I'm going to WKORV Association Meeting - send me your questions

[ginja]

I'm here in Maui and am going to the Annual Meeting of the Ocean Resort Master Association. I have a few questions but want to hear from any of you out there that have some good questions I could ask that I might not have thought of.

 

[jarta]

1. What are the qualifications of the soon to be HOA members who are on the proxy?

2. Do any of the HOA members have connections to Starwood? Are there regular meetings of the HOA? What notice is given of those meetings.

3. When is the next annual meeting and how can a person interested in running get notice of the posting so that he/she can timely send in a statement along with a request that his/her name be on the proxy along with other candidates? When were the notices for this meeting mailed? Is there an explanation why notices were received so late? Why not use a mailing system where there is a time stamp on the envelope from the USPS?

4. When will the hearing on the assessment protest be heard? What rights of appeal do either side have? What method of valuation resulted in the large assessment increases? Why are WKORV and WKORV-N the only timeshare resorts to be increased this year? If other timeshare resorts are facing increases, who are they? Is ARDA helping out financially or as an amicus curiae (friend of the tribunal) with the challenge to the assessment increases?

5. When will there be a resolution of the permitting snafu with Maui 3 (WKROV-N-N?)? What steps has Starwood taken to resubmit the plan so there is no uncertainty with 2 plans being in place? If no steps have been taken to resolve the fact that 2 plans are in existence, what is the perceived benefit of doing nothing? Are these permit questions related to the assessment increases?

6. Why when other competitor time shares seem stable or having slight increases in their MF would the MF of WKORV and WKORV-N have increased even more than those places even without the assessment increases?

7. What is the policy to be followed concerning delinquent assessments? Specifically, are foreclosure actions being filed? If not, why not? If they are being filed, what happens to any properties where the lien is foreclosed? Are they disposed of? By whom, for what prices and under what contractual terms? Are they rented? If so, what are the costs of rental and what portion of the rent ends up with the HOA? Are delinquent properties rented? If so, same questions? Are any forclosed properties going to be made available for reduced rental by WKORV and WKORV-N owners? If not, why not?

8. Has the HOA requested or has Starwood volunteered a reduction in the Starwood management fees due to the economy? Is the Starwood management fee a percentage of the gross total annual assessments? If not, how is the management fee calculated? Is the HOA satisfied that Starwood is managing the property well? If yes, why? If not, what does the HOA want to see changed? If so-so, how can improvements and economies be achieved?

 

[Ken555]

Excellent - Good luck! (getting your questions even heard)

And... great equestions, Jarta! We now definitely know you're an attorney...

 

[DanCali]

You should also point out that MFs spiraling out of control is not a new issue. This is not just about the Maui tax. MFs have been going up 10%-15% a year over the last 5-6 years. A resort cannot survive like this. $330/night ($430 for 2BR Dlx) is far from a prepaid vacation...

 

[jarta]

Ken, ... Sometimes a pain in the a** attorney. lol!

But, I try to be fair about things. ... eom

 

[LisaRex]

FWIW, I think jarta's list is an excellent start. I doubt they'll open up the forum to the general audience, but good luck!

 

[jarta]

LisaRex, ... Participation by non-board members must be allowed unless a majority of a quorum of the board votes otherwise (tie vote doesn't do it - a majority is 50% plus 1):

" §514A-83.1 Board meetings. (a) All meetings of the board of directors, other than executive sessions, shall be open to all members of the association, and association members who are not on the board of directors may participate in any deliberation or discussion, other than executive sessions, unless a majority of a quorum of the board of directors votes otherwise.

(b) The board of directors, with the approval of a majority of a quorum of its members, may adjourn a meeting and reconvene in executive session to discuss and vote upon personnel matters or litigation in which the association is or may become involved. The nature of any and all business to be considered in executive session shall first be announced in open session. [L 2007, c 244, pt of §2]"

The motion should be made at the beginning of the meeting and the yeas and nays recorded in the minutes for the vote on the motion.

Assuming that the board says that only an "Owners Open Forum" will be allowed at or before the beginning of the meeting, whoever is going should have a printed copy of the questions with him/her and, if the board says that the questions are quite numerous, the person should state that he/she wants the printed questions submitted as part of the record and, if there is not enough time for answering all the questions at the meeting, should ask for written answers to the individual questions to be provided by mail and filed with the written questions as part of the record of the proceedings for the meeting.

Closing the meeting to all participation by owners is possible, but it sure would look bad. Stating that time is short, but refusing to accept and file the written questions and provide written answers would look even worse.

By no means should the person submitting the questions (written or orally) become argumentative. The right to know what's going on at the resort is the right of any owner and the annual meeting is the appropriate forum to ask the questions I drafted. Starwood would be hard-pressed to ignore the questions given the assessment increases, the stalled permits for Maui 3 and the large percentage increase in the proposed 2010 MF over the 2009 MF. At the very least, some of the questions will have to be answered. Although, many more probably will be finessed.

The advantage of getting written answers to the questions is that if the answers are not clear, the framework has been established for follow-up questions. Communication will have been established (I hope). ... eom

 

[gregb]

Jarta's many questions are very good and should be asked. Unfortunately, they may be addressed to the wrong association. The Master Association (contrary to its name) is only responsible for the pool and shared grounds. If you look at the last MF bill, you will see that the Master Association was responsible for only a very small part of the increases. So yes, do ask the questions. But expect that the responses may be that many do not pertain to the Master Association.

If possible, it is the Ocean Resort Villas (South or North) Vacation Ownership Association meeting that you should try to attend. That is the association that is responsible for the taxes and the majority of the increases in the MF. There are actually two of these associations. One for the original (scouth) resort, and one for the North resort.

Greg

 

[clsmit]

(sorry -- didn't see meeting report. deleting post.)