment before rule is put into effect
Board members again exposed to lawsuit and personal liability
12-Nov-08 – In defiance of state law and the First Amendment, Marina Towers Condominium Association has banned “taping, filming or recording“ of its board meetings.
The resolution was announced at the September 24 meeting and put into effect immediately. A tape recorder in use at the time was then confiscated.
Recording would only be allowed if the unit owner signed a written agreement. The recording could only be for the owner’s personal use. The recording could not be given to anyone else. And the condominium association would retain ownership of the recording.
Violation of the rule would result in a $10,000 fine – against either the unit owner recording the meeting or any “unit owner, tenant or resident” who publishes, rebroadcasts or distributes the recording.
While acknowledging the right of unit owners under the Illinois Condominium Property Act to record the open portion of a condominium board meeting, subject to reasonable rules and regulations, the resolution points to other parts of the Act that says only unit owners may attend meetings and obtain meeting minutes.
A Chicago attorney who specializes in real estate law says the resolution violates the Condominium Property Act, Illinois Constitution, and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
According to R. Kymn Harp, an attorney with Robbins, Salomon and Patt, Ltd., “Although the MTCA board…purports to rely upon Section 18(a)(9) of the Condominium Property Act for authority to restrict the recording of the open portion of board meetings and the dissemination thereof, the…interpretation [of the section] is not based upon sound legal grounds.”
Harp says there are six criteria that must be used to make a rule enforceable. For example, the rule must be reasonably related to the purposes for which the association was formed and necessary to protect a legitimate association interest. The rule must not conflict with the Condominium Property Act. And the rule must be adopted by proper board action and made public to all owners and residents before its effective date.
“Additionally, Illinois case law requires that rules adopted by the board must be objective, evenhanded, nondiscriminatory, and uniformly applied,” says Harp.
(Left) R. Kymn Harp
The resolution claims it would be circulated to unit owners prior to a vote on its inclusion in MTCA rules and regulations. However, with the rule in place now, it’s been seven weeks since it was announced and unit owners still have not received a copy of the resolution.
Rule stymied by First Amendment
The First Amendment is troublesome for the MTCA ban. The Illinois Condominium Property Act says that “no rule or regulation may impair any rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America or Section 4 of Article I of the Illinois Constitution.”
Besides the U.S. Constitution, freedom of speech is protected by the Illinois Constitution.
Two other attorneys, who did not want to be identified, have said the resolution violates the First Amendment. The resolution has been described as “over-the-top,” adopted improperly, and unconstitutional, with the obvious purpose to suppress dissent.
The $10,000 fine, says Harp, is not reasonable or proportionate to the severity of the violation.
“The proposed rule of the MTCA board is unlawful on several grounds. It appears to serve no legitimate association interest; is not narrowly drafted; conflicts with Section 18 of the Condominium Property Act in that it violates Section 4 of Article I of the Illinois Constitution; purports to impose a fine that is not proportionate to the violation; and is not reasonably related to the purpose for which the condominium association has been formed.”
Harp also maintains that the rule appears to conflict with the responsibility of the board to act in a manner reasonably related to the exercise of its fiduciary duty – to the association as a whole and to individual members. “The rule is a clear attempt to chill the free and open discussion and criticism of board actions in violation of the free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.”
Harp says if challenged, the proposed rule would be found in court to be invalid and unenforceable.
“It may also form a basis for board member liability for seeking to deprive citizens of their constitutional right to free speech and dissent.”
Marina City Online to blame for this one
The resolution refers indirectly to Marina City Online. We have obtained recordings of MTCA meetings from unit owners, written a news article about each meeting, and then made available on our web site the original audio. MCO provided the only timely coverage of MTCA board meetings. It can take months for the MTCA’s coverage of its board meetings to appear in the MTCA newsletter. As of November 12, for example, on the MTCA web site the current newsletter is dated June 2008.
Although MTCA claims this hinders people attending board meetings from expressing their opinions, comments from audience members at condo board meetings have not been allowed for the past year.
Former MTCA board president Dr. Martin Flynn says recordings are permitted. “You do not need advance permission. I suppose they can have you sign a form that you will not disrupt the meeting or walk around, or intimidate, and that they have a record of who recorded the meeting but other than that I can’t think of any restriction that does not infringe on your right to record a meeting.”
Dr. Martin Flynn
Flynn, who was on the board from 2000 to 2002, is dubious of MTCA claims that it would own the recording. “Are they laying claim to notes that might be written? Also, state law only addresses the recording of meetings. It does not state, nor can one infer, that the board can determine what is done to the recording afterwards. Would they deny publication of a transcript? And finally, the fine itself is so large as to be egregious and again, cause pause and therefore hinder an owner from even attempting to record. It is a gross dereliction…of their fiduciary duty.”
Flynn recalls that in the 1990s, all board meetings were recorded and transcribed at a cost of $15,000 to $20,000 per year.
If you click Recordings you can read the article at their web site.
No More Trampled Rights At Deer Ridge
It is past time that Deer Ridge was properly managed by property owners who care about the rights of ALL owners. It is past time to FIRE every current board member and General Manager Joe Thomas – and elect owners who will run Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club in compliance with the Master Deed and Bylaws of our property – and in compliance with our First Amendment Rights.
Please leave YOUR comments below.
1 comment to Recording HOA Board Meetings At Deer Ridge Mountain Resort In Gatlinburg
Do the Deer Ridge Meeting Minutes Meet These Prudent Standards ?
Do you think they should ?
Function
It is suggested that meeting minutes are distributed to everyone that was in the meeting as soon as possible, so that questions can be raised and any necessary changes to the minutes can be made. Any changes must be made with the approval of everyone that was in attendance.
Once the minutes are agreed to, each meeting attendee signs off on the minutes to make them an official representation at what was covered at the meeting.
Types
The format of meeting minutes depends on what type of meeting is being held. An informal meeting should concentrate on capturing accurate and complete minutes, but the format of those minutes is not governed by any template or rules.
Formal meeting minutes, such as the annual shareholders meeting, are done by rules laid out in the company guidelines. The formal meeting minutes follow a strict set of guidelines that must be followed before the final minutes can be accepted.
Considerations
It is often a good idea to make sure that the meeting minute taker is someone that will not be participating actively in the meeting. The accuracy of meeting minutes is critically important, and it can be difficult for someone who is trying to participate in the meeting to take accurate and complete minutes.
Effects
Meeting minutes are meant to be unbiased and accurate recordings of the events that took place in a meeting. Prior to adjourning a meeting, the recorder of the minutes must confirm all of the information they have taken for the meeting and they must ask any questions needed to clarify something that may have been said. The job of the minute taker is not to interpret what is said, their job is to accurately record what was said.
Check out our new Deer Ridge Owners webcam for the current view from our balcony!
Just click the photo for the most recent update. Updated every 5 minutes.
Top 10 Cam Award!
Our new Cobbly Nob TN site was just chosen as an Earthcam Top 10 Webcam!
All of this in just our first two weeks of operation - and before we install our new wide angle, high definition lens! Stay tuned for even better images!
EarthCam, Inc. is the global leader in providing webcam content, technology and services and ranks among the top 1% of all websites. EarthCam.com is the world’s favorite webcam network and the EarthCam Network cameras have been seen on top news shows, including CNN’s Headline News.
New YouTube Channel For Deer Ridge Owners!
Check out ALL of our videos on our new YouTube Channel for Deer Ridge Owners:
We already have videos that will walk you around the whole property and give you reviews from past guests and tourists. Find out what they REALLY have to say about Deer Ridge!
We are adding even more videos in the next few weeks - so check out our Deer Ridge Owners Channel often!
Update: Just added two new videos for a total of 20 videos so far! Check them out!
Owner Files $3 Million Lawsuit Against HOA, General Manager And Board Members
A homeowner in Gatlinburg, Tennessee has filed a $3 Million Lawsuit against his HOA, General Manager And All Individual Board Members at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.
In response to their meritless, retaliatory $1 Million defamation lawsuit against me, I have now filed a $3 Million lawsuit against Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, AKA Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club HOA and Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise, all as individuals.
If you believe in free speech as much as we do, we need your help - no matter where in America you may live.
The Deer Ridge HOA board and individual board members have filed a $1 Million Lawsuit against me in their ongoing attempts to stop this blog and have its contents removed. Click Press Release for details.
This power clique wants to continue to block free speech on this property and to keep their illegitimate secrets hidden from other owners.
They are willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars of other owners' money on legal fees to keep themselves in power while they continue to break both Tennessee state law and Deer Ridge property law.
We need your help with the legal fees that will be required to force them to abide by the law - and insure that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is entitled to free speech like the rest of America.
If you would like to join with others who believe in free speech and believe that all of the 305,000 Home Owner Associations across the nation should be protected from tyrannical boards that ignore the laws, please click the
Donate Button below.
Even a donation of just a few dollars would be very greatly appreciated as a way of showing that we have financial support from thousands of Americans for these important issues!
Thanks so much to all of those of you who have already contributed!
Please help us broadcast this Press Release to others you know who can spread the word. You are welcome to link to this site from Twitter, Facebook or other sites.
With your help we can fight and win this $1 Million lawsuit - and keep this blog active - and an inspiration and model for other HOA Abuse Blogs across the nation.
Dr. Martin Flynn
Do the Deer Ridge Meeting Minutes Meet These Prudent Standards ?
Do you think they should ?
Function
It is suggested that meeting minutes are distributed to everyone that was in the meeting as soon as possible, so that questions can be raised and any necessary changes to the minutes can be made. Any changes must be made with the approval of everyone that was in attendance.
Once the minutes are agreed to, each meeting attendee signs off on the minutes to make them an official representation at what was covered at the meeting.
Types
The format of meeting minutes depends on what type of meeting is being held. An informal meeting should concentrate on capturing accurate and complete minutes, but the format of those minutes is not governed by any template or rules.
Formal meeting minutes, such as the annual shareholders meeting, are done by rules laid out in the company guidelines. The formal meeting minutes follow a strict set of guidelines that must be followed before the final minutes can be accepted.
Considerations
It is often a good idea to make sure that the meeting minute taker is someone that will not be participating actively in the meeting. The accuracy of meeting minutes is critically important, and it can be difficult for someone who is trying to participate in the meeting to take accurate and complete minutes.
Effects
Meeting minutes are meant to be unbiased and accurate recordings of the events that took place in a meeting. Prior to adjourning a meeting, the recorder of the minutes must confirm all of the information they have taken for the meeting and they must ask any questions needed to clarify something that may have been said. The job of the minute taker is not to interpret what is said, their job is to accurately record what was said.