Reprinted below is Rana Goodman's original editorial, which prompted David Berman's comments and Rana's reponse reprinted on 9/12 in our Point of View section.
JOHN LEACH, FRIEND OR FOE TO SCA:
It no secret that for several years many residents in our community have been campaigning to replace our association attorney, John Leach. In the past, candidates for the Board of Directors have made pledges to do just that. Obviously, those pledges fell by the wayside. Other candidates more adamant in their determination to follow through with this pledge were not elected so we will never know if they would have garnered the votes to oust him or not. BUT, let’s look at some reasons and ask the BIG question; is John Leach a friend or foe to SCA homeowners?
FOE:
#One: In September of 2005 the original Trumpets stopped paying rent. After thirty or sixty days no action was taken to evict or force the tenant to pay rent. John Leach, as our attorney failed in his fiduciary responsibility to advise the board to move forward and evict. It should not have taken two more years for this to happen and then have him rewarded for this failure with a nice consulting contract with Jones, Vargus at the end.
#Two: Many may not be aware that the original author of Assembly Bill 350 is…… John Leach. Now when a lay-man (or woman) writes what they think is a good bill they need a senator or assemblyman to get it written into ‘bill form’ and presented for them. For this reason, you won't see his name on AB350. Early drafts of the bill however will give all who read it an excellent picture of just what side of the fence John Leach sits on. There were too many items in this bill to mention but one example is;
Thanks to John Leach we can no longer charge interest on past due assessments: Thanks to AB 350 we can charge for all cost of collections, but look at how much longer we must chase that homeowner, if in fact we can find them should they move out of the home.
#Three In the original draft of AB350 the percentage of units’ owners required to approve an amendment to the declaration of a common-interest community is increased from “a majority of units” owners to 85 percent of units’ owners. In the case of SCA that is more than 6,072
#Four: A head honcho of CAI (Community Association Institute)An organization dedicated to improving the status of developers, community managers and lawyers, NOT homeowners rights. Case in point, one only has to read the legislation CAI advocates to verify this fact.
#Five: Conflict of interest. John Leach and his original firm were hired by Del Webb in circa 1999. He has been SCA’s attorney ever since.
# Six: His advocacy that HOAs are NOT a democratic form of government and hence he ONLY represents the Board and not the residents.
#Seven: John Leach claims to represent in excess of 200 HOA associations. How can one human being give any reasonable amount of attention to his clients when they are that numerous? Let’s assume he does not. Mr. Leach has a large firm and therefore assigns other members too many of the client HOAs. We are undoubtedly the largest HOA in the state; SC Summerlin may be close, in which case we should have his personal attention for our dollars. BUT then comes his mantra that he only represents “the board,” questions and concerns from the SC residents per-se’ are of no concern to him.
#Eight: Bad advice: Some examples; Advising the Board to allow complaints from residents to reach the level of going to the Ombudsman rather than dealing with them one-on-one. Adding to billable hours by advising the Board to use an attorney for Ombudsman mediation where he knew NO ATTORNEY IS EVER necessary. Although he is touted as an HOA expert, he never informed the Board that secret meeting are forbidden.
FRIEND:
As a homeowner, I cannot think of any but I am wide open for suggestions. If anyone has any, please let me hear from you.
Rana Goodman