Mediation

During the court hearing that was held on December 9, 2011, Judge Rex Ogle ruled that the parties would be required to participate in court ordered mediation.

Unfortunately, this mediation, while court ordered, is not binding.   If history is any indicator, the “board” will not participate in good faith which will mean that the mediation will be a complete waste of time and money.

My strong preference would be to turn this over to binding arbitration so these matters could be cost-effectively finalized.  But the “board” has no interest in this – and the judge cannot order this.  So, we are stuck with probable meaningless mediation.

While we had tried to short circuit this whole process with our motions for summary judgement, the judge made it clear during the hearing that he was not going to rule on any of the issues – and he seemed relieved to find out that we had requested a jury trial.  So be it.

Jury Trial

We will do what we can to expedite the mediation so that we can quickly get it out of the way – and move to set a trial date as quickly as we can -  once our interrogatories and depositions of Joe Thomas, board members and current and past employees are completed.

We are actually looking forward to showing 12 jurors our proof of the multiple violations by this “board.”

We can’t wait to show how the “board” has squandered 40% of every year’s HOA fees for 16.5 years on RML’s negative cash flow.

We can’t wait to show the jury how the “board” has wasted an average of $116,000 a year, EVERY YEAR, on feeding the negative cash flow of an illegitimately formed RML for a total of nearly $2 million.

We believe that a jury of our peers will see the ongoing bias and discrimination against any owner who does not use RML.

We believe that the jury will see from the evidence that Joe Thomas and the “board” have slandered and libeled me for years, including portraying me in a “false light.”

We believe that the jury will see the self serving benefits that Joe Thomas, board members and other “insiders” have enjoyed at the expense of other owners, including the “trade out” use of units that were not owned by these insiders.

We believe that the jury will see that the strained interpretations of the Master Deed by Joey and the Gang are transparent abuses of power that ignored the requirements of our governing documents.

We believe that the jury will see the ridiculous requirements for reviewing the books and records for what they are:  Intentional, multiple road blocks that are fully intended to actually keep the GGRC books and records out of the hands of owners – all an intentional and flagrant violation of the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act.

We believe that the jury will empathize and share our anger at how this “board” has arbitrarily and capriciously run Deer Ridge as their own private fiefdom for years.

We genuinely believe that 12 jurors who are all our peers will rule in our favor on all counts – and will require ALL the changes we have sought at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort – along with awarding us damages, interest and a return of all of our overcharged HOA fees and assessments.

For these, and other reasons, we very much look forward to this jury trial.

New Derivative Action Lawsuit

In addition to all of the above, we are currently preparing a new derivative action lawsuit against Joe Thomas and all individual board members.

This lawsuit will be brought by at least seven current Deer Ridge owners.

These owners will sue the Gang of Six on behalf of GGRC as a way of forcing this renegade “board” to shut down the money losing RML and force them to abide by the multitude of Master Deed and Bylaws that the “board” continues to violate.  More about this derivative action lawsuit in the near future.

They Started It – We Will Finish It

As one owner stated in a posting here on this blog, “The board started this.  They sued Robert first.  And they are wasting all of our money for their own agenda and vendetta.”

I obviously agree – but we will do what we need to do to finish this – and finish it right.

Stay tuned!

To:   Luther Parker and All Other Individual “Board” Members

Re:   Presentment Of Demands To All Individual Board Members On Behalf Of GGRC

Date:   November 10, 2011

On behalf of, and representing, Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club, aka GGRC, I hereby demand the following from all individual board members of GGRC and Ridge Management, Ltd. (“RML”).

• That RML be immediately shut down to stop the hemorrhage from massive cash flow losses that are jeopardizing GGRC’s financial future.
• That the 2012 budgets reflect no activity for RML.
• That Joe Thomas be fired for cause as a result of ongoing massive losses caused by his management of RML and the inability of GGRC to pay his excessive and above market compensation.
• That the 2012 budgets reflect that all HOA monthly fees be cut by 50% as a result of no longer losing money from operating RML and no longer paying the above market compensation of Joe Thomas.
• That an insurance escrow account be established and funded in full accordance with the GGRC Master Deed, Article X, entitled “Insurance”, that provides in Section 3 that all owners are to pay a separate check for their pro rata share of the Common Expense for insurance so that it can be deposited into a separate trust account.
• That all discrimination against resident owners cease immediately.

The above points are more fully described below.

However, the bottom line:  If these demands are not immediately and fully implemented, we intend on pursuing an emergency request for the Judge in our case to place a court appointed receiver in charge of all aspects of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and remove this board and Joe Thomas from any and all decision making.

If these demands are not met, we intend on presenting motions for this and other actions, during the scheduled December 9, 2011 hearing on our motion for partial summary judgment.

Immediately Shut Down RML And Fire Joe Thomas

You admitted in the August 2011 board minutes that RML lost over $58,000 for the first six months of  2011.  You admitted you were arbitrarily shifting approximately $16,000 in RML expenses to GGRC in order to “cook” the books and misrepresent the real cost of operating RML.

This admitted loss extrapolates to a nearly $120,000 admitted loss for RML each year.  By my calculations, the real loss with honest cost accounting is over $150,000 a year.  This represents over HALF of all HOA fees collected each year from all Deer Ridge owners.

As a consequence, by shutting down RML, our HOA would no longer have to pay these monies out to support RML and could cut all HOA fees in half – which is the best thing for ALL owners.

As you know from prior correspondence, I have successfully negotiated a rental management deal with Cobbly Nob Rentals.  They are bigger, more experienced, generate better results for owners in gross collections and is significantly less expensive than RML.  RML is, in fact, charging all Deer Ridge owners a rental management fee that is 43% higher than the Cobbly Nob Rental deal.

As a consequence, all owners are better off using Cobbly Nob Rentals than RML for two reasons:

1. They get to deposit that extra 43% in their own bank accounts
2. All owners save half of their annual HOA fees that are currently being squandered on supporting RML’s huge negative cash flow.

RML has always lost owners a lot of money.  By my calculations, over $1.3 million.  By Joe Thomas’ own accounting, even with improper cost accounting, RML lost GGRC home owners over $359,000 over a ten year period from 1995-2004.

Again, these are numbers from Joe Thomas showing at LEAST a $359,000 loss that was paid for out of the pockets of every Deer Ridge owner during this 10 year period.

Irrespective of the fact that I believe that RML is totally illegitimate according to our Master Deed and Bylaws, the above numbers show how incredibly stupid it is for GGRC to be in the motel business.

There are only massive losses and no upside potential for Deer Ridge owners.  And, with the deal that I successfully negotiated with Cobbly Nob Rentals, all owners who want to rent their unit now have a much more cost effective solution by a better, more established and successful company that let’s them keep 43% more money in their pockets.

• How can you all, as individual board members, even recommend that any owner waste 43% more of their money by using RML when there is a better alternative available to all owners who want to rent their unit at no cost and no risk to GGRC?
• How can you all, as individual board members, even recommend that RML be continued when it is clearly NOT in the best interests of GGRC and all owners when HALF of all HOA fees are going to feed the huge RML negative cash flow?
• How can you all, as individual board members, even recommend that RML be continued when you are wrongly charging at least 20 owners who do not use RML services – and still get charged pro rata for the massive cash flow loss of past years and even the first six months of 2011?

As a consequence, prudent management requires that RML be shut down immediately and certainly before the end of calendar year 2011 so that GGRC and all owners do not continue to hemorrhage massive losses from the bank account of GGRC and the pockets of all owners.

Every month of delay is costing GGRC nearly $10,000 right out of our bank account – and those funds are lost forever.  And, each month that goes by where more and more Deer Ridge owners give RML their 60 Day Termination Notice so they don’t have to pay the 43% higher fee – the negative cash flow for RML will skyrocket.

For every two dozen owners who are smart enough to change from RML to Cobbly Nob Rentals, RML will lose another $120,000 a year or more.

This would DOUBLE the current $10,000 a month negative cash flow to $20,000 a month – or nearly $250,000 a year LOSS from RML! 

As a result, any budget projections shown by Joe Thomas for RML for 2012 will be based on smoke and mirrors since he has no way of knowing how many of the 63 owners that started the summer with RML will stay with RML.  As I understand it, Cobbly Nob already has signed contracts or indications of intention from a DOZEN owners.

Are you going to DOUBLE everyone’s current assessment to cover this huge negative cash flow and keep us all in the motel business, no matter what?

What happens if or when three dozen or even four dozen owners are smart enough to keep that extra 43% in their pockets?

How much will you lose us between now and the inevitable end when you will have no choice but to shut down RML?

It is past time to shut down RML.  Shut it down!

On behalf of GGRC, I hereby demand that the individual board members vote during the November 11-12, 2011 budget board meeting to shut down RML before the end of 2011.  This presentment is to officially put each and every board member on notice that you are considered to be guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to squander GGRC assets through your ongoing operation of RML.

As such, you may not be afforded any protection under the indemnification clauses of our Master Deed and Bylaws and may be held personally accountable for the repayment of these squandered funds.

Part of this shut down also includes firing Joe Thomas who is directly responsible for the abysmal results of RML for the past two decades.

GGRC does not need his services nor his exorbitant pay package that is significantly above market.  On behalf of GGRC, I hereby put all individual board members on notice that you are guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to squander GGRC assets through your ongoing employment of Joe Thomas.

Cut ALL HOA Fees In Half

As the arithmetic shows, without RML and without the huge salary package of Joe Thomas, over half of our annual HOA fees could be cut so that ALL owners benefited from these reduced costs.

On behalf of GGRC, I hereby put all individual board members on notice that you are guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to squander GGRC assets by overcharging all owners for their monthly and annual HOA fees and demand that the 2012 budget for GGRC properly reflect HOA fees that are HALF of the current amounts charged to ALL owners.

Insurance Escrow

It is clear that you all, as individual board members, have not established and maintained the required insurance escrow account that is mandated by the GGRC Master Deed.

To protect all owners, the Master Deed (see below) requires that all premiums are escrowed in a separate escrow account to ensure that the funds are available when the annual premium becomes due…and that the full amount of the premium is required to be totally escrowed at least 60 days prior to the due date of the annual insurance premium.

I am highly concerned that there has never been any attempt of any kind by Joe Thomas and the “board” for any owner to abide by this requirement since my purchase in 2005.

I am further concerned that all owners at Deer Ridge are not being afforded the economic protection provided by Article X Section 3 of the Master Deed. I believe there may not be any separate escrow account established and properly funded in accordance with Section 3 of Article X.

Since the annual insurance premium is substantive at approximately $50,000, my calculations show that approximately $5,000 should be escrowed each month so the amount of the account balance should be sufficient to pay the annual $50,000 sixty days prior to the due date as required by the Master Deed.

On behalf of GGRC, I hereby demand that the individual board members vote during the November 11-12, 2011 budget board meeting to form and fully fund this required insurance escrow before the end of November 2011.

This presentment is to officially put each and every board member on notice that you are considered to be guilty of gross negligence and gross mismanagement by continuing to jeopardize GGRC assets through your ongoing violation of the above insurance article of our Master Deed.

Likewise, as required by the above section, I hereby demand on behalf of GGRC that the 2012 budget and payment schedule required of each owner reflect that a separate payment be made by all owners that is properly written for direct deposit into this separate and dedicated insurance escrow account.

Discrimination Against Resident Owners

We believe that Joe Thomas and some, or all, “board members” have conspired to discriminate in both overt and subtle ways against resident owners and others who do not use the motel services of RML.

These include:

• Instructing and rewarding certain “guests” to intentionally make as much noise as possible in units directly above a resident owner’s unit.  We know as a fact that this has happened numerous times and intend on requiring current employees to provide their depositions and/or sworn interrogatories with regard to their knowledge and participation in said harassment as well as having our attorney contact those “guests” who were present during those times of intentional noise harassment.  We believe that neither employees or past guests will risk the consequences of perjury to protect known instigators of this activity.
• Limiting the use and contents of owner’s balconies and landings in ways that are clearly aimed at resident owner’s use as differentiated from balcony and walkway landing use and needs of tourists who only stay a few days.
• Limiting the use of the common area parking lot in ways that are clearly aimed at resident owner’s use as differentiated from parking lot use and needs of tourists who only stay a few days.
• Interfering with, or delaying, mail delivery.
• Attempting to control property sales to only those new owners who indicate a willingness to use the motel services of RML.
• Requiring resident owners to notify the office if they are going to be absent from their own unit for even one night.
• Interfering with the use of common areas by resident owners and their guests.
• Etc.

On behalf of GGRC, I hereby demand that the individual board members immediately take whatever steps are necessary to stop the ongoing harassment and attempted intimidation of all resident owners and to ensure that it never happens again.

Court Appointed Receiver To Take Over All Operations And Decisions Regarding GGRC, RML and Deer Ridge Mountain Resort

If the above demands are not met during the November 11-12, 2011 board meeting, we intend to file emergency motions with the Court during our scheduled hearing on December 9, 2011.

• The first will be to require that all monies be paid to the Court by GGRC that are supposed to be in a separate escrow account for the property insurance that equals approximately $50,000 a year.  Our Master Deed requires this separate escrow account to protect all owners.  Our “board” has chosen to ignore this part, and so many other parts, of our GGRC documents, with the result that they have put all owners at significant risk.  By requiring the funds to be paid into the Court, these monies can be protected.

• An emergency motion for the Court to appoint a receiver to take over all management and control of GGRC.  The “board” continues to keep our HOA in the money losing motel business.  According to their own board meeting meetings in August 2011, they were forced to admit that they lost over $58,000 of OUR money during just the first six months of 2011.  This is money that is gone forever from our GGRC reserves.  This amounts to almost $120,000 a year.  On top of this, they are trying to fool all owners by wrongly allocating an additional $16,000 a year in RML expenses by showing them to be GGRC expenses.  If all cost accounting were done properly, RML would be shown to lose over $150,000 a year – or more than HALF of our HOA fees that all owners pay to GGRC each month.  I successfully found a better management company for all owners who want to rent their unit.  RML charges 43% more than Cobbly Nob Rentals – so there is no need for RML by any owner.  Since the “board” is unwilling to shut down RML, and continues to mismanage and negligently operate GGRC, we will immediately seek that a court appointed receiver take over all operations – and remove all decision making from Joe Thomas and every member of the “board.”  If we don’t do this, GGRC is at significant risk of being forced into bankruptcy.

These are just two of the additional motions we intend to aggressively pursue in court on December 9th.

Additionally, if the “board” tries to implement ANY changes to the rules and regulations that are deemed to be discriminatory against resident owners, including new limitations regarding balcony use or the like, we will also document this ongoing and flagrant pattern of discrimination before the Court.

It is our strong belief that the Court will take into account the many ways that the current “board” is both blatantly ignoring the governing documents of Deer Ridge and GGRC and creating the financial peril that has resulted from the board’s continued operation of its motel business through RML.

As a consequence, we are confident that the Judge will agree with our motion that a court appointed receiver immediately take over ALL decision making for GGRC – including shutting down RML and making all books and records required by the Tennessee Horizontal Property Act available to ALL owners who want to see exactly what has been happening on this property for the past decade.

Updated Derivative Action Lawsuit

In addition, this document is presentment of these issues on behalf of GGRC to all individual board members.  It is our intention to incorporate these demands, including the discrimination against resident owners, in our updated derivative action lawsuit against Joe Thomas and each individual board member.

We expect this updated derivative action, showing at least SEVEN Deer Ridge owners as co-plaintiffs, to be filed with the Court in the very near term.

You Have Been Warned

Individual board members, you have been warned.  Govern yourselves accordingly as an individual who can be held individually liable for both gross mismanagement and gross negligence.

On behalf of GGRC,

Robert Goodman, Owner
———————————–

Legalese On

GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:

Note: This email, 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

Two Major Issues To Be Decided During December 9, 2011 Court Date

We have a scheduled court date one month from today on December 9, 2011 – that could change everything at Deer Ridge.

On May 25, 2011, I filed a motion for a partial summary judgement against GGRC and the individual “board” members in response to their lawsuit against me for non-payment of the Asinine Assessment.

My motion for partial summary judgment contends that this was a $353,500 “special assessment” that illegitimately required owners to pay the wrong amounts – and to pay for improvements that had not been properly approved.

If I win on just these two points, it will have a massive, permanent impact on the way things are done at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.

• It could mean that the special assessment may be rescinded in full by the Judge – or that everyone’s payment amount has to be recalculated – including requiring the “board” to return part or all of the payments made by some or all owners.
• It could mean that the individual board members may be held personally liable to repay over $200,000 that were paid on improperly approved alterations and improvements.

If you click on the below image, you can download and read the full 17 page motion to see our major points of issue.

Why A Partial Summary Judgment?

As you can see from the motion, all we are requiring is that the Judge simply read the GGRC Master Deed and Bylaws and rule on his interpretation of these documents.  There is no testimony that is needed – just an interpretation of the documents.

It is my belief that our Master Deed and Bylaws are crystal clear:

• That they require a very specific formula for pro rating all assessments, both monthly and special, that are dependent on the size condo you own at Deer Ridge.  It is our contention that the “board” continues to violate the governing documents for Deer Ridge by charging the wrong amounts for all monthly assessments and for any special assessments.  Based on my calculations, all 30 of the owners who own a 1-1 unit at Deer Ridge are being overcharged by 82%!
• That ALL improvements and alterations, irrespective of cost, require BOTH a 75% positive vote of all owners AND a 90% positive vote of all mortgagees. It is our contention that the 75% vote has been rarely done – and that the 90% has NEVER been done.  If this is ruled in our favor, this means that the “board” acted ultra vires – which means that they knowingly spent a huge amount of OUR money without the proper approvals – which subjects them to potential liability to repay GGRC these monies.

All we are requesting with this motion for partial summary judgment is that the Judge read the 89 page GGRC documents and rule based on his interpretation.

Our hope is that he will quickly see that our interpretations are the only ones that make any sense – and not the contrived, illogical and stretched interpretations that the “board” has depended on for so many years.

If we lose on the motion for partial summary judgment, we have several other defenses that we will use in the trial – defenses that require evidence and testimony that are not allowed for summary judgement but are allowed in trial.  However, we are highly confident that the Judge, upon reading our Master Deed and Bylaws, will rule in favor of our interpretations.

Get Ready For A “Run On The Bank” If We Win This Partial Summary Judgment On Voiding The Special Assessment

If we win just one of the two major defenses in this partial summary judgment AND win this one part of our ongoing lawsuit, it may possibly have the effect of negating the “special assessment” for everyone – especially those who push the issue in Court like we have.

The problem for the “board” is that they and Joey have already spent your money!

In our case, we already have our money – because we were smart enough to not pay it to them in the first place.  For all owners who have paid, if we win even one of the two points, I would recommend that you hurry up and get in line to get your money back as soon as you can.

Note: I am NOT an attorney and do not give legal advice. Ever.  Period.

However, from a business perspective, I would strongly advise you try and get your special assessment back ASAP.

You might consider taking the above 17 page document to your own attorney and have them use this as the basis of your own lawsuit against GGRC and the board for recovering your own two payments made on the “special assessment.”  By using our document as a starting point, you might be able to save yourself some legal fees.

The other, derivative impact will be an immediate, required change to the monthly assessments that all owners pay to GGRC each month.

Repayment of $200,000 By Board Members As Individuals

If we win on the 90% mortgagee issue on this motion for partial summary judgement, it is my hope that this will make the individual board members personally responsible to repay the more than $92,000 (26% of the total “special assessment”) that was illegitimately spent on the walkways and lighting improvements and alterations since their actions were ultra vires.

Of course, this partial summary judgement ruling will just deal with the $92,000 of illegitimate Article XII funds that have been spent without proper authority. Based on my initial analysis of several expenditures made by the board, I calculate that all illegitimate Article XII funds spent already exceeds $200,000.  These are monies that required a 75% vote of ALL owners AND the vote of 90% of ALL the mortgage holders for all mortgages at Deer Ridge.

My personal goal if we win on this 75% / 90% issue is to force the individual board members to repay ALL $200,000 back to GGRC along with interest, etc. with our derivative action part of our countersuit.

While We Are In Court – Other Motions May Also Get Decided

Since my attorney and I will already be there, we intend to present other motions before the Judge:

• An emergency motion for the Court to require all monies be paid to the Court by GGRC that are supposed to be in a separate escrow account for the property insurance that equals approximately $45,000 a year.  Our Master Deed requires this separate escrow account to protect all owners.  Our “board” has chosen to ignore this part, and so many other parts, of our GGRC documents, with the result that they have put all owners at significant risk.  By requiring the funds to be paid into the Court, these monies can be protected.
• An emergency motion for the Court to appoint a receiver to take over all management and control of GGRC.  The “board” continues to keep our HOA in the money losing motel business.  According to their own board meeting meetings in August 2011, they were forced to admit that they lost over $58,000 of OUR money during just the first six months of 2011.  This is money that is gone forever from our GGRC reserves.  This amounts to almost $120,000 a year.  On top of this, they are trying to fool all owners by wrongly allocating an additional $16,000 a year in RML expenses by showing them to be GGRC expenses.  If all cost accounting were done properly, RML would be shown to lose over $150,000 a year – or more than HALF of our HOA fees that all owners pay to GGRC each month.  I successfully found a better management company for all owners who want to rent their unit.  RML charges 43% more than Cobbly Nob Rentals – so there is no need for RML by any owner.  Since the “board” is unwilling to shut down RML, and continues to mismanage and negligently operate GGRC, we will immediately seek that a court appointed receiver take over all operations – and remove all decision making from Joe Thomas and every member of the “board.”  If we don’t do this, GGRC is at significant risk of being forced into bankruptcy.

These are just two of the additional motions we intend to aggressively pursue in court on December 9th.  Additionally, if the “board” tries to implement ANY changes to the rules and regulations regarding balcony use or the like that are discriminatory toward resident owners, we will also aggressively challenge the “board” by showing an ongoing and flagrant pattern of discrimination.

In addition to all of the above, our attorney is currently working on additional, new filings with regard to derivation action against ALL “board” members, deceptive trade practices by Joe Thomas and other actions that are anticipated in the very near future….including SIX more Deer Ridge Owners joining our lawsuit against Joe Thomas and all “board” members.

We Live In Interesting Times!

Stay tuned….we may be seeing paradigm shifts in the way things have been done for many years at Deer Ridge.  And justice may start December 9, 2011.

I received the following comment last night from Neil Blair, one of your fellow owners at Deer Ridge, about his decision and experience changing from RML to Cobbly Nob Rentals.

Six Down / 57 To Go?

Neil mentioned to me that Cobbly’s General Manager Doug Sharp said that four Deer Ridge Owners have now signed up with two more already in the works.  That will bring to SIX the total number of owners who are already benefiting from the deal I negotiated with Cobbly that can help all owners from paying 43% more for rental management when compared to the outrageous fees of RML.

There are effectively 78 owners at Deer Ridge (some owners own more than one unit.)  Approximately 15 owners are either residents or do not rent out their units.  That leaves about 63 owners who do want to rent their units.  Based on the above, 6 of these have already made the move – and that’s before most owners even know about the new Cobbly Nob Rentals deal.

We plan on contacting all owners in the very near future – and are confident that many of the 60 or so owners who are still using RML will make the change immediately.  After all, who doesn’t want to save themselves 43%?

My hope is that at least three dozen of the 60 owners who are using RML are smart and make the change.  If so, this would only leave about 24 owners who are staying with RML for some reason.

• Of course, at some point even the “board” will have to recognize just how grossly negligent they are by trying to keep a money losing motel business going…and will have to shut down RML.
• With RML already losing $10,000 a MONTH, how much will they lose each month of OUR HOA MONEY as the smart owners change over to Cobbly Nob Rentals?
• How much MORE will they raise their management fee to those owners who stay with RML?
• How much MORE creative accounting will they use to hide what RML really costs – as more owners leave and sign up with Cobbly?
• How will they show a believable and justifiable RML budget for 2012 that is due in all owners’ hands no later than December 1, 2011?
• How much more of OUR money will they waste in the coming months desperately trying to keep the RML doors open?

Of course, the good news is that once RML is shut down, we should be able to cut the HOA Fees for ALL owners in HALF!

Dear Board: Get A Clue.

Pay attention, “board.”

I found us a much better deal for ALL owners that will save ALL owners THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS a year EACH for  those who change to Cobbly Nob Rentals.

(As a matter of fact, you all as a “board” SHOULD have been the ones, under your fiduciary responsibility, to search out and find the best rental management deal for all owners – instead of continuing to lose all owners money by insisting that RML stay in the motel business!)

As a “board”, you should all want what is best for ALL owners and staying with RML is no longer good for ANY owner – unless, in my personal opinion, some owners or board members are getting “special treatment” that is unavailable to all owners who use RML.

Board Members:  Admit it now – and save all owners and our HOA from squandering tens of thousands of MORE dollars trying to keep the already technically bankrupt RML on life support with OUR money.  Remember, each of you, individually, can be held personally accountable for gross mismanagement and gross negligence – and the Bylaws do NOT indemnify you for this!

Tick. Tock.  Every day of more squandered money – is more money each of you could be held liable for paying back to our GGRC HOA.

Neil’s Comment On Signing Up With Cobbly Nob Rentals

Here are Neil’s comments from last night:

Called Doug’s office, he was not in, but the young lady I spoke to called him with my cell number and, within 10 min., I was speaking to Doug. I just e-mailed my Cobbly Nob Management Agreement to them yesterday.

After using my unit this week-end, it will be managed by Cobbly Nob Rentals.

I have had several resort rental units in Florida. The rental company has always been on site, but never owned and operated by the home owners association.

It is my considered opinion that the Home Owners at Deer Ridge do Not need to be in the rental business since it causes too many problems, and liabilities, for the owners.

I strongly believe that any board of directors that tries to oversee 3 separate entities, all at the same time: A Home Owners Association, Rental Management Co. and a Real Estate Brokerage. would have too much to manage. Then, add in the fact that the same one person that manages our Home Owners Assoc. ALSO Manages the rental company and ALSO runs the real estate brokerage company.  Then, consider that same person is also PAID to run all 3 and juggle the best interests of all 3…

Any Manager and Board Would Have a VERY hard time keeping the best interests of all 3 entities in focus.  I have seen and heard our board go back and forth on matters of great concern regarding one or the other entity, while doing the best they can, it is very hard for them to make the hard decisions with the homeowners’ best interests solely in mind.

I truly believe we need to have our board FOCUS on keeping the property at Deer Ridge their ONLY Concern.

Let anyone you wish manage your rentals,  but we need to get back to the real business at hand here of strictly managing our HOA and that, in my opinion, should be the SOLE focus of our board.

Neil Blair  C-208

Thanks, Neil!

Save Yourself 43%

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PPS: Don’t forget – if you sign up with Cobbly Nob Rentals in the next 30 days, you get a ZERO cost transfer! Call Doug Sharp’s personal cell phone at 865-548-3722 and get signed up today while this ZERO cost transfer is still available.

Below is a copy of an email that was sent to Joe Thomas and the “board” at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.

We believe that Joe Thomas continues his attempted harassment, intimidation and discrimination against any and all resident owners at Deer Ridge who in any way reduces his income from the illegitimate RML motel rental activities.

Judge For Yourself

To:         Joe Thomas and “Board”
Re:         Two Letters Regarding Our Handling Of Noisy, Obnoxious Tourists

We received your specious letters of August 5, 2011 and August 24, 2011 complaining about my approach to handling noisy, obnoxious tourists who stay in Unit A-302 at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.

Neither of your letters are worth my time to point out the countless factual errors and false allegations and spurious assertions that have zero merit…but let me clarify some points for you and the “board” that pertain to this subject:

• I view these letters for what they are:  part of an ongoing pattern of attempted harassment and intimidation by you and the “board” in order to continue your discrimination against any and all resident owners at Deer Ridge who in any way reduces your income from the illegitimate RML motel rental activities.
• We have been told by four tourists in the past six weeks that you are offering a “reward”, incentive or other kinds of compensation in exchange for those tourists generating a positive, glowing report on their stay at Deer Ridge.  Besides the clear lack of any ethical moral compass in your even attempting to bribe tourists to give these glowing reports, it strongly emphasizes what I personally believe to be fact:  That you continue to flood travel sites with these kinds of bogus reports in order to bury the many negative reports that honest tourists file regarding their stay at Deer Ridge.
• Likewise, because of what we see as proof of your tourist report manipulation, we believe that the one that you included in the August 5th letter could have been equally manipulated to misrepresent the truth in order to harass me as a resident owner.  I even find that the wording of the tourist complaint smacks of being coached for compensation.
• I do continue to note that when the property is almost completely vacant, all the tourists seem to be magically clustered in the A Building, based on parking hangers in the windshields…whereas almost all of C and D Buildings are completely vacant.
• Once we get the books and records, we plan on investigating the statistical spreads of rental nights to see if there is, indeed, a pattern of dumping as many tourists as possible in units close to resident owners. If this is, indeed, being done, it is not only more proof of ongoing discrimination against resident owners…but it is also robbing owners in the C and D Buildings of their proportionate share of rental income.
• We have also been told by three recent tourists that stayed in Unit A-302 that they knew we were owners. We find this highly suspicious since there is nothing whatsoever on our door that indicates in any way that we are owners.  Hence, the only way these tourists could have known that fact was that they were told that during some kind of discussion with the office staff or with you.  Besides the obvious increased risk factors to us and the safety of our home created by this kind of inappropriate disclosure, we see this as signs of yet more slander and discrimination against resident owners.
• This further supports our strong suspicion that you are willfully and intentionally placing tourists above us who may be instructed, and rewarded, to be especially obnoxious when it comes to being noisy.  This would be consistent with what we have been told by prior resident owners here at Deer Ridge that were equally convinced of your attempted harassment and intimidation in order to discriminate against any and all resident owners.

Additionally, we are not constrained by your methodology to deal with obnoxious tourist behavior.

• Your “quiet hours” are only a subset of our quiet hours.  As a disabled, senior citizen who is home most of the time, my quiet hours are more extensive.  As such, I am investigating my legal rights under federal and state fair housing laws that prohibit any discrimination against the disabled and the elderly by you and the “board.”
• In fact, I have the legal right to the peaceful and quiet enjoyment of my home ALL the time.
• We find that the tourists at Deer Ridge pretty much follow the usual 80%/20% rule.  80% of the tourists are considerate and accommodating once we let them know that the foot fall problem is so bad here due to design issues of the entire property.
• We find that knocking on the ceiling once or twice is usually sufficient for reasonable parents to keep their kids from running and jumping around in A-302.
• Other times, we find that giving them the one page note that you found so objectionable solves the problem.  (Since you erroneously consider it a “sign” that somehow violates the Master Deed and Bylaws, we will either hand it to them directly or leave it as a letter in an envelope for them.  Frankly, this same note should be framed and hung in every rental property so that tourists understand the problem since so many complaints regarding foot fall noise have been listed on Trip Advisors, Expedia, etc.)
• When the above does not work, I will continue to pound harder and more frequently on our ceiling and I will be forced to increase my direct confrontations with these obnoxious, inconsiderate tourists as I see fit in my sole discretion within the legal constraints of local and state law.
• Since you find my one page note so objectionable, I will, from now on, immediately call the Pittman Center Police Department for help in cases of someone as objectionable as the tourist mentioned in your August 5th letter.
• We have never benefited from any noise relief by calling the office and will not waste our time with that approach any more.  We have received immense help and support on Deer Ridge noise problems with the Pittman Center Police.
• Our objections to noise are not solely focused on tourists.  As you know, there is another resident in our building who is notorious for noise and a blaring radio on her balcony.  When other approaches would not work, I finally called the Pittman Police Department on May 24th.  I had recorded the incident on video and the police officer graciously heard our complaint and immediately dealt with this owner.  In the nearly 100 days since the police call, there has been zero noise problem from this other owner.  If she causes a problem again, even once, we will not hesitate to immediately call the police again, including filing a complaint for prosecution.  (You are welcome to view the filed police report if you wish.)
• The police officer made it clear that it is part of his job to deal with noise issues at Deer Ridge and urged us to immediately call regarding ANY noise problems we have at this property.
• As a consequence, from now on, if we ever have another obnoxious tourist above us who does not immediately cease and desist their noise causing activities, I will once again call the Pittman Center Police Department.
• Likewise, if you EVER rent to a group who hires a band to play in the pavilion again, we will immediately call the Pittman Center Police Department.  We don’t care how many drunken golfers you may have rented units to.  We don’t care what you may deem to be quiet hours. We don’t care how much money you or RML make from the pavilion rental. It will never be tolerated again.
• Whether you like it or not, the above is OUR legal and legitimate methodology for dealing with noise issues at Deer Ridge.

I hereby demand that you and the “board” immediately:

• Stop any and all harassment of any and all resident owners at Deer Ridge.
• Stop trying to unethically manipulate reviews of Deer Ridge.
• Stop any and all slander of us or other resident owners to tourists.  No tourist has any need to know who is an owner here.

We also demand that you stop any intentionally noisy or potentially noisy tourists from staying in Unit A-302.  With all the vacancies at Deer Ridge, it is easy enough to direct them to units above empty condos.

After all, I doubt you want to have a police officer, with uniform, badge and gun, show up knocking on doors at Deer Ridge – or showing up at some drunken party at the pavilion.

Who knows what kind of reviews those kinds of confrontations might generate?

Joe, now that you know MY methodology on noise control, and MY approach to ensure that I have peace and quiet in my own home, I hope you will begin to govern yourself accordingly.

And, if you can’t seem to control yourself, I hope that the “board” will help you understand the implications of all of the above.

cc:  Deer Ridge Owners Blog

PS:  Naturally, all of the above is my own personal opinion.  Please see disclaimer below.

———————————–

Legalese On

GENERAL DISCLAIMER FOR ALL PAGES AND POSTS AND EVERYTHING ELSE I DO OR SAY REGARDING DEER RIDGE AND ANY AND ALL RELATED PARTIES:

Note: This email, 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

There has been a long running list of discriminatory acts at Deer Ridge by Joe Thomas and the “board” against owners who reside full time in their own units.

The underlying cause of this is clear:  The Gang of Six (Joe Thomas + Five “board” members) is doing whatever they can, irrespective of our Master Deed and Bylaws, to keep us in the motel business no matter how much it costs ALL owners to feed their huge negative cash flow.  The Gang is determined to keep “Little Joe’s Notel Motel And Mountain Resort” operating – even if it drives GGRC into bankruptcy.

Since that is their main goal, any owner who does not use RML, with their rip-off rate of 50% management fees, is considered the enemy.  So, their agenda seems to be to run off anyone who occupies their unit and interferes with their motel business.  With RML barely hanging on by a thread, even gaining one more unit might be pivotal.  Even if that means trying to force resident owners to sell in frustration from all of the harassment.

One Smoking Gun:  The Board Minutes of April 2004

If you have any doubts that this RML focus is the prevailing mindset of the power elite and Joe Thomas, I invite you to click BOD Meeting 043004 to download a complete copy of the minutes from that “board” meeting.  What you will find on page 3 is the following:

Maybe it is just me – but that sure looks like it is clearly the intent of the board at that time, along with its general manager Joe Thomas, to illegitimately gerrymander prospective buyers of all condos for sale at Deer Ridge.

If anything, my guess is that the Gang of Six is even more desperate now, seven years later, to get this property so every unit is a rental unit.  And, by definition, if it is a resident owner unit, it cannot be a rental unit.

Notice they want to research “the legal limits” of not allowing any “future units being sold to become non-rental units.”  This means to me that they don’t mind getting into some very gray areas of enforcing this issue even beyond black and white legal limits.

(Note:  this should also be a major red flag if YOU are one of the 19 out of 84 units (23% of all Deer Ridge units) currently for sale through Joe Thomas and Ridge Resort Realty.  Be sure and read how Joe may not have your best interests at heart and may be ignoring interested buyers who may want to be resident owners since it would negatively impact him and RML!

Read “Smoking Gun: Board Minutes Show Intent To Block Sales To Non-RML Buyers“)

We believe this “gray area” beyond “the legal limits” to turn all of Deer Ridge into a “rental property only” has continued to be aggressively pursued by Joe Thomas and the Gang to this day.

Board Minutes of April 2011

During the last “board meeting” in April 2011, the Gang of Six instituted changes to the Rules and Regulations that directly discriminate against resident owners at Deer Ridge.

Notice the yellow-highlighted areas.

• There is NO need whatsoever for resident owners to notify the office that they will be away overnight.  This is a gross invasion of privacy and does not effect the office or its operation whatsoever.  They already have an emergency number.  We have lived in many condos during the past several decades and NONE of them EVER required anything of the sort by resident owners.  We see this requirement as a major security issue.  If the office and other personnel know that we are gone for X number of days and nights, along with the office having a key to our condo, this opens up multiple, potential opportunities for break-ins and other nefarious acts such as theft, vandalism, etc.  Plus, we have documented proof of Joe Thomas and RML renting OUR unit when there was NO rental agreement whatsoever.  Could it be that Joey wants this advanced notice for more of that kind of illegitimate nonsense? We see the Gang’s insistence on this as a despicable interference with our quiet enjoyment of our own home and will NOT provide them prior notice of any of our travel plans.
• This parking requirement for no more than two vehicles was clearly aimed at one resident owner who happens to have two cars and three motorbikes.  This owner only took up three parking spaces with all of these vehicles at one of the far ends of the property.  We see this as more evidence of an ongoing pattern of discriminatory behavior against resident owners.  We often see tourists here who have more than two vehicles per unit.
• Note that Item 5 also says it OK for small motorcycle trailers and small RVs to be here for 14 days.  Clearly, this is more discrimination.  What difference is there if Tourist A is here for a week or two with the above and then Tourist B shows up with the same above vehicles, then Tourist C, etc.  I think you see my point.  It is OK for tourists who support RML to do things that are NOT allowed by resident owners!
• Item 6 says no vehicle maintenance which means I can’t even clean my windshields or fill my windshield washer reserve without violating this far reaching and ambiguous section of the Gang of Six’s Rules and Regs? What about jump starting a dead battery?  What’s interesting is that an employee had to work on their car in the parking lot during the past month.  Plus, we see tourists having to work on their cars often – especially with the drop in the tourist social-economic profile during the past year (a LOT of this year’s tourists don’t use suitcases – they use trash bags for their belongings.)
• Item 10 has been used against resident owners by Joey claiming that guests of owners cannot be in the pool since they are not registered RML guests.  This again is clear discrimination.  Joey claims that the owner must be present for owner’s guests to use the facilities.  Really, Joe?  What difference is there if I offer my unit to my sister to use and she wants to use the pool – versus an owner using RML and those tourists using the pool?  Besides, we already have all of those non owner cabin tourists using our facilities for free, increasing wear and tear that all owners have to pay for…just so RML can stay in the motel business.

I believe all of the above clearly shows a pattern of intentional discrimination against resident owners.

But, wait!  There’s more.

Future Attempted Changes To the Rules And Regs – For More Discrimination Against Resident Owners

During the same April 2011 board meeting, the minutes reflect even more onerous discrimination.  This is an excerpt from those minutes:

Clearly, there are FOUR types of owners – all of whom have property rights – irrespective of the Gang’s gray area discrimination attempts to turn all of Deer Ridge into a 100% rental property for the RML motel business.

A key element of this discussion is to try and impose rules that will constrain resident owners that won’t have any real impact on the tourist trade.  For example, the constraints on the use of your own balcony.  This includes last year’s discussion about prohibiting even small stacks of firewood on the balconies.  Obviously, tourists would not use a balcony the same way a resident owner would, including the need for firewood for more than a few nights stay.

That having been said, we see tourists leave all sorts of stuff all over the balconies where nothing is done about it.  This includes firewood, coolers, boxes, wet clothes hanging over the railing, bicycles, large air mattresses, rafts, large inner tubes, etc.

These tourists rarely if ever get hassled by Joe and RML over this stuff since the average stay is only a couple of nights.  The issue, like the ones mentioned above, is that Tourist A does this, then Tourist B, then Tourist C and so forth.  So, for resident owners we are barraged with significantly more eye sores than Joey and the Gang want to allow for us.

Clearly, another strong indication of a pattern on ongoing discrimination.

Lastly, David Barone seems to be harping on “No Commercial or business activity..” is allowed.   Many leases and HOAs have similar constraints.  These have been interpreted by the courts to mean business and commercial activity that are outside of residential zoning constraints and generally mean those kinds of enterprises that have a customer on site requirement which impacts traffic and parking.

David Barone would have you think that it means that NO business activity can be carried out in any Deer Ridge unit.  This would mean that you could not even make a business call or check your business email while you are at Deer Ridge.  Really, David?  You REALLY want to try to pursue this rabbit trail?  Bring it on!

Next?

Those are just the cards that Joey and the board have shown so far as either direct or indirect attempts at discrimination and intimidation of resident owners in their ongoing efforts to keep GGRC in the motel business.

I, for one, will not tolerate anything of the kind.  As a consequence, we are already looking at incorporating this ongoing pattern of discrimination into our current lawsuit against the individual board members.  Part of our current lawsuit is to force us out of the motel business and to shut down the illegitimately formed RML  If we need to also take immediate, legal steps to stop this discrimination until RML is shut down, we will.

It is way past time for Joe Thomas and the Gang to understand that Deer Ridge was NEVER intended to be a 100% rental property – and nothing in the Bylaws and Master Deed allow their “gray” attempts to circumvent the ruling documents of GGRC.

We’ve heard many owners tell us that they plan on making Deer Ridge their full time home when they retire.  We are doing all we can to help make sure that you, too, won’t suffer this kind of ongoing resident owner discrimination.

Summary Judgment And Temporary Injunction

 As you know from one of my recent postings, we finally have a hearing date set for my litigation against Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise.  Copies of all four motions that will be heard on April 26, 2011 are shown below.  Click on each photo to download the entire Acrobat file for each document that has been filed with the Court.

We are covering several issues during this hearing that will be pivotal for this case that could cause a major, consequential and immediate impact to the way that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is operated. We are asking that the judge issue an immediate ruling on his interpretation of the Deer Ridge Master Deed and Bylaws which we believe have been grossly and purposely misinterpreted by Joe Thomas and the rest of the Gang of Six.

 The changes resulting from a favorable ruling could include:

• The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, how everyone’s monthly assessment is calculated, including HOA fees, water and cable TV bills. If we win this one point, all 30 of the 1-1 units should no longer be overcharged 82% every month on their HOA fee!
• The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, how much, if any, will be owed by each owner on the current “special assessment” and the right amounts that should have been charged on all prior “special assessments.”
• The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, whether the current charge to all owners for this year’s portion of the “special assessment” will be blocked by our motion for temporary and permenant injunction.
• The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, whether RML and RRR (Ridge Resort Realty) are legitmate or not…and whether they were created as ultra vires acts by “board” members, making them possibly personal liable to repay all costs associated with RML and RRR for the past several years.  (My calculations show that RML alone has cost owners at least $118,000 a year…so multiply this by The Six years we’ve owned and that equates to over $700,000 that might be owed back to GGRC by the individual “board” members.)
• The Judge’s ruling could determine, once and for all, that all improvements and alterations require both a positive vote by 75% of all owners AND 90% of all mortgagees.  If the judge rules in our favor on this, that means that about $82,000, or 23% of the entire $353,500 Asinine Assessment were illegally spent by the “board” since they adamently refused to follow the Master Deed and Bylaws on this point, even knowing it was required.  If this ruling goes in our favor, the “board” can be judged, again, to have been acting ultra vires…which means that each of the “board” members could be held jointly and severally liable for the full amount of the illegitimate expenditures.
• This same ruling should make the “board” members also personally liable for all those past improvements and alterations that were done where they ignored my demands for the past 6 years to solicit the required 75% vote of all owners.  These include:
• • Joe’s Folly – The $80,000 picnic pavillion that should have never been built.
  • New pool decking – $30,000
  • Reception area and office improvements – $25,000
  • Maintenance building improvements and addtions – $15,000
  • Chairs for weddings, etc. - $3,200
  • Playground equipment – $3,000
  • New computers and office equipment – $5,000
  • Vehicles, golf carts, etc.  ???
  • Game room equipment  ???
  • Commercial laundry room equipment for RML ???
  • All of these monies were spent by the board without proper authority and approval by the owners at Deer Ridge.
• Some of these amounts are guesses and I am sure this list of improvements and additions is not comprehensive.  But once we are finally allowed to see the real books and records as provided by Tennessee state law, we expect that we will be able to add lots more to this list and correct the numbers here.  
• Even without the addtions, the above list adds up to more than $161,200 that would be ultra vires violations by the “board.”
• All totalled, this could make the “board” members individually responsible to personally pay back over $940,000. 
• If we divide this amount by the 5 board members, that would equal $188,000 that each would be responsible to pay.  However, it is my understanding that all board members are “jointly and severally” liable for this amount…which means that each board member is fully responsible for the whole amount if and when one board member or another doesn’t pay. If this happens, I can easily envision lawsuits being filed by one “board” member against another demanding that they pay their fair share of any court ordered reimbursements back to GGRC. If lawsuits between “board” members were to happen, all kinds of “smoking guns” disclosures might be uncovered.

The Other Key Motion

We also filed a Motion to Compel so that this Despicable Gang of Six is forced by the Court to finally turn over the Deer Ridge books and records.

• It’s been nine months since we filed our motion for production of documents with the Court — but so far Joe Thomas and the “board” have not complied.
• We have been waiting for nine months for Joe Thomas to turn over the books and records on GGRC that all owners have a right to see.
• Joe Thomas keeps adamantly stating that he has properly maintained the Administrator’s Book as required by Tennessee state law.  Joey keeps saying they have this information, in the right format — but they don’t seem to be able to produce it.

I wonder why?

Now, Joey and the Gang are trying to mark all of Deer Ridge’s books and records as “confidential‘ to keep us from sharing them with YOU – all past and present owners At Deer Ridge who also have a right to see and thoroughly study the books and records concerning OUR investment in our property at Deer Ridge.

They claim these books and records and the emails between the six Gang members “… may cause injury, prejudice or [particularly] embarrassment” to Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Baron and Tom Reise.

As our Motion states, these “embarrassing” consequences fall in the category of “sometimes the truth hurts.”

Additionally, our motion to block their “protective” order stipulates we completely agree that obvious information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and the like will be treated as confidential….but NOT all the rest of the information that we will find in these documents.

We fully expect to find all kinds of “embarrassing” actions and statements, done and made, by this Gang of Six.

We fully expect to also find all kinds of other questionable activities that have been committed by these individuals.

And, we, and several other Deer Ridge owners, plan on looking VERY carefully and diligently for any and all signs of any potential civil and/or criminal malfeasance that might have, just maybe, been committed by any, or all, members of the Gang. As of now, we’ve not seen any documentation that proves malfeasance — but then again, we have yet to get the full books and records we’ve been requesting for over five years. Right now, we only have our overwhelming intuition that screams about ongoing malfeasance.

Maybe we won’t find any such malfeasance — but if we do, any and all guilty parties will suffer a whole lot more than simple “embarrassment.”

Maybe that’s why the Gang members are continuing their desperate FIVE YEAR long attempts to keep this information secret. They seem terrified their secrets are going to finally see the light of day.

We believe that’s one of the reasons that Joe Thomas and the Gang have fought so hard, for so many years, to keep this information out of the hands of the owners who deserve full visibility, full disclosure and full accountability from those who have been handling over $1 million a year on this property for a decade.

• What IS it that terrifies them so much about what we will find in those books and records?
• We ARE going to get to the bottom of this.
• We ARE going to get access to all the books and records that Joey and the board have tried for years to keep secret.

And, we intend to do everything we can to block their motion for “protective” order — so that we can share ALL of this information with EVERY owner At Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.

Note – Temporary Injunction To Block Special Assessment Payment – Should You Pay?

Notice that Section 4 of the Motion For Summary Judgment includes wording that we “seek a temporary and permanent injunction prohibiting and restraining the Board from attempting to make any alterations or additions to the Common Elements except in compliance with the seventy-five (75%) percent and ninety (90%) percent requirements of Article XII subsection 2 set out above, including the $340,000 “Special Assessment .. currently being billed to Association members.”  (The $340,000 is a typo that is being corrected to reflect the full $353,500.)

Bottom line:  We believe this wording blocks any and all collection by GGRC for the “special assessment” if the judge agrees with our motion. You should be your own judge of this document and its intent and decide for yourself if you are required, in light of this pending court action, to make the currently due special assessment payment.  We believe it is germaine that 23% of this special assessment is for walkway railings and lighting improvements that did not have the required 75% / 90% vote.  Also, germaine is that the calculated amount for every unit does not abide by the Master Deed Percentages – which means that the amounts of all payments due from all owners would be significantly different.

This seems like two very good reasons to me that the Judge should award both a temporary and permanent injunction against this Asinine Assessment.

Lots More Info

Please check out the following links for more information on these issues – and what we hope to gain from our $3 million lawsuit against  Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Barone and Tom Reise.

• Date Set For Summary Judgement And Motion To Compel Filed Against GGRC, Joe Thomas And Board 
• Videos on Deer Ridge Owners Litigation Coming To This Blog AND To YouTube!
•  HALF Of Your Annual Deer Ridge HOA Fees Pay To Support RML’s Negative Cash Flow 
• Deer Ridge Board – You Better Learn A New Latin Term – Ultra Vires
• How To Fire Joe Thomas And Save GGRC Tens Of Thousands $$$ Each Year
• Independent Legal Opinion: GGRC Board Guilty Of Numerous Violations / $353,500 Assessment Is Null And Void

Copies Of Motions Filed with the Court

Motion For Summary Judgement & Temporary Injunction - Click For Document	Motion To Compel - Click For Document
Motion To Dismiss and Judgment on Pleadings - Click For Document	Motion For Protective Order - Click For Document

Stay Tuned! 

We live in interesting times!

Tick…tick…tick.

PS:  I am not an attorney and these opinions are my own.  Please be sure and refer to the full disclaimer language in the side bars and the Terms of this website. 

PPS:  Be sure and watch this blog for upcoming news about our new domain name:  HOABoardAbuse.com and our two new video channels on YouTube.com:  DeerRidgeOwners.com and HOABoardAbuse.com.  In-depth videos are being produced to fully explain, to all Owners and the World, exactly what is happening both at Deer Ridge and at other abusive HOA Board run properties across the Nation.  These videos will be posted on both DeerRidgeOwners.com and YouTube.com. 

 Stay tuned – you never know what videos might go viral!

News Flash:

Hearing Date Finally Set For Summary Judgement And Motion To Compel Filed Against GGRC, Joe Thomas And The “Board”

  We finally get this case before the Judge on April 26, 2011.  This is a copy of a letter sent by our attorney to the Court:

This first court date is not for everything – but it is for some very pivotal motions and especially for a Summary Judgment on THREE issues – instead of just the two issues that we originally included in our first motion for Summary Judgment that was filed back in November:  

1. The Master Deed Percentages must be followed – that these clearly stated ratios contained in the Master Deed must be followed for all assessments and common expenses for all owners at Deer Ridge.
2. Establish the Illegitimacy of RML and Ridge Resort Realty – there is no provision whatsoever in our Master Deed for owners at Deer Ridge to support and fund, and be exposed to the business risks of operating two small businesses.  This is not the purpose of a real estate investment in a residential home.
3. Article XII of the Master Deed must be followed - it requires that the board must have both a 75% vote by homeowners AND a 90% vote by all mortgagees involved with the ownership of Deer Ridge units before any alterations, additions or improvements are made to the common elements of the property.
4. We have also filed Motions to Compel Joe Thomas and the “board” to finally provide us the books and records of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in the exact format that is required by Tennessee state law.
5. We have also filed a Motion for Temporary Injunction to block the currently due second phase of the Asinine Assessment payment.

We believe that the Three Summary Judgment issues are clear cut interpretations of the Master Deed and Bylaws – and do not require findings of fact.  As a consequence, a Summary Judgment can be pursued on these three issues.

• As such, we are asking the Court to read the controlling documents of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort and rule on the spot on the proper interpretation of the GGRC controlling documents and Tennessee State Law. Since many of our claims rests solely on the proper interpretation of the master documents, there is no need for discovery, depositions or testimony for this part of our litigation. Instead, the controlling documents speak for themselves — and only require the Court to read the 90 pages of our Master Deed and Bylaws and make a ruling based on the Judge’s sole interpretation of these documents.
• We are highly confident that our interpretations will prevail — and the strained, manipulated and flatly wrong interpretations that Joey and the Gang have depended on for years will be denied by the Court.
• The first issue for Summary Judgment will be that the Master Deed Percentages MUST be followed for all cost allocations and assessments — instead of being based on the “arbitrary and capricious” methods that Joey and the “board” use to illegitimately overcharge all 30 1-1 units by a whopping 82%  every single month!
• If we win on this one point, this means EVERY assessment – including the monthly assessments and the expenses for water, cable TV, etc. - for EVERY unit has been wrongly charged for YEARS – including, of course, the amounts for the Asinine Assessment and all other past assessments.
• If we win on this one point, we believe that this will have FAR reaching consequences to EVERY current owner at Deer Ridge – especially all 30 of the 1-1 unit owners who have been victimized for years.
• If we win on this one point, ALL the current, and many past, 1-1 unit owners should be owed a SUBSTANTIAL amount of money refunding the gross monthly overcharges that Luther Parker amazingly stated, “were fair and equitable.”
• We would expect that these 1-1 unit owners would also be awarded interest and penalties. All of these refunds, interest, penalties may also be owed to dozens, if not hundreds, of past owners, thereby making the claims against the counter defendants even more substantial.
• If we win this one point during our Motion for Summary Judgment, it should stop all future violations by The Gang of Six as well as any new board from trying to circumvent the GGRC documents.
• Likewise, we are asking the Court to rule that RML and RRR are illegitimate – and all the monies that have been squandered over the years supporting these companies are not admissible Common Expenses. We believe that a review of the controlling documents by the Court will quickly establish that there is NO provision in our Master Deed and Bylaws for all homeowners at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort to be subjected to the costs and risks that are inherent with starting and running small businesses.
• If we win this one point, we will take expedited legal steps so that RML and RRR will be immediately shut down and disposed of by selling those companies to the highest bidder out of any and all potential buyers with the proceeds paid to those owners who were not a part of RML.
• By winning this one point of Summary Judgment, we get rid of RML and RRR, and the hemorrhage of HALF our current monthly assessments will be finally stopped — and we’ll finally be out of the motel business.  This one point alone will dramatically change the way GGRC and Deer Ridge Mountain Resort have been managed, or rather mismanaged, for over a decade – and allow for a MAJOR reduction in the HOA fees for most all homeowners.
• Article XII of the Master Deed clearly provides that there shall be no alterations or additions to the common elements or any part thereof except as authorized by the Board of Directors and approved by not less than 75% of the total vote of co-owners AND not less than 90% of the mortgagees. First, I had to fight the Gang of Six with regard to the requirement that a 75% vote of the total co-owners was required for any alterations or addition or improvements at Deer Ridge.  I finally won this point during a board meeting in which the board’s attorney, Chuck Sexton, was present. However, the Gang of Six continues to refuse to pursue the 90% vote of the mortgagees as required by our Master Deed.
• If we win this one point during our Motion for Summary Judgment on April 26, we intend to aggressively and immediately pursue forcing reimbursement directly from the members of the “Board of Directors” for their ultra vires acts of illegitimately squandering over $120,000 of owners’ money…including all monies recently spent on the walkway railings.  Even as recently as the vote on the walkway railings, Luther Parker and the rest of the “board” categorically refused to even pursue the required 90% vote of all mortgagees and gaveled me out of order at a board meeting to stop my insistence that the governing documents required it.  If we win this one point during our Motion for Summary Judgment, it should stop all future violations by The Gang of Six as well as any new board from trying to circumvent the GGRC documents.
• It will also be interesting to see what happens to the defense of Joe Thomas and the “board” by the insurance company if we are successful in proving that this Gang of Six was acting ultra vires since all indemnifications of them defined in the Master Deed and Bylaws are null and void.  This would make all members of the Gang of Six jointly and severally libel and fully responsible for their own legal costs in defending themselves against our $3 million lawsuit…along with them being jointly and severally libel and fully responsible for any repayments, penalties, interest, punitive damages, etc.

These are just the first three issues for Summary Judgment. If we are successful with these, we expect to move for Summary Judgment on other fundamental interpretations of our Master Deed and Bylaws that will stop the Gang’s abuse of it power.

We believe that pursuing the Summary Judgment is in the best interest of all parties, including all homeowners, to expeditiously resolve some of the more outstanding issues regarding our litigation.

Other Ongoing Litigation

We intend to continue to pursue our litigation on all other areas of our lawsuit too…some of the other areas will entail findings of fact that will require depositions and testimony and, as a consequence, are not subject to Summary Judgment. These will require in-depth litigation and may include damages, interest and penalties, along with payment of all of our legal fees, as we continue to pursue this matter.

We expect, in the near term, to be taking the depositions and interrogatories of Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Tom Reise, Margie Duncan and other members of the “board.”  Depositions and interrogatories will probably be taken from past and current employees and past “board” members.

(I personally can’t wait to get Joe Thomas and Luther Parker and some of the other “board” members to testify under oath – and ask some very specific questions concerning their decision-making process and ask them for very detailed explanations about several entries in the books and records!)

So, all you Gang Members — get ready to give your depositions and interrogatories — and get ready to testify in Court.

Joey And the Gang Are Worried About Being ”Embarrassed”

We also filed a Motion to Compel so that this Despicable Gang of Six is forced by the Court to finally turn over the Deer Ridge books and records.

It’s been seven months since we filed our motion for production of documents with the Court — but so far Joe Thomas and the “board” have not complied.

We have been waiting for seven months for Joe Thomas to turn over the books and records on GGRC that all owners have a right to see.

Joe Thomas keeps adamantly stating that he has properly maintained the Administrator’s Book as required by Tennessee state law.  Joey keeps saying they have this information, in the right format — but they don’t seem to be able to produce it.

I wonder why?

Now, Joey and the Gang are trying to mark all of Deer Ridge’s books and records as “confidential‘ to keep us from sharing them with YOU – all past and present owners At Deer Ridge who also have a right to see and thoroughly study the books and records concerning OUR investment in our property at Deer Ridge.

They claim these books and records and the emails between the six Gang members “… may cause injury, prejudice or [particularly] embarrassment” to Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Margie Duncan, David Baron and Tom Reise.

As our Motion states, these “embarrassing” consequences fall in the category of “sometimes the truth hurts.”

Additionally, our motion to block their “protective” order stipulates we completely agree that obvious information such as Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and the like will be treated as confidential….but NOT all the rest of the information that we will find in these documents.

We fully expect to find all kinds of “embarrassing” actions and statements, done and made, by this Gang of Six.

We fully expect to also find all kinds of other questionable activities that have been committed by these individuals.

And, we, and several other Deer Ridge owners, plan on looking VERY carefully and diligently for any and all signs of any potential civil and/or criminal malfeasance that might have, just maybe, been committed by any, or all, members of the Gang. As of now, we’ve not seen any documentation that proves malfeasance — but then again, we have yet to get the full books and records we’ve been requesting for over five years. Right now, we only have our overwhelming intuition that screams about ongoing malfeasance.

Maybe we won’t find any such malfeasance — but if we do, any and all guilty parties will suffer a whole lot more than simple “embarrassment.”

Maybe that’s why the Gang members are continuing their desperate FIVE YEAR long attempts to keep this information secret. They seem terrified their secrets are going to finally see the light of day.

We believe that’s one of the reasons that Joe Thomas and the Gang have fought so hard, for so many years, to keep this information out of the hands of the owners who deserve full visibility, full disclosure and full accountability from those who have been handling over $1 million a year on this property for a decade.

• What IS it that terrifies them so much about what we will find in those books and records?
• We ARE going to get to the bottom of this.
• We ARE going to get access to all the books and records that Joey and the board have tried for years to keep secret.

And, we intend to do everything we can to block their motion for “protective” order — so that we can share ALL of this information with EVERY owner At Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.

April 26, 2011

The Court date is set.  April 26, 2011.  After nearly 9 months of litigation, this will be our first hearing before the Court. We now have a fixed hearing date – less than two months from now.

If the Court agrees with us on these motions, we may be able to short circuit a lot of the Gang of Six BS and delays — and finally get rulings on these issues and effectuate major changes at Deer Ridge.

If Joey and the Gang really want quick resolution of this, they should be all in favor of getting an expedited ruling on the three issues in the Motion for Summary Judgment.

What do you want to bet that they will do EVERYTHING in their power to drag this out — and try their best to delay any ruling of any kind?

If so, that is just more proof to me that they KNOW they are NOT doing things the right way.

I will try to make the time this week to post copies of the new motions we have just filed so all of you can review them in detail.

What will be interesting will be the report that the Gang has to made at the “annual meeting” on April 30th, which is the weekend immediately following the Court date.  Will they prepare two different meeting agenda and presentations – depending on what they may win or lose a few days earlier?

Resignations and “Retirement”

Also, we have overheard gossip that Joey and other members of the Gang of Six believe that they can simply walk away from being held responsible for their past acts and actions by either resigning or retiring…or even selling their unit at Deer Ridge. 

Just to be clear,  resignations and retirement will not absolve ANY wrongdoings  by Joey and the Gang…and if we discover ANY malfeasance of ANY kind by ANY “board” member or employee, we will do everything we can to enforce ALL appropriate justice.

Stay tuned — We Live In Interesting Times!

The rulings on the upcoming Motion for Summary Judgment on April 26, 2011, along with our other motions, could end up drastically changing  the current way virtually everything is done at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort.   Plus, once we finally get the books and records on this property….well, we fully expect to find all sorts of “interesting” facts about actions and monies paid that might not have been in the best interests of ALL owners.

Hey Joey and the Gang…less than two months until our Court date….when, as Galatians 5:1 sort of states, ”Deer Ridge Owners shall know the truth, and the truth shall set us free.”  Of course, the freedom of The Gang of Six might depend on what we find once we finally get to see the books and records!

Tick…tick…tick.

PS:  I am not an attorney and these opinions are my own.  Please be sure and refer to the full disclaimer language in the side bars and the Terms of this website. 

PPS:  Be sure and watch this blog for upcoming news about our new domain name:  HOABoardAbuse.com and our two new video channels on YouTube.com:  DeerRidgeOwners.com and HOABoardAbuse.com.  In-depth videos are being produced to fully explain, to all Owners and the World, exactly what is happening both at Deer Ridge and at other abusive HOA Board run properties across the Nation.  These videos will be posted on both DeerRidgeOwners.com and YouTube.com. 

 Stay tuned – you never know what videos might go viral!

Have you all noticed the items on the agenda for the “board” meeting coming up on November 12, 2010?

Here’s a clip from the GGRC web site of part of what they have planned for next Friday:

“Acting In Concert…”

This illegitimate “board,” and general manager Joe Thomas, are once again trying to control freedom of expression at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort. 

This despicable Gang of Six apparently believes that Deer Ridge Mountain Resort is not part of the United States of America – and, as such, we as residents do not have any constitutional rights to freedom of expression.

Not only has this illegitimate “board” filed a $1 million lawsuit against me in a blatant attempt to squelch this blog and my right to free speech…they are now “discussing” bringing action against other owners at Deer Ridge who have had the courage and conviction to voice opinions in opposition to  Joe Thomas and the ”board.”  

This is just another overt attempt at intimidation of those Deer Ridge dissents who are insisting that this property be operated legally.

Many other owners here object to the fiefdom approach used by this despicable Gang of Six- and how the Gang want to illegitimately run this property the way they want…even when it is in direct opposition to the Deer Ridge Master Deed and Bylaws and in clear violation of Tennessee state law. 

If you are a Deer Ridge owner –
and object to this attempted intimidation of your fellow owners,
please comment below.

If you are one of those brave owners who may end up being accused of “acting in concert…,” I invite each and every one of you to join with me as a co-plaintiff in our $3 million lawsuit against Joe Thomas and the “board.”  The more of us who are plaintiffs, the stronger our voice will ring true in Court.

Together, we will have the Court force this property to be run legitimately…and without this kind of attempted intimidation.

Storage Of Firewood On Balconies

If you notice the second yellow-highlighted section from the upcoming “board” agenda, it states that they intend to pass a regulation stating that firewood on our balconies is prohibited.

This despicable Gang of Six continues to do all that it can to illegitimately keep operating this property as a motel in spite of the restrictions of the Bylaws and Master Deed of Deer Ridge.  As such, Joey and the Gang have an ongoing plan to intimidate resident owners since we interfere with their visions of Little Joe’s NoTel Motel operation. 

The only folks affected by this new “regulation” would, in fact, be those of us who live here full time.  The motel guests come for a day or two and pay the rip off price of $4.00 for a four stick parcel of wood that RML sells at the desk.  Since they are only here for a few days, it doesn’t make sense for them to have a stack of firewood delivered. 

For full time owners, paying a dollar per stick for wood makes little sense – so many of us arrange to have firewood delivered to us and have it stacked on our balconies. 

Joey and the Gang want to do anything they can to hassle and intimidate those of us who live here full time.  So, we see this new prohibition against firewood on the balcony as discrimination…and more proof of the steps they take to aggravate resident owners…and the ongoing pattern of discrimination against full time residents by Joe Thomas and the Gang.

As such, if Joey and the Gang attempt to pass this new regulation, we intend to file an immediate motion with the Court, as part of our lawsuit , to block ANY implementation of this arbitrary regulation. 

Hey Joey and the Gang:  You guys are put on notice that you WILL have to defend this regulation before the Court…and explain WHY, after TWENTY FOUR YEARS, this regulation is NOW necessary for the first time.   This goes for the firewood issue – and for ANY other constraints you try to impose regarding the reasonable use of our balconies! 

Not only will we justifiably claim discrimination – we will use this issue to request the Court to issue a restraining order against these proposed changes – and OTHER current or proposed assessments, policies and procedures.

Additionally, we will immediately file a motion for summary judgement for the Court to rule that the current “board” is illegitimate and without power to do anything, including implement rules and regulations, since there was no election of all Board members held in accordance with the Master Deed and Bylaws. 

As such, we will also ask that the summary judgement include an immediate appointment of a receiver to take over the operation and management of GGRC and ALL aspects of Deer Ridge Mountain Resort. 

Nota Bene:  All of these Court focused actions can be easily, and immediately, incorporated into our current $3 million countersuit against GGRC, Joe Thomas, Luther Parker, Larry Ohm, Tom Riese, Margie Duncan and David Barone.

Independent Legal Opinion:   GGRC “Board” Guilty Of Numerous Violations / $353,500 Assessment Is Null And Void

The following is a copy of an email sent to Luther Parker, other “board” members and Joe Thomas on February 18, 2010 describing the legal findings of a real estate law firm concerning Gatlinburg Golf and Racquet Club – GGRC – and its subsidiaries RML and Ridge Resort Realty.

The findings of the law firm will probably change EVERYTHING about the way Deer Ridge is operated and managed.

Luther and the Board:

As I mentioned during the Special Meeting of February 6, 2010, I had personally hired a Knoxville-based real estate law firm to review many of the major conflicts and issues that have arisen between myself (and other owners) versus the Board, Joe Thomas and the decisions and policies you have been attempting to implement.

My instructions to the law firm, Howard and Howard ( www.howardhowardlaw.com/ ) and Senior Partner Lewis Howard, Jr. were to objectively and candidly evaluate these issues with the goal of determining the legal validity and the merits of our pursuing a lawsuit against GGRC and/or the individuals who make up the current board along with Joe Thomas, the general manager.  This firm does not currently represent us for any pending litigation – but may be hired should we move forward.

The full legal opinion I received from them is attached to this email – with each and every part shown and discussed below – with my comments for each section.  Note:  I am not an attorney and do not practice law – so these are my interpretations of the sections of the attorney’s letter – trying to convey the realistic meaning from the necessary legalese.

Executive Summary Of Attorney’s Findings

For those who prefer to start with an executive summary, here are the bottom line findings by the attorney with regard to GGRC and the actions of the “Board” and Joe Thomas:

• You are REQUIRED to charge all owners ONLY in accordance with the Master Deed Percentages for everything:  monthly assessments, water, cable TV, etc.   This means no more 82% overcharge to all 1-1 owners.
• You are REQUIRED to provide all owners with COPIES of everything they request including invoices, check stubs, bids, etc.
• You are REQUIRED to get BOTH the 75% positive vote by owners AND the 90% positive vote by mortgage holders of all condo loans at Deer Ridge.  Therefore, ANY monies you spend on walkway ramps will be your personal responsibility to pay.
• You are NOT allowed to ever have ANY special assessments – hence, the Asinine Assessment of $353,500 is NULL and VOID.  No owners are required to fund a penny of this money – and any monies received MUST be returned to those owners who have already paid.
• You and other board members are going to be liable to repay ALL overcharges to both current and past 1-1 owners, along with interest.  (This means you will be required to pay us back over $10,000 in our case – and more or less the same to other 1-1 owners – past AND present.)
• RML and Ridge Resort Realty are NOT legitimate – and must pay back every penny of GGRC’s money ever used for them – and these companies must be expeditiously sold.
• All “annual meetings” held in April are not official Annual Meetings – hence, all decisions, and votes made, INCLUDING board member elections, are NULL and VOID.  This means that Luther Parker and every other member of the “board” are, in fact, NOT members of the Board and have no power whatsoever including setting assessments, making special assessments, setting rules and regulations, agreeing to any contracts about anything, etc.  We will sue to have a special master appointed by the court.
• No board member or committee member may receive ANY compensation INCLUDING reimbursements for travel, meals, maid service, free storage or special remodeling of board member’s OR committee member’s units.  When we do our review of the books and records, we are going to add up every penny that has ever been paid and individually sue each of you for the full and complete reimbursement of all of this money.
• The entire current “board” has committed multiple ultra vires acts that were outside the scope of authority granted you by the Master Deed and Bylaws even if you were a legitimate board.  As such, these acts show gross negligence on your part and on the part of your “unified board that speaks with one voice.”   As noted in the attorney’s answer to Question 12, these illegitimate acts of yours are actionable with all monies recoverable from you and all other “board members” and Joe Thomas personally – probably on a “joint and several” basis. That means we are going to go after the FULL amount for each illegitimate act from you and each of the board members until we collect EVERY penny that was spent on decisions that were outside the scope of authority.  Based on my prior blog postings, I have already identified over $120,000 that has been spent without the proper Article XII approvals.

Those are pretty much the highlights – and as you can see, most of the above will have a MASSIVE impact on GGRC, RML, Ridge Resort Realty and each member of the “board” personally.  It will also rightfully put $10,000, more or less, back into the pockets of all PAST AND PRESENT 1-1 owners who join with us in the lawsuit against those responsible for our gross overcharge of fees.

The above issues are the way things SHOULD have been done all along – and we WILL hold those accountable who have capriciously and arbitrarily chosen to ignore the controlling documents of Deer Ridge and GGRC Regime.

You all will NOT be able to claim ignorance on these issues – all of these issues have been brought to your attention multiple times over multiple years.

What Say You Luther?

You are hereby put on notice to immediately resolve all of the above issues.

If you do not, one of our expected remedies will be to file a derivative action suit on behalf of GGRC naming each of you, individually, as defendants in that lawsuit.  This particular lawsuit will allow us to recover funds from all of you, individually, and require that the entire board be fired, with cause, for gross negligence.  And, since this will be GGRC suing you, none of you will be able to use any past or current attorney who has represented GGRC.

Another legal action we intend to take will be to immediately gain an injunction blocking the special assessments and inter-pleading any and all funds already received to a court controlled account.  Another legal action we intend to take will be a declaratory judgment suit over the above interpretations of the Master Deed and Bylaws.

Another legal action we intend to take will be for multiple past and current 1-1 owners, such as myself, to sue the board members, individually, for the 82% overcharge of all costs going back for years.  Other, additional litigation is planned as needed.  Bear in mind that we intend to also sue each of you for full recovery of all of our legal and court costs – and since it is fairly apparent we will win the issues, we expect to win on the legal fee recovery too.

Discovery motions will be immediately made that will require GGRC to turn over COPIES of ALL books and records related to GGRC and RML, et al.

So, Luther, are you going to continue to try to self-servingly block full and complete implementation of all of the above issues – or do you want to save everyone time, hassle and money by settling all of these issues here and now before we take the next steps?  If you attempt to delay the above by squandering GGRC money for legal fees to protect yourself and other board members and Joe Thomas, you will be held accountable for this waste of money also.

You have THREE DAYS to satisfactorily respond to this email before I move forward with the necessary steps to accomplish all of the above.  This process will start with a postal mailing to all owners, providing them with a copy of the attorney’s letter, advising them that they should not make any assessment payments and asking for them to join with me as co-plaintiffs against you and the rest of the “board.”

So, what say you, Luther?  How do you want to get to the inevitable Point B?

The Attorney Letter – And Analysis

The following dissects the letter from the attorney with snapshots of each part of the entire document.

This first image shows the law firm, date, attorney and that it deals with GGRC issues.  The letter responds to 13 sets of questions I posed with regard to Deer Ridge and the operation and management of GGRC, the property and with regard to RML.

This point discusses that all owners have a right to COPIES of all the books and records.  Wanting to make sure it was even more clear, I received the following email from the attorney:

This makes it crystal clear that ALL owners have a right to COPIES of books and records related in any way to GGRC.  Period.

Bear in mind that as soon as we file any of our planned litigation, we WILL produce a motion for discovery FORCING you to turn over COPIES of all of these documents.

Also, bear in mind, Luther, if we have to litigate this and go for a declaratory judgment, you will most certainly lose on this point.  This should not even be a point of issue with a Board that was open, transparent and honest.

So, based on the above, are you and the Board going to continue to interfere with the owners have their legal rights to copies of the GGRC et al books and records?

Luther, this is the crux of most of the intolerable abuse of power by Joe Thomas and the Board.  You all have claimed reliance on these two sections to blatantly ignore the requirements of the Master Deed and Bylaws.  As you can see, the attorney is saying exactly the same thing I have been telling you – Article III, Section 9(c) does NOT let you get away with your “arbitrary and capricious reallocation of ownership in the common elements or the common expenses.”  Likewise, the same thing for Article V – which means you cannot simply charge the same amount to all unit sizes for any of the expenses.

Luther, ALL allocations and common expenses, including the HOA fees, the water, cable TV, telephone, etc. MUST be charged in accordance with the Master Deed Percentages.  Period.  You all do NOT have a choice.  You all CANNOT be arbitrary and capricious. You MUST abide by the Master Deed Percentages.  This should not even be a point of issue with a Board that was open, transparent and honest.  So, based on the above, are you and the Board going to continue to be arbitrary and capricious – or are you going to IMMEDIATAELY adjust all costs to reflect the Master Deed Percentages?

Point 3 relates to your statement in the November budget meeting that, “an 82% over charge to the 30 1-1 owners was ‘fair and equitable.’”

Clearly, it is NOT.

So, based on the above, are you and the Board going to continue to be arbitrary and capricious – or are you going to IMMEDIATELY adjust all costs to reflect the Master Deed Percentages – and stop overcharging all 30 1-1 owners by 82%?

Uh oh.  Trouble in River City for the Board.  Could it be that special assessments are NOT authorized whatsoever???  See the interesting details below.

As you can see, all of those overcharges you guys have made for years can be recouped by me and all the other victims of your “arbitrary and capricious” wrongly calculated assessments.  For me, that adds up to over $10,000 and I want all my money back with at least interest.  It doesn’t look like I can get monetary damages – at least on this point – though it may depend on what type of litigation we pursue.

NOTE:  All 1-1 owners now, and in the past, will have a CLAIM for the board’s arbitrary and capricious overcharges – to get back your money and interest and probably legal fees to sue them!  If you want to join with me as a co-plaintiff, please email me ASAP!

Here is a BIGGIE – RML and Ridge Resort Realty are NOT legitimate, just as I have claimed for years.  RML was illegally formed by the board in 1987 with zero vote of the owners for one thing – but even beyond that point, it is NOT an appropriate use of any funds as described above.

We expect to file a derivative action suit, as GGRC, against you, individually, and all the board members and Joe Thomas, individually, to force the IMMEDIATE divestiture of both RML and Ridge Resort Realty and for reimbursements of any and all costs associated in any way with the formation and operation of these two illegitimate companies.

I personally want every penny of MY money back that was ever spent in any way to support RML and Ridge Resort Realty.

If you would like me, with my 15 plus years of real estate experience to help with the quick and IMMEDIATE divestiture of these companies, please let me know.

As I have claimed, all Annual Meetings held in April are NOT Annual Meetings as defined by the Master Deed.  And, since the Master Deed REQUIRES that the Board of Directors is ONLY elected at the Annual Meeting, you, Luther Parker, and the rest of this current “Board” were NOT properly elected and any and all decisions made by you all are null and void and without effect.  As such, I intend to file suit to have the Court appoint a Special Master to oversee all operations of GGRC and the immediate divestiture of both RML and Ridge Resort Realty.

Now, if you really hurry, since this is February 18th, you COULD get a quick 30 day notice out to all owners moving the April “Annual Meeting” to the first quarter as required by the Master Deed.  That would allow for the proper election of the new board without the need for a court-appointed Master.  However, if you wait or still try to hold the “Annual Meeting” in April, and I am successful with my point of law, this means that the Master would be running GGRC until the first quarter of NEXT YEAR.

So, what say you Luther?  Are you going to quickly try to abide by the controlling documents of our Regime – or are you going to toss it all into the court appointed Master’s hands?

There are SEVERAL very interesting parts to the attorney’s response to this Question 8.

First of all, just to be clear to Tom Reise – you guys are NOT in the “driver’s seat” and you cannot simply ignore the provisions of Article XII REQUIRING you to get the 90% vote of the mortgage holders of all condo units at Deer Ridge!   If you all proceed in ANY way with the demolition or construction of your aluminum walkway railings, you will be in direct violation of the Master Deed.  Period.  You have been WARNED.

The second interesting concept here is the one mentioned in one of my recent blog postings:  ultra vires acts.  I warned you all in that posting that you had each better talk with your individual attorneys because ANYTHING you do, or HAVE ALREADY DONE, that are outside the scope of authority granted you by the Master Deed and Bylaws, subjects EACH of you personally to be grossly negligent.  This means that you will NOT be able to rely on the D and O insurance to protect you, nor to use legal counsel of GGRC to defend you.

It also means that some owners, me included of course, can name you all individually in a derivative action suit.    You all need to really understand how a derivative action suit works – since that means we can sue each of you, on behalf of GGRC as our plaintiff.  Now, that sounds interesting.  And, it means that all the owners would get paid back from your pockets – not from GGRC’s bank account.  For me, that will be most fitting – considering the long term abuse of power that has existed at Deer Ridge.

Now, are you SURE you want to start spending YOUR money replacing those walkway railings?

Alas, this was the one point that did not YET go our way.   We are still investigating ways to get this one to happen too, but we may have to wait until we replace three of the current board members.  We also expect that Tennessee and other states will follow Nevada’s lead in REQUIRING all HOA board meetings be digitally recorded.

Now, things get very interesting.

NOTE TO ALL – BASED ON INDEPENDENT LEGAL OPINION,
IT LOOKS LIKE NO ONE IS REQUIRED TO FUND ANY PART
OF THE $353,500 ASSESSMENT!

That felt good to say.  This part was so amazing that I even went back to the attorney and asked for clarity.   He assured me saying he stands by this answer.  What this means folks is that the board, even if they were properly elected – which this one is NOT – can never do a special assessment.  They can only raise the monthly fees to properly build a reserve fund (the monies that were in the reserve fund as recently as three years ago have seemingly disappeared – probably in covering the negative cash flow from operations of RML.)

Additionally, even if it had been legal, the Board’s unwillingness to provide us copies of all the records tied to this Asinine Assessment would have invalidated the assessment.

If you would like to join with me in blocking your upcoming assessment, please let me know ASAP.  We intend on filing an injunction against GGRC and the Board from even attempting to enforce this assessment until full resolution of our lawsuit(s).

Clearly, the “Board” has not acted fairly and equitably with regard to me, or other full time owners at Deer Ridge.  Stay tuned for a LOT more about this.

Luther, we believe that there will be a massive amount of evidence that will show that you and the other “board” members and Joe Thomas have repeatedly committed ultra vires acts that were outside the scope of authority granted you by the Master Deed and Bylaws.  As such, these acts will hopefully show gross negligence on your part and on the part of your “unified board that speaks with one voice.”   As noted in the attorney’s answer to Question 12, these illegitimate acts of yours are actionable with all monies recoverable from you and all other “board members” and Joe Thomas personally – probably on a “joint and several” basis.

That means we are going to go after the FULL amount for each illegitimate act from you and each of the board members until we collect EVERY penny that was spent on decisions that were outside the scope of authority.  Based on my prior blog postings, I have already identified over $120,000 that has been spent without the proper Article XII approvals.  I am sure as we dig into the records, we will discover a LOT more.  Would you like to write us a check for the full $120,000?  Or, would you rather have Margie or David pay all of that for you?

This Question 13 answer is pretty crystal clear Luther.  No one gets a penny for serving on the Board.  This means NO reimbursement for anything including travel, meals, maid service, free storage or special remodeling of board member’s OR committee member’s units.  When we do our review of the books and records, we are going to add up every penny that has ever been paid and individually sue each of you for the full and complete reimbursement of all of this money.

For example, let’s talk about Margie since she seems to have been on the Board for years.   If she got $300 per meeting for travel and attended 5 meetings a year, which is $1,500.  Let’s assume other stuff added up to another $500 a year for a total of $2,000 a year in illegitimate benefits.  If she had gotten these ill gotten gains for say 10 years, this means that Margie will immediately owe us $20,000.

If this same amount was paid out to ALL board members and some committee members, the total amount that could be owned back could exceed $200,000.  That’s almost enough to get all the work done at Deer Ridge that REALLY needs to be done.

Of course, my personal intuition is that she and other board members have received a LOT more quid pro quo that will have to be paid back – but we will see.

Have You Noticed A Trend Here?

I assume you have noticed that I have been spot on RIGHT on everything I have been saying for years on my blog – and that your vilification, slander and libel contained in your diatribe letter you recently mailed to all owners was obviously full of lies and disinformation as a way to attempt to falsely discredit me.  This objective legal opinion validates virtually EVERYTHING I have been saying for years.  And, if need be, we will take the board members to court to prove it with finality.

I, along with many other owners, are sick and tired of the board’s “arbitrary and capricious ways” of illegitimately running GGRC and Deer Ridge – and I continue to be highly motivated to resolve these issues once and for all so that this property is finally properly governed by its Master Deed and Bylaws.

Luther, if you want these matters settled, you have three days.  The clock is already ticking.

Govern yourself accordingly.

Robert
A-202

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 investment or not.  To help answer that question objectively, I had to analyze the real moving parts of buying and owning here.

The following is my detailed investment analysis based on buying a 1-1 condo unit at Deer Ridge Mountain Resort in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  The numbers for the other sized units at Deer Ridge are very similar, bottom line.

Here are a few pages of the analysis to show you the format.  Click any of the following pages to immediately download the full report.

The Main Assumptions – Using RML To Lease and Manage:

• $50,000 purchase price with $2,000 for initial improvements and $2,000 for closing costs.
• Down payment of 25%, with a mortgage of $37,500 at 7% fixed for 30 years.
• Total resulting initial investment of $16,500.
• 28% marginal tax bracket, 15% long-term capital gain and no state income tax.
• The current $3,400 special assessment for 2011 and 2012, with an additional, average $1,000 per year assessment per unit starting in Year 3 and required for other things like roof, parking lot and “oh, by the way…” ideas from Joe Thomas and the Board.
• Annual appreciation rate of 3% per year, as an average, over the next 10 years.
• Selling costs of 10% – to cover brokerage, closing costs, etc.
• Rental income per night averaging $90 per night after accounting for specials, packages, Hotels.com / Expedia / Etc. discounts with rental rates increasing, on a net basis, by 3% per year.
• Continuation of the historical Joe Thomas and RML 39% economic occupancy for all units on average at Deer Ridge across the entire year.  This equates to a 61% economic vacancy rate. (This is the historical average across the past 8 years – with no signs of any improvement.)
• 40% RML management fee. (RML has upped this fee several times in the past – but this is the current charge.)
• $270 per month for the HOA fee (the highest per sq ft. charge in the entire Gatlinburg, Knoxville area.)  This represents an 82% overcharge compared to the amount that should be charged for 1-1 units according to the Master Deed.  This is expected to be a major point covered with upcoming litigation filed against GGRC and / or its Board of Directors.
• Water at $116 per month.  This represents double what should be charged for 1-1 units according to the Master Deed.
• Contents and liability insurance of $300 per year, $500 per year for internal maintenance and/or forced upgrades required by RML and another $500 per year for repairs.  Maid service is shown at only $100 per year for spring cleaning.  Also shown is the RML pass through costs for credit card fees of about $250 per year.
• Cobbly Nob taxes of $668 and Sevier County taxes of $400 per year.
• Electricity of about $1,000 per year on average along with charges for cable TV and telephone.
• Expenses increasing 5% per year.

The Projected Numbers – Using RML To Lease and Manage:

• Negative Net Operating Income for all ten years after all income and expenses.  This means, even without a mortgage of any amount, the property loses money every year. Over 10 years, this adds up to a loss of out of pocket dollars more than $31,000 – excluding any net proceeds from sale.
• With the 75% mortgage described above, the numbers are a lot worse.  Over 10 years, your loss of out of pocket dollars would be almost $68,000!
• Taking appreciation into account, if we sell after 10 years and sell the unit for $67,200 after buying it for $50,000 with 75% financing, then the loss after all benefits of every kind would still be almost exactly $40,000!
• That is a $40,000 LOSS – Not Gain – With everything taken into account after 10 years!
• This means after owning at Deer Ridge for 10 years, there would be zero net profit – and it will end up costing you $40,000.  This equates to costing you $4,000  a year in order for you to have a place to use and enjoy as a vacation home – assuming you are not “RML Abusive” and want to actually use your unit during the summer or holidays or during the peak foliage time in October.
• If you were to actually hold for longer – say 20 years, it gets even worse.  In that case, it would end up costing you over $86,000!

The Conclusions – Using RML To Lease and Manage:

• Using RML to manage your property, it makes zero sense to buy a unit at Deer Ridge strictly for investment purposes, as a rental unit, expecting any kind of positive ROI whatsoever – EVER.
• The exception to this would be if you are able to buy for HALF the current asking prices.  At some point, the market will PROBABLY recover and possibly go back to this current asking level per square foot.  If that happens, and you able to buy at half price, then you can make money – but will never have a positive cash flow at any time during the holding time – no matter how little you pay!!!
• If you were able to buy for $25,000 instead of $50,000 and still financed 75%, then you could make SOME money from investing in Deer Ridge.  After five years, you would NET less than $3,000 total.  Even with this low price, if you held for 10 years, you would LOSE over $10,000.  Even though these are not great numbers, you could more easily justify the cost per year as an alternative vacation cost – assuming you could really buy a 1-1 for $25,000.
• The HOA fees and the water costs are outrageously high as a result of Joe Thomas and the Board not abiding by the Master Deed Percentages for cost – and this contributes significantly to these numbers not working.
• If you can cost justify on average $4,000 per year to pay for your vacation location (not counting other vacation related costs), then your ownership at a $50,000 purchase price is at break-even with zero ROI as an investment compared to alternative investment opportunities.  Of course, for $4,000 a year, you could afford a very nice vacation in other locations without the hassle of ownership at Deer Ridge.
• If you can use Deer Ridge as your primary home, it is a genuine bargain – compared to other alternative living costs per month in the entire Knoxville area.  With a spectacular view and great amenities, and the relatively low cost per square foot, it can be an ideal primary residence with total monthly costs for everything under $1,000 a month.
• Likewise, if you are in a position to highly utilize the unit for personal use and not worry about rental abuse, the same numbers can apply as for a primary residence.
• Bottom line:  Buy at Deer Ridge to own and use – not to rent – if you are going to use RML.

If You Don’t Use RML To Lease and Manage:

• Historically, over the past 8 years, Joe Thomas and RML have been unable to average anything higher than a deplorable 39% economic occupancy at Deer Ridge.  No matter what marketing steps he takes, no matter how much or the owners’ money is spent on those marketing steps, he appears incapable of doing better with the owners’ units.
• If you were to buy at Deer Ridge and use another, more experienced and qualified management company that could cut that 61% vacancy in half, the investment returns from Deer Ridge are astoundingly better.
• Even if you keep all of the other assumptions exactly the same, the same rental rate per night, the same management fee, the operating expenses, even the 82% gross overcharge of the HOA fees that violates the Master Deed – even if all of that stays the same, and you just solved the vacancy problem that seems to have eluded Joe Thomas for years, then you can make money with a rental property at Deer Ridge.
• You no longer have a Negative Net Operating Income for all ten years after all income and expenses.  Instead, without a mortgage of any amount, the property now makes money every year. Over 10 years, this adds up to a gain in-your-pocket-dollars of more than $38,000 excluding any net proceeds from sale.  This means you have gone from a negative $31,000 to a plus $38,000 – a net swing of $69,000!
• With the 75% mortgage described above, the annual cash flow each of the ten years is right at breakeven.  Instead of the $68,000 loss you would have using RML, the positive cash flow over 10 years would now be $1,140 if you use someone else that can average a 30% vacancy rate – instead of the Joe Thomas 61% vacancy!  Note this is a swing of almost $70,000 of money in your pocket.
• Taking appreciation into account, if we sell after 10 years and sell the unit for the same $67,200 after buying it for the same $50,000 with the same 75% financing, then we have a net gain of $9,800 – instead of the Joe Thomas loss after all tax and cash benefits of $40,000!  This is almost a $50,000 better benefit in your bank account if you don’t use RML!
• This means after owning at Deer Ridge for 10 years, there would be zero net cost to you for having 30% use of your condo per year – over 15 weeks a year – and you end up with about $10,000 in your pocket – plus getting back your $16,500 down payment.

Another ROI Benefit Of Deer Ridge Not Being In The Motel Business

• Right now, Joe Thomas and the Board push all owners to belong to RML, complete with warm-hearted stories that include prayers, motherhood and apple pie – and that you are downright un-American if you don’t donate nearly full use of your condo to the good of RML.
• But Joe Thomas and the Board are playing Pied Piper – not caring if the Deer Ridge owners drown in their losses – as long as RML can keep hanging on by a thread and pay Joe Thomas all his various approved and unapproved compensation.
• The problem is that the more units available for rent at Deer Ridge, the more competition YOU have for renting your unit.
• While a more competent and professional management company could most probably improve occupancy at Deer Ridge, most owners here continue to use RML – no matter how little sense it makes.
• The current low economic occupancy rates at Deer Ridge shows that Joe Thomas has only been able to create a small rental demand for the units compared to all the competitive, newer, less expensive properties in Gatlinburg and especially Pigeon Forge.
• Since there is such low current demand, the more units for rent at Deer Ridge, the less yours will be rented.
• If more units at Deer Ridge are used for personal use or for full time residents, the fewer units there are that will compete with yours for the current narrow niche demand for these units.
• This means your occupancy should rise, and with rising occupancies, rental rates could rise – both of which should make you more money.
• Either way you look at it, Deer Ridge is a LOT better off without RML – and Joe Thomas and the Board have been lying to owners for years that the opposite is true.  Don’t listen to their Pied Piper tune.  Find someone else to solve your vacancy problem.

Want Proof?

Please see the two sets of detailed analysis that follows – the first assuming RML’s use and historical performance – the second with only the vacancy rate changed from Joe Thomas’ abysmal 61% average to a 30% average vacancy using a more competent and professional management company.  Just click Investment Analysis for your own copy of the full report.

Once you have downloaded the full report, you can email it as an attachment to anyone you wish to have a copy, such as your broker.

The good news is if you buy at Deer Ridge, no matter what Joe Thomas may tell you, you have a right to use whatever management company you want to use.

UPDATE!  – FORMAL COMPLAINT FILED WITH POSTAL INSPECTORS – SEE BELOW

The Board and RML need to understand that this property is trending toward more and more full time residences – and the property’s operation needs to reflect this. We are not sure if our mail is being tampered with – but we seem to be having a problem getting all of our mail here. We are already in discussions with the Gatlinburg Postmaster – and from what he has told us, each owner here has a right to their own locked post box where our incoming and outgoing mail is not monitored and viewed by RML prior to it being distributed. We know, we are personally losing mail that is being forwarded to us from our condo in Florida – and we and all other owners have a right to mail control and privacy. The Postmaster recommends a community-wide mail box similar to what we have at our condo in Florida.  Or, we can have individual mailboxes by each of our trash bins. The photo below shows the one that the Gatlinburg postmaster specifically recommended. He even told us that he gets these back from properties so he can give them or sell them to other properties like Deer Ridge – which means we might not have to pay much if anything for this.

Destruction, Obstruction and Delay of Mail (18 USC 1700, 1701, 1702 & 1703) The Postal Inspection Service upholds federal statutes aimed at securing customers’ mail, including those related to the desertion, obstruction, delay or destruction of mail. Postal Inspectors demonstrate their resolve by implementing mail security processes to ensure that customers receive their mail intact and free from outside interference.

The full law on this matter can be viewed by clicking   TITLE 18 – CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE PART I – CRIMES: CHAPTER 83 – POSTAL SERVICE.

As more units get sold to those who use it as a full time home, this will become an increasing problem.

We are considering filing a complaint with the United States Postal Inspection Service as a result of what appears to be mail tampering.  The way mail is handled by so many different people at Deer Ridge has created a major cause for concern – over and beyond the issues of mail privacy. Just this week, we have had to complain to the Joe Thomas that we are not getting our mail – including $150 worth of tickets to a UT Football game.  Now, unless you want to cause a problem – don’t stand in between a UT fan and his football tickets! (Because of this problem, we had to arrange to pick up replacement tickets at the Gate on game day.  A hassle – but at least solvable.  A bigger problem is not knowing what mail was sent that was never received.)

What do other owners think is the best solution for mail control and privacy that is our right?

Luther and Joe, we need these kinds of private mailboxes NOW for all units – to eliminate tampering and to mitigate future claims of unhandled mail by GGRC and RML personnel.

What say you?

——————————————————————

UPDATE!  – FORMAL COMPLAINT FILED WITH POSTAL INSPECTORS

We live at an 84 unit condo complex called Deer Ridge Mountain Resort, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  We have owned this property for over four years – but just recently became a full time resident.

Currently, mail is handled, and mishandled, by the office staff here…there is one large, unsecured mailbox for all incoming and outgoing mail.  The office staff retrieves all the mail for everyone from the box once it arrives – and the manager of the property appears to insist on reviewing all of the mail before it is made available for handout to the owners.

On many occasions, we, and others here, are also receiving mail that has already been opened by someone from the office. Clearly, our mail is being tampered with…and we believe intentionally misplaced, lost or delayed in its delivery to us.

We believe that the manager, Joe Thomas, is personally reviewing every item of mail and possibly intercepting some of it.  We find him to be highly vindictive against us and other residents here who do not rent out their unit using his property management company.

We understand from the local Postmaster that we have a right to private, securable mailboxes but the manager and the Board of Directors refuse to install proper equipment or allow us to install anything for ourselves.

This is an ongoing problem, affecting many owners, and your help in investigating these issues would be greatly appreciated. Once you contact us, we can give you the names of other owners here who have had the same ongoing, insidious problems.

The manager, Joe Thomas, can be reached at the same address. 3710 Weber Rd. Gatlinburg, TN 37738-6374 / (865) 436-2325

For one thing, more and more units are being occupied by full time residents – and those residents have as much right to this property being run as an owner occupied property as those who choose to operate their individual units as rentals.

Deer Ridge, itself, should NOT be in the rental business since every dime expended on the rental business is squandering the money of those of us who do not benefit whatsoever from RML and its huge drain on the GGRC bank account.

One of the major issues I have with the Board is that Luther and the Board consider Deer Ridge to be a 100% rental property or as he calls it, a condo-hotel. In his September 1, 2009 letter to owners where he hits us with the ill conceived and poorly managed current assessment, he states,

“One of the ways to off-set this assessment as well as some other expenses is to participate in the RML program.”

Luther, a significant number of us do not want to be in the rental pool.   And, I for one, resent the implications by you, and others, that it is the fault of us owners not using RML that we have the financial issues we have.

The fault is all the money that is being squandered trying to keep RML going – and hiding the operating deficit by increasing our HOA fees and now hitting everyone with this poorly managed subterfuge called an assessment.