Monday, December 13, 2010

GGM Mortgage Fact Sheet

The Facts about the Garden Grove Manor Mortgage!

• The 40-year HUD mortgage for GGM is scheduled to be paid off in October 2013. After 37 years of mortgage payments, there are only 34 monthly payments left!
• When the HUD mortgage is paid off, shareholders will have complete control over GGM. One option shareholders will have is to keep GGM as a housing cooperative. One housing cooperative in San Francisco paid off its 40-year HUD mortgage in 2003. Their current carrying charges are around $750 per month. Their 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom apartments sell for over $300,000! The carrying charges and sales prices are probably higher in San Francisco than Garden Grove Manor’s would be, but this gives you an idea of what can happen when the mortgage is paid off.
• Condo conversion is another option that shareholders will have when the mortgage is paid off, but only shareholders can make that decision. The Board of Directors cannot turn GGM into condos. Under the GGM bylaws, it takes a majority vote of all shareholders to have condo conversion. These are the facts.
• The only thing standing between shareholders and the mortgage payoff in 2013 is bad Board management. The Board cannot answer simple questions about how much they are spending and how much money is left after all their spending. This year the Board fired its longtime lawyer and hired new lawyers, Matthew D. Berke and Alan D. Ross, who specialize in HUD loans. Why? We asked, but they won’t tell us!
• In 2008, HUD threatened to foreclose on the mortgage because GGM ran out of money in our operating accounts. GGM lost thousands of dollars each month because HUD stopped giving us the monthly Section 8 payments and refused to correct the problem. But we had over $300,000 in the replacement reserve account due to our careful budgeting and that saved GGM from foreclosure, refinancing or being sold.
• Now GGM is losing Section 8 money again and is still in danger of foreclosure. Last week Board members told us that HUD still has not paid the Section 8 money it owes GGM for 2008, 2009 and 2010. When we asked Board members how much money GGM has left, they said they don’t know!
• The GGM mortgage payment is more than $12,000 per month. When the mortgage is paid off, that money can be used to improve shareholders’ units, the buildings, the grounds and all other GGM facilities.
• The power HUD has to sell GGM or raise the carrying charges will go away when the HUD mortgage goes away. In January 2010, HUD increased market carrying charges more than 30%! That increase violated California law. If the Board and management paid attention to the laws they are required to follow, they could have stopped HUD from imposing that enormous carrying charge increase.
• The HUD REAC inspections go away when the mortgage goes away. Every time there is a HUD REAC inspection, GGM spends thousands and thousands of dollars to prepare for the inspection. The REAC inspectors can be very picky and give GGM a long list of corrections that have to be made, which costs thousands and thousands of more dollars. In 2009, the Board of Directors and management spent more than $100,000 in labor and materials to prepare for a REAC inspection that never happened.
• The power HUD has to dictate how GGM spends money will go away when the HUD mortgage goes away. The GGM Board and its shareholders will decide what the budget priorities should be.
• Even when the HUD mortgage goes away, GGM can ask HUD to keep the Section 8 contract to provide monthly assistance payments for shareholders who qualify.

Will the Mortgage Be Paid Off on Time? The Choice Is Yours!

For the past year, we tried to get the facts and share them with you. The Board of Directors tried to stop the recall election and deceive you about the candidates running against them. Our truth is simple. We want to pay off the mortgage on time. Fix things when they break. Discuss our common interests together in open meetings. Make decisions with our neighbors about our community. Have employees that respect us and work with us. Let you and your family live in peace. If you agree:

 Vote YES to Recall the Board of Directors! Bring your ballot to the December 16 meeting.

 Vote for Nelson Cuervo, Milina Kasalian, Keith Campbell, Alicia Boatman, and Tom DePalma!

Letter from a Former Director of GGM

Dear Shareholder:

I was on the Board of Directors from 1993 to 2008, when I had to resign for health reasons. I became involved here again when shareholders called me for my GGM Board records and advice in 2009. The manager threatened them with eviction for no legitimate reason and 3 current directors, who have the same records I do, refused to help those poor, frightened shareholders. When I served on the Board with these 3 directors, I always insisted that we manage GGM legally and properly. After I was diagnosed with cancer in 2003, I spent the next 5 years training the other directors so GGM would not fall apart when I left. Quite frankly, I stayed on the Board as long as I could because I did 99% of the work and the others showed up at meetings. Now they operate in deliberate violation of the GGM bylaws, California laws, and good business practices. They know better and you deserve better.

GGM is a small HUD low income, affordable housing cooperative, but there are more employees working here today than in its 37 year history. They also get paid a lot more than any employee I ever worked with in all my years on the Board, but what are they doing to justify taking so much of your money? In my 21 year relationship with GGM, I have never seen worse management than you are getting from this Board and their employees – and Garden Grove Manor has had some terrible management companies! This Board gives their employees too much power and not enough supervision. Employees do not have the same investment in GGM that shareholders have. When the HUD mortgage is paid off in 2013, GGM will not need HUD management any more. GGM will need a company certified in California to manage community associations. The current employees do not qualify, so you could say it is in their best interest to keep Garden Grove Manor a HUD property as long as possible.

In 2008 HUD threatened to foreclose on your mortgage when HUD owed GGM nearly 4 years of Section 8 payments. HUD has the power to sell GGM to a buyer who would turn it into more expensive rental apartments. Or HUD could force GGM to refinance the mortgage, giving shareholders hundreds of thousands of dollars in new debt to pay and adding 30 years or more to the existing HUD loan. But that didn’t happen because GGM had over $300,000 in reserve due to our good financial management. Today GGM is short of money again and in worse financial danger than we were in 2008. Why has the Board hired new lawyers who are experts in HUD loans?

If you recall the Board of Directors, 5 Board members will be elected this month and each director will serve for 3 years. The mortgage is scheduled to be paid off in October 2013 during their 3-year terms, but that will depend on how you vote and how GGM is managed after the recall election. If you want the mortgage to be paid off in 2013, you must elect 5 Board members who will manage GGM properly, stop unnecessary spending, follow the GGM bylaws and California law, operate openly, and follow good business practices. The current Board is not doing any of these things.

You have a clear choice in the recall election. In the past year, your neighbors have been trying to uncover what is really going on here. They hired an independent Inspector of Election so this month you will have your first election in 4 years. They successfully sued the Board to keep them from interfering in the recall election and to get the GGM records that all shareholders are entitled to see. They spent the last year studying the problems facing GGM to find solutions before it’s too late. Five of them are candidates for the Board of Directors. With your votes, they will work hard to protect all shareholders’ rights, protect your investment in your family’s home, bring legal and financial stability back to GGM, and make sure the HUD mortgage gets paid off on schedule in October 2013 so you receive the benefits of your investment. I urge you to vote YES to recall the Board of Directors and then vote for Nelson Cuervo, Milina Kasalian, Keith Campbell, Alicia Boatman and Tom DePalma.

Sincerely,

Terrie Rosas


Terrie Rosas is a former resident of Garden Grove Manor and served on the Board of Directors from 1993 to 2008.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Truth about the Shareholders' Court Victory!

You deserve to know the truth about the lawsuit we won against the Board of Directors and the Board is not telling you the truth. We promise this will be the last letter we send about the lawsuit if the Board stops their illegal behavior. I have a complete set of court documents, but I have given all shareholders the 4 essential court documents that tell the real story of the court dates and actions by both sides that resulted in my court victory on November 15, 2010. A 1-page guide to explain the court documents in sequence is attached. I am happy to show you my other court documents if interested.

After being advised by attorneys that superior court would cost shareholders $10,000 to $20,000 in legal fees spent by the Board of Directors and take years to go to trial due to Board delay tactics, I decided to file in small claims court to keep shareholders’ costs very low and get justice as quickly as possible. I feel like I won the lawsuit for all of us! I know I handled everything properly in the court case. I believe the court handled everything properly, too. The Board did not handle everything properly and now they are blaming the court for losing the trial.

On Sunday, November 28, the Board passed out a deceptive letter to make you think the final court case that we won was dismissed. The very next day, Monday, November 29, they filed a motion in court to get our winning lawsuit thrown out after trying to convince you less than 24 hours earlier that the case was already dismissed. This proves that they deliberately tried to deceive you. We all know this is about the Board stopping the recall election again in a desperate attempt to stay in power without your consent. But now we have a court order from Judge Stacy Campuzano that protects your right to vote in the December 16, 2010 recall election and that has not changed.

When you vote in the December 16, 2010 recall election, it is a secret ballot and nobody will know how you vote unless you tell them. You can give your secret ballot to the Inspector of Election at the recall meeting or put it in the mail to his office in Mission Viejo by December 10th. The Inspector of Election certifies the final election results in a signed Affidavit of Findings, which is a legal document. The next court hearing will be held after the recall election is completed and after shareholders elect a new Board of Directors for the first time in 4 years. Your vote to recall this Board of Directors will restore our rights as shareholders.

No matter what the Board claims, the recall election has not been cancelled and the case has not been dismissed. We won the case fairly because we have the facts, the law and the evidence on our side. We proved to the judge that the Board violated our rights as shareholders to vote and our rights to have copies of GGM records, including financial, legal, tax, insurance, contract, and meeting records. The Board continues to violate our rights as shareholders and we believe they violated the court order. Since they lost in court, they are making their own case worse, not better.

Please read the attached court documents and remember to vote in the December 16, 2010 election. You are welcome to call me at (714) 794-2295 if you have any questions. Thank you very much!

Sincerely,

Darlene Cirillo



COURT DOCUMENTS ATTACHED
Cirillo vs. Garden Grove Manor, Inc.
Case No: 30-2010-00413188-SC-SC-WJC


1. The Notice of Continuance Dated October 22, 2010

• I filed the lawsuit on September 30, 2010 and the trial date was scheduled for November 1, 2010.
• Ann Marie McCartan and Dyan Gibbs requested a postponement to November 15, 2010.
• They filed the paperwork with the court claiming that the Board and the Manager could not appear on November 1st, paid the fee to postpone the trial date to November 15, 2010, and their request was granted.
• This is my copy of the court notice and the same notice was sent to the Board.

2. The Minute Order Dated November 4, 2010

• After successfully getting the court to change the trial date to November 15, 2010 because they told the court they could not appear on November 1st, Ann Marie McCartan and Dyan Gibbs showed up in court on November 1, 2010, anyway!
• I did not go to court on November 1st because the court already notified me that the Board got the date changed to November 15th. The court did not take any testimony or evidence from Ann Marie or Dyan.
• The court “inadvertently dismissed” the case because I did not show up on November 1st and corrected their error on November 4, 2010. They sent a notice to me and to Garden Grove Manor that the trial was still scheduled for November 15, 2010. They also left telephone messages for us.
• Please note the last line at the bottom of the Minute Order: “Court orders Clerk’s Office to give notice.” That is the judge’s standard instruction for the court to mail the notice to both sides in the case. This is the copy of the court notice that I received in the mail and the court sends notices to both sides at the same time.

3. The Minute Order Dated November 15, 2010

• I appeared in court for the trial on November 15, 2010. The Board of Directors and the Manager of GGM did not appear in court even though they received proper notification. But the judge did not dismiss the case due to their absence.
• The judge received testimony and documents from our side. She made her decision the same day and I won on both counts. The court ordered Garden Grove Manor to give me the records I have requested for over a year. The court also ordered Garden Grove Manor to not interfere with our recall election or other future elections in any way.
• Please note the last line at the bottom of the Minute Order: “Court orders Clerk’s Office to give notice.” That is the judge’s standard instruction for the court to mail the notice to both sides in the case. This is the copy of the court notice that I received in the mail and the court sends notice to both sides at the same time.

4. The Notice of Hearing Dated November 29, 2010

• The Board of Directors filed a motion to vacate Judge Campuzano’s court order on Monday, November 29, 2010 and the court hearing is scheduled for December 29, 2010.
• The Board claims they did not receive any notices about their successful postponement or my court victory, even though I received all notices and the court records show that both sides received the same notices. The Board will have to prove their case in court.
• We will appear in court to present our evidence and testimony regarding the Board’s violations of the judge’s court order. Court hearings are public and shareholders are welcome to attend the December 29, 2010 hearing.