1. The meeting began with a brief statement about a lawsuit filed against District 1 by HEI, the contractor hired by Brookfield to expand McIntyre. The contract was with Brookfield when they were District 1 and Brookfield just decided to stop paying. HEI sued District 1.
Residents who opted in to District 1 should be aware, if they aren’t already, of two points. First, they were sued in October. Second, according to the legal pleading filed by the Board’s attorney, Districts 2 and 3 are not obligated to pay any judgment against District 1.
Here is the document filed with the Court:
2019-12-05 12-24-17 2019.12.05 – Answer and Cross Claim of Fossil Ridge
The report from the Board is that there is a pending settlement. Everyone has a copy except the District 1 residents – who might have to pay some money if the board agreed to pay some damages. My request for a copy was denied, in part because, according to the board’s attorney, sharing the proposed settlement “could be injurious to the public”. So right now Brookfield, HEI and the other parties know more about it than you do.
This development highlights the risk to those who opted into District 1 which, contrary to some prior reports, was not required by the Court. District 1 was Brookfield and whenever Brookfield reneges on an agreement it made as District 1, District 1 gets sued. There was a way to avoid this exposure, but the board decided from the very beginning to pay for and defend Brookfield’s lapses. We paid over $40,000 to defend the frivolous oversizing lawsuit based upon Brookfield’s breach of that agreement in 2017. The good news is that for the first time the Board challenged that assumption in this case.
2. The elections for the Board will be May 5, 2020. The form for nominating yourself as a candidate is February 28, 2020. The ballot will be a mail in ballot.
3. The new paper which the board will use to publish notices will be the Golden paper.
4. The Board has allocated money to retain a bond advisor to advise the board on refinancing the old bonds and how much to issue in new bonds. The discussion focused on the fact that we have more money, and we can save money by refinancing the older bonds to a lower interest rate. Therefore, we can afford to issue new bonds, which the board indicated it will do.
5. Questions raised about whether or not we actually owe Brookfield more money were waved aside.
See more detailed report at
6. Brookfield is still holding money of the District which needs to be accounted for.
7. The two management companies the board continues to employ are dividing up the financial accounting responsibilities. Clearly there is duplication of effort and at some point the board will discharge Overlook, the captive management company for Brookfield’s developments.
8. There was discussion about the improvements being built outside the district (for which Brookfield will seek reimbursement from the residents to pay their cost and profit). There was also discussion about the “verification assessments” by Brookfield’s contractor to support the conclusion that we owe Brookfield more money. The lack of credibility of those Brookfield self-serving assessments is also reported in the separate blog above. The board continues to avoid any commitment to an independent evaluation of whether or not any additional money is owed Brookfield while it pushes forward to issue new bond debt, without a vote by the residents.
9. The board is replacing the YMCA with “Perfect Pools”, a pool management company that has worked with CRS – the lead management company employed by the board. Approval is contingent upon an interview January 21 at 2:00 pm at the Retreat. The interview is open to the residents. Cost of the contract – $74,500.
10. The reserve study was referenced. Note that it does not include capital improvements beyond the next 5 years. For example, it does not include setting aside reserves to repair or replace sewer pipes. We own the sewer system. Neither was there any discussion about opting in to the special district which runs the sewer system (Green Mountain Water and Sanitation District). Our agreement with them to take our sewage expires in 2023.
John Henderson
Hey, John – even though I don’t comment often, I read all of your updates. It’s a tale of rats scurrying to leave a sinking ship while attempting to take all the food with them. Dishonest people everywhere seem to act the same way when their victims wise up and begin to fight back. Thanks to you, folks are now more informed and starting to react. It’s a wonderful thing to witness.