Follow up Questions on the gate
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Kevin Strange
Jan 19, 2026, 5:58:35 PMJan 19
to morrissettema via Ravenswood Residents Email, Ravenswood BOD, Rick Dye, Shyam Lot 31 Mallavarapu, morrissettema, Rahul Sharma
Everyone,
I know we are looking to have a HOA meeting but I think these questions can be answered before we get that on the books.
Mike, since you just recently were added to the board you may not have the information as it is primarily focused on the initial purchase and install.
· Who suggested the company to install the gate?
· Does anyone have the original contract and does it detail what all the contractor was including for example: the permits and documentation needed by and presented to the county?
· Has Fieldstone had these people, Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki who worked on this look for the abandonment documentation? It would be highly irresponsible of Fieldstone to not have copies of it.
· Who signed the initial contract the board or fieldstone?
· Has the previous contractor looked for all the paperwork that was sent and received from the county?
o Note: I think I recall that the business was sold due to a death was the new owner contacted
· Who hired the law firm Dorough & Dorough, LLC to fix this? The Board or Fieldstone?
o What is the process they are following and when do they expect it to be completed?
o What is the communication schedule?
o What are they charging us?
I would like some clarification as to why we cannot close the gate since it has been in place for 6 years with no incident.
I would also like to suggest that the board president and a board member(s) who were involved initially, pay Fieldstone head office a visit. I think a little fire should be let.
Regards,
Kevin
1790 Westmoorland Lane
Rahul Sharma
Jan 20, 2026, 7:46:15 AMJan 20
to Kevin Strange, morrissettema via Ravenswood Residents Email, Ravenswood BOD, Rick Dye, Shyam Lot 31 Mallavarapu, morrissettema
Hi Kevin,
I do not have all the answers but will provide the information that I have from emails from 2016/ early 2017. Most of this information was provided at that time to everyone in the neighborhood by the Board and/or the HOA.
A) The committee and the Board had talked to 3 companies: Controlled Access Inc., Georgia Automated Access and ATA. Out of the 3 -- based on the discussions, the information provided by these firms, costs, their BBB ratings and referrals, Georgia Automated Access ( https://www.gaautomatedaccess.com/ ) was selected for the work. HOA reps were involved throughout the process and also helped with getting some of the answers. CAD/Permit was the contractor's responsibility, abandonment paperwork was HOA's responsibility.
Other discussions were also held with these entities to ensure the viability of the project:
a) Fieldstone (Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki were the people running the show at that time),
b) Appraisal Board (Scott Murphy was the chairman at that time and we had talked to him),
c) Gretchen K. Higgins (Transportation District Supervisor of the Forsyth County School System),
d) Utility companies (Sawnee, Scana etc.),
e) Trash Pickup companies,
f) Shepherd Paving and a few other contractor companies for road pavement cost estimates,
g) Other gated community HOAs, and
h) Ryland Homes (the builder of our community).
Q) Does anyone have the original contract and does it detail what all the contractor was including for example: the permits and documentation needed by and presented to the county?
A) Contract copy is attached - 2 pages. Permits and documentation was included and is shown on line #28 of the attachment (CAD drawing and permit). In one of the previous emails, I had provided the CAD design that the contractor had submitted to the county and Mike has the email in which the contractor has stated that he is picking the permit from the County office. Plus Shyam had also sent the screenshot (attached again with this email) showing the electrical permit for the gate that was approved by the county. So, the contractor had done their job and obtained all necessary permits.
Infact, as per the emails from that time which have been shared before -- our board signed the contract after the permit was obtained by the contractor. Permit is not the issue here - abandonment paperwork is.
I personally do not think that any county will approve the permit without abandonment paperwork being in place.
Q) Has Fieldstone had these people, Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki who worked on this look for the abandonment documentation? It would be highly irresponsible of Fieldstone to not have copies of it.
A) That was one of the first things that I had raised when this issue happened along with providing an email to Mike that shows that these 2 gentlemen from Fieldstone were working with the County on that paperwork. It was/is the responsibility of the HOA to do that work. So, they should have all the information in their database and in case they dropped the ball and did not get it, Fieldstone needs to rectify it.
Q) Who signed the initial contract the board or fieldstone?
A) Board always signs but with HOA's review & approval - that is my understanding and it reflects in the contract also (HOA Board is the signatory). Jim and Ryan were involved from start to finish -- even at the end when the key fobs were handed out.
Q) Has the previous contractor looked for all the paperwork that was sent and received from the county?
I do not have all the answers but will provide the information that I have from emails from 2016/ early 2017. Most of this information was provided at that time to everyone in the neighborhood by the Board and/or the HOA.
- Board Members at that time were: Suhail (he moved to another state 5-6 years ago), Nagesh and Duane.
- HOA (Fieldstone) Reps were: Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki.
- A voluntary security committee was formed which comprised 5 people (Suhail, Nagesh, Shyam, Mohan and me). Aim of this committee was to research and help the Board and HOA on the Gate Project.
A) The committee and the Board had talked to 3 companies: Controlled Access Inc., Georgia Automated Access and ATA. Out of the 3 -- based on the discussions, the information provided by these firms, costs, their BBB ratings and referrals, Georgia Automated Access ( https://www.gaautomatedaccess.com/ ) was selected for the work. HOA reps were involved throughout the process and also helped with getting some of the answers. CAD/Permit was the contractor's responsibility, abandonment paperwork was HOA's responsibility.
Other discussions were also held with these entities to ensure the viability of the project:
a) Fieldstone (Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki were the people running the show at that time),
b) Appraisal Board (Scott Murphy was the chairman at that time and we had talked to him),
c) Gretchen K. Higgins (Transportation District Supervisor of the Forsyth County School System),
d) Utility companies (Sawnee, Scana etc.),
e) Trash Pickup companies,
f) Shepherd Paving and a few other contractor companies for road pavement cost estimates,
g) Other gated community HOAs, and
h) Ryland Homes (the builder of our community).
Q) Does anyone have the original contract and does it detail what all the contractor was including for example: the permits and documentation needed by and presented to the county?
A) Contract copy is attached - 2 pages. Permits and documentation was included and is shown on line #28 of the attachment (CAD drawing and permit). In one of the previous emails, I had provided the CAD design that the contractor had submitted to the county and Mike has the email in which the contractor has stated that he is picking the permit from the County office. Plus Shyam had also sent the screenshot (attached again with this email) showing the electrical permit for the gate that was approved by the county. So, the contractor had done their job and obtained all necessary permits.
Infact, as per the emails from that time which have been shared before -- our board signed the contract after the permit was obtained by the contractor. Permit is not the issue here - abandonment paperwork is.
I personally do not think that any county will approve the permit without abandonment paperwork being in place.
Q) Has Fieldstone had these people, Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki who worked on this look for the abandonment documentation? It would be highly irresponsible of Fieldstone to not have copies of it.
A) That was one of the first things that I had raised when this issue happened along with providing an email to Mike that shows that these 2 gentlemen from Fieldstone were working with the County on that paperwork. It was/is the responsibility of the HOA to do that work. So, they should have all the information in their database and in case they dropped the ball and did not get it, Fieldstone needs to rectify it.
Q) Who signed the initial contract the board or fieldstone?
A) Board always signs but with HOA's review & approval - that is my understanding and it reflects in the contract also (HOA Board is the signatory). Jim and Ryan were involved from start to finish -- even at the end when the key fobs were handed out.
Q) Has the previous contractor looked for all the paperwork that was sent and received from the county?
o Note: I think I recall that the business was sold due to a death was the new owner contacted
A) Lonnie Giles (owner of the business) passed away in Feb. 2024. New owner (Loren Brunson) was contacted by Kyle. His response was that they had upgraded their systems and do not have records from 9 years ago. But the county should have all records. Permit is not the issue here - abandonment paperwork is and that was not handled by the contractor.
Q) I would like some clarification as to why we cannot close the gate since it has been in place for 6 years with no incident.
A) It has been in place for 9 years (not 6) -- Jan. 2017 - with no incident as you rightly said and has been operating successfully with all entities including law enforcement. Per Kyle's note to Mike - it is a Forsyth county requirement to have the gates open till the abandonment paperwork issue is resolved. I think it will be easier to get the abandonment paperwork issue resolved then to get clarification from the county but if someone wants to take this up, please do so.
My suggestions:
1) Shyam is following up with Laura Semanson (Commissioner) - per her note, they have been back in office only since 01/08 so it has been only 7 business days since then. Am sure they have many things going on so we need to have patience and wait to hear from her. Shyam can guide us on when it will be appropriate to ping her again on this topic.
2) Our Board President needs to meet with Kyle and the HOA lawyers to understand:
a) Current status of the paperwork,
b) Resolution timeline and establish a weekly call with them till the issue is resolved,
c) Cost, and
d) Why Fieldstone cannot dig into their files to see what Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki did on this issue in 2016.
Hope this helps,
Rahul
Kevin Strange
Jan 20, 2026, 2:55:34 PMJan 20
to Rahul Sharma, morrissettema via Ravenswood Residents Email, Ravenswood BOD, Rick Dye, Shyam Lot 31 Mallavarapu, morrissettema
Thanks Rahul for all the background information this is very helpful.
Did we have a lawyer at that time to assist with the amandonment process or did the county just provide details and the list of documentation needed?
There should be a papertrail within the HOA for us to pull from if Fieldstone doesnt have it. Which I can't imagine they don't.
Have we already hired Dorough & Dorough, LLC to handle this if we can't find the documentation?
Regards,
Kevin
Rahul Sharma
Jan 20, 2026, 3:28:27 PMJan 20
to Kevin Strange, morrissettema via Ravenswood Residents Email, Ravenswood BOD, Rick Dye, Shyam Lot 31 Mallavarapu, morrissettema
Did we have a lawyer at that time to assist with the amandonment process or did the county just provide details and the list of documentation needed?
As stated before, that was handled by Jim Sutton and Ryan Maki (Fieldstone Reps) with the County as per emails from that time. Not sure what was involved and if they had HOA lawyers engaged or if they did it themselves. Any paperwork in this regard should/would be with Fieldstone.
Have we already hired Dorough & Dorough, LLC to handle this if we can't find the documentation?
As per a previous update forwarded by Mike, that seems to be the case. Our Board President should be able to follow up and get more information from Fieldstone and/or the HOA lawyers.
Kevin Strange
Jan 20, 2026, 5:10:28 PMJan 20
to Rahul Sharma, morrissettema via Ravenswood Residents Email, Ravenswood BOD, Rick Dye, Shyam Lot 31 Mallavarapu, morrissettema
Thanks for taking the time to clear this up for me.
Mike, as the current board president can I request that you and any other members of the board you want to go with you, setup a meeting with Fieldstone leadership not Kyle to have them provide answers to the two main issues. Dan Fields, is the managing partner and Ryan Maki was involved from the beginning.
- Where is the abandonment paperwork that their employees,Jim and Ryan Maki, worked on ? if they hired a lawyer on our behalf,you all need that contact information and/or documentation.
- Who hired the law firm Dorough and Dorough and what is going on with them? They need to provide you and the board regular updates that get distributed to the homeowners.
Thanks,
Kevin
678-429-0025 Mobile
morris...@aol.com
Jan 20, 2026, 7:19:03 PMJan 20
to Kevin Strange, Rahul Sharma, morrissettema via Ravenswood Residents Email, Ravenswood BOD, Rick Dye, Shyam Lot 31 Mallavarapu
I'm going through all the traffic and will reach out to Kyle/Fieldstone tomorrow to discuss the community concerns. I met with the landscaping company today. We discussed the retaining pond and the front landscaping. I will walk with him monthly to ensure the community's common areas are landscaped to standards.
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