After four months of following legal advice to remain silent, Walden Lake Community Association leaders decided Oct. 21, to host a workshop regarding the possible redevelopment of Walden Lake Golf & Country Club and the community’s two golf courses.
“We would very much like to hold a workshop with all interested parties invited to talk about the golf course,” said President Jan Griffin. “We would invite the manager/owner of Visions Golf (Steve Mercer) as well as the city planner. No date has been set. It will depend when the parties can meet.”
WLCA Director Bob Hunter said the decision to host the workshop is evidence of progress for the embattled eight-member board, which has been deadlocked in nearly every decision since its ninth member, former Vice President Marcus Alexich, resigned abruptly at the Sept. 16 meeting.
The workshop will be first time the WLCA addresses the potential redevelopment since July 15, when the board hosted a meeting at the HCC Plant City John R. Trinkle Center. About 100 residents attended that meeting and asked board members and the community’s hired attorneys dozens of questions about the WLCA’s position and what resident could do to combat the redevelopment.
At that time, Bush Ross attorney Web Melton said his firm would take residents’ questions and find answers. However, at last month’s meeting, WLCA board members admitted they did not have a record of the residents’ questions.
Shelly Orrico, who has spearheaded the campaign to fight the redevelopment, along with Don Marshall, Terry Murphy and other residents, reconstructed the list of questions and presented them to the WLCA board and Bush Ross attorneys Melton and Steven Mezer at Monday’s meeting (see Residents’ Questions below). The board did not answer the questions, and Mezer declined to say whether he had any plans to do so.
“You can’t ask me that,” he said. “I’m an attorney.”
Hunter indicated the workshop not only would be a forum at which residents can ask questions but also one at which WLCA leaders will give answers. Furthermore, he said he hopes to be able to answer some of the residents’ questions before the workshop takes place.
“The intent is not for the board just to sit there but rather for us to be responsive,” Hunter said. “We told the attorneys that our intention was to allow for residents to express themselves, and if we could get some answers for them, we would.”
BUDGET APPROVED
WLCA leaders approved Oct. 21, a preliminary budget for the next fiscal year.
“The good news is that it is the same amount as the 2013 budget, and dues will remain the same,” Griffin said.
RAMPART TALKS RESUME
Board members also agreed to negotiate with current property management company Rampart Properties for a one-year contract.
This decision comes one month after the board voted 5-3 to hire L.E. Wilson & Associates Inc. as its new management company and two months after it voted 5-4 not to allow Rampart to propose a new contract.
DEADLOCKED ON NEW DIRECTOR
After postponing its discussion on who would replace former Vice President Marcus Alexich, the WLCA board still was deadlocked 4-4.
Griffin, Treasurer Karen Olson and directors Steve Swantek and Heather Updike have voted twice for former state Rep. Rich Glorioso. Conversely, Secretary/Parliamentarian Jim Chancey and directors Bruce Rodwell, Bob Hunter and Ray Page voted for Forest Club resident Sharon Philbin, who has been active in the fight against the country club and golf course redevelopment.
The board decided to revisit the issue at its November meeting.
NO NEW VP, EITHER
The board also was deadlocked in choosing a new vice president.
Griffin, Olson, Swantek and Updike supported appointing Updike as the new vice president, while Chancey, Rodwell, Hunter and Page supported Chancey’s bid for the role.
BOARD SPLIT ON OLSON
After hearing from 16 residents asking for Olson’s resignation, Chancey introduced the motion to the board.
Again, the board split 4-4, on the motion.
PRESIDENTS’ MEETING RESCHEDULED
The WLCA board will host is Presidents Meeting at 5 p.m. Oct. 29, at 3035 Griffin Blvd. It originally was scheduled for Oct. 22; however, the board opted to change the date to allow for proper notice to be given to residents.
RESIDENTS’ QUESTIONS
These are some of the questions that were submitted Oct. 21, to the Walden Lake Community Association and its attorneys at Bush Ross, P.A. Questions have been shortened because of space constraints.
- In 2008, the Golf Course owners filed a legal complaint against WCI and the Walden Lake Community Association seeking “to have the restrictions removed enabling the golf course owners to possibly move forward with development plans before 2015.” Why didn’t the WLCA leadership and the attorneys inform residents?
- What does the leadership on this board know about developments, and when did you know it?
- In June 2013, WLCA President Jan Griffin was met with Steve Mercer regarding his plans. What did she discuss?
- In July, the WLCA leadership said the attorneys recommended they not meet with hundreds of residents gathering at the Community Center. Why not?
- In late July the WLCA finally held a meeting at the Trinkle Center. The residents were told their questions would be recorded and subsequently answered by the attorney. Why weren’t these questions recorded?
- At the same July meeting, the attorney told the audience that until the golf course owners filed with the city, he would not speculate nor get involved with a private business. Why did the Griffin and WLCA Treasurer (Karen Olson) hold a meeting with the golf course owner again just a few weeks later?
- Olson has objected to the nomination of a volunteer to serve on the board, on the grounds of “conflict of interests … because she lives on The Hills … and is associated with ‘those people’ trying to save the golf course.” Olson and Griffin own property on the non-affected part of the golf course. Is this not a double standard?
- Have some members and their spouses of the board had lifetime golf memberships grandfathered in part by the golf owners?
- If the golf course owners schedule a rezoning of the golf course, will the WLCA take a position, one way or the other?
- Has the WLCA leadership asked consul about what the impact of a rezoning will mean to this community, if approved? Please explain.
- Has the WLCA attorney provided any written advice on the golf course subject, and if so, could this pleased be shared with the full board, at minimum?
- Is the WLCA board currently planning to take an advisory type role once the rezoning process gets underway? Please explain to what extent.
- Is the WLCA making complaints to the city regarding code violations? If not, why not? Why is this being left to individual homeowners?
- Because of the negative impact the golf course owners have had on such a large part of this community, why hasn’t the WLCA leadership ceased financial support to the golf course owners (i.e. pool parties, etc.)?
- Because the golf course owners filed under Chapter 11 and used the economic downturn in this community as justification for their business losses, have the WLCA attorneys reviewed those bankruptcy proceedings to be certain there was full disclosure and that commitments to the federal court are being fulfilled today?
- There are legal agreements from years ago, that speak to the maintenance and operation of the property as a “premier golf course” (some 15 to 25 years). Have the attorneys reviewed these documents? Have they considered legal action for failure to maintain said property as a premier 36-hole facility pursuant to these legal documents? Have the WLCA attorneys considered punitive damages to the community as a whole for shuttering much of the golf course, without any written notification?
- Before we consider making a change in management companies, can the WLCA board assure the members that our books are in balance and that there are no financial irregularities?
- Olson has said that WLCA stands to save $40,000 a year in a change of management companies. Will these savings be passed back to the residents? If not, how might it be used, and who decides?
- A few years ago, WLCA leadership said the building of a Community Center would provide great savings and benefit to the community. Can the WLCA Leadership tell the residents what was budgeted for the Community Center and if it was built on time and on budget? Has the WLCA leadership ever explained the details and return on investment?
- In the interest of transparency, can the WLCA leadership provide resident members a list of vendors that received more than $1,000 a year in the last seven years?
- In the interest of consistency, does the WLCA leadership demand at least three sealed bids on any expenditure over a determined amount and a full board vote?
- In the interest of transparency and disclosing any potential conflicts of interest, will the WLCA leadership provide biographical information and require each board member to disclose internally to the board, any potential conflicts?
- In the interest of accountability and transparency, will the WLCA leadership consider posting income and expense statements on a monthly basis on the website?
- At the September board meeting, Griffin said the WLCA attorney advised against larger town hall signs and later meeting times, because it would “cause issues.” What issues? The Halloween party signs are huge. Which is more important?
- At the September board meeting, Olson spoke about a need to have a written process to reprimand what she deemed “abusive phone calls or confrontations” with residents. In just the last few weeks, specific members of this board placed calls by residents on speaker phone without notifying the caller of who was listening. One board member sent an email speaking of putting one resident “in an ICU unit,” and not needing to “put up with crap from residents.” Does the board recognize that its members need also to abide by a civil and professional code of conduct?
- Would the WLCA board consider term limits?
- Does the WLCA leadership orecognize that having and keeping the trust and confidence of this community is vitally important, regardless of the golf course outcome?