Fwd: Massage from Madison City Police Chief Muncey - Homeowners fight for their community's fiscal life, and YOUR rights as homeowners and buyers (attachment)
Buckingham HOA
From: The Alabama Concerned Homeowners Alliance <ac...@knology.net>
Date: Wed, Dec 18, 2013 at 8:31 AM
Subject: Massage from Madison City Police Chief Muncey - Homeowners fight for their community's fiscal life, and YOUR rights as homeowners and buyers (attachment)
To: The Alabama Concerned Homeowners Alliance <ac...@knology.net>
The Alabama Concerned Homeowners Alliance
Director
For Madison City Residents sent at the request of Chief Muncey:
Dear Madison Community:
The members of the Madison City Police Department (MPD) would like to know if we met your expectations for 2013. The link listed below will direct you towards a very short survey (approximately 30 questions) that will help shape our efforts in 2014. Please take the time to complete the survey, we (the MPD team) would really appreciate your input.
Chief Larry R. Muncey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YPCMK7F2014MPDSurvey
Chief Larry R. Muncey
Madison City Police Dept.
100 Hughes Road
Madison, AL 35758
Office: (256) 772-5670
Cell: (256) 431-7100
“We want and need your support! A positive outcome would obviously benefit us but is also the kind of thing that helps change laws in favor of consumers.
Here in Alabama, we don’t have a lot of laws that favor homeowners in these types of situations, but we would like to be on the leading edge of change!.”
Please reach out and help them help themselves and you.
Losing is not an option!
Educating Our Community – Why We Are Fighting Back
July 25, 2013Leave a comment 
Well before the majority of the neighborhood existed, there were a few people with a passion for community who saw a home builder push his agenda on the lives of existing homeowners and future homeowners to come.
Whitworth Farms and Whitworth Gardens (WWFG) began in 2006 as a nice community on the western edge of Madison, Alabama, but what happened since could be considered an affront to what homeowners expected. Beginning in 2008, WWFG was presented with a recommendation from Woodland Homes to build a pool and clubhouse on two lots that would be located within the neighborhood. The estimated proposed cost was $xxx,xxx. Well that may be the biggest question everyone had coming away from that meeting. The By-Laws and Covenants and Restrictions state that purchases greater than $50,000 must be voted on by the majority of the association members. The proposal was rejected in 2008 and shelved for re-consideration in 2009. When the vote came up again in 2009, Woodland Homes took measures to craft it in such a way that would leave some feeling as though they had no other choice than to vote for the proposal.. ”The proposal was approved by a majority of the homeowners present, but that did not equate to a majority of the association. At the time, Homeowners Association dues were set at $150 per year.
By 2009, dues had increased to $350 in line with the Covenants and Restrictions with plans for further increases to pay for the “new addition”. This plan moved forward even though many of the homeowners vocally opposed this action. Between 2009 and 2011 periodic homeowner dues increases were never voted on and many owners feel were improperly raised to prepare for a pool and clubhouse/cabana.
In October 2009, a vote was taken to accept/reject a pool & cabana/clubhouse for the second time. There were 81 homes in the neighborhood, yet only 42 came to the meeting to vote. According to the governing documents, with only that many homeowners present, the only way the project could be approved was if every single vote was a ”Yes”. This was not the case. According to records, only 22 homeowners voted for the project. The HOA Board, which is comprised of three Woodland Homes’ employees, allowed the vote to pass with just the majority vote of those homeowners present. This clearly goes against the WWFG By-Laws and Covenants and Restrictions of WWFG, which states the requirement of a majority of the neighborhood to pass the vote. The vote was tallied and announced as passed at the same meeting. The next item on the agenda was a vote on the location of the pool and whether it would be a cabana or clubhouse. Those who had voted against the project believed that there was no choice but to cast a vote for its location.
In the years between October 2009 and 2011, Woodland Homes advertised “Pool Coming Soon”. This advertisement led many existing and prospective homeowners to believe the pool was coming much sooner than its actual completion and opening in the spring of 2012.
In addition to the dispute about the votes taken, there are questions concerning the price paid for the two lots on which the pool and clubhouse are built. The bank used for the construction loan was Worthington Federal Bank, on whose board Mike Friday sits.
The reasons we are fighting are simple! We love our neighborhood and feel that our only option to stay financially viable for the future as a homeowners association is to fight having to assume an inflated loan, entered into because of a fraudulent process by Woodland Homes. We have retained a lawyer who has filed a lawsuit which we are confident will result in a positive outcome for WWFG. We’ve taken this course of action because we have tried for xx years to work out an equitable arrangement with Woodland Homes. However, when were told by the other side to “lawyer up”, we decided it was time to put the kid gloves down and do something.
We want and need your support! A positive outcome would obviously benefit us but is also the kind of thing that helps change laws in favor of consumers. Here in Alabama, we don’t have a lot of laws that favor homeowners in these types of situations, but we would like to be on the leading edge of change!.
Please follow our blog – constructive comments and suggestions are welcome – or consider donating. Legal fees get expensive and we must all be committed to seeing this action through to the end. This fight is the right thing to do for our neighborhood. More
Please click the link below and you’ll be taken to our PayPal page to donate.
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